MOST Herald readers, I like to think, maintain their cars to at least a basic degree – a change of oil now and then and perishables – (tyres, bulbs, wiper blades) replaced when required. Enough to get your chariot through its MOT.
Or you might be comfortable enough to go the whole hog and drop the family barge off at the dealer for a full service once a year. Alternatively you may share my approach to car ownership and restrict yourself to buying vehicles which have long since hit the bottom of their depreciation curve, in which case you will undoubtedly keep on top of their upkeep.
How much attention, though, do you pay to your health – mental and physical – before getting behind the wheel? The most recent figures from the Department of Transport say 68 per cent of deaths in road accidents can be attributed to driver or rider errors. So no matter how roadworthy your car or motorcycle, chances are that any accident you might become involved in will be the result of your or somebody else’s shoddy skills.
My thoughts turned to this the other week after slamming my head off the side of a swimming pool during a kayaking lesson. An hour later I was at A&E having the alien egg now growing between my hair and skull examined while my beloved VW Corrado languished 30 miles away by the seaside, where gallons of seagull poop and salt spray awaited its still lustrous bodywork.
The first aiders at the pool were correct to prohibit me from piloting my car home and I was mightily relieved to be told I should make my first ever visit to A&E as a passenger of my friend David. After all, what if I blacked out? In the event the A&E doctor discounted concussion but the correct decision had been taken for me.
The following evening, attending my weekly advanced riding meet, the point was reinforced while learning one of the countless mnemonics advanced riders are wont to embrace: POWDERY. This is your pre-flight check. I won’t bother you with the POWDER but the Y is the significant letter, since it stands for “you”.
Being ready for the road isn’t just about physical condition. Last week I caught One to One on Radio 4, in which the journalist Isabel Hardman spoke to the psychiatrist Dr Alan Kellas about the role of nature in mental health care. Hardman recently endured depression and Kellas too has faced debilitating mental illness. Perhaps the most pertinent point this fascinating programme made from a motoring perspective is this: we are animals and come from nature. If we become disconnected from nature through overexposure to technology then we become ill. For technology read vehicles and their attendant gadgets.
Think of that the next time you’re tempted to sound your horn at a fellow motorist for committing a perceived misdemeanour. Don’t try to get equal when someone cuts you up. Resist. Don’t let the machine – yours or theirs – poison your mind. It can only go one way.
Leave your vehicle in the hands of a professional mechanic by all means, but your primary priority at all times should be yourself.
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