happybat wrote:
It took me a very long time to learn...about a year and a half with an instructor.
I also ended up switching from learning to drive a manual to driving an auto.
The manual just involved too much multi-tasking and I'd get panicky and over-whelmed, by comparison learning to drive an automatic was a breeze!
Uh-huh. I tried learning to drive manual. Wasted into the thousands of £s attempting it. Got nowhere. Gave up.
Years later I decided to try again, this time with an automatic car. I passed first time.
Now, I'd consider myself a very good driver. But I do need to have music on, as that keeps me calm (loud noises always calm me down). If the music's loud and I know where I'm going, driving is one of my favourite things to do.
However, I am very 'rules of the road'. I drive properly according to the law and I expect others to as well. I don't get genuinely angry or have road rage, but if you come speeding up behind me I will drop my speed by a couple of miles per hour to put you back in line. If you pull out in front of me when you shouldn't, I will keep my speed up for a bit (safely) so that you know I'm not going to adjust my driving for your idiocy - ultimately I will, but for a while I want you to think that your arrogance is being met by mine.
If you're trying to overtake, I expect you to get up to the correct speed to do so.
Quote:
Lengthy example:
Where I live there are lots of roads where two lanes merge into one after traffic lights, and people stopping at the lights automatically take the right-hand lane to overtake the people stopped in the left-hand lane.
The right-hand lane is really intended for people to overtake those that are turning left (both lanes have the option to go forward), but people use these lanes just to overtake others that are going forward as well. If I'm the first person in the left-hand lane then I'm going to drive as I usually would - good acceleration up to the correct speed - and if it turns out that you're in the right-hand lane and can't quite overtake like you thought you would, then that's your problem, either get your speed up or get behind me. I'm not risking an accident because you're going at roughly the same speed as me and your lane's coming into mine.
I did really annoy a teen driver with this once - I was in the left lane, he was in the right and had a girl in his passenger seat, so was probably trying to show off. He was creeping forward before the lights turned green, going through them slowly on red. When the lights turned green, I drove off as I normally would - sensible acceleration up to 50mph. He couldn't accelerate fast enough to overtake - he kept up with me at first by starting fast, but by the time he was on 40mph assuming he was going to overtake, I was up to 50mph and he couldn't get past me. He revved hard, sped up to 60ish, forced his way past me and at the next set of lights, clearly furious, he got into the left lane. I filed behind him and when the lights turned green he sat still for 10 seconds clearly thinking he was getting revenge by stopping me from moving. All he did was show that I'd embarrassed him for being a bad driver in every sense of the word. What he didn't realise is that I really didn't care one bit. I had nowhere to be in any rush and I certainly wasn't challenging him in any way. I'm just driving, sticking to the rules of the road, I'm a woman nearing 30 and had a young child in the back of the car. No games from me. If you're going to act like an idiot on the road, be careful that a sensible driver doesn't show you up.
I really don't have time for idiots on the road - people that think their journeys are more important than anyone else's, people that play games, people that take risks because they need to rush everywhere. I'm not going to take any safety risks when I'm on the road, but I'm confident in my ability and not going to be pushed around either.