Your bad driving encounters

Dis86 said:
Nervous drivers shouldn't be on main or busy roads. Let them use those roads once their confidence and competence increases to a suitable level.
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Some test centres are in the middle of busy roads. One test (failed) I did was going down roads which had cars double parked in nearly all the streets.

Also sometimes you read in local media that people living in areas near a driving test centre are fed up of driving school cars using their roads for turn in the roads etc. Again, they forget about themselves when they were 17-19 or whenever they passed their test.
 
jeez, at least the learners have someone on the dual controls, and they have an L plate to warn you, there are a lot worse drivers out there , lets be careful out there,
the average SUV driver, like on the school run, every day, who needs a metre or more distance with parked cars and hangs out over the other side of the road, for one.
should adopt the french(irish too?) distinguishing plates for the newly qualified.
 
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jpaul said:
jeez, at least the learners have someone on the dual controls, and they have an L plate to warn you, there are a lot worse drivers out there , lets be careful out there,
the average SUV driver, like on the school run, every day, who needs a metre or more distance with parked cars and hangs out over the other side of the road, for one.
should adopt the french(irish too?) distinguishing plates for the newly qualified.
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Problem is some parents don’t remove the L plates when their learning driving teen isn’t driving.
 
Most of the issues appear to be caused due to lack of any kind of forward planning or looking way ahead and seeing what the traffic is doing.

People get fixated on the car immediately in front of them and that's all they see.

When they want to make a manoeuvre, such as changing lanes, it has to be done immediately with no regard for anyone else around them.... As long as they get their manoeuvre completed, they couldn't give two ***** about anyone else.
 
Richie said:
People get fixated on the car immediately in front of them and that's all they see.
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I have a battle with this sometimes if I'm driving roads I've done 100s of times especially ones I do daily - fortunately I'm generally aware of when it starts to happen.
 
Dis86 said:
Nervous drivers shouldn't be on main or busy roads. Let them use those roads once their confidence and competence increases to a suitable level.
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How are they supposed to build confidence and competence on main and busy roads if they're not supposed to use them until they've already built that confidence :confused:

You really didn't think that one through, did you :cry:
 
Haggisman said:
How are they supposed to build confidence and competence on main and busy roads if they're not supposed to use them until they've already built that confidence :confused:

You really didn't think that one through, did you :cry:
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You build competence and confidence on quieter roads first. It's not really hard to understand. Day one...don't go near a main road. Get the individual used to handling a car and building up experience.
 
The issue with some nervous drivers is that they never gain the confidence yet somehow pass their test. I've seen it before, drivers sat behind the wheel with white knuckles and a look of sheer panic on their face whilst tootling along at 30-35 on a 70mph dual carriageway.

In my opinion a nervous driver is just as dangerous as an overconfident one.

If driving normally scares you then don't, it's safer for all concerned.

It's also part of the reason that I believe theory/practical tests should be limited in terms of attempts.

Having needed to complete a theory test for my PCV licence I cannot see how someone with basic competence fails it.

I didn't even study and dropped 1 mark.
 
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cheesefest said:
Problem is some parents don’t remove the L plates when their learning driving teen isn’t driving.
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I suspect that there's a link between the L plate and the parents level of driving skill too:D. On the subject of visibility, it does annoy me when I'm behind a van as I'm looking through windows to plan ahead.
 
Dis86 said:
You build competence and confidence on quieter roads first. It's not really hard to understand. Day one...don't go near a main road. Get the individual used to handling a car and building up experience.
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Well yes, that much is obvious, but there's a big difference between pootling round a housing estate during the day, passing 1 car every 5 minutes, and driving round a major ring road during rush hour. One does not prepare you for the other...
 
Haggisman said:
Well yes, that much is obvious, but there's a big difference between pootling round a housing estate during the day, passing 1 car every 5 minutes, and driving round a major ring road during rush hour. One does not prepare you for the other...
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If only it was possible to gradually transition from one to the other?
 
Dis86 said:
If only it was possible to gradually transition from one to the other?
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And that transition from "nervous" to "completely confident" is also gradual. So its entirely possible that at some stage you may come across a learner driver who is well into their tuition, but might still be dealing with a situation upon which they haven't fully cemented their confidence yet, and so may not be as swift at dealing with it as fully qualified drivers. It's really not much to ask to give them some grace. We've all been there.

That aside, even a confident learner is still generally going to be slower and more methodical in their approach while under supervision (anyone else remember the frustration of being told to "feed the wheel" when turning, despite it being slower and more cumbersome?).
 
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Driver for work covering thousands of miles a week and a cyclist when not driving.

I see dozens of bad encounters on a daily basis, anything from light jumping, using phones or just plain driving like an idiot. People pulling out of junctions without looking (both driving and cycling) or driving so close to my rear that if I even tapped the brakes they would have made contact, luckily for me our vehicles have 360 degree CCTV.

My worst encounter though was in Exeter vs a jumped up self entitled range rover driver, dispite seeing the roads access was blocked, they proceeded to nudge forward until they were practically bumper to bumper with my lorry, when it came to finishing up and moving this range rover refused to move giving all manner of abuse, eventually getting confrontational and physical, at this point multiple people from the nearby houses came out including the property I had been at, along with several motorists behind that were waiting patiently and hounded the range rover driver until they moved. Suffice to say I think he learnt his lesson, specially as one person tore his wing mirror off as they went past, and everyone ignored him as he asked for witnesses to it.
 
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Dis86 said:
And consideration for other drivers can be given by learners/instructors who should appreciate the inconvenience they cause to multilple other people.
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I get far more inconvenienced by the confident and supposedly "competent" non-learners who tailgate me, pull out in front of me, drive at 40mph everywhere, change lanes into me, decide to suddenly "park" in the middle of the road with no prior warning, don't bother indicating off at roundabouts or junctions while you're sitting there waiting to pull out, cut across mini roundabouts, overtake on blind corners, drive at 60mph towards me down single track roads where you can't see more than 5m round the next corner, spend more time looking at their phone than the road in front of them, and other general **** behaviour, than I do by the odd learner doing 5mph below the speed limit. I know which I'd rather share the road with.

Let me guess, you're the kind of person who shouts "LEARN TO DRIVE!" at them unironically whilst performing a dangerous overtake because they're doing 29.5mph in a 30mph zone... :cry:
 
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Haggisman said:
I get far more inconvenienced by the confident and supposedly "competent" non-learners who tailgate me, pull out in front of me, drive at 40mph everywhere, change lanes into me, decide to suddenly "park" in the middle of the road with no prior warning, don't bother indicating off at roundabouts or junctions while you're sitting there waiting to pull out, cut across mini roundabouts, overtake on blind corners, drive at 60mph towards me down single track roads where you can't see more than 5m round the next corner, spend more time looking at their phone than the road in front of them, and other general **** behaviour, than I do by the odd learner doing 5mph below the speed limit. I know which I'd rather share the road with.

Let me guess, you're the kind of person who shouts "LEARN TO DRIVE!" at them unironically whilst performing a dangerous overtake because they're doing 29.5mph in a 30mph zone... :cry:
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And this, folks, is a post full of nothing but incorrect assumptions.
 
Bit of a shocker this morning. Waiting to pull out of a junction and I hear the unmistakable sound of a car driving on a completely flat tyre. Two cars were passing in opposite directions and I wrongly assumed it was the Nissan Micra heading towards the village. As I get to the roundabout I catch up with the other car and spot that it was in fact that one which had a completely flat rear drivers side tyre. He was indicating left just about to join the A47 (NSL dual carriageway).

There is a car in front of them so I jump out and gesture for them to wind their window down.

"Your rear tyre is completely flat"
"Yeah... I know..." (giving that what am I supposed to do about it half shrug)
"Well... I wouldn't go on the dual carriageway like that"
"...."
"Your choice mate, just letting you know"

He then turned right at the roundabout, hopefully towards the Shell garage.

I know he was a young kid (I'd guess 18 or so) but how on earth did he think that was going to end?!
 
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