Driving standards

[PhilJ W]

Same as trains, lorries have to keep to a very tight schedule. And what with driving hours limitations they can be very tight indeed.

[ejstubbs]

9 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Same as trains, lorries have to keep to a very tight schedule

 

Right, and no-one else on the roads is trying to meet a schedule, are they?  Everyone else is just out on a jolly...

 

Did someone mention something about considering things from other people's point of view?

[JDW]

Of course we should consider other people, so should lorry drivers, but from a car driver's perspective it's not always as easy as you might expect. For a slightly slower lorry, whose speed limiter is set at around 55 lets say, to slow down every time one with its liiter at 56 overtakes is just daft. It's like saying to a car driver they should slow every time someone catches up behind at "70" when they are also doing "70".
Heavy vehicles can be much more affected by gradients, there can easily be a significant difference in speed when one driver starts overtaking, but either he might lose speed while he's alongside, or the other start to gain it, and with something that big it's not as easy as with a car to just nip back in behind when you're already alongside. OK, there are some who are just daft with it, where plainly neither is going to give way, but often, it seems as much a lack of understanding on the part of other road users. Same as why (especially on HGVs) they appear to brake at odd moments - its often just the speed limiter cutting in when on cruise control.
It's massively easier for a car driver to slow and speed up again - and so often, I see car drivers zoom up to the back of an overtaking lorry and sit right behind. I often find that just knocking off my cruise control when I see him moving out far ahead will bleed off some speed and by the time I'm behind, he's almost past and I can carry on almost unhindered and stress free... 

[JDW]

On 23/12/2020 at 07:51, kevinlms said:

Some shops rightly take the view that if you're on your phone, then you aren't ready to be served.

 

They will move onto the next customer.

 

When I was a bus driver, on more than one occasion I asked people who came on and just gave me money while talking on their phone, or were at the front of the queue on their phone and not ready to pay, to stand aside and let others board while they finished their conversation. 

On the other hand, when I worked in a hotel, we were told that where possible if we were speaking to someone face to face and the phone rang, to excuse ourselves briefly and answer it, as the person in front of us can see and appreciate the situation, the one on the phone can't. You can then either quickly help them, or explain and call them back later.

[Enterprisingwestern]

5 hours ago, JDW said:

On the other hand, when I worked in a hotel, we were told that where possible if we were speaking to someone face to face and the phone rang, to excuse ourselves briefly and answer it, as the person in front of us can see and appreciate the situation, the one on the phone can't. You can then either quickly help them, or explain and call them back later.

 

Whilst the telephone is an unseeing eye as you say, IMHO, in that situation the caller is in the queue you are dealing with and should be treated as such..

When personally confronted with that scenario and the receptionist says excuse my whilst I answer the phone, I say no, you are dealing with me at the moment, although I must say that the phone is ignored in the majority of cases I have experienced, and the issue doesn't arise.

Similarly, if my mobile rings whilst I am talking to someone else, I ignore it out of common courtesy.

 

Mike.

[PhilJ W]

8 hours ago, JDW said:

It's massively easier for a car driver to slow and speed up again - and so often, I see car drivers zoom up to the back of an overtaking lorry and sit right behind. I often find that just knocking off my cruise control when I see him moving out far ahead will bleed off some speed and by the time I'm behind, he's almost past and I can carry on almost unhindered and stress free... 

Thats another thing that many drivers do not practice, anticipation. As you so rightly said by reading the road ahead you can keep up your pace without any stress. Many a time I have come across a car driver 'in a hurry', weaving in and out of traffic and tailgating anyone he considers to be in his way. I let these sort of drivers pass ASAP so that I can see them. Often when I do I can watch them for miles at a time and sometimes draw level or even pass them. 

[Reorte]

27 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I let these sort of drivers pass ASAP so that I can see them.

Always a good idea to let some drivers past you so that whatever stupidity they do next doesn't hit you!

[peanuts]

On 25/12/2020 at 09:23, PhilJ W said:

Thats another thing that many drivers do not practice, anticipation. As you so rightly said by reading the road ahead you can keep up your pace without any stress. Many a time I have come across a car driver 'in a hurry', weaving in and out of traffic and tailgating anyone he considers to be in his way. I let these sort of drivers pass ASAP so that I can see them. Often when I do I can watch them for miles at a time and sometimes draw level or even pass them. 

this the amount of drivers you see whos forward vision is no further than the back of the next car in front a bit of antisipation goes along way to a smooth journey 

[Titan]

On 17/12/2020 at 15:52, Compound2632 said:

 

Quite. The phone is the enemy of civility. I used to be quite offended by colleagues who would interrupt a discussion to answer the phone. The clear implication was that anybody was more important than the discussion with me.

 

I used that to my advantage.  I had an important/urgent, but short question to ask my boss that just required a yes/no answer. She was talking at length to someone else and ignoring me whilst I waited patiently.  So I went back to my desk and phoned her instead. Got an instant response and slightly annoyed answer straight away!

[boxbrownie]

On 25/12/2020 at 09:23, PhilJ W said:

Thats another thing that many drivers do not practice, anticipation. As you so rightly said by reading the road ahead you can keep up your pace without any stress. Many a time I have come across a car driver 'in a hurry', weaving in and out of traffic and tailgating anyone he considers to be in his way. I let these sort of drivers pass ASAP so that I can see them. Often when I do I can watch them for miles at a time and sometimes draw level or even pass them. 

Anyone who has driven a 2CV or Dyane for any length of time will learn flow driving very quickly indeed, anticipation is the key to nippy procedure.

[96701]

On 25/12/2020 at 00:55, JDW said:

Of course we should consider other people, so should lorry drivers, but from a car driver's perspective it's not always as easy as you might expect. For a slightly slower lorry, whose speed limiter is set at around 55 lets say, to slow down every time one with its liiter at 56 overtakes is just daft. It's like saying to a car driver they should slow every time someone catches up behind at "70" when they are also doing "70".
Heavy vehicles can be much more affected by gradients, there can easily be a significant difference in speed when one driver starts overtaking, but either he might lose speed while he's alongside, or the other start to gain it, and with something that big it's not as easy as with a car to just nip back in behind when you're already alongside. OK, there are some who are just daft with it, where plainly neither is going to give way, but often, it seems as much a lack of understanding on the part of other road users. Same as why (especially on HGVs) they appear to brake at odd moments - its often just the speed limiter cutting in when on cruise control.
It's massively easier for a car driver to slow and speed up again - and so often, I see car drivers zoom up to the back of an overtaking lorry and sit right behind. I often find that just knocking off my cruise control when I see him moving out far ahead will bleed off some speed and by the time I'm behind, he's almost past and I can carry on almost unhindered and stress free... 

Don't get me started on lorries on hills! One starts overtaking on the level at a rate of about 3 feet a minute. Hit the uphill. Overtaking lorry has more weight in, and the rate of overtake reduces slowly to zero and then reverses such that the overtaking lorry is now being overtaken by lorry in lane 1 at a rate of about 2 feet per minute. Now we reach the brow of the hill and begin to go down again. The lane 2 lorry now begins to speed up slightly faster than the lorry in lane 1, so begins to overtake again. 

 

Finally, the whole process is over after about 5 minutes. This might not seem long, but there is now a huge queue of vehicles behind the lorry in lane 2 which also traps people in lane 1 who are equally frustrated because their vehicles ranging from cars to 7.5 tonners can do more than 58mph but aren't allowed to because 2 lorry drivers think that their progress is far more important than anybody else's and are quite happy for many other people to be frustrated so long as they get where they need to be.  I consider that behaviour to be inconsiderate and arrogant.

 

[PhilJ W]

[kevinlms]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Perhaps, it's actually a good idea?

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Make them compulsory and instead of a trigger, maybe a knife blade? That would focus the drivers attention!

 

Mike.

[PhilJ W]

54 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Make them compulsory and instead of a trigger, maybe a knife blade? That would focus the drivers attention!

 

Mike.

A driver falling asleep is bad enough without one with his throat cut.

[boxbrownie]

4 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Make them compulsory and instead of a trigger, maybe a knife blade? That would focus the drivers attention!

 

Mike.

When working with airbags and hyge sled tests we always used to tell visiting VIPs the best driver alert system would be a 12” steel spike on the steering wheel boss........

[PhilJ W]

One unhappy insurance company:-

https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/maida-vale-driver-dodges-jail-after-chelsea-supercar-crash-6636942

[boxbrownie]

41 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

One unhappy insurance company:-

https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/maida-vale-driver-dodges-jail-after-chelsea-supercar-crash-6636942

Well this is really going to hurt him 

 

“Al Husseini will now live under a home curfew of 8pm-8am. He will pay a victim surcharge of £149“

[johnofwessex]

I fail to understand in cases like these why offenders are not given the same treatment as knife or firearm offender given the threat they oppose to others - that includes the methods used to stop them if needed

[raymw]

Of course, in a few years time, when all cars are electric, linked to 9G, 'they' will be easily able to identify erratically driven vehicles, bring them to a stop, and lock the occupants inside for a few weeks. Hope by then, the powers that be are still not talking about Netscape. Magic doesn't happen.

[PatB]

3 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

One unhappy insurance company:-

https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/maida-vale-driver-dodges-jail-after-chelsea-supercar-crash-6636942

The preceding car was going a bit too. Something else going on (racing? Road rage?) that's not mentioned in the commentary? 

[Grovenor]

It is mentioned, says he told the police he was chasing someone who he thought was involved in a collision!

[PhilJ W]

Apart from the ban he will also have to retake his driving test plus extras. Thats if he can get insurance, the insurance companies are not happy at forking out one third of a million.

[PatB]

14 minutes ago, Grovenor said:

It is mentioned, says he told the police he was chasing someone who he thought was involved in a collision!

Oops. Missed that bit when I speed-read the article. There's got to be a gag in there somewhere, but at 1.30am on New Year's Day, I'm in no state to find it. Happy New Year everyone. 

[Reorte]

3 hours ago, johnofwessex said:

I fail to understand in cases like these why offenders are not given the same treatment as knife or firearm offender given the threat they oppose to others - that includes the methods used to stop them if needed

 

Driving at that speed along a street like that really is about as reckless as firing a gun at random.