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Gran Turismo: Licence/B-1


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Bit of an odd way to set the scene, but back on popular racing game series "Gran Turismo" you've always had do a series of licence tests before you start racing in your Daihatsu Move CX/Mazda Familia Interplay/Toyota Starlet Turbo S. The absolute first test has always been quite simple - driving in a straight line, get your car up to speed and then brake hard so you park up within a set area.

 

Here's a video for those unfamiliar with the scenario: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDYVfwte8rQ

 

So anyway, I was cruising back from work in the Galant down the safest road ever - a great big straight single carriageway on a 60mph limit with totally flat fields all around. A few little side roads, but as there's not really any bushes everyone can see everyone else for about a mile all the way round. It's really odd for this area as it's just totally flat all around instead of the usual rolling hills. Anyway, in the distance driving down one of the side roads towards mine was a Corsa B, but I remained unconcerned and kept to a steady 60.

 

She pottered up to the junction and gradually slowed down to walking pace, at this point I could see her from a side-on view staring straight ahead - some old granny. Not to worry I thought, she's probably just being overcautious and is going to come to a complete stop, then look, then pull out. There's absolutely no way she's just going to pull out at walking pace into a 60mph carriageway without look- OH SHIT

 

At that point began the most unnerving driving experience I've ever been involved in, with nowhere to aim the car (other than a ditch, a car indicating to go right and a car coming the other way) I had no option but to grit my teeth and brake hard from 60. Somehow I managed not to panic and lock the brakes up and I even dropped down through the gears and blasted the horn at the same time - seriously have no idea how I managed that, I wouldn't be able to do that again if you paid me! Adrenalin perhaps? I came closer and closer to her car with the back end snaking around and the smell of burning rubber and brake pads, stopping within about half a foot of her back bumper as she pottered along, utterly oblivious.

 

All I can say is I'm glad I popped to the toilet before I set off, as the Galant would require at least 10 "Feu Orange" air fresheners now. The decision to have the front brakes overhauled some months back at great expense seems like an utterly fantastic deal now.

 

Anyway, I overtook and shouted some abuse at her being blind and unbelievably thick, then went home. FIN!

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My beloved SD1 Vitesse was written off by a woman in an accident courtesy car doing exactly that. She lurched out of a "STOP" junction, meandered into the middle of the road, spotted my SD1 at the last minute, looked at me, drove pretty much exactly into the way I was heading and then stopped. Leaving me with zero chance of avoiding a big impact.I was absolutely furious. I'd spent over a year looking for the right SD1 Vitesse and when I finally got it she wrecked it within a month.10 minutes later her husband turned up trying to make out there was nothing to worry about, that he'd give me 'a few hundred quid, and you can buy something a bit newer. Just put it down to experience, eh? No need for the insurance..". I said nothing other than "I've rung the Police, and it's going through your insurance". He then started getting really snotty and arrogant saying it was my fault, and wanting an ambulance for his wife.Plod turned up as husband was going utterly apeshit at anyone who'd listen, calling me a chancer with an old shitbox... I stayed quiet and waited for the cop to work his way over to me..Plod and Husband walk over, Husband looking all victorious. Cop looks at the SD1, looks at me, looks at the road markings and says to me "Fucking shame that, I love the old Vitesses. Do you want me to prosecute her for dangerous driving?".I got her done for it, but the insurance only paid me £1600 + salvage on the SD1.

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The most frustrating thing with near misses like this with pensioners (Ive had a few as I work in Bexhill and Eastbourne quite often!) is that they drive off completely oblivious to the fact they so nearly caused a nasty accident. I like to use the horn as much as possible to alert them to the fact, but they often just look all confused or like they don't understand why you're angry. Makes my blood boil!How on earth are they rated as the safest drivers?!Pete-M- Well done on the moral victory. Shame about the motor though :(

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Well done H! I see more and more of these old people on the road (hurray for 'vergrijzing' - the fact that there are more and more old folks and we all live longer), and as soon as I spot them I'm extra careful, and quite often I'm right to be careful.An old bloke in a BMW 518 (ca. 1987) knocked me of my bicycle a few years ago, I had the right of way and I could have sworn he saw me, slowed down, and then he speeded up again... thankfully he still wasn't going very fast.

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Cheers chaps!Pete, sounds like a gutting story and pretty much exactly how I thought it'd play out as I hurtled towards its back end - it's an old car, here's £200, no worthwhile witnesses, now sod off, etc. Good job managing not to beat the hubsand to a pulp. Wonder what accident she had caused previously to be in an accident repair courtesy car? And would she have got another after that?The oddest bit of the whole situation is that her obliviousness both nearly caused and ultimately prevented the crash - as she just crawled along at 10mph or so it built up a small bit of extra distance meaning I came within half a foot of hitting the back rather than piling into it. Had she started braking or slowed down there'd be no question of a crash, possibly of quite some severity (20mph or so into a completely stopped car).I guess the unfortunate thing is that she'll still be out there driving her car, so ultimately someone is probably going to crash into her whilst she drives home to watch Countdown/Murder She Wrote. I can only hope that she heeded my helpful advice to stop driving, get an eye test and to "please leave" (not actual wording).

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I've had one of those 'oh shit' moments only mine didn't end up so well and still gives me nightmares.Back in 1980 I was in my Capri driving home from Weymouth towards Dorchester on the A354 (Ridgeway) about 10.30 in the evening when this old boy (local vagrant as it turned out) decided to use my car as a means to put himself out of his misery. I was doing a good 70 - 75 when he jumped in front of me, I had no time to react and he went from bonnet to inside of my car via the windscreen in an instant. He was killed outright, I had a broken jaw and left collarbone and lost all my front teeth. I can vividly recall seeing what was left of his face and his awful smell before I lost consciousness. It took me a good 18 months to get behind the wheel again.The most poignant part was his funeral which was a very basic affair. My wife attended along with the traffic officers involved, coroner's rep and the funeral directors. The fact that nobody he knew was there to see him off hurt more than anything. It hurts bad enough to know that you are responsible for someone's death but then add the fact that nobody was going to miss his very being, it's just all wrong.Sorry for the thread hi-jack but I've wanted to get that off my chest for a long time. :cry:

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My Brother in law had one of those exact experiences a few years ago.There were a lot of people at his funeral. I was not told what happened to the woman who drove out onto the main road without looking, but I know she tried to put the blame on him.

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I suppose the nearest thing like that was some gilbert on the Motorway hard shoulder one evening.Been to Warington to help my mate Ivan pick up this huge oak dresser for his mum, so loaded onto the Erde camping trailer we have a (top) heavy dresser, n the back of the car e have severl sheets of glass and the doors to this thing.So Im in the BX doing a steady 60 or so down the motorway inside lane, spots someone on the hard shoulder with hazzards going, not moving, puls over to the outer edge f the inside lane- traffic in the middle and outer lanes as its still evening going home time for a lot of folks, next thing hazzards off , indicates right and just pulls out into the inside lane with no speed build up at all, I have no where to go and cant emergency brake as the likely hood of ending up with nearly 500kgs of romanian oak and glass sheets in my back dont bode well so I have no option but to barrel past him on the hard shoulder praying he doesnt sudenly pull back in.Bloke looked very bemused as I barreled past horn blairing and making gesticulatins along the lines of fact that he would be better employed in stopping at home and masturbating.

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Jeepers. Nasty stuff. Does make you realise how lucky you are sometimes!Had a 'pull out' incident in the 2CV a few weeks back. Usual pillock not paying attention to the fact that yes, a 2CV can do 60mph in a 60 zone. Fortunately, there was no-one coming the other way so it was an easy case of swerve around them at speed. I don't think they understood my horn blare because they started flashing their lights at me as if I was in the wrong!

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I had a 'pulling out without looking' incident many years ago which lead to the demise of my Marina 1300 super. I was going down a hill, it was wet so the roads were a bit slick but I was only doing about 40. I lady in a Metro just drove straight out of a side road without looking at all and I had the take some serious evasive action to miss her. I aimed for the pavement on the opposite side to go round her as stopping on thwe wet road was not really an option. But had to try to get between a high wall and a lamp post which I did but not without smashing into the wall hard enough to push the right front wheel back into the bulkhead and demolish the front corner. Still it was a good way to rid myself of the marina as it was bloody awful. Nasty tale about the tramp/Capri interface. I dread running into a pedestrian like that.

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That Capri \ vagrant affair sounds horrible, the funeral must have been horrible. I wouldn't know where to look.....Lad at college had a slightly similar encounter in Chester. Old boy careers across a dual carriageway on his push bike, has a heart attack and carks, James is doing 50 mph with nowhere to go, goes straight through matey boy in his dad's Fiesta, writes off the car and very nearly breaks his neck after getting pushed into the top of the windscreen \ A pillar because he was a very tall lad and wasn't wearing a seatbelt when the airbag went off.When I had my 306 I was going back to Lancaster after a knackering day helping a mate decorate his office.I pull on to the M60 from the Carrington Spur, and am following a Clio by about 2 car lengths in the middle lane that suddenly swerves violently into Lane 3.As I'm exhausted I put it down to twattish driving but suddenly realise why he swerved like he did. There was a Ford Ka stopped DEAD in the middle lane. I realise this far too late and slam on, locking up and stopping about a quarter of an inch from this daft bint's boot.Now very much fully awake, and retard tits moving away very slowly, I pull round her into lane 3, drop my window and scream abuse at her for about 30 seconds continuously, my car level with hers.She continued crying and driving along very slowly, almost oblivious.At this point, having got no response despite being on and off my horn, I then boot it into the limiter from 2nd to fourth and pull off at the next junction, now covered in sweat and shaking because I thought there was going to be a pile up.I have no idea to this day why she was stopped dead in the middle of a motorway like that.

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All sorts of scary, unpleasant and daft tales coming out. Round these parts you used to get ALOT of Hirst-style incidents on the A1 as there were hundreds of piddly side roads and farm accesses that often crossed right across it & the death toll was pretty high. Most of the gaps have been closed now or at least had the junctions improved or the traffic slowed, but there's still a few 'hairy' ones. Probably the worst road around here is now the A507... not the twisty, hilly bit Baldock > Buntingford but the arrow straight new section Shefford > Baldock, because in their wisdom they decided not to make it a dual carriageway, but still very wide. But not -quite- wide enough for oertaking to happen in both directions simultaneously....

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Some utterly rotten stories there, if someone wants to use your car to finish themselves there's not a lot that can be done - I think that's the most terrifying thing, I hate placing my safety in the hands of other people and a suicidal homeless guy is about the worst person you could assign that task to. Must be utterly awful to know you've ended someone's life (even though it isn't your fault), I'm sure a lot of train drivers end their careers due to similar circumstances.The Ka motorway incident sounds very strange, the only thing I can think of is one of those situations where someone who is terrified of motorways has decided to go on one and very selfishly put other people at risk by parking up and having a cry. Anyone who does that should get a prison sentence.

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had a few near misses but nothing as scary as those!! CLosest I've come to something like that is turning up literally seconds after some kids had been playing 'chicken' on a bit of road in Warrington many many years ago, chap in the Manta that had hit one of the kids was in obvious distress so sat and comforted him whilst waiting for the authorities to arrive, whilst my Mum who was with me tended to the kids, some hysteric and one very badly injured after being hit by the chap in the Manta, one kid confessed all to my Mum that they were playing chicken but I don't think this helped the guy out in the Manta!!on the flip side I have witnessed some good motoring....Driving on the M6 back from Blackpool to Warrington a good few years ago I was doing 85 (yes I know) in a Fiat Bravo and whilst overtaking a truck I had a reather spectacular blow out the tyre shredded, took the inner arch plastic lining with it and went straight to bare metal rim on tarmac......Mr Trucker spotted this and instantly plopped himself and his wagon across lanes one and two and slapped his hazzard on slowing the traffic behind as I tried to wrestle with the car, eventually bringing it to a grinding halt on the hard shoulder some yards further down the road. Then Mr Trucker pulls in behind me to check I'm OK as quite frankly I had almost soiled myslef and hung about whilst I changed the tyre and even gave me a ciggie to calm me down.....What a nice guy....

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Wow, there are some truly horrible stories there... :shock: Had a "pull out" incident on the way into work this morning - usual thing with modern car drivers seeing a small, old car (the Colt) and not realising that it is capable of over 100mph and therefore likely to be going just as fast as any other car on the road. Astra van pulled out of a side road, then Merc C class estate pulled out behind him - Merc driver was obviously expecting van man to floor it, but he didn't, and I ended up having to swerve round them. That Colt has quite a strident horn for such a small car.The story with the woman in the Ka reminds me of an incident on the M11 some years ago - I was on a National Express bus on the way home from Heathrow Airport late one night and was just drifting off to sleep when the coach swerved violently and almos threw me out of my seat. Looking out of the window, there was a Sierra Sapphire parked in the outside lane of the M11 with no lights on - how there wasn't a nasty accident I'll never know. For the next few miles there was a pretty much constant stream of police cars hurtling down the opposite side of the motorway so the Sierra had obviously been there for a little while, and there was a fair bit of traffic on the road.

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As this seems to have become near-miss city, I might as well report about the time I was on the M1 in my Dyane. Lane 1, just about to reach the turn off for the M18 when suddenly, everything stops. I thought I was lucky to stop but then an HGV went thundering up the hard shoulder, absolutely unable to stop. That made me think - and still does. What if he hadn't swerved?!

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well, going on the M6 guy only getting 18 months for killing 6 people he would have got 3 months.If I have to slow down for stationary traffic on the motorway now I always look in my rear view mirror to see what is behind me and if it is also slowing down. I try to leave space in front of me too so I can try to get out of the way.Some pretty hairy stories on here for sure.

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Takes quite a bit of skill and reaction to maneuver something as unwieldly as the Galant - I think about my almost weekly avoidance experiences with careless motorists with my 35 year old Toyota compared to my 1 year old happy shopper, and frankly I am greatful that I am not forced to use the Toyota everyday. Of course I'm not perfect - the amount of times I have strained my neck muscles just to see a shite car parked on a driveway or something, and have had to take some sort of evasive action tends to happen more often than I'd like to admit. Luck, continuous experience and mind reading has all to do with it. You have the force Hirst, use it well.

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Wouldn't quite say I have the force, but cheers! I'm of the opinion that braking at speed is one of its weak points - I reckon it has incredibly powerful brakes, even before I had them overhauled I thought they were very good. But there are problems with stability under braking, something to do with positive camber, so under prolonged braking you end up impersonating the intro to Playdays with the steering wheel going left and right. As a former owner, what do you reckon?I'd say it is still a top-notch daily though, mainly because I can drive around pretending that I'm doing well for myself (if I squint and pretend that it is the early 80s).

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Probably the worst road around here is now the A507... not the twisty, hilly bit Baldock > Buntingford but the arrow straight new section Shefford > Baldock, because in their wisdom they decided not to make it a dual carriageway, but still very wide. But not -quite- wide enough for oertaking to happen in both directions simultaneously....

I used to take that route regularly when I lived down south - it never failed to make me feel slightly sick, even when nothing scary was happening. The deceptive road width was very closely followed in the lethal stakes by the fact that all the local bikers thought it was perfact for flat-out speed trials. Visibility etc was good, except on the last stretch of road towards Shefford - you see a roundabout sign, then come round the slight curve, and find it's actually a lot closer than you expected. I saw the aftermath of many bike stacks there, including the time when I got there before the ambulance and saw the bodies in the road - turns out both bikes were carrying passengers and totally wiped out trying to brake on the curve. Very unpleasant.I've been lucky enough not to have been involved in any nasty accidents, but the times when I've got there just afterwards to see a wreck that no-one could possibly have lived through... very chilling.
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I had something similar in my old Bluebird some years ago. Returning home from seeing an ex-Mrs Futuramic I entered a gyratory system. It was late at night and there wasn't much traffic about. For those unfamiliar with the things I'll explain. Gyratory systems were a failed experiment into reducing congestion back in the seventies. They were unpopular but the few that were built as experiments still survive. Most are in Essex, interestingly. Anyway the thing consists of a large "Sun" traffic island at the centre and five or six "Planet" mini roundabouts orbiting the main island. It is fed by several major roads, and traffic can go round the central island BOTH ways. The key is to treat each small mini roundabout individually. I actually like this road layout as once one gets to understand it. navigation is very quick and easy.Anyway I was approaching the last mini roundabout on my side, that led to the exit road I wanted off the gyratory system, and wanted to go ahead. I looked over to the right and slowed down. I could see a pair of headlights approaching fairly slowly in the distance, coming up to the roundabout before mine in the sequence. That should mean the other car would have to slow down and negotiate his roundabout before even arriving at mine. By which time I would be long gone.However, as I later found out the other car was a taxi and didn't behave like a normal vehicle. As I pulled out I realised that instead of slowing he had in fact sped up; had driven straight over the top of his roundabout and was rapidly approaching the side of my car.I don't exactly know what happened at this point, but I jammed the gear lever into second and floored it. I also steered hard left and managed to drive around the front of the Taxi, avoiding it by inches. The taxi driver was, I presume, shaken to pieces by the incident as he proceeded to limp along behind me at about 20 mph and didn't use his horn or flash his lights.

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