Your bad driving encounters

Man of Honour
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13 Oct 2006
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91,312
No law as already said but it's common courtesy to pull in to allow a queue of vehicles behind you to pass, I often do this if I'm fully loaded in the truck on a slower road as such as and where there is somewhere to pull over although more often than not you still get abuse and hand gestures from drivers as they then pass you, leaving me wondering why I bother tbh!

The better farmers around here do it quite a bit, but with modern traffic patterns they are doing it less and less because they can easily end up in the exact same position repeated times on the same journey and/or non-trivial to rejoin the road again, not to mention the abuse.

I was following behind a farm vehicle last week at ~20MPH, I'm not sure whether they were protesting about the vehicle being there or the stuff being chucked out the back, but there was a car in front of me sitting there barely a car length back flashing their lights and on the horn while getting peppered with mud and pebbles...
 
Soldato
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No law as already said but it's common courtesy to pull in to allow a queue of vehicles behind you to pass, I often do this if I'm fully loaded in the truck on a slower road as such as and where there is somewhere to pull over although more often than not you still get abuse and hand gestures from drivers as they then pass you, leaving me wondering why I bother tbh!

A couple of years ago, Lincolnshire police were using unmarked and doing farmers for not pulling over using Rule 169 of the Highway Code and giving them a fine for due care & attention.

It went down like a lead balloon amongst farmers but they stopped doing it for a while.

169​
Do not hold up a long queue of traffic, especially if you are driving a large or slow-moving vehicle. Check your mirrors frequently, and if necessary, pull in where it is safe and let traffic pass.​
 
Caporegime
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On the road....
A couple of years ago, Lincolnshire police were using unmarked and doing farmers for not pulling over using Rule 169 of the Highway Code and giving them a fine for due care & attention.

It went down like a lead balloon amongst farmers but they stopped doing it for a while.

169​
Do not hold up a long queue of traffic, especially if you are driving a large or slow-moving vehicle. Check your mirrors frequently, and if necessary, pull in where it is safe and let traffic pass.​
Interesting, I wasn't aware of this tbh!

Still, as I say, even when I do pull the rig over,I still get abuse leaving me wondering why I bothered...
 
Soldato
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Bit off topic, but can anyone spec me a car dash cam.

I feel I should get one as I see so much nonsense on my travels to work. Yesterday not bad driving but it really annoyed me, some **** in front of me in a fancy VW with blacked out windows and a lame ass personalised number plate that read "Who R U" casually threw a bag of rubbish out of his window at some traffic lights!

Can you report people like this if you catch it on camera? for littering like this? the number plate alone is enough for being some kind of knob! I was thinking yeah I know who I am, but your clearly a ******* ****.

Littering annoys me in general, but it really makes my blood boil when it's done from a car because it's completely unnecessary.
 
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Caporegime
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Bit off topic, but can anyone spec me a car dash cam.

I feel I should get one as I see so much nonsense on my travels to work. Yesterday not bad driving but it really annoyed me, some **** in front of me in a fancy VW with blacked out windows and a lame ass personalised number plate that read "Who R U" casually threw a bag of rubbish out of his window at some traffic lights!

Can you report people like this if you catch it on camera? for littering like this? the number plate alone is enough for being some kind of knob! I was thinking yeah I know who I am, but your clearly a ******* ****.

Littering annoys me in general, but it really makes my blood boil when it's done from a car because it's completely unnecessary.

You can report it without a camera but yeah, a cam helps.
 
Soldato
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Norwich
Driving to a hotel night before last on the A12 and an artic was so close to my rear bumper that you couldn't even see their headlights. I'm not over exaggerating when I say that there must have been inches between us at times.

It was a 50 limit single carriageway and there was another truck in front so I have no idea what he was trying to achieve. Also, I thought trucks supposedly had really poor vision directly in front?!

Honestly if my wife and boy weren't in the car I'd have told him to sort himself out when I had to stop at a roundabout.

10 years ago (maybe more) I used to assume that truckers operated to a better standard on the roads. Now my assumption when I see a truck is that it's driven by an aggressive, distracted, socially inept individual with an incredibly low IQ. At least that way I'm on point to react to whatever random action they are about to perform. Sooner we can get ship stuff around the country autonomously the better.

The most ridiculous point was when the truck in front started braking. I darent brake as hard as them because of the thing stuck on my rear bumper so I feather the brakes and use up the gap I'd left thinking "*** head behind will see that everyone is slowing down and will back off". Nope. He stays right there. So now I've got a truck about 2 foot off my front bumper and another about a foot off my rear... With my 2 year old sleeping in the back.



I wish I was able to get their details but as soon as the road went to dual carriageway I made my escape.
 
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Soldato
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Kent
Bit off topic, but can anyone spec me a car dash cam.

I feel I should get one as I see so much nonsense on my travels to work. Yesterday not bad driving but it really annoyed me, some **** in front of me in a fancy VW with blacked out windows and a lame ass personalised number plate that read "Who R U" casually threw a bag of rubbish out of his window at some traffic lights!

Can you report people like this if you catch it on camera? for littering like this? the number plate alone is enough for being some kind of knob! I was thinking yeah I know who I am, but your clearly a ******* ****.

Littering annoys me in general, but it really makes my blood boil when it's done from a car because it's completely unnecessary.
Stuff likes this makes me reconsider my stance on capital punishment. That and middle lane hoggers, and anyone not indicating left at roundabouts. Firing squad in a windowless courtyard for the lot of them.

I am a stable and rational human being.
 
Soldato
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Stuff likes this makes me reconsider my stance on capital punishment. That and middle lane hoggers, and anyone not indicating left at roundabouts. Firing squad in a windowless courtyard for the lot of them.

I am a stable and rational human being.
Ha! Conscript for road policing minister... Or whoever it is that sets the punishments
 
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Man of Honour
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13 Oct 2006
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Yeah drivers like that are just a waste of oxygen - he was probably trying to slipstream the lorry in front and annoyed you were in the gap and so acting childish like that, doesn't take any imagination as to what might happen if things went wrong but he was probably like "meh AEB will do its thing".
 
Associate
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Gloucestershire
Joining the M5 south at junction 12 on Friday morning and I'm stuck behind a Ford S-Max trying to join the motorway at 35MPH. These people who think it is acceptable to enter a motorway at sub-56MPH annoy me at the best of times, but this S-Max is causing problems for everyone as he's forcing articulated lorries to brake and move into lane 2 infront of cars doing 65-70MPH. Finally situated on the motorway and the S-Max sits in lane 1 doing no more than 40MPH with lorries flying past. I pull into lane 2 to overtake him and as I draw level with the driver's window I look across and the driver is glaring down at his phone not giving two hoots about the chaos he has just caused.

I know the phone played a big part in what happened above, but my nan used to peddle her Vauxhall Omega 2.0 (my grandfather always had the biggest Vauxhall saloon available) up to 60MPH on a slip road and she was always a timid driver who was scared of any sort of speed and very rarely used a motorway. Most lorries manage 50-55 by the time they're merging on the slip roads I use.

I only use the motorway for 2 miles each way, but if that is how they are all the time I'm glad I don't have to use them more than I do.
 
Man of Honour
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91,312
I pull into lane 2 to overtake him and as I draw level with the driver's window I look across and the driver is glaring down at his phone not giving two hoots about the chaos he has just caused.

Seeing that more and more in recent months, not sure why it seems to be on such a rise at the moment. On the way to work yesterday I had someone pass me on some dual-carriageway doing about 55 in a 40 then when it went to NSL they were averaging 70 but dropping down to 60 up hills and speeding up to 80 down, when I overtook them they were glued to their phone and probably sitting there with their foot at one position on the accelerator.
 
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Caporegime
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Co Durham
Driving to a hotel night before last on the A12 and an artic was so close to my rear bumper that you couldn't even see their headlights. I'm not over exaggerating when I say that there must have been inches between us at times.

It was a 50 limit single carriageway and there was another truck in front so I have no idea what he was trying to achieve. Also, I thought trucks supposedly had really poor vision directly in front?!

Honestly if my wife and boy weren't in the car I'd have told him to sort himself out when I had to stop at a roundabout.

10 years ago (maybe more) I used to assume that truckers operated to a better standard on the roads. Now my assumption when I see a truck is that it's driven by an aggressive, distracted, socially inept individual with an incredibly low IQ. At least that way I'm on point to react to whatever random action they are about to perform. Sooner we can get ship stuff around the country autonomously the better.

The most ridiculous point was when the truck in front started braking. I darent brake as hard as them because of the thing stuck on my rear bumper so I feather the brakes and use up the gap I'd left thinking "*** head behind will see that everyone is slowing down and will back off". Nope. He stays right there. So now I've got a truck about 2 foot off my front bumper and another about a foot off my rear... With my 2 year old sleeping in the back.



I wish I was able to get their details but as soon as the road went to dual carriageway I made my escape.

According to our local A66 group, its all down to car speedos being wrong. You have truck drivers everyday defending trucks driving up a car's **** on the single carriageway bit of the A66 where the speed limit it 50 mph saying they are doing 50 and its the car only doing 46/47 etc.

Funnily enough though on Friday there must have been a police speed camera as every truck was flashing on coming trucks and they all slowed down.

Basically the vast majority of truck drivers still drive at 56mph through 50mph sections and they dont like using their brakes so they bully car drivers into speeding up and then go onto social media to complain at all the slow car drivers holding them up and "without us you wouldnt have food on the table" blah blah.

Long gone are the days of them being "professional".
 
Man of Honour
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Basically the vast majority of truck drivers still drive at 56mph through 50mph sections and they dont like using their brakes so they bully car drivers into speeding up and then go onto social media to complain at all the slow car drivers holding them up and "without us you wouldnt have food on the table" blah blah.

Had this the other day - I'd just overtaken one lorry, which I wouldn't have bothered doing in hindsight as I'd have rather not sat between 2 lorries, and into a 50 with 2 more in front of me and they were wanting to do 56 and trying to bully the traffic ahead and/or lorry behind trying to bully me (which isn't the smartest thing to do given I can probably bend the ear of their boss if they work for the likes of Wincanton, etc.).

aaif0Lx.png
 
Soldato
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Norwich
According to our local A66 group, its all down to car speedos being wrong. You have truck drivers everyday defending trucks driving up a car's **** on the single carriageway bit of the A66 where the speed limit it 50 mph saying they are doing 50 and its the car only doing 46/47 etc.

Funnily enough though on Friday there must have been a police speed camera as every truck was flashing on coming trucks and they all slowed down.

Basically the vast majority of truck drivers still drive at 56mph through 50mph sections and they dont like using their brakes so they bully car drivers into speeding up and then go onto social media to complain at all the slow car drivers holding them up and "without us you wouldnt have food on the table" blah blah.

Long gone are the days of them being "professional".
Yeah it is a hilarious argument. Like the one that is used to defend the multi mile non-overtakes on dual carriageways where that 0.25 mph speed differential "could mean the difference between me making my drop off time or not". Sure it does :rolleyes:

Even when I was trying to make my escape from Carey Loftin the other night I went from tailgater extraordinaire to a one flash insta-weave into the outside line by another truck. They sit in the outside lane for a mile then pull back in to where they were before. I get that they are on limiters which is why they can't make the overtake, but... why don't THEY get that as well?!
 
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Soldato
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unstated.assortment.union
Yeah it is a hilarious argument. Like the one that is used to defend the multi mile non-overtakes on dual carriageways where that 0.25 mph speed differential "could mean the difference between me making my drop off time or not". Sure it does :rolleyes:

Even when I was trying to make my escape from Carey Loftin the other night I went from tailgater extraordinaire to a one flash insta-weave into the outside line by another truck. They sit in the outside lane for a mile then pull back in to where they were before. I get that they are on limiters which is why they can't make the overtake, but... why don't THEY get that as well?!

It's called TTS - Tiny Todger Syndrome.
 
Caporegime
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Co Durham
Yeah it is a hilarious argument. Like the one that is used to defend the multi mile non-overtakes on dual carriageways where that 0.25 mph speed differential "could mean the difference between me making my drop off time or not". Sure it does :rolleyes:

Even when I was trying to make my escape from Carey Loftin the other night I went from tailgater extraordinaire to a one flash insta-weave into the outside line by another truck. They sit in the outside lane for a mile then pull back in to where they were before. I get that they are on limiters which is why they can't make the overtake, but... why don't THEY get that as well?!

i have gps speedo in my car and even when I set the cruise to 55mph (true) through the 50mph section, HGVs are still driving right up my rear.
 
Man of Honour
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91,312
I get that they are on limiters which is why they can't make the overtake, but... why don't THEY get that as well?!

To be fair they probably get a similar thing happening to what I find with cars :( you get behind someone wandering about speeding up and down, go to overtake them and then once you've committed they suddenly decide to speed up/resume to normal speed... when you've then got traffic coming up behind in both lanes it is non-trivial to back off and go back behind them (almost inevitably get someone not reading the script and even if you let the other vehicle get ahead you'll have someone behind them in the gap you need) and you don't really want to be stuck behind them again...
 
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Soldato
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Land of Gin (I wish)
You might find eBay a good option for a replacement.
Looked but nothing. They have a wing mirror but not the coloured casing. Saw a car the other day - SUV/people carrier. Car is blue but had a metallic mustard yellow wing mirror.

After tomorrow i have a week and a bit off so hopefully can get it fixed.

More of the plastic surrounding fell off. Had about 3/4 left on the day I had the damage. Now about a third. Heard a piece fall off when driving on a dual carriageway. Probably got dislodged more from the wind and rain we had past 7-10 days.
 
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