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I was just tootling back from work the other day when a fighter jet flew past me in a blur. Well, maybe not a fighter jet, but a car that was going so fast it might well have been. Then came his mate racing him, and a couple of boy racers zooming past on the hard shoulder and weaving in and out of lanes as they made their way through the rest of the traffic.
“Idiots!” shouts my passenger with the following line: “I bet you do not get such terrible driving in the UK.”
Now that may well be true. If anyone drove like that in the UK they would be subject to very real and vicious road rage before they got anywhere. I do not condone road rage but the threat of someone shouting at you is enough to make you think about whether you really need to arrive 30 seconds earlier.
However, I got thinking and also remembered the times in my youth when I was the fast driver weaving in and out of lanes to get past the slowcoaches and I remembered something. It was very exciting and exhilarating. You got such a rush from the adrenalin, and you were concentrating like mad, totally focused on the road. This is why I tell you that these boys driving like that are, at that moment, driving with more care and attention, and concentration than you.
These guys are focused on the road ahead; they are working out closing and converging speeds, and they are calculating whether or not they can get into and out of the space ahead because, believe it or not, they do not want to crash.
Meanwhile, you are surprised when one of them blasts past you at a rate of knots because you are not paying attention. If you were looking in your rear view mirror instead of wondering what’s for lunch or dinner, then you would have seen him approach and been ready for him. If you were driving in the correct lane instead of hogging the middle lane or pottering along at the speed limit in the outside lane, then Max Verstappen would not need to be weaving all over the place.
And another thing, if he wants to break the speed limit, then that’s up to him. It’s not your job to sit in the fast lane at 100kmph with the attitude that, because you are driving at the speed limit, no one is allowed to overtake.
On a motorway, the right hand lane is the one you drive in. The other two lanes are for overtaking, and once this is done, you should move back into the right hand lane.
In this respect, I find driving in the UK much more frustrating. There they all sit in the fast lane and the two inside lanes are empty. At least here, in a similar situation, nobody bothers if you move to the inside and undertake. But lo and behold, you try that in the UK.
There are bad drivers everywhere and they are not all young. Many of the elderly should not be on the road, but whatever your age, when you are driving just focus a bit more. Concentrate on the road and your mirrors and we will all get home safely and calmly.
Jackie@JBeedie.com