Whilst I'm far from perfect I do at least get the smugness of knowing that at the very least I do actually think about my driving unlike so many.
Certainly unlike girls driving Corsas fast on the dual carriageway! My heart was in my boots (or throat, or something).
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On busy motorways I tend to scan forwards and backwards at least two or three cars ahead looking for the way the vehicles are moving relative to each other in all three lanes, looking for the clues that suggest someone is about to make a move or is trying to coerce someone to make a move. If I'm in the outside lane I tend to drive on the right of the lane so I can get a better view of the cars ahead of the person in front.
I guess I spend about 15% of time checking all three mirrors unless there's someone up my chuff in which case I suppose the proportion increases (but it doesn't happen very often)
On busy town traffic, the distance I scan is inevitably shorter but metre for metre I suppose I'm putting more concentration in! Bit less use of the mirrors maybe.
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On motorways and dual carriageways as far as I can see, backwards almost as far.
In town similar but it is nowhere near as far. Helps to avoid the unexpected jams as well - Unlike the white van man who tailgated me in on the A38 towards tyburn island (40 mph section) the other week. At the midpoint roundabout I saw the jam ahead and reversed course - he did not!
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i look an enormous distance up the road, was taught to....but sometimes that can catch you out, when things change in your shorter vision
it is a reason why on an A road i'll often do an overtake but only go past one vehicle and not make any attempts to make further progress....because i don't want to be stuck behind a van or 4x4... because you then can't see properly....i don't think some van/4x4 drivers realise this, because you can sometimes get Mr Indignant muttering away to his passenger
my biggest failing in this respect, which drives my wife mad...is coming up to a roundabout, assessing who can do what and when, working out my exit, how to keep the car flowing nicely, any hazards on the other side etc...then having to brake firmly because the car in front has done none of this and has in fact faffed completely and stopped where it could have kept going...worries the hell out of SWMBO because she tninks i haven't seen them!
i tend to find lorry drivers are very good at planning ahead...:-)....(actually said with sincerity)
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If you are one of those people who are bothered by the lines in a Ford Quickclear windscreen then, chances are, you aren't looking far enough ahead ('cept if it's foggy).
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If you are one of those people who are bothered by the lines in a Ford Quickclear windscreen then chances are you aren't looking far enough ahead ('cept if it's foggy).
lol, those things are irritating, or at least they can bug me when I'm a passenger.
I (try to) look right to the end of the road, although it requires great concentration and I often look that far. At night, on unlit roads, I look as far as my lights will go, this is usually only just enough to be safe, so I usually manage that. It's also worth knowing that EVERYBODY'S vision will drop when they get tired, and usually after about 1hr of driving.
If you join a local advanced driving group eg. IAM or RoSPA they can help you improve your observation and many other things too.
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If you are one of those people who are bothered by the lines in a Ford Quickclear windscreen then chances are you aren't looking far enough ahead ('cept if it's foggy).
That is complete and utter rubbish. I am bothered by lines in a ford quick clear windscreen, and I constantly vary focus from a few yards in front to hundred of yards in front. When I focus hundreds and hundres of yards is frint, that is clear but the windscreen is "fuzzy" like a poor tv picture. At at night the lights from other cas craze up.
In answer the original question how fa ahead (for me) depends on the circumstances. In london or other urban areas its car to 70 yards or so. On wider areas focus is constantly switching from short to long to very long (as far as the road can be seen) its called scanning.
Am now acutley aware of this now after my accident, which for the most part was caused by looking too long. The long visual signals (tree line, power lines and the road) caused me to ignore short and I looked "through" the junction as tho it didnt exist.
This bit of road has now been changed and turned one way (vary rare for a country road) so you can no longer approach the hazzard the direction I did. Clearly it was a hazzard. Am i bitter I got NINE points for bad road design You bet your boots.
Edited by Altea Ego on 05/02/2008 at 09:08
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Same principle as WP; as far ahead as possible.
There's an early Police Camera Action film (Cavaliers and Sierras so probably early nineties) shown quite frequently over the intervening years of a motorway pile up. The guys immediately behind the hazard stop in time - its the next wave who pile into each other.
Constantly flick from immediately in front to the horizon. Mrs B and I co-drive. If the passenger sees something they point it out commentary fashion "bunch developing in lane 3" etc. Only trouble is she dozes off only to wake wih a start and a random "look out" if I dab the brake!.
Edited by Bromptonaut on 04/02/2008 at 19:10
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>>my biggest failing in this respect, which drives my wife mad...is coming up to a roundabout etc.
Ok. Everyone here who hasn't rammed the car in front at a roundabout, put your hands up. Mine are down :>(
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Westpig..ditto!
People stopping at empty roundabouts drives me up the wall. clearly demonstrates their observation/anticipation skills to be nil.
(Of course, that applies to people who get speeding tickets after I've followed them at 100mph for 5 miles...in a fully marked up Volvo estate.)
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Ditto. Quite a few stop, then pause, staring at an empty road, then move off. Complete lack of planning, as if the roundabout was unexpected, so they stop and go through a refocussing routine? All very disconnected and disconcerting.
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This isn't just about looking ahead, is it?
As HJ (and others) it's about a general awareness of what's going on around you, which is an acquired skill they teach you very little about when you take the test.
Parlty it's down to experience and familiarity anyway, I guess.
But I find it easier to maintain that awareness when I'm on my own that I do when I've got a car full.
Reading the road ahead, general awareness, call it what you will, pays dividends not just in safety terms but because you generally make smoother progress.
Try 'reading' a traffic light system (which will generally be set to control groups of cars assumed to be mopving at a set average speed) and you'll often get through quickler than the guy chasing from one red to another.
There's nothing like being the smug snail in those circumstances!
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Quickest way to get a ticket when stopped by a marked car
'No, I didn't see you officer ".
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Try to vary mine, mostly as far into the distance as possible, but on motorway watching lanes around me. Always look for cars catching others in their lanes ready for them to pull out (will pull over to let them out where can or adjust speed to give them room to pull out).
In heavy traffic also try looking through the windows of cars in front for distant brake lights, so am ready in time.
Back to the OP used to lift share with a new driver with a Corsa. She used to scare me quite a bit, as would be accelerating, when I could see brake lights from in the distance.
Think I drive my wife mad as try to anticipate what moves drivers will make next- will tell her who's going to do what. Am quite proud that normally get it right far more times than wrong.
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I tend to think in terms of my car with a clear safe zone all around - I try to magine what's going to change that safe zone - how that zone expands & shrinks depending on my/other's speed & closeness of possible 'threat' . It may be that the 'forward' view isn't important temporarily - maybe there's more danger laterally or behind - cars/people/bikes emerging from pavement or side street, a tailgater unable to react etc My constant thought is: where's the shortest time/distance to danger - then tailor my observation/actions in that same ratio.
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Is an indicator of how much you look ahead / anticipate not reflected in the rate of wear on your brake pads? I like to think I anticipate well, and look ahead some considerable distance. My garage says that explains why I got 60k miles out of a set of front brake pads while a similar car driven by a "go like hell and brake hard" person got only 12k.
I guess HGV drivers don't lok further than 10 feet in front, judging by the distance between them all the way up the M6 - unless they've got x-ray vision of course!
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i tend to find lorry drivers are very good at planning ahead...:-)....(actually said with sincerity)
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Careful WP you could end up moving to the dark side and end up an outcast like me!!
Hopefully i check far enough and around at all times, i always cast eyes everywhere in built up areas, parked cars etc checking for lights/shadows/animals/any movement and a myriad of things i suppose its automatic, it still shocks me though how fast some will pass obstacles and blind junctions though.
I do have a pet hate with the way some people enter a motorway, and say i'm in a truck in the inside lane doing 54.5mph and being overtaken by another doing 55mph, well i can almost guarantee that if someone is descending the slip road they will be completely oblivious to whats happening, and even though in very often powerful cars seem completely incapable of accelerating mildly to get well clear before even the acceleration lane begins.
Then when theyve boxed themselves in and caused a major trauma for no reason whatsoever, they often come by with the daggers look if i'm lucky, if i'm not they sometimes inform me that i may have one or even two punctures i was unaware of!!
Should imagine they would be a barrell of laughs at roundabouts too.
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