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Post by Humph on Mar 15, 2017 18:41:41 GMT
I have just been out with my son giving him some driving practice. He's having pro lessons too but I've been taking him out most evenings for a bit of extra experience. He's doing ok, but still has much to learn. Anyway, just about 200 yards from our house on the way home there's a cul de sac leading off to the left. He was driving and we could see a black Golf ready to emerge and turn right. "Keep an eye on that black car" says I "But you have right of way so he has to wait for you to pass". "OK" he says and carries on at no more than 20mph which is about right for that very narrow stretch of road.
Just as as he drew level with the turning the guy in the Golf pulls out right in front of him, realises his mistake, and stops right in our path. Fortunately my son hit the brake hard and I hauled the handbrake on. We stopped inches from the driver's door of the Golf.
The guy then pulled around to the side of us, rolled his window down and did, in fairness, apologise profusely, excusing his actions by explaining that he thought the car was one belonging to his neighbour who would have been turning into the cul de sac.
Damn nearly soiled myself. However, I suppose because nothing actually bad happened, it was a salutary lesson to my son that it's not just your own driving you have to be aware of but the unpredictability of the "others".
We hadn't covered emergency stops yet...but he he now knows what one feels like.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 15, 2017 18:45:10 GMT
I suppose it's a lesson to us 'experienced' types too: that any of us can make a silly assumption or miscalculation. Sounds like Young Humph is learning to drive with brain engaged, which is good.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2017 19:00:26 GMT
I often ponder on this;
If one considers the "near-misses" one has had in ones life, and compares them to the "not-misses", there is amazingly little distance between the two.
The difference between soiled trousers and utter disaster is quite scarily little.
For my part I get the cold sweats far more easily over things I look back on as having almost happened then I do recalling things that actually did.
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Post by Humph on Mar 15, 2017 19:51:59 GMT
Yes, I suppose that's right enough. Stuff like that just reminds us how quickly a routine day has the potential to go badly wrong. I guess you can't dwell on that thought too long though or you'd never do anything.
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Post by Alanović on Mar 16, 2017 10:56:52 GMT
I remember that happening to me twice when I was learning to drive and my Mum was accompanying me. On one of the occasions, I was to close to the car pulling out to stop in time, and had to cadence brake around him - and on the other side of the emerging vehicle was a traffic island which I then also had to avoid, and did. I think The Force took over for those seconds - I remember my Mum being staggered we'd avoided an accident.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2017 11:39:48 GMT
I hit that traffic island at the top of Priest Hill trying to avoid a bus on my test.
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Post by Alanović on Mar 16, 2017 11:48:11 GMT
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2017 11:54:09 GMT
Amazing, yes exactly that one. That takes me back.
Though the bollards on the pavement weren't there then.
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Post by Alanović on Mar 16, 2017 12:22:15 GMT
They still run double deckers up and down Priest Hill and around that bend, then round the hairpin on to Albert Rd. Bloody ludicrous.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2017 12:35:45 GMT
I can't remember now whether it was a single or double decker. I was depressingly young.
They are about to start trialing double deckers here. Other than the drivers being incapable of driving even a minibus, low hanging cables, low bridges, potholes and the high probability of getting mugged upstairs at night, I don't see what can possibly go wrong.
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Mar 18, 2017 23:49:19 GMT
Just got back from Sicily tonight. I didn't drive there but experienced some terrible driving skills of others. Worst was the driver of the bus we were on.
No concept over there it seems to give way or pedestrian crossings where drivers should stop!
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Post by Hofmeister on Mar 20, 2017 13:02:26 GMT
Just got back from Sicily tonight. I didn't drive there but experienced some terrible driving skills of others. Worst was the driver of the bus we were on. No concept over there it seems to give way or pedestrian crossings where drivers should stop! I found driving in Sicily to be pretty straightforward, no worse than mainland Italy. I drove from Palermo to Taormina where the only motoring problem was washing the ash off the car ( A Fiat 500 ) when Etna was vomiting up every evening. |
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