What's the worst kind of bad driving?!

[andy 0]

I don't understand why people feel the need to merge left 600yards before and then sit there in a massive queue with one lane completely empty, it just wastes road space in my opinion.

Totally agree. I'm glad someone brought this up! Near me there is a stretch of the M27 (busy) that has been widened to 4 lanes recently from the usual 3. Every morning there is absolute chaos because everyone dithers and queues in the third lane and only a few people use the 4th lane to make progress. Then the people in the third lane won't let anyone in because they've had to queue for 5 minutes, big deal. I used to be one of the 'get in early' brigade because people are so selfish about merging in turn, however one morning I followed a police traffic car in the 4th lane and they drove to the end of the lane, adjusted speed, indicated and dropped in, everyone else followed and it all worked like clockwork. I now always do that (where possible) and things work so much better. I still get flashed by the odd oblivious driver who tries unsucessfully to run me out of road (not likely in the VR :lol: ), but I know I'm a considerate driver, its them that has issues. The 4th lane section is on a hill and is there purely to make progress and for people not to be hindered by slow lorries, junctions and people queueing.... Its an extra lane, USE IT!! :D

 

Having just come back from mainland Europe, I can't believe how well this system works there. Merge in turn, what's so difficult. If people used appropriate speed and consideration it would work so well....perhaps that's the problem.

[Fanjita 1]

I had one recently that had me shocked!

 

Believe I was on the M11 at the time, on a stretch of 4 lane road which was coming up to a fork where the left 2 lanes were going branching off to go elsewhere. Upon realising this I was in the left hand lane. I moved over one lane and continued to indicate right as I waited to move into the 3rd lane over which was where I needed to be.

 

At this point I had clocked a pair of HIDs closing in on me rather quickly in lane 3, but still a distance behind, this was why I hadn't moved yet. With plenty of space and just this car the only other in sight, I decided to move across to lane 3. We were quite far along the designation of the lanes now, all clearly marked as usual for a motorway.

 

So anyway I get full beam from the car behind me despite there being plenty of space and me giving warning to my intentions(indicating for ages). Car turns out to be a 3 series rep mobile doing in excess of 100, who moves out into lane 4 to pass me after showing his disgust and then cuts all the way across to lane 1 as in fact this was his junction.

 

I mean seriously....

[Kevin Bacon 5]

You dared to move into his lane and interrupted his speed. Jesus man, what were you thinking??! :D

 

As said in the lane merging posts previously, selfishness is the main problem I can see in this country at the moment, and no one appears to have read the Highway code, except maybe the sign posts pages in order pass the test.

 

Unfortunately the HC is just a book of best practices, but it should be law. People in this country repeatedley demonstrate they can't be civil to eachother or avoid crashing into stationary objects, so now it's time for the Daddy law to step in and sort the kids out.

[mic_VR 3]

Unfortunately the HC is just a book of best practices, but it should be law. People in this country repeatedley demonstrate they can't be civil to eachother or avoid crashing into stationary objects, so now it's time for the Daddy law to step in and sort the kids out.

 

Yes but BMW, Merc and Audi owners get automatic dispensation from all but the most serious of road traffic infringements so I'm not sure it'll help to make the HC law......

[Wullie 1]

Groovy :) any more plonk recommendations ?

Strangely enough, the checky bunnet barstewards are your friends in these kind of scenarios as it usually gives them an easy booking.

 

As long as you don't exceed the exemptions you are allowed when attending an emergency they will usually give you all the assistance they can.

 

As part of a fire crew we had plenty of witnesses aboard the appliance in the event of any incident but I don't know how that would be with you if you are on your own. The one to be really careful about is being able to treat a red light as a give way sign. Although you have the right to proceed "when safe do do so" you will be the one that get's done if there is ANY accident as a result of your actions.

 

On the other hand I had the great enjoyment when attending a serious house fire in a posh part of town where the access road was blocked by residents parking along one side of it blocking it enough that I couldn't get up it. The gaffer just pointed ahead and nodded so I chucked it in first gear and drove on. I failed to miss several cars as other obstructions got in the way. Got to the incident and pulled an elderly couple out who were taken to hospital. This caused some upset among the damaged car owners. When the police arrived I was summoned and prepared myself for the worst, but no! The police had asked the owners of the damaged cars to stand beside them and made them apologise to me as they each got booked for obstruction the Fire Service in the course of an emergency. There were a few sheepish faces lined up.

 

Unless it has changed since I retired there aren't many exemptions the main ones being allowed to exceed the speed limit, the red light one above and strangely being allowed to proceed more than 15 feet off a carriageway. Never understood that one.

 

Moral? Don't think a blue light gives you the right to do as you please and adjust your driving to suit the conditions. When I got up the ranks a bit, I had a Scirocco Scala as my staff car and used a Kojak style blue light. People weren't expecting a low slung coupe to be an emergency vehicle and it led to a few "misunderstandings" as it appeared from behind taller vehicles.

 

Oops, getting carried away.

 

Wullie

[V-Dubstar 0]

After driving around today and having a few more of these 'issues' that seem to annoy us all, I've come to this conclusion:

 

There isn't a worst bad driving 'offence'. They're all as bad as each other IMO, except it feels like the most annoying one when it happens to u, until some idiot causes a different 'offence' later in the day :lol:

[aide 0]

don't think this one has been mentioned yet - queue hoppers, you know the one or two ignorant arses who bypass the long orderly queue of traffic in the lane beside yours, only to surprise surprise stop and indicate into your lane about 30 cars in front... i always wonder why the hell their time is more important than mine :scratch:

 

At the risk of being controversial, the highway code does say that with two lanes of traffic merging into one you should use all the available space in both lanes, and merge in turn at the point at which the outer lane stops... I don't understand why people feel the need to merge left 600yards before and then sit there in a massive queue with one lane completely empty, it just wastes road space in my opinion.

 

I have been deliberately held up by someone who'd seen me, in the right hand lane overtaking a queue of stationary traffic in the left lane, they pulled out and sat in the right lane in front of me and went at the speed of the left lane until the last moment... :bad-words:

 

yes that's all well and good, and i've no problem with merging, but that's not the situation i get miffed about.

 

let me explain, when leaving Belfast there's a five lane motorway, left lane 1 goes onto a slip, lanes 2 and 3 go onto the M2, lanes 4 and 5 go onto the much quieter M5. The ignorant arses are the ones who speed along lane 4 on the M5 bypassing the queue on lanes 2 & 3, only to cut in at the last moment! in fact some numpty's just grind to a halt indicating on lane 4 because people refuse to let them into lane 3, consequently this creates problems for people who actually want to travel along the M5 who have to slam their anchors on!

 

edit: lane numbers wrong :)

[kerrly 0]

things i dont think have already been mentioned.

 

1) People who speed up when you begin overtaking them

 

2) People who think they can use the INSIDE lane of a roundabout and exit and the THIRD exit

 

3) People who use the inside lane when it is for LEFT turn only and then try and drag race to jump in front of people wanting to go striaght on

 

dave

[Rinse 0]

Easily the worst type of driver is the ones that don't pay attention or are easily distracted! Que the story of my G60 being written off by someone plowing into the back of me at 60 because me and 2 other cars had to stop on a long straight piece of road to allow a car to pull into a driveway. - Absolutely no reason to not stop unless she was chatting to someone, txting on her phone/using ipod/changing cd or simply SLEEPING.

Seen so many drivers notice things last minute and slam on the anchors when they should have been noticed a lot earlier. Just yesterday some lassie in a BMW went to pull out infront of me on a roundabout when I was already on the roundabout and clearly visible by her!

 

Hate when people try and cut into a queue of traffic on a dual carridgeway too. I know its a dickish thing to do back but if someone indicates to pull in infront of me I'll close the gap, making them take the much longer route.

 

Also, since when it rains does everyone sit at 40 in 60's?

 

The thing that winds me up to no end though is drivers on the A96 (Inverness to Aberdeen, actually where my G60 was written off!). Either overtaking at ridiculous places putting everyone else in danger, driving at 40 on a road where there's not many safe overtaking opportunities and a lot of people on that road are doing an 80+ mile Journey. The one that really takes the cake and makes my blood boil though is when an overtaking lane finally comes up, then someone just sits in the overtaking lane with nothing in the left lane when I Clearly want to get past them!

 

In my opinion the people that cause the majority of RTA's are people that don't have any confidence in their driving, easily distracted or just plain stupid!

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Absolutely no reason to not stop unless she was chatting to someone, txting on her phone/using ipod/changing cd or simply SLEEPING.

Seen so many drivers notice things last minute and slam on the anchors when they should have been noticed a lot earlier. Just yesterday some lassie in a BMW went to pull out infront of me on a roundabout when I was already on the roundabout and clearly visible by her!

 

And Women are supposed to be the careful drivers?

 

Me x 2

Supercharged

Heresites

Pat McCrotch

Coullstar

You

 

All members who've been driven into by women, or had accidents caused by them.

 

Anyone else?

 

The statistics about women being the safest drivers is BS. It's time the stats were looked at again.

[big ben 10]

my mrs hits a curb every 3-4 weeks

[aide 0]

 

All members who've been driven into by women, or had accidents caused by them.

 

Anyone else?

 

Corrado nr 2 written off as cat C whilst parked on a drive, mates wife who just ploughed into when reversing.

[OllieVR6 0]

 

Anyone else?

 

The statistics about women being the safest drivers is BS. It's time the stats were looked at again.

 

Me. A woman pulled out in front of me when I was coming around a round about. She could only have not seen me if she wasn't looking and just assumed it would be clear to come straight on to it. I believe she was on the phone at the time as well.

 

EDIT - This is the only accident I have ever been in nearly 10 years of driving.

[lauraJ 0]

Hang on since when did this forum tar everyone with same brush??

 

If we are going to go gender specific I can give you lots of examples of men doing completely dickish driving on the roads...... are we going to start this line of conversation??

[OllieVR6 0]

It's not about men vs women, it's about women being considered 'better' drivers. It's BS and everyone knows it.

[Serial 0]

I think women tend to have a large number of minor bumps & scrapes but men have a fewer number big pileups with flames and explosions etc...

[KADVR6 0]

has to be the t**t who smashed into my wing mirror yesterday while i was in the park, completly smashed the wing mirror to bits and guess what?? yeh you got it no note to say sorry i caused you £200 worth of damage :censored: could of been worse though because if the glass was smashed it would have cost £280 for the glass alone :shock:

[4eyes2wheels 0]

Them that at a junction do the go and then stop routine even when there is a HUUUUUGE gap that you could also have got into which means you hit them up the ar$e

[stretch. 0]

Speaking of accidents...

 

The pillock who went through a red light while on his phone and speeding and wrote off my limited edition focus!

 

Then had the nerve to lie about it and say I pulled out of a minor sideroad in front of him, even though the police and ambulance attended the scene!

[OllieVR6 0]

Speaking of accidents...

 

The pillock who went through a red light while on his phone and speeding and wrote off my limited edition focus!

 

Then had the nerve to lie about it and say I pulled out of a minor sideroad in front of him, even though the police and ambulance attended the scene!

 

What happened to him?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

It's not about men vs women, it's about women being considered 'better' drivers. It's BS and everyone knows it.

 

Agreed, this wasn't intended to be a Gender war! Obviously the women on this forum are excluded as they are (I assume) proper car enthusiasts and are therefore probably much better drivers than the average woman I see out on the streets.

 

I've been driving 20 years and had 4 non-fault accidents, all caused by women. I don't give a rats about stats. I just discuss my own observations and experiences. It's no coincidence a quick poll on here reveals a similar trend.

 

And yes, men are just as bad. But at least we spit our dummies out when some dumped woman broadcasts to her mates that "all men are bastards". We know we are :lol:

[vornwend 0]

Hmm not sure if I'd share this with the good lady but a quick search of insurance company related websites threw this research up on which gender is "safest" from 2007:

 

"Before asking why women drivers are safer than men, it's only fair to ask if they actually are safer. Insurers certainly seem to think they are: "women only" insurance companies are becoming commonplace, with insurers saying they'd rather insure women because they're less likely to make a claim.

 

They've even been able to prove it. Back in 2001, when Admiral Insurance Services received complaints about an advert with the tagline "Diamond only do car insurers for women because women are better drivers", they managed to prove their statement was correct – to the satisfaction of the Advertising Standards Agency. The company provided evidence to suggest that women have fewer accidents, claim for smaller amounts when they do have accidents, and are less likely to be involved in fatal accidents than men are. According to researchers at Brunel University, women are also more likely to comply with the rules of the road, and to remain within the speed limit.

 

So, having established that women do indeed seem to be safer on the roads than men, it's time to think about why.

 

According to Claire Corbett, author of the Brunel research paper, the reasons for women's "safer driver" status may be both cultural and biological. Women, for instance, are more likely to be driving with children in the car, and this may make them more likely to drive cautiously. Because of their roles as childrearers, women are more likely to be at home during the day, and therefore less likely to be on the road during the most dangerous times – morning and evening rush hours, when most accidents happen. It also means that they're likely to drive fewer miles, giving them less of an opportunity to be involved in an accident.

 

As for the smaller claims women make when they are involved in accidents, this could also be explained by the fact that women tend to buy smaller, less expensive cars than their male counterparts. These vehicles cost less to repair than more expensive models, and therefore lead to lower claims and cheaper insurance.

 

The biological factors that make women statistically safer on the roads, however, may run deeper than the fact that they're more likely to be mothers, with children to look after and less of a need to drive. According to scientists at Bradford University, the female hormone, oestrogen, may also make it easier for women to learn new rules, to concentrate, and to shift attention from one thing to another. Women may still be the butt of jokes about parallel parking, but the evidence seems to suggest that their motor skills could be better than men’s. Could the old argument that women are better at multitasking actually be true? And if so, could this be another reason why women tend to be safer driver?

 

Whatever the reasons for women having fewer accidents than men, however, the fact remains that as far as insurers are concerned, women remain a safer bet. That's why they continue to enjoy lower insurance premiums, and why insurers such as Computerquoteinsurance.com are willing to offer their female customers cheaper car insurance policies."

 

Of course statistics can be manipulated to make just any point you have and averages and probabilities are strange things. Insurance companies on the other hand tend to be quite hard headed when it comes to pricing risk over a large customer base.

[Serial 0]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39qdhbkTko4

[Kevin Bacon 5]

They've even been able to prove it. Back in 2001, when Admiral Insurance Services received complaints about an advert with the tagline "Diamond only do car insurers for women because women are better drivers", they managed to prove their statement was correct – to the satisfaction of the Advertising Standards Agency.

 

That was 10 years ago. As I said earlier, it's time the stats were looked at again because I don't buy that anymore. Back then it was probably true but in the last decade or so, a new wave of dumb arses has hit the roads. Of both sexes.

[aide 0]

interesting, 'more careful' does not necessarily mean a 'better' though.

 

i wouldn't trust anything an insurance company says though, 'more careful' and 'smaller claims' are clearly desirable customer traits for them :)