I must confess to being a bit of a leadfoot. It doesn't help that I have a powerful car that glides along really easily - I have to keep my eye on the speedo and keep reining it in, cos it likes to just roll along. As well as that, I really enjoy driving.

However I am a very careful driver. I judge the safety of a situation and drive accordingly. I slow down drastically in bad weather, and wonder at the fools who are still ploughing ahead through the rain and wind. I keep up with the mob on a fast road. They are usually going 10 -15 kms faster than the speed limit, and it's true that it is safer to go at the same speed as the general flow. If a couple of slow road hogs are in the way, I'll go round them. If I see a way to get ahead I will take it, as long as it can be done safely. I also try to merge smoothly, not cut people off, not get in anybody's way, and generally be courteous on the road. Drivers who don't do this often cause road rage and accidents.

Although I tend to be one of the faster ones, there are certain situations where I will stick to the speed limit religiously. We have a 40 km speed limit near schools for a couple of hours in the morning and in the afternoon when the kids are coming out. I always stick to 40 in those.

I thought it was interesting that when I had an old white Holden with a pretty rough looking body and lots of stickers on the window, I seemed to be targeted by speed cops and cameras, and at one stage I accumulated almost too many points against my licence. Those points are gone now, because as soon as I got the nice respectable-looking burgundy coloured Fairmont nearly 3 years ago, they seemed to ignore me - without me changing my driving habits. In fact, if anything I drive a bit faster now because the Fairmont is such a pleasure to drive.

With all that, I've never had a serious accident, or caused one that I know of, and I don't expect to. I concentrate when I'm driving, don't try to multitask by chatting on the phone, eating hamburgers etc, and try to leave a reasonable space between my car and the one in front. Works for me!