This blog is aimed at raising the delicate balance needed
when driving of keeping up with traffic around you and driving to the conditions.
A few days ago, I re-tweeted a pic from the Lincolnshire
Police Roads Policing Unit (@LincsRPU) that had the text “Again, not driving to the
conditions” accompanying it. You could
almost sense the exasperation, desperation and sheer frustration of someone who
is spending all day attending collisions where drivers do not follow this most
fundamental rule in driving.
Why does this happen so often? Partly it is due to something that I
experienced only yesterday on one of my Intensive Driving Courses in Peterborough. My pupil approached the
Queensgate roundabout in Peterborough and realised a silver MX5 behind was very close, and kind of
got into a bit of a battle of speed on the roundabout as a result.
We found ourselves on the roundabout, doing swift lane
changes in 2nd gear, accelerating towards the sharp bend with no
vision (near the Evening Telegraph building), and why? So that the MX5 could
not undertake us. The result was the
planning on the roundabout went astray, we ended up exiting at speed into the
right hand lane and when the car took a much needed gasp of breath for the 2 –
3 gear change, the MX5 undertook us anyway.
As an observer of all this carry on, you have to take a step back, and
ask.... “What on earth was that all about?”
What it is often about is not so much about “keeping up with
traffic” as “not losing face”. I’ve
noticed that when a newly trained driver starts driving with
emotion rather than skill, it only leads to problems. The loss of pride associated with being
undertaken or overtaken or giving way at a meeting situation, or pausing at a
mini-roundabout are symptoms of someone who is now driving on emotion.
There is a need to keep up with the pace of traffic, by that
I mean, not become the hazard ourselves by driving so slowly that everyone is
getting angry with us.... so doing 40 in a 60 for no apparent reason would be a
good example. But, far more important a
skill to develop and apply every day of the year, is to shelve any macho
tendencies, ditch the emotion, and drive to the conditions
If you go into your driving life with the mindset that you
don’t want to get “had over” by any other driver, you are going to find every
minute of your driving experience a constant battle. There is ALWAYS someone around who wants to
driver faster than you.... a sad but true fact. I appreciate that some people will read this paragraph in particular and really disagree with the sentiment and I would encourage you to drop me your comment below, as I know there are often 2 sides to any point of view.
My customers on my Intensive Driving Courses will be very
used to the concept of “You must be able to stop in a distance seen to be clear”
– how relevant that message is to this blog.
If you read this and want to air your view, vent your
frustration, please fire away......
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