Is this unusual?

lincroft1710

Back in the 1960s in my home town was a 60+ year old district nurse who used to drive her Mini around town in 1st gear. My ex FIL never learned to drive, went everywhere on a moped with L-plates. Any distance journeys MIL would drive

Mildly_Miffed

teaselMay said:

Goudy said:

My sister has been driving 40 years and won't turn right!

She will go all the way around a roundabout or turn left, left and left again, but won't turn right across traffic coming the other way.

I had an elderly neighbour did this too, we lived on the tightly terraced streets of Liverpool, he wouldn't turn right no matter what. He must've had some peculiar journeys

I used to work with somebody like that.

The office moved to the next town, just over five miles - and she resigned because she "couldn't" drive there. She was in tears over it, because she loved the job, and she was actually considering a constructive dismissal claim at one point...

Bonniepurple

Goudy said:

My sister has been driving 40 years and won't turn right!

She will go all the way around a roundabout or turn left, left and left again, but won't turn right across traffic coming the other way.

I will turn right, but often find it easier to turn left with the traffic flow. I’m a 44 year old female, been driving solo for 24 years.  I have driven the M25, not sure if my husband (48, male) has as we share the driving so while I remember that I drove on the M25 I can’t remember if it was there and back.

I don’t like parallel parking, but my brother is very good at at out of necessity (he’s had various houses with no off road parking whereas I’ve always had some form of driveway parking).  My husband’s better at in town “complicated” driving whereas I prefer motorways and the open road-but I do drive in town and more complicated drives as I don’t want to lose the skill.

Goudy

Bonniepurple said:

Goudy said:

My sister has been driving 40 years and won't turn right!

She will go all the way around a roundabout or turn left, left and left again, but won't turn right across traffic coming the other way.

I will turn right, but often find it easier to turn left with the traffic flow. I’m a 44 year old female, been driving solo for 24 years.  I have driven the M25, not sure if my husband (48, male) has as we share the driving so while I remember that I drove on the M25 I can’t remember if it was there and back.

I don’t like parallel parking, but my brother is very good at at out of necessity (he’s had various houses with no off road parking whereas I’ve always had some form of driveway parking).  My husband’s better at in town “complicated” driving whereas I prefer motorways and the open road-but I do drive in town and more complicated drives as I don’t want to lose the skill.

I wasn't mocking my sister or anyone else.
In fact I can't ever remember her having an accident and she did rack up some miles like this.
She used to commute a fair distance for work everyday down some pretty notorious Pennine roads from one county to the next.
She regularly visited my parents who lived in a fairly difficult area to get to, particularly if you won't turn right.

Just that people have their ways of doing things.

I don't mind motorway driving myself (or turning right).
Given a choice I'd take a motorway over a single carriageway, national speed limit road any day. Those tend to be more dangerous in my opinion.

As I've got older, I'm not so keen driving longs trips (3+ hours) at night anymore.
Years ago I pretty much did all my long trips at night or very early in the morning.

I still do it but if I have time to plan a trip, I wouldn't choose to if I could help it.

WellKnownSid

My wife hasn't used a petrol pump for over 30 years.  Wouldn't be comfortable using one now - not a problem when we lived in Spain as it was attended service ("¡Lleno!" - which basically means fill it until it runs down the sides ).

Then we came back to the UK - suddenly it meant me taking a 50 minute / 32 mile round trip every month or so to fill hers up.  Now she has an EV which is like plugging in a big kettle which she's much happier with.

Belenus

Goudy said:

My sister has been driving 40 years and won't turn right!

She will go all the way around a roundabout or turn left, left and left again, but won't turn right across traffic coming the other way.

What does she do if she comes to a crossroads with a No Left Turn sign as it is a one way street going from left to right, and a No Entry sign ahead with traffic coming from there going straight on across her path?

Reverse all the way home I presume. 

la531983

WellKnownSid said:

My wife hasn't used a petrol pump for over 30 years.  Wouldn't be comfortable using one now - not a problem when we lived in Spain as it was attended service ("¡Lleno!" - which basically means fill it until it runs down the sides ).

Then we came back to the UK - suddenly it meant me taking a 50 minute / 32 mile round trip every month or so to fill hers up.  Now she has an EV which is like plugging in a big kettle which she's much happier with.

Thats bonkers. Surely its not difficult to show a functioning adult, who can drive, how to shove a petrol pump in a car and press down a button?

Ditzy_Mitzy

Goudy said:

My sister has been driving 40 years and won't turn right!

She will go all the way around a roundabout or turn left, left and left again, but won't turn right across traffic coming the other way.

Has she thought about moving to Tennessee and becoming a NASCAR driver?  Wouldn't work over here because our stock-car races tend to run clockwise!

I'm a middle-aged female and I have driven on the M25.  Probably will again at some point, too.  

Freecall

I recall a time when I spent half of my life on the M25.

Don't particularly remember the driving though, just the sitting there and waiting. 

sheramber

Belenus said:

Goudy said:

My sister has been driving 40 years and won't turn right!

She will go all the way around a roundabout or turn left, left and left again, but won't turn right across traffic coming the other way.

What does she do if she comes to a crossroads with a No Left Turn sign as it is a one way street going from left to right, and a No Entry sign ahead with traffic coming from there going straight on across her path?

Reverse all the way home I presume. 

cross over and drive until she can keep turn left and left to get back to the road that goes straight across the crossroads.