What happened to driving skill/awareness

Has anyone else noticed how skills perception awareness vehicle control and ability to make any sort of progress have taken massive backward steps, been especially notable since the country was forced into economic destruction by those currently in govt and their immediate forebears.

Driving is becoming increasingly frustrating due to people unable to make any attempt at pre planning approaches to junctions and lacking the ability to see and analyse anything happening more than a few yards ahead of the bonnet, anything happening in the surrounds or behind simply doesn’t compute.
There was always the driver of the red Micra and the oldies who had one set speed, usually 40mph regardless of road, clear main route leading a rolling roadblock or passing a school crossing patrol at 3.15 pm, 40mph it is, but now this inability to make smooth progress has risen to epidemic levels, a zombied generation of drivers of all ages in all types of vehicles.
On the opposite side there are the tear arses, who seemingly can’t control their vehicles either judging by the wreckage strewn about.

Yes there have always been useless drivers, in previous times cars tended to bite back if the driver was a chump, ie boot it too hard from a slippery roundabout or leave braking too late and too hard on a wet road and bent metal was often the result, those of us old enough remember back when if your car actually started for you on a cold morn you were chuffed to buggery, but these days cars are doing most of the work for the driver so they can concentrate on making progress rather than keeping the thing going against all the odds.

I’ve come to the conclusion that a sizeable number of drivers of all vehicles can’t wait for autonomous vehicles so they can concentrate on perusing and updating social meejia or applying eyeliner and lippy instead of driving, i bet lots of us on the road full time go through our driving days taking action mutiple times to prevent the unaware from what was otherwise inevitable because they seem to be in another dimension mentally, not as we expect or get any thanks for our efforts its typically a dirty look or a coffee sign because we happened to be where they were entitled to be regardless even if they have a clue what we just avoided for them , this applies to too many hgv drivers too sadly who seem to be as puddled as the worse car/van drivers.
Won’t include bus drivers because they’re perfect

What’s happened?

For one, driver training dumbing down, that’s what happend.

The present Mrs Donkey is going through the process of getting her driving licence, and the things she tells me that are now thought, and tested on, are making my skin crawl.

And of course a general dumbing down of the population, brought up on a diet of selfishness, instant gratification, vacuous celebrities, blame culture, and Internet nobodies.

Lost count of the number of times I’ve approached a roundabout in the approved fuel efficient manner, letting my speed drop without using the brakes so that once I get there I’m pretty much perfectly placed to proceed; only to be cut up at the last minute by some plonker who for reasons best known to himself has GOT to get in front of me, then cuts in and jams his brakes on. This on dual carriageways so it’s not as if my slower progress out of the junction will impede them unnecessarily. And not just cars either!

In the 90s I passed my advanced and whilst I don’t follow it as I should ( got some points years ago) the habit of looking well ahead and predicting where possible other drivers is a big help. You can often tell when some chump who thinks he is driving in GTA is about to cross 3 lanes at the last minute or undertake.
People to reliant on sat nav and not reading road signs.
I remember being taught in class C to slow down on approach to motorway junctions on green, where you have right of way in case a blue light is coming etc. Still do this in any vehicle.
Yes things have changed and I agree many people believe they have a right to drive as they wish. Speed limits are a max not a minimum etc.
Like Juddians comment about the red micras that made me smile.

Also things like listening for the right gear to change on older manuals, not having power steering or power assisted braking. If we are getting very nostalgic the days of not being able to adjust wing mirrors from inside the car, madness now.

Yes I think the more cars and lorries do the work for you the less some people pay attention. Mind you the wife often moans I’m always looking round when I drive her car and not just ahead, partly for observation and mostly because I’m either in a lorry or van so completely forget to use the rear view mirror and rely on the door mirrors! Anyone else do that?

Sent from my moto g 5G plus using Tapatalk

can’t wait for autonomous vehicles…

to be introduced for everyone else on the road [emoji6]

Do I assume that the DCPC introduced a few years ago in exchange for a small fee has not been the roaring success that was predicted ?

Gidders:
Do I assume that the DCPC introduced a few years ago in exchange for a small fee has not been the roaring success that was predicted ?

Well it hasn’t had any noticable affect on driving standards.
Mine are always perfect, of course

I got nobbled for speeding though, a couple of weeks ago
Driving a VW Caddy van, on the A90 dual carrageway, from Perth towards Dundee. 71 in a 60
I thought it was a car derived van, derived from the VW SUV. Apparently not

Juddian:
Has anyone else noticed how skills perception awareness vehicle control and ability to make any sort of progress have taken massive backward steps,

What’s happened?

A gradual sea change in society’s values. I was brought up in the sixties with the view that anything worth doing was worth doing well, people aspired to be seen as capable in the eyes of their peer group, no matter what the “thing” being undertaken was. We mostly maintained our own vehicles, and had knowledge of the systems we relied on and treated the vehicles with more care.

Now, no one gives a rats ■■■, hardly anyone understands how anything works, because some guy at the garage will sort it out.

In everyday travel we see people hammering their vehicles i) failing to properly join the main carriage from a slip road, (ii) over-reliance on braking systems - ie leaving it all to the last minute and just assuming you can stop in time, and (iii) total inability to leave any kind of gap between you and the vehicle in front, so in heavy traffic it’s all stop-start-stop-start rather than flowing continuously, albeit at a low speed. So our engines work harder and fuel consumption is higher.

I feel this is partly because most modern drivers know little if anything about how an internal combustion engine works, probably due to the decline in the ability of Joe Public to maintain their own car - forced on us by car manufacturers who have made it impossible to do much more than change your oil, without needing specialist tools.

Most people have no idea that diesel and petrol engines have different compression ratios and why that is, no idea that there was ever anything different than a direct fuel injection system, and as for camshafts, crankshafts, con-rods and gudgeon pins - they may as well be Sanskrit words as far as many people are concerned.

Fuel has never been more expensive than it has been this year, yet every day I see full-on acceleration from gas-guzzling 4x4s, usually just racing from one set of red lights to the next, seemingly with no clue that hard acceleration is just wasting fuel.

stu675:
can’t wait for autonomous vehicles…

to be introduced for everyone else on the road [emoji6]

Ditto. I was initially horrified at the notion of these abominations, until I realised that the average modern driver doesn’t care about being “a good driver”, so those of us who do will be better off when self-driving cars are available for those who see no value in taking pride in the ability to drive well. It should hopefully eliminate the phantom traffic jam.

While out for my afternoon walk at around 1800hrs I have come to notice that there is quite a number of people who have somehow passed a car driving test and yet are unable to master the simple task of keeping to the left of a white line on a straight piece of tarmac. At one point on my regular walking route there is a reasonably heavily-used and clearly visible right turn off the main road. The number of times I have seen somebody waiting to turn there, with the right-hand indicator on, while another vehicle behind heads for them without even lifting off the accelerator until the last minute before stamping on the brake, is unreal.

We’ve all made the odd mistake (and will continue to do so), but for many of these simpletons such poor practice is no doubt their default approach and they see nothing wrong with it. The wannabe smaller German cars favoured by the desperate Keeping Up with the Joneses brigade may be the worst for such behaviour, although it could be that I subliminally notice them more.

While walking elsewhere yesterday I was passed by an artic trainer wagon that was sticking to 30mph. Behind in nose-to-tail fashion was a line of cars, all up the arse of the vehicle in front. None of them had any chance of overtaking safely had they wished to. These people are brain dead and should always be given as wide a berth as possible, whether that is from the point of view of a pedestrian or another driver.

This was after a trip on the bus that was delayed by a driving instructor who had chosen to have his pupil stop on a busy A-road, blocking one side of it, while he or she explained something. As has been said above, the sooner autonomous vehicles arrive and remove these idiots from the driving pool, the better.

I wish I knew Juddian but I agree 100% with all you say. What I can’t understand though is none of these seem to frequent this forum.
Like you I have always taken great pride in the way I drive and also the vehicles I drive whether they belonged to me or not. That seems to be rare these days.
It really is appalling how driving standards have plummeted in recent years. I do believe some of it comes from poor training where as we know drivers are not taught to drive anymore and just to pass a test. When I was training quite a long time ago now the majority of my candidates passed first time. I think the most tests one of my drivers had was 3. Now it’s common for car lorry and bus drivers to have 4 or 5 tests. Says a lot about the quality of the instructors.
Regarding autonomous vehicles, they will just suit the lazy type of driver who has no interest in driving or a combustion engine.
One thing I’m glad about by the time they arrive I will not be driving any longer. Combustion engines go, I stop.

the nodding donkey:
For one, driver training dumbing down, that’s what happend.

The present Mrs Donkey is going through the process of getting her driving licence, and the things she tells me that are now thought, and tested on, are making my skin crawl.

And of course a general dumbing down of the population, brought up on a diet of selfishness, instant gratification, vacuous celebrities, blame culture, and Internet nobodies.

After reading back, came across not as intended.

Like you I have always taken great pride in the way I drive and also the vehicles I drive whether they belonged to me or not.

Snakey what trucks have you owned and operated then do tell I’d love to know

Gidders:
Do I assume that the DCPC introduced a few years ago in exchange for a small fee has not been the roaring success that was predicted ?

The primary object of DCPC was never to raise physical driving standards, but to ensure full awareness of the rules and regulations surrounding driving HGV’s.

In my personal experience, those who gain least from it are also most likely to be those who fail to recognise that adherence to the latter helps to achieve the former.

Sidevalve:

Gidders:
Do I assume that the DCPC introduced a few years ago in exchange for a small fee has not been the roaring success that was predicted ?

The primary object of DCPC was never to raise physical driving standards, but to ensure full awareness of the rules and regulations surrounding driving HGV’s.

In my personal experience, those who gain least from it are also most likely to be those who fail to recognise that adherence to the latter helps to achieve the former.

+1
There’s been a lot of changes just in the past two and a bit years alone, not just in terms of legislation which can lead to financial penalties, but also in terms of the focus of what is important to the authorities and what is guaranteed to have you brought up in front of the TC. Yet I guarantee that anyone who is tomorrow delivering a DCPC on, for example, drivers hours, will be met with more than one person who says “I’ve been driving for thirty years, this is all BS, I know it all, you can’t teach me anything…”

i ave noticed cars getting away at traffic lights they are slow I think this has something to do with the engine cuts out at traffic lights then re starts when the clutch is pressed ,then are those that do not get ready to move when the light goes to green…then those that use one lane on a roundabout when there are two to use …the skill has gone

There seems to be somebody reading these posts who can’t quite grasp the english language so just to clarify that I never said I owned a truck.
Double check, nope never said it.

I agree with almost everything above. The standard of driving in this country is appalling; mainly because nobody has any interest in doing anything well. Living in a rugby worshiping part of Wales, I often make the comment that everyone understands the scrum and the line-out, and could all manage the Welsh squad better, but they can’t be bothered to learn how to signal on a roundabout.
I think another issue is that we hardly ever see a police car on the roads, and most drivers are aware that there is little chance of being caught - except speeding where the cameras will get you!
I did my advanced about 25 years ago and still try to stick to the principals of Roadcraft, but quite honestly, I see well below standard driving from police traffic officers on a regular basis. If they can’t make an effort how can we expect anyone else to?

Some good posts there people, thankyou.

Just nipped into a Subway with the good lady, car was parked right outside.
Two cars parked either side of ours whilst chomping on a foot long, oo-er missus, Clio reversed in on our nearside (obviously i’d backed in too, goes without saying), in one, tight up against the kerb that was to his nearside, perfect placement.
To our right some Kia hatchback drove in, making a pigs ear of it and eventually abandoning the car in some semblance of a herrigbone shape in a straight gap, was only glad we left before the Kia because chances are getting out would have been a bigger drama.

It takes but a second, usually the line they approach by, to spot a driver who takes their driving seriously or, persih the thought, might just take a bit of pride in it.

Attended the funeral of an old colleague from decades ago a few months back, arrived early at the crem, backed into space beside another car, as i got out…‘’‘typical bloody lorry driver backing into a space dead centre’’ were the first words i heard, bloke i hadn’t laid eyes on for 30 years was in the car next door, cheered a sad day up somewhat.
How very English though the comment, we show affection by taking the ■■■■ out of each other at every opportunity, if you don’t get ribbed usually means they don’t like you, wonder what recent arrivals to the country make of it?

All seems to be connected to the brake and throttle school of motoring finally facilitated by auto transmissions.
Let alone dropping down through a sequence of constant mesh gears on the approach to a roundabout.
Although to be fair that would all have been messed up by traffic lights strategically placed and phased to create maximum disincentive for anyone to go anywhere by road.