As I write this it’s late on 30th November 2011, but I couldn’t not write about the two most terrible examples I have seen of driving so far this winter (and I’m sure it’ll get worse as conditions deteriorate). The first was on a dual carriageway approach to quite a fast roundabout. There were a few cars in front of me and the lights were changing to red.
The car directly in front of me didn’t slow. At all. Instead, it shot through the red light to reach the slip road, almost ploughing into two cars as it did so, who, rightfully, put their horns on to warn this rather idiotic driver that they were in fact directly in front of her (I’m not sexist, I’m stipulating it was a female driver). So, a very near miss and a red light clearly jumped for no reason. Did it get worse? Oh yes. The car was slammed into reverse and shot at speed toward the front end of my car! Utterly terrifying. Thankfully the lights changed and this ‘expert driver’ managed to pull away without harming anyone or breaching any other parts of the Road Traffic Act.
The second incident was on the way home, which takes me through a sub-urban area with some speed bumps. I don’t mind them too much as they aren’t huge and are reasonably well spaced. A taxi driver obviously thought that this was not quite the case however when he began careering rather quickly down the wrong side of the road. Quite why he thought that this was a better approach is beyond me, given that both sides of the road had the same speed bumps of the same size. At one point he slammed his brakes on, putting us almost side by side, given that I was driving on the correct side of the road!
Come on people, it’s not difficult. Use more, not less care, when visibility and grip are reduced and conditions worsen out there. If this doesn’t happen, it could cost some their lives.
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