Published on 12, July, 2020
I love classic cars for many reasons. Their styling is beautiful, their mechanical features were mostly astonishing for the time and I’ve owned several classics all of which I loved. Anyway… one thing I really detest about modern cars is their lights, especially the LED day runner lights they all seem to have because if they hit a dip or bump, it looks like they flash which can cause mistakes as I found out today.
Suddenly the realisation set in. I felt rotten.
I felt like an absolute jerk. The woman behind was part of the funeral procession and I broke in to it. Not intentionally, though I should have seen the hearse first but I still feel bad about it. This is one of the main reasons I hate driving because I misunderstand things and I cause disruption without really meaning to because I’m trying to process so many things at once.
Suffice to say, I got off that road ASAP. At the next turning I took it, sadly a stretch that led to a duel carriageway adding an extra 17 miles to my journey home, not what my Immortal needs as it’s missing like the devil, but perhaps I deserved it for pulling out in front of the funeral car.
Hello,
I too love classic cars and my daily drive is a 1976 Land Rover. You are being too hard on yourself. It was a mistake but no one got hurt and that is the most important thing. Learn from it and move on.
I often have those moments in life, I'm sure we all do. We think "hang on a second I wonder why everyone is looking at me... Oh **** I've done something totally stupid". It feels like the whole world saw it.
I always feel like that one moment has overidden every right thing I ever did and rendered me totally stupid and useless. It lasts a while then fades away.
I think I'm so busy trying to work out all the variables and do what's right that I sometimes miss a key thing that was probably obvious to other people.
Glad to hear it ain't just me, hopefully knowing it ain't just you either will help!!
Billy Kidd said:Just really wish this hadn't happened.
I find it helps to get a bit Zen about the situations where you mess up.
You made an error - the consequences were trivial for others and you suffered a longer drive back as your penance. So harm, no foul.
What can you learn from this to prevent a repeat? Practice higher awareness when pulling out is about all I can think of - but if it was at night then you need to cut yourself some slack as you can only see headlights anyway until you are almost on top of the cars.
If it was during the day then you do need to take more notice of the cars themselves - if it had been a police car for example then you could be in a load of trouble.
It comes with practice and experience so is a natural part of improving your driving through practice.
It also is a good reminder to shut off distractions (music and talking to passangers) during these manouvers as they are a leading cause of attention lapses in such situations. Saying something like "just a sec while I do this" is enough to stop all but the most annoying passangers for a few seconds as they probably enjoy staying alive too.
You made a mistake, we all do, make silent appologies and be more aware in future, thats the best anyone could ask of you. I find funeral processions difficult as they always have to go so slow, for what reason I don't know and I always get caught up in one when I'm in a hurry.
I agree that modern car lights are confusing, espcially the bright LED ones, cars with higher driving positions than mine often comes up behind and momentarily blind me. Then there's all the things other drivers don't do, like dip their headlights at night, don't know what their indicators are for, park on double yellow lines, by a zebra crossing and the one that bugs me on our narrow often single track roads, is knowing where reverse gear is. Why do they drive past a passing place by a couple of car lengths, stop and expect me to reverse? Often they've got bigger cars than me, 4x4's and stuff, they're mostly tourists I think, as few people living on the island would buy a big badge low slung car that almost wider than the roads or have a 4x4 thats not battered and covered in mud or worse.
Thanks Desmond. I appreciate your kindness. Just really wish this hadn't happened.
Please don't beat yourself up. Things like this happen.