One of my worst habits is...
Discussion
Probably staying in the middle lane too long when I've been overtaking a stream of traffic... I just forget I'm supposed to go back. Blasting round the country lanes of Carmarthenshire in second... I know there's no need, but it's fun. Being too hesitant about overtakes on single carriageways, and taking too long to assess lane changes on busy duals (but I'm working on those). Sonmetimes selecting the wrong gear on the approach to roundabouts or bends... sometimes too high but mostly lower than I need. I have promised myself a Ride Drive course to work on these.
My best habit is not cutting corners, it's something I've never done. And when I'm at a T junction waiting to turn right (so to the right of my lane), and someone comes along the road from my left and wants to turn right into my road, don't they see I'm there? Why do they start turning so early? What's wrong with turning squarer? I can understand cutting a corner when you can see it's clear, but why do it when there's someone there and you come within inches of their front bumper? D'oh. So I get intolerance too (often when following people up a hill who progressively slow down... it's a bloody hill mate, change down you plonker!). Actually a Turkish friend of mine said she learnt quite a lot of "idiomatic expressions" from being a passenger with me...
My best habit is not cutting corners, it's something I've never done. And when I'm at a T junction waiting to turn right (so to the right of my lane), and someone comes along the road from my left and wants to turn right into my road, don't they see I'm there? Why do they start turning so early? What's wrong with turning squarer? I can understand cutting a corner when you can see it's clear, but why do it when there's someone there and you come within inches of their front bumper? D'oh. So I get intolerance too (often when following people up a hill who progressively slow down... it's a bloody hill mate, change down you plonker!). Actually a Turkish friend of mine said she learnt quite a lot of "idiomatic expressions" from being a passenger with me...
Driving home last night I was given cause to think of this thread.
I actually had occasion to give a driver a brief "wake up" toot of the horn. Now for me that's highly unusual (normally I can't even remember what the horn of my own car sounds like) but it was an exceptional piece of stupidity.
In the excitement to pull out in front of me on a roundabout, another driver had found themselves heading straight into a van, and took avoiding action into the turnoff I was heading for. Now the sensible thing to do here is to take the hit, carry on down the junction and find somewhere to turn around in.
But no. The other driver decided to abort that and head back on to the roundabout. Having almost recovered from this almighty screw-up, they then were about to come to a stop across "my" exit. At that point I thought it was time to say, "Look, come on, there's a time and a place for making a ridiculous number of serial mistakes and this isn't it."
But, a few minutes later on a quiet side road, I ended up behind about five children on bikes weaving about all over the lane. Not safe to overtake due to traffic in the opposite direction and an upcoming traffic light junction, I had to keep a distance and trickle along behind on auto creep. They were paying more attention to three of them trying to get the other two to cycle on the pavement than where they were going, but as nothing seriously dangerous was happening I let it slide until they decided the pavement was a safer place to be.
That didn't bother me at all, despite wasting a lot more time (including having to wait an extra traffic light cycle) than the roundabout episode.
Therefore I conclude (by way of a long and pointless story) that my worst driving habit is intolerance for idiotic driving, but only from people who should know better.
I actually had occasion to give a driver a brief "wake up" toot of the horn. Now for me that's highly unusual (normally I can't even remember what the horn of my own car sounds like) but it was an exceptional piece of stupidity.
In the excitement to pull out in front of me on a roundabout, another driver had found themselves heading straight into a van, and took avoiding action into the turnoff I was heading for. Now the sensible thing to do here is to take the hit, carry on down the junction and find somewhere to turn around in.
But no. The other driver decided to abort that and head back on to the roundabout. Having almost recovered from this almighty screw-up, they then were about to come to a stop across "my" exit. At that point I thought it was time to say, "Look, come on, there's a time and a place for making a ridiculous number of serial mistakes and this isn't it."
But, a few minutes later on a quiet side road, I ended up behind about five children on bikes weaving about all over the lane. Not safe to overtake due to traffic in the opposite direction and an upcoming traffic light junction, I had to keep a distance and trickle along behind on auto creep. They were paying more attention to three of them trying to get the other two to cycle on the pavement than where they were going, but as nothing seriously dangerous was happening I let it slide until they decided the pavement was a safer place to be.
That didn't bother me at all, despite wasting a lot more time (including having to wait an extra traffic light cycle) than the roundabout episode.
Therefore I conclude (by way of a long and pointless story) that my worst driving habit is intolerance for idiotic driving, but only from people who should know better.
PS. It took our roundabout genius longer to mess around and create a situation pulling out in front of me, than it would have taken to pull out into the gap behind me. Slow clapping all round.
Undertaking MLMs while holding down the horn. It hints at the fact that if someone decides the rules don't apply, I decide that, for them, the same is true. I don't see this as a healthy way to drive.
The other would be making the brake lights come on while holding a constant speed to get someone off my arse.
The other would be making the brake lights come on while holding a constant speed to get someone off my arse.
RDE said:
Undertaking MLMs while holding down the horn. It hints at the fact that if someone decides the rules don't apply, I decide that, for them, the same is true. I don't see this as a healthy way to drive.
The other would be making the brake lights come on while holding a constant speed to get someone off my arse.
The other would be making the brake lights come on while holding a constant speed to get someone off my arse.
I do the same but not for MLM's mines to mobile phone users. As it really gets on my tits.
Gassing Station | Advanced Driving | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff