Safe Speed Forums

This ist a tricky one as many of the COAST skills like any skill become a part of you - something you do being in a sort of "aware relaxation" if that ist a term to describe?

But how far do we go with this "automatic" reaction? One of the aspect I see ist the Pavlov dog reaction to a camera. The sharpish slow und the hard accelerate afterward. Submarinated Steve called this "manipulating" - but in reality - this ist the normal on our roads.

But how much ist "automatic but with awareness" und how much pure "automatic"?

Und here I am thinking of that patch of stats we read und see which seem to indicate more accident occur as we approach our own homes .. familarity, blase attitude or a "switch off" as we get to journey's end?

So what ist "automatic" und how many times have you driven a road und not recalled driving down it?

For me - was a patch of M6 ... I simply did not recall passing the services at Lancaster - yet I must have done.

Ist good job I was travelling at right speed then... Und this was judged by time of set off to time of arrival as I did recall these.

Und there was one time when I drove the few miles from Keswick centre to home but did not consciously remember making the turning to the road to our house - presumably because I had done this so many times .... but perhaps that ist also area to work on - "not switching off the film before last dialogue ist uttered even though ist a repeat "

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Nicht ganz im Lot!
Ich setze mich immer wieder in die Nesseln! Der Mad Doc ist mein Mann! Und ich benutzte seinen PC!

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Me?
Je ne regrette rien!

We all do it and on occasions I have actually lost track of where I am...particularly on the M5 between exeter and bristol......zzzzzzzzzz

But is this bad? its one thing to drive on 'auto pilot' but so long as we are able to react when neccesary then surely its ok.

I remember a drive to survive instructor urging me to keep alert by trying to avoid hitting catseyes when changing lane etc....but am I not better off conserving my active concentration for when its actually needed?

Your subconcious is ticking away in there driving the car without you noticing, so I wouldn't worry about it.
Mine is a much better driver than me on long boring roads, and I trust it to nudge me back to being the driver if it needed me to do anything dramatic.

Round town, I drive and it sticks to breathing and scratching.

Just because you dont remember passing the services, it does not mean you were not aware of them at the time, and would have reacted to any circumstance which occured at the same period of time.

I'd be far more concerned if you had stopped at the services, then driven off and left your handbag!

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

There are services at Lancaster?

I once heard someone say that there are lots of people who head off to the mountains of Tibet to try to attempt a sense of 'non being' in Zen Buddhist meditation. They would find it quicker to drive up the M6 for a couple of hours.

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COAST Not just somewhere to keep a beach.

A young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.

I would have disagreed were it not for 2 near miss incidents about 12-13 years ago. one was at 7pm on a weekday evening, the other about 3pm on a saturday afternoon. I can only assume i dozed off although i didn't feel sleepy (and indeed had stayed over the fri night before the saturday as i was too tired to drive from Gatwick to Stoke).
Anyway... in both instances I came to full consciousness with traffic stopped in front of me, foot already hard-on brake, and tyres already smoking from locked wheels...
Fortunately, I stopped in time on both occasions with mere inches to spare.

not something I'm exactly proud of, but they did give me a huge wake-up call!!

I find I sometimes drive worse if I'm thinking about it too much. A case of paralysis by analysis maybe? There's often too much going on to give though to each specific action. It's similar in some sports, you often find you play at your best when you hit that zen like state of heightened awareness, without actively thinking about it. Be in the game but not of the game. Or something like that.

I think that "not noticing Lancaster Services" etc. could be down to good practice. To avoid being swamped with information and having more to do that we can handle, we all compartmentalise. Some do it explictly, but most do it by instinct.

As you're driving, you scan for hazards. You take note of your surroundings and assess whether a particular "thing" is a potential hazard. If it is not a hazard you discount it, which lets you concentrate on the things you have not yet discounted. If you were doing this, you might have quickly discounted the signage for the services and concentrated on the hazards presented by the off-slip, the on-slip, and the surrounding traffic without registering an association with the services. This might be particularly so if the traffic density required a shorter than optimal scanning field.

IOW, you might have been concentrating on the important things too much to notice the services!

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Will

Automatic reactions is an interestig one. Here's a story that will probably scare you, it was within my first year or so of driving. (crappy 1.3 Ford Escort MkIV if it matters)

I used to regularly take the M53 to the Wallasey Tunnel. There's a stretch that can get a bit hairy with the sidewinds, and I eventually started just autocorrecting without even realising, by which I mean I could be driving through a gale pushing me to the left, overtake a lorry and would automatically jam the steering wheel to the right by the correct amount to maintain my heading with a reaction time that meant I only moved about 4 inches sideways in my lane, then the reverse would happen when I finished overtaking and was getting battered by the sidewind. Great, or so it seems.

One day I had a sudden very strong gust of wind try to blow me off course. It was seriously strong but I autocorrected and caried on my speed was also reduced from 90 to 70 due to the wind.

A few minutes later I realised that the wind was blowing in the opposite direction to normal which was odd, then when I overtook a lorry and there was no change in the car's handling I realised somthing else was wrong.

Stopped on the hard shoulder and discovered that my front left tyre had exploded.

I don't know if there is an emoticon for "suddenly it all becomes clear" ... but now I know, Lancaster services are also known as "Forton" services!!

(which, incidentally, features a landmark tower that has now been painted a yucky blue colour by the owners, Moto. I thought it was listed?)

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COAST Not just somewhere to keep a beach.

A young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.