:: Driving me Crazy... ::

:: Saturday, January 11, 2003 ::

Happy New Year!

Not a great deal happening on the roads around me these days. Either people are reading this and changing their habits (what was that pink blur at 2000 feet?) or I'm just getting more relaxed about it all.

This isn't to say that the road is free of idiots, though.

I've mentioned motorway approach speed several times now. Leaving Strensham services on the M5 coming home from Cornwall on January 1st, I made what could have been a fatal mistake. I was following a large 4x4 on the slip road back to the M5 and when I saw how the driver was accelerating (ie they weren't) I should have dropped back and gained some space to accelerate into. Thankfully, my car is quite capable in acceleration terms so I got away with it. To the driver of the 4x4- you're not indestructible and if you keep joining motorways at 35mph someone will prove it to you with a rear-end collision. If you're lucky it'll be a small vehicle with nowhere else to go. If you're not, it'll be an 18-wheel juggernaut on full brakes trying to slow 35 tons by 20mph.

Another rash overtaking move, too. Coming home from watching The Two Towers i was being- well, I'd say followed but it was more like 'harried' or 'threatened' by a driver of a large-ish saloon who didn't understand that the black '50' in a red circle on a white background might be intended to regulate his driving speed. Most of the time I couldn't see his headlights he was so close. Twice I saw him back off, then zoom up to the rear bumper only to back off again as he realised he couldn't overtake because of oncoming traffic. I've done similar things myself, but for a good overtaking maneuver you need to be pulling out gradually, not at 90 degrees! As a result, the 'abort' point is quite a bit further back. Finally this Schumacher-wannabe decides the road's clear enough and floors the accelerator to blast past. Personally, I wouldn't have chosen to overtake on the approach to a blind right-hand bend marked with chevrons, but to each his own.

Fun driving in the snow for the last few days... My house is at the top of a hill- it's not really steep, but in those conditions it's enough to make things interesting. It's that "turn the wheel but the car goes straight on" feeling I don't like. To help you understand, coming home from work I turn right into a minor road, up a hill, around a curve at the top of that road, then turn right and further up the hill is my house. First turn is OK, it's a fairly well travelled road so it's clear. Onto the minor road, and suddenly it feels like glass. Can't power up the hill, because the wheels just slip. Get to the top, and this left curve. Turn the wheels and the car doesn't start turning. Then it grips, turns, then slips again and I start to wonder if it's going to stop turning. It does. Immediately I'm having to turn right onto a side-street with even less traction and a steeper hill...

I really wasn't convinced the car would make it to the top, but I got here in one piece. Obviously more practice is required- it's cheaper than traction control.
:: Gary 11.1.03 [+] ::
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