Standard of driving in the UK going downhill.

Soldato
Joined
22 Apr 2008
Posts
3,867
Location
Bryn Celyn Wales
Not arguing the number of cars have gone up. But a lot of houses now have more than 1 car. Just you and Gibbo alone are skewing the stats :p
hahaha Yep agreed. I went to sort my old house out that I'm selling thwe other day... and our two next door neighbours, their sons have grown up now... so Dave, Sarah have a car each... and both of their two lads now, so four cars on the drive. Our opther next door neighbour have one lad... they have a car each PLUS a workvan, that's another four.

Yep, I did have 4 cars myself but only down to 3 now... but when our little girl wants one in what 4-5 years... we'll be back to 4 hahaha
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Oct 2004
Posts
18,300
Location
Birmingham
For some reason as well, it seems to be a 'crime' committed by such a wide demographic. I saw some knobhead in a god-aweful Vauxhall something or other (looked like a grosser [is that even possible] version of a Yaris Verso) not indicating and tailgating the other day. Looked across and it was just a regular everyday respectable 'gent'. Gone are the days when it was easy to guess :o:eek::cry:

I dunno, round here it seems to be 90% one of 2 demographics.

Either Mr "I'm better than you because I have a poverty spec. German company car and an M&S suit, and my sales job is sooooo important, so drive faster or get out of my way", or... well, I'd probably be called a racist for describing the other kind in their blacked out Golf GTI/Audi S3 with blacked out windows and tinted number plates :p
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
20 Feb 2007
Posts
4,501
Location
‎ツ
You're old and washed up, get a new hobby.

Thanks for that, :p Still in my forties, so hopefully not completely washed up just yet!

I was broadly with you until you then started whining about people joining roundabouts and then it just became "old man noise".

So you're happy to sit in an ever-increasing queue for many many minutes, whilst at the front Doris in her Y reg Yaris plucks up enough courage to edge out into the roundabout? Come on, don't tell me that doesn't wind you up, at least just a tiny bit?
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Sep 2005
Posts
6,493
Location
Grundisburgh
I've given up caring anymore, my stress levels thank me for it.
Sadly I do the same, driving standards are poor. The new highway code rules also seem to say IF you feel safe, anyone can go slow, stay in the middle if they do not feel safe.
There should be a rule, if you don't feel safe you shouldn't drive. Better public transport?
 
Soldato
Joined
21 Jan 2010
Posts
21,949
Thanks for that, :p Still in my forties, so hopefully not completely washed up just yet!



So you're happy to sit in an ever-increasing queue for many many minutes, whilst at the front Doris in her Y reg Yaris plucks up enough courage to edge out into the roundabout? Come on, don't tell me that doesn't wind you up, at least just a tiny bit?
Doris is someone's Mum and unlike you isn't Colin McRae. Spend more time focusing on your own driving, mindfulness and happiness than getting offended that an old dear who probably had anxiety about driving that day takes slightly longer than you. Mr. Meldrew.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
20 Feb 2007
Posts
4,501
Location
‎ツ
Doris is someone's Mum and unlike you isn't Colin McRae. Spend more time focusing on your own driving, mindfulness and happiness than getting offended that an old dear who probably had anxiety about driving that day takes slightly longer than you. Mr. Meldrew.

You're a true delight aren't you? I mean seriously, I try and take a fairly light-hearted look at some of the many issues on today's road and I get labelled a Mr Meldrew. I'm certainly no Colin McRae, but I do realise when some people shouldn't be out on the road.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
26 Dec 2003
Posts
30,837
Location
Shropshire
Sadly I do the same, driving standards are poor. The new highway code rules also seem to say IF you feel safe, anyone can go slow, stay in the middle if they do not feel safe.
There should be a rule, if you don't feel safe you shouldn't drive. Better public transport?
I think that's a big problem, a lot of people don't like driving, don't feel comfortable doing so, will do anything to avoid certain types of roads but they feel they must drive and there is no other viable option. Therefore they just end up driving around getting into a flap and doing daft stuff that gets them into situations that increases that anxiety of driving.
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Oct 2004
Posts
18,300
Location
Birmingham
So you're happy to sit in an ever-increasing queue for many many minutes, whilst at the front Doris in her Y reg Yaris plucks up enough courage to edge out into the roundabout? Come on, don't tell me that doesn't wind you up, at least just a tiny bit?

To be fair, if the ****heads coming off the roundabout on prior exits actually bothered to indicate then maybe Doris would realise she had space to pull out, rather than sitting there like a **** because she thinks they are continuing round.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2003
Posts
14,058
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.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
29,509
Location
Surrey
I've been driving since 1987. I would say that driving standards have definitely got worse since then. That might be grumpy old man syndrome but I think it's because of the massive increase in traffic on the road. Everyone is in a rush and annoyed with delays. I had to brake suddenly yesterday when someone pulled out of a side road right in front of me. They definitely saw me before pulling out as we looked straight at each other. But apparently their need to get out of the side road was more important than me continuing down the road at 30mph.

Lane discipline has deteriorated greatly and if you drive bang on the speed limit you almost get rear ended by a muppet wanting you to speed. Also... not sure why car manufacturers bother putting indicators on their cars because so many people don't know how to use them.

I have been teaching my daughter to drive and some of the behaviour of other cars around her has been shocking. She is clearly a learner with L plates plastered over her car, indicating she is still learning and may make mistakes or unexpected actions. But they just seem to be an invitation from other drivers to drive inches from her bumper, cut her up to get past her quickly or lean on the horn if she stalls. The worst driving I've seen near her has been from delivery scooters where some of the riding had been downright dangerous cutting in front of her and she has had to emergency stop on several occasions.

Unfortunately nowadays I assume everyone is a muppet, drive very defensively and try to stay calm in all situations.

Cyclists are rife around here, haven't got a problem with them normally, but when they travel in a herd imagining they're in the Tour De France without a care in the world for other road users it makes my blood boil.

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.
 
Caporegime
Joined
22 Oct 2002
Posts
26,810
Location
Boston, Lincolnshire
I would say that driving has more than likely improved. Before you used to be able to talk on the phone while driving. A larger percentage of the population used to smoke as well. I barely see anyone with a fag hanging out the window these days.

As has already been mentioned the sheer number of cars has dramatically increased. I would also like to see stats for HGV's as I bet they have gone up a lot due to 24/7 culture and weekend closures just do not exist anymore.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
14,047
Location
West Midlands
I've given up caring anymore, my stress levels thank me for it.

Best way forward, on long motorway stints on goes the ACC and LKA, and sit in the left lane behind a nice HGV until it moves or I need to. No zigzagging, weaving in and out of different lanes, and no DH's in German cars up your ass half the time.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
21 Feb 2006
Posts
29,300
I have been driving since 1984 and the roads are certainly significantly busier but I am not sure overall standards are that different. Cars have become bigger, there are far more of them parked up on roads in built up areas and on the roads as a whole and that makes for more traffic. I would also suggest that people are far more stressed with their world and pressured with life and that leads to more anger. Hard to measure but attitudes are different, entitlement different and in turn how people drive their cars different, but that is guy feel.
 
Soldato
Joined
3 Apr 2007
Posts
7,262
Location
South of the Watford Gap!
Is this a top trump thread :) I've been driving since '82 and yes in the early days I also used to drive like an absolute a-hole, probably! But as I've got older I've just got more chilled and let the people who are in a hurry just hurry on.

The standards of driving has definitely got worse, I regularly see drivers where I think how the hell did they get their driving license? I also hate to say this but where I live there has been a steady increase in "European" drivers who really don't give a damn and drive probably as if they were back in their country? I regularly drive in India where the standards are different but I don't do what I do there here, the reason is quite simple, over there there are unwritten rules on how to supposedly drive, one being for example that you never come to a complete stop unless you have to so the car is always inching forward even if it's not your right of way, roundabouts is also a completely different story but there is no way I would even contemplate doing that over here.

Years ago I met a retired traffic cop and he mentioned back then that driving standards were falling and that the traffic and lack of patience were probably the cause.

In my older years I have time for the Doriss' and learner drivers and give them plenty of space and time, after all we were learners back in the day and I'm heading towards becoming a Doris as I get older :D
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Jun 2013
Posts
3,539
I feel it is much worse than when i started driving in the late 90`s. Now i constantly have to watch out for morons who drive too fast in a crazy rush and people not slowing down at danger points in roads that people with half a brain can see are dangerous and slow down.
 
Soldato
Joined
21 Jan 2010
Posts
21,949
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.
I need a special dispensation on this one - M6 J7 there is two lanes merging into one, but muppets create 2 lanes at the end of what should be a simple merge. They turn it into a giveway which in turn creates an even worse tailback...

Edit: Tbf if you're familiar with the M6 J7 roundabout, the whole thing needs a rethink as there is a merge on the other side that becomes a giveway too.
 
Last edited:

Deleted member 651465

D

Deleted member 651465

I'm not bothered by learner drivers. After all, everyone has to learn at some stage and most of the ones I see are capable of doing the speed limit. I find it's only really noticeable when they attempt slow speed moves (pulling away etc) and I can wait an extra 2 mins.

Sadly, I've got no time for HGVs playing "who can complete the world's longest overtake?" because they pull out at 0.00001mph quicker than the guy they've been following for 14 miles. On a 3 lane motorway it's mildly annoying but on a 2 lane stretch where you get stuck behind them for 20 mins whilst they jostle for position... die.
 
Soldato
Joined
21 Jan 2010
Posts
21,949
I'm not bothered by learner drivers. After all, everyone has to learn at some stage and most of the ones I see are capable of doing the speed limit. I find it's only really noticeable when they attempt slow speed moves (pulling away etc) and I can wait an extra 2 mins.

Sadly, I've got no time for HGVs playing "who can complete the world's longest overtake?" because they pull out at 0.00001mph quicker than the guy they've been following for 14 miles. On a 3 lane motorway it's mildly annoying but on a 2 lane stretch where you get stuck behind them for 20 mins whilst they jostle for position... die.
Paging @Scania and @BartTrucker

/grabs popcorn
 
Back
Top Bottom