Safe Speed Forums

Could this be the cause why I'm seeing newer drivers unable to spot a car in a street with one lane blocked by parked cars . OH ,they spot me when a few yards away . Till then the hazard test reckons I'm not a hazard. But my experience of a lot of years driving on single track roads taught me that it's advisable to spot early and "make the decision" early . The hazard test is an improvement, but it's preferable to spot hazards a long way off and take action, not when they're in yer face.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

That's certainly what I've been taught by the likes of the IAM and RoADA. Safe driving has more to do with how well you can read the road ahead and behind than staring at the speedometer.

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Anyone who tells you that nothing is impossible has never bathed in a saucer of water.

Exactly right, I'm amazed at how many drivers only seem to focus on an area about 20 feet in front of their bonnet, does no-one teach about varying your vision to scan the road as far ahead as your sight line anymore.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

20 ft- round here the mums only seem to look at the "hazard test " distance.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

What is the hazard test distance? I never realised there was one but that would explain why so many seem to concentrate on a space just in front of their bonnets. The number of times I've seen people following buses at about 20 feet (probably less too) and then when the bus pulls up at a stop they won't go past it, even though the road is clear, because they can't see round it.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

What I'm referring to as distance is the attitude by driving testers ( or so it seems to me from listening to those who've done it ) that a hazard only becomes a hazard when it gets within a certain distance .I've heard of some folk failing the hazard test for reacting too soon to a hazard.
Possibly why a lot of emergency vehicles get missed till the last minute.
I posted originally as I'm now seeing a lot of younger drivers on roads with a lot of parked cars failing to take any avoiding action till the last minute. And wondered what effect the teaching about the hazard test is having .

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on