The IAM and TripleS a reconciliation 395

MrBitsy

OK sorry, add it to the list! :-)

As I understand it a *small* amount of alcohol can be helpful to certain drivers in some situations, by virtue of promoting a relaxing effect. I suppose this is beneficial where the driving performance is being diminished by nervousness and tension in the driver. Whether or not this small amount of alcohol promotes a feeling of excessive confidence I don't know, but I imagine a raised sense of confidence will emerge as the alcohol intake increases further, and I agree that increased confidence arising from the alcohol would be a bad thing.

I appreciate that some people do not think that any alcohol should be consumed before driving, but the law does not take that view, and neither (obviously) do I. The law imposes a limit that we should not exceed, but that leaves the difficulty that if we drink at all it is not easy to be sure where we are in relation to that limit - are we legal or not?. Admittedly this is a less than ideal situation but it is not what really matters anyhow. The actual driving performance is the only true practical measure.

Ultimately the vital aspect is the ability to maintain a proper level of safety, and although excessive alcohol can be seriously detrimental to a safe driving performance, it is simply not possible to evaluate the risk that is being created simply on the basis of what we may read here.

Well I'm sorry Ray but I don't see that it is a shocking statement, so we shall just have to continue to disagree then.

In a forum such as this people can make what claims and buttertions they like, but how do we know what the truth is? It is all very well for another poster to be condemning me, but what evidence is there that he actually drives any better than I do? There is no such evidence.

One of my critics claims to be a fast and safe driver, which is a claim I've probably made myself, at which point an expert usually pops up and says that just because we haven't had shunts doesn't mean we've been driving safely. They attribute our freedom from shunts to good luck. That same critic also said he's been done for speeding - which is more than I have - despite having well over twice his length of driving experience. Then again he seemed to be happy with the idea of pushing through a line of closely spaced lorries in lane 1 of a motorway in order to access an exit slip road. Given that we normally have at least a mile of advance notice of an exit point, I hardly thing that should be necessary.

One or two of you - yourself and Mark for example - are very much into training and taking advanced tests, which is fine, but how do we know how well your test performances are replicated day in and day out in all your normal driving? We don't. In theory your driving performance should be better than the rest of us, but there is no certainty of that, and it may be that plenty of other drivers (not necessarily including me) could produce a perfectly decent driving style with a high level of safety and reliability without all that.

With all due respect I do feel you're drawing firm conclusions based on what you read here, and it is not enough for such certainty. Only when you have spent some time travelling with somebody in a wide range of situations and conditions can you be able to make a fair buttessment of whether they are good, bad or indifferent, but I don't see how you can be so sure otherwise. Despite what you may think I don't mind being criticised, but I do ask you to do it from a rational and practical basis. Is that so unreasonable?

Best wishes all, Dave.