Driving people mad ...

[Edmund]

Yep - them, 4x4's and huge American/Far East pick-ups

The handling of a puppy on a lead and the stopping power of a male youth with his trousers down.

[l444ry]

Government to ban women drivers

In its first sensible policy for years, the Government has announced that it will ban women drivers from our roads. Since just under half of all road traffic accidents are caused by women, this policy is expected to save thousands of lives.

The Minister for Health and Safety, Matt Sojinist, announced that women, most of whom get fat by their early 20s and take 9 months off work for no apparent reason, are a health hazard. "My own Missus gives me an ear bashing if I get home late from a Cabinet meeting", he confessed to our report in a rare moment of male bonding. "In any event, why do women want to drive when it is a proven fact that none of them can reverse park or do a 3 point turn?"

Women will, however, be entitled to operate other road vehicles, such as prams, for which a new road licence will be necessary. Mr. Sojinist added "The Government feels that women operate prams better than men and therefore men won't be given licences to push prams."

Finally, breast-feeding in public will be compulsory, except for fat women, who will receive on the spot fines for whipping their hooters out in front of other people.

[AoWW]

One thing that drives me absolutely INSANE...

When you approach a roundabout, there is a car coming from your right, they are indicating to continue around the roundabout (i.e you should stop), and then they proceed to turn at the roundabout exitjust before you.

People just dont know how to indicate. I think you should have to re-take your test if you're over 40. The bad habits of older drivers are just ridiculous.

But what would this actually prove? I know that I can quite easily drive in a manner that means I would pass my test. I've done it for my Advanced Driving Test and HGV test. I can drive, safely, up to the speed limit, whilst obeying all the laws and the highway code, I'll even drive with both hands nicely on the wheel at 10 to 2 and feed the steering wheel through my hands rather than crossing my hands over when manoeuvring if I must. I can happily drive along giving a running commentary to the instructor. I would be perfectly considerate to other road users and I would apply the handbrake whenever I came to a halt.

In short, I know I can go through all the motions in a test situation. Do I do all the above in my everyday driving...? Do I heck!

Oh, and no, I'm not over 40! But I'm sure I could still do all this when I am!

[Thracian]

Its got everything to do with it.

At the end of the day, driving rules are becoming stricter every year, and older drivers should have to do re-tests to make sure that they are up to the rules of now, not 20 years ago. No matter how good a driver they think they may be, because you've got 20 years experience on the roads.....

I don't know about other "older" drivers and don't necessarily think it's the years you've held a licence that matters but rather the miles you've done, the routes you know, the countries you've experienced and the conditions you've coped with.

Whether it be signs in foreign languages, driving on the opposite side of the road, driving with snowchains up and down mountain sides in the Alps or dealing with floodwater on country roads it all adds up to a vast amount of experience as the miles pass. And you never stop learning.

When my youngest passed his test I could name 100 biggish places in England and he wouldn't have known which direction to start off in. But when you've driven an average of 300 miles a week for 42 years you know pretty well every sizeble road in the land within a range of 200 miles.

You know how long a journey will take, where the garages are, where the best opportunities are to overtake, where the hold-ups are likely to occur, what short cuts are available and so on.

On top of all that, for me at least, there have been other experiences like a season's navigating for a rally driver, driving a hill climb car with all the manouevering and tight control on a muddy surface that that requires, driving a Formula 1 go-kart and every road-going vehicle imaginable from a hearse to a 56-seater motor coach, from column change Ford Consuls to Daimler automatics, from ponderous 7.5 and 35-cwt tail-lift diesel trucks to nippy Mini Coopers

How can new drivers get that experience in an instant?

Driving is not about theories in books it's about knowing what you're doing, having good concentration, looking ahead and anticipating the unexpected or unlikely. It's about driving to the conditions and knowing the capabilities of whatever vehicle you're in charge of.

I remember hearing a crash outside my house a couple of years ago and emerging from my house to see three vehicles on my side of the road shunted into one another and a BMW sideways and blocking the entire thoroughfare, completely wrecked.

The young lady driver had borrowed the car from her boyfriend. She'd simply had to turn right and head down the road but still she managed to so lose control of it on the turn itself and, from her standing start leave a trial of havoc within 100 yards that was almost beyond description.

She simply couldn't cope with the acceleration and the spin it put her in. She'd passed her test in a little Peugeot and had never been shown how to deal with a spin or a skid in her young life. How the hell she was ever let loose in a Beamer I don't know.

She'll have learned from that as we've all learned from doing daft things. But you would think the training would at least give people experience of how to deal with a skid.

[The Reverend]

But what would this actually prove? I know that I can quite easily drive in a manner that means I would pass my test. I've done it for my Advanced Driving Test and HGV test. I can drive, safely, up to the speed limit, whilst obeying all the laws and the highway code, I'll even drive with both hands nicely on the wheel at 10 to 2 and feed the steering wheel through my hands rather than crossing my hands over when manoeuvring if I must. I can happily drive along giving a running commentary to the instructor. I would be perfectly considerate to other road users and I would apply the handbrake whenever I came to a halt.

In short, I know I can go through all the motions in a test situation. Do I do all the above in my everyday driving...? Do I heck!

Oh, and no, I'm not over 40! But I'm sure I could still do all this when I am!

You may be able to...

[lou]

I don't know about other "older" drivers and don't necessarily think it's the years you've held a licence that matters but rather the miles you've done, the routes you know, the countries you've experienced and the conditions you've coped with.

Whether it be signs in foreign languages, driving on the opposite side of the road, driving with snowchains up and down mountain sides in the Alps or dealing with floodwater on country roads it all adds up to a vast amount of experience as the miles pass. And you never stop learning.

When my youngest passed his test I could name 100 biggish places in England and he wouldn't have known which direction to start off in. But when you've driven an average of 300 miles a week for 42 years you know pretty well every sizeble road in the land within a range of 200 miles.

You know how long a journey will take, where the garages are, where the best opportunities are to overtake, where the hold-ups are likely to occur, what short cuts are available and so on.

On top of all that, for me at least, there have been other experiences like a season's navigating for a rally driver, driving a hill climb car with all the manouevering and tight control on a muddy surface that that requires, driving a Formula 1 go-kart and every road-going vehicle imaginable from a hearse to a 56-seater motor coach, from column change Ford Consuls to Daimler automatics, from ponderous 7.5 and 35-cwt tail-lift diesel trucks to nippy Mini Coopers

How can new drivers get that experience in an instant?

Driving is not about theories in books it's about knowing what you're doing, having good concentration, looking ahead and anticipating the unexpected or unlikely. It's about driving to the conditions and knowing the capabilities of whatever vehicle you're in charge of.

I remember hearing a crash outside my house a couple of years ago and emerging from my house to see three vehicles on my side of the road shunted into one another and a BMW sideways and blocking the entire thoroughfare, completely wrecked.

The young lady driver had borrowed the car from her boyfriend. She'd simply had to turn right and head down the road but still she managed to so lose control of it on the turn itself and, from her standing start leave a trial of havoc within 100 yards that was almost beyond description.

She simply couldn't cope with the acceleration and the spin it put her in. She'd passed her test in a little Peugeot and had never been shown how to deal with a spin or a skid in her young life. How the hell she was ever let loose in a Beamer I don't know.

She'll have learned from that as we've all learned from doing daft things. But you would think the training would at least give people experience of how to deal with a skid.

Agree experience of driving AFTER passing your test is far more relevant than driving lessons and the test itself. Not sure about nowadays either but when I was learning I had virtually no experience of driving on faster roads and dual carriage ways. Think it might be a good idea to have a 2nd test a year after the 1st one to include more advanced driving - such as at speed or on motorways. I think that new drivers (regardless of age) shouldnt be allowed to drive cars over a certain power for a certain length of time either.

[Thracian]

Im sure once you hit 75 or so you have to have a check up.

Basically they check eye sight and other such things which could impair your driving.

What are they going to do about marital break-ups, redundancies, domestic rows, in-car blow jobs, head-searches for parking places, worry about hospital visits, people reading maps, newspapers or laptops on their passenger seat, cncern about the speech or lesson they're about to give, people with headache or flu or a hundred other things that might impair driving?

[The Reverend]

I don't know about other "older" drivers and don't necessarily think it's the years you've held a licence that matters but rather the miles you've done, the routes you know, the countries you've experienced and the conditions you've coped with.

Whether it be signs in foreign languages, driving on the opposite side of the road, driving with snowchains up and down mountain sides in the Alps or dealing with floodwater on country roads it all adds up to a vast amount of experience as the miles pass. And you never stop learning.

When my youngest passed his test I could name 100 biggish places in England and he wouldn't have known which direction to start off in. But when you've driven an average of 300 miles a week for 42 years you know pretty well every sizeble road in the land within a range of 200 miles.

You know how long a journey will take, where the garages are, where the best opportunities are to overtake, where the hold-ups are likely to occur, what short cuts are available and so on.

On top of all that, for me at least, there have been other experiences like a season's navigating for a rally driver, driving a hill climb car with all the manouevering and tight control on a muddy surface that that requires, driving a Formula 1 go-kart and every road-going vehicle imaginable from a hearse to a 56-seater motor coach, from column change Ford Consuls to Daimler automatics, from ponderous 7.5 and 35-cwt tail-lift diesel trucks to nippy Mini Coopers

How can new drivers get that experience in an instant?

Driving is not about theories in books it's about knowing what you're doing, having good concentration, looking ahead and anticipating the unexpected or unlikely. It's about driving to the conditions and knowing the capabilities of whatever vehicle you're in charge of.

I remember hearing a crash outside my house a couple of years ago and emerging from my house to see three vehicles on my side of the road shunted into one another and a BMW sideways and blocking the entire thoroughfare, completely wrecked.

The young lady driver had borrowed the car from her boyfriend. She'd simply had to turn right and head down the road but still she managed to so lose control of it on the turn itself and, from her standing start leave a trial of havoc within 100 yards that was almost beyond description.

She simply couldn't cope with the acceleration and the spin it put her in. She'd passed her test in a little Peugeot and had never been shown how to deal with a spin or a skid in her young life. How the hell she was ever let loose in a Beamer I don't know.

She'll have learned from that as we've all learned from doing daft things. But you would think the training would at least give people experience of how to deal with a skid.

I appreciate all that. Well put. You've only said what i've said already though really - young drivers dont have experience.

In regards to the girl and the Beamer - driving is all about common sense. Common sense tells you that a BMW is a more powerful car and has greater acceleration, so is more 'difficult' to drive. Thats not about experience - its about stupidity, or a lack of concentration.

[The Reverend]

Agree experience of driving AFTER passing your test is far more relevant than driving lessons and the test itself. Not sure about nowadays either but when I was learning I had virtually no experience of driving on faster roads and dual carriage ways. Think it might be a good idea to have a 2nd test a year after the 1st one to include more advanced driving - such as at speed or on motorways. I think that new drivers (regardless of age) shouldnt be allowed to drive cars over a certain power for a certain length of time either.

I agree with both points.

[Legend_in_blue]

I can understand your reasoning behind re-testing Revered, although I just can't see it being a feasible solution. Test centres are pretty much full up as it is taking on people attempting a first test. Organising re-tests for more experienced drivers would be extremely difficult under these circumstances.

As for the test itself, they should introduce something that gives you the opportunity to drive a car to its limit under safety conditions (the car has some sort of driving frame round it) - like controlling skids on those runways and the like. Young people do not know the limits of their vehicles and so perhaps understanding those limits under safety conditions would help.

It's a suggestion. Might work.

[Tilley]

Safe to say, I have already inherited severe road rage.

[The Reverend]

I can understand your reasoning behind re-testing Revered, although I just can't see it being a feasible solution. Test centres are pretty much full up as it is taking on people attempting a first test. Organising re-tests for more experienced drivers would be extremely difficult under these circumstances.

As for the test itself, they should introduce something that gives you the opportunity to drive a car to its limit under safety conditions (the car has some sort of driving frame round it) - like controlling skids on those runways and the like. Young people do not know the limits of their vehicles and so perhaps understanding those limits under safety conditions would help.

It's a suggestion. Might work.

Yeah its not feasible and never will be. In an ideal world it would happen.

[Edmund]

What are they going to do about marital break-ups, redundancies, domestic rows, in-car blow jobs, head-searches for parking places, worry about hospital visits, people reading maps, newspapers or laptops on their passenger seat, cncern about the speech or lesson they're about to give, people with headache or flu or a hundred other things that might impair driving?

I don't know ask the dvla. I was just stating that im sure when people hit 75 or maybe it's 70 they have to be reassesed.

I get what your saying and you make a good point though.

On the subject of re testing after a year, I think thats ludicrious. The only way you can build experience is by going on the road by yourself and one test is not going to prove anything. They should however make the current test more thorough like I have stated in other posts. They should make each new driver face as many conditions as possible that they are likely to face when driving with a full license and pass them once they are competent.

The only reason why I could not seeing it being a hit is because of the cost of driving lessons. It's not cheap and if they were to make the test more thorough it would cost the learner more on top of the extortionate rates already having to be paid. The solution would to reassess driving lesson fees but I can't see instructors being to happy about that idea.

In regards to the theory test, I do believe that is not as important as made out to be. Again the majority of it is common sense which is learnt whilst driving out and about.

I can't for the life of me remember the answers to the braking distance questions but I know when to brake in my car to make sure that I don't crash in different weather conditions.

[The Reverend]

I don't know ask the dvla. I was just stating that im sure when people hit 75 or maybe it's 70 they have to be reassesed.

I get what your saying and you make a good point though.

On the subject of re testing after a year, I think thats ludicrious. The only way you can build experience is by going on the road by yourself and one test is not going to prove anything. They should however make the current test more thorough like I have stated in other posts. They should make each new driver face as many conditions as possible that they are likely to face when driving with a full license and pass them once they are competent.

The only reason why I could not seeing it being a hit is because of the cost of driving lessons. It's not cheap and if they were to make the test more thorough it would cost the learner more on top of the extortionate rates already having to be paid. The solution would to reassess driving lesson fees but I can't see instructors being to happy about that idea.

In regards to the theory test, I do believe that is not as important as made out to be. Again the majority of it is common sense which is learnt whilst driving out and about.

I can't for the life of me remember the answers to the braking distance questions but I know when to brake in my car to make sure that I don't crash in different weather conditions.

Exactly. Its a catch 22.

[cisono]

People just dont know how to indicate. I think you should have to re-take your test if you're over 40. The bad habits of older drivers are just ridiculous.

I don't think it's an age thing. Many (young and less young) drivers don't indicate AT ALL.

[Edmund]

I don't think it's an age thing. Many (young and less young) drivers don't indicate AT ALL.

I do get angry when your waiting at some roundabouts and people ignorantly don't indicate when you still could have gone. It's more down to driving etiquette. I accidently did this the other night and wss met by a taxi driver shouting and gesturing at me.

[Guest]

If I had a pound for everytime a car with a "baby on board" sticker on it cut me up I'd be a rich man.

Those stickers should read "I am a twat with no thought and consideration for anyone else, and I am using my child as an excuse to do what the hell I please".

[act smiley]

Totally agree with this one! Hate ppl who do this..... why do they assume its ok to Q jump just because theyre in a bloody car!

Have seen a lot of lorries doing that recently - good for them.

People who dont know how to use traffic islands....... how difficult can it be to suss out if youre turning right, left or going straight over? GET IN THE RIGHT LANE!

Because often its not a queue, its merge-in-turn, where the idea is to keep all lanes moving until you're basically at the point where it narrows and merge accordingly. Its not rocket science, but its not queue-jumping either. While anyone who would pull out to get past and pull back in again is a bit of a dick, just staying in the lane till its near the end is what's in the highway code

[Hullfox]

What are they going to do about marital break-ups, redundancies, domestic rows, in-car blow jobs, head-searches for parking places, worry about hospital visits, people reading maps, newspapers or laptops on their passenger seat, cncern about the speech or lesson they're about to give, people with headache or flu or a hundred other things that might impair driving?

Not alcohol though eh?

[Hullfox]

I think you should have to re-take your test if you're over 40. The bad habits of older drivers are just ridiculous.

I've read some shit in my time (mostly when driving) but thats quite some shit.

[Thracian]

Not alcohol though eh?

Sometimes you show an obsessive nature.

Who's ever denied alcohol affects people? What you don't seem to accept is that - like many of the other things mentioned - it affects people to different degrees and, just like those other things, it's important that people are honest with themselves about how greatly they're affected.

I'm actually a better driver for having had a couple of pints and believe there's a logical psychological reason for that going way back to when I was a youngster.

In fact my greatest concern is not alcohol but fatigue because I start work so early, I'm on my feet all day, and by the end of the week I'm knackered.

But there's no specific punishment or social stigma attached to driving whilst tired is there? And yet I wouldn't be surprised if it's a far greater problem than alcohol, especially after all the anti-alcohol campaigning.

Times, for instance, I see truckers swerving all over the road especially in the early hours of the morning and, sometimes, even in the daytime. Very few truckers will have been drinking yet very few truckers seem to get stopped.

From the Ezine Articles site:

==================

Sleep apnea in truckers is a problem that has been kept under wraps from the general public for some time. Perhaps the fear of being terminated by their employers or not passing the Department of Transportation physicals has kept many truck drivers from admitting that they suffer from this serious medical condition.

In 2007, at a Mid-West Truckers Association convention, the results of a study were given revealing that 23% of truckers had fallen asleep at the wheel in the past year. Convention attendees laughed at that number because they knew the number was much higher, perhaps three times as much.

Various sleep disorder centers are now realizing what a danger sleep apnea in truckers is posing to the drivers themselves and the public at large. Help is being offered to those in the commercial trucking industry in a unique and creative way.

A company called Professional Drivers Medical Depots (PDMD) in Knoxville, Tennessee, founded by John McElligott, M.D., provides a much-needed solution to helping truck drivers with sleep apnea.

Realizing that drivers who are on the road all the time have difficulty accessing medical care, PDMD has worked in conjunction with local communities setting up satellite clinics located in travel centers. In short, medical clinics are set up at or near locations where truckers are known to stop and rest. Testing, diagnosis, and treatment are quick so there is no lost time on the road.

Another major obstacle is approximately one-third of truckers have no health insurance. PDMD also has addressed this challenge by offering limited benefit plans providing medical coverage to professional truck drivers at an affordable price.

Sleep apnea in truckers should not be viewed as a stigma. It should certainly not be ignored. This is a serious problem that affects us all, either directly or indirectly, and needs to be remedied. New solutions to the testing, diagnosis and treatment of patients suffering from sleep apnea, whose occupation puts them on the road every day, needs to be implemented across the country, not just by Professional Drivers Medical Depots.

The effects of sleep apnea, especially sleep apnea in truckers, has far-reaching implications in terms of loss of lives and putting people in danger on the roadways.

Sleep apnea is a serious medical condition that needs to be addressed immediately because it negatively impacts quality of life and significantly shortens one's lifespan.

[Hullfox]

Sometimes you show an obsessive nature.

Sometimes you bite waaaaay to easy.

[Thracian]

Sometimes you bite waaaaay to easy.

Now that I could agree with.