I normally laugh at the people who come on here looking for basic life advice, but thought I would try it myself today!

Yesterday I was travelling on business with my boss / owner of the company. We flew to an airport elsewhere in the UK, he hired a car and drove about an 1h20min to a meeting and then did the same in reverse.

In that 2h40min in the car with him we had several near misses. Somehow we survived them all unscathed.

I accept that some factors would have contributed to his shocking driving although I don’t think any of them really excuses it:

– Hire car so not familiar with it properly; mirrors may not have been set up right to minimise blindspots etc
– Dark and raining at some points which do make driving harder
– Unfamiliar roads with many lane changes to be in the right place, and a sat nav that tells you too little too late.
– In a rush to get to the meeting, and to get back to airport
– Busier traffic than we get round here normally
– He doesn’t own a car so drives less often than most people
– He spent a long time overseas in the developing world and seems to have picked up some of their driving style

He did seem to be aware of most of the near misses he had but a couple of them he clearly felt were the other persons fault (when they weren’t). I am talking here about 4 blindspot checks missed which resulted in other drivers having to take immediate avoiding action (and as soon as he became aware him swerving back into the original lane), pulling out in front of a cyclist at a junction, pulling out in front of a car at another junction, and twice breaking very hard to avoid hitting the guy in front despite it being obvious that the traffic was starting to slow/queue.

He does have eyesight problems and is regularly at the eye hospital, I assume he meets the minimum standard for driving though.

If it was a friend or loved one I’d be having a serious word with them. If it was one of my team I’d be looking at getting everyone on the team some advanced driving coaching or something. But he is the one person I can’t tell/suggest is at fault (I frequently tell him he is at fault on business related / technical matters – but I don’t feel I can tell him he needs to fix his driving).

I gently vocalised my concerns yesterday, e.g. when our hosts asked how the journey was I jokingly said “Well we survived it, which given the way he was driving was a major achievement” and on the way back pointed out “I’d rather get there alive but miss the flight”.

What more can I do? He has a company credit card but I don’t so when we go together he will normally be driving. I’ve travelled with him before and its never been great but all the above factors seemed to exacerbate the risks. Even if I can find a way to always be the driver (I am far from perfect and no driving miss daisy – but on my “worst days” am safer than he is on his best) – it won’t remove the risk for everyone else the rest of the time.

drove about an 1h20min to a meeting and then did the same in reverse.

I’d definitely have a crash if I drove that far backwards.

refuse to get in a car with him driving and explain to your bosses why

he hired a car and drove about an 1h20min to a meeting and then did the same in reverse.

He drove 1h 20mins in reverse! What is he, Mater? No wonder you were scared!

Seriously though, one excuse I’ve used in the past (as it’s partly true) is to say that you get car sick as a passenger so volunteer to drive. There’s no reason he can’t hire a car that you drive.

Friend of mine told his father in law who had a serious medical complaint that he’d shop him to the police if he continued to drive unmedicated. Never had to test it as very sadly, said FiL’s lack of medicating himself caused a fatal problem and he died.

I assume he meets the minimum standard for driving though.

I wouldn’t assume anything.

you can report him to the dvla without identifying yourself, I believe.

I had the same once with an old boss. I simply refused to be a passenger in a car with her ever again.

talk about dangerous driving

TandemJeremy – Member

refuse to get in a car with him driving and explain to your bosses why

I have done the same in the past, my boss in the end took my place in the car & lived to regret it as the driver then went on to rear end a lorry 10min. latter 😉

I bet you felt smug and ‘I told you so’ after that s 🙂

TJ, reasonably small company he is the owner/boss I report directly to him.

Clubber / TSY – it would have been safer in reverse!

Clubber – that is not a bad excuse (unfortunately its probably been going on too long for me to invent that excuse) but it also only make life safer for me – not for anyone else in the company who might get in a car with him or for other road users when he is on his own. I can’t decide if he is ‘shite’, or it is eyesight related.

my boss is a fast driver. i get around this by scheduling important things around any meetings i need to attend with him so i get to go in my own car at my own pace.

the other option is to let his tyres down and offer to drive yourself

refuse to get in a car with him driving and explain to your bosses why

In this case he is the boss / owner of the company wasn’t he? Might be a long walk home 😆

He has a company credit card but I don’t so when we go together he will normally be driving.

he pays you drive.

simple?

Ah

Hmmm, awkward one that one. I’d go down the anonymous shopping him route, personally. No point jeopardising your position at work over it if there’s another way and you feel it’s that bad.

wwaswas – Member

I bet you felt smug and ‘I told you so’ after that s

Funnily enough, yes at the time, but no in the end!

The boss who was very good at his job, went off sic with wiplash & stress & the owners son took over!

I ended up leaving being kicked a month latter, all got quite messy tbh

Surely if it is a small company and you report directly to them can’t you simply say something along the lines of

‘Without wanting to cause offence, I really don’t feel safe as a passenger in a car when you are driving – would you mind if I drive to meetings separately or alternatively you could hire the car in my name and I will drive.’

or

‘How about getting a train/bus/plane/hovercraft next time – then we can plan for the meeting on the way too.’

or

If you travel abroad lots could you get a deal with one of the airlines that do pick-up/collection chauffeur services? Etithad do it I believe so I am sure plenty of others do too.

you have no option other than to kill him*, or at least set fire to his hair

*I’m not a trained doctor

“This is a small company and you can’t afford to have two key members of staff in hospital following an RTA caused by your reckless driving so either slow down, let me drive or hire a separate car for me. No offence, like.”

should do it?

next time get in the car wearing kneepads, elbowpads and a full face helmet. if he asks tell him its a precaution

I’d be blunt. Why pander to his feelings? Just say ‘I’m not getting in a car with you again, your driving is a nightmare’. If he gets offended, he can fix the situation easily enough – take more care.

I once accepted a lift from a colleague who was the lovliest little old (ish) lady you could imagine. Quiet, super nice, West Wales accent, cardigans, the whole deal. Behind the wheel she was an absolute animal. She basically floored it constantly until something forced her to brake hard. Her 1.3 Fiesta topped 100mph on the M32 several times before coming up behind other traffic.

Do you have any HR or legal people, either in-house or external?

Lots of companies are revising rules about cars and their use, and going out of their way to minimise their risks under recent corporate manslaughter legislation. Ours has recently been revised, no phone use in car at all, anyone on car allowance or in company cars, or who hires them for their work has to do a driving assessment, etc. If you’re not doing that then it would be a very opportune time to suggest that the company does, if you don’t want to shop him explicitly.

If that’s not an option then just being straight with him would be best – that you’re concerned about his eyesight and/or standard of driving, and would prefer to either drive yourself next time or travel separately.

Ask him if he’s ever thought about re training as a cruise ship captain.

Sit in the middle of the back seat with several airbags inflated around you and extra harnassing – hopefully he might get the point.

Used to work and travel from time-to-time with a fella who had a Golf GTi. I had a bit of a reputation as a fast lad because of my motorbikes and whenever we went out he would always try to prove that cars were faster than motorbikes – specifically his car was faster than any of my motorbikes.

We were out one fine day on a twisty A-road and I remember him saying “Watch this”

And yes he rolled it.

If it’s any help, one of our directors is Death On The Roads and if we go out I gently offer to drive.

When this has happened to me in the past, I’ve simply refused to be a passenger for any shared journey. I worked with a girl who’s driving reputation preceded her. Could she really be that bad I wondered? She made it (just) up one stretch of dual carriageway before I made her pull over and switch. Bottom line with this stuff is that they are risking your life, their’s and others. I’d rather be viewed as undiplomatic or difficult than dead.

I’ve done a lot of hitch hiking and been on board with some lousy drivers. It worried me till I realised that I share the road with these drivers whether I’m in the same car as them or not. It doen’t matter if I’m sitting next to them when they overtake dangerously or I’m in a car coming the other way. Now I just pretend to doze off so they’ve got no one to distract them or impress.

It doen’t matter if I’m sitting next to them when they overtake dangerously or I’m in a car coming the other way.

Wrong 🙂 Statistically speaking, when you’re in their car, you’re interacting with a dangerous driver 100% of the time. When you’re driving, it’s less than 100% (unless ALL drivers are equally bad 🙂 One for TJ, methinks…) so you’re at lower risk 🙂

It worried me till I realised that I share the road with these drivers whether I’m in the same car as them or not

Er.. if you are in a car with them then you are sharing the road for the duration of your journey, possibly several hours. If you are in a different car you only share the road with them for a few seconds.

Just offer to drive, and if he doesn’t ‘bite’ – say why, carefully.

I went once in a car with a chap i worked with who had had a stroke(cva) paralysed down left arm and disphasic speech,he could only drive with one hand/arm and somehow he managed to change gear on a manual , it was like being on the titanic, just waiting for a crash,when i brought it to the attention of my boss she said but you dont drive so how can you compare his driving to your own, womens applied logic failure i think.

I’m with ART on this one.

I’d refuse to be a passenger and if he’s offended then he’s offended.
If you have a serious accident, which seems to be just a matter of time, then you’ll kick yourself (assuming you still have your legs 🙂 )

i work with 2 foreign nationals that ill never get in a car with again unless im driving !

i do not need to read the chassis numbers of the car infront.

one of them performed 3 emergency stops in 6 miles !

I used to travel to Germany every 3-4 weeks and it was a 2hr transfer from the airport to the factory. The company used to send the same taxi which was driven by a guy who, I swear, worked 24hrs a day, he would frequently doze off whilst doing 100-110mph. The only way to keep him awake was to engage him in conversation, it certainly did wonders for my German.

stop being such a big girls blouse. it’s got air bags.

Are you often a passenger with other drivers?

99% of the time I’m in a car it’s me who is driving and when someone else is driving I usually feel uncomfortable with their driving but I put that down down being in the passenger seat and having a slightly different view.

Encourage him to bring his granny along on trips. You are statistically less likely to crash when you have an elderly female relative in the back seat.

It’s a shame it has to be such a thorny issue though, critiquing someone’s driving is pretty much the only thing more taboo than criticising their parenting skills. I don’t think poor/fast/aggressive drivers realise how many friends and opportunities they loose. I have pool of freelancers that work for me, but no matter what their professional skills, and even though driving isn’t part of the job- if I don’t like the way they drive I find myself skipping past them when putting calls out for crew.

A few years ago I offered to drive when going to an early morning meeting with a colleague as I knew he usually spent his evenings stoned out of his mind and I wanted to ensure we got to the meeting safely. He also had a reputation for driving like a plank.

Said colleague promptly got into my car and decided he would criticise my driving at every available opportunity. After missing a turn off because he distracted me by going on about how crap everybody else was at driving compared to him I decided enough was enough. I pulled a hand brake turn to make a ‘directional adjustment’. It was on a busy street and proved quite effective; he didn’t say a word for the whole of the return journey. We also got to the meeting on time. Bad driving can work wonders sometimes.

Encourage him to bring his granny along on trips. You are statistically less likely to crash when you have an elderly female relative in the back seat.

Unfortunately his granny will be long gone. Even mine are no longer available for such duties… …nice idea though.

It’s a shame it has to be such a thorny issue though, critiquing someone’s driving is pretty much the only thing more taboo than criticising their parenting skills.

you’ve probably hit the nail on the head there.

Are you often a passenger with other drivers?

reasonably often (long taxi rides to and from airports in foreign countries, travelling with the wife, travelling with friends to go biking, travelling with other colleagues). Some of them are “interesting” but I don’t think I ever remember being in a car with anyone who seemed so unaware of the other traffic around him.

I’d refuse to be a passenger and if he’s offended then he’s offended.

mmm… not sure – if he’s offended I might be out of a job.

Do you have any HR or legal people, either in-house or external?

Lots of companies are revising rules about cars and their use, and going out of their way to minimise their risks under recent corporate manslaughter legislation. Ours has recently been revised, no phone use in car at all, anyone on car allowance or in company cars, or who hires them for their work has to do a driving assessment, etc. If you’re not doing that then it would be a very opportune time to suggest that the company does, if you don’t want to shop him explicitly. no this is a company with less than a dozen people – access to the lawyers is all through him, and so whilst I know of some big companies who do as you do (often driven by trying to keep insurance premiums down – which doesn’t apply to us as we have no company vehicles) – in these times of austerity I can’t imagine convincing him that it helps the business to be spending money on this stuff – he presumably doesn’t perceive a problem or he would offer to book the car in my name; either that or my driving scares him so much he can’t bare it!

I’m going to see if the DVLA website has any information on warning them about other people who may no longer be fit to drive, then I’ll make sure long enough passes so its not obviously the scary driving this week that triggered any enquiries.