Cruise Control Function?

[DeuceBG]

Originally Posted by Kernow

Always thought Cruise Control was for idiots and half asleep drivers/Riders anyway.

You're entitled to your opinion as is everyone else here but I think you might be generalising just a little bit eh!!

[Kernow]

I am only refering to knowledge and information gained over many years of motoring and high level training. As a Class 1 Police m/cyclist, Advanced driver, Accident investigator and Vehicle examiner, I think I can have a valid opinion. There is only one thing a motorist (of any vehicle) should be doing when in charge of that vehicle, and that is driving! Nothing else, phoning, chatting, keeping an eye on the kids or the dog, eyeing up the crumpet even nosepicking. There is only one brain that should be in charge of the vehicle and that is the one in your head, not a piece of electronics that takes some of your judgement away. Concentrate on the road and other aides are unnecessary.
It is well known that one of the major causes of collisions is attention bring diverted from the very thing that the driver should be concentrating on, that is what is happenning on the road around you, that means noting the road signs and keeping your eyes open.
The only traffic tickets I have ever picked up have been parking tickets, and any one who knows me also knows that I don't hang about on the road whether on a bike or in a car. Observation and concentration is all that is required.

[DeuceBG]

Originally Posted by Kernow

I am only refering to knowledge and information gained over many years of motoring and high level training. As a Class 1 Police m/cyclist, Advanced driver, Accident investigator and Vehicle examiner, I think I can have a valid opinion. There is only one thing a motorist (of any vehicle) should be doing when in charge of that vehicle, and that is driving! Nothing else, phoning, chatting, keeping an eye on the kids or the dog, eyeing up the crumpet even nosepicking. There is only one brain that should be in charge of the vehicle and that is the one in your head, not a piece of electronics that takes some of your judgement away. Concentrate on the road and other aides are unnecessary.
It is well known that one of the major causes of collisions is attention bring diverted from the very thing that the driver should be concentrating on, that is what is happenning on the road around you, that means noting the road signs and keeping your eyes open.
The only traffic tickets I have ever picked up have been parking tickets, and any one who knows me also knows that I don't hang about on the road whether on a bike or in a car. Observation and concentration is all that is required.

I wholeheartedly agree with everything you just said.
I also agree that taking your attention away from the road, even for a second, can prove fatal with the amount of traffic on the road today.
Even more so when it always seems that you're the only one who ever bothers to keep at least a 2 second gap.
With this in mind, I find cruise control to be a very useful tool to help me avoid having to avert my attention from the road to my dashboard to check my speed.
If things are particularly erratic out there as they can be at times, with undertakers and overtakers and potential bloody suicide jockeys then I don't use it all.
It's pointless in these circumstances because it'd be on and off all the time but when things are rolling along nicely it's a good tool.

[Tony Cross]

Originally Posted by Kernow

I am only refering to knowledge and information gained over many years of motoring and high level training. As a Class 1 Police m/cyclist, Advanced driver, Accident investigator and Vehicle examiner, I think I can have a valid opinion. There is only one thing a motorist (of any vehicle) should be doing when in charge of that vehicle, and that is driving! Nothing else, phoning, chatting, keeping an eye on the kids or the dog, eyeing up the crumpet even nosepicking. There is only one brain that should be in charge of the vehicle and that is the one in your head, not a piece of electronics that takes some of your judgement away. Concentrate on the road and other aides are unnecessary.
It is well known that one of the major causes of collisions is attention bring diverted from the very thing that the driver should be concentrating on, that is what is happenning on the road around you, that means noting the road signs and keeping your eyes open.
The only traffic tickets I have ever picked up have been parking tickets, and any one who knows me also knows that I don't hang about on the road whether on a bike or in a car. Observation and concentration is all that is required.

One of the perils of modern road use is the speed camera. First concern should be what is on the road. Attention to that will protect you but not your licence. CC is a good method of keeping the camera sad and your eyes where they should be.

[Daggers]

Originally Posted by Kernow

Always thought Cruise Control was for idiots and half asleep drivers/Riders anyway. Stay awake and drive on brain power. If you're not watching your speed in controlled areas perhaps you shouldn't be driving anyway

I'll rip up my licence as soon as I've finished posting this.

Originally Posted by Kernow

The only traffic tickets I have ever picked up have been parking tickets, and any one who knows me also knows that I don't hang about on the road whether on a bike or in a car. Observation and concentration is all that is required.

The kind of observation and concentration which fails to spot No Parking signs?

[Kernow]

Originally Posted by Daggers

I'll rip up my licence as soon as I've finished posting this.


The kind of observation and concentration which fails to spot No Parking signs?

Back in the seventies, working in the west End and taking a chance on Meters that were broken, hoping that they weren't mended at the end of the shift. If you weren't there at the time you wouldn't know about the system, but many of the coppers in the area played the system. Parking tickets were only £2 a time then, and for free parking for most of them time it was an occupational habit. Observation and Concentration was essential to find the right meters

[Daggers]

Originally Posted by Kernow

Back in the seventies, working in the west End and taking a chance on Meters that were broken, hoping that they weren't mended at the end of the shift. If you weren't there at the time you wouldn't know about the system, but many of the coppers in the area played the system. Parking tickets were only £2 a time then, and for free parking for most of them time it was an occupational habit. Observation and Concentration was essential to find the right meters

Back in the 70s?

I have trouble enough remembering what I did last weekend let alone attempting to think that far back.

[Kernow]

Some of us have been riding and driving for a long time, usually rode my old BSA to work but occassionally used a car. That's the few occassions I picked up the occassional Ticket

[boxer_ian]

Hmm. I drive a lot of miles each year and have done for most of my working life. What has had the most effect on my driving of late is the paranoia I feel over the mechanical, unforgiving nature of speed cameras. I regularly use the cruise control in my car when driving along sections of road with average speed cameras, because once set I find I can concentrate more on what is going on around me rather than spending too much time looking at the speedo. (The long 50mph sections on the M1 at the moment are a classic example).
I'm yet to be convinced as to cruise control on bikes. The first I had was on a BMW K1200LT ten years ago (it came as a standard item) and I had two of those. Now I have a Road King also with a factory fitted item. Yes I use it but very selectively and not very often. Unlike the car it gets used on long sections of empty motorways and that's about it. It's a tool to be used when an aid, but if I had to pay to have one fitted to a bike then I wouldn't bother.

[the_monster]

Originally Posted by Tony Cross

One of the perils of modern road use is the speed camera. First concern should be what is on the road. Attention to that will protect you but not your licence. CC is a good method of keeping the camera sad and your eyes where they should be.

I was told that a policeman once.