Is AD 'better driving'?

Topics relating to Advanced Driving in cars
sussex2
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Re: Is AD 'better driving'?

Postby sussex2 » Wed Oct 19, 2016 8:12 am

We had one particular customer who insisted on giving driving instructions/directions to the driver; to the detriment of safe driving very often as the man had rigid ideas.
The situation became so bad that one driver abandoned the car, and of course the passenger, in the middle of the Elephant and Castle traffic system in London - anyone familiar with this place will know it is similar to the chariot race scene in Ben Hur! At least it was at that time.
Not wishing to lose the business there followed some lengthy and time consuming explanations and several hours spent with the big boss.
This was a man who had formed and forged this company into one of the largest in its' sector; despite this he had little idea of 'our' subject and initially could see no reason why they even needed trained drivers. It took some pretty frank discussion to persuade him and we won in the end.
You see it doesn't matter how far people 'have risen or how much they may have achieved; if they don't know the subject or even appreciate it they'll be none the wiser unless told.

waremark
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Re: Is AD 'better driving'?

Postby waremark » Wed Oct 19, 2016 8:28 am

Sussex, what sort of things was the difficult customer asking for which the driver couldn't deal with?

sussex2
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Re: Is AD 'better driving'?

Postby sussex2 » Wed Oct 19, 2016 10:36 am

waremark wrote:Sussex, what sort of things was the difficult customer asking for which the driver couldn't deal with?


It was a while ago but my addled memory can bring up a few things:

Giving instructions on which route and lane to use, to a pedantic degree.
Keeping a strict eye on speed limits (at a time when there was much more leeway accepted than now).
Generally interfering (mentally not manually) with how the driver/s conducted the car (He didn't like the engine being revved).
Being overly concerned about fuel consumption and minor maintenance details.
All the above and more on a daily basis.

This list is not complete!

The first and second line can be run together with always wanting to take the same route and leave/arrive at the same time; this at a time when there had been lethal attacks on other senior employees of the company (In France that I remember).
The strict attention to speed limits did not (in our opinion) allow the driver to keep a safe distance from other vehicles (coupled with other things).

It may have been that some of the drivers were not sufficiently forthright with the man. In the end it had to come from above and as far as I remember we had no further trouble.

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akirk
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Location: Bristol

Re: Is AD 'better driving'?

Postby akirk » Wed Oct 19, 2016 10:53 am

I had an interesting example this morning - coming out of a village on a blind-ish right bend, I positioned to the left to open up the view - standard AD practice... the motorbike behind me seemed to take that as an invitation to overtake me in my lane on the blind right-hand bend... (and then proceeded to hold me up the following mile & half of windy country road :))

I admit I mis-read his riding - from the way he had approached from behind / the distance he was keeping / even the type of bike and rider I made an assumption that he was a better rider than reality showed... However, to me this is a small example of how doing something which in isolation is AD (where I positioned the car) can be read wrongly by other road users... What I should have done was to position my car to give clarity - i.e. so that he didn't overtake. He only caught me up because he was going faster than me in the village - on the stretch before the village I had seen him but he wasn't catching me, so I knew that he probably wasn't riding aggressively / fast, plus I knew the road coming up and knew how I would want to drive it, so I should perhaps have been a little less 'AD' in my car positioning and a little more 'AD' in my management of other traffic - never assume that others will know what you are planning!

Alasdair

sussex2
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Re: Is AD 'better driving'?

Postby sussex2 » Wed Oct 19, 2016 11:40 am

akirk wrote:I had an interesting example this morning - coming out of a village on a blind-ish right bend, I positioned to the left to open up the view - standard AD practice... the motorbike behind me seemed to take that as an invitation to overtake me in my lane on the blind right-hand bend... (and then proceeded to hold me up the following mile & half of windy country road :))

I admit I mis-read his riding - from the way he had approached from behind / the distance he was keeping / even the type of bike and rider I made an assumption that he was a better rider than reality showed... However, to me this is a small example of how doing something which in isolation is AD (where I positioned the car) can be read wrongly by other road users... What I should have done was to position my car to give clarity - i.e. so that he didn't overtake. He only caught me up because he was going faster than me in the village - on the stretch before the village I had seen him but he wasn't catching me, so I knew that he probably wasn't riding aggressively / fast, plus I knew the road coming up and knew how I would want to drive it, so I should perhaps have been a little less 'AD' in my car positioning and a little more 'AD' in my management of other traffic - never assume that others will know what you are planning!

Alasdair


AD can be a solitary thing :) and perhaps sometimes left that way.

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jont-
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Location: Herefordshire

Re: Is AD 'better driving'?

Postby jont- » Wed Oct 19, 2016 11:43 am

sussex2 wrote:It was a while ago but my addled memory can bring up a few things:
...
This list is not complete!

Sounds like he'd have been better off driving himself (which is the point I'm getting to with our airport taxis - their driving is so abysmal it would be less stressful to drive myself. Only problem is that I don't really want to get off a 12 hour flight and have to fight with the M25 to get home, but there are times I've thought it would still be less dangerous than the bloody taxi driver).

sussex2
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Re: Is AD 'better driving'?

Postby sussex2 » Wed Oct 19, 2016 1:10 pm

jont- wrote:
sussex2 wrote:It was a while ago but my addled memory can bring up a few things:
...
This list is not complete!

Sounds like he'd have been better off driving himself (which is the point I'm getting to with our airport taxis - their driving is so abysmal it would be less stressful to drive myself. Only problem is that I don't really want to get off a 12 hour flight and have to fight with the M25 to get home, but there are times I've thought it would still be less dangerous than the bloody taxi driver).


I felt a bit sorry for him as he was obviously having trouble letting go of control.
He was though a good man and his life story was extraordinary having stowed away on a fishing boat escaping the Nazis in Holland.

The man would not have a bad word said about this country and there hangs a tale:

The company provided the cars and I supplied the drivers.
I said it was a while ago and the car favoured for these people was the Vauxhall Senator which had a beautiful sounding straight 6 engine. I used to love driving the things solo and keeping them in 2 or 1 just simply listening to that noise!
He was so proud of the 'British' car that I felt the need to be honest and showed him the plate under the bonnet with the words 'Product of Adam Opel GMBH' stamped on it.
There followed a bit of frantic exchanging of phone calls and Hey Presto! Within a few weeks these were replaced by Jaguars - not as good to drive as much more care had to be taken, but to all intents and purposes British.

sussex2
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Re: Is AD 'better driving'?

Postby sussex2 » Wed Oct 19, 2016 1:14 pm

jont- wrote:
sussex2 wrote:It was a while ago but my addled memory can bring up a few things:
...
This list is not complete!

Sounds like he'd have been better off driving himself (which is the point I'm getting to with our airport taxis - their driving is so abysmal it would be less stressful to drive myself. Only problem is that I don't really want to get off a 12 hour flight and have to fight with the M25 to get home, but there are times I've thought it would still be less dangerous than the bloody taxi driver).


Spare a thought for the crews of the flights who have to drive home after a 15 or 16 hour day; there's an awful trip which involves 4 crossings of the Atlantic in five days before the drive home - Oh yes!

I agree about the taxi drivers and find very few of them have even the most mediocre driving skills.

Astraist
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Re: Is AD 'better driving'?

Postby Astraist » Wed Oct 19, 2016 4:12 pm

akirk wrote:I had an interesting example this morning - coming out of a village on a blind-ish right bend, I positioned to the left to open up the view - standard AD practice... the motorbike behind me seemed to take that as an invitation to overtake me in my lane on the blind right-hand bend.


I admit that is a problem I rarely encounter, because I start easing the car into the corner very early, which has the added advantage of communicating my intention to use the lane width in its entirety.

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Horse
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Re: Is AD 'better driving'?

Postby Horse » Wed Oct 19, 2016 4:37 pm

Do you mean turning in away from a view position before the exit is visible?

Also, do you mean 'always' or just when there is another vehicle following which might be looking to pass you?
Your 'standard' is how you drive alone, not how you drive during a test.


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