Attention All Drivers!
… Roadcraft has been the Police Drivers bible for nearly 50 years (70 years as of now. ed). This posting describes the background to the production of the first edition in 1955 and a very brief update to the present day. There is of course a Motorcycle version, but that is not covered here.
Where did Roadcraft come from?
Back in the 1930's, cars were still fairly rare on the roads of Britain (2.2 million vehicles registered vehicles on the road in 1930, compared to 26.4 million today).
The accident rate however was pretty awful, with 7305 fatalities being recorded in 1930. Inexperienced drivers were taking up driving, having usually had no formal lessons and little idea of what to expect. It was in this era that the first Road Traffic Act (1930) was drafted, initially just to licence drivers according to criteria of a minimum age limit (17) and physical fitness. A test was put in place, but was initially only for disabled drivers.
A second Road Traffic Act became law in 1934, this time requiring the new driver to undertake a practical test of ability. However, due to problems of finding suitable testers, the practical test did not actually become enforced until May 1935.
Police drivers at this time were little different from the general public, with no special training being given. Unfortunately, this resulted in a rate of one accident for each 8,000 miles being recorded for the Metropolitan Police district. This was considered to be unacceptable and the Commissioner, Lord Trenchard, arranged for Sir Malcolm Campbell to test a number of police drivers in order to satisfy demands for action. In the event, the drivers put up a pretty good performance, coping well with heavy traffic and open-road conditions. It was acknowledged however that lack of experience and inadequate training were a handicap in raising the standard of police driving. Thus in 1934, the Metropolitan Driving School at Hendon was opened.
The courses were arranged at two levels, 'Elementary Wing' and 'Advance Wing', and in 1937 the Commissioner appointed another racing driver, The Earl of Cottenham, to raise the 'advanced' driving standard to a new high.
Lord Cottenham was born in 1903 and was educated at Charterhouse and University College London, where he studied Engineering. For a time he was a member of the Alvis racing team (1925-26), the Sunbeam team in 1926 and was later reserve driver to the Talbot team. During this time he gained a reputation as a gentleman racing driver, his valet often accompanying him to the car in order to provide the appropriate racing attire.
The machines he raced included some powerful front-wheel drive cars; apparently his advice to other drivers on the preferred method of getting them round a corner was to 'boot it and steer'.
He had also written three non-fiction books on motoring, 'Motoring without Fears' (1928), 'Motoring To-day and To-morrow' (1928) and 'Steering Wheel Papers' (1932). He served on the Roads and Road Transport Committee to the House of Lords and thus would have been an obvious choice to act as advisor to the Metropolitan Police Driving School.
In 'Steering Wheel Papers', he sets out his 'Ten Commandments of Motoring' that subsequently appeared in Roadcraft (up to the 1977 edition). Otherwise, though there is little formal evidence in his books of 'The System' that appeared subsequently.
Lord Cottenham's teaching at Hendon in 1937 laid out the system that by implementing a simple 'drill' or sequence of events, a driver would ensure that his/her vehicle was always in the right place, at the right speed and in the right gear. The training appeared to be successful, as the Metropolitan Police accident rate immediately improved to one accident per 27,000 miles driven. Lord Cottenham's time at Hendon ended in 1938, but his 'system' remains as the basis for Roadcraft today.
Roadcraft-first draft
Other input to the School's syllabus came from SCH Davis and Sir Malcolm Campbell. During Lord Cottenham's time at the Driving School, all students, Elementary and Advanced, had the same curriculum. Each instructor had his own set of duplicated notes, which were copied out by hand by each student.
A late version of these was written up as "Attention All Drivers!" by Jock Taylor, ex senior instructor at Hendon in 1954. Eventually, in 1955 these notes were formally compiled into the first version of Roadcraft and published by HMSO for sale to the general public. Later editions with amendments came out in 1960, 1968, 1977 and the current (most heavily revised) edition in 1994
Thanks to Tony Priest, Stockport Group for the research behind this item
Editor’s note: Since this article was published, there have been further editions, the latest being the 2020 edition.
