Your bad driving encounters/irritations

Infidelus said:
I thought I was done for a few minutes ago.

I was just on my way back from a walk. There are some roadworks going on near where I live where the water company are replacing pipes. At the end of one road there was a road closed sign. I had just turned in to that road and was walking down on the left pavement.

About 30 feet in two cars drive by towards the dead end (both women drivers as it happens). The first one realised she wasn't going to be able to go any further so after they've passed me I looked right to cross the road and see her pull over to the right. The second car stops and I start crossing the road (probably about 15 feet behind where she's stopped). The next thing I know the second car is reversing into me. I start smashing my hand on her boot and window trying to get her attention but she keeps coming.

After I hit her car about six times she finally stopped! A bit shaken up I start yelling obsenities through the back window about her not looking where she's going. The next thing I know she's pulled a U-turn and gives me a five-knuckle-shuffle sign as though it's my fault she wasn't looking in her mirror.

The first driver then pulled up beside me and asked if I was OK and said she didn't think the second one was looking in her mirror. I usually don't take my phone with me when I go out for a walk but it's one of those rare occasions I wish I did.
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glad you didnt get hurt.... everyone makes mistakes but what would cheese me off most out of that encounter i think was the reaction the woman had to you. IF i had done something as bone headed as that - possible but i hope very unlikely - but if i did my instant reaction would be to stop and apologise profusely. When people do stupid things to me, i find a simple but sincere apology diffuses most of my anger - even when some stupid plonker drove into the back of my pride and joy car a few years ago nearly writing it off.


moral of the story, walking is bad for your health, you should drive! ;) (not being serious)
 
bigmike20vt said:
glad you didnt get hurt.... everyone makes mistakes but what would cheese me off most out of that encounter i think was the reaction the woman had to you. IF i had done something as bone headed as that - possible but i hope very unlikely - but if i did my instant reaction would be to stop and apologise profusely. When people do stupid things to me, i find a simple but sincere apology diffuses most of my anger - even when some stupid plonker drove into the back of my pride and joy car a few years ago nearly writing it off.


moral of the story, walking is bad for your health, you should drive! ;) (not being serious)
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I'm never leaving the house again! VR exercise from now on :p

But I agree. If she had stopped and apologised I would have been less angry, but clearly it was my fault she doesn't know how to use a mirror ...
 
The default now when someone makes a mistake/does something stupid is not to apologise but to go off on one at the other party.
 
Infidelus said:
I thought I was done for a few minutes ago.

I was just on my way back from a walk. There are some roadworks going on near where I live where the water company are replacing pipes. At the end of one road there was a road closed sign. I had just turned in to that road and was walking down on the left pavement.

About 30 feet in two cars drive by towards the dead end (both women drivers as it happens). The first one realised she wasn't going to be able to go any further so after they've passed me I looked right to cross the road and see her pull over to the right. The second car stops and I start crossing the road (probably about 15 feet behind where she's stopped). The next thing I know the second car is reversing into me. I start smashing my hand on her boot and window trying to get her attention but she keeps coming.

After I hit her car about six times she finally stopped! A bit shaken up I start yelling obsenities through the back window about her not looking where she's going. The next thing I know she's pulled a U-turn and gives me a five-knuckle-shuffle sign as though it's my fault she wasn't looking in her mirror.

The first driver then pulled up beside me and asked if I was OK and said she didn't think the second one was looking in her mirror. I usually don't take my phone with me when I go out for a walk but it's one of those rare occasions I wish I did.
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Glad you're OK. Can't believe the second driver had the audacity to give you a gesture for her incompetent driving.
 
bigmike20vt said:
EVs are certainly quicker on average than an average oilburner for sure...... but fast cars have been a thing for ever, whether its a chavved up 350z overtaking me, or a tesla model 3, it makes little difference (just that the nissan looks and sounds a lot better doing it *** ;) )

i dont think the power source really matters when it comes to dangerous overtaking or aggressive roundabout etiquette

***I may be biased
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Certainly true but I think the ease of how an EV allows the driver to access the power (so to speak) is a BIG driver to it being used. Its too much like driving a go kart just pressing the foot to the floor and not having to worry about gears etc. Yes, you get automatic cars with high power but even run of the mill EVs have huge amounts of torque that the equivalent "level" ICE car cannot touch.

Take the Ford Puma as an example - The standard Puma EV has 290Nm of torque whereas the most common ICE equivalent (125PS) has less than half that at 170Nm. Even the Puma ST petrol is only slightly more at 320Nm

Also consider that 290Nm is available from standstill whereas you have to be at least 2500RPM in the ST
 
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I will admit to being guilty of that, although I had almost convinced myself it was because my previous car was a 55 plate Focus that was severely underpowered and I'm just using what I have in the EV now.

More self-awareness required, it seems :p

In other news, classic bit of corner-cutting today while I was out for my cardio. Approaching a junction and almost at the point of crossing when an Insignia coming towards along the main road indicates a right turn into the road I'm about to cross. I stop, knowing that having right of way is no comfort in a morgue and the plonker cuts the corner with virtually no reduction in speed and forces the family in a Honda approaching the junction from the side road to slam on, albeit from about 15mph to zero and stop dead around 10m short of the junction. The dozy bugger doesn't even recognise or acknowledge what he's just done and carries on regardless, leaving the woman driving the car and me to exchange rolls-of-eyes and shakes of head.

No awareness of the pedestrian, no awareness of the oncoming vehicle, just "I can turn here without waiting for oncoming traffic so I'm going to".
 
I had an Evoque try and overtake me on the A16 back from Peterborough yesterday. Didn't have the speed or power to make it past me in my truck. I thought it was just going to filter in behind me as it had already gone past two cars but it just kept going. Aygo coming the other way had no choice but to take evasive action to prevent a head on. Three abreast on a normal A road! The Evoque also slammed on its brakes like a deer in headlights. Must have missed each other by inches. Why people take these stupid life threatening risks is beyond me as there was more traffic in front of me anyway.
 
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So I was on some road works last night and it goes from 30 to nsl (single carriageway). The car Infront doesn't speed up (in fact they actually slowed to 25mph). I beeped my horn 3 separate times before they actually went at the limit, must have been half a mile before they realised. At the end of the road it splits and they slow to 30 a good few hundred metres before it even splits. I pass them as I'm in the other lane, I expected it to some old Doris, but it looked like a late 20s/early 30s woman staring at the screen of the car. Worrying really.
 
Had one of my pet hates coming home earlier - caught up with someone who was going fast where I'd be going slow i.e. in residential areas or heading into a blind bend, etc. they'd be over the speed limit, on wide open fast roads they'd be sitting there dawdling along well below the limit... came to a place to overtake and knowing what was likely coming I planted it, fortunately I passed them fine but the car behind me which also tried to overtake them then had them trying to matching them for speed and I had to grow the gap as the safest option so the car behind me could pass them safely as well. They then kept up with us all the rest of the way... after the other car turned off I'm pretty sure they were trying to find an opportunity to overtake me again.

I really should get a rear dashcam for stuff like this.
 
theone8181 said:
but it looked like a late 20s/early 30s woman staring at the screen of the car. Worrying really.
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I'm seeing a concerning increase in the number of people who just aren't paying attention, especially paying attention to screens or phones, in the last 1-2 years and it has been on a constant decline since COVID, but it seems to be accelerating. I just don't understand how people are that stupid.
 
Maybe large touch screens, close at hand are the less distracting safer future - can't have buttons for everything.
still wouldn't mind having a touch pad near gear stick, for controlling car-play;
lack of integrated apps into car play (android automotive too) means I use less safely several music apps via mounted mobile phone screen vlc/foobar - never do anything other than nav & music though.
 
tom_e said:
I'd forgotten the joys of that week or two after the clocks change and all the people who haven't driven in the dark for 6 months try and run you off the road...:o
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My friend got a taste of that on M60 yesterday late in the evening. Car 1 had to emergency brake for whatever reason, Car 2 crashes into the back of 1. My friend in Car 3 manages to not crash into Car 2, however Car 4 behind my friend rear ended his car.

So his car will very likely be written off. Yes, the other insurer will pay etc, but what a pain for next couple of weeks or a month until everything is sorted.
 
LowEndTorque said:
My friend got a taste of that on M60 yesterday late in the evening. Car 1 had to emergency brake for whatever reason, Car 2 crashes into the back of 1. My friend in Car 3 manages to not crash into Car 2, however Car 4 behind my friend rear ended his car.

So his car will very likely be written off. Yes, the other insurer will pay etc, but what a pain for next couple of weeks or a month until everything is sorted.
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Yeah super annoying when you are doing everything you can to manage the space ahead but far more limited in what you can do to control the muppets behind who aren't paying enough attention or leaving enough space.
 
Probably someone changing lanes unnecessarily or some other minor event which 1 or more people not paying attention have reacted late to, which then causes a ripple effect of people having to brake [hard] even though they know it is likely nothing which then catches out people further back who aren't paying attention causing an incident, sadly also involving innocent people.
 
Nabinium said:
Sounds like an insurance scam. Was there anything in front of car 1?
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Not always. My Tiguan Allspace used to slam the brakes on occasionally when passing artics on the motorway, which was a little...disconcerting to say the least. I am no fan of all these modern 'safety' systems.
 
Uther said:
Not always. My Tiguan Allspace used to slam the brakes on occasionally when passing artics on the motorway, which was a little...disconcerting to say the least. I am no fan of all these modern 'safety' systems.
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Friend of mine had a Tiguan & ended up with VW buying it back at the price she paid.

It would randomly just do full emergency brakes for no reason, twice happened on a 50mph road where there was no-one else but her.

VW practically replaced the entire system and it still did it so they bought it from her.
 
Resident said:
Friend of mine had a Tiguan & ended up with VW buying it back at the price she paid.

It would randomly just do full emergency brakes for no reason, twice happened on a 50mph road where there was no-one else but her.

VW practically replaced the entire system and it still did it so they bought it from her.
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I used to be a big VW fanboy and the older Tiguan was one of my favourite cars, but these days I'm very reticent to touch them - one of my brothers still persists with them for some reason despite having 2 high end Golfs with no end of electric gremlins* and now on an ID.7

* For example:

Rroff said:
My brother had similar issues with a brand new, top spec, Golf - one issue he had was the AC system randomly having a mind of its own and adjusting the temperature continuously either up or down until it got to the extreme end of the range - thousands in warranty fixes and way too much bother taking the car back and forth from VW.
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I believe they eventually bought it back off him as they could never solve the temperature issue.
 
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