Why are most motorists so unable to accept criticism of their driving ?

Justin Smith

Justin Smith

Justin Smith

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This is one of the great mysteries of the world to me, in fact it`s up there with the Mary Celeste as far as I`m concerned.

Why are most drivers so pathologically unable to accept criticism of their driving ?
Why, no matter what they`ve done, no matter how obvious it is, do the never ever think they`re in the wrong ? ! ?

Why ?
Being in a tin box makes them anti social ?
Some phallic symbolism, "my driving is my virility" ?
Subconscious lack of confidence leading to an inability to accept criticism ?

I`ll always remember when some imbecile went through a light on red just as I was crossing the road, he was in an open top car and had to stop for the traffic queue, so I had the chance to point out to him what he`d just done. I didn`t even swear at him, though I bleedin` felt like it...... Now, he knew he was in the wrong, I knew he was in the wrong, and I knew he knew he was in the wrong, yet far from apologising he reacted like I`d accused his wife of sleeping with half of Sheffield.
How does that work ? ! ?

Now let`s face it the vast majority of the bad driving* which winds people up isn`t an error, those drivers are actually doing it on purpose. So, if they get upset at criticism they`re not even being true to themselves ! Do you think they lack confidence or something ? Do you remember when some guy started videoing crap driving and putting it on the internet ? On nearly all those videoed clips that driving was no mistake, it was done on purpose, and yet, apparently, he was subject to threats and all sorts.
How does that work ? ! ?

But it gets worse. There`s a set of rules, the Highway Code, which we`re all supposed to stick to, i.e. the same set of rules for everyone, yet some drivers think it beyond the pale for anyone to point out to them what they`ve (deliberately) done.
How does that work ? ! ?

Remember that driving is not a right it`s a privilege, you need a licence, and that`s because cars can kill and injure people. Thus every person on the roads (and that includes pedestrians, so that`s everyone) has a perfect right, possibly even a duty, to point out when someone isn`t actually driving as safely or correctly as they should.

So if anyone criticises your driving or points out you`ve done something wrong, get real, they might even be right,
in fact they probably are right.....

* Going through red lights, tailgating, speeding, overtaking on the inside, cutting people up, bad parking, etc, etc, etc.......
 
TL;DR: Op was driving last night and saw someone going through red lights, tailgating, speeding, overtaking on the inside, cutting people up and finally parking badly.
 
I do all those except the bad parking, you have to be really useless to walk away from a badly parked car (unless you are a girl, because you can blame it on hormones or small hands).
 
I think the pressing question is why cant some people use apostrophes?

I CBA to read the wall of text because the spacing caused by the silly punctuation is giving me a headache. I assume it's just a rant about driving standards?
 
IMO it depends who is telling the driver their faults.
At the speed awareness course I recently attended, the majority seemed happy to accept faults (we were discussing this during breaks) there was the stick in the mud who wouldn't engage and felt persecuted, there's always one in most scenarios.
Similarly, drivers at work are happy in the main to take advice & criticism from the driver trainers during driving assessments & on training courses, again though, there's always the odd one who won't.
 
You've already got the answer to your question. Not many people like having their mistakes pointed out to them whether driving or not. They mostly know when the mistake has been made and they usually want to just leave with their tails between their legs. The difference with driving is an audience (usually)
 
I think the OP is kind of getting at the typical british driver who for example sticks his 2 fingers up at someone who pips the horn even though he pulled out on them and they had to brake not to hit his car.

There's a lot of attitude on the road these days, and it seems like everybodys angry all the time.

I had a minor road rage incident the other day, this big skin head got out his passat like ten men, but got back in like half a man after I got out :D

Cheers
 
Pretty simple answer to that I would have thought:

People who drive like ****s are likely to be ****s, therefore will act like ****s when you confront them about being a ****.
 
My brother's driving is horrendous but I can't say anything about it because he takes it so badly.

His view of driving is that the left hand is for gearchangin - nothing (NOTHING) else.

The right hand steers, does the indicators, faffs with his phone and anything else that he can do. He even checks the mpg on the indicator stalk (on the left) with his right hand. Collossal turd when he does that.
 
alexthecheese said:
My brother's driving is horrendous but I can't say anything about it because he takes it so badly.

His view of driving is that the left hand is for gearchangin - nothing (NOTHING) else.

The right hand steers, does the indicators, faffs with his phone and anything else that he can do. He even checks the mpg on the indicator stalk (on the left) with his right hand. Collossal turd when he does that.
Click to expand...

What does he do when he drives an auto? :p
 
iaind said:
I assume it's just a rant about driving standards?
Click to expand...

It isn`t a rant about bad driving, that`s to fundamentally misunderstand my point, it`s a question, why are most drivers are so pathologically unable to accept criticism of their driving. I accept that many people are very loath to accept any criticism of anything they, but drivers are the worst in this respect. I really don`t understand it because I`m quite happy to argue / debate with anyone the merits (or lack of them), of anything I do. You`ll never hear me say, you don`t have the right to criticise me because that`s just saying I haven`t got an answer to your argument, thus, definitively, anyone who says that has a weak case or knows they`re in the wrong. Which is what that cretin in my initial example did.
But as it happens any road user has a perfect right to criticise anyone else`s driving because they have to share the road with them.
 
Justin Smith said:
It isn`t a rant about bad driving, that`s to fundamentally misunderstand my point, it`s a question, why are most drivers are so pathologically unable to accept criticism of their driving. I accept that many people are very loath to accept any criticism of anything they, but drivers are the worst in this respect. I really don`t understand it because I`m quite happy to argue / debate with anyone the merits (or lack of them), of anything I do. You`ll never hear me say, you don`t have the right to criticise me because that`s just saying I haven`t got an answer to your argument, thus, definitively, anyone who says that has a weak case or knows they`re in the wrong. Which is what that cretin in my initial example did.
But as it happens any road user has a perfect right to criticise anyone else`s driving because they have to share the road with them.
Click to expand...

Would you maybe consider changing your keyboard map so ` and ' are swapped around?
 
I have no problem accepting constructive criticism when it comes to my driving. Made enough balls-ups to know that I'm not perfect by any means.

However you do also tend to find that those drivers who will fly off the handle at criticism are also the same ones who will ravenously criticise others -- ie. shouting out the window and making wild gesticulations while providing their criticisms with a rather aggressive gait, rather than calmly offering their advice or querying the offending party. These people tend to be referred to as "Knobs".
 
Spartacus said:
There's a lot of attitude on the road these days, and it seems like everybodys angry all the time.
Click to expand...

This is quite true. a few months ago i was waiting to pull out of a petrol station onto a busy road and I was sitting there waiting for an opportunity or someone nice to let me in. Anyway a number of cars saw me and closed the gap to say 'you're not getting in front of me buddy'. Just as one woman was doing exactly this and clearly glaring at the nose of my car she went straight into the back of the car in front of her which was slowing down. This gave me the perfect opportunity to pull out :)
 
Haggisman said:
Pretty simple answer to that I would have thought:

People who drive like ****s are likely to be ****s, therefore will act like ****s when you confront them about being a ****.
Click to expand...

Good point. However, I find in everyday life, face to face, most people are pretty decent. Not necessarily fantastically pleasant and accommodating you understand, but OK. However, in my experience, very few car drivers, when you point out they`ve just done something potentially dangerous, hold their hands up and say sorry.
I`m not a perfect driver, nobody is, sometime I misjudge a red light and go through it slightly after I should, but if someone pointed that out to me I`d just say "sorry, I didn`t mean to do that", not explode with rage at the messenger.......
 
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