Exodus, instructions for a safe journey: from braking time to how to load luggage

Travelling safely, following the rules. Here is a series of useful tips for tackling, in these days of exodus, a quiet journey to holiday resorts, from the sea to the mountains, from the hills to cities of art on busy holiday roads. We discuss this in a video interview on road safety with State Police Deputy Commissioner Luciana Baron.

First and foremost, it is necessary to combat the main riding misbehaviour of Italians. 'Road safety,' emphasises Luciana Baron, 'is a complex area, but it is certainly human actions and behaviour that are the primary causes of road hazards and road accidents. Distraction is certainly one of the most important elements to think about. Distraction in all its forms. But also speeding, driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs, but also failure to comply with rules of conduct, failure to respect passive safety, such as seat belts, and also the incorrect use of traffic lanes or safety distances. It is important to always remember that correct behaviour is not only the obligation of drivers, but of all road users.

It is essential to keep a safe distance. What is the reaction time behind the wheel? How long and how many metres does it take to stop a car at 50 or 100 kilometres per hour? "It is an important consideration that helps us to think not in kilometres per hour, but in metres per second," explains Deputy Superintendent Baron, "and also helps us to understand speed in relation to distraction. Generally speaking, a human being in an optimal condition and therefore in full lucidity and in a healthy psychophysical condition, reacts to an obstacle and therefore the ability to brake immediately in one second and one tenth. Clearly if we are in an altered state or in a different condition, these times are diluted. At 50 kilometres per hour in one second a vehicle travels about 13.89 metres. Imagine, if we wanted to make a comparison, that's half a tennis court. It means that if we get distracted, it is as if we drive across it in the dark. If we increase speed and reach 100 kilometres per hour in one second, a vehicle travels just over 27 metres. And as in this case we have to drive along a football pitch completely in the dark, with all the risks that entails'.

Luggage is an important part of our holidays, so we have to take care to find the items that are really necessary, but we also have to take care to arrange them correctly so that the weight is distributed correctly within the vehicle, avoiding imbalances and problems for the stability of the vehicle during the journey. But it is also important to arrange luggage in such a way that it does not obstruct visibility. "The Highway Code," the vciequestore reminds us, "reminds us that the driver must be able to move freely and must obviously have both front and rear visibility. A very important element that must not be forgotten is that the objects that are placed inside the passenger compartment must be placed correctly, because it often happens with small objects that during braking or in the event of a road accident, they can be very dangerous because they are projected inside the passenger compartment, sometimes causing consequences that are more serious than the accident itself'.