There's always plenty of stuff here about other people's mistakes but what about our own errors of judgement ?
I'll put my hand up to a couple to start.
Just after I got married to my first wife we were invited to an Italian wedding in East London. I drove and was determined not to drink but one glass of wine followed another and soon I'd had too much. We were miles from home and stupidly I decided to drive home through London. It was late and there wasn't much traffic but I came up to a large roundabout (Old Street ?) and proceeded to drive the wrong way around it. It was only as I took my exit that I realised what I'd done and how lucky I'd been. Totally my fault and very lucky to get away with it at the time. Lesson learned - I've never driven in that state since!
On another occasion I was in a slow moving queue of traffic and paying rather too much attention to the perfectly formed rear end of a passing female to be able to stop and avoid hitting the car in front. The road was wet and I just skidded into the guy. My fault again, driving too close and not paying attention !
More recently, I turned left at a junction failing to notice the large white police car I should have given way to. I was in a hurry to get my son to school and just hadn't seen them for some strange reason. The cop pulled me over and advised me of what I'd done. I didn't arfgue, accepted the blame and he let me go with a stiff warning in my ear. I still think it was only because I hadn't given him a hard time that he didn't give me a ticket.
So come on folks - what mistakes have you made when driving ?
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So come on folks - what mistakes have you made when driving ?
I tend to pull my swing a little causing me to slice the ball. But I am aware of it and keep on practising, hopefully one day I'll get it just right.
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Have you tried getting out of your car before teeing up ?
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I turned left at a junction failing to notice the large white police car I should have given way to. I was in a hurry to get my son to school....
VM, Doesn't that contradict everything you've previously said about endangering your family by driving too fast?
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Not really DD because I wasn't driving too fast - I was turning left into a very slow moving queue of traffic I was doing no more than 5mph in 1st gear and the cop car was not going much faster. My mistake was not paying full attention - probably because of the slow moving traffic. Had I been turning into a more dangerous road I would have been far more careful ! I accepted the blame and, unlike some, would've accepted a ticket with no argument. We all make the odd mistake don't we (?) and
I think that's a bit different from consciously deciding to do something dangerous and/or break the law every time you get in the car - thereby knowingly putting lives at risk. IMO my drink/driving escapade 20 years ago was far, far more serious and is something I've never done since.
You almost seem to be implying that I think I'm a perfect driver but I've never claimed anything like that and the very fact that I started this thread with an admission of 3 previous mistakes I've made should indicate that. It'll be interesting to see if anyone else out there is equally willing to admit the same.
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My mistake was not paying full attention - probably because of the slow moving traffic.
Gonna do a Bogush now VM, Errmm, no, you previously said that you were in a hurry to get your son to school. You have previously condoned people (Shurely thatsh \'condemned\'? ND) for rushing around, being in a hurry, etc; and then you go and do the same. From a previous post of yours for example, www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=15...2 maybe the motorcyclist was also in a hurry because he didn\'t want to be late for work, an appointment, etc.
Had I been turning into a more dangerous road I would have been far more careful !
A more dangerous road???? From reading previous posts of yours, suggests that all roads are dangerous and all other drivers are a liability and hazzard to you. You should be careful and pay attention on any road. Why should you be less careful when you feel like it?
You almost seem to be implying that I think I\'m a perfect driver....
Perhaps it\'s your writing style VM; I have to admit reading some of your posts, they do come across that way.
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That is uncanny DD. You're not, are you?
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Yes DD I did say I was a hurry but that simply meant I made the turn without checking as thoroughly as I might have. I was in a hurry to get to hospital when my son was ill too but that didn't make me speed either.
Well writing style is one thing but actual and consistent comment over good period of time is another. It's very difficult to be perfectly clear and unequivocal when writing about such things in a forum such as this and of course if someone's looking to trip you up then words can be interpreted in many ways can't they. However, I will try to paint a picture for you. By dangerous I meant a road in which the traffic was either travelling at a much higher speed than that I was exiting/ entering or where other circumstances such as poor visibility applied. N such factors applied in this case which is why I said what I did. If you care to visit these parts one day DD I'll happily give you a tour and you'll be able to see for yourself the long queue of traffic that forms there every day and why someone in a hurry might pull out rather impulsively in order to get out of the junction.
Sorry but
I really can't remember ever condemning people being in a hurry. What I have condemened is people who are in a always in a hurry and regularly speed or drive dangerously as a result. That's quite a different thing and I don't do it. I've already said I don't think making a simple mistake in the circumstances I did is in any way equivalent to the sort of behaviour I'm referring to.
Finally, I don't consider all roads particularly dangerous and don't recall ever saying so. What I've consistently said is that driver behaviour creates most of the most serious problems we see and much of it is both deliberate and unnecessary.
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One final point - unlike many here I've accepted it was a mistake and fronted up to it. My defence is that it was very much a one off that I've learned from as opposed to normal behaviour. If your contention is that anyone who makes a mistake when driving isn't allowed to be critical of other drivers, this place will be very empty indeed. Furthermore if your argument is that a single mistake of this sort is equivalent to habitual and highly dangerous law breaking I have to disagree.
Finally I don't think all other drivers are a major threat at all (can you quote me on that or is it just your interpretation again ?) - just those who decide they're more important than anyone else and choose to break the law when they feel like it.
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In my distant youth I went to a flat-warming party. Although the guy who invited me was an old and trusted mate, the company he kept was not to my liking and I left early(ish). I should not have been driving at all but half way home the alcohol really caught up with me. I decided to divert to the GF's house, that being nearer than my own house. She (now the wife) tells me I was in a very poor state and she gave me a good telling off and (with help) parked me on the sofa, despite it being 1 in the morning.
The next day, nursing a shocking hangover, I couldn't see my car out of the window. The trusty Triumph 2000 automatic had rolled down the street, mounted the kerb and rested against a lamp post, cunningly avoiding crossing the main road at the bottom of the hill. The driver's door was wide open and the battery was flat with the lights still switched on. I hadn't even bothered to put the car in park and lock it.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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I was once driving two colleagues to a course in Bradford along the M62. I was slowing gently as the traffic was heavy up ahead, and on the hard shoulder was a police Omega behind a Corsa with it's front end missing. I had a good old gawp, then looked up to see the back end of a Transit trouser-soilingly close. I stamped on the brakes and wrenched the wheel to the left. By the miracles of a)anti-lock brakes and b)there being nothing in the inside lane, I stopped within a hair's breadth of the car in front. To this day, I do not know how I avoided an accident. I certainly never rubber-neck any more though.
(I have a funny feeling that I've posted this tale before on this site - or am I going mad?)
Cheers
Rob
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I am not sure that HJ can afford to pay for the extra disk space on the server if I list all my driving mistakes. My biggest tho in 1984 was driving a Maestro 1.6HLS.
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My biggest mistake was when driving back from London on the motorway I started to hear a noise from the front of the car.
That bockety twelve-year-old Nissan was not very quiet at the best of times, so I asked my passenger if he could hear anything odd. No, sounded fine to him -- so I pushed on. Old cars make funny noises, we agreed, so I took his advice not to worry.
It was only on a few hours later, on a slow uphill stretch near home that I noticed that when driving straight ahead the steering wheel was having to be held a quarter of a turn to the right, and the car seemed to want to go left.
I stopped and took a look. The front left tyre was not just flat, it was flat and shredded, and the rim was mangled. I realised then that I must have driven at least 100 miles at 70mph with a flat tyre.
I still think I'm very lucky to be alive, and I'm always about stop and check if a car I'm driving makes odd noises or feels strange to steer. And I'm very wary about driving old bangers which make funny noises all time.
Claire
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1984 - I had volunteered to act as service crew and towing service for my mate's entry in the Tour of Mull Rally. We borrowed a 4-wheel trailer which, when loaded with Mk 1 Escort, tyres and other spares was exactly the same weight, 1375Kg as the towcar, a Citroen CX GTi. We took our families and my mate followed in his regular transport, a 2CV.
On the way back, about an hour out of Oban, going down a long hill, a snake developed. I thought I would try accelerating out of it, after all we were going down hill and the car had the power. Mistake. Things got very much worse. When my mate, following in the 2CV, saw the trailer going from side to side on 2 wheels, he retired to a safe distance, as he put it. The CB radio that we were using to keep in touch crackled into life with some expletives, but there was too much going on for me to be bothered with it. Incredibly, my mate's navigator, my wife and my young daughter were all asleep.
After what seemed a lifetime I decided that if we were going to have an accident, we should have it at a much slower speed, I tried braking momentarily whenever the car and trailer were in line. Fortunately, this tactic worked and the car and trailer came under control. White and shaking, I pulled into the next lay-by, left the car and threw up on the verge.
"Why have we stopped?" called the navigator from the back seat ...
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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I once didn't check properly when pulling off a (badly anngled) slip road onto a 40 mph dual carriageway.
Reaslising my mistake, I booted it and the guy behind braked hard. I was just putting up my hand to acknowledge my stupidity and to thank the following car when I noticed it had police markings.....
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The only big mistake that I have done is being caught speeding. Gits! :(
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I've had a real trawl back through my 25...ish years of driving and was beginning to think I was a perfect driver when I eventually came up with one. I remember once carrying out a manoeuvre and nearly forgot to signal first.
Hang on a minute though, if I only nearly forgot that doesn't count does it. I'll get back to you.
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