Drivers must have been ecstatic at my place of work yesterday...

[rfryer]

I too have always believed that drivers love jams, for the same reason that they will take significant risks to join one sooner.

The driver this morning who overtook another car to get to the quite obviously closed level crossing quite obviously does

He (or she) was likely hurrying to get to the fuel station before the tank was empty.

Or maybe he (or she) had been behind the car in front long enough to know that they were driving very slowly, and that after the gates reopened there would be clear road in front, but few opportunities to overtake.

Or maybe they were just being stupid - but my point is that you need to look at the behaviour in context.

[mjr]

Actually I suspect (without a shred of hard evidence) that cyclists probably make better drivers than the average. Certainly when I'm cycling I have to do a lot of thinking for other road users anyway and you do get a good feeling for what they are thinking and I try to put that into practice when driving. That said I agree that most of us would get lost in the statistical noise around the average.

I'm not sure. On the one hand, I find that now I cycle more and drive even less, when I drive I'm often scanning up and down the road for potential hazards (road users jumping give-ways, walkers tripping, dogs lurching, that sort of thing)... on the other hand, my perception of where the corners of the car are at low speeds isn't as good as it used to be (and it wasn't that fabulous before)... so I suspect I'm less likely to crash at speed and more likely to hit a low wall or fence when parking (other vehicles aren't too bad because most are tall enough to see directly). Probably less risk of injury to myself or others, so I'll take that as better than the average, I guess!