Driving gripes....?

[Slim]

I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned HGVs overtaking each other on two-lane dual carriageways, where, due to both being on their speed limiters, their speed differential is 0.00000001 mph.

Doesn't bother me at all.

 

[DomValente]

My dad gave me one driving lesson, when it was over I stormed from the car, he calmly got out and said " just assume everyone else on the road is an idiot and you'll be okay".
A little cynical perhaps, but if you think about it.

Dom

 

[Slim]

My dad gave me one driving lesson, when it was over I stormed from the car, he calmly got out and said " just assume everyone else on the road is an idiot and you'll be okay".
A little cynical perhaps, but if you think about it.

Dom

Thats exactly what I was taught when doing my bike licence. It is excelent advice. It is the only way to survive on a bike. That and don't ride like a pratt. Once I was driving round the M60. I was in the middle lane and wanted to over take an HGV in front of me. I checked my mirrors and saw a bike a long way behind me, so I indicated that I was going to overtake. Luckily I checked my mirror again and saw the bike belting up on my outside. He was going faster than I have ever seen anything go on a motorway. He must have been doing 150mph. If I had pulled out, I would have killed him, no question about it. My life would have been ruined as I would have had his death on my conscience. People who drive at high speed are IMO stupidly selfish and unable to foresee any consequences to their actions.

I have a mate who was banned for a year for drink driving and yet he just ignored it. He continued to drive uninsured and unlicensed for a whole year. I was struggling with my conscience/loyalties as to whether I should shop him in to the police. I didn't but I wish I had.

 

[spadge]

I've got to add my bit.
How come motor bikes can over take on the left hand side, on chicanes, in the middle of two lanes, brake speed limits.

It's allowed as compensation for all the car drivers who regularly try to kill us :wink:

As a car driver who has to commute at rush hour it's all those w*nkers who don't know how to use bus lanes. Those who either ignor them and zoom up your inside or particularly those who cannot wait until the the buslane ends before they turn into it. This leads to all the other sheeplike drivers doing the same so you end up with the buslane full and the rest of the road empty. If you do ignor the sheep and drive as you should you have to push in at the end of the buslane :x

There feel better now.

 

[keithhickson]

I met him again this morning, the tw&t behind me in his pick-up with his roof lights on, headlights on full beam, front driving/fog lights on and his shades cos the rising sun was in his eyes 8) ...NOT

 

[StevieB]

Oooh, lorry drivers with the 0.0001mph speed differential - that used to drive me nuts on the M26 daily. 13 miles of jugganaut leapfrog :evil: :evil: Completely pointless because as soon as you reach the M20 junction everything stopped anyway!

Minor gripe - dullards that go down the hard shoulder when there is a queue of traffic due to an accident/roadworks etc and they cannot be bothered to wait. Got a corker once - M26 again, 10 miles of stationary traffic chav in mark III escort down the hard shoulder. Being on a motorbike I was filtering between lanes at roughly the same speed so tracked him for almost the full 10 miles, got the finger from him a couple of times as he seemed to think I was racing him etc. He managed to go round 2 broken down cars and a broken down motorbike and still used the hard shoulder - very dangerous in my opinion. When we reached the M25 junction he has to move back into the queue and sit with everyone else in the traffic. Since no plod was ever going to get him for it I decided to become Judge Dread, cruised past him stationary and 'accidently' took his wing mirror completely off with a slap of my glove - childish I know but boy did it feel good! Passed him a week or so later, wing mirror gaffer taped to the car sitting in a traffic queue - like to think my 'justice' worked but I doubt it!

My main gripe is SMIDSY's (sorry mate, I didnt see you). WRONG! I am not invisible, what you mean is 'sorry mate, I didnt look.' I was wearing a fluorescent jacket, silver helmet, headlight on and reflective flashes on my trousers. Stevie Wonder would have seen me coming! Still, it cost her insurance 3 grand for her not looking so perhaps next time she might :twisted:

And calm......

Steve.

 

[Nick W]

As a mopedist (well someone has to do it) people who insist on overtaking when in a 30mph limit, seemingly just because I'm on a moped and doing 30.

 

[herdsman]

My main gripe is about drivers who insist on wearing sun glasses on days when the sun is not shining and then put their lights on because they can't see where they are going!

 

[Taffy Turner]

Women (or men for that matter) driving their husband's (wifes??) enormous Jag through the lanes around my way who can't reverse 10 yards to the nearest passing place, forcing me to reverse 3/4 of a mile so they can get past!! :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

I once got into a hilarious situation where I was a the front of a convoy of half a dozen vehicles and we met a "non - reverser". There was no way we could all go back, so it was up to the lady in question. After 10 hilarious minutes of watching her reverse up the bank, into the ditch etc, I got out of my car and asked her if she needed any help - she got out of her car in tears and told (not asked) me to reverse it for her - which I accomplished in about 20 seconds. Which all led me to the question - if you can't reverse, why use this road in the first place????

Gary

 

[Scrit]

My dad gave me one driving lesson..... .....and said " just assume everyone else on the road is an idiot and you'll be okay".

My dad told me "It's not you you've got to worry about, it's all the other idiots on the road.......". Is that even more cynical, or just plain truthful?

In addition to some of the other peeves mentioned I was reminded just this morning of another one of mine - idiots from towns who don't understand the imperative to stay on their side of the road on winding country roads (I live in a rural-ish area) especially on the corners. This morning in the rain we nearly put no less than 3 of them in the field/through a wall - predictably (?) a BMW, an Audi and a Mercedes-Benz :roll: all of whom had to decide that a head-on collision with a 3.5 tonne Tranny Luton might just dent their no-claims as well as their pride and joy. They also seem to have bretheren who insist on driving so close to our tailgate that they are in serious danger of doing themselves a mischief - don't they understand that if I can't see them in my wing mirrors that they are so close that an emergency stop can seriously damage their motors? Not to mention the effect of 400kg of steel and alloy smashing down on their bonnet if they happen to unship the gat by hitting it......... (seen that once, nasty!)

Scrit

 

[RogerS]

Intriguingly I was reading the other day of a guy in court on a charge of careless driving IIRC..having overtaken two people 'quite irresponsibly'.

Who initiated the prosecution?
PC Plod? No.
Traffic warden? No.
Community 'I don't swim' Support Officer? No.

It was a member of Joe Public. Yes..I'm as surprised as you are. And, were one to dig deeper then maybe, just maybe, Joe Public rounded up a few other irate drivers as co-witnesses but you never know. There you go then. The next time you get nearly driven off the road...report them :twisted:

 

[keithhickson]

In the Met the form you need is/was a RTA (Road Traffic Act) 966 an allegation of reckless/careless driver. IMHO the more witnesses the stronger the case. They rarely proced with Police instagated prosecutions these days as it is usually 1 PC v ! Member of the Public (MOP). The more the merrier bearing in mind how many solicitors would like to make a name for themselves 8)

 

[Sawdust]

It's funny how different things annoy different people. Lorry drivers overtaking never bother me at all, they are just doing a job and I can soon get past anyway but what drives me nuts is rear fog lamps and people who put them on at the slightest hint of rain or fine mist and then leave them on even when someone is behind them.

My second pet hate are drivers who consider themselves too important to indicate - especially at roundabouts. It's not exactly difficult to do and makes such a difference to other people approaching the roundabout.

And finally, of course, pretty much everything that drivers of BMWs do :wink:

Cheers
Mike

 

[Fecn]

Back when I did a lot of commuting, I used to drive a very nice Mercedes SL convertible, and what bothered me back then was that every white-van driver seemed to think it was an absolute necessity to overtake me even though I wasn't necessarily hanging around... It was like some special goal.. If I can overtake this sportscar, that means my van's faster and better.

I now drive a white van instead and what botheres me is every car driver who seems to think that they can cut in front of me and make me brake suddenly. The white van users who used to bug me don't feel compelled to overtake me now that I'm in the white-van club.

Mostly what bothers me is people who are trying to hard. Your car is a big mobile armchair.. Relax.. go with the flow.

 

[aisuru]

some tw*t in a BMW X5 nearly forced me off the road recently on a not-quite single track road, but not really wide enough for an X5 and a Fiesta at the same time. my main gripe at the time was that he's got an Off-roader and I am the one who has to drive onto the grass verge? wasn't a happy camper that day.

 

[woodbloke]

Paul Chapman wrote:

Drivers who continue to use hand-held mobile phones when driving.

This continues to be my main gripe at the moment as well....saw a little snippet in the Telegraph on holiday recently where HM Gov may consider a custodial sentence of up to to 14 years if it can be proved that death on the roads has been caused by the use of a hand held mobile - Rob

 

[kafkaian]

Travelling through large roundabouts where as you're about to turn off, the guy/gal at the preceding exit decides to almost ram you in the side or rear in anticipation of getting out quickly behind you. Sometimes they just cut you up regardless.