Speeding course and room of denial.

[CXRAndy]

Using one sign and having different speed limits for varying road designs and vehicle types is simple/clever.

The only dumb thing are the road users who don't know the speed they should be travelling at

 

[PaulSB]

Do driving instructors explain vanishing points to students these days (or is the technique considered to be too advanced) ?

I've been driving for 51 years. While I know what the vanishing point is I have no idea how it relates to driving?

Or do you mean something like a blind spot created by a door pillar or similar?

 

[Drago]

My Dad taught me to drive and taught me all about predicting the course of the road from the vanishing point, and the dibble did as well.

I don't think your average driving instructor teaches it.

 

[Gunk]

It was 70 for cars on dual carriageways when I passed my test in 1979.

They were the days, I passed mine in 1982 in a Toyota Corolla

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Mine was 32 in a 30, which inevitably means my speedo was reading iro 35 perhaps ?

What did the letter say?

 

[Gunk]

What did the letter say?

“You’ve been a very naughty boy”

 

[Profpointy]

I've been driving for 51 years. While I know what the vanishing point is I have no idea how it relates to driving?

Or do you mean something like a blind spot created by a door pillar or similar?

The notion is the (moving) point (eg on a bend) beyond which you can't see. Depending on the curve of the road, it can get closer to you, in which case slow down, or if the road straightens up, you can potentially go a bit quicker. You need to keep the vanishing point at an appropriate distance for your speed.

It's another way of thinking about keeping an appropriate speed for how far you can see the road. I think it is a helpful notion.

 

[PaulSB]

The notion is the (moving) point (eg on a bend) beyond which you can't see. Depending on the curve of the road, it can get closer to you, in which case slow down, or if the road straightens up, you can potentially go a bit quicker. You need to keep the vanishing point at an appropriate distance for your speed.

It's another way of thinking about keeping an appropriate speed for how far you can see the road. I think it is a helpful notion.

Thanks. Yes, I do that. I didn't know it's the vanishing point. I apply the idea when driving and cycling.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

They were the days, I passed mine in 1982 in a Toyota Corolla

I passed my test in 1978 in my dad's Morris Marina. HWB374N, which is still on the road in a roundabout sort of way.

By 1985 I owned the Marina and I scrapped it (terminal rust, in a 10 year old car) to build a Marlin Roadster and in those days you could put the donor plate on a kit car. Photo attached is the car at a car show, before I sprayed it in Rover Racing Red (a little darker than the one beside it). That car is still showing as taxed!! I had sold it on in 1997.

 

[gbb]

What did the letter say?

32

 

[Alex321]

The notion is the (moving) point (eg on a bend) beyond which you can't see. Depending on the curve of the road, it can get closer to you, in which case slow down, or if the road straightens up, you can potentially go a bit quicker. You need to keep the vanishing point at an appropriate distance for your speed.

It's another way of thinking about keeping an appropriate speed for how far you can see the road. I think it is a helpful notion.

It is a helpful notion, but a misuse of the hrase "vanishing point", which is probably what has been confusing people about it.

 

[pawl]

Do driving instructors explain vanishing points to students these days (or is the technique considered to be too advanced) ?

My instructor on my advanced motor cycle course taught that technique and I still use it when driving the car.

 

[pawl]

It is a helpful notion, but a misuse of the hrase "vanishing point", which is probably what has been confusing people about it.

Once explained it’s not a difficult concept to understand..Seeing how some idiots drive they don’t understand that you signal when changing directions or mini roundabout should be negotiated as you would a normal traffic island

 

[slow horse]

I was explaining to a friend who's just passed his test at 35 that you become a lower-risk driver with experience and age, not because you have better car handling skills - you'll never beat a 17 year old at that - but because you get better at spotting hazards. I can usually tell when another driver is going to do something moronic before it happens, based on road position, speed, type of car, amount of crap dangling from rear-view mirror, etc.

I've never been done for speeding, by the way, although I can occasionally understand why it happens - in Shropshire last weekend, a lot of the signs are missing or obscured. On a couple of occasions, I was doing 30 and wondering why I had a queue behind me - it's because there was no visible NSL sign at the end of the limit. Some 40 or 50 limits have no visible commencement sign and the first sign you see is a small repeater. Never had that issue in Wiltshire.

I've never been done for speeding either, though will admit I deserve it. You mentioned getting better at spotting hazards as you get older and gain experience; I guess I'm pretty good at knowing when it's OK to speed,* and when it's not.


*Yes, I know the proper answer: never.

 

[icowden]

I was explaining to a friend who's just passed his test at 35 that you become a lower-risk driver with experience and age, not because you have better car handling skills - you'll never beat a 17 year old at that - but because you get better at spotting hazards. I can usually tell when another driver is going to do something moronic before it happens, based on road position, speed, type of car, amount of crap dangling from rear-view mirror, etc.

I think you also tend to take fewer risks, to be less in a hurry and to have a better sense of your own mortality. It has long been observed with F1 drivers that the young rookie drivers generally take much higher risks than the more experienced drivers who will be more inclined to let things play out and think much further ahead than the current race / lap.