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

[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.