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We had an odd experience while driving home from a walk yesterday. The car in front was a Ford Fiesta which tended to wander around the road from central white line to kerb and back again. My wife and I both came to the obvious conclusion – drunk driver.
Excessive caution while taking even the gentlest bend, sudden braking when a speed limit comes into view – yes a drunk at the wheel. A few too many with lunch probably. Not common in broad daylight though – not these days.
We couldn’t see driver or passenger, but when the car careered into the kerb at forty mph and both nearside wheels briefly mounted the pavement in a cloud of dust we were sure, so I kept well back.
After about five miles of remarkably erratic driving even for a drunk driver, we went our separate ways at a traffic island near Matlock. At this point we could see the occupants, an elderly couple, a man and woman. The woman was driving.
Drunk or hopelessly incompetent? An old-fashioned attitude to drinking and driving with a few too many gin and tonics for lunch? We’ll never know, but it was the worst driving I’ve seen since the seventies.
7 comments:
So, Wincarnis or anno domini? Perhaps they were celebrating George's generosity...
Roger - or maybe they were fighting over the bottle.
This may sound daft, but it seems that she might not have been able to see. So was she wearing glasses at all? We have seen a few older drivers hunched over the wheel peering who did not. Also, just how clean were they? We clean ours daily after realising how bad they could get, I suspect that a lot of people don't. They are nearly as bad as some of the manic texters.
Demetrius - they both wore glasses, but were they the right ones I wonder?
Was it a sunny day?
By the time my mother had cataracts removed last year she had virtually given up driving in bright sunlight because the light scatter was affecting her ability to see properly.
A few weeks later, on a sunny afternoon, she narrowly escaped being run over on a zebra crossing by an acquaintance (it's a small town!) who was affected in the same way.
I hope you don't mind, Mr H, but I've continued your story on the Scrobs site!
Your experience here must have been terrifying though...
Mac - it was a mixed day, not bright sunshine. It could have been an eyesight issue, but she didn't stop or even slow down after mounting the pavement,
Scrobs - no problem. Your experience sounds more scary than ours, although there was always the possibility of an accident.
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