Standard of driving in the UK going downhill.

Well I saw some attrocious driving last night. Someone in front of me was speeding up, slowing down and appeared to be either lost or drunk. 16 in a 40 then up to 20 in a 30. Hesitating near junctions which made me think they were looking for a certain road. When we got to a large roundabout they straddled both lanes before indicating right and then turning right at the roundabout and driving round it the wrong way. This is normally a busy roundabout but there wans't anything on it this late at night. It's a junction for the A3 so it has slip roads with people going fast on it and no visibility over the roundabout. I flashed them and beeped my horn repeatedly to warn them but they briefly hesitated and then carried on driving the wrong way. Hopefully they didn't meet anyone coming towards them.
 
Hades said:
Well I saw some attrocious driving last night. Someone in front of me was speeding up, slowing down and appeared to be either lost or drunk. 16 in a 40 then up to 20 in a 30. Hesitating near junctions which made me think they were looking for a certain road. When we got to a large roundabout they straddled both lanes before indicating right and then turning right at the roundabout and driving round it the wrong way. This is normally a busy roundabout but there wans't anything on it this late at night. It's a junction for the A3 so it has slip roads with people going fast on it and no visibility over the roundabout. I flashed them and beeped my horn repeatedly to warn them but they briefly hesitated and then carried on driving the wrong way. Hopefully they didn't meet anyone coming towards them.
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Next time call the police and report a drunk driver.
 
Dis86 said:
Next time call the police and report a drunk driver.
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I thought they were just lost and looking for their turning until we got to the roundabout. By the time they went the wrong way at the roundabout I couldn't see their number plate and I sure as hell wasn't going to drive all the way round to meet them head on. But yes I agree I should have noted it down earlier.
 
Saw a 3 car pile up in the third lane of the M6 yesterday, considering the absolutely atrocious driving conditions with heavy rain and standing water some morons were still tail gateing, doing well over the speed limit and weaving in and out of traffic.
 
Hades said:
Well I saw some attrocious driving last night. Someone in front of me was speeding up, slowing down and appeared to be either lost or drunk. 16 in a 40 then up to 20 in a 30. Hesitating near junctions which made me think they were looking for a certain road. When we got to a large roundabout they straddled both lanes before indicating right and then turning right at the roundabout and driving round it the wrong way. This is normally a busy roundabout but there wans't anything on it this late at night. It's a junction for the A3 so it has slip roads with people going fast on it and no visibility over the roundabout. I flashed them and beeped my horn repeatedly to warn them but they briefly hesitated and then carried on driving the wrong way. Hopefully they didn't meet anyone coming towards them.
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Was it greebo above:cry:.
 
Hades said:
Well I saw some attrocious driving last night. Someone in front of me was speeding up, slowing down and appeared to be either lost or drunk. 16 in a 40 then up to 20 in a 30. Hesitating near junctions which made me think they were looking for a certain road. When we got to a large roundabout they straddled both lanes before indicating right and then turning right at the roundabout and driving round it the wrong way. This is normally a busy roundabout but there wans't anything on it this late at night. It's a junction for the A3 so it has slip roads with people going fast on it and no visibility over the roundabout. I flashed them and beeped my horn repeatedly to warn them but they briefly hesitated and then carried on driving the wrong way. Hopefully they didn't meet anyone coming towards them.
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Most forces have an online form where you can submit dashcam footage if you have any - driving on the wrong side of a road system like a roundabout or dual-carriageway usually gets taken very seriously.
 
Rroff said:
Most forces have an online form where you can submit dashcam footage if you have any - driving on the wrong side of a road system like a roundabout or dual-carriageway usually gets taken very seriously.
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It should be a national thing. Unfortunately some forces (coincidentally the worst performing ones) are heavily resistant to the idea of dashcam evidence, unless they're asking for the footage.
 
Resident said:
It should be a national thing. Unfortunately some forces (coincidentally the worst performing ones) are heavily resistant to the idea of dashcam evidence, unless they're asking for the footage.
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I imagine it does end up being a pretty big time sink for not a lot of convictions though, considering the stuff some people seem to upload from their dashcam while frothing at the mouth and everyone else doesn't have a clue what they're so angry about.
 
Resident said:
It should be a national thing. Unfortunately some forces (coincidentally the worst performing ones) are heavily resistant to the idea of dashcam evidence, unless they're asking for the footage.
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Yeah - I can only go on my experiences around here but I've twice been involved with incidents of people driving on the wrong side of a dual-carriageway submitted via operation SNAP and it was promptly dealt with by the police.
 
HangTime said:
We have these threads all the time, what I don't get is people were already saying the standard of driving was terrible 15 years ago, so is it really going downhill, or has it actually just remained terrible rather than progressing to really-super-dooper-terrible?
I don't think I've ever visited a country where the standard of driving is as high as it is the UK.
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LOL I was thinking the exact opposite...

India, chaos on the roads but few collisions it seems despite this.

I'm with OP... generally poor in this country.
 
tom_e said:
I imagine it does end up being a pretty big time sink for not a lot of convictions though, considering the stuff some people seem to upload from their dashcam while frothing at the mouth and everyone else doesn't have a clue what they're so angry about.
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Around here, Dorset police especially, they don't like time wasters - have prosecuted people from their own submitted footage where they've committed offences while taking offence to other people's driving, etc.
 
I think there's a tendency to conflate "poor driving" and "dangerous driving". I agree, our roads are arguably some of the safest in the world and I rarely see what I would consider dangerous driving. But I still see plenty of poor behaviour. Things like not bothering to indicate, joining motorways too slowly, driving too slowly in general, lane hogging.

Not necessarily always dangerous, but irritating and annoying, and borne out of a poor attitude or awareness of what effect your actions have on others. I think that's what most people have in mind with thread like these.
 
GR63 said:
Au contraire... I have visited every continent except Antarctica (so far!)
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You must have had your eyes closed. There are enough wrecks on the side of the road to put the fear of god into you.
 
Conscript said:
I think there's a tendency to conflate "poor driving" and "dangerous driving". I agree, our roads are arguably some of the safest in the world and I rarely see what I would consider dangerous driving. But I still see plenty of poor behaviour. Things like not bothering to indicate, joining motorways too slowly, driving too slowly in general, lane hogging. Not necessarily always dangerous, but irritating and annoying, and borne out of a poor attitude or awarnees of what effect your actions have on others. I think that's what most people have in mind with thread ike these.
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This is true but I'd say the biggest issue is people having no patience. Not everyone is a road warrior, ultimate driver who can do no wrong. Dorris taking an extra 5 seconds to merge because she last joined a motorway in 1970 shouldn't be a trigger.

People have no patience for anyone else on the road and assume everyone is of the same experience level/can make no mistakes.
 
Conscript said:
I think there's a tendency to conflate "poor driving" and "dangerous driving". I agree, our roads are arguably some of the safest in the world and I rarely see what I would consider dangerous driving. But I still see plenty of poor behaviour. Things like not bothering to indicate, joining motorways too slowly, driving too slowly in general, lane hogging.

Not necessarily always dangerous, but irritating and annoying, and borne out of a poor attitude or awareness of what effect your actions have on others. I think that's what most people have in mind with thread like these.
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Agree with this, it's rare I have a "HOLY ****ING **** I NEARLY DIED" moment but I have a "WTF are you doing you numpty" moment multiple times a day on my commute.
 
tom_e said:
Agree with this, it's rare I have a "HOLY ****ING **** I NEARLY DIED" moment but I have a "WTF are you doing you numpty" moment multiple times a day on my commute.
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Yea I can agree with that, there's been a few recently where I've started wincing as I can see what's about to happen, there's no space so I'll just pull in anyway:eek:.
 
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