Kingster Posted June 1, 2015 Posted June 1, 2015 Having come to my first Westy from a bike, and having ridden for 40 years including many 1000's of miles around Europe, I have to say that my first drive in the Westy felt positively safe! I may have only done a few milers so far (hurry up with my reg DVLA!) and that was to and from my IVA test, but I intend to drive as others have said, and how I used to ride bikes, defensively and with the 'they are all going to pull out/stop/swerve' mentality. If you anticipate other's movements well enough, then you can be best placed to avoid an accident. Hi viz is advisable (bright colour and/or DRL's) but I recall an Ambulance driver once saying that if people claim not to see him with his "blues n two's" on, then you've got no chance! Quote
Lyonspride Posted June 1, 2015 Posted June 1, 2015 Where do I start, visibility is a big concern, even in a bright yellow shouty thing, I find people don't see you OR (being slightly pessimistic) they see you, your small and therefore unimportant. If your approaching a junction on your right and a car is waiting to pull out, any car coming the other way is going to make you invisible. Roundabouts, this thing with leaving the grass verges uncut to slow people down, it makes you invisible if your on the roundabout and can make it hard to see what's coming if your waiting to join. Most people hate being overtaken, they especially hate being overtaken by something small+fast. I find Taxi drivers, 4x4s, crossovers and female drivers to be the worst. Before I sound sexist, most guys know what a Westfield is and won't mess with you, but SOME women just see a "small noddy car" and they can get properly aggressive toward you, I think there's an element of car = social status to this and a kit car isn't a "status car". Then there's the weird one's like this from last Saturday. I employ a few biker tricks when out driving, I blip the throttle a few times if someone is pulling out of a junction and might not have seen me, I prefer this to the horn as the horn can come across as being aggressive. I take a line that makes me as visible as possible. I drive with headlights on at the first sight of cloud. I suppose speed bumps and pot holes have to come into it somewhere, I avoid wide speed bumps, I drive through the middle of the double ones (much to some peoples disapproval) and all you can do about pot holes is keep an eye out, but at least with a Westy the car is small enough that you can avoid them where most tin tops could not. If I go out for a drive/blat, I do it late in the evening when all the numpties have gone home and the Scamera vans have moved on (because it's financially inefficient to man a camera if there are very few people about). Not that I generally speed on the roads, but around here they thrive on unclearly marked limits, signs behind tree's, sections of 30/40 for no apparent reason at all. But even with all that, where as a few years ago I had no motivation to put the car back on the road after it's 8yr storage, now it's back i'm loving every minute!!! From a pure safety POV, yes your more vulnerable, but your senses are heightened way beyond what they would be in a eurobox/tintop. What do you do in a living room on wheels? You relax, you pay less attention. not so in a Westfield...... Quote
hyperfan Posted June 2, 2015 Author Posted June 2, 2015 Thanks everyone for all the detailed reponses. A very useful read. I have sent you a pm Quinten,a very kind offer and im sure a trip out in one will answer lots of questions. 1 Quote
Rannoch Posted June 2, 2015 Posted June 2, 2015 No matter how small or large your mode of transport is you cannot account for other peoples stupidity and lack of concentration. I drive a large white Transit van that upon occasions engages invisibility mode to other road users. I have and always will treat other road users as though they are not concentrating and don't necessarily know I am on the same piece of road. I anticipate there moves and act accordingly. I was taught to drive by an advanced police pursuit driver, and a tip he gave me was to drive alone and narrate to yourself everything that is happening and everything you can see. For example, approaching a junction on the left, possibility of vehicle emerging, traffic sign I just passed was a 30 mph, parked cars, possibility of pedestrians emerging, etc etc. Sounds like all the things you do on your driving test, but when did you last drive like you were taking a driving test ? If you do this a few times and recognize the hazards and dangers its amazing what you notice that you didn't before. Ok rant over, enjoy your driving and all hail the open road. Quote
alexander72 Posted June 3, 2015 Posted June 3, 2015 im in northampton as well - I will come and meet wiht you and Q one day or come to sywell on club night? 1 Quote
Man On The Clapham Omnibus Posted June 3, 2015 Posted June 3, 2015 No matter how small or large your mode of transport is you cannot account for other peoples stupidity and lack of concentration. I drive a large white Transit van that upon occasions engages invisibility mode to other road users. I have and always will treat other road users as though they are not concentrating and don't necessarily know I am on the same piece of road. I anticipate there moves and act accordingly. I was taught to drive by an advanced police pursuit driver, and a tip he gave me was to drive alone and narrate to yourself everything that is happening and everything you can see. For example, approaching a junction on the left, possibility of vehicle emerging, traffic sign I just passed was a 30 mph, parked cars, possibility of pedestrians emerging, etc etc. Sounds like all the things you do on your driving test, but when did you last drive like you were taking a driving test ? If you do this a few times and recognize the hazards and dangers its amazing what you notice that you didn't before. Ok rant over, enjoy your driving and all hail the open road. That's fine but Mrs Clapham-Busrider objects to being left by the roadside just so I can talk to myself! Quote
Lyonspride Posted June 3, 2015 Posted June 3, 2015 No matter how small or large your mode of transport is you cannot account for other peoples stupidity and lack of concentration. I drive a large white Transit van that upon occasions engages invisibility mode to other road users. I have and always will treat other road users as though they are not concentrating and don't necessarily know I am on the same piece of road. I anticipate there moves and act accordingly. I was taught to drive by an advanced police pursuit driver, and a tip he gave me was to drive alone and narrate to yourself everything that is happening and everything you can see. For example, approaching a junction on the left, possibility of vehicle emerging, traffic sign I just passed was a 30 mph, parked cars, possibility of pedestrians emerging, etc etc. Sounds like all the things you do on your driving test, but when did you last drive like you were taking a driving test ? If you do this a few times and recognize the hazards and dangers its amazing what you notice that you didn't before. Ok rant over, enjoy your driving and all hail the open road. I agree in principle, simply because the message is to analyse everything and I think people don't do this enough..... But for me my head works MUCH faster than my mouth, in any one moment i've seen and processed more information and returned from too many tangents, than could possibly be spoken in anything better than rapidly spoken giberish (which got me bullied at school). In fact if I had to do this i'd have to concentrate more on what's coming out of my mouth, than on what i'm seeing. I'm a big thinker, I think a lot and talk very little. Most people I come across on a daily basis wouldn't have the capacity to understand and keep up with my thoughts (which is why I like web forums, as I can type and then let people have time to digest). i'd have to spend too much time backtracking and explaining right down to laymans terms, which then leads to impatience and anger and a feeling that the entire population is just bl**dy stupid My quiet nature serves a purpose (to keep me from wanting to murder people), but it's something that, in a world where mindless (Joey Essex) extroverts are seen as desirable, often leads (ironically) to people to mistaking me for stupid. Remember loud = intelligent and trustworthy...... Somehow Quote
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted June 3, 2015 Posted June 3, 2015 Actually the commentary method is a key skill to master in many, advanced driving courses. It's a cornerstone of the Police Roadcraft course for example. (Obviously, it does serve the useful secondary effect of proving to the instructor that you are aware of and processing the environment you're in, but that's not its primary goal.) Quote
Man On The Clapham Omnibus Posted June 3, 2015 Posted June 3, 2015 Actually the commentary method is a key skill to master in many, advanced driving courses. It's a cornerstone of the Police Roadcraft course for example. (Obviously, it does serve the useful secondary effect of proving to the instructor that you are aware of and processing the environment you're in, but that's not its primary goal.) This is why I make such a lousy passenger. I am always alarmed by the thought that the driver hasn't seen what I've seen, or hasn't taken x into account. The greatest compliment anyone can pay me, especially a fellow driver, is to fall asleep while I'm at the wheel! Quote
Lyonspride Posted June 3, 2015 Posted June 3, 2015 Actually the commentary method is a key skill to master in many, advanced driving courses I know this (and that's why I never did the ADI thing), but it's highly flawed in that it only favours an extroverted personality, being able to just blurt out everything you see, doesn't mean you've analysed the situation, looked at all the angles, accounted for the unseen, weighed up the risk level and the percentage probability, excluded the insignificant, added the human stupidity factor and then acted accordingly. Something that makes me very uncomfortable as a passenger is when the driver is talking about something they've seen, but not about the thing i've just spotted half way through their sentence. Quote
Man On The Clapham Omnibus Posted June 3, 2015 Posted June 3, 2015 Driving examining can appear, rightly or wrongly, to be a dogmatic business. Some years ago I was looking at redundancy and thought that I might profit from having driven hundreds of thousands of miles safely over many years, and applied to be assessed as a potential DSA examiner. After passing the extended theory test (I'd have been ashamed to have failed that) I took the similarly extended driving test. I didn't measure up, according to the examiner-examiner (as it were) because I took my hand (singular) off the wheel to swing the visor from front to side (it was a sunny winter morning and my vision was seriously hampered by low sun through the side window), and because on a completely empty lane-designated roundabout with no visible approaching vehicles, I did not follow the lane markings but 'straight-lined' the island. As far as I was concerned I was trying to show that I had (or had not) the inherent ability to drive safely and would be a good candidate for training as a Driving Standards Authority examiner. But no - I was expected to drive strictly and rigidly as I would expect my candidate to drive but to a standard an order of magnitude higher. In my view this is wrong, but what do I know? I got the feeling it wasn't for me when I noticed the current crop of examiners in the waiting room: Fair-Isle sleeveless pullovers, (almost) sandals, tweed jackets and corduroy trousers, all topped by a snot-green waistcoat. Why in God's name do you need a high-visibility waistcoat inside a car? Anyway, the examiner declined to hold a discussion on the subject, assured me that I was a perfectly safe driver but not suitable to be trained as an examiner myself. Quote
Lyonspride Posted June 3, 2015 Posted June 3, 2015 on a completely empty lane-designated roundabout with no visible approaching vehicles, I did not follow the lane markings but 'straight-lined' the island. Pet hate identified!!!!! Quote
Man On The Clapham Omnibus Posted June 3, 2015 Posted June 3, 2015 Pet hate identified!!!!! Do you mean you don't take the racing line? Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.