Your bad driving encounters/irritations

Drivers who don't look at a zebra crossing that they are about to speed past.

Yesterday when walking to the local Amazon locker I go across a Zebra crossing, when going there the view is massively obscured by a large tree but the first car approaching in both directions saw me and stopped. Coming back there is no such restriction on the view, 3 cars on the side I am on go past in close formation instead of stopping as they should, estimated speed is 35mph. Start walking across as there is now a break in the traffic and stop half way through (no island) as 2 cars are approaching at a estimated 40mph, first one drives past me in the road and second one stops uncomfortably hard.


I have a video of 2 cars almost hitting a pedestrian in the same place on a bright summers day when they were overtaking me while cycling.
 
Bug One said:

The way some drivers react to ambulances really bugs me. What's the point in blocking the road. Ambulance drivers must get so wound up by it.
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The thing is with ambulances/fire appliances - They don't go that fast TBH i.e. in that example, the car in front of the ambulance should have just sped up with the ambulance following behind until it was a safe time to indicate left and slow down to allow the ambulance to overtake.

There's been a couple of times where I see the ambulance/fire engine and I just accelerate and keep well ahead of it if there is oncoming traffic until the oncoming carriageway is clear then I indicate left to show I am aware and pulling over a bit whislt slowing down.

People just brain fart and lose their common sense when an emergency vehicle comes along.
 
Had a lift with a relative, had to bite my tongue, coming out of town onto the 30MPH bit at the start of the dual-carriageway they immediately accelerated up to almost 50 (IIRC they are already on 6 points) but then sat at slightly over 60 when it turned to NSL... tailgated someone for a bit and then poorly passed them, at traffic lights took up lane 2 when there was a couple of people already waiting in lane 1 despite then taking their sweet time getting going and then having to mess about getting back into lane 1 when the traffic in lane 1 got going in good time...

Do... not... understand... the mentality.
 
Richie said:
People just brain fart and lose their common sense when an emergency vehicle comes along.
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Similarly to ambulance, as a frequent cyclist the inability of car drivers to estimate trajectory of 3 objects - and modulate their speed to avoid them crossing at the same location is poor,
at least once a week a motorist near passes as I'm adjacent to oncoming vehicle on NSL.

police, non-traffic (do they use Peugot's for pursuit yet?) started moving off as I was overtaking, on bike, and adjacent to driver window - high vis etc. ...use your mirrors -
I forgot to call out should have gone to Specsavers
 
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I almost ran into the back of some numpty yesterday morning. Big roundabout, plenty of visibility, clearly empty but they stopped, completely, for a good 5-10 seconds. The reason I almost hit them is I assumed they wouldn't come to a complete stop but imo they were a very dangerous driver just through their incompetence.
 
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I had my first ironic bad driving encounter today. This particular Honda SUV driver was up my chuff for about 13 miles of single carriageway, with no way for either of us to overtake the cars ahead seeing it was a tight convoy of least 10. They kept posturing for the overtake but it would have been suicidal to even try. Then once on a dual carriageway and after it was safe and convenient to let him/her/it pass, I did. A few miles later I caught up with them at traffic lights anyway to only to see a bumper sticker on their rear and it said:

"Back off".

It's gotta be ironic surely?!
 
I am teaching my son to drive. He also has an instructor once a week but I take him out most nights to get experience. People are so impatient with learner drivers. In the last week we have had someone flashing us to speed up (we were doing 25 in a 30) and another almost drove into the back of us when he stalled when pulling away from traffic lights. Their bonnet must have been inches from our rear bumper. Yes, learners stall the car so you should expect it and leave enough space. Another favourite of bad drivers is to pull up close to learners on a hill, expecting them to be perfect at hill starts when the traffic starts moving. It's like everyone ignores the two huge L plates stuck on the back of the car. My son has commented on a lot of bad driving he sees too, now that he understands the basics of driving.

This isn't new. I taught my daughter to drive so I'm used to how poorly other drivers treat learners. Personally I give learners plenty of space and never do anything to put them under pressure. I don't want them rolling back into my car and I don't want to be the cause of them failing a test if they are on one.
 
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The one that has amused me lately, several times when starting work at a specific time I encounter the same learner car, which isn't being driven by a learner (and probably not the instructor either given the way it is driven), but there is a proportion of drivers who it immediately triggers a reaction from in terms of must get ahead of it, etc. and then get caught out because it isn't a learner driving LOL.
 
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Rroff said:
The one that has amused me lately, several times when starting work at a specific time I encounter the same learner car, which isn't being driven by a learner (and probably not the instructor either given the way it is driven), but there is a proportion of drivers who it immediately triggers a reaction from in terms of must get ahead of it, etc. and then get caught out because it isn't a learner driving LOL.
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Yep, had the "must get ahead of the learner" many times with both my daughter and son. Sometimes it is a dangerous overtake and other times it is a dangerous emerge from a side road in front of us. Screw the learner, just get in front of them. I don't remember it being this bad when I was learning to drive in 1986.
 
Rroff said:
The one that has amused me lately, several times when starting work at a specific time I encounter the same learner car, which isn't being driven by a learner (and probably not the instructor either given the way it is driven), but there is a proportion of drivers who it immediately triggers a reaction from in terms of must get ahead of it, etc. and then get caught out because it isn't a learner driving LOL.
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Don't be so sure of that. I drive routes that are regular driving school/test routes and the standard of the instructor's driving is as bad as taxis/Amazon/DPD.

A driving instructor put me in hospital the day my daughter was born, he ran a red light on a pedestrian crossing and hit me. His reasoning to the police was that he was late picking up a pupil for their test and that I should have looked before crossing.

I missed her birth as I was in A&E. Mrs was apoplectic that I wasn't there until she found out why. Thankfully I got away with cuts, bruises, couple of cracked ribs and a minor concussion. The instructor however got 18mths inside, mostly because of his unwavering lack of remorse.
 
Not sure if it got covered in an earlier post but the quality of driving immediately post lockdown was shocking. Tw@t in a Merc wipe me out by turning into my bike at a junction. By no means the only bit of dodgy driving I saw that week.
 
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Pooh said:
Not sure if it got covered in an earlier post but the quality of driving immediately post lockdown was shocking. Tw@t in a Merc wipe me out by turning into my bike at a junction. By no means the only bit of dodgy driving I saw that week.
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It has been touched on a few times - I've noticed standards aren't quite as bad as immediately post lockdown but overall I'd say the trend wasn't going in a good direction.

As a key worker that is one aspect I'd not be sorry to see again - being able to drive miles down the A303 and see maybe 1 other car within a mile or more and a few lorries was bliss.
 
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I think the main issue was people hadn't driven for so long and forgot how to do basic things like indicating or checking mirrors, it seems for some people they're still not back upto a decent standard :p.
 
I was still doing a bit of driving as a key worker during the lockdown and it was enough to keep my driving and awareness at an acceptable level.

As the various lockdowns and furlough schemes ended I noticed some truly terrible driving. Even had a guy drive up a one way street and then I watched as he 18ish point turned his Vauxhall Insignia go back the way he came. He had time to give me abuse as well. Or the guy who almost hit me on a pelican crossing and then wanted me to have a fair fight with him because I dared to tell him to use his eyes.
 
I think a lot of people just have no interest in improving their standard of driving so don't fundamentally improve after passing their test.
 
Rear light cluster lens fell off a Saab yesterday on M1. Don't think I have the patience to recover footage but was annoying
 
Was in Gateshead at the weekend, there was an Audi A7 (17 plate) parked on the street, HUGE gap big enough to fit a bus and then another car. Watched a small car zip up the high street and straight into the gap - heard a sickening crunch!

Mrs and I stopped and watched a gopping young ginger girl waddle out and inspect the damage, she clocked us watching her and then went to her car and i saw her writing a note. I grabbed a quick pic of her VRN and when she was gone, went to inspect the damage and to see if she had left her details.

Scratches down the rear and bumper hanging off. She had left her mobile number (hopefully a real one!) But as we were looking some huge guy approached me and said, "that's my car, what you doing?" Once we explained he was very cool about the situation, "well i'll just have to hope she has been honest and i'll give her a call". It was then he said he'd only just had the car back from the garage as someone hit him on the same side a few months ago.

Ginger girl didn't get her Greggs, pulled in, smashed **** up and then drove off.
 
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