Puddle splash driver fails test

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Samray · #1 Post by **Samray** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 12:57 pm

I can't imagine anything much more dangerous than the pillocks that drive around puddles.
Forever meeting them on B roads and they're usually 4x4s.

It is possibly even worse if you are overtaking.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manc ... 605026.stm

Fausto · #2 Post by **Fausto** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 3:09 pm

Nah, I'd have failed her too !!

Not sure about all the stopping to exchange details business but there is more to driving than not having accidents. Consideration to others is sorely lacking on the roads (and everywhere alse for that matter) and should definately be part of the test.

D-Rider · #3 Post by **D-Rider** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 5:06 pm

Fausto wrote:Nah, I'd have failed her too !!

Not sure about all the stopping to exchange details business but there is more to driving than not having accidents. Consideration to others is sorely lacking on the roads (and everywhere alse for that matter) and should definately be part of the test.

+1

Although, as an aside, with all of this rain, have you noticed how clear and clean most of the puddles have become? I don't mean the ones next to muddy fields etc but the general ones on roads and pavements and big paved areas. All of the dirt that usually gets mixed up with the rainfall seems to have been swept away long ago.

Samray · #4 Post by **Samray** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 5:11 pm

So would you both have learners taught to drive around puddles into oncoming or overtaking traffic, or to park up and block the road until the puddles dry up?

Fausto · #5 Post by **Fausto** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 5:50 pm

Well personally if I saw that hitting a puddle would splash a pedestrian I'd slow down and wait if necessary until either the pedestrian was clear or I could drive round it.

What do you do when you drive up to parked cars or cyclists or slow scooters or horses or skips or roadworks or any other of the millions of obstacles in the road? Just drive over them?

joecrx · #6 Post by **joecrx** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 5:54 pm

i think the local authorities should also be blamed and give her compensation for badly maintained roads ,

Samray · #7 Post by **Samray** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 6:17 pm

I accept that puddles should be treated according to circumstances but still insist it is WRONG to give learners the mindset that it is wrong to drive through them.
You'll be issuing them with depth gauges and plumblines next!

I also agree with Joe.

TC · #8 Post by TC » Tue Sep 09, 2008 6:28 pm

It is the fact that the driver went through the puddle wthout slowing down which got her failed.

Not only does it form a constituent of driving without reasonable consideration for other road users, it could have caused a loss of control or the puddle may have been deeper than anticipated. Seems harsh I know but they are basic rules that every driver has to consider.

Had she slowed down and taken time and more care going through the puddle, chances are she may well have passed with flying colours, and I emphasise "May" as we do not know what the rest of her test was like.

I have known many people fail their test, including their bike test for rushing through puddles without thought for themselves or others

The question is whether or not it constitutes an accident

The road traffic act states that an accident occurs when if owing to the presence of a motor vehicle injury or damage is caused to a third party.

Well the pedestrians clothes may have got wet but I doubt that they were damaged and there is certainly no allegation of an injury having been caused so it looks like the DSA hve made up a new bit of legislation to suit themselves and get themselves out of a jam

D-Rider · #9 Post by **D-Rider** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 6:59 pm

Yep - completely agree with Fausto and TC.

It is the driver's responsibility to drive according to the conditions and adapt their driving accordingly. Puddles should be treated as a hazard - especially big puddles. Sometimes it can mean changing lanes (when appropriate), sometimes driving a bit further from the gutter, sometimes slowing to drive through or waiting 'till a pedestrian is out of the way.
No big deal - just common courtesy.

... and as a pedestrian I appreciate when drivers act in a considerate way avoiding puddles and get very annoyed when they don't.

Samray · #10 Post by **Samray** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 7:23 pm

Just remember that when next you go round a blind bend and find Mrs Chelsea Tractor thundering toward you on your side of the road as she avoids getting her car wet.

Viffer · #11 Post by **Viffer** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 7:39 pm

It was her third attempt at the test so she's used to failing now

D-Rider · #12 Post by **D-Rider** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 8:27 pm

Samray wrote:Just remember that when next you go round a blind bend and find Mrs Chelsea Tractor thundering toward you on your side of the road as she avoids getting her car wet.

That's not what I'm suggesting at all. If all is clear (including taking account of things coming at speed the other way from places obscured), then it may be sensible to skirt the puddle.
If not, drive through it slowly if there are pedestrians, cyclists or others you may splash or there is a risk of impaired control.

I'm not suggesting people should inapropriately put their vehicles where they shouldn't.

Samray · #13 Post by **Samray** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 8:43 pm

We are talking here about the message this judgement sends out to learner drivers, not the experience that 50 years driving has given you.

HowardQ · #14 Post by **HowardQ** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 9:46 pm

Was waiting for you to come in on this one TC, totally agree with your comments and Fausto's earlier reply. It was the fact that she did not react to the puddle and pedestrian in any way that was the problem. This could have been by checking her mirror and moving out slightly, slowing down or something, anything to show she was aware of the situation and road conditions, she didn't so that should result in a fail. The accident label and exchanging details bit is dubious, but whereas it should not have caused a fail in it's own right, we all have to have responsibility for other road users. Every day I have to walk around 1/2 a mile from a car park along a main A road to work and this means walking down a road that regularly has deep puddles every few metres on a seriously wet day.
Whenever it's like this, I get feckin drowned often 3 or 4 times. Yes the bloody Council I work for should do more about the roads, but everybvody by now should know where the majority of all council funding comes from, and believe me it ain't from Council Tax.
Anyway, every time I get drowned I get more annoyed and I feel even more like chasing after the vehicle and kicking their bloody door in, (or worse), not that hard as all these vehicles are slow moving and come to a stop at a large roundabout a little further down the road.
If just one ever slowed down, wound the window down and said "really sorry mate, I did not see the puddle", it wouldn't be so bad. Unfortunately, so far not one has ever noticed that I exist or that anything has happened, and that is the really scary bit, poeple like that should never pass a test.
They are probably the same ones that you see every single day, mobile wedged between ear and shoulder, map, note pad or cup of coffee in one hand, trying to drive round busy roundabouts during the rush hour.
Never get caught 'cos there ain't enough traffic cops any more and the bloody cameras can't get them.
Sorry for the rant, I seem the be an angry old fart these days.

#15 Post by **Kwackerz** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 9:56 pm

I think the judgement was spot on. I wouldve failed her too.

It was a one sided article in her favour..or looking for sympathy for her..

but..

It wasn't as though I'd deluged this pedestrian. And if I'd swerved to avoid the puddle I might have caused an accident."

Defensive driving wouldve avoided this. Defensive as in paying attention to your surroundings, for starters..

Swerve? Accident? If she was paying attention she'd not have put her or the vehicle in that situation. It doesnt need experience to know that. she couldve either slowed or overtook the hazard in the normal manner, Im sure both wouldve been acceptible.

She failed because she's a fuckwit.

..that and she didnt stop to exchange details..