If you do, congratulations. Shockingly, most people couldn't care less.
When you're driving, you're piloting a 1.5 ton metal capsule at the speed of a low-velocity bullet. Despite this, too many drivers drive as if they've been semi-sedated and are sitting on their sofa at home. Or they give but a fraction of their attention to what they're doing. Or they concentrate for a while but then "take a rest" from all that concentrating. What with all those screens to watch, texts to respond to, songs to shuffle through, roadside stuff to gawk at, make-up to apply (saw that in cars when I cycle-commuted in Dublin), yoghurt to eat (seen that too), eye contact with your kids and other passengers to attend to, daydreaming and worrying about shit to do etc oops fuckit just crashed again how did that happen officer I wasn't speeding ...
Your driving test? Well done on getting through it, but there is one slight problem with the driving test. It doesn't test driving. We have a suburban-oriented driving test. Irish and Brits alike are deemed competent to drive in all conditions by virtue of doing some stage-managed, gentle, low-speed traffic-etiquette manoeuvres in a quiet suburban housing estate at speeds of less than 30 mph. Among other inexcusable omissions:
- Motorway driving is neither taught nor tested (now starting to change in the UK, decades overdue).
- Night driving is neither taught nor tested.
- High-speed driving is neither taught nor tested.
- Cornering is neither taught nor tested.
- And, above all, winter driving and low-grip driving (snow, ice, rain on ice, surface water, diesel, gravel, leaves, over-banding, manhole covers, mud, grass cuttings) is neither taught nor tested.
Frankly, I think our driving tests are so bad that it's close to institutional negligence that licences are handed out pursuant to the attainment of such a limited set of skills which fail even to address, never mind prepare you, for much of what you will encounter throughout your subsequent driving.
With that in mind, please don't treat your level on the day of your test as amounting to very much. Instead, treat driving as an opportunity for lifelong skills improvement. You owe that to yourself and to society in general. Think about how you drive. Go on a track day, or go karting, or take an advanced driving course; anything to sharpen your skills and force your brain to engage critically and enthusiastically with what you're doing.
This blog is in part a celebration of cars and driving; but it does also contain some bits of basic advice. Check out the "snow joke" tab for some snow-driving tips; take a moment on that same page to follow the link to Vic Elford's advice on pivot points and check out the "read the road" advice (a basic skill which most people don't even know about, never mind possess).
As you'll note, a recurrent theme is that you don't need unusual skills to be a very good driver. The main aspect is mental discipline and an ability to stay focused from the moment you set out to the moment you park. Anything less than 100% focus at all times is inexcusable.
Oh, and, above all, enjoy it! Like anything, the more interested you are in anything, the better you will become at it.
My one (rubbish) driving joke:
Q: What do you do when you see a space-man?
A: You park, man.
Anyway, enjoy the blog.
Please note that, as this seeming "home page" is just a series of tabbed separate blogs, you will have to use the back button on your browser to get back to the main page.