Driving pet hates...

[Resident]

Just for fun. Name your biggest driving pet hates that infuriates you when other drivers do it even it's perfectly legal and safe to do it.

For me it's drivers that 10-20mph or more UNDER the designated speed limit in pretty much perfect conditions and no legitimate reason.

 

[Resident]

People who don't use signals exi5ing a roundabout

I'll agree on this too.

Was just about to post this. But I think in lieu I'll go for people who drive needlessly slowly. Had one tonight, 25mph in a nsl.

It was exactly the same situation that made me think of the thread.

Old guy who looked like he had more grey hair than grey matter pootling along a NSL (long and relatively straight single carriageway bypass), nothing in front of him at 27mph. I over took him, no more than 40 as I didn't want to give him a heart attack. As soon as I'd completed and sped up to 60, looked in rear view and the old codger was about 50yrd back but matching my speed. I must have woken him up

 

[Resident]

HGV drivers ( I know they get a lot of flack most unjustified) pulling out at roundabouts knowing they will never get out in time causing people to come to a near or complete stop on the roundabout! Seems to be a definite mentality of you will stop for me because I'm way bigger! It's not a good roundabout and it's always busy and I can imagine they get frustrated at busy times not being able to make progress but seriously it's not okay to enter a roundabout and disrupt the flow of traffic already on it. It only takes one person not paying attention to run in to the side of the HGV.

There's a roundabout near my work, it's a massive warehouse/office space district.

Often HGVs barely slow for a major RA and just barrel out on to it, regardless of right of way. Hundreds of complaints to the police have yielded nothing.

This happened two days ago..

https://imgur.com/a/n1DPabo

 

[Resident]

Manvers? If so what about the number of cars who cut up the inside of HGVs on that roundabout from the left turn only lanes because they are too impatient to wait, damned if we do and damned if we don't wait.

Yes. Whilst I agree there's bad drivers on both sides the standard of HGVs going down there is absolutely appalling. Particularly by anyone one of two companies.

I once had a Next tractor unit try and overtake me by using the right turn lane on the RA outside Capita.

But as I said, SYP don't want to know. They even drive past morons parked in the clearway and zigzag sections.

 

[Resident]

People who don’t carefully move through a red light and then pull over when the have a set of blue lights and sirens behind them.

Because it's illegal to do so unless directed by a police officer

 

[Resident]

The chav boy racers do this near us. Just open their door and they whatever greasy mess they've been eating straight out onto the beachfront even though there are bins 5m away.
What's even worse though is some new bungalows are being built on one of the fields next to the entrance to our road. The builders and tradesmen are dirty gits. Same thing, open door and just throw out whatever's in the van or car. Site manager in his defence put bins in but they're just too lazy to use them. One didn't appreciate it when I was out and picked up the half cup of coffee he'd just thrown out and put it back through his window.

Write a formal complaint to the building company and cc the council.

 

[Resident]

Worse still, deciding to buy a Subway or do their weekly shopping before paying.

What I find worse are the morons that pull up to 'pay-at-pumps and then go inside!

My local station has 12 pumps, 6 kiosk, 6 paypumps.
Almost always pumps 8 through 12 aren't being used except for the occasional LPGer.

Pumps 1 through 6 are card pumps yet there is a constant stream of morons that pull up, get fuel and walk in, delaying others who want to use the card pumps for their intended purposes.

I use the card pumps mostly because I will normally have my child with me and it saves me having to faf getting her out and back in holding up others.

 

[Resident]

What if the other pumps are busy and they don't want to use their card? The pumps at the Morrisons don't even say which are pay at pump ones until your at it.

I fill up at Costco these days when ever possible to avoid all these annoyances, loads quicker.

The answer to that is already in the post you quoted

Just leave the kids in the car when you go pay, its easy.

Or not and continues to be the responsible parent that I am.

 

[Resident]

On driving standards. Over here the average standards are not that bad. However I drive mostly in rush hour when/where people tend to know what they are doing and if you they do something annoying it's probably been done delibrately, well calculated and with attitude, so gets some respect.

The main issue is the minimum standards are falling, especially demonstrated by the elderly and young mums with 4 kids in the car on Saturday afternoons. There are no traffic police* around to do anything about it either. People get their license, hardly drive at all, forget everything and then just carry on as their driving standards diminish to "highly dangerous".

*I've even watched a normal police car sat watching while 3 people went through a red light in front of them... did nothing.

I've witnessed similar occurrences, but then again when you realise that this is a force that told a 10yr old victim who'd dialled 999 after being subjected to a violent robbery by 6 assailants to "go home and we'll call you back later" - South Yorkshire Police, Doncaster.

 

[Resident]

Similar on my commute, dual carriageway ends in a roundabout, A47 is single carriageway after that. Left lane to continue straight,right lane to turn right. Inevitably when busy a queue forms for the A47 in the left lane so you get a load of people running down the right lane to either force their way in or loop the roundabout and cut in that way. See all sorts of road rage as the left lane backs up and stops moving. I either sit in the traffic angry or loop the roundabout and feel like a douche.

See I don't see an issue with that and I've done it several times. It's not dangerous and saves waiting behind 40+ cars when I'm on a deadline.

 

[Resident]

It just seems douch-baggy.

It's perfectly legal and tbh the douchebags are the ones sat in the line raging because they didn't think about do it.

 

[Resident]

Another one.

People who don't turn on their lights during heavy downpours, particularly on motorways where the spray can completely shroud a vehicle.

 

[Resident]

Arguably the rule is to give way to traffic already on the roundabout. Giving way to traffic approaching the roundabout is a courtesy not a requirement.

Obviously this is more sensitive on mini-roundabouts.

If myself and another vehicle are pretty much going to hit the RA at the same time and it's not large enough to both enter at the same time then I will stop and allow them to enter first but generally I only slow and prepare to stop only if necessary.

I had police knocking on my door last year because someone reported me "driving onto a RA like a lunatic and nearly causing an accident" - I showed them footage from dashcam. They thanked me and left.

 

[Resident]

snip

There's a RA near me. It has 4 exit including the one you start from.

Exit 1 is at 10 o'clock then exit 2 is at 2 o'clock and exit 3 at 4 o'clock.

The exit that always causes issues has 2 lanes, left signed and marked left only, right lane is marked right only.
The number of times I've had to brake on exiting at no2 because bellends use the left only to take 2nd exit is astounding.

 

[Resident]

I am keeping "Electronic Handbrake" in the "Over my dead body" category. I mean it. A saleman might have my dream car at a shockingly good price but unless he can fit a physically handbrake to it, I don't want it.

There are advantages such as hill-assist & auto on when engine turns off but as it stands too many disadvantages. Neighbour is a driving instructor and had one. During a lesson a pupil stopped to give way at a major roundabout and the handbrake applied then refused to disengage. Police had to close all three lanes so the HIAB could recover it as the handbook states it should not be towed under any circumstances. The car was 3 months old.

 

[Resident]

I love my car in winter. I just stick the key in, turn on and everything does it's thing for me.

Both heated screens/mirrors turn on, climate engages demist settings. Climate will run in demist for 3 mins then resume previous settings by which time it's perfectly clear and I can drive off.

Not bad for a 2006 Mondeo.

 

[Resident]

People who swing out to the right or middle of the road to take a standard left turn into a street. Usually seen on housing estates in very small cars.

I do it but the entrance to my road isn't standard. It's very narrow and off a main road It's barely wide enough for 2 normal family hatchbacks. I have a 19ft long estate.
I have 3 options either swing and in, cross into the oncoming lane or mount the near-side kerb

 

[Resident]

When you take the battery out, the car rolls off.
Then the software crashes you can't engage or disengage the handbrake.
When you have an emergency problem such as brake failure the automatics might not let you use the handbrake.*
The automatic handbrake is "ON" "OFF" no variability.
The mechanism is poor and underpreforming. There are many, many more cases of electric handbrakes failing and cars rolling away than physical cables snapping.
Drum brakes are better suited to the task.
You can't do hand brake turns on a track day.


* try this as a test. Assume your battery is flat and a friend is pushing you down a hill. But the car still won't start. You apply the foot brake but as your brake servo is now completely empty the brakes don't work properly. So you engage the handbrake... but... oh... what's that? The automatics won't let you? Oh, what a shame. Even if they do let

Don't most autos have an "emergency brake", because you can't engage park while rolling so if you had a brake failure you can use it.

"Brake failure" BTW... Try this. With the engine off, pump the brake pedal to deplete the servo. Now roll down a slight hill and try and stop the car. Most car manuals specify that if the engine fails while driving to brake ONCE to a complete stop. This is why. Without the brake servo it can be very hard to stop the car without it.

Tried it 5mph stopped instantly. I can also steer with PAS.

Helps not being a limp-wrist.

 

[Resident]

Can't you at least do 60 so you're not forcing trucks to overtake you at 1MPH faster than you're going? You'll not use much more petrol at 60 and it makes traffic flow so much better. Anyone travelling slower than a HGV on a 70MPH motorway should get an immediate 3 points IMO.

Except for the fact that when the gantrys state 50mph HGVs in my experience rarely bother slowing down because of their small-minded "I must do 56.000001mph at all times" mentality

 

[Resident]

Or because the speed they're doing is probably closer to 50 vs what a car speedometer is reading.

I use a GPS HUD display for my speed as it means not taking my eyes off the road.