GOOD DRIVING GUIDE AND ORGANISING A DRIVE
This guide offers advice on how to organise a safe and enjoyable scenic drive.
All steps below may not be necessary, depending on local knowledge, but safety and road sense will always apply.
The fundamental principle when organising a drive is always to respect other road users, making sure to be aware of the rules of the road including any updates regarding Cyclists, Pedestrians and other road users.
Where a drive involves more than 10 cars and particularly for larger groups, it’s recommended to divide into smaller groups of no more than 18-20 vehicles in each. A leader in each group should be designated and they should have the route on hand for their navigator. Ideally all participants should have the route or key waypoints shared with them prior to departing, minimising needs to remain together during the drive and allow regrouping.
Despite the desire for the entire group to stay together, it’s often impractical on most UK roads. It is feasible to plan to regroup at designated stop points and at the conclusion of the drive for group photos.
Planning a route – some key lessons learned over the years.
- Congratulations on taking the lead in organising a drive!
- Organising takes time, but preparation is everything. Make sure to plan your route using whatever resources you have available maps, online resources, such as Google maps, What3Words, roadwork information from national highwaysco.uk, roadworksscotland.org or local council resources, are key tools to help you to plan your route, as well as conducting personal checks for accuracy. Street view will also provide useful visual information on key junctions, direction changes or landmarks.
- Aim to include a mix of roads to keep things Plan to avoid main ‘A roads’ where possible, traffic volumes on main routes will split up groups.
- Route directions should be clear and concise, make sure to cover EVERY direction change and provide as much key detail as possible e.g. signage, landmarks, postcodes, W3W etc. (Tulip diagrams are good). What may be obvious to you, may not be to others. Where printing try to use a larger typeface for directions.
- Aim to include mileage between directions and online route generators can usually help to provide this.
- Route plans should ideally be provided for all cars, BUT solo drivers should be reminded not to read directions whilst driving.
- Bring copies of the notes on the day to distribute! Put your mobile phone number on the directions in case of emergencies. If you are not pre-distributing directions make sure people have your mobile number in advance in case of hitches on the
- If your run involves food stops, confirm bookings in advance of the day for stops like lunch venues to avoid any last-minute issues.
- Plan to create re-grouping points along the route – you will more than likely need them! Giving an estimated time and a postcode or What 3 Words location so that any lost drivers, may use these for
- Don’t forget to plan in comfort breaks, especially for longer routes.
- Arrange to meet and set off from a location that is easy to find, that has a large car park with petrol nearby. Supermarketsmake for ideal meeting and departure locations
- The Organiser should plan to be at the meeting point well before the advertised meeting times to allow for participants to arrive and to allow time for briefings on the drive.
- Bring more copies of the directions than you think you need to ensure everyone has a copy before set off!
