Advanced Driving Hub

Strangely Brown wrote: IIRC, the original system as laid down in Roadcraft was:

Course, Mirror-Signals-Speed, Gear, Mirror-Signals, Horn, Accelerate.

AKA:
Fist - Lights - Horn

EasyShifter wrote:If I'm right about all that - and if we would include safety as one of the criteria for 'better' - then there seems to me to be little if any doubt.

True. It's all a question of priorities and where to put one's values of what good driving is. Simply put, if it's safe, who gives a flying $@u€ as to whether it's sociable?

Astraist wrote:Simply put, if it's safe, who gives a flying $@u€ as to whether it's sociable?

the problem is one of perception - it may be safe, but if others don't understand it because it is not the norm, then rather than being anti-social, it could be seen as dangerous / could affect how others drive - thus maybe no longer being safe?

Alasdair

Astraist wrote:Simply put, if it's safe, who gives a flying $@u€ as to whether it's sociable?

The thing that you need to bear in mind there is that the person you have just overtaken is your last witness. If it all goes udders upwards a bit further down the road, even if it's not your fault, then their view of your driving, right or wrong, may colour what happens next.

Just something to think about before you blow their doors off.

Strangely Brown wrote:The thing that you need to bear in mind there is that the person you have just overtaken is your last witness. If it all goes udders upwards a bit further down the road, even if it's not your fault, then their view of your driving, right or wrong, may colour what happens next.

Hmmm, lets think ... Offsiding.

How would that look to a non 'Advanced' driver/rider?

How many advanced drivers/riders have you seen doing it 'coz that's what advanced riders/drivers do' rather than understanding properly where it is safe and advantageous?

Strangely Brown wrote:

GTR1400MAN wrote:

Strangely Brown wrote:

sussex2 wrote:It's hard to put a name on it and it's hard to quantify it but there's a feeling which starts the moment I get into a vehicle with another driver.

I think the word you are looking for is, "confidence'.

Some drivers inspire confidence right from the off, others do not.

Aren't you all talking about S #5?

Not necessarily. I think that some drivers just put their passengers at ease while others make them feel, not exactly concerned, but maybe slightly apprehensive. It's not necessarily the polish or the sparkle that's either there or missing but that there is an almost indescribable something that garners trust. Maybe it's an instant recognition of competence?

Yes, it is competence - not going at it all in a rush but calmly, and something which is important, with no comment about others competence or lack of. It's just doing the thing.
If you passengers all nod off or talk amongst themselves, and you are still making good progress, then you are almost there.

GTR1400MAN wrote:Hmmm, lets think ... Offsiding.

How would that look to a non 'Advanced' driver/rider?

How many are looking far enough beyond the end of their own bonnet to notice?

I've posted before about when a bike trainee chucked himself off the road. A driver who'd been following stopped specifically to tell police that we'd been riding [until then] sensibly.

A friend was at a family reunion and, during a conversation mentioned he was a motorcyclist. Rellie said "Oh, I followed a motorcycle the other day, the rider couldn't control it - weaving all over the road!"

Careful questioning revealed it had probably been perfect cornering lines . . .

Advanced driving is a solitary thing and you should never expect others to appreciate it (even your nearest and dearest).
Of course some will, my paying customers when I was driving for instance, but not many others.
The ones that do understand will, most likely, have the same mindset and attitude as yourself even though they may lack the training or experience.

It often helps to turn a question around and apply the same principle. So instead of asking whether we would refrain from a legitimate overtake to avoid giving the wrong impression, maybe we should ask whether we would do an ill-advised overtake just to avoid being thought over-cautious by the driver behind. There's a long straight stretch I use most days that looks really inviting - especially to drivers who don't know the road and don't see the signs saying '50' and 'Pedestrians Crossing for 300 yards'. Behind the hedges on either side are golf links between which golfers deep in conversation and heated controversy criss-cross the road, and also the vehicular entrance to the golf club from which similarly preoccupied drivers (of cars, that is!) also emerge.
I guess I could be accused, having declined an overtake, of confirming the driver behind me in a stereotypical view of over-cautious advance drivers.
While we need to be aware of the example we set (not that I've much confidence anyone takes notice of it) at the end of the day we have to own our own decisions and judgments and drive by them.