Are our police blind 703

On Sat, 30 Sep 2006, SteveH

Yes, one would think so, but you don't know what was going through this driver's head, nor have access to the data that he had access to. He may have been a bimbling, blind old f***wit, or he may have been driving slowly for some reason only know to him. And yes, if he is causing a big queue of traffic then he should pull over periodically and let them pbutt, but it's no good saying what *should* happen rather than what *is* happening and how to safely deal with it. I've seen people cause a queue of traffic for a few minutes before the road changed and the queue dissipated. I don't consider it necessary for someone to move over in that situation. I certainly don't feel the police need to get involved.

But not that they were all peeed off.

I agree about the education side, I wish the driving test was a multi-phase test with several levels of competence, with rewards for each level of competence. This driver may have been doing 40 because they did not see the NSL or any repeaters, perhaps supported by them not seeing a line of cars behind him. So it's not so much a speed issue but one of improving his observation. But any driver who believes that they can't improve their observation is deluded. And regardless of whether it's safe, you shouldn't exceed the posted limit. That's the way it is.

There's an interesting article in this month's Focus magazine about how to spot and deal wih psycho drivers, as it calls them. There are 'Sunday drivers' who never accumulate enough driving time to drive safely. It says you need around 500 miles of driving before the risk of accident decreases.

I'm envious of your amount of driving. That's around four times as much as I do, although it will be hopefully increaing this year.

But maybe they are different groups - people who speed and people who drive slowly, rather than the same people.

I think everyone could benefit from improving their driving in all areas, with rewards for increasing skill rather than punishment for being content with a poor basic standard.

-- Chris