My mistakes
The police seldom say "accident". They prefer "incident", as someone's error has almost always caused it. Whichever word is used, they're perhaps odd to describe on an instructor's website ... unless others might learn from them. I've found that each of my mistakes, over 40 years' driving, is useful when teaching :
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1. October 1986
A perfect, still, dry night on the M11 motorway. I've had my Peugeot 205 just two weeks. A large rodent darts out from bushes. It feels like it's heading for me fast, diagonally. In the middle lane at 56mph, I try to steer round it. The car's body tilts, I overcompensate, we swing violently left, then right. The horizon lurches, the front tyres wrench off, grass looms up and fills the screen. We've overturned. The roof collapses, windows pop. We're left hanging over broken glass. Seatbelts save our lives. LEARNED : "If it's smaller than you, keep going". |
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2. November 1987
Not long after, I'm in the new car the insurers bought to replace the one I destroyed [see above]. I know the road well, but street lighting's poor. I approach a gentle bend. An unlit car is on the left, off the road. Its driver looks at me. I check the centre mirror and see a Volvo following, reasonably close. When I next look forward, the car is in the road. It hits me. The corner of its bonnet gashes a line around ¾ of my car. LEARNED : "Glance in your mirror; don't look".
Not long after, I'm in the new car the insurers bought to replace the one I destroyed [see above]. I know the road well, but street lighting's poor. I approach a gentle bend. An unlit car is on the left, off the road. Its driver looks at me. I check the centre mirror and see a Volvo following, reasonably close. When I next look forward, the car is in the road. It hits me. The corner of its bonnet gashes a line around ¾ of my car. LEARNED : "Glance in your mirror; don't look".
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3. March 1990
Leaving a ferry for France on a family holiday, staff are directing the lines of cars to move off. Children get in the back of the car to my right. Two seconds before moving, I check my door mirrors; nothing is close. I drive slowly forward, as directed. There's a jolt sideways. One of the kids has opened a door, which touched my car as I moved off, catching in the door seam. LEARNED : "Check around only just before moving". |
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4. August 1991
And the classic error. Reversing in a small carpark, I twist round to see how close is the rear of my car to the one next to the bay I want. I don't notice the front offside swinging out. I brush into the car on the other side of the space, denting its wing. LEARNED : "Don't focus just on one hazard".
And the classic error. Reversing in a small carpark, I twist round to see how close is the rear of my car to the one next to the bay I want. I don't notice the front offside swinging out. I brush into the car on the other side of the space, denting its wing. LEARNED : "Don't focus just on one hazard".
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5. August 2015
On final approach to a T-junction, at the last moment I thought I'd better stop as my view of a SECOND car coming from the right wasn't perfect (it might have in fact started overtaking the first car I'd seen). I braked firmly. The driver of the van following me had stopped looking to see if I was still continuing, so hit me at low speed. But it weighed enough to damage my car beyond economic repair. LEARNED : Take only smooth actions; know that others may not see things (and hence act) as you do. |
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6. June 2023
Stupidly, I had included a question in a voice-text I sent to my wife (she'd left a teaching aid in my car and might need it that afternoon). Delayed by climate heating, lunchtime traffic, multiple road works, and having to travel further away to practice for my student's driving test, I was approaching a simple junction. I noticed a blue dot next to her name on the head-up screen. I spent a ½-sec wondering if I should ask the car to read it out (I would need to divert depending on her answer). When I next looked ahead, the tall car in front had stopped suddenly because the car it was following gave a late turn signal. I tried to stop, but my car slid down the slope. Ours bumper/grille got cracked. LEARNED : Don't be distracted by things inside the car. |
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Notice how all but the last 2 occurred quite early in my driving career (I passed the L-test in 1981, and got my first car in 1986). So the stats seem true: most hard learning (= 'risky' learning) DOES take place in the first 2 years after passing !