graball wrote:
I did think about doing a poll on what do you consider the best safety feature/s on your car.
I know that know one on this site would probably go for it but I do wonder how many people on the roads today, would tick their speedo and nothing else....
Ignoring the obviously facetious answer of "the driver", I'd say in order of most effective first:
Seat belts.
Radial ply tyres.
Porous tarmac (ok, that's a road feature rather than a car, but you get the idea).
No explanation needed for the above 3 features!
If we're talking about technology, how about this:
ABS - allows even a novice driver to access the full braking ability of their car without locking the wheels, plus more importantly means you retain steering control under full braking. No need to mess about with cadence braking, just plant both feet down and let the computer take over.
Brake Assist - I believe first featured on the Mercedes S-class (like most new technology!), this detects an emergency braking condition by the driver releasing the accelerator then rapidly applying the brakes. Under this condition the system will apply full emergency braking as long as the brake pedal remains pressed.
Stability control - when I took my car on a skid pan a couple of years ago it was almost impossible to get the back to break away without first turning the ESP off! The test consisted of full lock with full throttle on a wet and smooth surface (simulating worn tarmac in the rain). With ESP on you could reach 50mph on full lock with tyres squealing and the computer going mental to stop the back breaking away. Turn the ESP off and you're into a flat spin at 35-40mph. Note that this is on an AWD car - I'd argue that ESP is fairly essential on AWD as unlike FWD or RWD you get very little warning before it lets go... and when it does let go it's gone beyond the point at which a human driver can recover it.
Airbags - although I've only ever once been in a car when an airbag deployed (side curtain to prevent glass getting into the cabin) I'm fairly convinced that there are many cases where they make the difference between a serious injury and a minor one. I've never owned a car without at least a driver's airbag, my current car has 6 of them (3 each side).
Crumple zones - by slowing the deceleration to a survivable level the car sacrifices itself to save the occupants. Again never needed these first hand!
Note that of the 5 points I've thought up off the top of my head above, the first 3 are "primary" safety features, ie that stop you getting into a smash in the first place. Whilst secondary safety is important it's my view that it's better to avoid the crash altogether than to walk away without a scratch.
Now, back to the original topic - I occasionally indicate left. I start indicating left at the 300 yard marker when I'm leaving the motorway. I indicate left if I'm in lane 2 or 3 and I'm about to come in at the mile/half mile marker to leave the motorway.
I don't generally bother indicating after completing an overtake as I see it as part of the same manoeuvre (indicate right, pull out, pass, pull back in). If I've been sat in lane 2 or 3 passing a number of other vehicles (say for more than about half a mile) then I'll indicate left.
On a single carriageway I don't bother indicating to pull out to overtake. I remember being told once "if you have to indicate then you don't have time to make the manoeuvre" - which is true. By the time I've moved my left hand down and flicked the indicator stalk (even on the "one-touch" 3 flashes mode) I could be past the person I want to overtake and halfway back in.
Also indicating gives someone a chance to move out and block you (or accelerate and block you) - see comments about slowpokes in another thread. (This applies to single carriageways, not motorways.)