Bring out your dead

[Howard]

Couple of bad habits that spring to mind for me:
- Indicating before a lane change even whens someone is approaching from behind (not at speed...but in slow moving traffic). A habit I picked up while commuting to work along a busy motorway of packed, but slow moving traffic. Following the highway code logic of not signalling until it was clear would mean I would never be able to change lanes because of the constant stream of bunched up traffic from behind. Instead, I would signal and wait for someone to flash me to signal that they were letting me out. I'm sure it's fairly common, but it's a bad habit nonetheless.

Is it, though? Indicating should always be to show your intention that you'd like to change lanes rather than the oh-so-common "I'm going to change lanes in 0.4 seconds, you'd better be ready, sucker". I do as you do in the situation you've described and I don't think it's a bad thing.

 

[Nasher]

I get that in my s2000, people do jump out of the way and then get back in the lane. Not sure if it's noise, low front end or my aggressive approach.

Didn't have that in my z4 or my cute face mx5 MK1

I've had people actually pull over to let me pass a few times on B roads, which is something that never happened driving non-sports cars O_o

 

[Scania]

The M1 South between Nottingham and Leicester has some fairly steep uphill sections, resulting in people driving Luton vans flinging it into the overtaking lane at about 45mph to avoid slow trucks, with zero consideration for all the other traffic behind them.

Never realised northbound was flat

Joking apart, quite agree, see this every time I use that stretch, usually you get one muppet in a fully loaded artic who thinks it’s a great idea also.

 

[JonnyT]

A few bad habits have crept in over the years...

• Occasionally blipping the throttle on the down-change (double de-clutching?) to make the down-changes smoother and ease the wear on the clutch (bear in mind this is a bog standard Mk2 1.6 Focus!!)
• 'Showing the brake light' to extreme tailgaters, followed by gently lifting off the throttle to ease it down to make my point....
• Using 'lift and coast' to slow down - while obviously covering the brake pedal - which requires greater anticipation but is great for fuel economy...

 

[Conscript]

Is it, though? Indicating should always be to show your intention that you'd like to change lanes rather than the oh-so-common "I'm going to change lanes in 0.4 seconds, you'd better be ready, sucker". I do as you do in the situation you've described and I don't think it's a bad thing.

Well, it's probably not a terribly bad habit in most contexts. As I said, most people probably do it. But technically, I was always taught that mirror, signal, manoeuvre meant checking your mirrors and not signalling unless it was clear to do so. But on a busy motorway at rush hour, if you follow that to the letter, you would never ever be able to change lanes.

 

[robj20]

A few bad habits have crept in over the years...

Occasionally blipping the throttle on the down-change (double de-clutching?) to make the down-changes smoother and ease the wear on the clutch (bear in mind this is a bog standard Mk2 1.6 Focus!!

Using 'lift and coast' to slow down - while obviously covering the brake pedal - which requires greater anticipation but is great for fuel economy...

No that's just rev matching, not double de-clutching. That's not a bad habit at all, its mechanical sympathy and what you should do.

Lift and coast do you mean just foot off the accelerator. In which case again, not a bad habit and what you should do to as you say improve economy, using the brakes literally burns money. Anticipation is something everyone should improve.

 

[Conscript]

I cruise at at least 75, am I bad?

Only if you don't accelerate a bit when you overtake someone who's doing 74.5, you monster.

 

[Phemo]

For me it's probably speed but in reaction to other drivers. I'm better these days than I used to be though.

I find it so much easier to drive at night or just times when there's little or no traffic. I'll happily sit the cruise on at 74 indicated in my car, which is 70 on satnav, and let it crack on for a several hundred mile journey without any issue at all. When there's traffic however, I find I get annoyed at morons not knowing what NSL signs mean, that NSL still applies in the Hindhead tunnel and the speed limit doesn't magically drop to the random 60mph that so many people seem to think it does and just people generally being tools. I'll often accelerate a bit to get well past them, but I just find it more difficult to sit at 70 when the roads are busier.

These days I'm trying to care less about the idiots so do find myself just sitting on the motorway doing 60 behind trucks quite often.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Well, it's probably not a terribly bad habit in most contexts. As I said, most people probably do it. But technically, I was always taught that mirror, signal, manoeuvre meant checking your mirrors and not signalling unless it was clear to do so. But on a busy motorway at rush hour, if you follow that to the letter, you would never ever be able to change lanes.

I do exactly this. I think its indicative of an area where the highway code is struggling with traffic density.
I see it like more of a request to the drivers coming from behind.

 

[MikeTheNative]

A few bad habits have crept in over the years...

• Occasionally blipping the throttle on the down-change (double de-clutching?) to make the down-changes smoother and ease the wear on the clutch (bear in mind this is a bog standard Mk2 1.6 Focus!!)

How do you heel and toe in that? I have that focus and the throttle is set a number if inches further back from the brake pedal, I would have to dislocate my ankle to do get my heel on the throttle,

 

[weathmatth]

My bad habits would be too long to list. That being said i don't think i'm a dangerous driver...

 

[robj20]

These days I'm trying to care less about the idiots so do find myself just sitting on the motorway doing 60 behind trucks quite often.

I do this so much now, so much more chilled out watching all the idots try to get home 5 minutes faster.

 

[Akagi]

A few bad habits have crept in over the years...

• Occasionally blipping the throttle on the down-change (double de-clutching?) to make the down-changes smoother and ease the wear on the clutch (bear in mind this is a bog standard Mk2 1.6 Focus!!)

If anything that is a good and mechanically sympathetic habit.

That said I tend not to bother unless I'm in a car with a pedal layout which makes it comfortable and easy to do. BMW's with a floor hinged pedal are really good for this for example.

 

[JonnyT]

How do you heel and toe in that? I have that focus and the throttle is set a number if inches further back from the brake pedal, I would have to dislocate my ankle to do get my heel on the throttle,

Big feet
Seriously, just big toe of right foot on the brake pedal, little toe on the accelerator, tilt the foot as necessary! Maybe I've got hyper-mobile ankles!

 

[Lopéz]

Never realised northbound was flat

Joking apart, quite agree, see this every time I use that stretch, usually you get one muppet in a fully loaded artic who thinks it’s a great idea also.

Hehe I never notice much slowing going North, but Southbound drives me mental on the way home

 

[geekman]

I drive basically exactly as you'd expect someone who owns a pre-facelift first generation Range Rover Sport to drive

Unlike most people where I live, I never pull out on people / reverse down slip roads etc (that was an interesting one yesterday.....) but I'm pretty bad for tailgating / speeding etc. Some of the limits here are insane (think 40KPH on a 4 lane highway in the countryside) and the penalties for breaking them are insignificant, so I often end up driving at 4x the speed limit. The highest I've ever been caught at was 180KPH in an 80, cost me sub £100 to sort it out though.

 

[Yaayuh!]

No that's just rev matching, not double de-clutching. That's not a bad habit at all, its mechanical sympathy and what you should do.

Does it even matter on synchro manuals?

 

[Akagi]

Does it even matter on synchro manuals?

Reduces clutch and gearbox wear. But its definitely not something you have to do, and god knows what kind of minute difference it actually makes. Obviously 99.999% of people don't do it. I only do it in my BMW because its easy to. In some cars you can't heel and toe. VW group cars (aside from maybe some performance ones?) automatically cut throttle input when there is brake input. I never did it in my MX5's because it was really difficult. Needed lots of throttle travel and hardly any brake travel.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

Wonderful.
A thread to "promote" how to drive like a ****.

Just out of curiosity, do you guys drive white vans, pickups or Audis?

 

[Yaayuh!]

Wonderful.
A thread to "promote" how to drive like a ****.

Just out of curiosity, do you guys drive white vans, pickups or Audis?

Chill out, man.