Pat mentioned professional drivers on another thread.
What constitutes a professional driver?
IMHO it is anyone that needs to drive for a living, whether paid for it or not, so includes company car drivers etc. and does so courteously.
What doesn’t count as professional is the numerous HGV drivers today that bore down on me whilst going through the road works on the A11 / A14 at the posted speed limits (40 and 50) and worrying that they are not going to slow down in time before they hit the back of my car!
They were clearly speeding up to the point they got close to me. The lanes are very narrow and there is very little room for error.
They were both UK and foreign lorries.
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Professional does not necessarily equate to good. There are plenty of lorry, van and car drivers who drive for a living who are poor drivers. The problem is often one of attitude rather than technical skill. Lack of consideration for other road users is not uncommon.
Similarly there are plenty of drivers who are not “professionals†who are competent and safe. There are of course plenty owno who are otherwise!
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Sun 19 Aug 18 at 22:11
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Possibly down to speed limits and measurement?
I would imagine a 40mph limit, a lorry driver on the road all the time, probably knows exactly what speed he can do and not get a ticket. Which may well be 10mph more than what you were doing.
Doesn’t make it right, just offering an explanation!
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I posted in the other thread on this.... so does "includes company car drivers" include me popping to Tesco's to pick up some shopping in my time? I am driving a company provided vehicle.
And what about if I took the allowance and provided my own vehicle. If I did 20k miles a year does that exclude me from being a company car driver?
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>>And what about if I took the allowance and provided my own vehicle. If I did 20k miles a >>year does that exclude me from being a company car driver?
That's the same boat as me.
Company gives me an allowance or a car. I chose the allowance. I do 20k miles for work and they reimburse mileage at the lower rate (11ppm).
I consider myself a company car driver and professional as I drive about 6 hours a day for work.
I try not to speed though occasionally do when I miss a speed limit change. I try to drive courteously but occasionally make mistakes.
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There was a period when I did 70,000 miles in 15 months in a company car. It did not make me a professional driver. I might have had to do it in the course of my job, but it was clearly incidental to my actual occupation or profession.
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In the other thread I said I do very few business miles - I think this tax year the total is 0 so far.
>> I try not to speed though occasionally do when I miss a speed limit change. I try to drive
>> courteously but occasionally make mistakes.
I try not to speed and often using adaptive cruise control. Car also has traffic sign recognition but that can be easily fooled. On sone local roads it spots a 20mph limit to side roads and once in the Tesco car park it said 85!
The most miles I did in 12 months was in 1997/1998 when I'd do about 35,000 just to get to the customer site and my own personal driving.
I'd class my driving as good but I'm no professional - the driving has nothing to do with my job. I could get to a site on public transport and mostly work from home at the moment.
My employer used to run RoSPA courses for company car drivers but stopped to save costs. I still learned a lot from the course I did. Also think the motorway lesson I did after passing my driving test was money well spent.
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Surely the basic definition of a professional driver is someone who when asked his occupation, eg for insurance purposes, answers "lorry driver, delivery driver, taxi driver, bus driver" etc?
Someone who drives, even of necessity, in connection with an occupation not focussed on driving, is not a professional. You might need to drive a lot in connection with your job selling vacuum cleaners, but you are a salesman, not a a professional driver.
If you include anyone who needs to drive in order to engage with modern life, then we are all professional drivers.
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Not all professionals are good at what they do, or interested in becoming better than the bare minimum standard required to get paid for the job done.
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>>What constitutes a professional driver?
Who knows or cares? Why does it make a difference?
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>> >>What constitutes a professional driver?
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>> Who knows or cares? Why does it make a difference?
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The difference may be between professional and vocational drivers. Vocational drivers are licenced, better trained and are monitored.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 31 Aug 18 at 14:03
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Professional Drivers - CGNorwich
