Your bad driving encounters/irritations

I’m currently in an uber on my way to Heathrow, the guy is doing literally 100mph, it’s an old Prius and the exhaust is blowing, I’ve got a faint whiff of petrol fumes in the cabin.

The guy speaks like no English and has one of those old fashioned road angel speed detectors that’s going crazy every few miles because of the speed cameras on the m25.

I’m hoping my flight to jfk goes a bit safer than this…
 
Felon said:
I’m currently in an uber on my way to Heathrow, the guy is doing literally 100mph, it’s an old Prius and the exhaust is blowing, I’ve got a faint whiff of petrol fumes in the cabin.

The guy speaks like no English and has one of those old fashioned road angel speed detectors that’s going crazy every few miles because of the speed cameras on the m25.

I’m hoping my flight to jfk goes a bit safer than this…
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Reminds me of the time I booked a private taxi to the train station for a big do in London. I was in my best suit and when the taxi turned up the seats were absolutely minging. So filthy, stained, hair and crumbs and whatever, it was truly disgusting. Due to having to catch the train I had to take this taxi. It stunk. I tipped the driver and told him to get his ******* skip cleaned. Also called the taxi company to complain it was so bad.
 
Literally 3 people in a row when I was out earlier who did the same thing - I was sitting behind them for 1-2 miles where they were wandering around 38-49 MPH in a wide open NSL until I overtook them, then after I'd overtaken them they decide to speed up and do nearly the same speed as I'm doing... at least they didn't speed up once I was committed to overtaking. If it wasn't for several villages on my route having illuminated speed signs on the approach I'd have thought my speedo was reading wrong. Even if they'd done a constant ~50 I'd have not bothered overtaking them.

Then had some **** look at me twice and then pull out of a junction and then not get going - I don't mind if people cheekily pull out but not getting going is just rude and there was literally just myself and one car behind then a big gap.
 
Rroff said:
Literally 3 people in a row when I was out earlier who did the same thing - I was sitting behind them for 1-2 miles where they were wandering around 38-49 MPH in a wide open NSL until I overtook them, then after I'd overtaken them they decide to speed up and do nearly the same speed as I'm doing... at least they didn't speed up once I was committed to overtaking. If it wasn't for several villages on my route having illuminated speed signs on the approach I'd have thought my speedo was reading wrong. Even if they'd done a constant ~50 I'd have not bothered overtaking them.

Then had some **** look at me twice and then pull out of a junction and then not get going - I don't mind if people cheekily pull out but not getting going is just rude and there was literally just myself and one car behind then a big gap.
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I think some people rely on the Speedo for speed, rather than noticed the trees going by slower. Over time their foot lifts of a bit and they don't notice.
 
theone8181 said:
I think some people rely on the Speedo for speed, rather than noticed the trees going by slower. Over time their foot lifts of a bit and they don't notice.
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That statement doesn’t make sense when you think about it. If they are relying on their speedometer for speed queues they will have a far more accurate reflection of their speed than watching some trees go by. In fact I hope to hell they aren’t relying on how fast the trees look to get speed queues, because that would be dangerous and might even explain the behaviour Rroff is describing.

:D
 
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Jokester said:
A lot of people seem to use the car in front as a pace car at night on roads they’re not familiar with. Without that they’ll drive a lot more conservatively.
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I would only do this if the car in front is driven sensibly of course.
 
Felon said:
I’m currently in an uber on my way to Heathrow, the guy is doing literally 100mph, it’s an old Prius and the exhaust is blowing, I’ve got a faint whiff of petrol fumes in the cabin.

The guy speaks like no English and has one of those old fashioned road angel speed detectors that’s going crazy every few miles because of the speed cameras on the m25.

I’m hoping my flight to jfk goes a bit safer than this…
Click to expand...
5 star rating and a 10% tip then?
 
Had a bit of a weird one today, I'm guessing mistaken identity, noticed a police car with their blues on, way back, slowly closing behind but not really making much progress, as they got closer one of the vehicles behind me suddenly closed right up behind me - looked like an unmarked police vehicle from the equipment and people inside and another vehicle positioned itself off the side of me and the police car suddenly got moving and went flying past and swerved across the front of me, everything kind of just hung there for 10 seconds then the police car shot off and the other cars backed off and around a mile up the road the police car was stopped in a lay by which at least one of the other vehicles, possibly both, pulled into.

EDIT: It isn't entirely an unusual one with the truck to get some interest from the police - big black, semi-murdered, pickup tends to look suspicious, but not when driving other stuff.

Skipped my mind earlier but there was a car up to something dodgy, possibly drug dealing, which left the same car park a little before me, aside from same colour different make and style but possibly they got it mixed up.
 
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ICDP said:
That statement doesn’t make sense when you think about it. If they are relying on their speedometer for speed queues they will have a far more accurate reflection of their speed than watching some trees go by. In fact I hope to hell they aren’t relying on how fast the trees look to get speed queues, because that would be dangerous and might even explain the behaviour Rroff is describing.

:D
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Can you not judge your speed by your surroundings?

On a slightly related note to bad driving, I took my daughter to guides last night and as it was busy I had to park in an EV charge spot (I was in an EV, but not charging). The sign says something like ev charging 8am-6pm (was 6.30pm). Came back less than 5 mins later and there was a transit next to me, with a PCN stuck on the windscreen. Nothing on mine so I'm of the opinion that they must have driven it with a PCN stuck to the windscreen, pretty much Infront of the steering wheel.
 
theone8181 said:
Can you not judge your speed by your surroundings?

On a slightly related note to bad driving, I took my daughter to guides last night and as it was busy I had to park in an EV charge spot (I was in an EV, but not charging). The sign says something like ev charging 8am-6pm (was 6.30pm). Came back less than 5 mins later and there was a transit next to me, with a PCN stuck on the windscreen. Nothing on mine so I'm of the opinion that they must have driven it with a PCN stuck to the windscreen, pretty much Infront of the steering wheel.
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Fairly sure you can't get a PCN for parking in a charge spot (unfortunately :mad:), unless it's a council owned one maybe?
 
Jokester said:
A lot of people seem to use the car in front as a pace car at night on roads they’re not familiar with. Without that they’ll drive a lot more conservatively.
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I have had that many times in the Winter. Coming back from Elgin I will come up behind a car doing 45mph (NSL road) for miles then when I overtake them they speed up to stay with me. When I turn off above our village I presume they slow back down again.
 
I'm finding it increasingly an issue these days when you exit a roundabout only for someone to assume you will then exit but straight into the right lane of a dual carriageway, so they just don't give way and pull out on you straight into the left lane. This happens even when indicating left to exit the roundabout. Surely it shouldn't be down to the person exiting to have to only have the option of the right/second lane? I probably explained that badly. I can't add a diagram due to the current imgur block.
Basically when you join a roundabout with two lanes all the way around it and all roads joining are dual carriageways, when turning right and exiting, should people be able to pull out on you to turn left and continue into lane 1, trusting that you will see them and just move straight into the right lane?
 
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jaybee said:
when turning right and exiting, should people be able to pull out on you to turn left and continue into lane 1, trusting that you will see them and just move straight into the right lane?
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(not sure i understand) if there are two lanes both leaving roundabout then don't you need to be occupying the nearside one if you want the left lane on exiting duel,
I sometimes have opposite where someone tailgaiting you expects you to take the left , despite having an obvious hgv gertting up to speed that is occupying the left lane on the duel you are entering

Jokester said:
A lot of people seem to use the car in front as a pace car at night on roads they’re not familiar with. Without that they’ll drive a lot more conservatively.
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even in daytime it's useful to see suspension hits from potholes in case you miss them, but at night time if someone is going to show you the unfamiliar road, and give you more safety margin - I'm in.
 
IMO if the roundabout has two lanes and I'm exiting, then I map my exit lane to my roundabout lane i.e. right hand to right hand, left to left. I assume there may be traffic using the other lane in a similar moment.

I can think of at least a couple of roundabouts though where I often want to end up in the opposite lane, in which case I treat it as a lane change before exiting the roundabout. I only do this if there's no one to my left at all, rather than assuming priority. "Lane change on a roundabout" feels dodgy now I've said it though.
 
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jpaul said:
(not sure i understand) if there are two lanes both leaving roundabout then don't you need to be occupying the nearside one if you want the left lane on exiting duel,
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Yes ideally you should. So I mean as an example say there is a roundabout with a simple 4 exit design. North, east, south and west. You approach from south in the right hand lane of two with right indicator on. You enter the roundabout and get into the right lane and go around it past exit 1 (west), past exit 2 (North) and then immediately place your left indicator on, then if clear you start to come over into lane 1 (nearside) to exit at exit 3 (East). I see cars that are sitting at the North exit in nearside lane 1 that want to go left onto East exit lane 1 and as you come round even with left indicator on about to try to come over into lane 1 and exit, they just pull out as if to say that you should be exiting into lane 2. I was always taught that you exit into lane 1 which should always be possible, unless someone has undertaken you on the roundabout aggressively, or if people do what I'm describing here which is wrong as they are not giving way to the right.
 
I've been experiencing that a lot more lately - people don't wait for someone to commit, etc. before making their move and it leads to easily avoidable accidents, I've found I have to be a lot more aggressive about coming over lanes as I approach my exit to put people off from doing silly things but it isn't always possible. A lot of people need to learn that it is sensible to stay staggered as much as possible on roundabouts as well - using a roundabout is all well and good when you are familiar with it but a lot of people struggle when approaching roundabouts which aren't just a simple 1-2 lane, 3-4 exit affair for the first time with the increasingly poor layouts and poor signage.
 
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