Distance View

Today

This morning, as we took our constitutional up the High Street I noticed one of those "Baby on Board" signs attached to the rear window. Although this one, bizarrely, said "Waterbaby on Board".

I'm not sure what these are trying to achieve; maybe people think that it's OK to drive right up against someone's boot if there isn't a baby in the car. Plus these cars often still have the signs up when there's no baby in the car.

In My Day

Of course, having people persistently driving too close is very irritating and can be intimidating. Sometime back in the  '70s Paul decided to do something about it. First, with the help of his colleagues at Hannington's  he made a long pyramid shaped box - rather like a Toblerone - that would fit along the rear parcel shelf or our Zephyr. 

Then he made and inserted some letters that could be illuminated, reading "Keep your distance!" He wired it all up and put a switch on the dashboard. The idea was that he would flick this switch whenever someone was driving too close, telling them to back off a little. 

I think he used it quite often. Whether it caused people to  increase their distance or actually made them come closer so that they could see what the sign was saying, I can't say. Its effectiveness varied according to the time of day; in bright sunshine it was not very readable. 

He certainly didn't carry the idea over into future cars and I don't think we have been more or less pestered by "tailgaters" since.

I've just trawled the internet and find that there are many bumper stickers carrying this message, including a strange one that says "new driver, keep your distance" as though it's OK not to with an experienced driver.

The truth is, whoever or whatever may be on board the vehicle in front, the two-second rule counts.