Hello and welcome to this video on how to drive on narrow country lanes in the UK.
This video shows me taking a journey to a cider farm in Cornwall and I'm going
to share lots of useful hints and tips on how to keep yourself safe on roads
such as this. Now notice here on the left is what we call a passing place. That's
really more of a drive way but there are these passing places where if a
vehicle was to come towards you you can pull over and one of you can allow the
other one through. Now when you do that, when you move towards the left like that
but you don't actually give way, it's what you call feinting. So you feint to
the left and you prepare to give way but you don't actually give way. Now as
we go past these parked cars the road gets quite narrow; it's narrow enough as it is but
it's going to get even more narrow as we journey down towards the farm. Now what
would you do if someone came towards you now? Well there are not many options but
you see again there on the left there's a driveway and a passing place. They're
quite frequent but I have had times, and yes I have taught in this area as well
as going on holiday there; I did live in this area and teach there for a short
time, and it can be very tricky when you get cars and vans and even coaches
coming the other way. So you see another place there where I move left
just in case. Now what you can't see is that behind me there is a vehicle
driving about one centimetre from my back bumper. Isn't it annoying when you
get drivers like that you just don't seem to understand if I brake, there's no
way that would ever be able to stop without hitting me. Now what is the speed
limit on this road? It's actually national speed limit so for the vehicle
I'm in that likes to limit 60 miles per hour. Now many pupils quite rightly
ask the question why are roads like this 60 miles an hour? Well the answer is it's a
limit not a target. You don't have to do that of course just because the limit is
60. I'm doing at the moment as you can see from the speedo, about 20 to 30 at
the most and this car is right behind me. Now the reason I have
the rear camera is because I was on the holiday and they only had the front
camera with me but there was a vehicle driving far too
closely behind me. Well ways remember this when you get
somebody behind you who's driving aggressively - It's always harder for the
vehicle in front. So I'm doing all the work, it's what I call a snow plough. I'm
doing all the work clearing the path. It's harder when you're the vehicle in
front and you've got to do all the work you're the one planning your head,
looking ahead. So the main things to understand are, on this kind of road you
must be able to stop on the road you can see is clear in front of you. It's no
good doing 60 miles an hour if you can only see 10 feet in front of you, in
places such as these bends where you can hardly see more than 10 feet ahead
of us. So the idea is you must be able to stop at all times on the road you can
see is clear in front of you. Imagine if you were doing a speed where it would take
you 40 metres to stop but you can only see 20 metres ahead. You're going to have
an unpleasant surprise if you come and amend break and you see there's something in
the road that you crash into. So if you can't stop on the road you can see i's clear
in front of you, you're going too fast. Now with what I've been saying about the car
being behind me, remember you never know the real reason why the person is in a
rush. Maybe they have a medical emergency. Maybe they are just impatient but here's
a story about assumptions. Two cars were driving fast in opposite directions
along a winding country lane. It was late in the summer and the hedgerows on
either side of the lane were high and lush. It was impossible to see around any
of the corners. Both of the drivers, because it was so hot, had their windows
down and their minds were focused on the road ahead.
Both cars approach a bend at speed and only just managed to avoid each other by
swerving around each other in time and slamming on the brakes.
As they stopped the woman driving in one car shouted to the man driving in
the car, "PIG!". The man quickly replied ,cleverly, "COW!". The man then accelerated
around the corner and crashed into a pig