Mostly because I've done a lot of urban cycling.
The single best thing I did to improve my driving was take the motorcycle test. Gives you a whole new perspective on the roads.
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So my bro got caught speeding
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Posted 2 hours ago #
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If you want the best, and here's a shameless plug for a friend of mine, go see Reg:
To save folk having to look it up, he's in Bolton.
Posted 2 hours ago # -
The single best thing I did to improve my driving was take the motorcycle test. Gives you a whole new perspective on the roads.
Completely agree. One of my friends road a bike for years and didn’t start driving cars until he was in his early thirties. He’s a very good driver. FIL is the same. I guess, not unlike cyclists, it helps develop an appreciation of how vulnerable other road users are.
Posted 2 hours ago # -
aracer
I've been caught by a speed camera van. Twice. In both cases I observed the speed camera van as soon as it came into sight (over the brow of a hill, and around a corner). In both cases the camera van had already clocked me, based on the speed recorded on the notice. Getting done by a camera van provides no proof of lack of observation (sure there were signs, there are always signs and I've driven both those roads past the signs loads of times without there being a van there, no failure of observation there either).
I don't want to sound antagonistic, but this reply does suggest a lack of observation and in fact, re-enforces the "regression to the norm" factor i mentioned.
For example, you must have been exceeding the limit by a large margin to have been unable to slow your car to below the limit before the camera operator (who is human, just like you) could refocus on your particular car, pull the trigger, and wait the (min) ~2 sec while the measurement is taken etc. A modern car can deccelerate at over 1g, and hence loose around 22mph per second of braking. The laser speed detector is line-of-sight and needs a clear, un-interrupted view of a single car to produce an accurate reading, and it needs that for a few seconds (it averages multiple readings to try to avoid spurious errors).
In some tests i did with the Police to train the camera van operators, i could actually do well over 70 (on a test track btw, not the public road) in a "30 mph" zone, and still get the car below the 35mph threshold before the operator could zap me!
I theory, the cameras with their zoom lense system can zap you from up to 1000m away, but in practice this is generally not done, because of the difficulty of accurately focusing on a single car, and the measurement errors that creep in due to spurious reflections etc. And if the van can see you, you can see it! You might not be able to tell it's definitely a camera van from that distance (but they generally park in known places), but if you're speeding, and you see a suspicious van, SLOW DOWN!
(most sites are chosen to give a 100 to 300m "range" for the system)
You say "well there wasn't a camera van there yesterday" as some sort of reason or excuse for getting caught, whereas the fact there COULD have been a camera van there should have put you on full alert!
When driving there are three things you need to be able to (instantly)) react too:
1) What you CAN see (the road, other users and anything that helps you paint a picture of your surroundings, both near and far field, front, side and rear)
2) What you CAN'T see (Things that could be there, but hidden due to other objects, ie a car in a dip in the road, or hidden behind a lorry etc)
3) What you COULD see (Events that currently aren't occurring but might, based on experience. ie you see an empty junction up ahead. No car currently visible turning out, but there might be one about to do so)
The further you look up the road, and this is one of the corner stones of advanced driving ie proper, systematical, observation, the further into the future you are looking, so you need to start considering the most likely future events that could occur, even if they don't (and for the vast majority of your driving, probably 99.999% of the time they won't) occur
Please don't think i'm criticising you personally aracer, you are human ( i think
) just like the rest of us! I just want to demonstrate that human actions are predictable (on average) and that they can be modified and we can be taught to drive in a safer manner. As an Advanced driver you NEVER stop learning. I've been lucky enough to drive pretty much every car ever made, i've drifted across an ice lake at 120mph, driven at 223mph across the desert, slide wrc cars through forests, driven all over the world, in a massive number of situations and environments and i'm still learning to drive! The most advanced driver can learn something from the most basic driver, by listening, observing, and crucially, thinking about our driving we all get safer and smoother!
Posted 2 hours ago # -
The single best thing I did to improve my driving was take the motorcycle test. Gives you a whole new perspective on the roads.
I'd make it compulsory to ride a motorbike for at least two years before being allowed into a car.
it helps develop an appreciation of how vulnerable other road users are.
Not just that. It's hard to switch off when riding a bike. Reading the road and better road positioning are big pluses. As is vastly increased observational skills. Better anticipation and always having an escape route. Oh and wheelies
Posted 2 hours ago # -
interesting post from maxtorque. some handy facts. but this:
I've been lucky enough to drive pretty much every car ever made, i've drifted across an ice lake at 120mph, driven at 223mph across the desert, slide wrc cars through forests, driven all over the world.
comes across a little:
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I've watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those ... moments will be lost in time, like tears...in rain. Time to die.
Posted 2 hours ago # -
max torque, you talk a lot of sense..
If only more drivers were as aware of the difference between being able to pass your test & being a good driver.
It's criminal that you only get tested once on your ability to drive in your lifetime, & the there is no compulsory requirement to either advance your driving skills or re-test at regular intervals.
BTW the driver training I've done (HGV, PCV, hostile environment, numerous skid-pan courses, track days with coaching, military driver training & not forgetting my formative days on tractors & combines!), & it's no-where near as extensive as yours, has only helped. I wish more folks would take the time to undertake even the briefest additional training. I've been fortunate that a fair bit of mine I was paid to do.
Posted 2 hours ago # -
driven at 223mph across the desert
This one intrigues, unless the desert was a salt flat or it was a tarmac road across a dessert.
The "advanced driver" tag irritates, I'd rather be in the passenger seat with Madame driving than any advanced driver. Madame's driving is nothing special but she's cautious, humble, considerate, careful, concentrated and slow. I don't know any "advanced drivers" with all those qualities. In fact those I knew in the British motorsport and motor club scene in the 70s and 80s drove fast, too fast, in the mistaken belief that their training and certificates somehow gave them skills that allowed them to ignore their inherent human limits and the laws of physics, I include the police motor club members. They seemed to think they had some magic method for driving fast safely but in fact were just driving fast.
One of the things I learned from motorsport is that it's possible to screw up at almost any speed but it hurts less if you're going slowly. And frankly most of what I learned is useless, when I drive into a bank of fog on the motorway, I'm in exactly the same predicament as anyone else making the same decisions about how much I can safely slow down without being bit from behind, because I'd like to be able to stop if there's a multiple pile-up ahead.
Posted 1 hour ago # -
Whenever I hear 'advanced driver'
Jokes aside, good wisdom tbh.
Posted 1 hour ago # -
I'd make it compulsory to ride a motorbike for at least two years before being allowed into a car.
I sort of agree apart from the fact that young / inexperienced drivers make mistakes, and when you make a mistake on a motorbike the consequences are often very severe.
I see also a school of thought that if you knew the risk was severe you'd be damn careful to avoid making a mistake (the same hyperbolic school of thought that says airbags should be replaced by a big spike) but sadly some inexperienced drivers are so inexperienced, even without being stupid, that we'd have a glut of KSI motorbike accidents instead.
Posted 1 hour ago # -
Madame's driving is nothing special but she's cautious, humble, considerate, careful, concentrated and slow.
That sounds terrifying TBQH.
Posted 1 hour ago # -
Why, Cougar? I can relax and fall asleep in the passenger seat. It's like being driven by a chauffeur (I have been driven by a professional chauffeur in a big Merc so feel well placed to compare). When I wake up it's usally because she's stopped for traffic lights or to hand over because she's tired.
Posted 56 minutes ago # -
Edukator
This one intrigues, unless the desert was a salt flat or it was a tarmac road across a dessert.Highway 85 in Saudi.... (a section of which was closed specially for us that day
Posted 49 minutes ago # -
maxtorque » I don't want to sound antagonistic, but this reply does suggest a lack of observation and in fact, re-enforces the "regression to the norm" factor i mentioned.
For example, you must have been exceeding the limit by a large margin to have been unable to slow your car to below the limit before the camera operator (who is human, just like you) could refocus on your particular car, pull the trigger, and wait the (min) ~2 sec while the measurement is taken etc. A modern car can deccelerate at over 1g, and hence loose around 22mph per second of braking. The laser speed detector is line-of-sight and needs a clear, un-interrupted view of a single car to produce an accurate reading, and it needs that for a few seconds (it averages multiple readings to try to avoid spurious errors).Spherical objects.
The first time I was caught I came over the brow of the hill, clocked the van as soon as it came into sight (it was in a layby quite some distance away, I could certainly have stopped in a fraction of that distance) and put the anchors on. The speed on the notice was 85mph, which was the speed I'd been doing. There's no way the van had me in sight for several seconds - it was capturing the speed as cars came into sight. TBH some of your comments on the tech are pretty spurious - it doesn't take several seconds to average multiple readings.
I'm thinking this is another one which falls into "all scenarios are the same as the ones I have experience of".
Posted 37 minutes ago # -
I was once pulled over in the middle of the night on an empty M1 for speeding, and told by the traffic cop “You can do 85mph all day long on the motorway, but please don’t do ???mph again”. He didn’t ticket me.
As has been said a few times speed very rarely causes accidents, but it undoubtedly makes the consequences of those accidents more severe. Unfortunately, as Maxtorque says, speed is pretty much the only driving characteristic that is monitored routinely on our roads. Cameras, gantries, vans and average speed sections only record speed.
All other parameters of poor driving need human policemen on the road, and that seems to be virtually a thing of the past. Phone use and drink driving are often only measured after an accident, and general poor, inconsiderate and unsafe practices are almost never punished.
Personally I’d much rather have a higher motorway speed limit, but have a far higher police presence to pull people who exhibited unsafe driving. Unfortunately now I perceive the opposite to be true - I actually think that the opportunity for speeding (whether safely or not) is less than ever on our busy roads, but the litany of poor driving practices that are now routine and uncommentworthy is growing, and so long as they occur at less than 70mph will never be picked up on or corrected.
Posted 31 minutes ago # -
Aracer
The first time I was caught I came over the brow of the hill, clocked the van as soon as it came into sight (it was in a layby quite some distance away, I could certainly have stopped in a fraction of that distance) and put the anchors on. The speed on the notice was 85mph, which was the speed I'd been doing. There's no way the van had me in sight for several seconds - it was capturing the speed as cars came into sight. TBH some of your comments on the tech are pretty spurious - it doesn't take several seconds to average multiple readings.
Playing Devils advocate for a moment:
You came over the blind brow of hill, where you couldn't see the approaching road to the point where it completely "hid" an entire large, brightly colored van, whilst doing well in excess of the speed limit (if they nabbed you for a true 85, your speedo will have been indicating significantly >85), with no prior idea as to what was on the other side (other than it was clear yesterday.....)?
In which case you deserve everything you got
Posted 20 minutes ago # -
I'm thinking this is another one which falls into "all scenarios are the same as the ones I have experience of".
I was kinda wondering this. Technology moves on, it's a while since I last read up on it and I don't know specifics about modern
speed trapsafety camera vans but it's plausible that it's different now from when MT had his experience. Could be exactly the same too, of course.Posted 12 minutes ago # -
Radar specs, there are hand-held and fixed on the website too for anyone interested.
http://www.decatureurope.com/uploads/Brochures/Genesis%20II%20Select_E_W.pdf
The sampling rate is 100 speed samples per second.
Around here some traffic lights have cameras so that is regularly monitored. The gnedarmes fly drones to, notably over the N10 to catch tail-gating trucks and dngerous behaviour of any kind. Road blocks with drug/alcohol tests are used. The local police often hang out around "STOP" signs and fine people who don't. Sometimes they hang out on a roundabouts and fine people for refusing priority, using the phone, eating/smoking. Madame got a warning for having her feet up on the dash as a passenger.
Speed is far from the only thing policed.
Posted 2 minutes ago # -
Experience + Proven Skill = Safe Driving
No. You have t be applying that skill at any given moment. Just because you can pass an advanced test does NOT mean you will be driving safely an attentively all the time.
My point is that if you allow qualified advanced drivers to drive faster (which seems to be what you are suggesting) then they still make mistakes and will still be carrying the more energy when they crash.
I've been told that in Germany on the Autobahn there aren't more accidents than in other countries, but when they happen they are much worse. I can't back that up though.
Posted 34 seconds ago #
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