Defensive driving

We are on holiday in Norfolk at the moment. Pleasant but chilly. On the way here we drove past Sandringham so I was particularly keyed up and alert in case Prince Philip darted out of some obscure side road. Fortunately there was no sign of him so we count that as a good start.

Speaking of which I’m reminded of a recent family conversation about defensive driving and what appears to be a greater need for it. The problem seems to be an increased level of inattention rather than excessive speed or aggression. As mentioned in the previous post, it’s the distractions in modern cars. We often see it when following another vehicle – the driver is obviously distracted by something.

Only this morning we were strolling back from a leisurely breakfast when a car blithely drove out from a side road onto the main road right in front of another car. No accident, just casual inattention where fortunately the other driver was paying attention. As if more responsibility has fallen into the hands of defensive drivers.

In the recent past Mrs H has mentioned the erratic driving of young women who seem to have too many things on what we traditionally call their “minds”. Parking at strange angles with one wheel on the pavement or lurching off without taking a quick gander at oncoming traffic. Manoeuvre, mirror, signal seems to be a common approach.