Driving near home yesterday with SWMBO as passenger, she asked me why I didn't acknowledge one of our neighbours. I replied that I never really notice who's driving another vehicle, just being aware that it's there and what it's doing. She found this most puzzling....
Do other Backroomers actually take the trouble to give other drivers the 'once over', or am I alone in 'ignoring' them in this way?
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If the neighbour drives a Vombini V12, I'd be more likely to notice them than if they drove a non descript C3 in silver.
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I tend to look at the vehicle, then the number plate, to see if it's one I've sold (company name branded on the plate)
VB
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Eye contact has it, part of the survival kit for motorcyclists.
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i always find it amazing when people drive by me whom i know and i wave at them but they dont see me as they have tunnel vision,its a big problem i think
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Its scary when you start to look inside other cars, for example when you are waiting to turn right.
Some people pick their noses, others are drinking or chewing. Some look blank and bovine, its the latter that worries me ..........
Edited by oilrag on 12/11/2007 at 19:14
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The less eye contact I have with other drivers the more I relax.
If they think I am on auto pilot then best stay out of my way.
So long as I am aware of them I do not have to make eye contact.
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I'm glad a lot of people don't look at me when I'm driving, cos then they won't notice me picking my nose!
Another take on this, how about the drivers who recognise you when you're a pedestrian and beep the horn at you. I always end up ignoring them because I worry that it will be some chavs taking the Mick and deliberately look the other way.
Blimey, just realised how much I've revealed about myself. Good job this forum is anonymous.
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I recognise people I know from the car model/colour followed by the number plate.
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L\'escargot.
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Me too, I notice number plates very quickly and will often end up giving a wave based on the plate if I know them.
Blue
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It's a random thing. Sometimes you look at other drivers, sometimes you don't have time or a reason to do it. Eye contact, noticing hand waves and so on, can be crucial in very heavy urban traffic.
That said, some people are more observant than others. If you don't focus on the driver or indicators or whatever quickly enough the opportunity has passed. I think a driver's eyes should be very busy in a controlled way. If he or she doesn't know what's going on all around, the full 360 degrees, he or she is failing in duty.
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I usually find it hard to see through the windscreen of many oncoming cars as all I mostly see is the reflected sky.
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I enjoy checking out other drivers. If I happen to make eye contact with a pretty girl in a car in the next lane I find myself trying to keep pace with her through the moving traffic (not in a stalkerish way). Driving is like any chore to me, whether it's the weekly grind around Tescos or sitting on a tube, it's always infinitely more enjoyable when there is a pretty blonde to latch onto.
I also like to see tasty girls in tasty cars. I was parked outside my sister in law's recently while waiting for my wife and a young girl approached. She looked barely twenty, and I was thinking how the biggest complication in her life was probably which colour lipstick to wear in the morning. And then she jumped behind the wheel of a new Audi S8 parked next to me and roared off. Very sexy. And the woman I see in the V10 Toareg... fantastic. Of course London is the best place to see this on a daily basis so when I see it in Poland it really makes my day.
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I tooted at a taxi yesterday for signalling too late and getting in my way, so that I ran a red light. The driver gave me an indignant glance as I passed on his left, but I didn't make eye contact. I was too busy mouthing obscenities.
If it hadn't been a taxi I wouldn't have been so annoyed, and might not have even run the red light. But black cabs are so self-righteous that I feel the very highest standards are required of them. I wanted the driver to know he had been a nuisance.
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I used to believe in eye contact for bikers until I was almost run off the road by a woman pulling out of a side road, we had eye contact for a good couple of seconds before she pulled out. It was one of those weird 'I don't believe this is happening' moments.
I find the acute rake of many modern windscreens makes it harder to see drivers, a reflection of clouds is more usual.
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>>>we had eye contact for a good couple of seconds <<<<
If you have eye contact for longer than that, you have a relationship.
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