Andy McKenzie wrote:
"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
dennis@home wrote:
"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
Roger wrote:

My money is on them ignoring thinking time completely.
The timing kit worked by someone outside the car sending a signal that
both started the timer, and signalled the driver. the timer then ran
until the car came to rest. The equipment also recorded the distance
travelled from signal to stop. So it must have included some thinking
time - although I expect less than real world for someone who has been
plodding down a motorway for a couple of hours.
Lets think about it...

"drive at 60mph and jump on the brakes when the lamp lights" no thinking
involved

"drive at 60mph and maybe something unexpected will happen, then jump on
brakes" considerable thinking involved

I wonder which one will produce thinking time?

So the test was *totally* invalid for thinking time.
Depends. On how experienced the driver is when assessing a situation is
almost instinctive.

Experienced drivers assume that an accident is ALWAYS about to happen and
are ready to react to the most likely ones all the time.

Perfection must be wonderful. Experienced drivers may well make numerous
assumptions. A very common one is that they are 'better than average'. About
80% of drivers think they are better than average, so even if the 50% of
drivers who are better than average correctly self identify, 30% of drivers
must be deluded. In fact I imagine that some of the best drivers are those
who don't think of themselves as good, so probably about 50% of
'experienced' and 'good' drivers are actually poor. (Only 50.7 % of these
statistics are made up - the 80% figure comes from a Canadian survey).

I hope that I am a reasonable driver, I hope I'm not deluded, I assume that
most other cars are likely to do something dumb most of the time, but I know
that I don't always drive at 100% all the time. I worry, I daydream, I swear
at the radio or people using mobiles. Still, I can aspire to perfection and
being totally alert all the time.


Indeed. Know your weaknesses and play to your strengths.

I know my reflexes are not what they were..have to rely more on
experience and caution than car control..

I used to do endurance kart racing for fun..if I really concentrated, I
was about .2s a lap faster..but I couldn't keep it up more than 10 or 15
laps..

I don't know whether I am a good driver or not, but it appalls me what
other people I drive with do NOT notice..or how they lack the most (to
me) basic of skills, such as positioning the car for best visibility,
and assessing what is happening up the road three to five seconds before
its necessary to work out what to do..or night driving..how people will
slam on the brakes as if the road they suddenly can't see because they
are momentarily dazzled, has in some way changed from the road that they
could see a second earlier..

Most people don't PLAN their driving. They just react. Fast driving
taught me to always work out your escape routes before entering a tight
situation....if HE does THAT where will you go? etc.

I think the situation I hate the most is being boxed in in traffic on
the M25, with nowhere to go whatsoever. About 10% of drivers leave the
sorts of gaps in front that I normally do. The rest are in my opinion
just accidents waiting to happen.

At least to date I have only injured myself slightly once in a crash,
and never injured anyone else at all. Although the amount of wildlife I
have scraped out of the radiators at times is quite shocking.

Above all, I take driving seriously. VERY seriously. I don;t quite
approach a car with the same sort of respect I approach a loaded rifle
or shotgun, but thats familiarity. I know I OUGHT to do that.

I wish sometimes the average mum with kids on the way to Tescos would
stop and think 'I could be a mass murderer if I don't watch out'..but if
you asked them what the most dangerous thing that endangered other
people's lives' would be, very few of them would say 'leaning over to
stop the kids fighting in the back seat'.

My time ****ing about in Karts, but more significantly, watching live
motorsport, and fatalaties therein, did not make me a boy racer..it made
me utterly serious about just how lethal a car is if things go wrong,
and how much discipline is required to prevent them doing that.







Andy