I wondered what Driving tips others remember that have helped them survive on the road and are worth sharing.
Someone once said to me, " If signals are the language of the road, why do so many people drive along talking to themselves ".
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My driving instructor told me that when you pull up behind another car in traffic make sure you can just see the point where its back wheels touch the ground. This enables you to steer round it without reversing if something goes wrong. It's worked on the two occasions I've needed it to.
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Agreed, ChrisR. It also gives you a margin of safety against the car in front rolling back or engaging reverse in error. A while ago, I went out for a drive with a newly qualified youngster and advised him to do just that when we joined a queue. Waddayaknow: the car in front engaged reverse by mistake. He had never seen that happen before and he'll never forget it now.
Apart from staying a healthy distance from everything around you, I'd say that turning your head to look properly and therefore not relying entirely on mirrors is perhaps the key advice I received early in my motoring life.
Starting off on a Vespa in the 1960s certainly enhanced my general awareness and the need to anticipate the errors of others. There are times when I dream of a world in which you can't get a licence to drive a car until you have a licence to drive a motorbike, and you can't get a motorbike licence until you have a pedal-bike licence -- yes, I know, dream on, but you see the point, I'm sure, that on two wheels the real dangers of road are much more acutely perceived.
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Looking as far ahead as possible. Also that rabbits make a satisfying thumping noise when you squash them.
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Leave a safe gap! This came in very useful last night after the brakes of an HGV locked up on the dual carriageway I use to get home and it stopped very quickly. There was a huge amount of smoke and a rather strong smell of brake linings and burning rubber when I passed it.
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"Only a Fool Breaks the Two Second Rule".
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Fat pigeons break expensive headlamps if you try and scatter them at speed.
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As I've written here before:
When waiting to turn right in to a side road, never, EVER, do so with the front wheels turned right in anticipation. Get hit from behind and you'll also hit whatever happens to come the other way head on.
It only takes a split second to get wheels on to lock as soon as the car is rolling, so even when having to make a dirty dive in heavy traffic, there's no excuse for not heeding the advice.
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Anticipate.
Simple as that. Being aware of everything that is happening around you is the start of it, but then try to be aware of everything which could be ABOUT to happen too.
It obviously can't always work, unexpected things happen, but 99% of the time it allows you to start reacting to a situation before that situation even exists.
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"Treat everyone on the road as a total idiot and assume they will do the unexpected."
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"Treat everyone on the road as a total idiot and assume they will do the unexpected."
Nope, they are all out to get YOU! its totally personal, and even if you give them a mile, they will expect the other inch as well.
WTM
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or the slightly less polite version my driving instructor used to use.
8< snip 8<
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My driving instructor told me that when you pull up behind another car in traffic make sure you can just see the point where its back wheels touch the ground.
"Tyres & Tarmac"
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A "Top Tip" from Viz - "I'd been told that the Nut behind the steering wheel caused most accidents. However, when I removed it to be safe, the wheel came off in my hand and caused me to crash."
O
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Jaguar XJS V12 - comes with free personalised oil tanker.
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When in doubt Slow Down. Bit of a nuisance sometimes but as I learnt the hard way, several times, it seems a piece of wise advice.
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If there is a pile of steaming horse manure (or even a pile that hasn't yet been driven over) then there are probably horses just around the corner... :-)
If the bins are outside peoples houses then there is a dustcart somewhere near...
If you can see that the tree line bends to the left (or right), so does the road (usually!)...
And there isone which I can never quite get right...joining an m'way on a down ramp, go into the right lane so traffic on teh m'way sees you as early as poss. On an up ramp, use the l hand lane for the same reason. I think that's the right way round...
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Drive like you would if Paul Ripley was in the passenger seat.
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Or if not Paul Ripley himself your old driving instructor perhaps? Dont know what he will say about my driving if he sat in the passenger seat now??
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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"your old driving instructor perhaps?"
My doddery old driving instructor died two weeks before I took my test, and I was given another elderly replacement who died after one lesson. I had my pre-test lesson with someone I?d never met before. Funny old world.
I think Paul Ripley would smell a lot nicer to be quite honest.
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Look under the wheels *(through the vehicle) of parked buses/ice cream vans - can help see people obscured by the vehicle trying to cross the road.
-- Lee Having a Fabialous time.
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don't drive quickly through puddles as the water splashes up through the holes in the floor....(Riley 9)
when it's raining and you are going up a hill, take your foot off the accelrator momentarily so the vacuum powere windscreen wipers can catch up.(Sit up and beg Ford Anglia)
A rubber glove over the distributor prevents losing ignition in rain (Minis)
Always be polite to traffic policemen (what are they today?)
Always - when parking facing down a hill - leave the front wheels facing towards the kerb.
Never drive up fast to junctions and brake at the last minute. It may be icy (it often was in Scotland where I learned to drive ) or your brakes may fail (happened on a Mini once:-( or ther may be mud on the raod.
If you find no traction on icy roads drive with one set of wheels on the kerb (country roads only) or verge - where there will be some grip.
Never stop when in snow and facing up slope.
Steer into skids - very useful when I has a blowout at 70mph on a Triumph 2.5PI.
Always stop and investigate warning lamps. (did and saved engine running out of oil - brand new Allegro!)
Always check oil on old cars especially before AND AFTER long journeys . Blew up Mini engine cos I forgot.
madf
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On an early lesson we were following a car towing another car. "Stay well back in case the rope breaks!" said my instructor. Wouldn't you know it, it did break not more than a couple of minutes after he said that when the towing car pulled away on a slight incline, and the towee rolled back a bit.
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Well one bit of advice my ex-AA instructor gave me which I will never forget was how to adjust your seat.
The reason I will never forget it - was because he talked for over an hour about seats, how to adjust them, different seats on the market - and absolutely bored the crap out of me! also, 45 minutes of his lecturer was about complete rubbish! some subjects covered were:
Why a seat is important (!)
Seat height
Seat back rest
Head rest
how to move a seat forwards and backwards
Lumbar support
All of the above seemed relevant...then he went on to this lot..
Seats made by Jaguar
Seats which are fabric
Seats which are leather
Electric Seats
Manual Seats
Seat Brackets
Heated Seats
Massaging Seats - made by Bentley i believe
At this point i gave up listening
Not only that, at £22 an hour - I thought I could pass on the 'history of the driving seat'.
Went independent in the end for £15 an hour - much better option!
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Well actually Carmad, i think the most useful advice there would have to be the seat 'head rest' because wrongly adjusted in an accident can give you nasty whiplash!!!!
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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Always - when parking facing down a hill - leave the front wheels facing towards the kerb.
Spoils all the fun, that. I remember as a teenager somebody parking his new FIAT Regatta on the hill above the harbour, with the wheels set straight ahead. When it rolled into the water, the horn shorted and blared away to call everyone to come and giggle ... which we did, despite muttering sympathy for the poor owner.
Mind you, it was topped a few weeks later when some other clever man towed his boat up the hill with the aluminium mast still in it, and had an interesting encounter with the electricity wire.
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The more "White Paint" on the road the greater the danger. I.e. if a bend has lots of road markings then it is a serious accident spot. Councils don't spend money on signs and paint for no reason!!!
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Never overtake on the approach to a side road, especially one on your right. Someone might turn left out of it and you have a nasty head-on collision. Similar danger from lay-bys.
Similarly, if turning left onto a single-carriagway main road, always look left as well as right - someone mighty be overtaking a vehicle coming from your left. Result as above.
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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Look where you're going and you'll go where you're looking. Stare at the car that's emerged in front of you and odds on you'll hit it. Keep your eyes on your escape route.
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Look where you're going and you'll go where you're looking. Stare at the car that's emerged in front of you and odds on you'll hit it. Keep your eyes on your escape route.
Couldn't agree more. I'm constantly aware of the best escape route and if there isn't one then I make one possible. In my younger days I'd probably be dead three times over if I hadn't had this in mind. The important thing in a crisis is to put youself, not the CAR, first eg you come round a corner fast on a country road and see a lorry pulling out. It might see you and stop; there again it might not. Forget the damage to the car and take the point of least resistance through a hedge or ditch rather than risk decapitating yourself.
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>>if a bend has lots of road markings then it is a serious accident spot.
On a similar theme, if there are are skid marks on the road, it means someone has left it too late, so again, there could be a bad bend ahead. (Applies mainly on rural routes)
I have an old AA "Book of the car" which is full of these kinda driving hints and tips. Eveything from what to do with brake failure to a wheel dropping off.
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Mine are both motorway related :
I always look over my right shoulder just before starting the overtaking move on the motorway. This has saved my neck many times.
Always keep an eye on whats going on 3,4 or even more cars up ahead, that way you can anticpate the next move you need to0 make far in advance.
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Absolutely agree with those who stress keeping your distance. It's drivers who follow too closely that cause more accidents than pure speed. As usual, the police are missing the point.
I read somewhere that if you have time to say "1,000, 1,001" before you reach where the car in front is now, that's a safe distance. (Does that make sense? I think it does!)
One useful tip my mum gave me all those years ago is when entering a bend keep your eye on the verge on the outside edge (i.e. right edge for a left bend, left for a right). It helps to anticipate the severity of the bend and therefore the speed you should be at to go into it. Slow in, faster out as we all know.
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Doing life-saver glances (as a biker would) whenever make a lane change, exiting a roundabout, overtaking etc. Your mirrors don't show you everything, no matter how you have them positioned. This has saved me from sideswiping on more than one occasion.
Also, I quite like "gears to go, brakes to slow" - even though I don't think it has saved me from an accident, I'd say it has certainly helped to preserve my gearbox and clutch - also, using the handbrake to hold the car steady at a junction rather than riding the clutch.
"I read somewhere that if you have time to say "1,000, 1,001" before you reach where the car in front is now, that's a safe distance."
I use "only a fool breaks the two-second rule". Must admit that if this is indeed true, I sometimes breach the acceptable level of foolishness, probably the only thing I regularly do that I shouldn't. Hmm - I've just identified the next thing to concentrate on improving ...
--
andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ...
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Hi all,
Glad to see that keeping distance is becoming a recurring theme.
I find that leaving an adequate gap in front makes the driver inches behind become desperate to overtake. (Oddly, never a Landcruiser (thats this thread locked then).)
andymc: Got some 5% biodiesel from Sainsburys in Greenwich today, average 2.5% in the tank. Really easy to get to and a fair price (87.8) so will be using it untill further notice.
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(Oddly, never a Landcruiser (thats this thread locked then).)
I'm sure that blue Landcruisers are an exception ...
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Leave yourself somewhere to go, or at the very least, stop.
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Leave yourself somewhere to go, or at the very least, stop.
My variant on that is that if you only have one option, something is amiss.
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My driving instructor liked his rhymes...
Only a fool breaks the two second rule.
If you need to wipe, you need your lights.
Check over the shoulder, more chance of getting older.
He also went with the tarmac and tyres rule, i.e. that you should stop far back enough that you can get away from/around the vehicle in front if you need to.
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My driving instructor liked his rhymes...
>>If you need to wipe, you need your lights.
But needed help with them from time to time? ;-)
(we didn't have the same one did we? Some of those sound horribly familiar!)
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I doubt it. My driving instructor was, er, interesting! He used to pick his nose while I was driving and spend the rest of the journey checking up his nose in the mirror to check he had got everything.
He made me have 12 hours of lessons before I was allowed to use reverse. Maybe he could see what the future held for Polo and I!
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Oh my God! Wasn't me, was it?
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"If in doubt -- both feet out"
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My late father:
"Any fool can drive fast"
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Always drive across tram lines at as close to a right angle as possible to avoid your tyres getting jammed in them. Beware they can be very slippery when wet.
Gosh, how old was my driving instructor....?
The hand signal for "I am slowing down" should look like you're patting a big dog.
I suppose the new highway code tells you how to reboot the multiplex unit on your brake light module if there's a failure.
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And acronym drilled into me during off-road instruction phase of my lessons: IPDE. Identify hazardous situations, Predict worst case scenarios, Decide what defensive action to take, Execute your decision.
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