Driving - this post shall be interspersed with angry noises. Do not be alarmed.
GRAAAAAAARRRHHH!!
I am generally a calm and reasonably tolerant person. At least to your face :D. But one thing that does make me angry is bad driving. And there are a lot of stimuli for this in Leeds. In the area I live, it is all students and taxis. This means that indicators are basically unheard of, people do not stop at the end of the road when they join a major road, and that they do not look into a road before they swoop into it quickly. All of these are major problems when you also know that there are cars parked along almost all streets, and therefore very little room in road for more than one car.
GRRRRrrrr!!!
I am frankly pretty surprised more people don't have horrific accidents. My housemate was driven into by someone from a junction, who just drove right into her as she went along a main road. It wrote off her car. It was basically a young driver who didn't know what she was doing. But I actually see surprisingly few accidents. Perhaps it's because others, like me, now expect other drivers to do the most stupid thing possible at all times. E.g. it is AMAZING how many people do not understand the right of way rules at roundabouts.
People have been speaking a lot about driving tests recently. Many of them have been complaining that they are changing, and that now they're a bit harder because it involves some independant driving- i.e. not being told where to go for a while. Not to test your navigation, but to test your ability to think in advance, pay attention to road signs etc, without your instructor giving you helpful instructions in good time.
People are worried this will make it harder to pass!
This is ridiculous. There are so many SHOCKING drivers in the world, and there is so much essential material that the UK driving test completely fails to cover! For example, motorway driving is *completely* omitted. This is completely inexplicable, as motorway driving is very dangerous and intimidating, due to the speeds and the confusion of having multiple lanes.
If we taught our new drivers the proper way to use lanes, we might have much smoother flowing traffic, as so many minor delays are caused by some idiot driving in the middle lane, or even the outside lane, with no cause. We may also avoid a lot more accidents.
I just want to say this to the world: BE IN THE LEFT LANE!! ALWAYS IN THE LEFT LANE *UNLESS* YOU ARE OVER-TAKING SOMEHTING. THEN GET BACK IN THE LEFT LANE. I HATE YOU!
People have also been discussing a ban on new drivers driving in the dark. How is this going to solve anything? At what point will they suddenly decide they *can* drive in the dark. And at the moment it get's dark at about 5pm! Most people aren't home from work by that time of day!
Don't *stop* them driving in the dark, or on motorways. TEACH them to do these things safely.
The problem with driving tuition is that it's primary purpose is to give you what you need to drive the test. Not to teach you to drive well and safely any more than the test minimally requires. And because people are encouraged to take the test so quickly, if they *do* pass first time, then someone who has only ever had 10 lessons, is unleashed on the roads with something as horribly dangerous as a car and no limitations.
My 17 year old sister is currently learning to drive, and has had something like 14 lessons, and her friends are already saying things like "Shouldn't you have done your test by now?" They expext her to learn to pass, not to learn to drive well for her own sake, and they are putting pressure on her to take her test.
I passed 3rd time round, which I think made me a much better driver. It gave me time to work on things, ideas to take away and improve. Being failed makes you realise there's lots of work still to be done, and helps you prevent dangerous confidence on the road.
Showing posts with label motorway driving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label motorway driving. Show all posts
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
My Top 5 Ways to Improve the UK
Prompted by this http://www.bbc.co.uk/genius/ - I just *have* to throw my oar in. Sorry world.
My top five ways to improve the UK.
1) Mobile phones which play music outloud should be instantly confiscated and destroyed, and all unsold ones returned to factories, to have this remarkably anti-social function instantly removed.
Think of all the thousands of people on buses, trains, in the street, or just in daily life who are aggravated by being forced to listen to someone elses tinny distorted cruddy music? It's not the STYLE of music, it's the lack of free will not to listen. And the people playing it, who are so often doing it intentionally to show how cool and edgey their disrepect for other people is...
If users of said mobile phones are in school, meetings, libraries, "Quiet Coaches" etc, a socially cohesive community punishment may be served- which would bring others together for the postive purpose of removing this anti-social pest. E.g. being chained to a treadmill to power the school's lighting, or being made into compost for local allotments, etc.
2) All learner-drivers should have a minimum number of hours motorway driving practise before attempting their test. This is a sensible suggestion.
This would mean that people who are using the motorway WOULD BLOODY WELL KEEP LEFT (in the UK)!! YOU SHOULD DRIVE ON THE *LEFT*!! Then you can *OVERTAKE* on the right. If you are not overtaking something right now, YOU SHOULD BE LEFT!! And if you are on the RIGHT I hope you DIE HORRIBLY IN A SLOW AND BURNY WAY!
Not driving on the left, and causing others to slow or to be unable to overtake each other, should result in compulsary lesson or two on motorway driving and some kinda compulsory community helping activity- e.g. land maintenace, assisting with prison literacy programs, disability caring etc. By allowing offenders to pick their helpful activity you'd be optimising the chance that they may actually enjoy it and continue the worthwhile activity after the compulsory time limit. Alternatively, they could be used in the foundation of new road surfaces.
3) It should become a normal and pleasant occurance that frequently a different member of every work place bakes some kind of enjoyable confectionary. Including the boss. Once a week, or on different days to make it less routine and more exciting!
People who already have cake-day at their work have something to look forwards to, because, mmmm nom cake, and the person making the cake will enjoy the gratitude and compliments given by the co-workers. The participation of the boss will serve to help break down some of the social tension caused by the work hierarchy.
The other important thing about "cake-day" is that it would encourage everyone to practise, and then to experiment with their baking skills, and so to encourage them to be less reliant on pre-processed shop bought things, and rediscover the world of making stuff for yourself, so that the knowledge of cake is not lost to the take-away eating populace, and our children will know how to break an egg.
4) Disney films should become part of the primary school syllabus, along with idealised moral lessons in the classroom. This would basically just make everyone a nicer person, as when human nature kicks in and people behave in a less ideal fashion, they have a better starting position and so perhaps a better level of decreased behaviour.
5) All automatic doors in shops, public buildings, basically anywhere should be removed. The only places where automatic doors may be permitted would be at supermarkets or airports- places where the things you are likely to be carrying, make doors difficult.
Automatic doors in shops for example, are a very bad idea because they open for much longer than people need them to, letting out heating and increasing the energy used to heat that building; they open accidently when you walk near them, again, increasing the money and carbon wasted through heating, and through opening the door, and they also encourage us to be lazy, as our arms get fatter and weaker every day. Shops who leave their doors open all the time are also culpable. Keep the heat in in order to ward of the climate apolcalypse and keep our arms fit and toned!
Save money, and help reduce Britain's bingo wings!
My top five ways to improve the UK.
1) Mobile phones which play music outloud should be instantly confiscated and destroyed, and all unsold ones returned to factories, to have this remarkably anti-social function instantly removed.
Think of all the thousands of people on buses, trains, in the street, or just in daily life who are aggravated by being forced to listen to someone elses tinny distorted cruddy music? It's not the STYLE of music, it's the lack of free will not to listen. And the people playing it, who are so often doing it intentionally to show how cool and edgey their disrepect for other people is...
If users of said mobile phones are in school, meetings, libraries, "Quiet Coaches" etc, a socially cohesive community punishment may be served- which would bring others together for the postive purpose of removing this anti-social pest. E.g. being chained to a treadmill to power the school's lighting, or being made into compost for local allotments, etc.
2) All learner-drivers should have a minimum number of hours motorway driving practise before attempting their test. This is a sensible suggestion.
This would mean that people who are using the motorway WOULD BLOODY WELL KEEP LEFT (in the UK)!! YOU SHOULD DRIVE ON THE *LEFT*!! Then you can *OVERTAKE* on the right. If you are not overtaking something right now, YOU SHOULD BE LEFT!! And if you are on the RIGHT I hope you DIE HORRIBLY IN A SLOW AND BURNY WAY!
 |
| Rage caused by others misusing motorway lanes. |
Not driving on the left, and causing others to slow or to be unable to overtake each other, should result in compulsary lesson or two on motorway driving and some kinda compulsory community helping activity- e.g. land maintenace, assisting with prison literacy programs, disability caring etc. By allowing offenders to pick their helpful activity you'd be optimising the chance that they may actually enjoy it and continue the worthwhile activity after the compulsory time limit. Alternatively, they could be used in the foundation of new road surfaces.
3) It should become a normal and pleasant occurance that frequently a different member of every work place bakes some kind of enjoyable confectionary. Including the boss. Once a week, or on different days to make it less routine and more exciting!
People who already have cake-day at their work have something to look forwards to, because, mmmm nom cake, and the person making the cake will enjoy the gratitude and compliments given by the co-workers. The participation of the boss will serve to help break down some of the social tension caused by the work hierarchy.
The other important thing about "cake-day" is that it would encourage everyone to practise, and then to experiment with their baking skills, and so to encourage them to be less reliant on pre-processed shop bought things, and rediscover the world of making stuff for yourself, so that the knowledge of cake is not lost to the take-away eating populace, and our children will know how to break an egg.
4) Disney films should become part of the primary school syllabus, along with idealised moral lessons in the classroom. This would basically just make everyone a nicer person, as when human nature kicks in and people behave in a less ideal fashion, they have a better starting position and so perhaps a better level of decreased behaviour.
 |
| Look at the love, friendship, appreciation of nature, and environmental importance featured in this little picture. See the bees in this pic are ideally coming towards us, rather than vanishing forever into the ether.... |
5) All automatic doors in shops, public buildings, basically anywhere should be removed. The only places where automatic doors may be permitted would be at supermarkets or airports- places where the things you are likely to be carrying, make doors difficult.
Automatic doors in shops for example, are a very bad idea because they open for much longer than people need them to, letting out heating and increasing the energy used to heat that building; they open accidently when you walk near them, again, increasing the money and carbon wasted through heating, and through opening the door, and they also encourage us to be lazy, as our arms get fatter and weaker every day. Shops who leave their doors open all the time are also culpable. Keep the heat in in order to ward of the climate apolcalypse and keep our arms fit and toned!
Save money, and help reduce Britain's bingo wings!
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