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How to drive [Guest blog]

SOME say they don’t need anyone – even The Stig – to tell them how to drive.

All I know is that Ben Collins used to be The Stig and he’s written a book of driving tips. And if the Stig is offering advice on becoming a better, safer, driver it’s worth taking note.

In his excellent 272-page book, packed with information, advice and humour, Ben passes on the benefits of his 25-years experience of driving on the edge.

For starters he doesn’t believe the driving test – still based on an 80-year-old “Police Road Craft” manual – adequately prepares drivers for what really lies ahead. Ben likens 1935 methods remaining unchanged to an RAF pilot using a Spitfire manual to help him fly a Harrier jump Jet.

Not only has the number of vehicles risen from 2 million to 34 million, but a Ford Fiesta has ten times the power of a 1930s cop car and could leave Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Grand Prix racer dead at the lights.

As Ben points out: “A Starbucks barista receives 24 hours of training before being handed the keys to an espresso machine – millions of drivers receive their licences with less than 18 hours driving experience under their belts.

“We are never taught to drive on motorways, to overtake or how to handle adverse weather of which there’s plenty in the UK. The book is aimed at everyone from age 16 to 106, because we can all benefit from developing good techniques that will last a lifetime.”

Ben, 39, once tipped for the top by Sir Jackie Stewart, has competed at all levels of motorsport, including Le Mans, spent eight years as The Stig and has been a James Bond stunt driver. But he admits that his off-track driving often left a lot to be desired.

He describes what he describes as his “wake-up call” in graphic detail in a dramatic opening to his book, or as he puts it, “How Not to Drive.” Ben, who knew the local roads like the back of his hand, was on a twisting country lane in his Toyota Supra, with extra wide wheels, whale-tail wing, driving fast – very fast. And as he sped along the lane he “wanged the stereo up” as he listened to the Beastie Boys.

But, for all his skills, he had reckoned without a muddy road and a slow moving truck trundling towards him around the bend. He recalls: “The head-on impact and abrupt stop rearranged all sorts of things inside the Supra, including my kidneys, which ruptured and bled for days.”

He also reveals a surprising fact for fans of Top Gear used to seeing the ultra-cool Stig speeding around the test track while music blares out of the stereo – he can’t combine driving with loud music. It’s just not safe.

Ben is scathing about the government and road safety groups who “would have us believe that speeding is the biggest danger facing modern drivers. But 700,000 police road accident reports gathered over the last five years tell a different story. Exceeding the speed limit contributors to less than 14 per cent of fatal accidents, but driver error is a significant factor in more than 65 per cent.

“The real killer is simply poor driving.”

In How to Drive, Ben aims to “provide the missing chapters in your driving education”.nHe explains: “I want people to be safer but also smarter. Simply by looking a little further ahead and driving more smoothly, you can save 20% on your fuel bill and statistically you become five times less likely to crash.

“When you look ahead, you see trouble coming before trouble had his bowl of cornflakes… ”

How To Drive is more, much more than just a dry, stuffy, driving manual. It is packed full of astonishing facts and tips, and is a book which draws you back, time and time again to dip in and out of it. Thanks to Ben’s book I now know how to escape from a car sinking in a lake, or what to do if I suffer a breakdown on the tracks at a level crossing.

Of course it’s not all serious stuff – he gives a simple guide to doing a handbrake turn and pulling a Stunt 180 into a parking space between two cars. Ben helpfully suggests: “I would advise practising with vehicles of the rubber cone variety before attempting it on your driveway.”

Ben’s How To Drive proves without doubt that Top Gear’s loss is very much a big gain for those who love motoring – and a good read.

How to Drive The Ultimate Guide From the Man Who Was The Stig by Ben Collins Pan McMillan – out now £20

 

Guest blog by Nigel Pauley a Fleet Street journalist who loves cars and still harbours a dream of becoming the next Stig.

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