Your bad driving encounters

It doesn't make any sense at all that you can keep a license for 40+ years without a single assessment or even conversation with an official body. Considering how much the rules have changed, not to mention our roads themselves and the people/level of congestion. And the fact our sight and reaction times naturally decline!
 
LPT for those who don't want more speed cameras (looking at you M3 driver today), don't fly through those traffic study tubes along the road at twice the speed limit.
 
LuckyBenski said:
It doesn't make any sense at all that you can keep a license for 40+ years without a single assessment or even conversation with an official body. Considering how much the rules have changed, not to mention our roads themselves and the people/level of congestion. And the fact our sight and reaction times naturally decline!
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I've always thought a retest every 10 years for everyone would be good, I just realised that the way things are you'd have to book it every 10 years to deal with the backlog :D .
 
Klunt Bumskrint said:
Getting so fed up of people doing 45 mph on a nice tidy road where you can easily do 60. It makes me want to follow these people to the shops and walk around really slowly right in front of them wherever they go.
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I had a conversation with one a few days back - I said they should drive to an appropriate speed for the limit and conditions and not unnecessarily frustrate other drivers:

Them: "Sorry you feel that way. Personally, I just drive slowly and when opportunities present themselves to let people overtake… I just let them. Too many Kenneth Noyes on the road… in the World in general."

Me: "It isn't about how I feel, it is what makes the roads work best for everybody."

Them: "The only driving you can control is your own. Ultimately, in my experience, it's not about who's right or wrong; it's about simply what keeps me out of trouble."

After that it started getting a bit weird with them basically getting their knickers in a twist about what is a small percentage of drivers and penalising everyone for those people's behaviour:

Them: "Driving like everyone else? So play a lot more Gran Turismo/GTA; watch a load of episodes of The Sweeney/Starsky and Hutch; develop a healthy crack habit and cultivate a pronounced Anti Social Personality Disorder. Glad we cleared that up."
 
It's just *%&$ing selfish.
Rroff said:
I had a conversation with one a few days back - I said they should drive to an appropriate speed for the limit and conditions and not unnecessarily frustrate other drivers:

Them: "Sorry you feel that way. Personally, I just drive slowly and when opportunities present themselves to let people overtake… I just let them. Too many Kenneth Noyes on the road… in the World in general."

Me: "It isn't about how I feel, it is what makes the roads work best for everybody."

Them: "The only driving you can control is your own. Ultimately, in my experience, it's not about who's right or wrong; it's about simply what keeps me out of trouble."

After that it started getting a bit weird with them basically getting their knickers in a twist about what is a small percentage of drivers and penalising everyone for those people's behaviour:

Them: "Driving like everyone else? So play a lot more Gran Turismo/GTA; watch a load of episodes of The Sweeney/Starsky and Hutch; develop a healthy crack habit and cultivate a pronounced Anti Social Personality Disorder. Glad we cleared that up."
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Frustrating drive to work, no one getting going, speeds randomly going up and down, van pulled out in front of me on the dual-carriageway to take a right hand junction despite no traffic in lane 2 behind me, etc. etc.

Quite busy and some roadworks so lots of sections of crawling traffic so I was just taking it chill anyhow but still annoying.
 
theone8181 said:
Not so much a bad driving encounter, but saw a mobile tyre guy replacing a wheel....with the car jacked up on a gravel driveway. Couldn't decide if brave or stupid.
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I get scared enough using a jack on my mildly sloping, slightly loose tarmac drive! Not fun giving it one more pump and watching the wheels dig in slightly...
 
theone8181 said:
Not so much a bad driving encounter, but saw a mobile tyre guy replacing a wheel....with the car jacked up on a gravel driveway. Couldn't decide if brave or stupid.
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I've got a slightly sloping stone chip drive and parking area :( I'll do a wheel but I won't go under a vehicle. Bit of a pain as I'd do more of my own work otherwise on my vehicles.

The mobile tyre people don't have a problem with it.
 
Coming home on the m4 Sunday afternoon near reading and the amount of drivers in the 3rd and 4th lane at 60-65 whilst lanes 1&2 were clear was astounding.

I probably cruised for a good 5 minutes in lane 1 at 70-75 without needing to move out to overtake.

My view may not be the legal one, but I saw it as keeping up with traffic and not undertaking especially as there was often lane 2 clear as I went past lane 3/4
 
Will Gill said:
I think, if you are maintaining speed and not changing lanes you can legally pass people going slower in the outer lanes.

That's what I like to do & think anyway :p :D
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This is my reasoning too. I was not changing to a left lane to pass, I was just already in it and it’s clear and I’m at (near) the posted limit. And I keep a good eye on any vehicles to my right ready to react if I see them moving left without checking.
 
It is an area not very well covered by the highway code - something which needs an update really. Overtaking on the left should generally be discouraged due to the safety side of it but when someone is doing significantly under a reasonable speed for the limit and conditions then it isn't unreasonable to pass them on the left with caution.

Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.
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Personally I'd say if you are doing 70MPH on a NSL dual-carriageway or motorway in lane 1 and someone is doing like low 60s in lane 2 or 3 technically you are still keeping up with traffic even if there is nothing in front of you. And I'd argue going back to lane 1 if it is clear isn't to overtake it is simply resuming your journey after passing other traffic.

One that drives me up the wall a bit at multi-lane traffic lights when you get someone who goes out in lane 2 who never has any intention of getting going then ends up sitting out there stranded doing a fair bit below the limit and you have to be a bit cautious of passing them on the left in case they move over on you :(
 
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how much higher is related accident rate in the USA where you can use any lane .. and why haven't they revoked it there if it were a genuine safety issue.
just as many less maneuverable hgv's/semis on their interstates, but perhaps fewer near cities at rush hour.
 
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