Just popped out of the office for a bite to eat when I spot a black cab, the driver of whom had one of these bluetooth ear phone wotsits glued to his ear. On the other ear he was holding a mobile phone whilst trying to enter a supermarket car park.
oh, and he had two passengers in the back.
The Muppet!
|
Just got back from a coach trip based in Northern Italy and can report that 'You ain't seen nothin' yet'!
From the vantage point of a coach seat, you can see just what the Italian HGV boys are doing on the autostrada to distract themselves from the important business of driving the vehicle e.g. feet up on the dash, they are playing on their laptops, watching DVDs or holding a mobile phone with one hand, steering with an elbow and waving the other hand fanatically in the air.
All frightening stuff, made worse by the sight of your own coach-driver also on the phone, waving his arms about and arguing with the tour director.
I was glad to get home for a rest!
|
Feet up on the dash. Goodness that is so amazing. My wife and I did a coach tour of Italy years ago and that really jolted my memory banks. Both feet on the dash was normal. How do they do that? we saw all of that as well a reading paperbacks and road atlases..And eating pretty elaborate meals not just the odd sarnie. And because of the overtaking restrictions ( in Germany etc as well) they are in convoy and really up each others ar sorry rear ends.
Amazing Travel really narrows your mind as they often say
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 07/08/2008 at 19:43
|
Both feet on the dash was normal. How do they do that? >>
Good question! Anyone know how they do it?
|
|
|
|
|
Must have been about 25 years ago when we went on our first (and only) coach trip to Austria. Two english coach drivers, due to the length of the journey (it was non-stop). They changed over at 60mph on the motorway.......one stood up and the second slid in behind, took the wheel, and the first slid out. My wife and I were not impressed.
|
|
Be interesting to see how the tacho accounted for that change of drivers!
|
|
|
>>They changed over at 60mph on the motorway.......one stood up and the second slid in behind, took the wheel, and the first slid out. My wife and I were not impressed.
>>
I have seen that done on a non stop trip ( except for comfort/ meal breaks) to Rimini on the Adriatic.
The ex driver then went to sleep in his sleeping bag in the aisle.
They swopped over our bags to an Italian coach at a meal stop in Austria and the Brits then immediately took returning pumters back to Blighty.
This was quite a few years ago :-(
|
|
|
|
All frightening stuff made worse by the sight of your own coach-driver also on the phone waving his arms about and arguing with the tour director.
So they even wave their arms about when the other party is not actually present? Interesting!
|
|
|
|
|
I followed a repmobile down a busy single carriageway road for three or four miles while the driver changed his shirt. From retrieving it from the hanger behind him to the full exchange took about 6 minutes, I shudder to think what he was steering with. I was so shocked I nearly dropped my coffee and doughnut- only joking. There is never a Copper around when you need one. Concrete
|
There is never a Copper around when you need one.
Then three come along all at once and arrest you.
|
|
|
There is never a Copper around when you need one.
They are all busy making sure the "climate camp" protesters at Kingsnorth Power Station do not progress with action which causes you & I losing our power supplies.
|
"Just got back from a coach trip based in Northern Italy and can report that 'You ain't seen nothin' yet'! "
Might explain why an HGV near Milan crashed into the rear of our hire car, hospitalising us and the car was a right off...
|
sorry to hear that rtj70, regards...zoo
|
|
Thanks zoo. It was actually in summer 2006 but frightening what happened. My wife still does not like travelling on motorways.
|
|
|
|
Not just in Italy - we have travelled down to southern France several times by coach and seen lorry drivers paying little attention to the road, including one rolling a cigarette with both hands - steering with his knees perhaps? I have to admit it put me off doing the trip by car.
Edited by deepwith on 06/08/2008 at 21:18
|
|
|
|
Today, I witnessed perhaps the single most stupid, thoughtless and reckless piece of driving I have ever seen in my 11-year coach and bus driving career.
I was coming along a road that narrows from dual to single carriageway at a set of traffic lights. (Formby By-pass at Woodvale lights for those who know the area.) I was wanting to turn right approximately 150 yards after the junction so had positioned my coach in the right hand lane. As we all set off from the lights I signalled right and came to a stop whilst waiting for the oncoming traffic to clear. Traffic from the dual carriageway that was coming from behind me was passing me on my nearside. I was just about to start my turn when, out of my blind spot, a wotsit-head in a black Renault Clio came past me on my offside, on the wrong side of the road whilst ignoring the 'keep-left' bollards. I was too gob-smacked to sound my horn and just counted myself lucky that I had seen him before I started the turn as he must have been travelling at 50mph plus. The thought of him slamming into a coach-load of children at that speed doesn't bear thinking about.
Cheers.
|
|
On "Police,Camera, Action" the other night they had helicopter footage of a Dutch lorry driver on one of our motorways. They zoomed in to show him heating up a pan of soup, while steering with his knees. If the foreign drivers like those described above are getting away with outrageous driving, then don't get too close to them on our roadways.
|
|
|
Badwolf {P}
I know exactly where you mean. In fact it's only a few weeks ago since Merseyside Police caught a large number of speeding drivers during a one day special (as you may know the 70mph limit on the Woodvale bypass drops to 50mph and then to 30mph just before the Tree Tops traffic lights).
The number of speeding drivers who use the now merging outside lane to cut across middle lane traffic just before the bollards on Liverpool Road going towards Ainsdale is a real problem (quart into a pint pot), rather than using it to turn right into Woodvale Road as you were intending to do.
To those who may be puzzled about a middle lane, the reason is that there is a turn left only lane onto the Coastal Road at the traffic lights involved (about 100 yards after the Tree Tops lights).
Edited by Stuartli on 06/08/2008 at 23:41
|
It is a bad road layout really, isn't it? The trouble is, when it was designed one could generally rely on drivers' good sense to make sure that nothing went wrong. These days, however, there's precious little of that good sense remaining. I'm all for common sense prevailing but, sadly in this day and age I rather suspect that your average driver (not that I'm claiming to be above average or anything!) needs to be told what to do rather than think it out for themselves.
I've also posted on our local site (look out for LordMuck!) about this, as I feel so strongly about it. I doubt that the miscreant will ever be traced but I do hope that they are feeling a few pangs of guilt as they reflect on their actions. Unlikely, but one can but hope...
Cheers.
|
I am suprised that no one has yet answered the question "how do they do that?", that is drive with both feet on the dash.
The simple answer is, they use cruise control.
In the year that the French won the football world cup, I saw a car being driven on the A26 heading east with the driver's leg sticking out of the window (it was a hot day).
|
The simple answer is they use cruise control.>>
Thanks, I've never had cruise control so have little idea of its use and benefits.
I still imagined, though, that you had to have a foot handy to stab on the brakes in case of the unexpected? Could explain all the accidents?
|
I still imagined though that you had to have a foot handy to stab on the brakes in case of the unexpected?
When I drove trucks many years ago they had a secondary air brake system controlled by a lever on the steering column. The cruise control was a house brick and the only time you put your feet on the dash was to avoid amputation should a car go under the front of your truck.
|
the only time you put your feet on the dash was to avoid amputation should a car go under the front of your truck.
due to late braking? or travelling to close?
|
|
Perhaps being run into by a loony overtaking in the opposite direction?
|
I travelled by Greek coach from Calais to athens in the 80's. They would indeed change drivers whilst in the fast lane (which was of course any lane) the resting driver would lie crooked over some spare seats and jabber on for hours while smoking endless cigarettes. on arrival in Athens they would just turn around and smash it back up to calais.
I might have been hallucinating fom tiredness but I swear they smoked as they filled up - admittedly with diesel
|
I might have been hallucinating fom tiredness but I swear they smoked as they filled up - admittedly with diesel
I have seen people smoking whilst filling up in Italy as well as in Alabama, USA. Additionally, in southern state USA, it appears to be traditional to leave the engine running whilst filling up, presumably so the air conditioning continues to function.
|
due to late braking? or travelling to close?
>>
I did say "should a car go under" not "should you drive over"!
|
|
point taken old salt, i was just going on personal experience, when a lorry tried to climb all over my car when he entered the third lane ( the one i was in) to avoid slowing traffic in lane 2
|
point taken old salt
Glad you survived, I never intentionally drive alongside a truck, especially on roundabouts, and always try to leave them, and myself, an escape route in case it all goes pear shaped.
Edited by Old Navy on 08/08/2008 at 18:54
|
|
|
A tall-ish friend owned a mini and would regularly drive on hot days on full choke (to maintain revs) with a leg sticking out of each of the windows.
He also on one occasion bought a car whilst very drunk (didn't actually drive it). Had to be reminded the next morning & didn't believe he'd done so at first until he was shown the paperwork with his signature on! An absolute peach of a late 205Gti 1.9 in red it was. He crashed it soon after, sadly.
BW to all,
Alex.
|
Should I admit to this? I was once in Italy in a rental Punto and a stunning looking woman driving from Florence to Venice. My efforts to make the journey more memorable for her had to pause whenever we passed slower moving lorries on our right, and I did once get flashed out of the left most lane by an Alfa 164. She seemed to give her leg a little wiggle when she deemed it safe to continue. It ended with her clutching my right arm and planting a big kiss on my right cheek.
In my defence I always had one hand on the wheel and one foot on the accelerator.
I am not sure if she was as nice as her non-PAS 1.6 MX-5. Sadly it was a late 88bhp one, not one of the early 110bhp ones.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
