I met X5 Lady today.You have probably met her on the road yourself.For she is everywhere-not so much a person as an attitude. X5 Lady has blonde hair, dyed of course. She wears designer sunglasses and feels important and special in her new BMW.She always drives 6 inches behind the car [...]]]>

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I met X5 Lady today.You have probably met her on the road yourself.For she is everywhere-not so much a person as an attitude.
X5 Lady has blonde hair, dyed of course. She wears designer sunglasses and feels important and special in her new BMW.She always drives 6 inches behind the car in front, even if it is being driven by a learner.
X5 Lady always patiently waits precisely 1 nanosecond after the traffic light changes to green before giving a quick blast on her horn.
Hope you weren`t late for your manicure appointment, X5 Lady.

Now this is nothing to do with driving instruction, just something that irritates me a lot.

Why do some drivers treat the public roads as their dustbins?

Apart from the usual still-burning cigarettes, i have personally  seen empty cigarette packets, contents of full ashtrays, soft drink cans, juice cartons, plastic bottles, used tissues, plastic bags [...]]]>

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Now this is nothing to do with driving instruction, just something that irritates me a lot.

Why do some drivers treat the public roads as their dustbins?

Apart from the usual still-burning cigarettes, i have personally  seen empty cigarette packets, contents of full ashtrays, soft drink cans, juice cartons, plastic bottles, used tissues, plastic bags etc etc thrown out onto the road by drivers or their passengers.

A casual glance at the unsightly trails of rubbish alongside all Cypriot roads confirms the scale of the problem.

What kind of impression does this leave on visitors to this island? Not a good one for sure.

I`ve never yet seen any tourists throwing rubbish out of their hire car.This is being done by people that live here.

Shame on us all.

I always teach my students to leave a safe distance between them and the vehicle in front when stopping at lights, junctions etc.The easy way to judge it is that it should be possible to completely see the rear tyres of the car infront.There are two reasons for that advice.Firstly, you don`t want [...]]]>

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I always teach my students to leave a safe distance between them and the vehicle in front when stopping at lights, junctions etc.The easy way to judge it is that it should be possible to completely see the rear tyres of the car infront.There are two reasons for that advice.Firstly, you don`t want the examiner getting twitchy feet and going for his brake if you are getting too close for comfort!
Secondly, you should allow some room for the stopped vehicle ahead to roll back before it begins to move forward again.This is especially important on hills, and when there is a larger vehicle such as a truck or bus in front of you.
It`s just good common sense, right? So here is where the rant comes in!Which kinds of vehicles apart from big trucks and buses would you say are most likely to roll back when stopped on a hill? Obvious isn`t it? Yes, those
cars with L plates plastered all over them which are visible from a long way off; LEARNER CARS!
So why is it that so-called experienced drivers,who should know better,are always stopping about 2 centimetres behind us on an incline? They then very often loose their tempers and start honking and shouting when either of two things happen:
1. The learner stalls the car because he or she is so nervous about rolling back!
2. The learner does start rolling back and the driver behind gets nervous that we are going to hit the front of their car!

So please do remember to leave a little more space when you pull up behind another vehicle in traffic !