Saturday 26 January 2013

Two types of drivers

There are two types of drivers in this world...

1. The type who use their sun visors all time time, even if the moons a bit bright

2. The type who wear sunglasses, and can drive more than 5mph without sliding into a bush.


I was following someone this morning who at every corner was moving their sun visor about in order to block the big orange ball out. Its the first day we've really seen sun this year, and it wasn't that bright. They were inept at being able to do this without braking violently either.  Further proof came of their stupidity came when they approached a roundabout, and with their sun visor covering the top half of the driver side window, they failed to see the car coming on the roundabout, and pulled out in front of them.  Luckily the other driver was of driver type 2 - and had some sense. Crash averted!

Sun visors are there for when you really have no other option to be able to see the road. Not because you would prefer living in a dark cave, watching repeats of Steptoe and Son on a black and white TV, eating ryvita's all day.  They should come with a safety warning for stupid people, or taken away completely and the drivers given a blindfold - it would probably improve their driving skills!

Sunday 20 January 2013

Not a confident driver... stay at home when it snows!

Two hours of heavy snow fall, and the bad drivers come out in force!

Friday morning we had heavy snow in this part of the world, which started around 7:30am in the morning.  Police had warned people who didnt have to drive, to stay at home. What they really meant was "those who can't drive very well, please keep out the way of people who can!"

It had barely started settling on the roads and people were doing 5mph on a 60mph road.  Yes you should be careful, but there wasn't a chance of any slipping at this point.  30mph was safe and practical. As the snow starting settling heavily on the roads, drivers who were freaked out about the white stuff starting doing 2mph, and stopping on hills when their wheels slipped slightly - and then not being able to get going again.  This lead to lorrys and busses then getting stuck behind them, and the road network started shutting down. 

If these people could actually drive, and knew how to handle their cars - they'd be confident about going a little faster, and carrying on when the roads starting to get slippery - enough to keep going and power up the hills. 

Today i drove down a B road which hadnt been gritted, and was still quite icy. If you know how to drive, you can do 20mph, and still keep complete control of your car.  In front of me was someone in a 4 wheel drive, and they were doing 2 mph!!  Whats the point of you having a 4 wheel drive if you're going to do that?

Part of the driving test should be driving in icy conditions.  Those who fail to drive at least 10mph and keep the car on the road should not get their license. As we get more and more snowy weather in the UK, this serously needs to be considered.  No need to spend millions on new gritting trucks, just get the people who cant drive off the bloody road when it snows!

Tuesday 8 January 2013

Sticking to the speed limit does not make you a good driver

Last night I had a Ford Galaxy people carrier pull in front of me out of a petrol station.  This annoyed me a little, but i decided top give the driver the benefit of the doubt. 

However, my frustration became increasinly heightened as the driver was keen on doing 5 mph, and sometimes 10mph below the speed limit.  There was no need for this, the roads were dry, there was very limited traffic about. 

Next we came upto a roundabout, and they pulled into the lane to go left, rather than ahead. Thinking what was about to happen, i stayed back - and indeed they saw their mistake and pulled back into my lane to go straight ahead.

Again, they were doing 20mph in a 30mph limit, and I was starting to wonder how I was going to be able to get away from this driver before there was a simply monumental accident.  Next we came to a larage roundabout which was busy. This time in the right lane to go straight ahead of right, but with no signal they veered off to the right. A car coming the other direction wanting to go straight ahead had not expected them to do this due to lack of signal, and had to slam on their brakes to avooid a colision. The driver who I had been following made no reaction.

So before you judge someone who going too fast on the roads, please remember for every 1 of those peoploe who may be oing 1mph over the speed limit, there is someone who thinks they are the safest driver ever because they stick well under the speed limit. Not true!