Friday, October 15, 2010

I've Seen Drivers Do Some Dumb Things In My Time

I've seen drivers do some dumb things in my time.

For instance:
- When I was a learner driver I was on the highway where the speed limit was 110km/h but I was only permitted to do 80km/h. A truck was approaching from the opposite direction in the other lane and about four cars overtook me. A fifth car pulled out to overtake but only drew level. I had to pull as far to the left of the roadway as I could without hitting the gravel and the truck had to do the same. The lady who had been overtaking me just sat next to me until the truck passed by. I tell you, time slowed down. I looked at the woman and she was just staring into the distance. As soon as the truck was gone she proceeded to complete her overtaking manoeuvre. There we were, three vehicles taking up two lanes at high speed. That's probably the most stupid bit of driving that I've experienced. I didn't even think to get her number plate.
- An idiot driving the wrong way down a one way street at speed and almost causing an accident which I wrote about recently.
- I see plenty of people with earphones in and they obviously don't have the same understanding of what is going on around them. The awareness can't be there.
- People driving without footwear. I consider this to be crazy.
- One morning whilst on the bus we passed a vehicle in which the driver had a laptop on the passenger seat with a porn movie playing.
- Drivers on their mobile phones, without a hands-free kit, whilst driving are certainly not as attentive as they should be. Even the use of a hands-free kit should be banned in my opinion as drivers are still distracted too much.

Something I saw this afternoon made me shudder. I saw a vehicle, a ute, displaying a prominent L-plate which caught my attention. The driver had a mobile phone to his ear. But, he wasn't holding it. The passenger was holding it. So, you may argue that the phone was being used in a hands-free manner. Not so. The passenger is legally the driver of the vehicle as they are responsible for the actions of the person, a learner driver, behind the wheel. What the hell was the woman thinking? What does she think she is teaching the young driver? No wonder there are so many people at risk on the roads with teachers such as her. Where has common sense gone?

I'm appalled by her lack of judgement and skill at teaching someone else to drive. What a terrible habit to introduce to a learner driver.

2 comments:

Iris Flavia said...

Yep, mobile phones - a huge problem here, too. The fines just aren´t high enough.
Am I glad over here only professional driving instructors are allowed to teach!

Anonymous said...

What brainless morons. What about the people who have a problem and refuse to admit it like add. They can only do one task at once and cause many accidents. Be careful on the road. Gil