Driving a Seven in modern day Traffic

[Steve Bryant]

One of the things I'm wondering about is the issues one faces by driving your seven regularly in modern day traffic and what concessions you made to allow you to safely do this.

I am interested to hear of any upgrades that you made or feel would help to keep you safe on the road.

Thanks,
Stephen

["Slack Alice" Simon]

A roadside warning triangle on the spare wheel.

A bright flashing cycle light on the offside rear wing.

2 good rear view mirrors, one on each windscreen upright.

Being happy to squeeze into a gateway and let the vehicle behind come past.

Above all, the kind of road I would be happy to cycle along.

I spend quite a lot of time route-planning, and have the satnav I use on my bike hanging off the dashboard to help.

As a result (for example) when we came away south from the Moreton - in - Marsh venue, the Fosse Way was nose - to - tail traffic.
Running on yellow roads parallel, we met only a handful of other cars until well south of the M$.

[Reckless Rat]

In towns the main thing to be wary of is the tosser that just has to get in front of you on the approach to a roundabout and then brakes hard because he/she has to give way. Making progress in town & cities in a Seven isn't really any bother because these days the congestion is usually that bad that you'll make just as much progress as everyone else. It's on the open road where people REGULARLY fail to appreciate how slow you're going. The above precautions by Simon are all worthy.

Avoid motorways and fast dual carriageways if possible.

I'm off to Nîmes in the RP on Sunday morning. I shall take the "old" road for most of the journey. It's quieter. Once I get nearer to Nîmes I'll have to mix it with the peasants. They'll just have to make do. If I can, I keep well over to the right when it's safe so they can get past. In the main, French drivers seem to be more tolerant and supportive of "oldtimers" than in the UK. Most of the horn toots are friendly.

[Lowespeed]

Flashing indicators, as so many don't recognise hand signals these days. Also you can be sitting the wrong side for Hand signals as in France. A number of countries don't have recognised hand signals. I couldn't find any for France for example. Recognise that in the UK, the turning left hand signal, cannot be seen by any pedestrians on the near side kerb.

[Ivor Hawkins]

I am forced to drive the Seven on the very busy A43, I have no choice in order to get out of the village and to the nearest town, so I dice with high speed traffic and 40 ton trucks nearly every day.

I drive my Seven like I ride my motor cycle, in other words, assume everyone’s out to kill you. I keep my eye in my mirror, I make clear hand signals and just keep watching, however, I always use the country lanes and B roads whenever possible, particularly at night.

I don’t have flashing lights or reflective signs, if the conditions are bad, I take the modern!

[John Mason]

A definite yes to flashing indicators. My son who is 47 in August had never seen semaphore signals nor was aware of them until I bought my seven 20 years ago. There must be thousands if not tens of thousands of drivers on the road that do not recognise what they are. Flashing indicators can be fitted without drilling the body work. See photo below
   

John Mason

[dickie65]

Indicators are an optional extra on modern BMWs and AUDI !!!!

[Nick Lettington]

I find burning oil and/or water in copious quantities in my engine to be very effective in keeping people off my rear end. Apparently adding a little oil from the fish fryer works best 

LED headlight bulbs have proven useful when navigating the lanes after dark... be careful if you only have candles in the lanes though, as some people assume the road around the bend is clear if they can't see great pools of light... I know a few cyclists who have taken to the hedge... Oh and discreet LED indicators in the sidelights seem to help.

Other than that, brown trousers and elastic bands?

[Reckless Rat]

I'm going to buy one of these and fasten it to the luggage rack:

safety reflector for bikes

Hopefully it will jiggle about a bit and make it more noticeable.

[Nick Salmon]

All of the above +

Drive defensively. Plant the car in the middle to outer edge of carriageway, moving to the left when something comes up behind if it looks like they want to get by. 

Be particularly careful at roundabouts as traffic entering to your right will often accelerate fast, cutting the time for you to safely get onto the roundabout.

If you have to use a motorway try and make it rush hour time as the general speed will be lower. Avoid motorways and dual carriageways at night unless you like living dangerously.

(Happily I have seen some very poor driving when being overtaken but have never experienced seriously aggressive or severe impatience from others when driving a Seven. However, the MG VA is another story altogether and seems to be like a red rag to a bull...)