Your bad driving encounters

muon · 26 Dec 2024 at 14:57

I've started to see mopeds on dual carriageways now. Do they have a death wish?

They will join via an off ramp at what must easily be <30mph whilst traffic is doing 50mph+.

I've even seen some (much more rarely) take motorways, albeit I assume they are doing it for a short stint.

Unsurprisingly, these are all delivery drivers.

Rroff · 26 Dec 2024 at 15:00

muon said:
I've started to see mopeds on dual carriageways now. Do they have a death wish?

They will join via an off ramp at what must easily be <30mph whilst traffic is doing 50mph+.

I've even seen some take motorways, albeit I assume they are doing it for a short stint.

Unsurprisingly, these are all delivery drivers.

I'm seeing an increased number of cyclists as well - I think it was Monday on my day to work 2 were just stopped seemingly having a chat in lane 1 half-way up a hill... incredibly dangerous.

muon · 26 Dec 2024 at 15:03

I don't get it, cars can dodge them, but HGVs must be screwed. How are the moped drivers not terrified of a HGV outbraking itself.

Resident · 27 Dec 2024 at 09:18

Rroff said:
I'm seeing an increased number of cyclists as well - I think it was Monday on my day to work 2 were just stopped seemingly having a chat in lane 1 half-way up a hill... incredibly dangerous.

ATM there are extra patrols being made on a dual carriageway near me. Cyclists & pedestrians are prohibited on this particular DC yet recently cyclists and pedestrians lately have taken to ignoring this.

muon said:
I don't get it, cars can dodge them, but HGVs must be screwed. How are the moped drivers not terrified of a HGV outbraking itself.

Sadly, unlike a motorway, there's no minimum speed on DC's

Right on to my 'encounter's

Yesterday, did the staple thing of family visiting on Boxing Day. An hour's journey via a mix of motorway & B-roads. Fog had descended and for some portions of the journey, visibility was just a few metres.

Que a plethora of idiots driving with no lights on at all.

tom_e · 27 Dec 2024 at 09:51

Resident said:
Sadly, unlike a motorway, there's no minimum speed on DC's

There's no blanket minimum speed on motorways either. There is a minimum cc limit for mopeds/motorbikes though

lordrobs · 27 Dec 2024 at 09:53

muon said:
I've started to see mopeds on dual carriageways now. Do they have a death wish?

They will join via an off ramp at what must easily be <30mph whilst traffic is doing 50mph+.

I've even seen some (much more rarely) take motorways, albeit I assume they are doing it for a short stint.

Unsurprisingly, these are all delivery drivers.

Ironically when I was at sixth form quite a few of the people had mopeds to get in from our village. A few used the dual carriageway, one guy took the country lanes. I'll let you guess which one ended up losing a leg in an accident.

It does seem odd though that they can use an NSL dual carriageway while limited to less than half the speed limit yet they can't use a motorway. Seems a similar risk to me.

Infidelus · 27 Dec 2024 at 09:55

Resident said:
Sadly, unlike a motorway, there's no minimum speed on DC's

There is no minimum speed limit on a motorway either AFAIK, though the Police do have the power to take action if a driver is holding up traffic.

Uther · 27 Dec 2024 at 10:21

Really foggy here this morning, so many people driving around with no lights on at all.

Stu999 · 27 Dec 2024 at 10:53

Too many honestly. Just had someone nearly reverse into me in a pretty quiet car park while I’m in a parking bay.

People who can’t keep a roughly consistent speed on the motorway (traffic allowing).

MartinPrince · 27 Dec 2024 at 11:43

Saw this yesterday... I think the van driver went in last and was trying to teach the tourist a lesson in parking in between the lines, as there was no way they were getting in through the driver side door!

LuckyBenski · 27 Dec 2024 at 12:01

MartinPrince said:
Saw this yesterday... I think the van driver went in last and was trying to teach the tourist a lesson in parking in between the lines, as there was no way they were getting in through the driver side door!

Good! Goes to show, you wouldn't park like that if someone was already in the other side!

Stu999 · 27 Dec 2024 at 12:27

Also had someone engage reverse at a junction and nearly go into my car.

lordrobs · 27 Dec 2024 at 13:47

The problem with punishment parking like that is you don't know if the other car was forced to park like that by someone else with zero parking ability.

Uther · 27 Dec 2024 at 14:46

Stu999 said:
Also had someone engage reverse at a junction and nearly go into my car.

So many people seem to throw their cars into reverse without looking. Supermarket car parks are lethal these days.

MartinPrince · 27 Dec 2024 at 16:56

lordrobs said:
The problem with punishment parking like that is you don't know if the other car was forced to park like that by someone else with zero parking ability.

Sometimes but in this circumstance the car in the adjacent space (out of shot) was parked perfectly fine; besides the spaces aren't particular narrow either so I have very little sympathy for the hire car driver.

GravyMonster · 27 Dec 2024 at 17:04

lordrobs said:
you don't know if the other car was forced to park like that by someone else with zero parking ability.

Then park somewhere else. No one is 'forced' to park in a space.

If you have to park like that to fit in the remaining space, then the space isn't big enough for your car. It's annoying and not your fault, but parking like a dick because someone else did just makes you a dick as well.

Rroff · 27 Dec 2024 at 17:30

GravyMonster said:
Then park somewhere else. No one is 'forced' to park in a space.

If you have to park like that to fit in the remaining space, then the space isn't big enough for your car. It's annoying and not your fault, but parking like a dick because someone else did just makes you a dick as well.

Not always that easy - couple of places I go it could be the last space and/or none of the remaining spaces are great due to other people's parking and there is nowhere else sensible to park for a mile.

Diddums · 27 Dec 2024 at 17:57

muon said:
I've started to see mopeds on dual carriageways now. Do they have a death wish?

They will join via an off ramp at what must easily be <30mph whilst traffic is doing 50mph+.

I've even seen some (much more rarely) take motorways, albeit I assume they are doing it for a short stint.

Unsurprisingly, these are all delivery drivers.

They're not mopeds. They're scooters and will usually hit around 60mph which is plenty, they just take about a month to get there

muon · 27 Dec 2024 at 18:09

Diddums said:
They're not mopeds. They're scooters and will usually hit around 60mph which is plenty, they just take about a month to get there

Why are they capping out at barely above 20mph?

Definitely delivery drivers on old mopeds.

Probably quite a cost effective way to do their job.

Diddums · 27 Dec 2024 at 18:19

muon said:
Why are they capping out at barely above 20mph?

Definitely delivery drivers on old mopeds.

Probably quite a cost effective way to do their job.

Actually thinking about it they could be those new electric deathtraps used by Dominos and Deliveroo and whatnot. I think those are actually restricted to 20mph. Shouldn't be anywhere near a dual carriageway tbh.