New newbie West Mids

[Jontysafe]

Welcome. I lived in Brum city centre for a few years and found the driving standards pretty good actually. Certainly compared to Milan.......

I still drive up there and have blatted my Westie through the tunnels after picking it up from Reyland Motorsport.

Good luck in your search.

[blue ass fly]

Yep,really fancy the tunnels

Maybe we could get a few cars together for a full throttle blat through them on route to the factory for a nosey

See if we can shake some of those posh new lights loose

Never been to the factory, despite being an owner for 3 years and living in the ssme area

[User0083]

Not wanting to drag this down,

Ability to laugh at myself is there and I often see the funny side... Not the place to go into examples. But it's worn thin around the whole subject.

Even my SHO, Medical Officer, Occupational Therapist, Psychiatrist, Anger Therapist and Social Worker all put in their reports that moving out of Birmingham would greatly improve my current condition. All in separate reports they mentioned Birmingham being the route of a high percentage of my problems.

Many people tell me of good things about the city... Well very few can tell me good things, just say it's a good place.

I've done a study on it while in hospital as part of my therapy and spent a lot of time doing it. I concluded that due to it's multicultural nature different people bring different cultures into the city and drive in the way they have learnt and are used to driving. For example a culture that has a defined "very rich - very poor" divide my have people in Birmingham that drive as if they are above anyone in a car smaller than themselves and rather than follow uk laws have driven many years in another country where the biggest has right of way. There are other cultures where drivers are very arrogant due to a social divide and they have driven in a culture where "being blinkered" on the roads is their way of coping with busy traffic in their country of origin. Then you have drivers that will not follow a road system and will do a U-Turn anywhere, reverse onto a main highway and other potentially dangerous manoeuvres due to the price of petrol and driving to the next safe place to turn around of following a different route may cause a mile or even a mile and a half detour. Which in Birmingham could add an hour onto their journey. These acts all contribute to the issues that cause driving to be so bad in Birmingham.

The study was 10,000 words in total. I managed to see a lot of points from many sides during this study and the above is a brief outline and rough idea of the conclusion. I did do a bit on "stupid drivers" where their cognitive capacity may not be suitable to driving and concluded that this is actually not particularly dangerous. The main danger was in fact the arrogance.

If wrong, I admit I am wrong. My study is thorough, supported by evidence from many resources. However written by me! A victim of many bad driving examples. I even broke down annual mileage in last 5 years and how many were in Birmingham, looked at 13 1/2 years of driving all over Europe and assessed that it was not my driving deteriorating. I have even been on three instructor led driving assessments during my time here. Including country roads, rush hour M25, driving through small towns and even a drive across, around and back from London, during rush hour and non-rush hour. The assessor was holistically assessing my driving for everything from being lost, unfamiliar and they even directed me the wrong way on purpose to see how I would cope with finding my way back. They assessed temper, road rage and my general reaction to situations as well as my physical driving ability and road awareness.

I passed the entire assessment with zero physical concerns and the only concern being my reaction to forceful/arrogant/stupid drivers. All of which caused obvious anger. Well ANYONE on this forum could've saved much time and confirmed that. My driving did not alter and I did not block people, drive aggressively post or during the anger. But was obvious in my face and odd comment.

So even a professional assessor for head injured drivers has given me top marks for my driving and has concluded that it is Birmingham's effect on me. I added that the driving was not that bad through London and they should assess me in Birmingham to see my driving. I am going to be film/email a drive for them to assess.

I now hope that this can be left and moved on. I'm trying everything I can and believe I have actually changed. As I had started to wonder if my driving had digressed over 5yrs of living in Birmingham (which is over a third of my driving time) However most of my driving was done on the M5 and in the south west of England. With around 70-100 miles a week in Birmingham, 300 miles a week on the M5 and 200-300 miles a week in the south west. This me consisted of driving Brum to Devon many weekends then driving Devon/Dorset and the like during most leave, leisure time and weekends. Put these miles with the fact every RTC I have had has been in Birmingham it supports my study and my opinion. Yes if I lived in any major city the name Birmingham could be replaced with whichever city I lived in. Also if I was driving a range rover my experience and everything may be slightly different. However I live in Birmingham and drive a Westfield.

Soon to be out of Birmingham and in an area suited to the Westfield... With a land rover as a winter/second vehicle. Took a while to get there and I'm sorry for the destruction of the thread, but homeostasis shall return, followed by peace and pleasure.

[User0083]

Once out of hospital, reunited with my Westfield and before I leave Birmingham I would love to participate in a full throttle blatt through the new and improved tunnels.

If I could have the opportunity to say a big goodbye by planning a route that starts at a service station, goes through the tunnels, to the factory, then back to mine for a BBQ. I'm very against people drinking alcohol then getting in a car. Even if one, so it will be a child drinks BBQ! But I would love to leave Birmingham on a good note and with a great drive out as proof that it's not all doom and gloom. Maybe even get the gopro picking up the tunnel chorus...

[User0083]

Welcome. I lived in Brum city centre for a few years and found the driving standards pretty good actually. Certainly compared to Milan.......

I still drive up there and have blatted my Westie through the tunnels after picking it up from Reyland Motorsport.

Good luck in your search.

I found Milan driving very good compared to Rome!

It's all about personal perception and comparison.

None aggressive, honest. Driving in Birmingham makes driving at home seem so much better and a country drive across the Jurassic Coast even more pleasurable.

[alexander72]

cherry, its good to see you posting again mate - ive missed you.

 

take it easy my friend and if you fancy a roast dinner anytime you know where we live :-)

 

james and debs

[User0083]

[blue ass fly]

I think youve had a bad run of luck

Certainly not down to your driving,it just seems like every idiot found you

Even though born and bred i couldnt live back in bham,tbh i dont even shop/ visit there unless i have to -ie work

I too lived in devon - north and south - and agree the area is much more westy friendly than bham city is

People down there also move and think at a slower pace than city people who always seem to be 'late' for something

Londons even worse

Well up for a blat through the tunnels

Be nice to get a few together,you seem to be more socially active with the club than i am,ime sure you could round a few up

[User0083]

I've been off the club for a month!

But I know a few owners near me. Could also set up an events page.

I'm in Harbourne, so best to meet somewhere north of Brum, then go through tunnels at start, follow the road right through to long bridge, go to M5 (jct4), come off at jct2, down to factory, then back to mine across jct2 and up Hagley rd towards five ways and I'm off Hagley a mile before five ways!