Suddenly this oncoming 7 1/2 Ton box lorry veered to its nearside, the driver quickly corrected which caused it to veer towards and across the center line and into my path. Its driver corrected again and it swerved back to its nearside again.
I was just at the point of taking avoiding action, ie the nearside ditch, when the driver corrected. the driver continued to fight with the steering as it disappeared behind me and eventually regained control.
For what reason, maybe a mobile phone or checking a delivery note - I dont know. But It was a reminder just how a moments inattention could have catastrophic consequences and frequently does. Also how much our lives depend on the focus and skills of other road users. We all have a duty to each other and to the skill of driving.
Unfortunately I did not get the number or the matter would have gone further.
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Fullchat
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Unfortunately I did not get the number or the matter would have gone further.
Yes, had it been me, I would've demanded that his company paid for my drivers' seat to be valeted ;-)
Unfortunately sounds typical, I had to stand on the anchors halfway round a roundabout today because a pink fluffy dice in a Transit pulled straight into my path whilst talking on his phone. He got a blast of the horn, but was most likely still oblivious to the accident he may have caused. IMO, drivers of company vans are among the worst drivers - don't seem to care about the vehicles they're driving, or the insurance implications of smashing them up.
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Yes, it's surely chastening to know how much our lives are really in the hands of other people, despite us thinking we're somehow master of our own destiny. Funny how just driving a car can bring those moments supreme clarity.
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These are the moments i fear the most.
Every time i drive i always attempt to drive safely but always without fail assume i am sharing the road with people who can't drive. I think this is one of the core principles of safe driving; predicting what others may do or what decisions they may take and never put yourself in a position where you are risk taking or putting yourself in potential danger.
For me its almost like driving everyone elses car around as well as your own by trying to determine what move someone might make.
By the sounds of it in this situation you really have to hope but i'm the most weary of trucks and lorries and always give them a wide birth and make progress on the overtake.
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Yes I think I may have caused a Micra driver to have a seat valeting moment today much to my shame.
I was taking a left hand bend in the wet and obviously totally misjudged my approach speed, nor did I take account of the FWD characteristics of the Mondeo. As I began to turn the car understeered just as the Micra came round the bend, he managed to get past just as I slid slightly onto his side of the road. Only the swift and immediate removal of my foot from the accelerator and careful steering averted a scrape.
I was quite annoyed with myself for that as it is the first time in a LONG time that I've screwed up to that extent. Having said that about the FWD, it would probably have been worse in my last car as I would have oversteered the rear end into his path.
Wouldn't have happened at all in the MG as I would have been driving so slowly it would have made a nun swear. :-)
Blue
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Blue,
First bit of rain for a while? Tyres geting near/below 2mm?
Remarkably honest of you to post and shows we can all get it wrong...hope you don't get slaughtered by the 'holier than thou' brigade.
It's an awful feeling isn't it, waiting for the grip to come back from understeer in circs like that.
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But you do expect torquey front drivers to understeer out of wet roundabouts etc... if you're pressing on a subtle lift of the foot and a very slight feeding off of lock is all it takes, instantaneous and almost unconscious really...
It does depend on the car. I was very impressed indeed with the trick part-time 4X4 in a Skoda I drove in the wet last year. Might make a driver over-confident after a while.
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Driving in the rain is like driving on ice, at least thats how i think of it; worst case.
Having said that, the big snow fall and freeze last christmas proved how stupid people can drive even in snow; far too quickly.
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OldSkool, I am amazed that you actually take to the road at all!
Firstly assuming that everyone else on the road can't drive, and then when there is some rain you treat it as it was ice!!!
Your nerves must be shattered every time you get behind the wheel!
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2007 Seat Altea XL 2.0 TDI (140) Stylance
2005 Skoda Fabia vrS
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Wet slippery tightish bends or corners with good visibility= yet another opportunity to deepen your knowledge of your car's handling characteristics.
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Yet another good example of why there should be LCV tests for everyone driving anything bigger than a Transit.
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Good post, Blue.
I'm not perfect either. Most of the time, I'm pretty careful when I'm driving, and I'm thinking about what I am doing, but there are a few times when my mind wanders . . .
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when i was young and foolish i had an XR3i.....it was like a go-kart to drive, the suspension was so hard......it handled extremely well, but was a little under-powered compared to the opposition (Golf and Pug mostly).
it got to the point handling wise in the wet, that i'd worked out when the traction would come back in on wet corner understeer.......to the extent that i could frighten my mates by going in to a wet bend at too much tilt, understeer towards the Dartmoor granite wall and by throttling right off and being patient, the grip would come back to you.
It was most predictable and could be relied upon every time, although disconcerting to a passenger not in the know
stupid i know..but that's what happens when you're young and foolish...nowadays i sit and moan about the young and foolish...oh well.
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frighten my mates by going in to a wet bend at too much tilt understeer towards the Dartmoor granite wall and by throttling right off and being patient the grip would come back to you.
When I become dictator * , I think that men under about 40 will have to be banned from diving.
* Don't worry too much. Before that happens the Pope will be running a Buddhist theapy centre at Satan's ice rink for bears who can't pink fluffy dice in the woods
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men under about 40 will have to be banned from diving.
Er... what kind of diving do you have in mind NW?
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SNIPQUOTE!Er... what kind of diving do you have in mind NW?
The sort that happens you omit the R from dRiving
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:)
I always think of worst case; its easy to loose control in the rain and by assuming everyone else can't drive it keeps you on your toes and keeps you aware of your surroundings. Its something you have to be on top of for your advanced driving.
Today was a great example, lots of people slowing down and not indicating to turn off a road and on roundabouts, someone pulled out in front of me on a roundabout which i could of easily hit him ifi accelerated but because i guessed what he would do i coasted, people doing 35mph on a 50mph road, people tailgating me because of the slow people in front. All in all a typical days driving.
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Not wishing to thread hijack but on the subject of bad driving I had an experience last night of it. To cut a long story short I was on my way home from work at about 20:30 and caught up with a 'company' van being driven along a country 'A' road in a very erratic style. He was all over the road, everytime another vehicle came towards him (with their headlights on) he braked heavily and as we went into the 30mph village he was only doing about 22mph but still all over the road. I daren't get too close or even attempt to overtake him. Anyway fortunately he turned off in the village to go in a different direction to me.
The driving was so odd that I'd bet he was drunk rather than say on his phone for example and he was a real danger. What would you have done (if anything) under the circumstances?
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Blue, we've all done it, especially when it's been dry for so long and suddenly there's a nice slippery greasy sheen on the road which only hours before would've gripped any old tyre. A couple of years ago I was exiting a roundabout and the rear of my car (a FWD Nissan) decided it wanted to keep going round (no idea why, as I had 4 newish tyres on and wasn't travelling at excessive speed). Needless to say I lost the back-end, but then if I hadn't steered correctly I would've gone over the central reservation and hit an oncoming car. That certainly slowed me down until the road was dry again.
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I nearly lost a Disco on a a very greasy roundabout, everything electronic came on to help ! Now once one of those goes you'd know about it.
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