Took the boy to nursery this morning in thick fog. Thickest I've seen in a long time, even the tops of houses were obscured it was that low!
Passed numerous cars with absolutely no lights on whatsoever (flashed every one of 'em too!), but you know what? Most of them were being driven by women usually with a load of kids in the back and not only that, their screens were usually misted up so they were hunched over the steering wheel peering myopically through the screen.
Insurance statistics state women make for safer drivers, what they don't take into account is they might drive slowly but they are technically inept and don't understand the 'mechanics' of safe driving by putting on lights and using demisters properly (and learning to turn that fog light off the moment another car appears behind them).
No doubt my less than pc comments will result in the usual replies.
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its ok my ex girlfreind didnt know what the full beam "function" in the car was, and was amazed that when you activated full beam you could see more at night on a unlit road.
Although was puzzeled why other oncoming drivers kept on flashing there lights at her and I had to keep reiminding her - to turn of full beam when other cars where coming
While I am not trying to generalise Woman drivers what i have written is 100% true!
Edited by redviper on 04/02/2009 at 12:54
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But this has been going on for years. Another case for daytime running lights? No decision to make. Turn ignition, lights come on!
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Another case for daytime running lights?
No.
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>> Another case for daytime running lights? No.
>>
Yes!
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"they are technically inept"
Iv`e known a lot of *blokes* that can`t even service their own car or strip an engine down!
Of course, it`s just possible that being `technically capable` in 2009 equates with being able to check oil levels, or top up windscreen fluid...or operate the headlights..
;-)
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My OH is very good with putting lights on and wont leave the house until all front windows are clear.
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Could I suggest that when driving in fog it might be better to concentrate on your own driving and where your are going rather than peering into other cars to check on the other drivers and displaying your superior mechanical ability by flashing your lights at oncoming cars?
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Could I suggest that when driving in fog it might be better to concentrate on your own driving and where your are going rather than peering into other cars to check on the other drivers and displaying your superior mechanical ability by flashing your lights at oncoming cars?
No you cannot suggest no need to shout, thanks
I consider it a public duty to let someone know they can barely be seen because they're too dum to turn a switch, thanks for your concern! I'm sure you'd do the same thing if a car drives off a garage forecourt at night without its lights, no?
My driving was perfectly executed this morning. I was well lit, drove at a speed appropriate to the conditions and I am not claiming to have a superior mechanical ability, merely the ability to drive safely according to prevailing conditions whilst being aware of my surroundings and not putting anyone at risk. I think its called common sense but this was sadly lacking in those drivers I witnessed this morning.
Edited by PoloGirl on 04/02/2009 at 18:46
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My driving was perfectly executed this morning. >>
Must be great to be a perfect driver, what training did you do? I must do that course.
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Must be great to be a perfect driver what training did you do? I must do that course.
University of Life. Got a 2:1.
The uni bar is cr*p though!
:-)
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iqn869.... pride come before a fall, beware!
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" I was well lit"
Were you peering out through your `night glasses` with the tinted lenses - as mentioned in your other thread?
Bet a typical woman would never fall for that...
;-)
(teasing ;-)
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I also think that the advent of automatic headlights is another factor at work here. They work perfectly well, IMHO, when it really is dark and they are needed. In conditions where headlights are needed for other reasons (e.g fog or heavy spay) but the ambient light level is actually quite high, drivers used to the car turning on the lights will just not realise they are not on.
My previous car (Picasso) did turn the headlights on if the wipers had been turned on for more than 30 seconds or thereabouts, so covered the spray scenario mostly. My current car (Qashqai) doesn't do this and I quite often find myself discovering (too late) that my headlights are not on when they probably should be.
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I find a little warning light that comes on the dash helps to say that the lights are on - also the fact that the dash lights themselves dim when the lights are on helps too.
What I don't get is the number of cars that drive in complete darkness with no lights at all - do these people never check to see if they've got fuel, what the engine temperatures is, what speed they're doing?
And yes - I have flashed at a Police Traffic car who was driving (in town) without lights at 2am !!
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What I don't get is the number of cars that drive in complete darkness with no lights at all - do these people never check to see if they've got fuel what the engine temperatures is what speed they're doing?
On some cars the dash lights are on all the time, regardless of whether the headlights are on or off.
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>>do these people never check to see ....... what the engine temperatures is,
>>
Yaris has no temp gauge. A little blue thermometer lights up when cold, red when hot and nowt when normal.
But I know what you mean. These "operators" of cars have special eyes :-(
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Yaris has no temp gauge. A little blue thermometer lights up when cold
Roomsters the same... takes some getting used to when you've been used to a gauge!
Back to the OP has anyone noticed that with all this snow around people are (partially) clearing their windows but leaving the rear lights obscured? No rear lights showing at night!! And its male and female drivers, not just one sex... lazy s*ds!
Edited by b308 on 05/02/2009 at 10:03
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Passed numerous cars with absolutely no lights on whatsoever (flashed every one of 'em too!)
So long as I've seen them, and they've seen me, I'm not bothered whether they've got lights on or not. It's none of my business. As Paul Ripley (this Paul Ripley tinyurl.com/dg3quc) says, it's the job of the police (not other motorists) to admonish erring drivers. You should be concentrating on your own driving, not allowing yourself to be distracted by what other drivers are doing.
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I must say there have been some pretty haughty responses to the OP's comment he flashed drivers without lights - why this is perceived as being none of his business or impertinent is beyond me.
Would they also ignore someone walking in the middle of the road, or lying slumped on the pavement? It's intervention after all. When you're in a car there are limited ways you can communicate 'suggestions' or warnings to other drivers - flashing your lights is failry well recognised as 'attention - something's amiss'. If I'm ever flashed I assume there's either something wrong/inappropriate with my car or there's a speed camera nearby - grateful would be my response.
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its all well and good generalizing women as inept drivers but alot of men wouldnt know where to start with putting on the washing machine. its all swings and roundabouts
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>On some cars the dash lights are on all the time, regardless of whether the headlights are on or off.
True. In fact, in some (such as our Toyota Verso) the illumination is essential even in daylight, and the instrument lights get dimmer when the headlights are on. This means that in those odd lighting conditions that require both headlights and sunglasses (low summer evening sun, for example) it can be very hard to read the instruments.
As for those who fail to do simple things like put the headlights on (or clean the snow off them before setting out) I'll wager you won't find a (statistically) significant difference between the proportions of male and female drivers.
Loading a dishwasher, on the other hand, so that everything will fit and still get clean... No doubt about it - you need a male-type brain for that.
};---)
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I must say there have been some pretty haughty responses to the OP's comment he flashed drivers without lights ...........
I suspect that the OP flashes his lights by way of a sanctimonious admonition that in his opinion the other driver is doing something wrong, not to warn them that their lights are not on out of concern for the other driver's safety.
Paul Ripley quite rightly advocates not doing anything which distracts a driver from their own driving, and this includes not telling off another driver by the flashing of lights.
Edited by L'escargot on 05/02/2009 at 09:42
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Ermm, what about all blokes who don't know how to turn off their foglights?
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SWMBO's car is always cleared of any snow or ice perfectly before she drives it, because she makes me do it! ;-)
I have witnessed some appalling driving in this week of wintery conditions, but genuinely couldn't say it was mostly women or men. I think the sad fact is that few people take a pride in driving any more, and certainly couldn't care less about how a car operates beyond the bare essentials of driving it.
It's not a gender thing, IMHO.
I would flash someone with no lights at night or in low visibility conditions (turning lights off and back on briefly is actually more effective and less aggressive). It could be a simple oversight or defective lights (particularly rear ones) which aren't apparent to the driver. Anyone who would get offended at one brief "reminder" from another driver needs to take anger management lessons.
Cheers
DP
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Mr Snail, are you on commission from Amazon???
Having never heard of the person you refer to, and not willing to buy his book to find out, I would say your summary enough puts me off him!!
Don't do anything that would distract another driver? I am sure when I put my indicators on it might distract him/her? If I see a car in the dark with no lights on I shouldn't do the decent thing and try and alert them to this? You're having a laugh are you not? If you saw someone had a flat tyre you wouldn't try to alert them?
And just leave them to drive about in the dark / fog until the police alert them as we know there is a police car on every road? What will scare them more, a flash of my lights or blues and twos in their mirror?
Never heard such a load of nonsense for a long while!
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Bobby, Paul Ripley used to have a column in the Motoring section of the DT. It made for interesting and, on the whole, useful reading. I, for one, missed it when he gave it up.
Dang, and I wasn't going to admit to having read this thread, being totally technically inept.....;-)
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He also used to do bits for Performance Car magazine, including appearing in a few of their Performance Car of The Year features.
A driver of incredible skill and smoothness.
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Mr Snail are you on commission from Amazon???
I wish!
Don't do anything that would distract another driver?
I was talking about a driver distracting himself by going through the thought and action processes necessary for him to flash his lights. Read my post again. I go to great lengths to make my posts unambiguous.
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I suspect that the OP flashes his lights by way of a sanctimonious admonition that in his opinion the other driver is doing something wrong, not to warn them that their lights are not on out of concern for the other driver's safety.
But that's pure supposition & speculation! It has little to do with the stated facts - one could equally assume the opposite.
Paul Ripley quite rightly advocates not doing anything which distracts a driver from their own driving, and this includes not telling off another driver by the flashing of lights.
I think 'distracts' in this context means doing something gratuitous or willfully dangerous/annoying - he surely doesn't mean indicating something that might be a safety or accident hazard. As with all blanket advice of this sort it has to be applied sensibly & in context.
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"I consider it a public duty to let someone know they can barely be seen because they're too dum to turn a switch"
I suspect the above statement tell you all you need to know about the original poster's attitude to other drivers. More concerned with the perceived failing of others than improving their own driving skills and convinced of his own inate superiority.
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More concerned with the perceived failing of others than improving their own driving skills and convinced of his own inate superiority.
My point exactly. I call it sanctimonious admonishment of the other drivers.
Edited by L'escargot on 05/02/2009 at 14:25
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I must say there have been some pretty haughty responses to the OP's comment he flashed drivers without lights - why this is perceived as being none of his business or impertinent is beyond me. Would they also ignore someone walking in the middle of the road or lying slumped on the pavement? It's intervention after all. When you're in a car there are limited ways you can communicate 'suggestions' or warnings to other drivers - flashing your lights is failry well recognised as 'attention - something's amiss'. If I'm ever flashed I assume there's either something wrong/inappropriate with my car or there's a speed camera nearby - grateful would be my response.
Thank you Woodbines for a bit of common sense support.
I never intended to come across as self righteous or holier than thou. Whilst I accept that flashing is not the right way to do things, if by flashing one driver it alerts them to putting on their lights and prevents them having a crash or worse, causing someone to crash into them because they couldn't be seen, then I feel I've done something to help. I'm not a perfect driver and have never made such a statement but I at least am aware of the need to see and be seen thereby decreasing the risk to myself and others. Of course, if some posters would rather do nothing maybe they will think twice when they pull out in front of a people carrier full of kids hitting them at the next t-junction!
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women are only a lower insurance risk cos they tend to do less miles
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"women are only a lower insurance risk cos they tend to do less miles"
Any evidence to support that retgwte?
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"women are only a lower insurance risk cos they tend to do less miles"
>
There is no need for an insurance company to make an assumption based on "tending" to do less (sic) miles. They ask all proposers to state what mileage they actually do, so I am sure are perfectly capable of distinguishing between mileage- and sex-related insurance risks.
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Well, if you read the original post, I think most have been very kind to the OP, in taking a tiny bit of his post seriously. To this sensitive little flower (lol) it came across merely as a pop at female drivers - else why bring up insurance risks and technical ineptitude?
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>On some cars the dash lights are on all the time, regardless of whether the headlights are on or off.
I do think that this part of the problem. SWMBO's car had dash lights that are constantly on as does my daughter and they become totally unaware that they have no external lights on when it get dull/dark. I must confess that I agree with the OP though in that it does seem to be mostly females drivers I see with no lights or just side lights on in fog. When I challenged my SiL on this she retorted that 'it runs the battery down'........
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Well I for one will admit to having driven off a brightly lit car park and forgotten to put the lights on.
Like misfueling and speeding there are those that have and those that have yet to.......
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"technical ineptitude?"
Oi deepwith, no need to bring my brother into the discussion!
He's only been driving about 40 years but I swear he still couldn't find the bonnet release let alone the dipstick or washer fluid filler thing. I remember a few years ago he bought a 306 and (feigning interest) I asked him which model? Answer "a white one", Which engine "dunno", Petrol or diesel "Dunno, wife fills it up each week" etc., etc.. He has absolutely no interest in cars - mind you, he's a whizz with the washing machine!
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