Steve O'Donnell

"Stay calm, courteous and considerate." Those were my Dad’s final words of advice as I left to take my driving test, aged 17 years and three weeks.

He had taught me how to drive when I was about eight years old; me sitting on his knees in a Land-Rover, steering and ‘doing the gears’, whilst he pressed the pedals, driving up and down farm tracks and across the fields at the bottom of our garden at home, avoiding sheep, trees and ditches. When I grew taller, I was allowed to press the pedals as well, and I quickly became very comfortable behind a wheel.

My first job after leaving school, aged 16, was with a road haulage company, whose fleet included oil tankers, articulated lorries, rigid flat-bed wagons and such like. As the premises were on private land, I drove anything and everything that needed to be moved around the loading bays and parking areas, so that by the time it came to take my driving test I had driven a greater variety of vehicles than most people would drive in a lifetime.

This experience proved to be invaluable, as it quickly taught me how to assess the different characteristics of each vehicle.

"Be aware of what’s going on around you," "always expect the unexpected" and "drive within the vehicle’s capabilities’ are some of the other things my Dad drummed into me, and his advice has stayed with me ever since. It all seems like common sense, yet every day our roads are full of drivers who do not adhere to these principles, and that is why the book - 'Mind How You Go' - has been written.

'Mind How You Go' is a valuable book because it explains an attitude and offers driving tips that can help save lives, avoid serious injuries and save millions of pounds. We want to do something about making your motoring life a safer one. You have to be prepared to take the initiative. You are reading this, which shows you are off to a great start.

Now buy the book!