Safe Speed Forums

Yeah. It's an 'illustrative oversimplification'. The 'risk model' clearly won't actually stop working if we open the loop, and of course we have opened the loop 'upstream' from the risk model. But I can see good reason to expect the risk model to be adversely affected, which of course if the exact effect that we're looking for.



Better the devil you know, I reckon. In fact for me, I know it's true. As a passenger with a bad driver, I'm pretty much fixated on the road ahead.



Hell yes - see an unmanaged risk and get scared. But 'without looking'? I don't understand that bit.

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

HELP! I'm out of my depth here - I need to do some homework!




Right, I think we both agree that, by sitting there doing everything but actually controlling the car, we break the normal cycle of events and it can make us feel uncomfortable. Our brain knows a vital "something" is missing.

I went on to suggest that, even if we deprive ourselves of all visual information, ie look out the sidewindow, we would still sense whether or not our driver was driving well. Our brain would be making this observation without going through any driving anticipation and planning decisions. We are worried simply because our driver does not equate to our expected performance.

Sorry. A working lifetime as an electronics engineer tends to colour the way I view and describe systems. I'm sure that there are easier terms, but I'm stuck in the groove. Perhaps someone else can assist?

[I understand and agree the rest of your post.]

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Don't worry you're not alone

_________________
Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

I think it must come down to trust, if you don't trust the driver then you are tempted to try to protect yourself against any mistakes they might make. The better a driver you are, the more you are likely to notice mistakes when you are a passenger. Perhaps this is why you feel the effect so strongly?

When I've got passengers I go out of my way to make an obvious reaction to approaching hazards sooner than I normally might - signalling early to indicate a lane change when I'm approaching slower traffic on a motorway, or just feathering the brakes so the passengers can feel I'm slowing down on the approach to a junction etc, or sometimes just looking obviously at a hazard and using body language to show that I'm getting ready to respond to it. My feeling is that trust is something that is learned over time and the more reassurances the driver gives the quicker it is learned. I don't know how effectively this works, but it's been an awfully long time since I got the feeling that any of my passengers are uncomfortable with my driving on public roads.

From time to time I get to take people out on white knuckle rides and that's a different matter altogether, of course.

_________________
Peter Humphries (and a green V8S)