Driving has changed dramatically as cars have become generally bigger, there is a greater density of traffic on the roads, there are more speed restrictions and traffic calming measures today as well as more policing whether static or mobile speed camera's etc. more public indoctrination eg speed kills, has changed driving styles. Add in the rising cost of petrol into the equation and an ageing population still using our roads and changes to the highway code priorities and its no wonder that driving isn't the most rewarding/ demanding as it seemed in our youth.
Then add in the changes to the vehicle dynamics and tyre construction and speeds which seemed quite challenging and therefore involving in the past, seem sedentary today, when even basic cars today are capable of operating at a much more elevated and more reliable performance envelope, once the reserve of more exotic cars in the past. Then add in our for want of a better word ' patience horizon;, the increasing need to do things quickly as our prospective of available time allocated to a given task allowing less tolerance for delays eg when I was young it used to take most of the day to get our holiday destination in Wales , now I can do it in a matter of a few hours, has changed my tolerance allowance for that journey and therefore reduced my tolerance of any unexpected delays. In the past the holiday also seemed to begin when we left home, where today the holiday only seems to begin when we get there, maybe we are losing sight of the journey itself, which we should enjoy more rather than just the focusing on the destination, Many of the roads used have become far more efficient, can process far greater volumes of traffic, creating more journeys than in the past, so when things do go wrong as they invariably do, the consequences are far greater.
Or maybe we are just getting less tolerant and more impatient as we grow older.
I still enjoy the journey, often as much as the destination. All my SatNavs are set to avoid Motorways - not cause I'm scared or worried by them, but they bore the tits off me, and are full of idiots who don't use lanes properly.
The alternative holiday route often takes me on magical mystery tours, and I'll try and schedule a few stops on the way - often National Trust/English Heritage as you're fairly guaranteed a toilet and a half decent cup of tea/coffee. If the journey is more than a couple of hundred miles, I'll usually stick an overnighter in and sort out a good bar or restaurant to explore mid route.
We're having a couple of nights in York just before Christmas - it's only 140miles door to door - we'll probably go a fairly direct route up (avoiding Motorways and much of the A1) but have planned to spend the entire day Sunday travelling home - probably take a good 8 hours or so.
