This time, not the mint candy with a hole in the middle popular in North America and which has already been written up as
life savers.
A life saver is the name given in UK motorcycle training to a final observation taken by looking over your shoulder immediately before committing to any possibly dangerous manouver such as for example a left or right turn or other change of direction, joining a moving stream of traffic, or overtaking a slower vehicle.
Someone must have reasoned that by giving it a snappy, but slightly morbid, name then it would be remembered and its importance would be stressed.
Ironically, it was because I was paying too much attention to what was happening behind me that in 1991 I drove my Honda motorcycle at 80mph into the back of a Ford Fiesta.
I remember shouting "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" as I bounced along the tarmac immediately afterwards, following my bike which was cart-wheeling up the road. "This is it!" I thought and wondered what it would be like to wake up in hospital.
Luckily, I survived, and had my bandages removed after about a month, and it didn't put me off motorcycling.