Driving standards

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, ejstubbs said:

 

Known in Germany as "dinosaur racing", I understand.

 

From The Daily Mash: Lorry Driver Celebrates First Anniversary Of Overtaking Manoeuvre (they're not referring to the stretch of the A1 that you had in mind by any chance, are they?)

My German colleagues told me they were elephant racing....but same thing I guess.

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, jchinuk said:

 

While I tend to agree, if you read "Honest John" the motoring correspondent who occasionally pops up on the BBC News, he is quite evangelical on the subject.  He often cites examples of deaths caused by "one footed" driving of automatics and claims he has "proved" during tests away from public roads that "two footed" driving of automatics is demonstrably safer.

 

I offer no endorsement of his views, but it's not as unusual as you might think.

 

jch

But his name is Honest John.....not Clever John 

[boxbrownie]

38 minutes ago, Reorte said:

 

There are times when racing drivers need to be pressing both simultaneously but parallel parking isn't quite the same!

 

Where it gets tricky for racing drivers is when there's a manual clutch too (so not often in modern cars). Senna was a master of it.

Heel and Toe......heel and toe......the old rally drivers technique.

[spamcan61]

1 hour ago, jchinuk said:

 

While I tend to agree, if you read "Honest John" the motoring correspondent who occasionally pops up on the BBC News, he is quite evangelical on the subject.  He often cites examples of deaths caused by "one footed" driving of automatics and claims he has "proved" during tests away from public roads that "two footed" driving of automatics is demonstrably safer.

 

I offer no endorsement of his views, but it's not as unusual as you might think.

 

jch

lol yes, I hung around on his old forum for years and years and the two footed auto thing was a regular rant of his. Personally I switched to an old school auto 5 years ago after 30 years of manual boxes and  wish I'd done it sooner, but there's no way on hell I'll drive it two footed. Apart from anything else it'd do my head in switching to SWMBO's manual Dacia.

Edited December 16, 2020 by spamcan61

[MarkC]

3 hours ago, ejstubbs said:

 

Known in Germany as "dinosaur racing", I understand.

 

From The Daily Mash: Lorry Driver Celebrates First Anniversary Of Overtaking Manoeuvre (they're not referring to the stretch of the A1 that you had in mind by any chance, are they?)

Nah - that's well south of me - but I know the climb that refers to...

 

Mark

[MarkC]

4 hours ago, rockershovel said:

the police know that there are too many inherent problems for them to have any interest in stopping, or exercising any real control over EU nationals driving HGVs. 

 

Firstly, in these days of JIT supply chains, the driver is probably scheduled so that he doesn't have any spare time, and may run out of driving hours before reaching his destination if delayed.  That means he will (most likely) drive too fast or too aggressively to attempt to recover the time, exceed his hours, or park somewhere if he is told to, having reported that he has missed his delivery slot. The driver is far more concerned about unemployment or nonpayment, than prosecution. 

 

Secondly the Polish police in particular, make enthusiastic use of the EU system by which fines levied in Poland on individuals resident in UK are passed to the UK for collection, but make no serious effort to return the favour. The fine will probably never be collected, if the driver turns up in court at all. 

 

Thirdly there is a serious, well known problem with false or duplicate documentation, often associated with identity theft. This in turn leads to problems with insurance, driving exceeding hours and other related issues. 

 

The police know all this. They know they will get no thanks for causing problems, and they know the scale of the problem is beyond them anyway. They know that keeping traffic moving with the minimum of fuss has the twin advantages of requiring the least effort and resources, and sparing them a lot of unproductive work. This might not be their proper function, but they certainly have a point. 

 

 

6 or 7 years ago now, I was only a couple of miles from home, heading north on the A1(M). I moved out to pass a Eastern European plated (RO - I'll not forget) HGV. I was about half way past him when he starts to drift across into my lane. Thank goodness there was nothing behind me, because I couldn't move right due to there being only a narrow bit of grass, then the arrestor wire system between the carriageways. I stood on the brakes, testing out the ABS in the process. The HGV swung right across into Lane 2, then beyond, throwing up a load of debris as he went onto the grass, and I thought he was going to hit the wires, but he pulled back left, a cigarette paper away from the wires, then went onto the hard shoulder before getting back into Lane 1.

 

As I was now close to my slip road, I waited until I could take it, then pulled up on the hard shoulder just before the exit roundabout. The adrenaline was in full flow, as you can imagine. I picked my phone out of my pocket and dialled 999. The operator assured me that it would be looked into; I thought 'yeah, right', and my pulse having dropped back to normal, drove home, only a couple of minutes off the motorway junction.

 

15 minutes or so later, my phone rings. It was a Traffic Officer, an Interceptor no less, who had just pulled the HGV over, and wanted to confirm he had the right vehicle stopped. He was grateful for my confirmation that it was indeed the right one; he then told me that the driver had basically been on the road for some 36 hours; his only break had been on the Eurotunnel, and the bloke could barely stand; he was that tired. Even more shocking, the Officer told me that this was a regular thing in our area; Eastern European drivers breaking all the rules on hours. At least, he said, this one didn't blow over the limit, as some of the ones he & his colleagues pulled over actually did.

 

Scary stuff.

 

Mark

[Nick C]

17 minutes ago, MarkC said:

6 or 7 years ago now, I was only a couple of miles from home, heading north on the A1(M). I moved out to pass a Eastern European plated (RO - I'll not forget) HGV. I was about half way past him when he starts to drift across into my lane. Thank goodness there was nothing behind me, because I couldn't move right due to there being only a narrow bit of grass, then the arrestor wire system between the carriageways. I stood on the brakes, testing out the ABS in the process. The HGV swung right across into Lane 2, then beyond, throwing up a load of debris as he went onto the grass, and I thought he was going to hit the wires, but he pulled back left, a cigarette paper away from the wires, then went onto the hard shoulder before getting back into Lane 1.

 

As I was now close to my slip road, I waited until I could take it, then pulled up on the hard shoulder just before the exit roundabout. The adrenaline was in full flow, as you can imagine. I picked my phone out of my pocket and dialled 999. The operator assured me that it would be looked into; I thought 'yeah, right', and my pulse having dropped back to normal, drove home, only a couple of minutes off the motorway junction.

 

15 minutes or so later, my phone rings. It was a Traffic Officer, an Interceptor no less, who had just pulled the HGV over, and wanted to confirm he had the right vehicle stopped. He was grateful for my confirmation that it was indeed the right one; he then told me that the driver had basically been on the road for some 36 hours; his only break had been on the Eurotunnel, and the bloke could barely stand; he was that tired. Even more shocking, the Officer told me that this was a regular thing in our area; Eastern European drivers breaking all the rules on hours. At least, he said, this one didn't blow over the limit, as some of the ones he & his colleagues pulled over actually did.

 

Scary stuff.

 

Mark

 

I had something very similar on the M3 quite a few years ago (the short 3-lane section just noth of Winchester, for those who know it) - foreign lorry in lane 1, myself in lane 2, and a van in lane 3. I was incredibly glad that the van driver was paying attention when the lorry started drifting across, and slammed on his brakes to give me room to escape.

[hayfield]

46 minutes ago, MarkC said:

6 or 7 years ago now, I was only a couple of miles from home, heading north on the A1(M). I moved out to pass a Eastern European plated (RO - I'll not forget) HGV. I was about half way past him when he starts to drift across into my lane. Thank goodness there was nothing behind me, because I couldn't move right due to there being only a narrow bit of grass, then the arrestor wire system between the carriageways. I stood on the brakes, testing out the ABS in the process. The HGV swung right across into Lane 2, then beyond, throwing up a load of debris as he went onto the grass, and I thought he was going to hit the wires, but he pulled back left, a cigarette paper away from the wires, then went onto the hard shoulder before getting back into Lane 1.

 

As I was now close to my slip road, I waited until I could take it, then pulled up on the hard shoulder just before the exit roundabout. The adrenaline was in full flow, as you can imagine. I picked my phone out of my pocket and dialled 999. The operator assured me that it would be looked into; I thought 'yeah, right', and my pulse having dropped back to normal, drove home, only a couple of minutes off the motorway junction.

 

15 minutes or so later, my phone rings. It was a Traffic Officer, an Interceptor no less, who had just pulled the HGV over, and wanted to confirm he had the right vehicle stopped. He was grateful for my confirmation that it was indeed the right one; he then told me that the driver had basically been on the road for some 36 hours; his only break had been on the Eurotunnel, and the bloke could barely stand; he was that tired. Even more shocking, the Officer told me that this was a regular thing in our area; Eastern European drivers breaking all the rules on hours. At least, he said, this one didn't blow over the limit, as some of the ones he & his colleagues pulled over actually did.

 

Scary stuff.

 

Mark

 

13 minutes ago, Nick C said:

 

I had something very similar on the M3 quite a few years ago (the short 3-lane section just noth of Winchester, for those who know it) - foreign lorry in lane 1, myself in lane 2, and a van in lane 3. I was incredibly glad that the van driver was paying attention when the lorry started drifting across, and slammed on his brakes to give me room to escape.

 

 

I do accept the majority of HGV drivers are excellent drivers and probably see far worse than I have, plus there are some real horror stories on the road in cars and vans, many who either have not or should not have a license, certainly should not be behind a wheel 

 

[Jonboy]

If you want real fun driving an automatic try jumping into the father in laws car, with the pedals reversed via an adaptor to account for his missing leg....

[ejstubbs]

5 hours ago, jchinuk said:

if you read "Honest John" the motoring correspondent who occasionally pops up on the BBC News, he is quite evangelical on the subject.  He often cites examples of deaths caused by "one footed" driving of automatics and claims he has "proved" during tests away from public roads that "two footed" driving of automatics is demonstrably safer.

 

Does he endorse left-foot braking in manual gearbox cars as well?

 

Honest John is quite opinionated on many automotive-related topics, and definitely has a very buzzy bee in his bonnet about certain of them.  In my experience rather too many of his opinions turn out not to be particularly well-founded so I'm afraid I find myself unable to regard his views as authoritative without supporting evidence from an independent source.

 

Edited December 16, 2020 by ejstubbs

[PhilJ W]

7 hours ago, Nick C said:

Which causes a lot of the problem - if one was calibrated with new tyres, and one with slightly worn ones, they'll be slightly different, resulting in one doing 55.5mph and one doing 56.5 and so trying to overtake...

I know of a HGV operator who has a set of well worn but (just) legal tyres/wheels that he puts on the trucks when the limiter is calibrated and then changes them back to the usual tyres. This can give up to another 5 mph over the limit.

[Nick C]

1 hour ago, hayfield said:

 

 

 

I do accept the majority of HGV drivers are excellent drivers and probably see far worse than I have, plus there are some real horror stories on the road in cars and vans, many who either have not or should not have a license, certainly should not be behind a wheel 

 

Oh I agree - the vast majority of stupidity I see on the road is from normal car drivers - frequently in high-end German cars...

[JDW]

Yeah fitting worn tyres is a well-known trick. 

 

I'm not sure I really follow the logic of two-foot driving an automatic, sounds like its a solution looking for a problem. I've never got in a car and found my left foot getting so bored I felt I needed to use both of them, and my right one is perfectly capable of controlling throttle and brake regardless of whether there's a clutch pedal or just a footrest. 

Unfortunately I couldn't drive our 1930(ish) historic bus, as although I could sit in the cab, I couldn't see where I was going. People were a lot shorter back then! That had the throttle in the middle, a small round pedal almost like a tall button, with normal-looking pedals either side. I've driven a (historic*) trolleybus too, with equally odd pedal layout, though to be fair that was only half the battle and not as complicated as you'd think, and because it's so completely different, not too affected by muscle memory and reflex. (*Thankfully modern ones have standard pedal layouts!)

Edited December 16, 2020 by JDW

[hayfield]

24 minutes ago, Nick C said:

Oh I agree - the vast majority of stupidity I see on the road is from normal car drivers - frequently in high-end German cars...

And Chelsea tractors

[Graham108]

1 hour ago, Nick C said:

the vast majority of stupidity I see on the road is from normal car drivers 

Isn't that n example of an oxymoron?

[JDW]

3 minutes ago, bartram108 said:

Isn't that n example of an oxymoron?

 

Dunno, but definitely examples of morons

[Colin]

We were heading back from the supermarket today, turned right out of a side road (traffic light controlled, our light had just gone green) when a Sprinter or similar van plainly went through on red. I didn’t have to slam the brakes on or anything, but was glad I hadn’t pulled away a bit quicker! Said van then proceeded along the busy main road at around 25mph, twice veering out onto the other side of the road and straddling the white line for a fair distance - I assumed he was overtaking a cyclist or similar the first time, then took the view that he had possibly been drinking instead as his progress became more erratic and I dropped back to a safer distance. When the road forked and our ways parted, I looked across to where he was stationary at a separate set of lights and noticed that he was busy texting on his phone - doubtless this had been the reason for his “interesting” driving technique! If only there had been a police car around.....

Edited December 16, 2020 by Colin

[peanuts]

11 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

You have to remember that HGV's are legally required to be fitted with a speed limiter keeping them to below 56 mph. 

many are set at 54 ,52 or even 50 ? especialy supermarket lorrys trunking between RDCs known in the trade as shopping trolleys .this can lead to "elephant racing " when trucks with limiters set higher catch up 

Edited December 16, 2020 by peanuts

[Pete the Elaner]

Texting is hugely dangerous.

I get a little frustrated when I agree to meet certain people & they text me (while they expect me to be driving) to see if I am on my way.

I have hands free in the car so I can answer voice calls & they know that very well. I only get to see their message once I stop.

[PhilJ W]

I avoid people texting me because I don't have a mobile. And if I did it would be switched off when I'm driving.

[johnofwessex]

I have just written to the local paper about proposed 'Anti Terrorist' road blocks in Bath and pointed out that if we had armed anti terrorist officers dragging the local boy racers, drink drivers and mobile phone addicts out of their cars and dragging them off to Belmarsh to await trial, no bail, then they would save many many more lives than are ever lost to terrorists.

[ejstubbs]

11 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

I have hands free in the car so I can answer voice calls & they know that very well. I only get to see their message once I stop.

 

It is weird how some folks will shy away from using voice calls in favour of text.

 

That said, my car will read out incoming text messages to me (I think it's an Android Auto feature - obviously it needs the phone to be hooked up as that's what the text messages are received on).  It's generally OK but the text-to-speech lady does trip up over some things, especially cmmn txt abbrvtns.  It also gives me the option to reply; this is then subject to the vagaries of speech recognition, and can often take multiple tries to get the algorithms to "recognise" something close to the intended response.  Anything requiring more than a "yes" or "no" answer I usually don't bother trying because it's too distracting.

[JDW]

31 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

Texting is hugely dangerous.

I get a little frustrated when I agree to meet certain people & they text me (while they expect me to be driving) to see if I am on my way.

I have hands free in the car so I can answer voice calls & they know that very well. I only get to see their message once I stop.

 

Yeah, I completely can't figure that out, yet it happens often. Even to the point where I make a point of saying not to text as I'll be driving, and still they text while I'm driving. Makes no sense! My last car had an inbuilt phone/sim, so a few close friends had the number so they could call or I could call them if I was picking them up, but since I bought the new one, I haven't even bothered connecting my mobile to it. 

[zarniwhoop]

6 hours ago, Jonboy said:

If you want real fun driving an automatic try jumping into the father in laws car, with the pedals reversed via an adaptor to account for his missing leg....

Can't you flip up the accelerator and pull down an accelerator on the right ? That's how mine have been for about 20 years (my right ankle is inoperative after a spinal cord injury). I recall that when the first such car (a secondhand one) was delivered to me (the salesman collected my previous car that I could no-longer drive), he said he'd tried it on the left foot - but whenever mine goes in for service I make sure I've swapped the pedals.

[kevinlms]

2 hours ago, ejstubbs said:

 

It is weird how some folks will shy away from using voice calls in favour of text.

 

That said, my car will read out incoming text messages to me (I think it's an Android Auto feature - obviously it needs the phone to be hooked up as that's what the text messages are received on).  It's generally OK but the text-to-speech lady does trip up over some things, especially cmmn txt abbrvtns.  It also gives me the option to reply; this is then subject to the vagaries of speech recognition, and can often take multiple tries to get the algorithms to "recognise" something close to the intended response.  Anything requiring more than a "yes" or "no" answer I usually don't bother trying because it's too distracting.

I turned mine off,  because I was out at a customers place and it started to read out a reminder that I had forgotten to pay an invoice!

Another issue was reading out phone numbers,  such as 1800 ### ### (free calls in Australia), where it gave it as one thousand eight hundred million...