Huzzah!

[j4]

I finally passed my driving test! (Third time's the charm.) Still feeling a bit dazed but totally over the moon.

Will catch up with the last howevermany days of missed journal some time later, just wanted to bounce a bit now. :-)

Comments

[kaet.livejournal.com]

Yay! Me and Mr & Mrs Damn-We-Would-Have-To-Breakdown-Right-in-the-Middle-of-the-Highway-Code



Seriously, though, well done. I'm really pleased for you.

[kaet.livejournal.com]

there should have been a "salute you" in that last entry. It got eaten, oops. It doesn't make much sense as it is, does it? :)

[j4.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

How do you know they're Mr and Mrs, though? It could be that the reason he looks so twitchy is that they're on a date; she's sat down in a huff ("Well, there's nothing I can do, it's your car") and he's staring out at the traffic which is passing him by without a second glance, and thinking "Well, there go my chances of getting laid tonight."

So anyway, I meant to say earlier, I loved your analysis of highway code pictures. :)

[kaet.livejournal.com]

It's true, they may well not be Mr and Mrs.

Damn, and there I've been supporting the hegenomy all over livejournal, :).

I hope my silly story didn't put you off of any last-minute revision, last night!

So where are you driving too, to celebrate, then?

[j4.livejournal.com]

Well I must confess I was surprised to see you of all people allowing yourself to be dragged into the undercurrent of the post-Hegelian heterosocial dialectic, constrained by the overarching narrative of moo moo moo. :)

Didn't do any last-minute revision -- I tried to get an earlyish night so that I'd be all rested and refreshed, and instead woke up at 3am, again at 5am, and didn't get back to sleep properly after that. I suspect I might have just been too tired to be panicky in the test...

Not planning on driving anywhere any time soon to be honest. I can't imagine ever driving for fun; as far as I'm concerned it's just a more convenient (and less rained-on) way of getting me-plus-stuff from A to B. Besides, I don't have a car of my own (yet...) and I don't really like Sion's car that much -- it's too big for me, I want a little badger-sized car. :)

[ewx.livejournal.com]

This seems to be about as small as cars get. (http://www.thesmart.co.uk/home.asp) We saw a couple of them today...

[reddragdiva]

Have a look at crash test reports some time. Quick summary: you're in a small car, you die; likelihood decreases with size of car.

[j4.livejournal.com]

If you're going to look at it like that, then have a look at the stats for collisions between cars and bicycles. I've been cycling around Oxford and Cambridge for the past 6 years; being in any kind of car would be an improvement from that point of view.

Besides, if I try to drive a large car, I'm more likely to have an accident in the first place because I'm really not comfortable driving something big...

(This is, of course, the point where a) all the militant cyclists will come and insult me and call me a "cager", and b) all the drivers will tell me that I'll never be a good driver and I shouldn't be on the road at all if I'm not confident driving large cars. Oh well. It was nice to feel good about something for a few hours.)

[reddragdiva]

"b) all the drivers will tell me that I'll never be a good driver and I shouldn't be on the road at all if I'm not confident driving large cars."

Can you find any examples of this? (Anything written by a 'Merkin doesn't count.)

I mention the small car thing only out of concern. One of them Smart rollerskates ... *shudder*

[j4.livejournal.com]

Well, I've been told "You aren't/won't be/can't be (etc.) a good driver if $foo" for many values of $foo on cam.misc. Can't remember if anybody's ever said exactly that about big cars, but it's the attitude rather than the specifics that I notice.

The lurkers hate me in email, too. Is it hometime yet?

[addedentry.livejournal.com]

If you're going to look at it like that, your being in a car would be an improvement ... but not for the remaining cyclists.

But I shan't mar your triumph. Are you planning to drive in Cambridge or out of Cambridge?

[j4.livejournal.com]

As someone who has cycled for 6 years and will, physical health permitting, continue to cycle for the rest of my life, I hope that I can be more considerate towards cyclists than some of the drivers I encounter on the roads. Of course, you might argue that cyclists would be much better off if there were no cars on the roads, but personally I'm a realist: given that there are cars on the roads, I'd much rather have considerate drivers than inconsiderate ones. I don't think being a cyclist oneself is the only factor here, but I believe it's a factor.

(In the grand old tradition of internet debate, however, I have absolutely no hard data to back this up -- only anecdotal evidence.)

Driving out of Cambridge sounds like a good plan.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

How does the increase in risk of injury compare with the change (if any) in likelihood of having an accident at all; and of injuring other people?

[reddragdiva]

No idea. I was just struck by the relative deathtrap nature of smaller cars.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

It just seemed rather weird to consider the increased severity of accidents without also considering any changes to the accident rate...

[(Anonymous)]

Hello, and well done!

It's not just the size of the car - some do better than others. Unfortunately, mine (Rover 100) is one of the poorer performers (due to being an older design). Perhaps it's evil of me to paste the following URL, but it does reveal the Smart to be safer than my car, for example. :)

http://www.autoo.se/images/Content/safety/film.htm (requires quicktime)

[j4.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the info. BTW who are you? I don't recognise the IP address... :)

[(Anonymous)]

Doh! Forgot to sign it.
-Art :)

[simonb.livejournal.com]

Yay! Congrats.

[daneel-olivaw.livejournal.com]

Yay!!!!!!! Well done!

*bounces* back at you!

*hugs*

[lnr]

Whhhhhheeee! *hugs* Well done!

[sesquipedality.livejournal.com]

Woohoo! Lashings of hot fudge coated badgers all round!

[taimatsu]

Yay Janet! Well done!

Now I just have to find driving instructor...

[fivemack.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! I'm still too terrified of the things even to want to take lessons in them.

I like the badger in your user-pic.

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

*bounce* go you! congratulations!

[emperor]

Yay! go you :)

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Cool! Well done. Took me three goes, too.

"Nice badger."

[keris.livejournal.com]

BADGER!!!
Yay! :) :) :)
I still need to learn that driving thing...

Vroom.

[addedentry.livejournal.com]

Well done.

Do you think zebra crossings should be renamed badger crossings?

Re: Vroom.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Yes, I do, definitely! (Is "badger crossing" a face pyjama (http://www.wadham.ox.ac.uk/~jstacey/facepyjama/whatisfp.html)?)