Your bad driving encounters/irritations

V_R said:
What an absolute twit, this bit just goes to show some people should not be allowed to hold a licence.. Good job you got it on camera, but not the sort of hassle you need is it.... Hope its a relatively straightforward resolution.
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Thanks. Strangely his insurance haven't been proactive in contacting me, usually they battle to have you use them directly so they can control the costs. I've gone through mine, uploaded the CCTV to them in case he attempts to change his mind.

This car has been a magnet for bad drivers though. Oct '22 a Tesla reverses into me whilst I'm stationary in a car park, Nov '23 I get t-boned by someone who just pulled out of a T-junction as I was driving past and now this.

The only silver lining is at least the dash cam gyroscope worked but it was a little pointless, it didn't start recording quite some after the impact relatively speaking. I might get a Thinkware unit with radar.
 
Kenai said:
@Rroff at 2:52 joining Babylon Hill outside Yeovil :p
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To be fair it is a lovely hill to floor it up, though I'm surprised they've not made it 50 up to the crossroads given all the accidents. One of the places I mention quite a bit because so many people either go straight to 60+ off the roundabout there or coming down the hill are still doing 60-70 past the 30 until they slowdown for the roundabout and get caught out by the people who do slow down before entering the 30.
 
Stu999 said:
Got stuck behind a young woman earlier who sat in the outside lane of a dual carriageway at 60mph in a 70mph limit for 3.5 miles because she eventually wanted to turn right. There were hardly any cars on the road as it was the middle of the day on a Thursday. She resolutely refused to move left.

Then later I nearly got ploughed into by an old woman at a roundabout because she wanted to skip a queue but didn't bother actually looking to her right. On a roundabout no less. TBF on this one the road layout is absolute garbage in rush hour and I had a feeling she would do it.
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Pass on the left if clear?
I had a good one last night, old guy (fifties :p ) with a couple of bumper stickers. One said keep your distance, the other said smile you're on camera. I'm behind him coming upto a roundabout and he doesn't every stop for the learner on the roundabout. Learner had to practically slam on. The lack of self awareness/entitlement of some people is mind blowing.
The other day I almost wiped out a cyclist as he decided instead on cycling on one pavement he'd cross to the other, while I was about 5m away in a 30. Don't think he even checked the road either.
I'm seeing a good 3 or 4 bits of dangerous driving on my commute, it's very worrying, but don't worry all those dangerous speeders doing 80 in a 70 are the problem :rolleyes:.
 
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Stu999 said:
Got stuck behind a young woman earlier who sat in the outside lane of a dual carriageway at 60mph in a 70mph limit for 3.5 miles because she eventually wanted to turn right. There were hardly any cars on the road as it was the middle of the day on a Thursday. She resolutely refused to move left.
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As @theone8181, why not stay left yourself and proceed past her on the left. Contrary to popular belief it's not illegal unless you start in L2, move to L1, pass then return to L2. From your own description the lane was clear as you expected her to move into it which begs the question, why were you in L2, were you expecting to turn right, 3.5 miles ahead?

Right my turn

Following a learner yesterday, keeping the appropriate distance. Learner indicates left and starts to slow so I also slow to match. Learner gets 30% around the corner and then suddenly their car comes to a complete emergency stop with no reason. Now I stop because I have the distance and reaction space but I looked at the learner's rear view and their face was one of complete shock and confusion as though they had no idea why the car stopped.

Genuinely think that it wasn't the learner who braked....
 
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My first instructor used to do that a lot - I'd be navigating a tight corner near home involving crawling past opposing traffic and he would stomp the brake, causing me to stall. It really undermined my confidence and built anxiety.
 
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Resident said:
As @theone8181, why not stay left yourself and proceed past her on the left. Contrary to popular belief it's not illegal unless you start in L2, move to L1, pass then return to L2. From your own description the lane was clear as you expected her to move into it which begs the question, why were you in L2, were you expecting to turn right, 3.5 miles ahead?
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I did move left, I just chose not to undertake this time. I stayed left for another couple of miles after her turn. A taxi driver did undertake her.
 
Stu999 said:
I did move left, I just chose not to undertake this time. I stayed left for another couple of miles after her turn. A taxi driver did undertake her.
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So you never got "stuck behind her" then? Choosing not to pass, when you can, and not doing it is not being "stick behind" someone

Brun said:
I bet you can't find anything official to back that up.
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It's not illegal. Its a "DO NOT" rule (268) so is not backed by legislation. Normally a "MUST NOT" HWC Rule is backed by legislation making it enforceable.
 
Richie said:
So you never got "stuck behind her" then? Choosing not to pass, when you can, and not doing it is not being "stick behind" someone
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If that makes you feel better, sure.

Like I asked the other poster, was it “good driving” for that person to stick to L2 when they could have been in L1?
 
Richie said:
It's not illegal. Its a "DO NOT" rule (268) so is not backed by legislation. Normally a "MUST NOT" HWC Rule is backed by legislation making it enforceable.
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There's no specific law that makes undertaking illegal at all, hence the lack of 'must not' in the Highway Code. However all the 'should not' and 'do not' rules mean undertaking is covered by careless or dangerous driving laws.

My concern was regarding our 'resident' professional driver claiming it's ok to pass on the left as long as you don't move from directly behind the car in front.

I'll concede that there's a fair amount of ambiguity around all this, but the above is complete fantasy as far as I'm concerned.
 
Brun said:
There's no specific law that makes undertaking illegal at all, hence the lack of 'must not' in the Highway Code. However all the 'should not' and 'do not' rules mean undertaking is covered by careless or dangerous driving laws.

My concern was regarding our 'resident' professional driver claiming it's ok to pass on the left as long as you don't move from directly behind the car in front.

I'll concede that there's a fair amount of ambiguity around all this, but the above is complete fantasy as far as I'm concerned.
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Plenty of videos online, from police officers and driving instructors that support my preface.
 
Stu999 said:
If that makes you feel better, sure.
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Hey, no skin off my nose. Just a quiet day at work :cry:

Stu999 said:
Like I asked the other poster, was it “good driving” for that person to stick to L2 when they could have been in L1?
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No it's not good driving. Was the whole hyperbole of being "stuck" just to add weight to the post then? :confused:


Brun said:
There's no specific law that makes undertaking illegal at all, hence the lack of 'must not' in the Highway Code. However all the 'should not' and 'do not' rules mean undertaking is covered by careless or dangerous driving laws.

I'll concede that there's a fair amount of ambiguity around all this...
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Yeah its ambiguous. You've also got to be careful if you do it (pass on left) and be ready for the other driver to just switch lanes without checking.


Resident said:
Plenty of videos online, from police officers and driving instructors that support my preface.
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That doesn't mean it's actually illegal in itself though and Police and Driving Instructors make mistakes. I have never come across anyone being prosecuted for undertaking/passing on left (whatever people want to call it). Happy to be corrected though.
 
That whole "as long you don't change lanes to do it, overtaking on the left is fine" is rife on social media and I've never seen anyone find any sensible basis for making such a claim.

Whether it's backed up by specific legislation or not, the only mentions in the highway code are pretty clear about just not passing on the left, congestion/queues/turning cars excepted.

General rules
only overtake on the left if the vehicle in front is signalling to turn right, and there is room to do so
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stay in your lane if traffic is moving slowly in queues. If the queue on your right is moving more slowly than you are, you may pass on the left.
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Motorway specific
Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.
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Stu999 said:
This was an interesting instance:

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I will give a similar anecdotal instance that happened to me and almost identical to that (all speeds are assumed given my Cruise Control setting as you will see in description):

3 Lane motorway, speed limit is 50 for this stretch. There is a car (Car 1) in lane 2 doing circa 45-46MPH and the police are behind them, also in lane 2.
I am in lane 1, slowly catching up with Car 1 and Cop Car in lane 2, and stick the cruise control on at 50mph. I did this so I didnt get pulled as the cop car was a traffic car. The next bit happens over 2-3 mins of driving (so about 2 miles?)
As I am going a few mph more than Car 1 (and therefore Cop Car behind Car 1), I slowly start to pass the cop car on their left (I am lane 1 they are lane 2). I pass cop car with no dramas.
As I draw almost level with car 1 (bonnet in line with their NSF door, the cop car puts on their lights behind car 1 who proceeds to panic and swerve a bit into lane 1 (where I am). Thankfully there is a hard shoulder which I can move into and I am being vigilant for this kind of manoeuvre
Cop car continues to follow Car 1 with blue lights on, pulling them over once I have cleared them (still in lane 1)

Presumably they were getting pulled over for lane hogging in Lane 2 but probably escalated to a sterner waggy finger by not looking before switching lanes and almost causing a collision.


Anyways, my point is this - this cop had no issue with me "undertaking" but did have issue with Car 1 middle lane hogging (cop car could have passed in Lane 3 if it wanted but stayed in lane 2 which, I assume, was to try and "encourage" car 1 to move over properly.)


Except in slow moving traffic/roadworks - it is practically impossible to be undertaken if you are following correct lane discipline! So anyone that gets upset about it should have a look at their part in allowing the uindertake.
 
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