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Sunday, August 14, 2011

Keep your distance



Maintain a safe distance between you and the vehicle ahead of you.

Praise be to Trafico for doing something that is really useful. They have embarked on putting down road markings that should be very helpful in keeping vehicles from running into one another, simply by keeping our distance.

The way I do this is by choosing a point at which the car in front of me is passing, and then I count off “one, one thousand, two, one thousand.” I should have finished by the time I pass that same point. That will tell me that I have sufficient distance for the speed that I am travelling to be able to stop in time if the driver in front suddenly applies brakes. Of course, I have to be paying attention.

What trafico is now doing is reminding me to do that check as sometimes I forget to do it, and I find I am travelling a little too close. Of course, there are the usual group of people who have shit for brains who deliberately sit right on my rear bumper. I think the idea is to push me along at ever increasing speeds, but I get rid of these pests by slowing down. For my trouble I get flashing lights, beeping of the horn and the single finger salute, all of which I blunt by taking no notice or offence. I simply consider the source.

Trafico’s efforts to keep us safe in this regard is a very good idea and is to be applauded. They could also borrow an idea that I came across in Scotland and that is to use a system of gradual deceleration, using the three-step approach that is now used to denote that an exit is ahead. The required lower speed would apply at the final sign, not at the first sign.

Copyright © 2011 Eugene Carmichael

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