Photo credit: Horia Varlan
What’s the most extreme situation you have driven in? It turns out that most Brits class bad weather as being the most stressful things they come across but I have a little tale which came to mind when I read this report.
I was driving down one of those hideous South American dirt roads with sheer drops at either side. I later discovered that the locals call it “The Road to Certain Death” or “Dead Man’s Motorway” or something equally colourful.
Anyway, it is the main road in and out of town so it is filled with buses and trucks all day and night long. It isn’t very long, but it felt like I had been driving on it for a year when the inevitable happened; I met someone going the other way on an unbelievably tight corner. It was a flipping big truck and it took me a couple of seconds to realise that he had no intention of stopping even if it meant shoving me off the road and into oblivion.
Can We Scream Now?
To cut a long story slightly less long, I slammed into reverse and teetered precariously while the occupants of the car helpfully screamed and the truck driver shouted what sounded like random abuse at me. I survived to tell the tale but it took me about a week to stop shaking.
This story came to mind because according an AXA survey fog (45%) and heavy rain (39%) are the biggest concerns for drivers in the UK. In fact, a lot more women are fearful of snow and rain than the guys. I used to hate driving in bad weather as well but after my brush with a maniacal truck driver I now laugh in the face of fog and pour ice cubes down the trousers of drifting snow.
The good news is that Brits still love to drive, and I think that this is obvious from the attitudes you come across on the road.