Driving standards

[JDW]

Yeah, it annoys me too that my car has a rotary switch for the fog lights, not independent controls for both.  I think a lot of people confuse modern Day Running Lights (DRLs) with front fog lights, they're often in similar positions, and assume "oh, modern cars have them on all the time, I'll put my fog lights on too".  I get very annoyed, though, with people who can't wait to turn them on ("bit of mist, better put my fog lights on!", but suddenly forget how they operate when it comes to switching them off again.  Easy basic rule: if you can't see the car in front, you need them.  If you can see the 20 cars in front, you probably don't...

[Mark Saunders]

Yeah, it annoys me too that my car has a rotary switch for the fog lights, not independent controls for both.  I think a lot of people confuse modern Day Running Lights (DRLs) with front fog lights, they're often in similar positions, and assume "oh, modern cars have them on all the time, I'll put my fog lights on too".  I get very annoyed, though, with people who can't wait to turn them on ("bit of mist, better put my fog lights on!", but suddenly forget how they operate when it comes to switching them off again.  Easy basic rule: if you can't see the car in front, you need them.  If you can see the 20 cars in front, you probably don't...

I simply wish that people would learn to put Headlights on in reduced visibility as it seems most people think that Headlights are only so you can see where you are going but it works both ways to 'see and be seen'!

 

Mark Saunders

[melmerby]

My Focus is the same - don't use the damn things

 

I've yet to see an occasion where the use of fog rearguard lights have made a motorist in front more visible in dificult conditions without obscuring their brake lights.

IMHO they are downright dangerous at times.

 

Keith

 

EDIT they also cause eye fatigue when following someone when they have them on traffic, definitely an undesirable effect.

Edited September 1, 2015 by melmerby

[trisonic]

The Bora TDi here only has rear fogs (or rather the minimum EU-mandated single rear fog on the offside). No front ones.

I had a Renault 5 Turbo with just single rear fog light (back in the day). I stopped using it when a pal told me he thought a motorcycle had got between us on a singularly foggy day in Essex. I mean he saw my rear lights and thought that the single fog light was closer to him, somehow.

 

Best, Pete.

Edited September 2, 2015 by trisonic

[Horsetan]

Coming soon to a street near you......?

[beast66606]

I must get my needles out and polish them up

[leopardml2341]

I must get my needles out and polish them up

And there's me thinking crochet was more your thing

[Horsetan]

He gets crotchety. That's quite different.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

I had a Renault 5 Turbo with just single rear fog light (back in the day). I stopped using it when a pal told me he thought a motorcycle had got between us on a singularly foggy day in Essex. I mean he saw my rear lights and thought that the single fog light was closer to him, somehow...

 In the densest night time fog I have ever driven in, I could see a red glow ahead, and slowly closing this resolved into a pair of tail lights, which I kept at a distance where I could just see them as two separate lights. The movement of the lights was strangely disconcerting, but on an unfamiliar route, it was the best I could do.  After some miles of creeping along like this at 10mph, we suddenly broke out into near clear air. And I was tailing the offside lights only  (nearside not working) of an HGV at about 4 yards.

[Rugd1022]

This tickled me just now, read on Pistonheads in a thread about spurious company slogans...

 

'Vorspung durch Tecknik'... German for drive two inches from the car in front.

 

(Posted by an Audi owner apparently!)

[JDW]

In reply to Mark Saunders' post above (sorry, can't quote from my laptop), I agree, its another pet hate (I have lots!) - I often see some with all their lights on (foglights, main beam, etc) or any combination, when unnecessary, yet so many won't light up.  More than once, in a busy city environment, I've been flashed out of a bus stop on a dark rainy evening and nearly pulled out into the side of the car or cyclist alongside me, which had no lights on - it becomes completely invisible through a wet pain of glass and a mirror, and just disappears amongst the blurs other headlights.

 

Incidentally, being positive for a second, I saw some very considerate driving yesterday, as I reversed my bendy-bus around a corner to get out of a blocked road, people hung back, gave way, didn't try to squeeze past, gave me space and were patient.  I was shocked, I didn't get one beep of a horn, rude gesture or swear word!  Maybe I need to try harder next time

There are good drivers out there too!

 

OK, let the negaitivity resume...

[45156]

I've lurked this thread for some time now.

 

I was recently caught doing 36 mph in a 30 zone which the last time I drove it was a 40 zone, and had to attend a speed awareness course.  It was my fault, as I was relying on my previous knowledge and not enough on watching the road and the signs.  However, some of the excuses for speeding were pathetic - "my SatNav said the speed limit was 40" and "I thought the camera was switched off at night" were two such. 

 

And some of the misunderstandings about the power, weight, and energy that a moving car (even a small one) possesses were frightful.  Few had any conception of the increase in stopping distance being dependant on the SQUARE of the speed, and when I mentioned this when the question of stopping distances was discussed, I had to explain in some depth that the square of 20 is 400, and the square of 40 is 1600, so the stopping distance isn't double - this at the instructor's prompting as he felt that I did understand the matter and could contribute better than he, as it was coming from a class member.  Just as a matter of interest to aybody who wants to know, the formula for calculating the stopping distance in feet for a car travelling in MPH is X + X²/20 where x is the speed in mph, and the stopping distance is then the resultant number in feet. 

 

There were some who thought that the speed LIMIT was a speed TARGET, and as a result would bowl along at the road limit regardless of conditions - there was a film of a local rural road, and we were all asked to contribute our idea of the speed that the road SHOULD be driven at - many said it was a 60 mph, which it was, but when the film ran, round the second bend was a tractor moving at about 10 mph, the point being, of course, that the drivers who said 60 were just getting a lesson in why it was a limit. 

 

Many didn't have a full grasp of Highway Code, particularly some of the road markings.  Some didn't know the difference between a single carriageway with multiple lanes and a double white line separating them, and a proper dual carriageway.

 

Many had no idea about the impact that their bad driving might have on others, thinking only of the material things like bending the car - not of the people in it.  Also many were in some sort of denial about speed limits at road works (particularly on motorways) voicing the fact that they are not necessary - however when it was explained that the mortality rate among motorway maintenance staff was so high that they are denied life insurance the penny started to drop.  Also, one participant used to work for an insurance company which provided an employment based group policy for one of the maintenance companies, and dealt with the death claims, and even some 30 years on, could recite exactly some of the horrendous descriptions of injuries described on death certificates of deceased motorway workers who had been hit by speeding motorists, and in one case by an object which fell from a speeding motorist's vehicle and struck him most violently.  I know this, and the trauma which was caused because I worked on group insurance claims for the insurer in question, and the death certificates in question hit my desk.  Nobody on the course appreciated this effect on parties further removed from the accident.

 

In fact, having been on this course, I was stunned by the p*ss poor standards of driving which some of the participants were displaying by their ignorance and misconceptions.  Of course there was the wise-guy with the Merc whose total attitude was that this was a 4.5 hour waste of his time, demonstrated by his lack of attention and that he was doodling on his pad (and his comment at break time over his ciggy that "none of this about stopping distances and things is really relevant, as MY MERC has brilliant brakes, and can anticipate what the car in front is doing" - sic.  A real candidate for an even ruder awakening in the future when he bends his MERC and hopefully doesn't take anybody else with him.

 

I actually learned a lot on this course, not only about myself and my own driving (now well over 40 years) but also about some of the real idiots who are out there nowadays.  My driving has improved almost overnight.

 

And as I type this, I am waiting for my Peugeot being collected for repair as I was side swiped on Sunday by a clown who came off the forecourt of his house onto a main A road totally without looking!

[kevinlms]

 

Many had no idea about the impact that their bad driving might have on others, thinking only of the material things like bending the car - not of the people in it.  Also many were in some sort of denial about speed limits at road works (particularly on motorways) voicing the fact that they are not necessary - however when it was explained that the mortality rate among motorway maintenance staff was so high that they are denied life insurance the penny started to drop.  Also, one participant used to work for an insurance company which provided an employment based group policy for one of the maintenance companies, and dealt with the death claims, and even some 30 years on, could recite exactly some of the horrendous descriptions of injuries described on death certificates of deceased motorway workers who had been hit by speeding motorists, and in one case by an object which fell from a speeding motorist's vehicle and struck him most violently.  I know this, and the trauma which was caused because I worked on group insurance claims for the insurer in question, and the death certificates in question hit my desk.  Nobody on the course appreciated this effect on parties further removed from the accident.

 

I did a job for a customer once, who was telling about his injuries received when he was line marking at night, with everything well light up. It was a hit & run for which 12 months later, the police were yet to find a culprit and he was still not working at his own business.

No doubt someone drink driving and/or speeding.

[Horsetan]

Meanwhile, this morning's parallel parking challenge consisted of this scooter. I rarely turn down challenges like this because the space would otherwise be wasted.....

[coachmann]

..........And this is precisely why only two cars park in spaces for three......It's so they can got out afterwards.

[trisonic]

I simply wish that people would learn to put Headlights on in reduced visibility as it seems most people think that Headlights are only so you can see where you are going but it works both ways to 'see and be seen'!

 

Mark Saunders

Most States in America have a “Wipers on, Headlights on law” - not that it makes any difference to the hordes that don’t do that. If they have an accident then their Insurance company will disown them (which will also affect any other claims).

 

My sister in law was knocked off her bicycle by a woman in  a car. This woman was an illegal immigrant, no license. It was her sister’s car - who promptly had her insurance cancelled. The Police would not hand out a freaking ticket, either. They are not allowed to hold anyone who is an illegal; only the ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) can do that.

 

Expect this sort of stuff in the UK and Europe soon......

 

Best, Pete.

[newbryford]

Meanwhile, this morning's parallel parking challenge consisted of this scooter. I rarely turn down challenges like this because the space would otherwise be wasted.....

 

Problem is that when the scooter disappears, it looks like your parking is bad because you're overhanging the marked area behind..............  

 

Today has seen the return of one of my pet hates.

 

The dreaded school run. However, it isn't at it's worst level yet.

 

It takes a couple of weeks for the new school arrival's mums and dads to really work out how to park abandon their cars badly to pick up little Johnny with the minimum amount of walking in between. Where's my YPLAC stickers when I need them most?

 

Cheers,

Mick

[leopardml2341]

YPLAC ?

[newbryford]

YPLAC ?

 

This may help

https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=ssl#q=YPLAC

 

Enjoy...........

 

Cheers,

Mick

[Horsetan]

....They are not allowed to hold anyone who is an illegal; only the ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) can do that.

 

Expect this sort of stuff in the UK and Europe soon.......

It's already happened. Given that the Home Office has little idea of who is (still) here, I really wouldn't get your hopes up about UKVI and the Border Farce.

[leopardml2341]

This may help

https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=ssl#q=YPLAC

 

Enjoy...........

 

Cheers,

Mick

Ah I see - so naïve am I :-)

[30801]

YPLAC ?

This

[45156]

This

 

That's pretty normal parking for Hungerford, though - next step in this town would be to pull out without looking as they often do off these setts

Edited September 4, 2015 by 45156

[Chubber]

By Sir Reginald Mafekin Goatley-Prodding Bart, IAM, JP (Rtd), MFH

 

The deterioration of driving standards is largely attributable to the wrong sort of people being allowed to drive motor-cars. All sorts of undesirable sorts who have never achieved anything, who never will achieve anything [other than to populate the world with their horrid scrofulous offspring] can now buy a motor-car on hire-purchase and drive it anywhere they want to.

 

I drove to town on the M3 last week to attend a Club reunion. Streams of horrid football supporters came Gadereening past me in the overtaking lane whilst I was maintaining a steady 65 miles per hour in the correct middle lane, whilst listening to The Archers on the wireless.They were sounding their horns and waving their scarves out their windows. What if a police car or ambulance had wanted to use the overtaking lane? Sheer selfishness.

 

No one minds the greengrocer or baker having a van, or the plumber perhaps a little lorry, but the train and bus should be sufficient for the hoi-polloi. Too many motor-cars on the roads these days, and everyone in a tearing hurry.

 

RM G_P.

[JDW]

Going off on a tangent slightly, but back to the letter of the thread title, Driving Standards, if any of you are in Blackpool on Sunday (06 Sept), there's the Bus Driver of the Year competition taking place along the promenade - feel free to pop by and watch some of the industry's best drivers showing how to do it... and possibly how not to as well   For the bus enthusiasts amongst you, there's usually a good variety of vehicles from various operators up and down the country.  Feel free to say hello if you see me, I'm competitor number 88.