Well to be more specific, my girlfriend

AAARRRRGGGHHHHHHHH

Do my best not to let her drive me around and today I remembered why.

Usually 1 second from the car in front, doesn't anticipate, doesn't react when they start braking, speeds 90% of the time (i've even warned her about a village and where the police sit and she still does 40), holds the car on the clutch, changes gear like she's in a race every time and to top it off ..... i warn her that if she's going in the outside lane on the approach to a roundabout by my work she needs to check her inside when leaving as people will come up the inside wrongly. I check the inside as she doesn't bother, i mention this to her and she says "i looked in my mirror" ........ BLIND SPOT WOMAN! I've twice had people try and come round on me, if i hadn't checked i'd have a written off car.

Now for the serious point ......... HOW DO I IMPROVE HER DRIVING SO SHES SAFE & i feel safe sat next to her ?????

(she's been driving about 8 years & i'm a nervous passenger after being in a couple of bad smashes)

Edited to add - Clare / Fozzie, deliberate title to get attention, i do appreciate some (most) women can drive just like some (most?) men can't.

[Edited on 4/7/08 by MikeR]

Dump her and go out with a bloke

The rule doesn't always apply - my mother-in-law is 100 times a better driver than my father-in-law, who scares the hell out of me every time I travel with him...

My sister is the same, quite terrifying. What is worse is she does really dangerous things when it goes wrong and actually causes even more damage, to date she has –

1) Smashed one of my cars off a tree totally crushing one side
2) Spun off the dual carriageway ripping the back wheel from the car
3) Ploughed through a dry stone dike, the car had scratches in the back window!
4) Crashed the same car into a bush and we had to tow it out, car written off
5) Managed to drive into one car head-on while avoiding a braking car in front!

Her current car, a corolla has bits hanging off it now and is covered in dents, she drives too fast, too close and hardy looks where she is going. I don’t go in her car.

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Originally posted by MikeR

Now for the serious point ......... HOW DO I IMPROVE HER DRIVING SO SHES SAFE & i feel safe sat next to her ?????

[Edited on 4/7/08 by MikeR]

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HOW DO I IMPROVE HER DRIVING SO SHES SAFE

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Next present to her - membership of the Institute of Advanced Motorists. Its a one off fee of £99 and they take the members out until they are capable of passing the advanced test. I did it through work and it taught me soooooo much about how to drive

linky

I'd recommend anyone do this (and you often get 10% off insurance too once you pass!!)

[Edited on 4/7/08 by Paul TigerB6]

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Originally posted by Paul TigerB6
Next present to her - membership of the Institute of Advanced Motorists. Its a one off fee and they take the members out until they are capable of passing the advanced test. I did it through work and it taught me soooooo much about how to drive

Linky

I'd recommend anyone do this (and you often get 10% off insurance too once you pass!!)

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Does she know her driving is a problem? Has she ever had a smash?

Find some gruesome photos of injuries caused by the specific type of driving she is doing.

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Originally posted by Humbug

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Originally posted by Paul TigerB6
I'd recommend anyone do this (and you often get 10% off insurance too once you pass!!)

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Not saying it's not worth doing for the skills learned, but I bet the 10% is only off the more expensive insurance policies...

[Edited on 04.07.2008 by Humbug]

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my gf, i would say, is a safer driver on the whole than me (as in less possibility for catastrophe, not necessarily less likely), but when we first started going out she had some really bad habits. mainly motorway ones. undertaking and tailgating......and she wondered why i was always nervous on motorways?

i pulled her up on it EVERY time for a while and now she's much better and i feel safe 99% of the time. she recently had a little bump when someone stopped at green traffic lights but it has made her more alert.

as for your problem mike, it sounds like at least some of it's come from bad teaching. the roundabout thing's a definite and as you say, i've nearly been had a couple of times too. it was drummed into me for every roundabout in every lesson from my instructor.

i never drive like i stole it with passengers in the car though. i can risk my own life, but the thought of risking someone esles always puts it into perspective. maybe that's an angle you should go for?

tom

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Originally posted by eznfrank
Does she know her driving is a problem? Has she ever had a smash?

Find some gruesome photos of injuries caused by the specific type of driving she is doing.

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sounds just like my G/Fs driving, scares the poo out of me, not because she drives too fast, but because she drives dangerously and then too fast aswell sometimes

things like doing 85 on a duel carriageway with the tinyest of gaps (i would leave a bigger gap while doing 20!)

tried to tell her but down want to so oi! you drive like a t*t and if you try hint it doesn't get through.

and then she has the cheek to say that i tailgate people!

Buy her membership if the IAM for Christmas/birthday - it just may save both her and your lives(as her passenger). The IAM can be a bit we're right - you are wrong but the obseravtion improvement makes it all worthwhile.

On the other hand........the Highway code states left lane approaching roundabout for turning left, right lane on approach for turning right and choose the appropriate lane for other exits. So, someone in the inside lane can go straight ahead, and approaching a roundabout can allow legal undertaking as different lanes are heading in different directions.

My IAM instructor told me the IAM advocated use of the left lane for straight ahead as it required no change of lane on the actual roundabout, whereas going straight ahead from the righthand approach lane could require two almost simultaneous changes of lane on the roundabout itself, something most people find difficult ,in traffic, to do safely.

I didn't agree with all the IAM instruction but I think on roudabouts it makes sense.

I should add that my wife also does all the above mentioned 'womanly' mistakes. Her motorway speeds are 60 to 85 mph, drives too close, etc, - it's a spatial awareness thing.

Also, as we have lived in the same town for 11 years, how come she's always in the wrong lane????.........................

In defence of the ladies - I must, grudgingly, admit the SWMBO is a better driver than I am
Saying that, her driving style is much more 'male' than most and she despises 'lady' drivers who give the female race a bad name...

I'm glad I waited to post.....as I was going to say, if she ever saw/had to deal with the aftermath of reckless driving, she would take more care......but being a radiologist she does to a degree, but only the 'lucky' ones....

I do think a course of Advanced Driving is probably the way to go......

But.....

Be careful how you give her the 'present'....or you may find that she is your 'ex'...

Mike, have you done the course? if not, you could maybe suggest that you both need to hone/get more confidence of your driving skills, and it is something you could do 'together'........?

I have to agree that there are an increasing amount of drivers, that do not know how to approach or drive on a roundabout......this can only be down to the Instructors, and indeed the Testers for passing them.....

Oh! and no offence taken here Mike...... There are plenty of 'bad' drivers out there of both sexes.....

Just my tuppence worth and IMHO of course...

Fozzie

major roundabouts aren't part of every test though. i don't think i encountered a single roundabout on my test. even a mini one which tbh seem to cause even more accidents!

i think you can only justify being in the right lane of a roundabout to go straight across if you know it's dual carriageway the other side. otherwise you're asking for trouble.

i was always taught left lane for anything less than halfway round, right lane for more than halfway round and indicate right as you go round the roundabout. as you pass the junction before your exit, check mirror, blindspot, indicate if safe and move over to the outside lane for your exit.

the women in your lives only have ppor spatial awareness because you keep telling the 5 inches is 7

tom

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Originally posted by oldtimer
On the other hand........the Highway code states left lane approaching roundabout for turning left, right lane on approach for turning right and choose the appropriate lane for other exits. So, someone in the inside lane can go straight ahead, and approaching a roundabout can allow legal undertaking as different lanes are heading in different directions.

My IAM instructor told me the IAM advocated use of the left lane for straight ahead as it required no change of lane on the actual roundabout, whereas going straight ahead from the righthand approach lane could require two almost simultaneous changes of lane on the roundabout itself, something most people find difficult ,in traffic, to do safely.

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Tom....I think you may have answered part of the problem.......roundabouts should be included in the test.

Back 'then', at least one proper roundabout and one 'mini' HAD to be in the test!........as we all know......'theory and practice' ie putting it altogether, are very different beasts!

LOL at '5"=7"...
Never a truer word...spoken in jest!

Fozzie

Take the car off her and make her get the bus, or use a bike.

My WWITNNO refuses to get a licence and actually prefers to use public transport.

In my wife's case it's the parking that's the problem. Especially reversing. I've tried to explain the principles and she pretends to listen but it doesn't do any good.

Good job she's got a really small car.

John

TBO I only learnt how to take roundabouts once I became a bus driver and driving bendy busses. I’ve been told from passengers in the car it can be a bit unnerving as I don’t slow down, far less stop and simply flow through the traffic missing it by mere inches . Never had even one bump on a roundabout

Ipswich council have started marking out routes on every major roundabout to try and channel the traffic properly - the only problem is it's completely wrong! they are forcing people into the outside lane of a roundabout all the way round when they are heading for the 4th exit out of 5! thay heav also started painting cross hatches on the entarance to every roundabout so - although the road is 2 lanes wide you only have 1 lane of traffice joining the roundabout!

They are also in the process of narrowing every main road into town!

But that is Ipswich for you - quite probably the worst road planners I have ever witnessed!

[Edited on 4-7-08 by DaveFJ]

only time to skim this, but,

the roundabout in question is duel carriageway both sides, the issue is people in the left lane turning right, or people joining from one of the many enterances and not merging into the traffic flow - therefore being where you want to be.

When i looked at IAM before i thought we should both do it. I know i'm not perfect but i hope i'm better. I often find when i drive i point out my mistakes or why i've not done obvious things to my passengers to prove i'm paying attention / making concious decisions.

now waiting for lift to her house so we then can catch the train to london

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Originally posted by DaveFJ
But that is Ipswich for you - quite probably the worst road planners I have ever witnessed!

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Originally posted by DaveFJ
But that is Ipswich for you - quite probably the worst road planners I have ever witnessed!

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As this seems to have gone off on a bit of a roundabout tangent, I just thought I'd join in:
I'm sure that I have brought this up before but there are good roundabouts and bad roundabouts. Some have clear markings which lane should be used for which road number exits with markings that take you to that exit and others just have concentric rings of markings that mean you have to make a lane change on the roundabout.
A few years back I was a witness to an accident on a roundabout (2 blokes for what it's worth!). The advice that the policeman gave to both drivers was "always be prepared to give way to everybody else on a roundabout". His view was that although you may be right and the other person is in the wrong, it is not worth crashing over.
Back on the general driving discussion, I believe that a lot of it comes down to the male inability to multi-task. We therefore have to devote more of our resources to driving. Females can multi-task (as they tell us lesser beings) so they devote some of their resources to deciding which shoes will go best with the new bag or whether they need new shoes too whilst driving. Consequently they don't see the red Astra cutting them up, they see a moving colour swatch of the perfect colour that the shoes need to be!

Runs for cover!

Daftest roundabout I've seen is on the road between Inverness and Nairn, just near the airport. It's covered in lane markings that cross over each other, and make no sense whatsoever. Drivers just ignore them and go their own way anyway...

[Edited on 4/7/08 by David Jenkins]

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Originally posted by David Jenkins
Daftest roundabout I've seen is on the road between Inverness and Nairn, just near the airport. It's covered in lane markings that cross over each other, and make no sense whatsoever. Drivers just ignore them and go their own way anyway...

[Edited on 4/7/08 by David Jenkins]

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I'm more scared by my mrs road rage rather than her actual driving (although she does have a habit of trying to overtake 5 cars at once). She's very fond of the horn, and tends to shout at people who get in her way even when they're perfectly entitled to be there. I worry one day she'll shout at the wrong person