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One of the things that I have noticed in over ten years of driving a large 4x4 is that people seem to “take you on” more than if you’re driving a smaller car, generally when they are approaching you in the opposite direction and they overtake a parked vehicle on their side of the road, right in your oncoming path!
The trouble with Land Rovers, is that that the oncoming drivers see the vehicle, think its only a farmer plodding along and think they have more space than they otherwise might have to do the "dirty deed" - wrongly putting you at risk. _________________ TomTom Go 60
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Last edited by GJF on Fri May 25, 2007 12:23 pm; edited 1 time in total
I have to admit that my wife (known to me as, the leader of the opposition) is a very good driver.
She does however have one nemisis, and that is roundabouts, she just can't grasp the concept of them!
She will slow down when approaching them (quite rightly) but if there is nothing coming from the right for at least 2 miles she will still stop!
Then at a multilaned roundabout, she just won't stick to her own lane, she will just go where she wants and doesn't let things like other motorists right of way etc stand in her way
But hey, I still love her _________________ Tomtom Go730T
App 8.300
Map v815.2003
Joined: 14/03/2003 22:46:42 Posts: 953 Location: Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 1:33 pm Post subject:
OK, my thoughts on this thread…
In reply to GJF’s opening question: “Is this web site mainly dominated by us males trying to curb our speeding habits, or are there just as many women here too?”
I think the vast majority of active members on the forum are male, but I don’t think that the main reason for people’s visits here is to do with their speeding habits, it’s probably more to do with finding out about GPS and Sat Nav equipment in general, although I have no doubt that the availability of our speed camera database accounts for the registration of a lot of new members.
I was not really surprised to see that a higher percentage of children felt unsafe when their mother drove as opposed to their father. Not having children yet, I am basing my comments purely on assumption, so they may be totally wrong.
I would imagine that the majority of children have experience of their mothers driving them to places like school and shops, both situations where I know women are not in the best of moods. ;-) On the school run, there are a lot more potential dangers on the road (other children running out into the road without looking, cars parked dangerously on the side of the road) and also children in the back seat of a car on the way to school or a dreaded shopping trip are not a joy to behold. I would think that the mother has the added distraction of them arguing or fidgeting in the back and often turns around to scold them.
It may be a bit of a sexist point of view, but as I say, I can only speak from my own experience. Perhaps the only trips the children had with their father were more long distance trips or longer planned trips, such as days out or holidays. Perhaps they simply had more experience of driving with their mother, thus making it logical for them to experience a higher percentage of unsafe situations than with their father.
Again, possibly another sexist viewpoint, but I do find that males are often calmer than females (although not always in the case of road rage incidents) and their mood would obviously affect their driving style. I know that women are supposedly able to multi-task and men are not, but I think that men often find that driving with something else on their mind might not necessarily affect their concentration to the extent that it does their female counterparts. This is certainly true for the male/female couples that I know.
I myself am quite a nervous driver and only learnt to drive four years ago when I was 22 years old. It took a lot of persuasion from my boyfriend to even get me to start! I used to fear roundabouts with a passion as I was worried that I would not be able to judge correctly how fast the car to my right was travelling and pull out too soon. I avoided them for a long time but eventually realised that if I ever wanted to get anywhere, I would have to tackle them. I practised them regularly and now they are second nature to me.
I would like to say that after four years I am a confident and careful driver all of the time, but I know that would not be true. There are times when I, like everyone, lose my concentration for longer than I should or when I don’t feel confident enough to drive a certain route or handle a certain situation. I think that a lot of younger new drivers nowadays certainly do overestimate their competence and become cocky after passing their test rather than confident. Girls want to keep up with the boys and I think they see that driving recklessly gives them the same amount of ‘status’ amongst their friends as it does with males. This is quite sad really, as I wonder how much status the dead teenagers who drove recklessly really acquired with their friends.
See, I’m not on holiday, just monitoring from afar while trying to recover from a torn metacarpal. The Doctor said I mustn’t do too much typing… Whoops.
Regards,
Bo Peep. _________________ TomTom 730
HTC Desire - Co Pilot Live Premium (Europe)
Joined: Jan 04, 2007 Posts: 2789 Location: Hampshire, UK
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 1:43 pm Post subject:
classy56 wrote:
I have to admit that my wife (known to me as, the leader of the opposition) is a very good driver.
She does however have one nemisis, and that is roundabouts, she just can't grasp the concept of them!
She will slow down when approaching them (quite rightly) but if there is nothing coming from the right for at least 2 miles she will still stop!
I think I've come across your wife :D
Next time I experience a driver like this, I promise not to get annoyed - instead, I'll hold up my plackard saying "say hello to classy when you get home"
I must admit, though, that I prefer these drivers to those who approach a roundabout, begin to move off and then slam on the anchors.
Quote:
Then at a multilaned roundabout, she just won't stick to her own lane, she will just go where she wants and doesn't let things like other motorists right of way etc stand in her way
Do you have a sticker in your car saying "My other car's a dodgem!"
You have to be on the ball, but I guess that when you're approaching roundabouts or junctions, your foot should be on the brake rather than the throttle so it should be easier to brake a little harder.
It's a bit like the majority of people with "Baby on board" signs - this usually translates to "You should drive carefully and I'll drive as I choose" because most of them certainly don't drive in a way that indicates they're carrying a valuable or fragile cargo _________________ Andy
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Joined: Feb 01, 2006 Posts: 2543 Location: Rainham, Kent. England.
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 8:48 pm Post subject:
Anita wrote
Quote:
Nah! Too tired at the moment, having spent all day trying to coax reluctant wallpaper off the walls without taking all the plaster with it. (Any of you guys good at plastering and fancy a trip to sunny Sussex?)
I'm a few days in front of you then. Spent two days filling in all the digs and scrapes. Started painting the first wall and noticed many digs I hadn't filled in so out came the Polyfiller again. Second coat and yet more digs appeared. I've come to the conclusion it's not getting the paper off which causes the problem, it's the painting. If I offered to come to sunny Sussex to help it would be winter by the time I've finished.
Hint. Buy loads of shares in Polyfiller, their sales will definitely be up by the time I've finished.
Men v. Women drivers? Sit it a supermarket car park and observe.
I saw a programme on TV earlier where it stated 26% of accidents are caused by speed. So 74% are not due to speed. Therefore it is more dangerous to drive slowly. An old mate of mine had the attitude 'If I drive fast I would have passed the point where I would have had an accident had I been going slower'. Funnily enough he has never had an accident and it's coming up to 40 years since he passed his test. _________________ Formerly known as Lost_Property
And NO that's NOT me in the Avatar.
Joined: Feb 27, 2006 Posts: 14892 Location: Keynsham
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 9:22 pm Post subject:
Back from Cheam - so many posts to catch up with.
Three items on this thread then.
1. Bo Peep (and Anita) you missed a golden opportunity to really do some damage to all these blokes. Shame on you. And Bo Peep, where do you think you get off coming up with all that brilliant comment?
2. "baby on board" (and variations) signs. I heard the other day that emergency services personnel really hate these - they were originally intended to indicate to ES (in the circumstances of unconscious or dead driver) that there is a baby inside which they have to rescue - even smash their way in to get there fast. Nowadays it's just some prat who thinks it's cute to have a sign saying "princess on board"!
3. New "Off topic" a bit. Back in the days of the red flags when I learned to drive (6 lessons with BSM at £1 an hour, that's how long ago and we did hand signals), I was told two very important principles - Never do anything which causes any other road user to do anything which they would not have done if you hadn't done it (!) AND I was taught about "right of way". I recently heard some pompous fool saying that "right of way" is no longer a feature of driving, that there is no such thing. OK, call it road rules and regulations instead. The fact is that a frightening number of people seem to have no conception of either of these factors - the guy who pulls out to overtake as you approach is forcing you to slow down, when you wouldn't have done so otherwise. In snow or ice, he could cause you to crash. He's also failing in regard to right of way which is yours, not his. Yesterday a youngster with a car full of mates and another mate with car full behind (six inches behind, of course) did that to me and, all eight of them gave me the finger as they did so. The apparent abandonment of "right of way" is a bad thing - in order to exist in society we need rules, like don't kill, don't steal, drive on the left hand side of the road and don't pull out until your road ahead is clear. And help old men with magic teeth to cross the road. _________________ Dennis
...I was told two very important principles - Never do anything which causes any other road user to do anything which they would not have done if you hadn't done it (!) AND I was taught about "right of way"...
Oh do I agree with that! Try a journy around some of the less direct routes in london and you will find some quite narrow streets with some quite narrow minded users.
Right of way depends on how big, and how aggresive you are. And personal space means nothing. It's not tailgateing, it's use of available road. In london if you give an inch, you lose a mile!
I once had an argument with a london inhabitant who said you county yocals have no idea how to drive! He was refering to my insistant courtacy to other road users, failure to just shove my car into any non existant space, and my frustrating need to stay in just one lane.
HMMMMMM! _________________ Dom
HERE LIES PND May it rest in peace.
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Joined: 14/03/2003 22:46:42 Posts: 953 Location: Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 9:52 pm Post subject:
DennisN wrote:
And Bo Peep, where do you think you get off coming up with all that brilliant comment?
I'm very sorry, I won't be brilliant ever again. :-( ;-)
DennisN wrote:
2. "baby on board" (and variations) signs. I heard the other day that emergency services personnel really hate these - they were originally intended to indicate to ES (in the circumstances of unconscious or dead driver) that there is a baby inside which they have to rescue - even smash their way in to get there fast.
That's a very interesting fact - I never knew that. It makes a lot of sense.
Regards,
Bo Peep. _________________ TomTom 730
HTC Desire - Co Pilot Live Premium (Europe)
Joined: Feb 07, 2006 Posts: 616 Location: Midlothian
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 10:27 pm Post subject:
Lost_Property wrote:
I saw a programme on TV earlier where it stated 26% of accidents are caused by speed. So 74% are not due to speed. Therefore it is more dangerous to drive slowly.
And I read somewhere that 5% of serious or fatal accidents involve the consumption of alcohol......therefore 95% don't.
So lets all get rat-a**ed and race about like loons. It'll make the world a safer place. _________________ Tommo...
Joined: Feb 27, 2006 Posts: 14892 Location: Keynsham
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 10:39 pm Post subject:
mostdom wrote:
Oh do I agree with that! Try a journy around some of the less direct routes in london and you will find some quite narrow streets with some quite narrow minded users.
Ah, yes. Humble apologies. I won't go back and edit my post, I'll simply clarify it here - I should have equally defined my red flag and £1 a lesson days as "Before London was invented". There's always the exception to most rules.
I got hooted at (again) by a VW (again) today. It seemed I wasn't giving way to him cutting from lane three round the back and in front of me. Crummy K registered camper van with wife and tiny baby in the back. After he swung back round the outside and got ahead of me down the on-slip to M25, he continued for as long as I could see him, charging around all the lanes and cutting up everything in his path. I derived a small happy from gently passing him two miles up the road when he was boxed in the traffic jam by a couple of 40-tonners. _________________ Dennis
Joined: Jan 04, 2007 Posts: 2789 Location: Hampshire, UK
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 10:45 pm Post subject:
DennisN wrote:
I recently heard some pompous fool saying that "right of way" is no longer a feature of driving, that there is no such thing.
Yes, I heard something along these lines to...
...a learner driver told me that whilst he was being taught to drive, he was taught that when you drive down the slip road of a dual carriageway (or motorway), you drive off the slip road and "let the other traffic sort itself out"
How crazy is this _________________ Andy
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Joined: Feb 01, 2006 Posts: 2543 Location: Rainham, Kent. England.
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 11:02 pm Post subject:
Quote:
So lets all get rat-a**ed and race about like loons. It'll make the world a safer place
LP is TEETOTAL, so can't oblige there. If I blow into one of your breathalysers it would go bright green.:D
Quote:
Back in the days of the red flags when I learned to drive (6 lessons with BSM at £1 an hour, that's how long ago and we did hand signals),
And instructors told you to drive as if you had a glass of water on your bonnet and if the car in front was a brick wall, could you stop?, those were the days.
I was also amazed to hear people are no longer taught to use their gears when slowing for red traffic lights, they can stop in any gear. Back then we had to change down to third when approaching them, crossroads and passing a flaming black torch on a white background.
Nobody seems to have any time for anyone else these days with the. 'I'm alright Jack'. attitude.
A few days back I was about to go over a railway crossing but my exit was blocked, so I waited. I glanced in my rear view mirror and thought the 'bloke' behind was going to blow a gasket. The car in front moved forward and I went across, followed by 'dimwit' behind, who then found himself stuck on the crossing because I couldn't go any further forward.
He must have opened his side window because I heard him shout '(first word began with F) idiot'. So it was my fault then? _________________ Formerly known as Lost_Property
And NO that's NOT me in the Avatar.
Joined: Feb 27, 2006 Posts: 14892 Location: Keynsham
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 11:10 pm Post subject:
Yep, I double de-clutched - my first vehicle was a 1949 Jowett Bradford van with (proper!!!) glass windows in the back and an ex bus seat fixed to the wooden floor using pipe clamps and woodscrews! _________________ Dennis
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