Any v good drivers out there?

Alanp

Yes we see it on our roads on a daily basis, someone cuts you up but it’s your fault, if only people would admit to their ( driving) mistakes and learn from them, then driving would be much less stressful and safer..

prowla

Some car parks are just not right for larger vehicles; I drove a Chrysler Grand Voyager for a number of years and there were some no-go places.

That said, nobody's perfect; I've even hit the edge of one or two sharp entrances with the back wheel of my normal family saloon.

You can give yourself some comfort by looking at where here are tyre marks on car parks edging showing that others have done the same.

Some tips:

• If there are multiple entrance lanes, choose the one which looks the most comfortable to get through, even if it isn't the first one available.
• Adjust your wing mirrors so you can see the edges of your car; you can change them in/out & up/down to suit if they're electric and then put them back to position to support your normal driving when through.
• If you have a bend and you turn gradually then the back wheels will drift inwards; instead, approach driving as straight as you can and turn sharp to bring the back wheels around later in the manoevure
• If you need to, you can stop and reverse a bit to get beter aligned with the gap (like a three-point turn).
  

Rosa_Damascena

prowla said:

Some car parks are just not right for larger vehicles; I drove a Chrysler Grand Voyager for a number of years and there were some no-go places.

That said, nobody's perfect; I've even hit the edge of one or two sharp entrances with the back wheel of my normal family saloon.

You can give yourself some comfort by looking at where here are tyre marks on car parks edging showing that others have done the same.

Some tips:

• If there are multiple entrance lanes, choose the one which looks the most comfortable to get through, even if it isn't the first one available.
• Adjust your wing mirrors so you can see the edges of your car; you can change them in/out & up/down to suit if they're electric and then put them back to position to support your normal driving when through.
• If you have a bend and you turn gradually then the back wheels will drift inwards; instead, approach driving as straight as you can and turn sharp to bring the back wheels around later in the manoevure
• If you need to, you can stop and reverse a bit to get beter aligned with the gap (like a three-point turn).
  

Plenty! There are aberrations both above and below the level at which my doors have been dented. Not sure it makes me feel any better, though!

Ganga

Brie said:

My car is a good one for blind drivers.  It's tiddly but I still manage to bump into everything possible.

Not as bad as my OH though who once was in such a hurry to get home was driving too fast out of the multi story, hit a high curb and burst his tire.  2 hour wait for AA.  

Stuff happens.  There are more important things to worry about or even very minor things that will take priority very soon.  

I hope there are not many of them about 

Hoenir

born_again said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

I'm looking for a bit of TLC and advice. I've been driving for 34 years and have let myself down badly by doing significant damage to my new vehicle without even being aware that it was a risk.

My vehicle is quite long - I am used to driving large saloons / estates but yesterday I was entering a car park (new to me but must have been built c1950) with a narrow entrance and took great care to avoid clipping the front bumper / headlights at the barrier. What I didn't realise until I heard the most hideous screech was that the the nearside front and rear doors came into contact with a metal shutter casing (no buffer of a kerb), causing significant damage to the bodywork. 24hrs on and I am still upset that I could be so utterly careless and more importantly clueless! I am very careful to use my wing and rear mirrors when driving an parking so why not yesterday??!

I'm kicking myself as I was being so cautious about steering carefully I just couldn't anticipate that the side of the vehicle could be at risk. I'm now worried that I'll do the same thing again  . In fact smashing up a car through ineptitude has been a recurring bad dream for decades and now it appears to be a prophecy fulfilled.

Aside from not driving - potentially an option, but I do in fact love driving my new car ironically take a pride in my parking skills!! - how can I avoid a repeat incident? I looked online and came up with this advice:

Sure I'm wise after the event but I think I need to gain a bit more desktop awareness before I get back in it and drive. Thoughts?

Sadly car parks now are starting to get far to tight for many cars, even new ones, which can be the worst, as they cram as many spaces in & forget that people also have to drive round them.. 

Car park spaces haven't changed. Cars have. The cars of my youth now look like Dinky Toys compared to the SUV tanks of today. Seen plenty of instances arund Town in particular where the vehicle is is to big for the driver. Totally reliant on vehicle warning systems rather than having driving awareness and skill.

Rosa_Damascena

Having finally moved the car from out of the multistorey car park I can see the damage is in fact far worse that I had originally thought, Definitely an insurance job .