Cruise Control
I am a bloke and I am like a lot of others in that I like to drive and also have been known to put the lead foot on the pedal…I want to say in the past but alas cannot.
I am however the fortunate owner of a new car, recently taking ownership of a ’58 plate Zafira which has some bells and whistles that I have not had before on a car I owned. Big Sam as girly girl called her has amongst others; Cruise Control and the enviable 6th Gear. Having these new features has changed my driving habits somewhat and partly for economics drive a lot in 6th Gear and with Cruise Control on. Having done a fair few miles in the last few months since buying it I have noticed something about the roads on which we drive here in the UK… people drive too fast!! I know that is no surprise to most of you and certainly not to me, however it is not until you slow done and drive below or at the speed limit on the UK road that you notice.
Having sat at about 67/68 mph on cruise Control north and south of the border for large chunks of motorway and dual carriage way miles, and getting nearly 50+ miles/gallon, I sit happily and easily cruising and watch myriads of vehicles; small vans, cars and those pulling trailers zip past me. The only ones not passing me are the articulated lorries and 99% of the ones towing a caravan. Now the cars passing me that’s no surprise the usual suspects of those going places far faster than they need to. But the surprises were the white van drivers, by that I mean standard Transit type and size of vehicles or for that matter the 3.5 Tonners as well some towing trailers as well, larger vehicles and goods type vehicles. I guess I hadn’t noticed them before since I was travelling at 75/80 myself in the past but now you notice it a whole lot more as they blast past you at at least 80mph+.
I usually have a chuckle when I drive on the dual carriage ways and pass speed cameras, knowing I have pegged it below the speed limit or on the average speed advised and see others blast past me, you know they are getting a ticket and mostly because they don’t notice as I don’t need to brake for them so they don’t get a warning.
I know there really isn’t anything I can do to reduce the speed of other road users, all I can do is what I can and know the benefit of my change in habit, and reduced risk of getting another speeding ticket. It does still make me chuckle and wonder what I used to be like and also what greater risks we have on the roads we drive, hopefully some of it will rub off on girly girl and wee man.
Cruising
Father Abbott