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		Unit 4		Perform operational driving duties
			Element 6		Transports patient and attending crew with care
						PC (d)	Maintains a stable patient platform		Resources
						notes:	The following specifies the technical skills for smooth driving.
							Uses slight, gentle and incremental movements to initiate braking, steering and acceleration. These are followed by smooth progressive input.
							Aims to stop at a point before that normally required so the foot brake can be released and then reapplied just before the vehicle reaches the desired stopping point.
							Chooses a path that follows the best available road surface (where legal).
							For curves: slows early and adopts a speed that minimises cornering forces uses the required amount of pre-curve steering to provide a smooth entry increases the radius of turn to a legal and safe maximum adjusts the exit line of one curve so it provides a short straight section before entering a second curve. This eliminates the roll when moving from one curve into another
							Uses the transmission such that it provides the optimum ride. In automatic or 'clutchless' vehicles, favours Drive unless the transmission can be manipulated more smoothly by using it manually.
							When negotiating driveways or kerbs favours a square-on approach at low speed (this is less unstable for the crew than if an angle-on approach is used). When driving off footpaths or similar places, favours an angle close and parallel to the kerb.
							Brakes earlier than usual for hazards.
							Travels slower and sets up the brake earlier where the need to stop can be anticipated. (Adding one second to normal crash-avoidance space is a useful guide for calculating stopping distances in patient-care mode.)
							Asks for feedback at the end of the drive. A pain scale of zero to ten is a useful model for rating ride comfort, zero equalling perfectly smooth and ten being extremely rough.
							Assessment of this criterion must take the patient's condition and the crew's needs into account. A perfectly smooth ride is not always necessary, but the driver must have the ability to give the optimum ride in the circumstances. At the very least, crew members should never have difficulty maintaining their balance in the rear of the vehicle and all stops should be done without a final jerk.
							A suitable measure of optimum ride would be a passenger with their eyes closed having difficulty in recognising the vehicle changing speed or direction.

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