Since starting to drive my van - starting about 6 months ago - I notice:
Other van drivers will "let you out".
Other van drivers are more friendly & inclined to chat through the side window.
The major ambition of a large proportion of car drivers seems to be to drive their cars as close as possible to a van's back bumper.
Anything you can add?
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Only that this seems to work both ways
"The major ambition of a large proportion of car drivers seems to be to drive their cars as close as possible to a van's back bumper."
I think it must be the vans that are magnetic.
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You can substitute the word bike for van......I'm with you on this one - long story but I ended up driving a van over a fair few hundred miles over the last couple of years for various reasons.
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I think its that a remarkable percentage of the population were never taught to drive above 30 or 40, and not taught about sensible braking distances.
For some reason they seem to drive closer to large vehicles. Must be something in the human nature - maybe they subconciously think that all large vehicles are slower to brake?
What I learned very quickly when driving a van? It is important to pull up square to a T junction, especially if you want to turn right. The first time I did it I couldn't see left at all (the side of the van being solid instead of glass like the rear doors of a car), and someone pulled right up to my bumper so I couldn't reverse. I ended up aborting the right turn and going left. Never made that mistake again!
The other thing I quickly learned was that trying to pull onto and round a roundabout in the rain in the rush hour in an empty RWD van means that its very easy to spin it, and end up very embarrassed, pointing at the centre of the roundabout, and the lack of visibility make it very hard to get out of that situation too! I was very fortunate not to hit anyone.
Both as an 18-year old newly passed driver!
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It's a shared experience being a van driver. If I'm driving a van I'm far more likely to let out another van driver than I am in a car (when I'll do my utmost to keep van drivers penned in).
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>> The major ambition of a large proportion of car drivers seems to be to drive
>> their cars as close as possible to a van's back bumper.
It's only fair, isn't it, as many van drivers do the same to car drivers. The only problem with driving close to a vans rear bumper is you won't be able to see anything, unless it's a van with a rear window. Have you seen those Ford Connects with windows? They don't look right somehow.
Last edited by: VxFan on Fri 3 Dec 10 at 18:01
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i normally find when im driving a van no matter what the speed or conditions the car behind has to pass
always makes me laugh when im driving in fog and the car finally decides to pass me because they can do it better and faster then i have to follow their brake lights as they keep coming on because they arent a better driver after all........
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In general I treat van drivers exactly the same as I treat car drivers. If anything I might be more courteous towards van drivers when I can assist them with a flash of the headlights ~ they seem to appreciate it more than car drivers.
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Van drivers - comments? - Manatee
