Getting it wrong

[blugnu]

oldcynic said:

blugnu said:

I also got involved in a very silly bit of driving somewhere north of Ullapool a long time ago - long story but ...

Very, very silly, but lesson learned. Let them go.

My brother let his common sense get the better of him when we were driving from Glasgow up through the highlands. He was in my S2 and was being tailgated by a Ford Galaxy up a long straight section (A82 I believe). Out of curiousity he accelerated to 70, still being tailed by the classic red-faced MPV driver. Up to 80 - Audi rock solid, MPV looking a little unsettled. Up to 90 - Audi starting to feel the uneven surface, MPV bouncing all over the place. He dropped back to 60 for everyone's safety, and watched a white-faced family pass him at 90 or so.

He saw the same driver again a few miles on, taking a break from driving and chatting to a uniformed friend. Sometimes being in front just isn't worth the risk, or the licence.

Absolutely - mine was a somewhat faster - utterly ludicrous no matter how you look at it, especially given it was a fairly lumpy, narrow non-dualled A road (I think it was the A894 - was a long time ago now) The car felt fine because the road curves rather than bends, but the margins were far, far too small for the public road. I don't think I'd even take those risks on a track now I have a family.

Even going a bit over the limit, which we all do on occasion if the conditions suit, it's best to have a decoy to spring any traps though

[Art0ir]

Few near misses when I got the first BMW especially coming off roundabouts. Over corrected late one night and mounted the grass verge in the middle of the dual carriageway and against my better judgement I panicked and put the anchors on. Felt like I was never going to stop sliding towards the oncoming lanes.

The 330ci is like a twisted version of Herbie. Tons of grip from the 255 tyres right up until the point where the back end just snaps and tries to kill you.

[Art0ir]

Few near misses when I got the first BMW especially coming off roundabouts. Over corrected late one night and mounted the grass verge in the middle of the dual carriageway and against my better judgement I panicked and put the anchors on. Felt like I was never going to stop sliding towards the oncoming lanes.

The 330ci is like a twisted version of Herbie. Tons of grip from the 255 tyres right up until the point where the back end just snaps and tries to kill you.

[Urban Sports]

I never get it wrong, it's always the cars fault, stupid thing for always wanting to go from mild unfersteer to savage oversteer in an instant

[vit4]

I had a reminder a few weeks ago in the damp. On my way to work in the small hours of the morning, not as early as I normally aim for so was a bit conscious of time. The road's tricky to describe, but on the exit before the Limehouse link tunnel I have to turn right around onto the other carriageway. There are traffic lights around the 'hairpin'. The lights turned amber while I was still a good five seconds away, I dropped a gear and floored it before thinking that it was ridiculous and I wasn't going to make it before the lights turned red, so I slammed on the brakes. I was going a hell of a lot faster than I realised and locked the wheels in the damp. With the lights now well-and-truly red and a set of railings approaching I realised the only way out of a smack was to try to take the corner. Luckily enough nothing was at the lights pulling away, so I let off the brakes and just about clung on around the corner missing the kerb by inches. Very lucky nothing was coming the other way, otherwise I would've had to ditch it into the railings or be T-boned

A bloody good reminder that I can't bend the laws of physics. It wasn't something I'd made a habit of before and not something I'll be risking again.

[Urban Sports]

iPhone always gets it wrong.

[Yachtworker]

tyranical said:

clarkmagpie said:

I have found that when I first passed my test I took the greatest risks in my little MG Metro, carried out overtakes I wouldnt contemplate these days.

Got lucky a few times.

Maybe it's the fact that the Griff is effortless.
I knoow that I dont trust the Elise in the same way.
Very wary of pulling off overtakes in that.

Similar to me.

My first car was a citroen saxo, I look back now at some places I used to overtake and I wouldn't do it now in a car with 3 times the power so god knows why or how I did it back then in a 60bhp tin can.

I had this exact conversation with myself the other day, I was driving quite a pokey Astra GTC hire car on the roads I grew up on, and where I had a Moggy 1000 as a first car. Needless to say the Astra had hugely improved dynamics & power, but I could not see my way past cars that I knew I had taken at similar speeds in the Morris. One of the only things I could come up ith is that when I was 17 in 1992 cars were narrower and thus one felt there was more room on a Cornish lane??? That and the prowess of the Morris, which are actually very good cars and you learn a lot from that 1098cc rear drive, pram wheel set up.

[CraigyMc]

I had an old couple walk in front of me the other day on the exit of a roundabout.

I stopped in time - barely. Old bloke kept walking. His missus just stood in front of the car and pooed herself.


To be honest, I don't believe I was in the wrong on it, but I could have been going slower in the first place - I just never expected someone to step into the road in front of me.

C

[irocfan]

Tribal Chestnut said:

A lex said:

I scared someones Granny, shame on me.

On the other hand, hopefully she is now aware of the danger that she put herself in, so should be a little more cautious next time. You might have saved her life...

This ^^^ stopping and apologising only makes them feel they are in the right with possibly tragic consequences next time. Console yourself with the thought you may well have saved some-one's sanity (and OAP's life) at some future point

[jatinder]

Six Fiend said:

We are human and we make mistakes. I did recently and got away with what, by advanced standards, was an utter shocker but something I see other people do a lot. Nobody flashed, swerved, braked or hooted but I knew I had ballsed up.

It rattled me.

I played it back in my mind several times to work out where I'd made the mistake which put me in the situation.
It was simple - being impatient.

That led me to going for too big an overtake and not asking myself my usual check question on top of all the others - what if I meet myself coming the other way? (someone driving in the same manner).
Felt a total tt for days. Have been far more considered since.

Learn and improve.

Did the same thing, for some reason or the other didn't change up a gear I just froze, made it past the coach and car.

learnt a lot that day!