Dr Local's driving clinic
Discussion
After the debate on how to attract more people to advanced driving, especially more enthusiastic and/or younger drivers, it was suggested that posting your mistakes in this forum can be a little intimidating.
To redress that, I've started this thread with a view to inviting people to share driving situations which have gone wrong, and ask what they could have done to avoid it.
The overriding consideration I'd like people to make before they reply to any questions is that we should try to answer without being patronising, without calling anyone an idiot, and without tying to be big-headed about our own skills.
Constructive criticism only please people!
Dr Local's driving clinic is now open and accepting new patients.
To redress that, I've started this thread with a view to inviting people to share driving situations which have gone wrong, and ask what they could have done to avoid it.
The overriding consideration I'd like people to make before they reply to any questions is that we should try to answer without being patronising, without calling anyone an idiot, and without tying to be big-headed about our own skills.
Constructive criticism only please people!
Dr Local's driving clinic is now open and accepting new patients.
OK, I'll kick off with a rather embarrassing tale of a public 
up in the town centre.
Here's the scene: I'm turning left onto the high street. Approximately 50 metres from the junction (in my direction of travel) is a pelican crossing with, helpfully, a luton van parked on the zigzags on the other side of the road but on the side of the crossing closest to me. It's 4.30 in the afternoon and it's busy, so uber-caution is required in this bustling market town with cars, bikes and pedestrians everywhere.
My side of the road is clear and the light is green. Now, I can't see the far side of the crossing because the van's obscuring it, so a pedestrian could fling themselves under my wheels at any moment. I proceed very gingerly. Too gingerly for some, it would seem, because a car coming the other way has decided that he can get past the luton van. I have no escape route to my left - parked cars and pedestrians. I am just about alongside the van, so in theory have right of way (and was here when Cap'n Banzai made his move). It's clear that if I don't do something, I'm going to be in a big annoying head-on, so I quickly do a mirror check, it's clear, and whack my car into reverse and back up 5 or 10 metres.
Which was unlucky for the chap turning left out of the side-road I'd just left, because Rover build-quality foglight met BMW build-quality rear bumper with Hilarious Consequences.
In any event, I paid the guy for his foglight on the basis that going backwards on a main road isn't exactly Roadcraft. That, and driving a dark blue Rover ZT is punishment enough.
Was I a victim of circumstance? Did I it up?
up in the town centre. Here's the scene: I'm turning left onto the high street. Approximately 50 metres from the junction (in my direction of travel) is a pelican crossing with, helpfully, a luton van parked on the zigzags on the other side of the road but on the side of the crossing closest to me. It's 4.30 in the afternoon and it's busy, so uber-caution is required in this bustling market town with cars, bikes and pedestrians everywhere.
My side of the road is clear and the light is green. Now, I can't see the far side of the crossing because the van's obscuring it, so a pedestrian could fling themselves under my wheels at any moment. I proceed very gingerly. Too gingerly for some, it would seem, because a car coming the other way has decided that he can get past the luton van. I have no escape route to my left - parked cars and pedestrians. I am just about alongside the van, so in theory have right of way (and was here when Cap'n Banzai made his move). It's clear that if I don't do something, I'm going to be in a big annoying head-on, so I quickly do a mirror check, it's clear, and whack my car into reverse and back up 5 or 10 metres.
Which was unlucky for the chap turning left out of the side-road I'd just left, because Rover build-quality foglight met BMW build-quality rear bumper with Hilarious Consequences.
In any event, I paid the guy for his foglight on the basis that going backwards on a main road isn't exactly Roadcraft. That, and driving a dark blue Rover ZT is punishment enough.
Was I a victim of circumstance? Did I
it up?I think you've made some assumptions which probably made things worse. The biggest of which was probably this...
The highway code doesn't talk about "right of way", because the term implies some sort of legal requirement to afford precidence. What it does mention regularly is "priority", as in "if parked cars are on your side of the road, you should give priority to on-coming vehicles". The key word in that sentance being "should" rather than "must".
This means that, although you might think (quite rightly sometimes), that there is a moral obligation for the on-coming car in your situation to give you priority, your assumption has no basis in law, and is only that - an assumption.
You've also gone wrong in one other fundamental way - your attention in that situation has, quite correctly, been on whether any un-sighted pedestrian will cross from the offside. Unfortunately, whilst concentrating on this, you've probably neglected to think about the other possible consequence of a vehicle parked on the offside, which is that on-coming vehicles will have to come onto your side of the road in order to pass it. I try to get people to look at the bigger picture in situations like this - don't just concentrate on the most obvious hazard, but think about what else might happen, and never assume that other drivers will do what the should do. THere's plenty of drivers out there who don't even do what they must do, let alone what they should.
I don't think I need to mention where you went wrong with the reversing though, as you've identified that yourself.
CommanderJameson said:
I am just about alongside the van, so in theory have right of way
The highway code doesn't talk about "right of way", because the term implies some sort of legal requirement to afford precidence. What it does mention regularly is "priority", as in "if parked cars are on your side of the road, you should give priority to on-coming vehicles". The key word in that sentance being "should" rather than "must".
This means that, although you might think (quite rightly sometimes), that there is a moral obligation for the on-coming car in your situation to give you priority, your assumption has no basis in law, and is only that - an assumption.
You've also gone wrong in one other fundamental way - your attention in that situation has, quite correctly, been on whether any un-sighted pedestrian will cross from the offside. Unfortunately, whilst concentrating on this, you've probably neglected to think about the other possible consequence of a vehicle parked on the offside, which is that on-coming vehicles will have to come onto your side of the road in order to pass it. I try to get people to look at the bigger picture in situations like this - don't just concentrate on the most obvious hazard, but think about what else might happen, and never assume that other drivers will do what the should do. THere's plenty of drivers out there who don't even do what they must do, let alone what they should.
I don't think I need to mention where you went wrong with the reversing though, as you've identified that yourself.
By no means an advanced driver then or now, this was my big wake-up call and inevitable "first accident".
I had driven back from Stoke to Portsmouth after a family funeral. Had left the house keys with a mate on the other side of town so had to go and pick them up because we couldnt find ours - so tired and irritable nad its about 12 oclock. Not a good combination. Anyway, decided to leave the Mrs in the nice warm car and take my P & J at the time (New MINI Cooper) instead.
Literally 2 streets away I was at a crossroads, myself attempting to turn left onto the main road. Acroos from me was a group of young lads chatting to a blue Fiat Punto. As I look to pull out the Punto pulls out too - hes not indicating - so i carry on. Its one of those side roads that you can't get into if theres a car pulling out so i carry on and start to accelerate gently so he can get into my road. At this point he decides to turn right and pulls alongside me. I have nowhere to go and suddenly see the dark grey cavalier parked up on the double yellows about 2 car lengths on my side facing me. Punto on my right. It happened so quick to this day i still don't know if I consciously went for the gap or just didn't see the parked car or was I forced over, until too late. I clipped corner to corner with the parked car at about 20 mph
. Punto speeds off. Women in kebab shop comes out and goes mental. Thankfully she was told by the shop owner that he saw what happened and agreed I hadnt been being a tw#t. Exchanged details etc.
Went straight home after pulling out the bonnet over the wheel arch so i could drive, gutted to find that the Mrs had found the spare Keys (slaps head).
What made it worse was i was one week from getting 2 years NCB, and had just ordered my works S and paid the hefty deposit. She had a courtesy car etc etc on a £100 cavalier. Cost me a fortune in insurance and pride.
Oooh its like soul bearing or being at the car crash Psychiatrist
I had driven back from Stoke to Portsmouth after a family funeral. Had left the house keys with a mate on the other side of town so had to go and pick them up because we couldnt find ours - so tired and irritable nad its about 12 oclock. Not a good combination. Anyway, decided to leave the Mrs in the nice warm car and take my P & J at the time (New MINI Cooper) instead.
Literally 2 streets away I was at a crossroads, myself attempting to turn left onto the main road. Acroos from me was a group of young lads chatting to a blue Fiat Punto. As I look to pull out the Punto pulls out too - hes not indicating - so i carry on. Its one of those side roads that you can't get into if theres a car pulling out so i carry on and start to accelerate gently so he can get into my road. At this point he decides to turn right and pulls alongside me. I have nowhere to go and suddenly see the dark grey cavalier parked up on the double yellows about 2 car lengths on my side facing me. Punto on my right. It happened so quick to this day i still don't know if I consciously went for the gap or just didn't see the parked car or was I forced over, until too late. I clipped corner to corner with the parked car at about 20 mph
. Punto speeds off. Women in kebab shop comes out and goes mental. Thankfully she was told by the shop owner that he saw what happened and agreed I hadnt been being a tw#t. Exchanged details etc. Went straight home after pulling out the bonnet over the wheel arch so i could drive, gutted to find that the Mrs had found the spare Keys (slaps head).
What made it worse was i was one week from getting 2 years NCB, and had just ordered my works S and paid the hefty deposit. She had a courtesy car etc etc on a £100 cavalier. Cost me a fortune in insurance and pride.
Oooh its like soul bearing or being at the car crash Psychiatrist
hobzy said:
Oooh its like soul bearing or being at the car crash Psychiatrist
I think the root of your problem goes back to your childhood. Now, tell me about your relationship with your mother.
Actually, it's easy to pick out the relevent points from your posts which let up to your bump. They are...
"young lads"
"Fiat Punto"
And
"suddenly see the dark grey cavalier"
The accident wasn't really your fault, but it doesn't really matter who's at fault when your car is damaged, does it?
Be very careful with young drivers who are with their friends. Young male drivers tend to show off to other young males, so in the situation you describe, I'd be expecting some kind of wheelspin / handbrake shenanegens at some point. Although there's no excuse for the way in which he pulled out, a young lad in a Fiat Punto, talking to some mates would always ring alarm bells with me, as I'm sure it does now with you.
As for suddenly seeing the Cavalier - ok, it shouldn't have been parked on the yellow lines, but when you look left and right at a junction, don't just look for moving vehicles - the stationary ones are just as important.
R_U_LOCAL said:
I think you've made some assumptions which probably made things worse. The biggest of which was probably this...
The highway code doesn't talk about "right of way", because the term implies some sort of legal requirement to afford precidence. What it does mention regularly is "priority", as in "if parked cars are on your side of the road, you should give priority to on-coming vehicles". The key word in that sentance being "should" rather than "must".
This means that, although you might think (quite rightly sometimes), that there is a moral obligation for the on-coming car in your situation to give you priority, your assumption has no basis in law, and is only that - an assumption.
You've also gone wrong in one other fundamental way - your attention in that situation has, quite correctly, been on whether any un-sighted pedestrian will cross from the offside. Unfortunately, whilst concentrating on this, you've probably neglected to think about the other possible consequence of a vehicle parked on the offside, which is that on-coming vehicles will have to come onto your side of the road in order to pass it. I try to get people to look at the bigger picture in situations like this - don't just concentrate on the most obvious hazard, but think about what else might happen, and never assume that other drivers will do what the should do. THere's plenty of drivers out there who don't even do what they must do, let alone what they should.
I don't think I need to mention where you went wrong with the reversing though, as you've identified that yourself.
CommanderJameson said:
I am just about alongside the van, so in theory have right of way
The highway code doesn't talk about "right of way", because the term implies some sort of legal requirement to afford precidence. What it does mention regularly is "priority", as in "if parked cars are on your side of the road, you should give priority to on-coming vehicles". The key word in that sentance being "should" rather than "must".
This means that, although you might think (quite rightly sometimes), that there is a moral obligation for the on-coming car in your situation to give you priority, your assumption has no basis in law, and is only that - an assumption.
You've also gone wrong in one other fundamental way - your attention in that situation has, quite correctly, been on whether any un-sighted pedestrian will cross from the offside. Unfortunately, whilst concentrating on this, you've probably neglected to think about the other possible consequence of a vehicle parked on the offside, which is that on-coming vehicles will have to come onto your side of the road in order to pass it. I try to get people to look at the bigger picture in situations like this - don't just concentrate on the most obvious hazard, but think about what else might happen, and never assume that other drivers will do what the should do. THere's plenty of drivers out there who don't even do what they must do, let alone what they should.
I don't think I need to mention where you went wrong with the reversing though, as you've identified that yourself.
You've confirmed what I thought - that I made a total mess of the situation - but have given me a couple of important observational pointers.
Ta muchly - your time and effort is appreciated.
This took place a long time ago but I've never forgotten it! Driving from Middlesbrough to Whitby at Easter in my Alfasud with wife and parents, it starts to snow. While heavy, the flakes are wet and as we climb the hill onto the moors I test the traction by booting it in 2nd, trying, but failing, to provoke wheel spin. Over the brow of the hill, the road is gently downhill with a very slight curve right. I can see several "parked" cars and people milling around around 150yds ahead. To this day I can't remember if I braked but I certainly lifted off the throttle. Whichever, too late I discovered that, on this more exposed side of the hill the surface was sheet ice and there was absolutely nothing I could do to steer or brake and the car simply followed the camber, towards the three "parked" cars that had got there before me. I glanced off one of them just as an elderly lady was climbing out and carried on another 100yds or so before I could stop. Walked back to investigate the damage, especially to the person who had been getting out, provide assistance, swap details etc. The road was so icy it was difficult to stand and, stupidly enough, we put ourselves in the way of the next car, which struck my wife. Nothing broken but severe bruising and a lot of pain! The lady who had been climbing out of the car I struck had a broken leg.
We carried on in our damaged but driveable car to get my wife to hospital, following which we reported to the local police station. Turned out their car had gone off the road as well trying to reach our accident.
The lesson of all this, of course, is that road conditions can change abruptly, especially where the weather is marginal. Since then I've always been aware of factors such as altitude, shade, wind and the possibility that a road over a bridge could be icy when the rest of the road is OK.
We carried on in our damaged but driveable car to get my wife to hospital, following which we reported to the local police station. Turned out their car had gone off the road as well trying to reach our accident.
The lesson of all this, of course, is that road conditions can change abruptly, especially where the weather is marginal. Since then I've always been aware of factors such as altitude, shade, wind and the possibility that a road over a bridge could be icy when the rest of the road is OK.
an almighty drivers' day f'up today. Was out today driving a friend's race caterham (on/off engine, seq box etc) behind the friend's friend's f testarossa. At the end of a dc approaching a roundabout in rh lane Testarossa and caterham stop and van in lh lane parks himself in the back of the car in front, clearly in awe of the cars next to him. Big bang ouch. Clearly he was taken with us.
Was that to do with us, or not? Any action we should have taken?
Bert
Was that to do with us, or not? Any action we should have taken?
Bert
gdaybruce said:
The lesson of all this, of course, is that road conditions can change abruptly, especially where the weather is marginal. Since then I've always been aware of factors such as altitude, shade, wind and the possibility that a road over a bridge could be icy when the rest of the road is OK.
There's not a lot you can do about sheet ice other than spot it before it's too late. Once you're sliding along on it, brakes locked, I'm afraid you're in the lap of the gods until you either hit something solid or regain some grip.
One interesting aspect of your post though - a Traffic Officers first priority at the scene of any accident is to make sure no further accidents occur. That's why you'll see traffic bobbies arrive at accidents and start putting signs, cones etc out before they even check on the condition of casualties. The last thing we want is a further accident occurring after we've arrived on scene. It's embarassing, time consuming, potentially dangerous, and generates a lot more paperwork.
So, if you're ever unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident, make this your first priority. Get everyone somewhere safe if you can and try to warn other traffic, without putting yourself at risk.
bertbert said:
an almighty drivers' day f'up today. Was out today driving a friend's race caterham (on/off engine, seq box etc) behind the friend's friend's f testarossa. At the end of a dc approaching a roundabout in rh lane Testarossa and caterham stop and van in lh lane parks himself in the back of the car in front, clearly in awe of the cars next to him. Big bang ouch. Clearly he was taken with us.
Was that to do with us, or not? Any action we should have taken?
Bert
Was that to do with us, or not? Any action we should have taken?
Bert
Sounds like a fun day out! Give me a shout next time and I'll see if I can keep up.
I've been in situations like this - I've seen a few people have accidents either as a result of trying to get out of my way when I'm on a blue light run, or out of sheer dopey rubberneckedness, staring at the Police car with the nice flashy lights. Unfortunately, they count as Police vehicle accidents, and have to be reported as such, even though the Police driver may not have been involved or at fault in any way.
I can't think of anything you could have done to have prevented this particular driver's dozyburkedness, other than go out in some less conspicuous cars, but that wouldn't be any fun, would it?
I have a little question for you Reg. It happened this morning along a section of single carriageway. I was following a queue of around 6-7 vehicles, who were following a transit pulling a snack wagon at about 35-40mph. Speed limit was 60mph.
I saw an overtake so moved out and passed some of the queue. Around the next series of corners I saw an oncoming car (some way away) so I tucked into a reasonable sized gap in front of a pickup truck. This was all in plenty of time. Nothing was hurried or aggressive and nobody had to react/brake to accommodate me.
Well, the pickup driver went berzerk! He moved to an inch from my bumper, weaving behind me and waving his arms about. The road then opened up and I overtook the rest of the vehicles.
Firstly, what did I do wrong? Secondly, do you find this happen when you are making progress?
I saw an overtake so moved out and passed some of the queue. Around the next series of corners I saw an oncoming car (some way away) so I tucked into a reasonable sized gap in front of a pickup truck. This was all in plenty of time. Nothing was hurried or aggressive and nobody had to react/brake to accommodate me.
Well, the pickup driver went berzerk! He moved to an inch from my bumper, weaving behind me and waving his arms about. The road then opened up and I overtook the rest of the vehicles.
Firstly, what did I do wrong? Secondly, do you find this happen when you are making progress?
I was once driving along a "fast" A road in North Wales, which was nice and straight, but had several hidden dips. There was also the "shimmery" heat haze/water mirage thing going on.
I decided to go for an overtake, but hadn't looked properly, and hadn't realised how deep the dip was, and that there was a bit of a blind spot in the trough... which was effectively hiding the car heading towards me (I was on the offside for the overtake, so in his lane).
I'm led to believe that this manoeuvre has been described as "that suicidal fcuking overtake in North Wales"...
It took the wind out of my sails for a couple of days...
I decided to go for an overtake, but hadn't looked properly, and hadn't realised how deep the dip was, and that there was a bit of a blind spot in the trough... which was effectively hiding the car heading towards me (I was on the offside for the overtake, so in his lane).
I'm led to believe that this manoeuvre has been described as "that suicidal fcuking overtake in North Wales"...
It took the wind out of my sails for a couple of days...
rsvmilly said:
I have a little question for you Reg. It happened this morning along a section of single carriageway. I was following a queue of around 6-7 vehicles, who were following a transit pulling a snack wagon at about 35-40mph. Speed limit was 60mph.
I saw an overtake so moved out and passed some of the queue. Around the next series of corners I saw an oncoming car (some way away) so I tucked into a reasonable sized gap in front of a pickup truck. This was all in plenty of time. Nothing was hurried or aggressive and nobody had to react/brake to accommodate me.
Well, the pickup driver went berzerk! He moved to an inch from my bumper, weaving behind me and waving his arms about. The road then opened up and I overtook the rest of the vehicles.
Firstly, what did I do wrong? Secondly, do you find this happen when you are making progress?
I saw an overtake so moved out and passed some of the queue. Around the next series of corners I saw an oncoming car (some way away) so I tucked into a reasonable sized gap in front of a pickup truck. This was all in plenty of time. Nothing was hurried or aggressive and nobody had to react/brake to accommodate me.
Well, the pickup driver went berzerk! He moved to an inch from my bumper, weaving behind me and waving his arms about. The road then opened up and I overtook the rest of the vehicles.
Firstly, what did I do wrong? Secondly, do you find this happen when you are making progress?
Prior to committing to the overtake how many did your plan intend overtaking in one go ?
Did you brake going into the gap that you did go into ?
Edited by vonhosen on Sunday 8th April 10:57
vonhosen said:
Prior to committing to the overtake how many did your plan intend overtaking in one go ?
Did you brake going into the gap that you did go into ?
I pulled out (without gaining) to see what gaps there were in the queue and there were a few so I was planning to overtake about half the queue, staying out to get a view around the approaching sweeping bends, with a view to overtaking them all. Did you brake going into the gap that you did go into ?
Edited by vonhosen on Sunday 8th April 10:57
I saw an oncoming car as I was passing the queue so pulled into the first convenient gap, which was behind the second vehicle in the queue. I may have touched my brakes - I can't remember - but it wouldn't have been much more than just a touch. I was passing the queue at no more than about 60, so most of the speed adjustment would have been done with engine braking.
rsvmilly said:
vonhosen said:
Prior to committing to the overtake how many did your plan intend overtaking in one go ?
Did you brake going into the gap that you did go into ?
I pulled out (without gaining) to see what gaps there were in the queue and there were a few so I was planning to overtake about half the queue, staying out to get a view around the approaching sweeping bends, with a view to overtaking them all. Did you brake going into the gap that you did go into ?
Edited by vonhosen on Sunday 8th April 10:57
I saw an oncoming car as I was passing the queue so pulled into the first convenient gap, which was behind the second vehicle in the queue. I may have touched my brakes - I can't remember - but it wouldn't have been much more than just a touch. I was passing the queue at no more than about 60, so most of the speed adjustment would have been done with engine braking.
The initial planning sounds a bit flimsy IMHO.
Before you commit to an overtake I like to know there is a defnite plan in action, that is four are safe with the vision available now & the gap is a good one. You can always add more on without stopping at four, if the vision further improves. It's better to have that conservative safe number & then add to them, rather than to 'think' I can do six then have to abort to do four. The latter has a bit too much of the let's give it a go or suck it & see about it, which is not good with something as potentially dangerous as overtaking.
Any gap you go to should be a 'sociable' gap. That is not just one you can squeeze into, but a reasonably comfortable one. You also shouldn't be looking to arrive too quickly into smaller (sociable) gaps, ideally having time to do it on acceleration sense alone (or at the most a little braking at the far end of the gap) & all of this should be part of the planning prior to committing.
If you get adverse recations it's very hard to say from here whether it's an overreaction or not from the other party. Certainly if you are regularly getting adverse reactions then you need to look very carefully at your technique & review it.
With numbers like six or seven to do in one go, quite often there aren't safe opportunites for stop over gaps & patience is the order of the day.
Good overtaking technique is as much about the overtakes you turn down as those you complete.
I obviously can't say whether your gap taken was appropriate or not, you may have correctly assessed it or the pick up driver may have (it doesn't excuse his response though).
Edited by vonhosen on Sunday 8th April 14:28
Thanks for your comments VH. I'll certainly take your advice on board about overtaking
The gap I went into certainly wasn't small. There was no cutting in on the gap - everything felt relaxed and calm. I believe he overreacted. Maybe I startled him?
Maybe he just didn't like being overtaken. Some people get very offended at being passed and can react very badly.
That leads on to my second question. There are plenty of people just like this. As someone who probably spends a lot of time overtaking, and often without outward police identification on the car, how do you manage this situation? Have you ever had to stop and have a word with anyone like this?
The gap I went into certainly wasn't small. There was no cutting in on the gap - everything felt relaxed and calm. I believe he overreacted. Maybe I startled him?
Maybe he just didn't like being overtaken. Some people get very offended at being passed and can react very badly.
That leads on to my second question. There are plenty of people just like this. As someone who probably spends a lot of time overtaking, and often without outward police identification on the car, how do you manage this situation? Have you ever had to stop and have a word with anyone like this?
rsvmilly said:
Thanks for your comments VH. I'll certainly take your advice on board about overtaking
The gap I went into certainly wasn't small. There was no cutting in on the gap - everything felt relaxed and calm. I believe he overreacted. Maybe I startled him?
Maybe he just didn't like being overtaken. Some people get very offended at being passed and can react very badly.
That leads on to my second question. There are plenty of people just like this. As someone who probably spends a lot of time overtaking, and often without outward police identification on the car, how do you manage this situation? Have you ever had to stop and have a word with anyone like this?
The gap I went into certainly wasn't small. There was no cutting in on the gap - everything felt relaxed and calm. I believe he overreacted. Maybe I startled him?
Maybe he just didn't like being overtaken. Some people get very offended at being passed and can react very badly.
That leads on to my second question. There are plenty of people just like this. As someone who probably spends a lot of time overtaking, and often without outward police identification on the car, how do you manage this situation? Have you ever had to stop and have a word with anyone like this?
To be honest, I don't get that response & I do a lot of overtaking.
(That may be because they take a look at the car with four lumps of lard in it & decide better about getting shirty even if they didn't like being overtaken.)
Edited by vonhosen on Sunday 8th April 14:27
Dibble said:
I was once driving along a "fast" A road in North Wales, which was nice and straight, but had several hidden dips. There was also the "shimmery" heat haze/water mirage thing going on.
I decided to go for an overtake, but hadn't looked properly, and hadn't realised how deep the dip was, and that there was a bit of a blind spot in the trough... which was effectively hiding the car heading towards me (I was on the offside for the overtake, so in his lane).
I'm led to believe that this manoeuvre has been described as "that suicidal fcuking overtake in North Wales"...
It took the wind out of my sails for a couple of days...
I decided to go for an overtake, but hadn't looked properly, and hadn't realised how deep the dip was, and that there was a bit of a blind spot in the trough... which was effectively hiding the car heading towards me (I was on the offside for the overtake, so in his lane).
I'm led to believe that this manoeuvre has been described as "that suicidal fcuking overtake in North Wales"...
It took the wind out of my sails for a couple of days...
Maybe your instructor thought you were doing quite well on the course, but that you were getting a little overconfident. It's possible that he saw the situation arising, realised what was going on, and knew that, actually, you'd easily make the overtake, but that it would probably make you feel a little uncomfortable.
It's more than likely that allowing you to continue with that overtake had the desired effect on you for the rest of the course, made you think a bit more carefully, and tempered your driving with a bit more restraint, which was just what you needed to help you get a good pass.
Your instructor sounds like a top bloke.
Gassing Station | Advanced Driving | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff