No, I can read, thank you. It was taught at school even that many years ago.

I suggested that you took your driving style forward and did the course.

Nothing more than that

Silver1011,

I suggest you go on a "Defensive Driving" course, and see how Option 2 can actually make journeys both quicker, easier and cheaper.

i agree and suggest a little experiment....

on monday morning stay in option 2 mode and drive smoothly, courteously and planning ahead for all your journeys in the car for the whole week.

at the end of the week ask your wife if she has noticed anything different about you when you've come home from work.

i'm willing to bet she will have.

at the end of the day, what have you got to lose?

You are right, as mentioned I do tend to adopt option 2 much more than 1, let us remember that the vast majority of other drivers use option 1.

My 75 mile commute takes almost 90 minutes over a mix of M, A, B and non-classified roads.

I actually enjoy my commute as I am lucky enough that most of it is on quiet back roads with beautiful scenery. After a tough day at work I look forward to it as I can chill out before arriving home.

I also spend over £300 a month on diesel to get to work and back so trust me I will do anything to reduce that - hence I reckon I make more effort than most to avoid unnecessary braking / accelerating and coasted up to more traffic lights than most

I suggested that you took your driving style forward and did the course.

Which unfortunately, as in your post, when written in isolation, was taken by me to suggest you doubt my driving ability?

Since I assume you are proud of your additional driver training then may be it would have been more useful if you had expanded your comment to say what exactly it is about this type of advanced course that would benefit us mere mortals...

You are right, as mentioned I do tend to adopt option 2 much more than 1, let us remember that the vast majority of other drivers use option 1.

My 75 mile commute takes almost 90 minutes over a mix of M, A, B and non-classified roads.

I actually enjoy my commute as I am lucky enough that most of it is on quiet back roads with beautiful scenery. After a tough day at work I look forward to it as I can chill out before arriving home.

I also spend over £300 a month on diesel to get to work and back so trust me I will do anything to reduce that - hence I reckon I make more effort than most to avoid unnecessary braking / accelerating and coasted up to more traffic lights than most

So I'm guessing you were just playing devils advocate.

Makes for healthy debate which I am all for.

So I'm guessing you were just playing devils advocate.

Makes for healthy debate which I am all for.

I remember the healthy debate in the sportsman pub

Defensive driving doesn't need teaching, as such, but needs a change to the thought process.

It is realising that what happens 4 or 5 cars in front is more important a lot of the time than what the prat immediately in front is doing;

it means looking at the road 400yds away not just in front;

it means looking at the lie of the land to see how that affects your next action;

it means looking at other things around you, such as reflections in shop windows or the line of telegraph wires;

All these things done together can reduce the use of brakes or harsh acceleration, resulting in better fuel consumption and often less stress, both mechanical, physical and personal. The one thing it isn't is crawling along like an old f@rt. You can easily keep at all speed limits using this system.

As an example, my 46 mile journey to work this morning took me 53 minutes and I averaged 53.4 mpg (according to the MCD). I actually braked 10 times in that journey, but will admit that I "might" not have stuck to the 40 limit through one of the villages, but at 0445............( I know it is a risk!! )

If people want to try to drive like this then the best way to start is to gradually think about it.

Think about where you brake for a junction; could you ease of the go-pedal 100 yds sooner?

Do you really need to brake for that up-hill right hand bend? Could easing-off and letting the slope slow you down be just as effective? And give you a chance of changing down to smoothly accelerate through it?

By looking in that shop window on the right, just before a left hand bend with a set of traffic lights beyond, does it show you they are at red?

It isn't something you are going to suddenly take to. It is often a gradual process, but it can be very satisfying when you realise that your fuel consumption has improved by 10 or 15% but your journey times have hardly increased. I'm still trying to get my wife to drive in this way, but.................

Defensive driving doesn't need teaching, as such, but needs a change to the thought process.

It is realising that what happens 4 or 5 cars in front is more important a lot of the time than what the prat immediately in front is doing;

it means looking at the road 400yds away not just in front;

it means looking at the lie of the land to see how that affects your next action;

it means looking at other things around you, such as reflections in shop windows or the line of telegraph wires;

All these things done together can reduce the use of brakes or harsh acceleration, resulting in better fuel consumption and often less stress, both mechanical, physical and personal. The one thing it isn't is crawling along like an old f@rt. You can easily keep at all speed limits using this system.

As an example, my 46 mile journey to work this morning took me 53 minutes and I averaged 53.4 mpg (according to the MCD). I actually braked 10 times in that journey, but will admit that I "might" not have stuck to the 40 limit through one of the villages, but at 0445............( I know it is a risk!! )

If people want to try to drive like this then the best way to start is to gradually think about it.

Think about where you brake for a junction; could you ease of the go-pedal 100 yds sooner?

Do you really need to brake for that up-hill right hand bend? Could easing-off and letting the slope slow you down be just as effective? And give you a chance of changing down to smoothly accelerate through it?

By looking in that shop window on the right, just before a left hand bend with a set of traffic lights beyond, does it show you they are at red?

It isn't something you are going to suddenly take to. It is often a gradual process, but it can be very satisfying when you realise that your fuel consumption has improved by 10 or 15% but your journey times have hardly increased. I'm still trying to get my wife to drive in this way, but.................

+1, especially to the last sentence .... (hope she doesn't read this)

All too frequently I find myself in a queue of 60-65mph traffic overtaking a lorry or two in the inside lane. Once past the lorry, the lead car in the queue pulls in to the left-hand lane - and then accelerates.

I don't know why, but a lot of people do exactly this don't they.