Why don't they grit the highway or drive slower ?

[fez]

American drivers are just generally ****. Plenty of Americans have come over here and said how shocked they were at how hard our driving test was. Thiers literally just requires you to show that you can operate a car and drive around the lock a few times.

The standards of driving in this country are awful as well but America is a 3/10 and we are a 6.

 

[chaparral]

American drivers are just generally ****. Plenty of Americans have come over here and said how shocked they were at how hard our driving test was. Thiers literally just requires you to show that you can operate a car and drive around the lock a few times.

Am sure i remember my car test not being much different at all to that, But this was back in 1987
( i heard many times that car & motorbike tests are meant to be much harder these days)

 

[Diddums]

One of the best things I've ever done in my life was ice driving training. It taught me more about car handling in everyday conditions than anything else and gives me a ton more confidence in cold conditions. I honestly can't recommend it enough, if you do one thing in your life for the safety of you and your family, do an ice driving course.

The fact it was also the most fun I've ever had in a car was just a bonus.

 

[fez]

Am sure i remember my car test not being much different at all to that, But this was back in 1987
( i heard many times that car & motorbike tests are meant to be much harder these days)

A lot of the really bad drivers I see are middle aged which is probably part of the reason why. Its usually just a complete lack of awareness or attention to anyone else on the road. They are literally in their own world. If you can sit in the outside lane for a few miles going less than 70 while drivers pile up behind you then you are quite clearly not ever paying the slightest attention to your speed or anyone else around you. If you are being overtaken on the inside and outside lanes by a lot of cars, you are clearly not paying any attention.

Driving in France makes you realise just how awful UK motorway drivers are in general.

 

[Django x2]

My understanding was that this particular stretch of road was treated on Tuesday. I mentioned that we grit the roads every night for +3c

 

[chaparral]

What would be the stopping distance of a 40 ton 18 wheeler doing even 40mph on ice

 

[Terminal_Boy]

What would be the stopping distance of a 40 ton 18 wheeler doing even 40mph on ice

About 3 times the gap that the driver allowed..

 

[builder22]

when it hits something by the looks of that video

 

[Puzzled]

Roads are too straight, all the drivers have fallen asleep due to boredom

That is one crazy pileup though

 

[potatolord]

Trouble is if you knock another 10 off you could end up getting rear ended by one of the idoits still doing 70+.

The standard of driving in the US is terrible and the UK isn't far behind. Self driving cars can't come soon enough

I did look at uk fatal Road accident stats a few years back. The UK is pretty good by European standards. The worst places were Italy and Romania from what I remember. No surprise to anyone who's been on the road in Italy, I'd guess.

Vaguely remember uk injury rates were also comparatively low.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Yup, I’d dispute the premise that the U.K. has poor driving standards. By all accounts are roads are some of the safest.

 

[ik9000]

Yup, I’d dispute the premise that the U.K. has poor driving standards. By all accounts are roads are some of the safest.

there are still some real idiots - especially out this way. I need to get dashcams fitted because some of the BS I've had as near misses from other shoddy drivers is definitely prosecutable with video evidence.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

there are still some real idiots - especially out this way. I need to get dashcams fitted because some of the BS I've had as near misses from other shoddy drivers is definitely prosecutable with video evidence.

That's fine and I didn't say there wasn't but it doesn't make the standard of driving here poor when compared to other countries. Go and hire a car in a developing country and let us know how you get on .

Have you seen the cost of car insurance in the USA? The average cost is over $1500 per year compared to under £500 in the UK.

 

[ik9000]

That's fine and I didn't say there wasn't but it doesn't make the standard of driving here poor when compared to other countries. Go and hire a car in a developing country and let us know how you get on .

Have you seen the cost of car insurance in the USA? The average cost is over $1500 per year compared to under £500 in the UK.

I was mentioning as much above. But just cos it's worse elsewhere doesn't mean we can say it's good here. It's not, it's just less bad.

 

[Jean-F]

A lot of the really bad drivers I see are middle aged which is probably part of the reason why. Its usually just a complete lack of awareness or attention to anyone else on the road. They are literally in their own world. If you can sit in the outside lane for a few miles going less than 70 while drivers pile up behind you then you are quite clearly not ever paying the slightest attention to your speed or anyone else around you. If you are being overtaken on the inside and outside lanes by a lot of cars, you are clearly not paying any attention.

Driving in France makes you realise just how awful UK motorway drivers are in general.

I’d have to agree with the bit about driving in France, the majority of drivers in France appear to know what to do, and how best to do it, while I gain the impression that a lot of British drivers are not that sure of what’s going on around them, and in particular what’s behind them.

 

[theone8181]

I’d have to agree with the bit about driving in France, the majority of drivers in France appear to know what to do, and how best to do it, while I gain the impression that a lot of British drivers are not that sure of what’s going on around them, and in particular what’s behind them.

While I e not actually been to France, don't they have 2 limits for roads depending on the weather?

 

[fez]

I’d have to agree with the bit about driving in France, the majority of drivers in France appear to know what to do, and how best to do it, while I gain the impression that a lot of British drivers are not that sure of what’s going on around them, and in particular what’s behind them.

I think part of that is the French drivers would be up your arse, flashing their lights and sitting on their horn if you sat in the outside lane with people coming up behind you at a higher speed. That probably conditions people to move over once they have overtaken. I'm sure they put more of an emphasis on it when learning as well.

Always amazes me that we don't have more accidents considering how little attention the average driver pays to other road users. I assume its because as long as you don't do something really stupid at just the wrong time, most people behind you can react and avoid hitting you. Far too many people think that they are good drivers just because they haven't been in an accident.

 

[200sols]

Driving in France makes you realise just how awful UK motorway drivers are in general.

Is this a joke? French drivers are horrible, impatient and obnoxious. They have almost twice as many deaths on their roads as we do in the UK. They are not good drivers.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

While I e not actually been to France, don't they have 2 limits for roads depending on the weather?

They do on the French autoroutes. 130kph in the dry and 110kph in the rain.

The one bad driving habit the French have that alarms foreigners is that they get very close to the back of your vehicle before pulling out to overtake. Less than a car length close.

Other than having shockingly poor parking skills, the rural French seem to drive steadily and sensibly to me. You still have the young drivers giving it beans in a stock 1.1 Clio and the usual idiots in German cars, but I notice them more as there’s fewer of them.

Rush hour in the larger cities here is much like it is in London: full of angry muppets prepared to endanger everyone around them to get home 30 seconds earlier.

 

[Hades]

Am sure i remember my car test not being much different at all to that, But this was back in 1987
( i heard many times that car & motorbike tests are meant to be much harder these days)

I took my car test in 1987 and this year my daughter will be taking hers. I'm also intending to take my motorcycle test this year. I don't recall the test in 1987 being particularly easy but it does seem to have got a lot harder now.