Driving to the letter of the highway code.....
Discussion
I've just come back from a week's holiday sightseeing various places around England and as I had the Mrs and the visiting in-laws in the car I decided to keep things nice and smooth and make each journey as comfortable as possible.
With this in mind and to satisfy a question I had running around in my head for a while; would driving to the letter of the highway code result in a safer and more satisfying journey?
To cut a long story short (and I can expend if you like in further replies), it resulted in no less than 3 separate road rage incidents directed at me and I lost count on how many times it resulted in agressive driving behaviour by other motorists.
Things like "only a fool breaks the two second rule", smooth acceleration from junctions/lights, stopping at lights as soon as they turn amber, waiting for the green light and not setting off on the amber, sticking to below the speed limits, keeping a constant speed on motorways, keeping two chevrons from the vehicle in front, waiting until there is sufficient gaps in traffic in order to pass cyclists to give them a car's width..... the list goes on and on.
They all seem to result in creating tension and aggression in other drivers towards oneself.
I invite you to try it for a period of time and see if you get similar results to me.
My experiment was over a 7 day period and took in a variety of roads, from small villages, to London streets and also various motorways and 'A' roads. Most of them at some point resulted in a driver displaying some sort of 'aggression' as I attempted to 'follow the rules'.
[[[ I can guess some of the replies to this thread may state that "you obviously were not following the highway code"..... my answer to that is that I invite you to try it and note how many times you get tail-gated, or have vehicles swerving around trying to get past or even the usual shake of heads and hand guestures ]]] .
It may be safer, going from my little experiment, to ignore a lot of the higway code in order to have a safer and more relaxing journey
With this in mind and to satisfy a question I had running around in my head for a while; would driving to the letter of the highway code result in a safer and more satisfying journey?
To cut a long story short (and I can expend if you like in further replies), it resulted in no less than 3 separate road rage incidents directed at me and I lost count on how many times it resulted in agressive driving behaviour by other motorists.
Things like "only a fool breaks the two second rule", smooth acceleration from junctions/lights, stopping at lights as soon as they turn amber, waiting for the green light and not setting off on the amber, sticking to below the speed limits, keeping a constant speed on motorways, keeping two chevrons from the vehicle in front, waiting until there is sufficient gaps in traffic in order to pass cyclists to give them a car's width..... the list goes on and on.
They all seem to result in creating tension and aggression in other drivers towards oneself.
I invite you to try it for a period of time and see if you get similar results to me.
My experiment was over a 7 day period and took in a variety of roads, from small villages, to London streets and also various motorways and 'A' roads. Most of them at some point resulted in a driver displaying some sort of 'aggression' as I attempted to 'follow the rules'.
[[[ I can guess some of the replies to this thread may state that "you obviously were not following the highway code"..... my answer to that is that I invite you to try it and note how many times you get tail-gated, or have vehicles swerving around trying to get past or even the usual shake of heads and hand guestures ]]] .
It may be safer, going from my little experiment, to ignore a lot of the higway code in order to have a safer and more relaxing journey
Ozzie Osmond said:
AJI said:
sticking to below the speed limits
Oh yes. How far "below"? No wonder you were popular!AJI said:
keeping a constant speed on motorways
Oh yes. One can only imagine which lane you were using.... To satisfy your 'poking' read 'below' as 68-69 on motorways or about 59 on 'A' roads or 29 on city roads where the relevant speed limits apply.
And also read which lane I was in as being in accordance with the highway code. ie. lane 2 or three when I was overtaking only.
Edited by AJI on Tuesday 30th July 00:03
AJI said:
Oh yes....typical finger pointing from the start I see...
To satisfy your 'poking' read 'below' as 68-69 on motorways or about 59 on 'A' roads or 29 on city roads where the relevant speed limits apply.
And also read which lane I was in as being in accordance with the highway code. ie. lane 2 or three when I was overtaking only.
To satisfy your 'poking' read 'below' as 68-69 on motorways or about 59 on 'A' roads or 29 on city roads where the relevant speed limits apply.
And also read which lane I was in as being in accordance with the highway code. ie. lane 2 or three when I was overtaking only.
AJI said:
Oh yes....typical finger pointing from the start I see...
To satisfy your 'poking' read 'below' as 68-69 on motorways or about 59 on 'A' roads or 29 on city roads where the relevant speed limits apply.
And also read which lane I was in as being in accordance with the highway code. ie. lane 2 or three when I was overtaking only.
do you mean you were in lane 2 but only used 3 to pass? or that you only used lane 2 and 3 to pass?To satisfy your 'poking' read 'below' as 68-69 on motorways or about 59 on 'A' roads or 29 on city roads where the relevant speed limits apply.
And also read which lane I was in as being in accordance with the highway code. ie. lane 2 or three when I was overtaking only.
AJI said:
I invite you to try it for a period of time and see if you get similar results to me.
To spare the aggravation, the alternative test is to drive on mainland western europe and witness far less aggression, less car snobbery and generally much more pleasant place to drive, shame about the trucks though.RockyLad said:
do you mean you were in lane 2 but only used 3 to pass? or that you only used lane 2 and 3 to pass?
It seems clear to me. But Im surprised he managed to overtake at all. the only way past middle lane hogs on UK motorways without going over the speed limit is to undertake in lane 1 Interesting.
I can't say I'm surprised, actually. If I think about it, sometimes it irks me if someone sits at lights all the way until they're green, despite being able to see that the opposites have gone red and thus knowing the change is imminent. I never show it outwardly or drive differently, but it does sometimes irritate me a bit, despite me knowing it's the correct thing to do. Same with sudden stoppers the moment a green goes amber.
I can imagine that if little things like that register with me as an annoyance, the vastly impatient general public could well get aggressive every now and then. Amazing how people act when they feel all safe and isolated in their cars.
I can't say I'm surprised, actually. If I think about it, sometimes it irks me if someone sits at lights all the way until they're green, despite being able to see that the opposites have gone red and thus knowing the change is imminent. I never show it outwardly or drive differently, but it does sometimes irritate me a bit, despite me knowing it's the correct thing to do. Same with sudden stoppers the moment a green goes amber.
I can imagine that if little things like that register with me as an annoyance, the vastly impatient general public could well get aggressive every now and then. Amazing how people act when they feel all safe and isolated in their cars.
Amazes me how impatient people are now when behind the wheel.
Many are quite happy to sacrifice safety to shave a second or two off their journey.
Mad IMHO, just chill out, take it in your stride & get there relaxed & in one piece.
It's quicker than walking & cheaper than public transport in most cases.
Many are quite happy to sacrifice safety to shave a second or two off their journey.
Mad IMHO, just chill out, take it in your stride & get there relaxed & in one piece.
It's quicker than walking & cheaper than public transport in most cases.
McSam said:
If I think about it, sometimes it irks me if someone sits at lights all the way until they're green, despite being able to see that the opposites have gone red and thus knowing the change is imminent.
Here lies one of the problems on the roads today. People are just looking to save their 10 seconds or so, or in this case, less than 2! It does fanscinate me what people will do to achieve the said 10 seconds, including pulling out in front of people at point-blank range, only to pull off a little way down the road, thus holding up the person they just caused to brake.robinessex said:
Re the highway code. A book of rules (with good intentions).
Thus:-
Rules
For the obedience of fools
The guidance of wise men.
Which of course, means all PH'rs !!!
Some of the highway code is just suggested as good driving practice but the majority are legally enforceable driving rules.Thus:-
Rules
For the obedience of fools
The guidance of wise men.
Which of course, means all PH'rs !!!
Kentish said:
Amazes me how impatient people are now when behind the wheel.
Many are quite happy to sacrifice safety to shave a second or two off their journey.
Mad IMHO, just chill out, take it in your stride & get there relaxed & in one piece.
It's quicker than walking & cheaper than public transport in most cases.
Amen, brother! I drive 40k + per year and have learned to relax and let the journey happen. As long as you set out with plenty of time to spare you will be fine.Many are quite happy to sacrifice safety to shave a second or two off their journey.
Mad IMHO, just chill out, take it in your stride & get there relaxed & in one piece.
It's quicker than walking & cheaper than public transport in most cases.
I currently commute 200 miles a day from home to work and back which covers the M11, M25 and the roads around Heathrow. Every day, without fail, there is a prang, MLM, aggressive trucker, 40mph old fudd in a Picanto and the uber aggressive speeder weaving in and out of lanes.
You will note I left out tailgaters because EVERYONE seems to do this now!
I let it all wash over me and think to myself 'Just let the impatient ones get on with it...as long as you give yourself plenty of space you will be fine.'.................until they pull in front of me and leave me no safe gap!
I drove Kettering-Norwich, Norwich-Ketting on Saturday sticking to the highway code. It seemed like every other drive I've done except without having to worry about speed traps.
I was in a Honda Civic, which might have an effect on the expectations of other drivers.
I prefer the much more jagged acceleration of slipping the clutch to get moving, then flooring it, with a pause for every gear change until I get to the limit.
I was in a Honda Civic, which might have an effect on the expectations of other drivers.
AJI said:
smooth acceleration from junctions/lights,
Is that in the highway code? I really must give it another read.I prefer the much more jagged acceleration of slipping the clutch to get moving, then flooring it, with a pause for every gear change until I get to the limit.
fatboy b said:
Here lies one of the problems on the roads today. People are just looking to save their 10 seconds or so, or in this case, less than 2! It does fanscinate me what people will do to achieve the said 10 seconds....
Conversely, everyone should try to keep traffic flowing where possible. People should be ready to move off briskly when the lights change to allow people behind the chance to get through, otherwise the 10 seconds for them means an unnecessary few minutes wait for those followingGassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff