Standards of driving rant

[Choppin]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks this!! people have next to no consideration for anyone else on the road other than themselfs!! Iv noticed it more recently as have been riding my push bike to work and I honestly can't believe the risks people take just so they can get to there destination a few seconds quicker!!

[RetroPug]

I live in Oxford.

I don't feel like I even need to elaborate.

[Dum-Dum]

Standards are terrible these days. People need compulsory retesting an d the driving licence system needs making harder and making like the motorbike system where you have to do a more difficult test to drive bigger/more powerful cars as half the problem is prople who learn to drive in a micra and then 10 years down the line end up driving a merc E class or an ML.

I saw one woman today in the outside lane of a dual carriageway jam on her brakes as the bus that was ahead of her in the nearside lane slowed and pulled up to a stop. the woman then swerved across the center of the road to pass the bus narrowly avoiding the oncoming traffic. The bus wasn't even encroaching onto her lane she just obviously had no idea how wide her car was, she then decided to drive in the outside lane at 29mph for the next mile not overtaking anything apart from the odd parked car.

And speaking of micras later a bird in a micra ahead of me indicated left pulled to the left and slowed down so I went to overtake her and she swung right across me obviously without checking her mirrors so I decided to follow her and have a word, she looked like she was struggling and 20 meters later she indicated right and pulled to the right and drove diagonally into the kerb. I pulled alongside to have a word and while speaking to me she just started rolling backwards down the hill and got a good 4ft before she found her brakes. She did the same again when she went to pull away. She had a driving licence and sees nothing wrong with her driving.

Lack of traffic police is also a problem as cameras do all the work these days out seems. no indicators on roundabouts bugs me aswell

This, if people thought they might get done they wouldn't drive like such lady gardens but then I suppose police don't like doing people for without due care as its an offence of opinions so it usually ends up in court whereas with no seat belt, speeding and being on the phone are all absolute offences, you either were or you werent.

[THE_Liam]

I live in Oxford.

I don't feel like I even need to elaborate.

I'm northern.

You'll need to elaborate

[lolsteve]

having driven in Bradford for 3 years I feel a bit desensitised to alot of "bad" driving now especially after watching people go through red lights a good 5 seconds after changing. People overtaking in a residential area on the wrong side of the road, people doing triple digit speeds in 30 zones, tailgating like you wouldn't belive it, mounting pavements and so forth
However this has in a sense made me a more observant driver out of fear of these drivers, always check blind spots and mirrors even if it's just a quick flick it's better than nothing

[Kezzieboy]

ARHGHGHGHGHGHGHGGGGGHHH

Just drove back to Brum from Cornwall, f*ck me people are shite at driving. Does anybody understand what causes stop-start traffic? Can nobody slow down, and leave a sensible gap? Does every daft lady garden have to keep switching lanes?

Morons, the lots of 'em

[Niall]

I had to have a right go at a woman on the way home this eve. Was behind her in lane 1 on the M25, 2 cars on the hard shoulder. Simple Audi into the back of a BMW (how ironic!) and she slowed down from 70ish to.....40! No one in front of her. Just purely slowed down to have a nosey. Absolute wankers.

[Poodle]

Junctions 7-4 of the m27 have just been found to be the worst place in the uk for tailgating. More than 50% of drivers are at it according to the survey, says it all tbh. Most mornings I will end up with someone in a german repmobile sitting on my offside rear quarter all the way through busy traffic in a 30 zone, then proceed to disappear backwards as I accelerate up to 50ish, in the nad... 50 because thats as far as I can get in the nad before having to slow for another 30 limit. Halfway through the village they'll come screaming up my arse again and the cycle begins anew.

[Piggy]

Every time I go to minehead down the M5 from Gloucester there is always one or two 1-2mile stand still traffic....never an accident/incident just morrons driving too close/late braking/cutting up.

But dont get me started on motorways and braking and lane hogging.

Then when it is near stand still traffic it does my nut when those one or two just keep swapping lanes jumping in the little gaps people are keeping to keep the flow

[DavidA]

I was driving down the A34 from Abingdon on Monday and as soon as I joined it I was in traffic. Absolutely no reason for it, and then it suddenly cleared.

When I used to work in Portbury I passed solid traffic heading south from M5 junction 19 all the way up to 14 in several Fridays in the summer.

[toseland]

Every time I go to minehead down the M5 from Gloucester there is always one or two 1-2mile stand still traffic....never an accident/incident just morrons driving too close/late braking/cutting up.

But dont get me started on motorways and braking and lane hogging.

Then when it is near stand still traffic it does my nut when those one or two just keep swapping lanes jumping in the little gaps people are keeping to keep the flow

A14 between huntingdon and cambridge is the (or used to be) the worst for this..

had fixed speed cameras and invariably EVERY BLOODY morning you would get half a mile of near stationary traffic about 1/3 of a mile before each camera due to people slowing down from 70 to 30 to go through the camera then speeding back up again..

they replaced them with average speed cameras and the problem went away over night.

[Piggy]

That reminds me... I do love how cayenne/rangey/x5 drivers dont understand the word average....as they blast passed you then slow down for each camera...how dumb are we becoming??!!

[miles]

You've missed people cutting corners, junctions and overtaking bloody bikes on bends, you then get a dirty look for making them take the longer route, Joy's of modern car's making the driver's think the car will do it for them, Bloody safety systems have gone too far I think, mind allot of people do need them

[Poodle]

Self-perpetuating cycle isn't it, the more the car looks after the individual, the less the individual has to think about what they're doing and actually looking after themselves.

[Piggy]

perhaps its a good thing that they are bringing along self driving cars!?

[THE_Liam]

So todays drive to work:

1. Followed a taxi driver for 2 miles through a roundabout and 4 sets of lights - didn't indicate once.
2. Lass in a Polo in gym gear (quite fit actually) roars up to my back bumper at about 50 in a 30, then starts gesturing for me to speed up. This is a dual carriageway so she can overtake, but no, she wants to speed in this lane so I have to move. Fog lights in the Benz will work without the lights on, so started flicking the rear fogs on. She followed me all the way down, slamming on her brakes even though I wasn't actually slowing down, but then speeding back up to my bumper. Couldn't stop laughing
3. Guy in a Vauxhall Combo swerving between 2 lanes with no indicators to try overtake me because he tried and failed to block me coming off a sliproad and HAD to get ahead of me again.
4. Golf GTI, suity twat driver on mobile, coming up to a red light at about 50 in a 30, light turns red, goes straight through 5 seconds later and missed a Transit by INCHES. Transit then proceeded to give chase, and I don't blame him. Hope he killed the lady garden.

This is a 5.5 mile drive that takes 20 minutes. If someones lack of talent doesn't cause a crash...

[lolsteve]

Just lol at the rear fog light idea

[r3k1355]

Traffic in the centre of Leeds was f*cking epic last nite, it was stinking hot and people were utter, utter lady gardens.

Running red lights, blocking junctions - it took ages to go home the normal router because at every set of lights some wanker had parked themselves in everyones way so you couldn't move.

Amazingly satisfying yelling "MOVE YOU FAT SLAG" out of the window at one tho.

[THE_Liam]

Traffic in the centre of Leeds was f*cking epic last nite, it was stinking hot and people were utter, utter lady gardens.

Running red lights, blocking junctions - it took ages to go home the normal router because at every set of lights some wanker had parked themselves in everyones way so you couldn't move.

Amazingly satisfying yelling "MOVE YOU FAT SLAG" out of the window at one tho.

You know the junction onto the inner ring road near Quarry Hill? Some daft bint binned her XC90 into the barrier and blocked the whole road, caused a huge queue leading back over the river to Crown Point, which is next to my work. Crown Point to the top of Kirkstall took an hour, in searing heat in an old Merc with no AC, no stereo and a leaky water pump

[r3k1355]

oh right, jesus what was she f*cking playing at???

You couldn't get a clearer, brighter day either.

[THE_Liam]

Refer to the first post mate. Standards of driving

[Nathan1305]

I think it's wrong how ages are stereotyped. I'm proud if my driving skill as I use to race so it's given me a lot more skill than and average driver but sadly to an insurance company I'm just the same as any other 19 year old. I think insurance premiums should be determined by driving skill also. Not just age and where you live

[THE_Liam]

Older drivers can be a far worse liability than younger drivers. Poor eyesight, slower reactions, poor hearing. How often are you stuck behind an old dear at 25 in a 60, and how often do okd blokes in Rovers pull out on you and not even notice?

To be honest most of the people I see driving like dicks are at least mid 20's, in fairly expensive executive cars, not young lads in Saxos.

[Nathan1305]

Older drivers can be a far worse liability than younger drivers. Poor eyesight, slower reactions, poor hearing. How often are you stuck behind an old dear at 25 in a 60, and how often do okd blokes in Rovers pull out on you and not even notice?

To be honest most of the people I see driving like dicks are at least mid 20's, in fairly expensive executive cars, not young lads in Saxos.

Yeah exactly but sadly us under 21's are so say more likely to crash. Last crash I seen was to do with an old guy and a women

[Toms306]

Its the scale of the crashes are often different though. And as always, a few ruin it for many!

Old people tend to just clip bumpers etc and do £50 of paint damage. Young people tend to wrap the car around a lamp post or bus stop and do thousands of pounds of damage.


You can be insured on skill though, that's what the blackbox schemes are for.

[Chris]

Don't even get me started on this.
Driving hgvs all day you do see some truely terable driving.

Today I had some idiot ovetake me as I was waiting for a car to pull out so I could turn right into a t junction. I was indicating too.
Reversing into side roads and people trying to squeeze through the gap as you're still moving.
Yesterday I was reversing into a dead end past a t junction, hazards on and had some one pull out straight behind the truck.
Peoples inability to judge what manoeuvre that you're likely to be making chances are if I've put my hazards on after inficating that I'm pulling over to one side or the other outside a shop (the trucks are sign writen) I'm going to be using both sides of the road and maybe reversing into a loading area/side road/suitable space.
People with no concept that a loading bay is for loading, not to pop to the shops.
Not being able to accelerate upto motorway speeds on a slip road, I'm only doing 52mph and you still get idiots trying to force their way out.

[Connor]

Older drivers can be a far worse liability than younger drivers. Poor eyesight, slower reactions, poor hearing. How often are you stuck behind an old dear at 25 in a 60, and how often do okd blokes in Rovers pull out on you and not even notice?

To be honest most of the people I see driving like dicks are at least mid 20's, in fairly expensive executive cars, not young lads in Saxos.

Just remembered work the other day, some old boy drove straight into a 6-8" pole holding up a canopy, who then continued to try and park in a space that wasnt a space and proceed to use his bumpers and sills to feel his way in, then realised that the space wasnt anywhere near wide enough to park in. Then the same thing happened as he reversed out. This was on a fairly new focus, which is now f*cked. Apparently after he found a proper space to park in, he went to go to the show room and couldnt find the door to get it... that were wide open... how the f*ck is he allowed to drive a car?!

[RetroPug]

I live in Oxford.

I don't feel like I even need to elaborate.

I'm northern.

You'll need to elaborate

They did a top gear episode where they drove into Oxford once...exaggerated but funny.

The whole city centre is taxis and buses only, because the city only goes out in certain directions to due flood planes for the thames to go around the city centre you either go out to the ring road or all the way to the forbidden zone, then back out and kind of zig zag around.

Oxford council are SHITE at repairing roads. There are bus lanes that buses don't use anymore as they are too rough and it shakes the bones of everyone on board and destroys their ticket machines. Suspension destroying pot holes are also not uncommon and are fixed by pouring concrete in, so they open up again next winter.

The worst by far though, is the people that live there. Coming back from work there used to be a minimum of three minor accidents on the ring road a week, sometimes multiple ones a day. Go down any side street and some of the cars have minor crash damage, you also see plenty of cars with huge dents/caved in areas still driving.

My first Gti6, mint 78k miles, just had cambelt done, full peugeot service history, full suspension refresh by previous owner, still had all original manuals etc. etc. was written off 3 and a half months after I got it by a woman hitting me head on in my lane, on a completely straight 30mph residential road. She admitted she was looking at her sat nav.

A few weeks before it was written off, someone else took my wing mirror clean off, and someone sat on the bonnet and dented it overnight.

Literally nobody there can drive + narrow, awkward streets. It is a bad recepie.


I'm moving to Warwickshire tomorrow.

[toseland]

i am still shocked the government decided NOT to increase the difficulty of the driving test and impose "australian esque" restrictions on driving, (no passsangers after a certian time for a certian few years etc)

[Atterz]

I appreciate the above comment, but could you elaborate on how that could be tested?

Sorry, this was for Nathan >.<.