Standard of driving in the UK going downhill.

Man of Honour
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I remember driving around in the height of the 1st lockdown (as a key worker) and the only other drivers on the road seemed quite considerate and careful. Maybe it was people trying to avoid going in to work as much as possible mind :p

It is also very noticeable when the school holidays have started. The minute they go back, the idiots seem to emerge from the woodwork!

It would be fascinating to see incidents vs days graphed for the A303 over the last 18 months or so. During the first lockdown I could do like 6 miles between seeing a car at times - now you've got like 6 cars all trying to take the same space on the road as you with a serious incident somewhere on the road every day for awhile now and not many days go past between fatalities :(

Don't have any earlier footage but this was around Easter 2020:

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Soldato
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Surrey
Why do HGV drivers overtake? Many reasons, [all of which arrive and wanting to get somewhere faster] :cry:

Just ribbing. Everyone’s got a horse in this race, and they’re all just as guilty
 
Soldato
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unstated.assortment.union
No objection to cyclists here either. But near me the council narrowed a very wide two way road by putting a wide cycle lane down one side. The idea was that cyclists would use that lane travelling in both directions. But what's actually happened is that cyclists travelling into town use it (because it's on their side of the road), but cyclists coming out of town don't bother to cross the road to get to it. Instead they use the remaining very narrow road and cars get held up and can't get past. So one direction has turned into a crawl, delaying everyone and churning out pollution.

Similar thing here except they've built the lanes on both sides. They've done this on the main road through a massive industrial/warehouse district. Each carriage way was 18ft wide in either direction (36ft total) to allow large vehicles extra room, particularly for maneuvering in/out of junctions. The council have taken 18ft (9 from each side) and made cycle lanes, segragated by a high kerb.

I've noticed people have got very lazy when it comes to indicating, also regardless of the laws people still continue to use their phones without a care in the world chatting away, 9/10 they have a modern car that will most likely have build in Bluetooth,there is no excuse really.
I think more needs to be done.

Heavier fines on those caught on phone'
Heavier fines for those not wearing seat belts
Mandatory Driving RE-TEST every 10 years.
Mandatory eyesight checks every 5 years.

Might seem ott but I feel more should be done.

Out of those, the retesting isn't going to be viable, the logistics and costs would mean no-one would ever complete it on time.

Phones - Claims are that it's as bad as drink/drive so punish it on the same scale, 1 year ban.
 
Soldato
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I've noticed people have got very lazy when it comes to indicating, also regardless of the laws people still continue to use their phones without a care in the world chatting away, 9/10 they have a modern car that will most likely have build in Bluetooth,there is no excuse really.
I think more needs to be done.
  • Heavier fines on those caught on phone's
  • Heavier fines for those not wearing seat belts
  • Mandatory Driving RE-TEST every 10 years.
  • Mandatory eyesight checks every 5 years.

Might seem ott but I feel more should be done.
I'm disagreeing on point 2, a spike in the steering wheel would be a much better deterant and deal with the darwinism.
 
Soldato
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UK
People just are so ignorant, that's the issue. I know someone who drives with no mobility in their neck (and in flip flops), how she checks blind spots on the motorway I have no idea. She can't even back out of our drive as she can't check for traffic so she has to do a 5 point turn on the grass verge between our wall & the kerb.
 
Associate
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14 Feb 2007
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676
I was thinking this yesterday whilst on the M3. In the space of an hours drive I saw a Lorry nearly wipe out a Tesla, changing lane without seeing it. Loads of tailgating, Loads of people in lane two whilst nothing in Lane 1, a flat bed transit aggressively weaving between lanes.
 

Dup

Dup

Soldato
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East Lancs
It's not just a motoring problem, it's just that we encountrer more people on the roads in a short space of time. It's all down to the entitled attitude of people and the emergence of the "Karens". I grew up in a village that's seen huge development in recent years and has brought in many 10p millionaires buying overpriced new builds and with them they bring a certain entitled attitude I just can't stick.

Maybe it's just the difference between townies moving in and countryside **** kickers like myself but life just seems to be overly stressful to do simple things. A simple task like walking dogs in the area is stressful because there's a lot of lockdown dog owners who don't have a clue and they just ruin a nice walk in the countryside becasue they have an opinion and that's all that matters, despite them doing something stupid and not understanding a simple situation. I just ignore and keep walking but my mum's hit her limit and in retaliation has had abuse and threats.

If it wasn't for my partner and kids I'd sod off to a remote Scottish island :D
 
Soldato
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Stoke/Norfolk
The worst culprit for me at the moment is the driver that can't appear to get up to speed when joining a motorway. I'm literally seeing this on a daily basis and it's downright dangerous. 40mph when you're trying to merge with vehicles doing 55-70mph is a recipe for disaster. Then once you're finally on the motorway you've got the middle lane dwellers, the special ones that seem to think that because there's a lorry in the inside lane half a mile up the carriageway that it's their god-given right to hold up the entire motorway!

I would quite like the Government to re-introduce the old "Government Advisory" messages on TV, preferably before/after soaps and/or the news etc. The sort of old school stuff Governments used to do like the Green Cross Code man from the 70's or "don't pick up sparklers on bonfire night" etc, only these newer version would be basic reminders of the Highway Code i.e. how to join a road/Mway safely using a slip road or why using the left lane on the Mway is "correct" etc because it seems the majority of us have slipped into some "learned behaviours" which go against the Highway Code and cause problems.

A good example is using a slip road, where people have now become accustomed to automatically pulling out at slower speeds because those on the road already "will" have already moved over a lane, because our learned experience of actual road use (not what the Highway Code says) tells us "thats what they're supposed to do", because most people, being polite, "will" pull over a lane if they can to make merging easier. Only that leads to the fairly common situation of a vehicle "expecting" to be able to pull straight out vs someone on the road already who either can't move over a lane due to traffic etc, or is just following the Highway Code and sticking to the left lane and "expecting" the person merging to adjust their speed to merge safely.

So maybe just a 30 second or less quick "mini-advert" 2-4 times a day constantly for months on end just to help remind us or, as an unlikely alternative, rewriting the Highway Code to account for everyones "real life" road use.
 
Soldato
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I'd love them to do a "You do know that Road Tax doesn't exist" advert so that motorists don't feel they own the roads.

Whilst the name isn't "Road Tax" it is still generally considered to be a Tax to allow you to drive on the Road meaning it's understandable that you'll still get some folks calling it "Road Tax" even though they know the actual name is different, I know I do.
 

V_R

V_R

Soldato
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UK
To be honest, the only thing that really grinds my gears is for what ever reason 90+% of people fail to understand who queueing in all lanes and merge in turn.

Nope let’s all queue in lane 1 and make the tailback 3x longer than it needs to be blocking junctions further back on the carriageway. Then you have those who think they are really clever and straddle two lanes to actively block the other lane.

So much this, only the other day I had an idiot taxi driver who wouldn't let me in because he didn't want me to merge. Sadly my car was obviously far nicer than his and it was an argument I wasn't willing to have. :rolleyes:

That and middle lane hoggers/people doing 60 in the overtaking lanes drives me mental
 
Soldato
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14,056
I had it on the A66 the other day, some idiot in a camper van blocking lane 2 to stop people ‘queue jumping’ while failing to realise the tailback has now blocked the roundabout behind him and causing tailbacks on the other side of the road because people now can’t turn right. It was definitely worth a slow clap….
 
Soldato
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I had it on the A66 the other day, some idiot in a camper van blocking lane 2 to stop people ‘queue jumping’ while failing to realise the tailback has now blocked the roundabout behind him and causing tailbacks on the other side of the road because people now can’t turn right. It was definitely worth a slow clap….
I know what the rule on merge in turn is, but I don't think I've ever seen it work in practice.
 

V_R

V_R

Soldato
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UK
Had the same at Legoland on the way in, countless signs saying use both lanes. Every other **** out there just sat in the left lane, and one guy straddling both lanes. A sharp burst of the horn and he moved over, thankfully. :p
 
Soldato
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Stoke/Norfolk
I know what the rule on merge in turn is, but I don't think I've ever seen it work in practice.

As Brits we tend to consider it "bad manners" to "jump the queue", as it would appear to many its what people are doing, when in-fact they are just correctly following the "Merge in Turn" signs. Maybe yet another to add to the Government Adverts! :D
 
Man of Honour
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Stoke on Trent
Whilst the name isn't "Road Tax" it is still generally considered to be a Tax to allow you to drive on the Road meaning it's understandable that you'll still get some folks calling it "Road Tax" even though they know the actual name is different, I know I do.

No they really don't.
Even in an office with around 40 professional people I saw one colleague argue with 38 of them and every one of them argued with him, he asked my opinion and then I got it in the neck even with proof laid on of a few Google links emailed to them all.
Every now and then somebody will mention it on Facebook and I reckon 95% will argue to the death it is Road Tax that is paid by motorists to drive on the road and anybody who doesn't pay it shouldn't be on the road - there are people on this forum who 100% believe it.
 
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