How good are you as a driver?

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How do you rate yourself as driver?

I'm above average
38
70%
I'm an average driver
13
24%
I'm under average
3
6%
 
Total votes: 54

Miguel
Miguel
2
Joined: 17 Apr 2008, 11:36
Location: San Sebastian (Spain)

Re: How good are you as a driver?

Post

I'm (obviously) an above-average driver, so that's what I voted. Why did I vote so?

Regarding to others: I'm pretty sure that atleast 90% of the people ignore what the traction circle is. Not only the words, but the concept as well. This is seen a lot in how people brake and even how people use their steering wheel. Also, an important amount of people seem to forget that they have turn indicators for a reason. Finally, we have the classical bumper-licker. This is especially disturbing when they drive a Hummer, it's a dark night and they forgot to switch from long-range lights to the normal ones, so you only see the menacing sources of light above your boot. I don't think today I belong to any of these groups.

Regarding to my family: I believe that I drive better than my mother, my brother and my grandfather. But oh, man, is my grandfather scary or what? I'd say my father drives better than I do. I know a few people that drive well, and other that don't do it as well, but I really haven't got enough km with them to comment.

Regarding to myself: I'd like to think I've improved with the time. Some 6 months after getting the license I did drive too fast. In the dry and in the wet, but never on the highway. Always on twisty roads. I've even "given the lights" to an M3 that I caught with a 70 CV Diesel Citroen ZX. Now I'm smoother with the steering wheel, I try to drive my car close to a clothoid and give more amount of distance to other cars. I also drive slower, even though I know I could have been faster in the last apex.

Plans to improve: On certain high-density roads, I want to be patient more often. This means that, if everybody is going 5km/h slower than I am, don't increase the difference to 10 km/h to pass them faster, but get a bit slower. The bane I have to erradicate, though, is that 1% of the time when my "Situational Awareness" drops. I also have to check my pressures more often.

Finally, I plan to attend driving lessons on a circuit. The RACE (Spanish RAC) gives basic and advanced driving lessons in the Jarama circuit, which will allow me to understand a car and my abilities better.

What my girlfriend thinks: She doesn't think I'm a bad driver. She thinks though that I drive too fast. Not on the straights, mind you, where I keep within 10% of the speed limit in good conditions, but in turns. She's only driven like 5000km on her life, so it's normal she thinks that may be a tad too fast to what she's used to.

Biggest scare on the road A few years back, I was starting to overtake another car, when I realised another car was coming. We didn't hit by milimetres. The thing is, that car was black, and the ****ed driver didn't switch on his lights, even though it was way past dusk.

Biggest mistake ever Not braking on a very steep downhill once I got caught by fog so dense I couldn't see more than 10m away. As I know that road very well, I just lifted, even though I was thinking that my tires were needing a change. The sharp left hander I was awaiting came sooner than expected, and ended up trying to control unexpected oversteer with worn rear tires and moist on the road. Not nice, and I ended up off road after flipping 360º.
I am not amazed by F1 cars in Monaco. I want to see them driving in the A8 highway: Variable radius corners, negative banking, and extreme narrowings that Tilke has never dreamed off. Oh, yes, and "beautiful" weather tops it all.

"Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future." Niels Bohr

Scotracer
Scotracer
3
Joined: 22 Apr 2008, 17:09
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Re: How good are you as a driver?

Post

It depends on how you define being a good driver. In terms of car dynamics and ability to actually control a car near its limit, I am definitely above average as I have much experience in that field.

My general road driving is average as I adhere to most regulations of the road and can predict other drivers movements quite well. However, I am not exactly what you'd call a smooth driver; growing up as a Motocross racer the concept of "gentle braking" is a bit foreign to me. Even if I am braking, by my own standards, ridiculously light my passengers tend to disagree.

To be perfectly honest, I've never met someone on the road who was as technically capable as I on a tight B-road...but that's not a judge of skill - I leave that to the race track ;)
Powertrain Cooling Engineer

User avatar
Callum
6
Joined: 18 Jan 2009, 15:03
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

Re: How good are you as a driver?

Post

I'm learning to drive.... but i WILL be a good driver :lol:


...I hope.

EKE
EKE
0
Joined: 09 Jan 2006, 16:50
Location: London

Re: How good are you as a driver?

Post

As with most people, I would rate myself as above average.

I had a few minor accidents in my younger days, but I eventually learned my lesson and calmed down. I still drive quickly, but only when road/traffic conditions allow.

I am a regular cyclist and when I'm on my bike I try to cause as little disruption to motor vehicles as possible as I know what its like to be a car driver stuck behind an inconsiderate cyclist. On the flip side, when I'm driving and I encounter a bike, I try to pass them in the way that I would like to be passed if I was that cyclist (in a safe place and leaving plenty of room).

Basically, I'm saying that being considerate goes a very long way.

I'm a quicker than average driver, but I only drive within my and my car's limits.

On the women being crap drivers debate, I have a theory:
Men and women are just about as bad as each other but have accidents for different reasons.
Men have accidents because they over-estimate their skills/their cars limits. This results in them trying to make it through gaps in traffic that are too small and braking too late or overcooking it on bends and losing control.
Women have accidents because when they are driving, the actual act of driving is not at the top of their list of priorities. Applying make-up, sending text messages, telling the kids in the back seats to shut up etc all take their attention off the road. I think that statistically (in the UK anyway) women are safer drivers (they have fewer accidents for the amount of miles they drive) because other drivers see them doing something stupid and keep out of their way, possibly resulting in the other driver swerving and crashing into someone/something else, as the woman who caused the accident drives on, oblivious to the mayhem they have caused!

I have seen a woman applying make-up and talking on her phone at over 70mph as she weaved from one lane to the next and back again. When I see something like that I have one thought: Overtake and put them far behind me!
If its too loud, you're too old

beelsebob
beelsebob
85
Joined: 23 Mar 2011, 15:49
Location: Cupertino, California

Re: How good are you as a driver?

Post

Ciro Pabón wrote:I'm trying to check the theory of a friend. He argues that everybody thinks he is an "above average driver"... ;)

Thanks in advance for any responses. Please, try to be truthful.

It's not what your girlfriend/wife/friends say, it's not how many times you've crashed: it's what you think about yourself.

If you want to know my opinion, I believe that 90% of the people think they're above average, while I can attest, after a long vacation road trip, that in fact, approximately 95% of the people is under average... :D
There are already scientific papas that have measured this, and your hypothesis is right – most people do indeed think they're an above average driver. More than that, the people who think that are more likely to be measurably below average than the others.

Pup
Pup
50
Joined: 08 May 2008, 17:45

Re: How good are you as a driver?

Post

I'm not above average, but the drivers around me are always below average.

How deep did you have to dig to find this thread, bbob? :lol:

User avatar
SectorOne
166
Joined: 26 May 2013, 09:51

Re: How good are you as a driver?

Post

beelsebob wrote:There are already scientific papas that have measured this, and your hypothesis is right – most people do indeed think they're an above average driver. More than that, the people who think that are more likely to be measurably below average than the others.
True, and it should also be said these people are usually 18-25 and think they are Schumacher.
Girls on the other hand seems to have a more realistic view on their own skills when it comes to cars.

Insurance reports seems to strengthen these theories.
"If the only thing keeping a person decent is the expectation of divine reward, then brother that person is a piece of sh*t"