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Mike Brewer's column
Better to be five minutes late than dead on time...
When I passed my driving test 20 odd years ago, I was taught road manners, driver etiquette and patience. I'd like to think that over the years, I've kept all those skills passed down by my driving instructor and my dad. I will wave to acknowledge when I've been let out of a junction, I don't think I've ever raised a fist in anger and I've never 'undertaken' on the inside. So what on earth has happened to our roads?
These days we live in a nanny state where it's illegal to smoke in a company vehicle, and motorists get nicked for eating a chocolate bar while driving. But it's OK to change the CD on my music system! Maybe the police are directing their attention in the wrong place, and instead of pursuing petty misdemeanours such as those above, they should focus on motorists' driving skills. Because recently I've seen some howlers.
Currently, I'm filming several things at once, so I'm spending more time than usual on the road, and over the last two months, drivers around me seem to be losing the plot. Which usually means driving too fast or doing other things while on the move. This week I was behind a young woman at the wheel of a Peugeot 206 on the M40, who was swerving between lanes for no apparent reason. When I got close enough for a look, she was brushing her hair with both hands, steering with her knee before she went for the foundation and lip gloss! All in the outside and middle lanes at 80mph.
Later that week, and first thing in the morning on the motorway, an Audi A8 cruised past at well over 90mph. The driver was electric shaving, newspaper opened across the steering wheel. I was so furious that I sped up beside him and stared. When he saw me, he gesticulated and planted his foot. In town I had a motorcyclist bang on my window screaming and shouting I'd cut him up while he was trying to weave through the traffic. Then he shot off on the wrong side of the road around two bollards and caused oncoming traffic to swerve out of his way.
There was also the cyclist who, as he was clipped into his pedals, used my car as a leaning post at traffic lights. And no matter how many times I let people out of a junction I passed through several times recently, no one has raised a hand as a show of appreciation to me.
If my dad saw me doing that, he'd clip me round the ear. As he would if I ever went up the inside of anyone - even though we live in a time where drivers seem to want to own the outside lane. And a new twist on that habit is the drivers who pull across three lanes of traffic at speed to overtake, then get back into the inside lane to do it all over again. They obviously think that Gatso cameras don't point at the inside lane.
Ironically, some of the filming I mentioned was to measure driving stress. I was wired up with a monitor and sent on a journey around Blackburn, Lancashire. The stress meter was jumping off the scale while I was hounded by other drivers surrounding me as I drove through town on a normal weekday.
The stress expert explained that I experienced the same amount of anxiety as a person in an earthquake, and it was so bad for my health I'd actually shortened my life! We are all rushing about a lot more these days, but surely it would be better to leave 15 minutes earlier for your destination and get there safe, stress-free and older. What's that clever saying? Better to be five minutes late than dead on time.
Mike Brewer presents ITV's Pulling Power, the Discovery Channel's Wheeler Dealers and the British Rally Championship on Sky Sports
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| The driver was using his electric shaver and there was a newspaper on the wheel. What on earth is happening to our roads? | |
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These days we live in a nanny state where it's illegal to smoke in a company vehicle, and motorists get nicked for eating a chocolate bar while driving. But it's OK to change the CD on my music system! Maybe the police are directing their attention in the wrong place, and instead of pursuing petty misdemeanours such as those above, they should focus on motorists' driving skills. Because recently I've seen some howlers.
Currently, I'm filming several things at once, so I'm spending more time than usual on the road, and over the last two months, drivers around me seem to be losing the plot. Which usually means driving too fast or doing other things while on the move. This week I was behind a young woman at the wheel of a Peugeot 206 on the M40, who was swerving between lanes for no apparent reason. When I got close enough for a look, she was brushing her hair with both hands, steering with her knee before she went for the foundation and lip gloss! All in the outside and middle lanes at 80mph.
Later that week, and first thing in the morning on the motorway, an Audi A8 cruised past at well over 90mph. The driver was electric shaving, newspaper opened across the steering wheel. I was so furious that I sped up beside him and stared. When he saw me, he gesticulated and planted his foot. In town I had a motorcyclist bang on my window screaming and shouting I'd cut him up while he was trying to weave through the traffic. Then he shot off on the wrong side of the road around two bollards and caused oncoming traffic to swerve out of his way.
There was also the cyclist who, as he was clipped into his pedals, used my car as a leaning post at traffic lights. And no matter how many times I let people out of a junction I passed through several times recently, no one has raised a hand as a show of appreciation to me.
If my dad saw me doing that, he'd clip me round the ear. As he would if I ever went up the inside of anyone - even though we live in a time where drivers seem to want to own the outside lane. And a new twist on that habit is the drivers who pull across three lanes of traffic at speed to overtake, then get back into the inside lane to do it all over again. They obviously think that Gatso cameras don't point at the inside lane.
Ironically, some of the filming I mentioned was to measure driving stress. I was wired up with a monitor and sent on a journey around Blackburn, Lancashire. The stress meter was jumping off the scale while I was hounded by other drivers surrounding me as I drove through town on a normal weekday.
The stress expert explained that I experienced the same amount of anxiety as a person in an earthquake, and it was so bad for my health I'd actually shortened my life! We are all rushing about a lot more these days, but surely it would be better to leave 15 minutes earlier for your destination and get there safe, stress-free and older. What's that clever saying? Better to be five minutes late than dead on time.
Mike Brewer presents ITV's Pulling Power, the Discovery Channel's Wheeler Dealers and the British Rally Championship on Sky Sports
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