Its hard being a passenger
Discussion
Being a passenger can be difficult sometimes, and its becoming even more difficult recently. My girlfriend has recently passed her driving test, and I find myself constantly biting my tongue to avoid a potentially volitile situation.
Yesterday she pulled up at the side of the road, well I say pulled up she stopped in the road. She was a good 16inch from the kerb but I couldn't point this out as she would take it as a personal attack and call me not nice names
I car share to work and find my car sharing buddy lacks the ability to change gear. He drives his Mondeo 1.8Td at 40mph in 3rd constantly (thats 3k rpm on a diesel) and on nurmous occations has driven around 8miles down the motorway at 75 in 4th. The car is screaming for mercy and I have no idea how he doesn't realise!
Can anybody else share some good experiances of being a passenger and witnessing incredabily poor driving?
Yesterday she pulled up at the side of the road, well I say pulled up she stopped in the road. She was a good 16inch from the kerb but I couldn't point this out as she would take it as a personal attack and call me not nice names
I car share to work and find my car sharing buddy lacks the ability to change gear. He drives his Mondeo 1.8Td at 40mph in 3rd constantly (thats 3k rpm on a diesel) and on nurmous occations has driven around 8miles down the motorway at 75 in 4th. The car is screaming for mercy and I have no idea how he doesn't realise!
Can anybody else share some good experiances of being a passenger and witnessing incredabily poor driving?
We had to drive from Edinburgh to Manchester to go on holiday; we took my car but my sister drove as she knows the road better. A good few times she was doing 70+ in 3rd or 4th and it was really winding me up 
Her excuse was "well I'm used to an automatic". Fine. Then pull the f
k over and let me drive so my car doesn't spew it's engine all over the M6 you bint. Turns out she's a MLM as well 
Her excuse was "well I'm used to an automatic". Fine. Then pull the fk over and let me drive so my car doesn't spew it's engine all over the M6 you bint. Turns out she's a MLM as well I lift share and it is a painful experience every single day. Recently he turned right unexpectedly and it was so violent my head smacked off the passenger window.
He slips the clutch on every gear change, almost stalls it every time he moves off, the brake and throttle are like on/off switches and he has no planning and observation.
Thank God I'm moving house soon which will mean I escape the daily torture and return to driving myself to work every day.
He slips the clutch on every gear change, almost stalls it every time he moves off, the brake and throttle are like on/off switches and he has no planning and observation.
Thank God I'm moving house soon which will mean I escape the daily torture and return to driving myself to work every day.
I don't mind being a passenger to be honest, some of my mates are nutters and drive Evo FQ400's and 911 Turbo's flat out everywhere and I much prefer that to the ones that now drive everywhere at 50mph in a diesel vw/audi on an A road simply because they are now aged 30 or over.
My girlfriend is a good little driver and I have no issues with her using my 911. Although I often say tongue in cheek stuff like "I'll drive because I want to get there today".
But other than that, no I don't mind being driven these days!
My girlfriend is a good little driver and I have no issues with her using my 911. Although I often say tongue in cheek stuff like "I'll drive because I want to get there today".
But other than that, no I don't mind being driven these days!
My ex used to test me sometimes, she was one of these people who will do 67mph on a motorway in the inside lane the whole dam time to be safe as the motorway is big an scary yet she was more than happy to blaze around 1.75 car wide country lanes at 50mph which i felt was highly inapproprate. Id get told off if i was cought checking the speedo...
dave
dave
Cannot stand being a passenger, unfortunaly due to a broken foot recently I've had no choice but to be driven around by the GF (In my car). Fortunaly the foot is almost better now so I feel I now can put some pointers across.
So far we've had words about:
Using the handbrake or footbrake instead of riding the clutch.
Doing more turns in the road rather than driving up and down kurbs.
Upcoming arguements are going to include:
Leaving more space to the car in front.
Using less revs when cold.
Leaving more space on the left (we've mounted a few kurbs when taking left turns recently).
She's taking years off the poor car.
So far we've had words about:
Using the handbrake or footbrake instead of riding the clutch.
Doing more turns in the road rather than driving up and down kurbs.
Upcoming arguements are going to include:
Leaving more space to the car in front.
Using less revs when cold.
Leaving more space on the left (we've mounted a few kurbs when taking left turns recently).
She's taking years off the poor car.
ADEuk said:
What winds me up as a passenger is drivers who insist on using the minimum amount of windscreen wipers when its raining. It's like the car will blow up if they put them on anything other than intermittant. Ejits
You would hate me! I have an odd ocd for using them as little as possible :P If its spitting were driving blind 
I'm glad I'm not the only one 
There are people that I don't mind driving with, but most people either worry or frustrate me. Slow reaction times and lack of observation both get me the most I think - people that just don't see hazards up ahead, or even red lights until the last second, and when something happens, like a car comes the other way in a thin country lane, there's a discernable pause before their foot moves from accelerator to brake.
I know people that do the wipers thing as well My Dad does it - the windscreen is almost impossible to see through before he'll switch the wipers on. Headlights as well - he just won't bother going to main beam unless he's absolutely sure he won't need dip again, we stay on dip for ages after passing another car.
Even if the basics are right, so many people seem to have the car all out of balance in the corners, and even increase steering lock whilst they accelerate and things like that. Some people I know actualy reach the limit of the front tyres without knowing or even tyring to drive fast, purely through their lack of balance of co-ordination of steering and accelerator.
Oh, and finally, there's un-revmatched gear changes. They make me cringe like someone singing a note out of tune.
There are people that I don't mind driving with, but most people either worry or frustrate me. Slow reaction times and lack of observation both get me the most I think - people that just don't see hazards up ahead, or even red lights until the last second, and when something happens, like a car comes the other way in a thin country lane, there's a discernable pause before their foot moves from accelerator to brake.I know people that do the wipers thing as well
My Dad does it - the windscreen is almost impossible to see through before he'll switch the wipers on. Headlights as well - he just won't bother going to main beam unless he's absolutely sure he won't need dip again, we stay on dip for ages after passing another car.Even if the basics are right, so many people seem to have the car all out of balance in the corners, and even increase steering lock whilst they accelerate and things like that. Some people I know actualy reach the limit of the front tyres without knowing or even tyring to drive fast, purely through their lack of balance of co-ordination of steering and accelerator.
Oh, and finally, there's un-revmatched gear changes. They make me cringe like someone singing a note out of tune.
StottyZr said:
ADEuk said:
What winds me up as a passenger is drivers who insist on using the minimum amount of windscreen wipers when its raining. It's like the car will blow up if they put them on anything other than intermittant. Ejits
You would hate me! I have an odd ocd for using them as little as possible :P If its spitting were driving blind In fact, all round I'm a pretty awful passenger. Find it very hard to relax, especially when it's a new driver; there's only one mate who had recently passed his test whose car I actually felt safe in. When the gf passes her test, I'm going to have to learn to keep my mouth very firmly shut
ADEuk said:
What winds me up as a passenger is drivers who insist on using the minimum amount of windscreen wipers when its raining. It's like the car will blow up if they put them on anything other than intermittant. Ejits
Hah, I get wound up by those who don't turn them off even though the blades are screeching across the dry screen - can't they hear that noise?RobM77 said:
when something happens, like a car comes the other way in a thin country lane, there's a discernable pause before their foot moves from accelerator to brake.
As a driver I have this issue, when passing a car on a country lane, the pause continues until after I've passed the car and reached a corner or hazard that REQUIRES me to brake.Always f
ks me right off when people in front slow to 10MPH to pass a car on a road that is wide enough....Sorry, rant over!
Edit, unless its a lane like this:
Edited by Petrolhead_Rich on Monday 20th September 13:05
Petrolhead_Rich said:
RobM77 said:
when something happens, like a car comes the other way in a thin country lane, there's a discernable pause before their foot moves from accelerator to brake.
As a driver I have this issue, when passing a car on a country lane, the pause continues until after I've passed the car and reached a corner or hazard that REQUIRES me to brake.Always f
ks me right off when people in front slow to 10MPH to pass a car on a road that is wide enough....Sorry, rant over!
In my parlance at least, anything wide enough for two cars to pass is not a country lane
The inability for two cars to pass is for me the very definition of a "country lane". The term "lane" refers to a stretch of road wide enough to drive down - so a "lane" is 6-8 foot wide, whether that lane be a third of a motorway, a half of a B, A or urban road, or indeed the whole road itself, at 6-8 feet across.
Edited by RobM77 on Monday 20th September 13:09
I am a terrible, terrible driver.
And an even worse passenger.
The clutch is not a switch. The brakes are not a switch. There is no need to sit at 30mph doing 3000rpm in 2nd, no it probably won't hurt the car but it uses more fuel. Aaargh that's a corner. Watch out they're going to pull out on you. Yes they will. See, I told you. Yes, I know it's tiny.
And an even worse passenger.
The clutch is not a switch. The brakes are not a switch. There is no need to sit at 30mph doing 3000rpm in 2nd, no it probably won't hurt the car but it uses more fuel. Aaargh that's a corner. Watch out they're going to pull out on you. Yes they will. See, I told you. Yes, I know it's tiny.
My OH is incapable of letting the clutch in gently in between gear changes.
She has a habit of dumping the clutch, resulting in a rather nasty thud from the drive train.
I thought that switching from a RWD BMW to a Golf would cure this, but evidently it hasn't.
And you have to know how bad it is, when you can hear the thud on a FWD car....
She also has a problem sticking to speed limits, and when I comment she just tries to ignore me.
On a positive note, after about 5 years, I finally managed to stop her from tailgating the car in front, and have also managed to encourage her to let people out of junctions instead of pretending they're not there.
So every cloud and all that....
That said, I'm sure my own driving is far from perfect.
She has a habit of dumping the clutch, resulting in a rather nasty thud from the drive train.
I thought that switching from a RWD BMW to a Golf would cure this, but evidently it hasn't.
And you have to know how bad it is, when you can hear the thud on a FWD car....
She also has a problem sticking to speed limits, and when I comment she just tries to ignore me.
On a positive note, after about 5 years, I finally managed to stop her from tailgating the car in front, and have also managed to encourage her to let people out of junctions instead of pretending they're not there.
So every cloud and all that....
That said, I'm sure my own driving is far from perfect.
Generally I'm a pretty bad passenger as well.
As mentioned, observation and reading the road are my biggest reasons to be terrified by someone else.
A friend of mine at work drove us up to Heathrow for a visit and his driving scared me; he wasn't a bad driver per se, but when approaching traffic on the motorway he would drop from 5th to 4th and then just keep his foot on the clutch?!
If the traffic hadn't really slowed, he'd then just put the car back into 5th and carry on...
He would also do this if the traffic slowed considerably, but go from 5th, through 4th and into 3rd and then hold the clutch in again before going back into 4th. I found it infuriating in the extreme and couldn't stand the lack of judgement!
As mentioned, observation and reading the road are my biggest reasons to be terrified by someone else.
A friend of mine at work drove us up to Heathrow for a visit and his driving scared me; he wasn't a bad driver per se, but when approaching traffic on the motorway he would drop from 5th to 4th and then just keep his foot on the clutch?!
If the traffic hadn't really slowed, he'd then just put the car back into 5th and carry on...
He would also do this if the traffic slowed considerably, but go from 5th, through 4th and into 3rd and then hold the clutch in again before going back into 4th. I found it infuriating in the extreme and couldn't stand the lack of judgement!
Thankfully it looks like I'm not the only passenger who spends most of the journey cringing then!
I lift share with two other guys. One of them has current shape Civic and drives very well. The other, on the other hand makes me want to die most of the time.
He drives a 2003 1.5dci clio at 80-90mph most of the way and constantly tries to put it in 6th gear! - only it has no 6th gear!!!! And what makes this even more infuriating is that we had to take the work pool car home the other day which is a decent mk5 golf tdi sport - which has a 6 speeed box. It was only after about 30 miles of A roads at 85-90mph that he realised there was more than 5 gears!!! aagghhhhh!!!!!
I lift share with two other guys. One of them has current shape Civic and drives very well. The other, on the other hand makes me want to die most of the time.
He drives a 2003 1.5dci clio at 80-90mph most of the way and constantly tries to put it in 6th gear! - only it has no 6th gear!!!! And what makes this even more infuriating is that we had to take the work pool car home the other day which is a decent mk5 golf tdi sport - which has a 6 speeed box. It was only after about 30 miles of A roads at 85-90mph that he realised there was more than 5 gears!!! aagghhhhh!!!!!
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