Is your driving s*** because of cycling?

[growingvegetables]

Thanks to cycling rather than driving every day I normally only drive once or twice a month in two years.

And driving scares me.

I find I am now so much more aware of my limitations, the bulging size of the vehicle's fat arse, my lack of facility with new-fangled controls and "automatic functions" (like automatic rear screen wipes, which I don't know how to switch off ), and my terror that I've forgotten the new (to me!) speed limit regimes, ... that I drive like a model citizen.

Worse - I really p!$$ off people behind me, by taking the first hour VERY slowly and carefully, very gently until I'm aware that years of driving experience is coming back to me.

And cycling has made me SO much more aware of potential "hazards" (unlike one Charlie Alliston).

Seriously, I reckon you need a LOT longer away from driving ... so that you come back to it genuinely afraid of "being in control" of a 1000kg lump of fast-moving steel.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

You do not turn 180 degress at junctions, as that would involve heading in the direction you have just come from.

Can you expand on ferrying family members long distances. Which family members and why?

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

No, I spun the car at about 10mph at a junction where you have to turn 180' anyway and their was diesel all over the road. I would have probably spotted it but there was a car coming really fast from the opposite direction, which I had priority over but I was concentrating on to make sure they stopped.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.6...4!1sqpfYNDWT9dRd1vd5ngEnZw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I did 70mph in a 50mph zone because they were putting out cones and had put a lane closure sign in front of the 50mph sign. Obviously I went slowly past the road workers but then sped up to 70mph after. Probably averaged about 60mph. I was still annoyed because I knew it was a 50mph zone, just forgot what with paying attention to the roadworks.

'Ang on there! There are roadworks so you know you have to pay particular attention to potential hazards on the road, daft lane discipline because of lane closures and narrower lanes, for example, don't you?

 

[KnackeredBike]

'Ang on there! There are roadworks so you know you have to pay particular attention to potential hazards on the road, daft lane discipline because of lane closures and narrower lanes, for example, don't you?

This was about 11pm at night, where a closure from one lane opened up into a four lane motorway. Two vehicles on the road, I overtook vehicle one in lane 2 at 70mph.

I feel I perhaps have mis-explained myself. I am probably no more or less safe than before, perhaps more safe. Perhaps a couple of incidents I would have shrugged off before have spooked me a little. (Fire brigade agreed there was absolutely nothing I could have done, because of my slow speed I span almost exactly on the spot.)

It is easy for me to adjust to cycling after driving, perhaps because you can tank along at top speed and that's absolutely fine.

I'm struggling to adjust to driving after cycling because everything seems so fast. Which, of course, it is. I am more asking if other people find the same when you switch from driving 100 miles every day to cycling almost all the time.

 

[DRHysted]

Cycling has made me a more patient driver. I still however greatly dislike and criticise all other drivers.

 

[TVC]

In response to the OP. No.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

This was about 11pm at night, where a closure from one lane opened up into a four lane motorway. Two vehicles on the road, I overtook vehicle one in lane 2 at 70mph.

I feel I perhaps have mis-explained myself. I am probably no more or less safe than before, perhaps more safe. Perhaps a couple of incidents I would have shrugged off before have spooked me a little. (Fire brigade agreed there was absolutely nothing I could have done, because of my slow speed I span almost exactly on the spot.)

It is easy for me to adjust to cycling after driving, perhaps because you can tank along at top speed and that's absolutely fine.

I'm struggling to adjust to driving after cycling because everything seems so fast. Which, of course, it is. I am more asking if other people find the same when you switch from driving 100 miles every day to cycling almost all the time.

Ta for that clarification.

For the on topic part of the thread, I believe I drive better because I cycle. But also because I refuse to drive as if I am late. Speed in a car has no attraction for me because cars insulate people largely from the physical sensation of speed - it's like being stationary as the world dashes past. 30 mph on a bike (when I find a good enough hill to descend) feels far faster than anything you're likely to encounter in a car, and you don't get that sensation of being stationary.

 

[User6179]

You do not turn 180 degress at junctions, as that would involve heading in the direction you have just come from.

Can you expand on ferrying family members long distances. Which family members and why?

Plenty of junctions at roundabouts where you turn 180 degrees and travel on a road running parallel to the road you just came off

 

[GrumpyGregry]

In response to the OP. No.

I was gonna use that line.

 

[Drago]

Most car driviers behave like most cyclists - they rarely look anywhere other than dead ahead, their positioning is poor, they place their car in unwise/inappropriate positions in relation to other road users.

 

[nickyboy]

My bollox radar is pinging

I sense a disciple of Accy in our midst

 

[MikeG]

Thanks to cycling rather than driving every day I normally only drive once or twice a month.

And to be honest... my driving has got shockingly bad.

I find I now I totally misjudge the road. I had to do a fifteen minute journey on winding country roads tonight and to be honest it was dangerous with me totally misjudging corners and speeds. I almost crashed the car because I was trying to find the switch to wind up the window.

Last fortnight I managed to spin the car 180' and probably get a speeding ticket because I forgot I was in a 50mph average speed camera zone and drove at 70mph instead.

I used to think of myself as a safe, skilled driver. Now I am a safe, skilled cyclist and a sh*t driver. I would give up entirely if I didn't occasionally have to ferry family long distances.

Anyone else in the same boat?

I'm not quite in the same boat, but through no longer driving every day I am certainly aware that I am not as good a driver as I was some years ago. I work from home these days. I take every opportunity I can to drive*, because like all skills, driving will deteriorate unless practised. The good news, though, is that the first stage to reducing your danger levels on the road is acknowledging that that there is an issue: you aren't as good as you used to be. The obvious first step in response to this is to slow down.

Be careful about declaring yourself a danger, though, and others might avoid this trap too. You appear to have had one incident. Bad as it was, it isn't your new average. In other words, you aren't always (or perhaps ever again) going to be making such bad mistakes. If personal anecdotes are ever evidence, then when I was 19 I misjudged a corner on a winding Devon lane and ended up driving through a gate into a field. It gave me a big shock, and made me re-evaluate how I drive, but it didn't make me give up driving, or instantly cause me to fall into the dangerous driver category, and 38 years later I have never had an accident, nor even an incident.

How about a refresher course? Or try for an Advanced license? That would get you refocusing on your driving, and help remove the bad habits you may have built up over the years.

* By this I mean that if my wife and I go somewhere together I'll always drive. She drives every day, and doesn't need the practise.

 

[Levo-Lon]

I find driving a chore now.so my concentration tends to wander through boredom.
I used to love it.
Tho I was a biker for 30 years I couldn't even get excited about that now.
All road travel has become a bind.

I think that's why I love cycling so much.

 

[Tin Pot]

This was about 11pm at night, where a closure from one lane opened up into a four lane motorway. Two vehicles on the road, I overtook vehicle one in lane 2 at 70mph.

I feel I perhaps have mis-explained myself. I am probably no more or less safe than before, perhaps more safe. Perhaps a couple of incidents I would have shrugged off before have spooked me a little. (Fire brigade agreed there was absolutely nothing I could have done, because of my slow speed I span almost exactly on the spot.)

It is easy for me to adjust to cycling after driving, perhaps because you can tank along at top speed and that's absolutely fine.

I'm struggling to adjust to driving after cycling because everything seems so fast. Which, of course, it is. I am more asking if other people find the same when you switch from driving 100 miles every day to cycling almost all the time.

Okay.

<puts away shotgun>

How old are you?

 

[hopless500]

No. On the contrary, I think a lifetime's cycling has made me a better driver. In particular, it's instilled in me two habits which serve me well: anticipate, all the time, and leave an uncommonly big gap between me and the vehicle in front.

I agree. Between cycling, having a car and bike licence, I am much more aware when driving.