General: Revision of Motorway Speed Limits and Rules

[stephend]

Originally Posted by tt82

Beat me to it. While I may not always practice it I have been taught to always have both hands on the wheel while stationary.

One RoSPA observer (an ADI) taught me that. On the other hand, the police instructors taught me not to, and I don't. I can see why it might be especially appropriate for a driving instructor, though!

Gotta say, I've generally found police instructors to be quite pragmatic about some of the "rules".

[christheancient]

Originally Posted by stephend

One RoSPA observer (an ADI) taught me that. On the other hand, the police instructors taught me not to, and I don't. I can see why it might be especially appropriate for a driving instructor, though!

Gotta say, I've generally found police instructors to be quite pragmatic about some of the "rules".

Some of the police do have a different world compared to ours!

I used to be a registered Fleet Driver Trainer and it could, at times, be right pain undoing some of the training offered by ex-plods... especially the advice on keeping the revs high and the gear low for best acceleration (and maximum fuel consumption.).

[stephend]

Originally Posted by christheancient

Some of the police do have a different world compared to ours!

I used to be a registered Fleet Driver Trainer and it could, at times, be right pain undoing some of the training offered by ex-plods... especially the advice on keeping the revs high and the gear low for best acceleration (and maximum fuel consumption.).

I can imagine! Not for nothing is Roadcraft known as the Bible to some individuals...

The first time I took the RoSPA test, I was marked down for hand-crossing on the steering wheel while manoeuvring out of a parking bay, and for overlapping braking and gearchanging (my habit is to declutch as I'm moving my right foot from the brake to the throttle, and not separating the two actions completely). Lo and behold, when they revised Roadcraft in 1994, suddenly hand-crossing was allowed for parking manoeuvres, and they'd relaxed the strictures on overlapping braking and gearchanging. Ho-hum.

I was also marked down for failing to make an overtake at one point. Ok, this was going uphill, with a stream of vehicles in front, round a left-hand curve. And I was driving a 1.0 litre Fiesta hire car, which I hadn't even driven before. The examiner was a police motorcyclist, actually a really nice bloke - but I think he hadn't driven a 1.0 litre Fiesta in a while...

And then there was double declutching...

On a more serious note, I still have a tension between "making progress", and being a bit more relaxed and saving fuel. I'm trying to do a bit less of the former and a bit more of the latter as I get older.