21% saying their father drove too fast.

[GJF]

Privateer wrote:

[classy56]

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


To old to die young.

[BoPeep]

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)

[GPS_fan]

[Border_Collie]

Anita wrote

[DennisN]

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

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

[mostdom]

[BoPeep]

[999tommo]

[DennisN]

[GPS_fan]

[Border_Collie]

[DennisN]

Well, anyway, I bought a new Mag-Lite to replace the one stolen with my CDs. Now we'll see who has right of way.
_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

[999tommo]

You'll be telling us you double-de-clutched next. I am old enough to know what that means
_________________
Tommo...

Regularly absent, but still here in spirit !

[DennisN]

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

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

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