These drivers should not be followed! Part IV

Bad driving habits are what make other drivers race their hearts and suddenly sharpen their tongues. What behavior on the road most annoys us?

In the previous section, I focused on an extender that loves extreme parallel racing where it imposes its own rules; Proactive, which always uses each roundabout in the same way; A slow man who always has time to celebrate his trip, and a goalkeeper who refreshes himself at crossroads. Today, another dose of reprehensible behavior ...

PROTECTOR - rides on the tail

The profession of a security guard is a very difficult and dangerous profession. He must have eyes around his head, looking for threats, being close to his “ward” and, if necessary, sacrificing his health or life for the sake of the person whose safety he monitors. What does this have to do with drivers? And the fact that there are also some car bodyguards on the roads who “protect” our back, although for completely different reasons than the people with dark glasses mentioned earlier. Rather, they are closer to paid killers ...

How do you know you're dealing with a purebred bodyguard? If we look in the mirror and see a car that is so close to our rear bumper that we can read the name of the insurance company on a fragrant tree under the mirror in its interior, then the Security Guard is following us.

It can be found in various situations and each time such an offender may have different reasons to sit in someone's "back room". During normal driving, there are those who do it because they enjoy it, because they get "turned on" by keeping others under pressure and some adrenaline before suddenly slowing down "depressed". Some people do this for economic and "dynamic" reasons, because they have read about the wind tunnel behind the car in front, which reduces air resistance. This results in lower fuel consumption and easier overtaking, which they benefit from, among other things. racers - but what works and is relatively safe on the track will not necessarily be the same on the public road.

However, there is most often a special type of Bodyguard found on multi-lane roads and mostly outside of built-up areas. In addition to threatening with his presence, he is primarily engaged in "pursuing" other road users. It is enough to enter the left lane to overtake another car or a group of trucks, and in a moment - out of the blue - he can be behind us at high speed. And it does not matter that we are driving according to the regulations and have every right to use the left lane, the bodyguard needs to go faster. It is not uncommon for such speeds to merit a fine of 500 PLN, 10 demerit points and a “parting” with a driver’s license for 3 months. So he starts his “terrorism”, drives up as close as possible, starts blinking a traffic light, turns on the left turn signal, signaling his intentions and needs, and, in extreme cases, may even start honking. He's so focused on moving forward that if he had a dozer blade ahead of him, he'd definitely run us off the road. And all this at fairly high speeds and very close to us. It doesn’t take much imagination to predict what will happen if, for example, at a speed of 100 km / h we have to brake sharply and a meter behind us is 1,5 tons of mass accelerated to the same speed ... the guard will not even know when he "park" in our back seat.

Unfortunately, this type of behavior cannot be regulated, although there are rumors in the commune that appropriate legal changes are being prepared, aimed at clarifying the clause informing about maintaining a safe distance from the vehicle in front, thanks to which it will be possible to penalize for this type of “approaching” to our rear bumper. In the meantime, you can only try to repay the beautiful bodyguard with kindness and raise his heartbeat, using the technique of Jacek Zhytkiewicz from the "Change" series, i.e. the brake lights light up. This can cause the Bodyguard to panic, and if all goes well, he will distance himself a little - literally and figuratively - although, of course, this is not entirely reasonable and safe. So it's better to prevent than cure, and before overtaking, look in the rearview mirror and make sure that someone is not approaching us too quickly in the left lane. If so, it's best to wait a bit and then let him go ahead. He might be "lucky" to "protect" some unmarked police patrol that would take care of him properly.

LORD OF LIFE AND DEATH - avoiding vehicles stopping in front of a pedestrian crossing

Accidents happen on the road, the sight of which can chill the blood in the veins and leave its mark on the psyche of the driver. Hitting a pedestrian is no doubt such a sight, as he is always in a losing position when colliding with a car. What if our goodwill could indirectly contribute to such a tragedy? This is an unenviable situation, which, unfortunately, happens quite often.

What is causing this? Who exactly? The lord of life and death who can decide if someone will cross a crosswalk safely or not.

Usually everything starts the same way. The car stops in front of the alley, passes pedestrians, and suddenly another car leaves from behind it, crashing into the intersection at high speed. With a split second, the walker and master of life and death can decide whether it will be just the adventure of a lifetime or a tragedy. Worst of all is the situation on multi-lane roads.

Of course, everyone can accidentally become the master of life and death, sometimes a moment of distraction is enough, a truck or bus narrows the field of view and ... trouble is ready.

Unfortunately, there are those who consider avoiding others in "lanes" because it will make them smarter than others, make them feel better, or get to the next traffic light first. But this is the same dangerous “fun” as banging a hammer on an unexploded thing found somewhere in the garden from the Second World War. And it is precisely such arrogant and reckless Lords of life and death that are at the top of my list of the greatest stupidities committed on the road. It is interesting that such behavior is not very highly “rated” in the mandatory tariff, which I personally am very surprised at.

In addition to the grave sins of drivers, unfortunately, it also needs to be clarified that pedestrians often get into trouble themselves ... I especially think about those who do not have a driver's license, because remember that while all drivers are pedestrians, not all pedestrians are drivers. There are people who have never been "on the other side", who have no idea how much concentration and attention it takes to drive a car safely, even if it looks "funny" from the outside. They do not know how much information and how quickly - given the speed of the car - the driver must absorb while driving. They don't know about the "flaws" of a car, that it doesn't have as much momentum as a pedestrian, which means that each maneuver takes time and space, or that speed and weight prevent it from stopping at a distance of 20 cm, like it can be done by a pedestrian.

Why am I mentioning this? Since I am under the impression that their knowledge of traffic and pedestrians is derived from the media, let's call it general information. These media set pedestrians, as well as cyclists, negatively towards drivers and convince them that, under the new rules, they have absolute priority at a pedestrian crossing over all types of vehicles. But this is knowledge transferred hastily and in the notorious “heads”. Pedestrians must be especially careful before and during road crossings, wherever they do so. And on the aisle - yes - he has priority, but on him, not in front of him. Unfortunately, most people do not notice this difference and interpret approaching the “lanes” as the right to brazenly violate the roadway in front of an oncoming car, because as a result, they said on TV and wrote in the newspaper and on the Internet that it is possible ... punishable.

Worst of all, in many cases, pedestrians don't even look around before entering, and earlier young children were taught to cross the road on the principle of "look left, right, left again, and again in the middle of the road." It's that simple and it could save your life. But “adult” pedestrians are often not even interested in whether someone is walking or not, and whether he will have time to slow down in front of them, or take them a few meters along the hood ... At the same time, many of them - especially those who are parents - teach their kids go to forbidden places or red lights, that is, they instill bad habits and put them in mortal danger.

Another irresponsible group are pedestrians, who have a limited field of vision due to a hood or a cap that is too tight on their heads. There are also those - who are the real scourge of the modern world - who, carried away by looking at their mobile phones, go out onto the road ... In addition to all this - the depravity of pedestrians, who, no matter how densely they place crossing points, will still cross the road in a prohibited place - so the situation is in my city, where in some places there are “lanes” every 30-50 meters, and pedestrians are everywhere, but not on them.

So the only way to avoid the tragedy is not to give way to pedestrians? This is a rather extreme solution, although it is certainly effective. However, when a pedestrian crosses the road, it is enough to control what is happening behind us in the rear-view mirrors and, in the event of the appearance of the Lord of life and death, warn the pedestrian even with a sound signal, which will surely attract his attention and give him time to react.

The second preventive measure should be the education of adults, especially children. I have long believed that in schools from the elementary grades there should be classes in the form of some kind of road education. In any case, everyone, young and old, should know the first 15 articles of traffic rules, which relate to both general rules and principles, and pedestrian traffic. Only armed with such knowledge will they become conscientious road users, acting in accordance with the rules that ensure the safety of themselves and others. In addition, let's not forget the golden rule, which says that ignorance of the rules does not exempt anyone from following them. And ignorance and blaming only drivers cannot be an excuse, especially since it could cost someone's life.

CONVOY - one goose ride after another

I remember when, as a very young boy, some of my friends and I dreamed of becoming truckers. Travel across Europe, and maybe even the world on "eighteen-wheelers". Back then, films like "Master of the Wheel Away", "Convoy" or "Black Dog" were for us a kind of vision of our future. Especially the last one, aimed at the community of "multi-tonnage" drivers. Of course, we did not dream of arguing and running away from the police, but the sight of a long column of trucks made and still makes a big impression on me. And, looking at the roads, I think that not only this type works for me, and not only I had a dream of becoming a “pathfinder” in a convoy, because there is no shortage of Convoys ...

They are characterized by the fact that when the column moves - whether it be cars or trucks - they move almost one after another bumper to bumper. One could say that this is a local gathering of the previously discussed Bodyguards, only here they repress each other with the consent of the general public, because they do it for fun and - especially with "high tonnage" - the economy associated with lower air resistance and fuel consumption .

At first glance it seems that everything is in order, but nothing could be more wrong. The problem arises when someone tries to overtake this motorcade on a two-way road. He then faces an "All or Nothing" dilemma, because the lack of adequate breaks between escorts makes it impossible to overtake them in installments. And overtaking one truck on an average road is something, two is a test for the brave, and three or more is a manifestation of self-destruction. The same is true in the case of overtaking a group of cars. However, if someone takes on this challenge, he must take into account that in case of problems, he can only count on the fact that someone will take pity on him and put vehicles in line. In general, Convoys can be called passive Bodyguards, because they do nothing on purpose, but, in spite of everything, by their behavior they force the previous person to extend their stay in the oncoming lane.

Is this behavior punishable? Yes, but as long as the escort is in a vehicle longer than 7 meters, all “shorter” ones go unpunished. And once again, the traffic rules are powerless against road blockages, and in the case of Convoys, there is not even an opportunity to deal with them somehow. The only thing you can do is to prepare in advance for overtaking - just as in a collision with an extension.

SAFE - sudden, deliberate braking

As in life and on the road, everyone makes a mistake that can force other drivers to take appropriate action in the form of unforeseen maneuvers. In such situations, you need to be able to admit your mistake and, if possible, simply apologize for your behavior - raise your hand or use the correct direction indicators.

One such situation is incorrect timing when exiting a secondary road or joining traffic, as well as unplanned crossing of the right-of-way in front of an oncoming vehicle, which usually causes the other driver to slow down his car. After our apologies, one could conclude that the story was over. Yes, until we came across an Avenger cultivating the proverb "as Cuba is to God, so is God to Cuba." One thing is for sure, he will do one of two things almost immediately. If it can't pass us, it will quickly approach our rear bumper to scare us and encourage us to pick up speed faster, often using additional "motivators" in the form of lights and a horn. But most of all he wants to overtake us as soon as possible, and then he may or may not start to slow down hard in front of us. Why? To teach us a lesson and show us what kind of "torture" on our part was just a minute ago.

Needless to say, this is dangerous behavior and falls under the relevant clauses, since it is forbidden to brake while endangering safety. The whole problem is that the rules are regulations, and life is life. Because, on the other hand, you have to keep a distance behind the car in front to avoid a collision in case of braking. And if in the course of such a briefing of the Avenger we hit him in the back, then in the absence of witnesses or records we will bear criminal and material liability in accordance with the law. We will not prove that the Avenger deliberately slowed down against us, but he will have evidence of our guilt in the form of our car in the trunk. Therefore, if we make a mistake on the road and notice a hostile attitude behind us and someone who is ahead of us at all costs, we will be ready to quickly press the brake pedal, because this is the only way to avoid problems.

To be continued …

I will devote the next part to Goliath, who can do more because he is more; A road engineer who wants to make life easier for everyone in front of him, regardless of those behind him; A blind man who likes to roam city streets shrouded in darkness; A pedestal with something on the right all the time and Pasha and Pshitulasny, who have their own definitions of proper parking. New article on AutoCentrum.pl coming soon.

See also:

These drivers should not be followed! Part I

These drivers should not be followed! Part II

These drivers should not be followed! Part