Am I not designed to drive?
- Thread starter mrsfran
- Start date
ymu
Niall Ferguson's deep-cover sock-puppet
I grew up near Bedford. I've only ever driven to MK to visit friends. I tend to navigate from memory and a rough idea of which direction I need to head in and signposts to look out for - which often goes wrong anyway, but when the apparently straight road is a circle of unknown circumference it throws me off even quicker.Kanda said:I don't understand how people can get lost in MK...
'Oh shit, I took a wrong turn' Do 4 lefts or 4 rights and you're back where you were
You lived there YMU?
Plus if I think I've gone wrong I'm usually too stubborn to check a map or turn back. I have a fairly male brain in that respect.
ScallyWag II
New Member
missfran said:
How much do you practise missfran? When I was learning my Dad took me out (about the only time we ever argued!
) but those sessions did me more good than anything I learnt with the instructor. He taught me to anticipate what might happen and, whilst not to not fear the road, to not fear it to much (if that makes sense?). I didn't get that from the instructor...maybe because he had duel controls 
I think he just taught me the technical bits not so much of the common sense bits. The evening before my test my Dad took me out for one last practice with my Mum and sister in the back, round the narrow streets of Denbigh, not London (little difference there!). How he didn't grab the hand brake when I held my breath and went for "the gap" going downhill (ignoring driving etiquette of letting people come uphill first) while someone was coming up the hill, I'll never know! We just about squeezed through 
Anyways, just practice, get someone you trust to take you out if possible, as well as lessons, or you might just learn other peoples bad habits. It's all about confidence but also knowing that you're in charge of something potentially lethal. Sounds to me like you've got the last bit sorted, now you just need to build up your confidence.
AND, just to echo gentlegreen and add a bit, I found being a cyclist really did make me a much more observant driver. Things like seeing cars suddenly pull into parking spaces on the roadside...automatically looking for the drivers door to swing open, things like that help once you're behind a car wheel.
ymu
Niall Ferguson's deep-cover sock-puppet
Yes - I'd definitely echo that. Being a road user on two wheels of any kind improves your driving - cyclists because you have time to spot the details and are so vulnerable, and motorcyclists because the training is almost entirely based on safety (you don't fail a motorbike test for speeding if you're going with the prevailing traffic, but you may fail for not wearing sufficiently visible clothing, for example).
winterinmoscow
Returning Poster
I;ve failed 4 times, been called a bitch by an examiner and asked an examiner to leave the vehicle. I've also nearly crashed one instructors car and been thoroughly shouted at by another. I am on a break from it now, having got so fed up with the whole thing and feeling like I was getting worse and not better
One day I still want to go back to it, but yes sometimes I think it's just never going to happen
One day I still want to go back to it, but yes sometimes I think it's just never going to happen
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
I feel very sorry for people obliged to take lessons.
I had just the one trial lesson with a slimey BSM instructor in 1980 and that was quite enough for me.
.
I had just the one trial lesson with a slimey BSM instructor in 1980 and that was quite enough for me.
.
ymu
Niall Ferguson's deep-cover sock-puppet
Tell me about it. My gran didn't even have to take a test. You oldies had to so much easier.gentlegreen said:I feel very sorry for people obliged to take lessons.
I had just the one trial lesson with a slimey BSM instructor in 1980 and that was quite enough for me.
.
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
ymu said:Tell me about it. My gran didn't even have to take a test. You oldies had to so much easier.
The thing is I bet it's more to put money the way of driving instructors rather than actually guaranteeing better driving.
Mind you my approach took a while. Following my DIY 3-wheeled experiment (the thing finally blew up after about 6 months) it took me 7 years to get around to taking my test - with just the occaisional driving of my ex-g/f's 2CV with her sitting in the passenger seat.
ymu
Niall Ferguson's deep-cover sock-puppet
I grew up on a farm so I'd been bombing around in a landrover for years and had my road tractor licence from age 13. It makes a huge difference.gentlegreen said:
The test does matter though - I don't think it's tough enough (or wasn't back when I passed in '87). Way too many people dying in utterly avoidable accidents - often because some skilled but over-confident wanker assumes every other road user is as confident as him/her (usually him, obv
). Instructors don't spend nearly enough time on road sense as opposed to just getting you through the test.Mrs Redboots
Ice dancer
missfran, I started learning to drive when I was 17. I moved to France just before taking my test, so abandoned that effort. I then started learning again ten years later and had a prang two days before my second attempt at the driving test, which put me off. I was six months pregnant at the time, and didn't touch a car, other than as a passenger, for over a quarter of a century. As you say, we live in London, we don't need to.
But we love motoring holidays, and it's awful when you have to stop for hours at a motorway service area because the only driver has cramp, so two years ago, I took up lessons again, and finally passed my test at Christmas 2005, exactly 8 years to the day after the baby I was pregnant with passed hers!
If I can do it, anybody can!
ymu, the driving test is a very different animal now to what it was in 1987; there is far, far more focus on reading the road, safe handling of the car and traffic safety, including a specific hazard perception test that has to be passed before you can try any on-road tests.
But we love motoring holidays, and it's awful when you have to stop for hours at a motorway service area because the only driver has cramp, so two years ago, I took up lessons again, and finally passed my test at Christmas 2005, exactly 8 years to the day after the baby I was pregnant with passed hers!
If I can do it, anybody can!
ymu, the driving test is a very different animal now to what it was in 1987; there is far, far more focus on reading the road, safe handling of the car and traffic safety, including a specific hazard perception test that has to be passed before you can try any on-road tests.
ymu
Niall Ferguson's deep-cover sock-puppet
Yes - I figured it had to have got a fair bit tougher since then (is why I put the date for ref). Same with bike tests - although bizarrely, if you passed your car test before - 1991 I think - you got "granddaddy rights" and are exempt from a some of the new bike test regs. Nowadays, you have to do tougher tests if you want to ride more powerful bikes (there's a few steps at different ccs IIRC) - but oldtime drivers can pass on a 125cc and get straight on a 1000cc monster, as I did (except I only got a 500cc, but still ...).Mrs Redboots said:
I have a friend rapidly learning to drive now because DVLA are (according to him, I don't know the details) about to bring in some more stuff that'll make it even tougher. It can't be a bad thing, IMO.
Sunray
Its sunny somewhere.
missfran said:I do cycle occasionally but don't like doing so on busy roads, again because of the big machines of death thing. And where I live we have enormous bendy buses, which are a nightmare for cyclists.
My previous tests were taken in Reading, so it's not a London thing. And although I was nervous, I wasn't terrified and shaking or anything. I just couldn't seem to do it well enough.
gentlegreen - I think you may be right. I don't feel connected to the car or the road and I don't feel in control. I'm always thinking "What's that car doing? How sharp is that curve? Is he over-taking me? What lane should I be in? What did that sign I just failed to see say? What's the speed limit? What gear am I in? Am I too close to the curb?" and so on and so forth. It feels like I can't think of all these things at the same time but if I don't, I could crash.
Its all about practice. You see all the experienced drivers on the road aren't worrying a single one of the things you are worrying about. What happens when you've been driving a while is that you internalise driving.
This means that you don't have to think about it anymore. The older you are the harder this stage is to get so you need to practice, practice, practice.
Drivers are also following a series of well oiled rules that in general everyone obeys without thinking, which means other peoples behaviour is highly predictable.
People aren't going to crash into you, trust me, even a minor prang can be such a pain in the arse, that alone means people would probably mow a bus queue down in an attempt to avoid the paperwork. Unless you do something utterly insane, people will avoid you.
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
In its selfish stupidity, perhaps ....Sunray said:
You clearly drive in a different part of the world to me.
My ex. (who drives her teenage daughters around at lethal speeds in town), told me I was a hazard to traffic because I drive like a vicar on a bicycle (and bicycle with an inverse amount of aggression).
In general a little courtesy goes a long way I find.
What informs my driving and cycling to a fair extent is my past passion for dancing. I hate to do anything inelegant.
.
ymu
Niall Ferguson's deep-cover sock-puppet
Well ... yes.gentlegreen said:In its selfish stupidity, perhaps ....
Defensive driving requires you to understand what people are likely to do. If you're in the middle lane overtaking a line of traffic and see a car slightly ahead and to the left catching up fast to a lorry, move into the outside lane if it's clear - he wants to move out, you can make his life a little easier by giving him plenty of room and you decrease the risk that he'll make a bad call or miss you in his blind spot.
People do stupid things on the road - not all the time, but sometimes their ego gets in the way. Easy to predict those sorts of spots and take avoiding action. Experience makes that automatic.
Slight derail, but the most hilarious bad driving I ever saw ... I'm joining a busy motorway, chugging along at slow on the inside to reasonably fast in the outside, but all lanes packed. I find a gap and join. I want to move out asap because it's junction-ville and people need the inside lanes to join/leave a lot. I spot a gap, indicate and check it's still there before moving out. The egomaniac behind has put his foot to the floor to eliminate the gap before I can move in front of him. So I move out behind him. Seconds later, a rare gap opens up in the fast lane, so I move out - leaving him hopefully pondering just how bloody stupid people can be sometimes.
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
ymu said:Well ... yes.
Sorry - missed yer drift
ymu
Niall Ferguson's deep-cover sock-puppet
Some people are selfish and stupid and this is news because?gentlegreen said:Sorry - missed yer drift
You can't keep yourself safe by attempting to predict the hazardous things other road users might be about to do if you do not assume that they're all selfish and stupid. You have to plan for the (plausible) worst case or you're not gonna be very safe. That's all.
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
I meant I do now understand what you were saying .... sorry - I need to get to a beach before the summer's done ... my brain is already there
What I was trying to say was that my ex g/f was suggesting that driving at a sensible speed and being courteous would be misinterpreted by many drivers (who were more like her ).
What I was trying to say was that my ex g/f was suggesting that driving at a sensible speed and being courteous would be misinterpreted by many drivers (who were more like her
).
ymu
Niall Ferguson's deep-cover sock-puppet
Soz.gentlegreen said:I meant I do now understand what you were saying .... sorry - I need to get to a beach before the summer's done ... my brain is already there
What I was trying to say was that my ex g/f was suggesting that driving at a sensible speed and being courteous would be misinterpreted by many drivers (who were more like her
I get ya now.My other gran passed her test at an advanced age after my grandad died. She was always over cautious and it did cause problems for other drivers. She wasn't in any way responsible for the crash that killed her, the lorry driver was convicted and guilty of multiple misconducts, but it's hard not to wonder if she might have been able to do something if she had had more confident in her skills.
There's a good reason why you can get ticketed for driving too slow these days. If you're not competent enough to be able to keep up with the prevailing flow of traffic, you're a hazard and should not be on the road.
Not saying this is you, BTW. I get the impression you're very competent.
Sunray
Its sunny somewhere.
gentlegreen said:In its selfish stupidity, perhaps ....
You clearly drive in a different part of the world to me.
My ex. (who drives her teenage daughters around at lethal speeds in town), told me I was a hazard to traffic because I drive like a vicar on a bicycle (and bicycle with an inverse amount of aggression).
In general a little courtesy goes a long way I find.
What informs my driving and cycling to a fair extent is my past passion for dancing. I hate to do anything inelegant.
.
You'll find that *in general* that the roads operate in this common way that is often fairly reasonable but other times quite harsh. Trying to buck the trend out of pious righteousness just makes you a pain in the arse and a hazard. The only way you'll see it like this is practice and more practice.
If people were not predictable then there would be bodies all over the road.
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
I find my very obviously old car and the tow bar help to reinforce my basic insistence on maintaining a safe distance from the car in front commensurate with a safe stopping distance (allowing for the unexpected actions of preceeding drivers) , as well as seeing and being seen .. and a speed appropriate for local conditions.
This summer I have had to experience 4 nail-biting journeys on the M5 and I repeat that the standard of driving beggars belief - even once you've eliminated the idiots overtaking whilst trailing flailing caravans.
That said, I fully confess that with an inside lane jammed with said trailers, I generally found it safest to stick in the middle lane at the (indicated) 80MPH which appeared to be the norm.
Curiously I observed that even at this speed, I was repeatedly overtaken by following motorists who clearly couldn't bear to see the "two chevron" gap I was leaving between myself and the car ahead of me. (I predict that motorists' inability to observe this basic commonsense advice - as well as repeated 50MPH signs when there were accidents or poor road conditions, will fairly soon result in the fitting of speed governers in private cars).
Even as an assertive cyclist, at least in my part of town, I perceive that most motorists, however bloody-minded, are ultimately wont to avoid collision with me.
This summer I have had to experience 4 nail-biting journeys on the M5 and I repeat that the standard of driving beggars belief - even once you've eliminated the idiots overtaking whilst trailing flailing caravans.
That said, I fully confess that with an inside lane jammed with said trailers, I generally found it safest to stick in the middle lane at the (indicated) 80MPH which appeared to be the norm.
Curiously I observed that even at this speed, I was repeatedly overtaken by following motorists who clearly couldn't bear to see the "two chevron" gap I was leaving between myself and the car ahead of me. (I predict that motorists' inability to observe this basic commonsense advice - as well as repeated 50MPH signs when there were accidents or poor road conditions, will fairly soon result in the fitting of speed governers in private cars).
Even as an assertive cyclist, at least in my part of town, I perceive that most motorists, however bloody-minded, are ultimately wont to avoid collision with me.
Similar threads
- Poll
