DRIVING STANDARDS.

[pin]

Not really someone who believes in fate, you make your own luck with skill :blink:

[al4x]

Pin I'm guessing you've had some quick cars as I'm the same. faster cars mean you can overtake more safely and generally drive faster as you relax far more and are less frantic to overtake the car in front because you know you will be able to as soon as a gap appears. Thats why I've never felt the need to make dangerous last minute overtakes. I spent a couple of years doing 100K a year and that opens your eyes a bit, driving is all about awareness and judging what other people are going to do. What its not about is religiously watching your speedo the only reason to do this is to avoid being caught speeding, having said that its very rare I break 30 limits very rare I go over 95 on motorways but NSL open quiet roads are another thing.

[pin]

I had an exceptional teacher, and I have owned some tasty cars, over that now I think :blink:

[henry d]

Be truthful, how many times have you been overtaken in what you would consider to be dangerous or reckless circumstances - in between traffic bollards, over chevrons, on the inside of a slip road, round a roundabout or at a crossing? Hands up, I have overtaken people at all of these places - not out of rage or with a baseball cap on back to front but because purely I did not want to get stuck behind that Montego driver doing 29 mph even in the 40 mph break out.

 

 

:blink: Keep it up mate, you`ll keep me in business!

[Devon Fox]

It is funny how we preach gun laws, like whether a cert' is open etc etc, but we are willing to brake the laws of the road?

 

cars are far bigger killers thans guns in the UK.

 

Sorry Axe, didnt mean any offence!

 

Breaking the law is breaking the law, if you were involved in an accident because of speeding, and hauled up in court, and then went on to tell the judge " everyone else was doing it!" ... what would the judge say i wonder?

[Lurch]

So if your driving exactly to the speed limit how can you see the road? I mean you must be looking at the speedo all the time to make a statement like that surely.

 

So you can't tell the difference between 30mph and 35mph? I bet you can.

Anyway all this business about looking at the speedo all the time is a bit of a red herring, all that you need to do is check every now and then.

I'm like you though, 30 zones are a no go for speeding. NSL zones a different matter, but to be honest I don't speed much since I got the pickup.

[MC]

Sorry, but the speed limit is the law, i dont like the theory of 35 in a 30 etc, fine untill one of your kids are crippled or worse, god forbid.

 

Motorway congestion is actually caused by speeders, it is widely believed by ROSPA and various other road safety orginisations that if all traffic entering onto motorways adhered to the limits, congestion would be widely reduced.

With my current job, i am often treated as if i am a criminal by other motorist for sticking to speed limits, even though i have done many advanced driving tests, taken part and witnessed some horrific videos during speed awareness courses, and above all STICKING TO THE LAW!

 

People need to ask themselves, if you do 35 - 40 in a 30 zone, does that mean you will take a blind shot with a rifle at a set of eyes?, or risk shooting over the brow of a hill?, because its the same, you are playing percentages.

 

Any way i am skulking off to read the highway code, and get my name changed to Malcom!

 

 

What a complete load of pants,

 

Congestion on the motorway is caused by peoples inability to read the road. And road planners inability to plan road systems effectively. I would bet that more accidents are caused by slow drivers not using their mirrors properly.

 

When I was taught to drive (not pass a test) I was told to constantly be aware of what is going on either side of you and as far as you can see in front and behind.

 

I am quite often criticised by back seat drivers for not braking every time a set of red lights appear in front of me, but there is no need. I am fully aware of what is going on on the road far beyond the one car in front.

 

I do drive fast as well and I will admit to not sticking to the speed limits more often than not. I may well be breaking the law although I am sure that Mungler will tell you that the offence is being caught and I have held a clean licence for coming up to 20years.

 

As said I may well drive fast but I also drive safely.

[digger]

:blink:

The killer line is " beleived to be ", so they have no proof. Speeding leads to congestion ? Thats a new one. Surely morons staying in the middle lane when the inside is clear for miles cause more congetion ?

Toe down and up the inside, especially where the M25 is four lanes and some fool is in the third lane doing 57mph as he read this is the optimum speed for fuel economy.

I adhere to the speed limit in town but heading down the A21 on a dry clear morning I will criuse at 90.

So sue me

[dunganick]

Nick,

 

What is wrong with people in the inside lane using the middle one to overtake? That is after all what it is there for. I agree with you that the standard of driving is dreadful in this country but it is a bloody sight better than a lot of places.

 

sorry my point is that If i am in the middle lane doing 70 or less (as you get forced to, by the other traffic and constant cutting around) i have two lanes (outside and inside) to worry about coming into my lane, theres nothing wrong with either lanes doing this, simply that i personally would rather do the extra 15mph to sit in the outside lane and know that the only thing i have to worry about is traffic on my left filtering in. Not traffic on my left and right (if you get my jist) Less lanes to worry about, less chance of an accident.

 

Digger, the A21 is one of the few roads i drive where i never see any form of police car, marked or otherwise. Probably something to do with the lack of a police station in sevenoaks :blink:

[Devon Fox]

Attitude is definitely a problem on the roads, there is nothing anyone can do to change this, you carry on doing what you always do, but dont come on here crying when you get a nip in the post.

 

The law is the law, there is no debating it.

[LEFTY478]

Attitude is definitely a problem on the roads, there is nothing anyone can do to change this, you carry on doing what you always do, but dont come on here crying when you get a nip in the post.

 

The law is the law, there is no debating it.

 

So what do MPs' get paid £100k a year for?

[pin]

Attitude is definitely a problem on the roads, there is nothing anyone can do to change this, you carry on doing what you always do, but dont come on here crying when you get a nip in the post.

 

The law is the law, there is no debating it.

 

Who came on here crying? Must have missed that post.

[Devon Fox]

http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/ind...showtopic=36127 ..... here is one for you Pin.

[pin]

I was being funny on purpose, I didn't see that as crying, I saw that as asking for advice.

 

Honestly, throughout all this I have not seen him complain, be upset or do anything but face the music.

 

What else can you do?

 

"Crying" would have been "********, 3/6 ******* points wah wah it's not fair etc"

[SNAKEBITE]

I have only just got around to reading the replies to my topic!

All I can say is excellent range of replies and a good cross section of views.

 

Went out for a spot of shooting last night and had a wonderful drive through the country roads getting to the shoot, really enjoyed it. I do enjoy driving when there is little other traffic on the road and whilst I didn't speed I did manage a spot of "progressive driving" where I (safely!) straightened bends and accelerated and braked hard.

 

I think the secret is to enjoy driving when the circumstances safely permit it and just drive to arrive the rest of the time.

[Dr W]

Motorway congestion is actually caused by speeders, it is widely believed by ROSPA and various other road safety orginisations that if all traffic entering onto motorways adhered to the limits, congestion would be widely reduced.

 

I believe that the motorway congestion is not necessarily caused by speed but by people tail gating, thereby when one breaks the next person panics and breaks as well but a little harder then the next and the next etc until you have what I believe is called a ghost traffic jam usually in the inside lane.

 

If people would manage to keep a decent gap then the traffic would flow freely at speed and there would be less accidents. Read the road far ahead (and to the sides and rear) not just the next car in front.

 

There is however a real problem which I think is getting worse and worse which is not driving on the left until you need to overtake, how often do you see the middle lane empty for long stretches because no-one wants to get out of the fast lane in case they lose their spot (or something).

 

I drive fast but not excessively (usually around 90mph) on motorways but I always keep my eyes open and concentrate on what is happening around me and what the person who I'm passing might do, i.e is there a slow moving truck coming up so they will pull out so makes sense if I move out to the fast lane etc. It's just about reading the road.

[Mungler]

I ain't crying about nuffin.

 

Indeed, some medicine has arrived in the post and I have already signed and returned it "hands up".

[Devon Fox]

I have only just got around to reading the replies to my topic!

All I can say is excellent range of replies and a good cross section of views.

 

Went out for a spot of shooting last night and had a wonderful drive through the country roads getting to the shoot, really enjoyed it. I do enjoy driving when there is little other traffic on the road and whilst I didn't speed I did manage a spot of "progressive driving" where I (safely!) straightened bends and accelerated and braked hard.

 

I think the secret is to enjoy driving when the circumstances safely permit it and just drive to arrive the rest of the time.

 

Could not agree more!

 

There are many factors which result in Motorways clogging up, if people used lanes in the correct manor and obeyed limits it would definitely ease problems, the outside lane is not exclusive to the 80 - 90 and BMW 100mph club, they are as much an issue as the people that sit in the middle lane at slower speeds.

 

Anyway, its interesting to hear peoples views, i am always shocked by how otherwise law abiding people totally ignore the laws of the road, it is a strange one.

[SNAKEBITE]

I did find it interesting the point raised about people who drive "above the law" and people who preach 100% rigidity on gun handling/safety.

 

Is it a case that speeding is "tolerated" just as drink driving was "tolerated" 30 years ago?

[Pedro]

A whole new can of worms Snakebite. I think you're right though, and I daresay it wont be long before somebody raises the issue of fuel consumption and "carbon footprints".

I can see the future of big gas guzzlers already looking fragile. I even know a couple of blokes at work who are getting rid of their big 4 X 4s and opting for something cheaper and more economical, (although I appreciate Gordon Brown has had some influence ).

 

P.