Driving and Roads

I'm currently in the Peleponnese where the locals don't care what side of the road they drive on. Add to that, wear no seatbelts, use mobile phones, one arm dangling outside the car, sometimes at the same time presumably steering with their knees.
Their cars are scrap, and double white lines are an invitation to overtake.
Mind you, they teach you defensive driving!
 
RobH1 said:
Add to that, wear no seatbelts, use mobile phones, one arm dangling outside the car, sometimes at the same time presumably steering with their knees. Their cars are scrap, and double white lines are an invitation to overtake.
Click to expand...
I'm sure I've seen the police driving like this on one of those Police Interceptor programmes on Channel 5.
 
Mike0001 said:
How much are their courses?
Click to expand...
Ha!
Been here enough times now to set up my own school.
Why is that hire car drivers appear to forget the basics when driving abroad?
Indicators not used, brake or stop unnecessarily and the UK motorists looking right, left, right instead of l,r,l.
Mind you as Gomezz will probably agree, motorcyclists have observed for years that average driver in the UK can't get that right!
 
I think I posted about the physiological difficulty in perceiving small details when turning the head a while back, but I can't find it with a brief search. The thrust is that cyclists and motorcyclists can easily be missed even if the driver does look both ways.
 
EEPhil said:
Exactly. I think BH's sentence is one for the AvP thread. motor/cyclists should always be missed. It is the observation of them that is in doubt, even if the driver looks both ways.
Click to expand...

I'll come back to this when I can find a little more time as I have solid experience on this subject.
Meanwhile, back to the heat........
 
Black Hole said:
Update: my Focus fog lamps (front and rear) cannot be turned on while the lighting is set to "automatic", therefore they cannot be left on unless the engine is turned off while leaving the lights on (and the warning beeper will complain if you get out of the car in that situation, but only complain).
Click to expand...

Ooh, the ones on my Mondeo can be switched on while the main light switch is in the Auto position, where I normally leave it.
 
Trev said:
Oh bollox. I give up. (but I'll still be putting my rear foglight on so that people can see me in heavy spray. But only during the day)
Click to expand...

Agreed. Those who say they are only for driving in fog haven't driven through some of the heavy rain I encounter around here. I don't care about the guy behind, but i want him to know i'm in front, and not just finding out when I put my brakes on.
 
antipodean said:
I don't care about the guy behind,
Click to expand...
Bully for you then. Perhaps you will when they don't see your brake lights. I'll just continue to fire my main bean into your eyes if you do the same with your fog lights then.

<button>Dislike</button>
 
prpr said:
I'll just continue to fire my main bean into your eyes
Click to expand...
That won't bother me at all in daylight and I'll just dip my mirror if necessary:rolling:.:roflmao: :duel:
prpr said:
Perhaps you will when they don't see your brake lights
Click to expand...
Why wouldn't you see his brake lights? Normally there is only one rear fog and if you drive far enough back that you can only see his fog lamp and not his rear lights, when the brake lights come on they are easy to spot. Don't lose sight of the fact that we are talking about daylight driving here not nighttime.
 
Trev said:
and if you drive far enough back that you can only see his fog lamp and not his rear lights, when the brake lights come on they are easy to spot.
Click to expand...
:rolling: Once again, see my earlier post(s). You are completely failing to understand the realities of human behaviour and the way our eyes and brain perceive things. You are of course very far from alone in that. (Note. I have no expectation that you, or anyone else, will actually change their behaviour as a result of anything said here. That's another unfortunate aspect of human behaviour. :( )
 
I have read your earlier posts with great interest and it is obvious to me (and antipodean) that you have never driven in the appalling spray conditions to which we refer and your comments are a pile of :poop:. By the time you can see the car in front's tail lights, you are far too close for the conditions. If you drop back, you can no longer see his tail lights, so just how far back are you?
As rear fogs are usually the same brightness as brake lights (normally 21W), I don't comprehend how you perceive that a single rear fog light will dazzle you in daylight. It might just miff you a little if it is on unnecessarily, but dazzle? Blx. Brake lights must be a nightmare for you, especially at night.:roflmao:
 
I still can't see why the rear fog lights should be red. If red penetrates fog better, why not a different colour for brake lights?
 
Trev said:
dazzle
Click to expand...
I don't think I ever used the word dazzle, and dazzle doesn't come into it in the way the term is usually used. You may have read my posts but you haven't understood them. (That may partly be my fault, but it matters little - you have your mind program and that means whatever I write will be interpreted in that light.)

Mike0001 said:
I still can't see why the rear fog lights should be red. If red penetrates fog better, why not a different colour for brake lights?
Click to expand...
Because since time immemorial (well, centuries anyway) a red light has meant danger, stop, give way. It's an international standard and even if changing it to another colour could be shown to reduce fog accidents by 10% I doubt it would happen. In fog the penetration of lights has almost nothing to do with accidents, they are caused by people being stupid. Big red lights on the back may actually make things worse by fooling people into believing visibility is better than it actually is.
In a far shorter timescale than getting colours changed self driving cars will render any sort of vehicle lights redundant, except for the benefit of pedestrians.
 
Mike0001 said:
I still can't see why the rear fog lights should be red. If red penetrates fog better, why not a different colour for brake lights?
Click to expand...
Because that's how it was set up in the first place, and it would be bordering on impossible to change it now.

It doesn't seem to bother some that it is illegal to show a blue light on anything other than an emergency vehicle...
 
MikeSh said:
  1. I don't think I ever used the word dazzle, ...
  2. In a far shorter timescale than getting colours changed self driving cars will render any sort of vehicle lights redundant, except for the benefit of pedestrians.
Click to expand...
  1. I did somewhere in the dim and distant past.
  2. ... and cyclists, and motorcyclists.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top