The mentality of car drivers - be afraid!

[Bri w]

I'm with YC on this one. I expect every car driver to be an idiot UNTIL they prove otherwise. Approaching a junction at which a car is waiting to pull out I try to make eye contact, I position myself with the assumption they haven't seen me and I may even adjust my speed (up or down) to give me the best chance of avoiding them if they do prove to be idiots.

And in the car I have part pulled out on a biker, about a foot, before I saw him. He wasn't pleased, and I was gutted. He's a neighbour, and has given me some serious stick down the pub with the lads. And on the bike I've pulled out without seeing a car, and it avoided me not the other way around.

I'm a better car driver for starting out on a bike for the reasons already stated by others in the thread.

30 yrs without an accident in the car, and 29 yrs since my last off on a bike.

[yorkie_chris]

I would use that as an example of the rules (or foolishly slavish application of them) putting you in a dangerous situation and say safety is more important.
Take another example, filtering with double white lines... if it is clear the safe (though illegal) thing to do is use the other side of the road. I take the safe one every time if there are no police about.

I am not fussed if you want to brag about doing millions of km, how much your b*llocks weigh or any other stats. I don't see how it is relevant.

Chris, the post that you refer to was deleted because it was a little harshly worded and it did sound like an brag which is something that I am not inclined to do in such a grandiose manner. It was in response to another "brag".

Whatever... it seems that some people still miss the point of my original post.

As somebody who drives artics,trucks,buses cars and rides a bike,I treat 40years as experience and I treat all drivers and riders the same-----------TAKE IT THEY HAVEN'T SEEN YOU AND THINK SIGNALS ARE DISCO LIGHTS THAT MEAN NOTHING.

Unfortunately there is good and bad in all categories but till I learn to sort out the good from the bad I will take it they haven't seen me or my intentions and where possible allow myself a safety zone for their mistakes[or mine]
I am a rider/driver of the self preservation society type,possibly why I am still here

I agree with YC expect to car driver to kill you and you will be better off, trusting another road user not to do something stupid is a big risk, even when im in the car or van i expect cars to pull out in front of me (yes, i have hit someone as they pull out of a junction and heard them i didnt see you, and im like how?!?!?!)

Spending some time here in America i have found out that they dont filter because its illegal they think. And some of the Car drivers from the uk i work with agree that it should be illegal because they dont expect bikers to move through the lines of traffic. which im guessing causes the low speed filtering spills that happen, but im sure if they was on a bike they would do the exact same thing as us, maybe this should be in the next think bike campaign less slow speed spills would be nice, advertise we DO filter, get over it!!!

The difference there is there isn't any real lane discipline. While it might be in place in the law or it might not (in Ontario, Canada it is, at least, but everyone ignores it) doesn't seem to matter. Everyone drives in whatever lane they like unless they're going for an exit. The result is that you change lane in either direction to get past someone, as opposed to in Europe where you know there's a definite slow lane (or hope there is, at least) and people only move out of it to go back into it.

Does that make sense?

[BoltonSte]

There is no slow lane, here Metalangel. Only the inside lane for buses and the like, which if you are in a car you can never venture into even if driving at 60. The middle and outside lanes

Although it is worse in the states as there is no blanket law over all states. California allow filtering and it appears drivers expect it. Whereas in Delaware where I was you couldn't, although I did.

It's worse when you go from a state that allows it into one that doesn't though. Then you'd better watch out.

Ste

[embee]

There has been a discussion going on elsewhere on similar things, and something which came up was that car Driving Instructors now tell their pupils NOT to check the blind spot (what we call the "lifesaver", over the shoulder check) before moving out of a lane, it's strictly mirror/signal/manoeuvre.

My godson recently went through the lessons/test, and while discussing things he confirmed that he was definitely told not to look over his shoulder. Both I and a friend (IAM) said OK for the test (do it by the book), but once you've passed and you're out on your own, check over your shoulder before lane changing, it could save your life or someone else's!

So be warned, recently trained car drivers will not check the blind spot so will pull out on you.

I can confirm what embee said about being told not to check your blind spot, and my driving instructors reason, was you should be looking in your mirrors all the time anyway. So i thought hmmm, and me being me meant i argued the point and reason behind checking blindspots, and many other aspects of driving, and the majority of the time my instructor agreed with what i was saying, but he always went back to . . . "that's what you need to do on your test."
This annoyed me alot, resulting in me not doing my test out of sheer principal, childish or not ive been told both, so i now won't take my driving test out of principal as i don't feel safe with the standards with which im expected to conform by, even if it is for just an hour while im doing my test, its the principal.

P.S. Just so folks know, my comments above shouldn't be taken as an attack on anybody (they have been before) I mean no offence to anybody and i want that to be understood, i don't wish to be seen to be blanketing any motorist, these are just my feelings and thoughts, and do not reflect on anyone.

[dizzyblonde]

Originally Posted by embee

There has been a discussion going on elsewhere on similar things, and something which came up was that car Driving Instructors now tell their pupils NOT to check the blind spot (what we call the "lifesaver", over the shoulder check) before moving out of a lane, it's strictly mirror/signal/manoeuvre.

My godson recently went through the lessons/test, and while discussing things he confirmed that he was definitely told not to look over his shoulder. Both I and a friend (IAM) said OK for the test (do it by the book), but once you've passed and you're out on your own, check over your shoulder before lane changing, it could save your life or someone else's!

So be warned, recently trained car drivers will not check the blind spot so will pull out on you.

Funny that, I passed my driving test at the beginning of July, and my instructor was constantly telling me to check blind spots. Perhaps its the difference between new crap instructors and well established instructors with good track records.
SO I'm afraid not all recently trained drivers are like this.
I shouldn't say, but my instructor was also an old Triumph rider, I was constantly picking up on other learners doing odd things, and also reported back to him on the ways I saw people being taught in comparison to me, when I was out in my own car. I shan't say what our conversations went like\!