Your bad driving encounters

ICDP · 19 Dec 2022 at 13:39

Haggisman said:
I'm not. If there had been a genuine emergency that you hadn't seen, you wouldn't have magically been able to stop any quicker; you still would have gone into the back of her, because you were either too close or not paying attention.

No, you really are conflating two seperate issues and instead of accepting that, you now move the goalposts to some imaginary emergency that I somehow didn't see.

The law is very clear, and I was deemed totally faultless. You and your imagination are not going to change facts.

Haggisman · 19 Dec 2022 at 13:51

Dis86 said:
You are. The law views both very differently. There wasn't an emergency ergo her stop was not required.

ICDP said:
No, you really are conflating two seperate issues and instead of accepting that, you now move the goalposts to some imaginary emergency that I somehow didn't see.

The law is very clear, and I was deemed totally faultless. You and your imagination are not going to change facts.

I agree with both of you, I'm not arguing about how the law views it, but the fact the collision occurred at all proves that you were unable to stop in time. So why was that?

You're fixating too much on "was I in the right or not", and ignoring "what could I do better to prevent this happening again". Your replies only further confirm that you don't believe your following distance in any way contributed to the collision

Dis86 · 19 Dec 2022 at 14:20

Haggisman said:
I agree with both of you, I'm not arguing about how the law views it, but the fact the collision occurred at all proves that you were unable to stop in time. So why was that?

You're fixating too much on "was I in the right or not", and ignoring "what could I do better to prevent this happening again". Your replies only further confirm that you don't believe your following distance in any way contributed to the collision

The collision was entirely caused by the person coming to an unnecessary stop.

ICDP · 19 Dec 2022 at 14:31

Haggisman said:
I agree with both of you, I'm not arguing about how the law views it, but the fact the collision occurred at all proves that you were unable to stop in time. So why was that?

You're fixating too much on "was I in the right or not", and ignoring "what could I do better to prevent this happening again". Your replies only further confirm that you don't believe your following distance in any way contributed to the collision

Yes but the issue becomes, how much distance do you need to leave and when does it become unreasonable. That is why we need to go by the letter of the law and not on some arbitrary "well obviously the accident would have been avoided if you had been further back". This is no different than saying any accident could have been avoided if the innocent/faultless party had took a different route, stayed in bed, left earlier, stopped to pick up a coffee because then they would not have been in the wrong place at the right time.

Initially it was reasonable for me to assume given there was no obvious emergency situation, that they were only slowing down. So for a split second I broke moderately before the realisation that they were emergency stopping for absolutely no reason. Does that mean I was too close to stop should there have been a real emergency? No because had there been a real emergecny I would have been able to stop. Does it mean I was too close to avoid the collision caused by the bad driving from the person in front? Yes.

So the law basically stated that while there was an accident, it was not as a result of my driving, but the other partie's driving. The reason for the accident as Dis86 quoted above was... "The collision was entirely caused by the person coming to an unnecessary stop."

Kenai · 19 Dec 2022 at 14:39

I can't help but feel this argument wouldn't be happening if you hadn't started off saying you were two car lengths behind in a 40 before later clarifying it was two seconds at around 30 - one is a clearly daft distance to be following, the other entirely normal

ICDP · 19 Dec 2022 at 14:45

Kenai said:
I can't help but feel this argument wouldn't be happening if you hadn't started off saying you were two car lengths behind in a 40 before later clarifying it was two seconds at around 30 - one is a clearly daft distance to be following, the other entirely normal

Lol I know, mia culpa.

Haggisman · 19 Dec 2022 at 14:52

ICDP said:
had thre been a real emergecny I would have been able to stop.

Honestly I have no words. There are multiple valid emergency reasons why a vehicle in front of you could stop suddenly which may not be immediately obvious to you. I hope you're lucky enough not to encounter that scenario.

Rroff · 20 Dec 2022 at 00:57

Personally try to sit more than a minimum 2 seconds back unless it would unnecessarily hold up other traffic - too many times unexpected/crazy things happen where you need all the space you can get :s

Tonight for instance I had someone in front of me suddenly slow from 70 to 50 and snaking all over the road while the driver and passenger seemed to be having a full on domestic and ignoring what was going on around them.

theone8181 · 20 Dec 2022 at 07:55

tom_e said:
I prefer the ones that just don't bother to be honest, at least then you know you give them a wide berth

I am finding more and more that people with private plates tend to ne poor drivers. Fine by me as its obvious from a distance, but there seems to be a bit of a link at least.

Dis86 · 20 Dec 2022 at 08:09

theone8181 said:
I am finding more and more that people with private plates tend to ne poor drivers. Fine by me as its obvious from a distance, but there seems to be a bit of a link at least.

I'm yet to meet a BO55 or B16 that doesn't drive like a toss pot.

SDK^ · 20 Dec 2022 at 09:11

Anytime I encounter a Range Rover SVR the driver does something stupid, usually within a few minutes of seeing them.

Jelly4mybelly · 20 Dec 2022 at 14:31

ICDP said:
You need to put down your shovel. It clearly has not sunk in that the other driver was already deemed 100% responsible over two decades ago. No amount of you doing man maths or doubling down will change that FACT.

It still does not change the other FACT whereby if you had left a bit more space and or been paying more attention the accident would have been avoided.

champ222 · 21 Dec 2022 at 15:02

A few things.

I work out in the sticks. loads of people have started constantly driving in the middle of the road. Lunging over to their side as soon as they see someone coming the other way.... sometimes they only just make it over in time. I get that the roads are a mess with pot holes everywhere, but its getting a bit ridiculous now.

A few years back, i was driving along the A428/A14 towards Newmarket i cant remember where exactly, but i think it was where the A14 "merges" with the A428 and carries on as the A14, but it might have been at a junction further up. Strangely, traffic was light, i was in lane 1. I saw another car, in lane 2 of his road (for no apparent reason), wanting to merge into my lane. he was looking over his shoulder, gesturing to me that i should move over to let him out. Now only lane 2 of his road merged with lane 1 of mine, lane 1 of his road just carried on along side my road. there was nothing in his lane 1, but rather just moving into his lane 1, where he should have been anyway, he expected me to move. I didnt, and he hit the brakes and pulled straight in behind me. These days i'd just move over, but at the time i had a long commute and i was so fed up with all the stupidness.

A few months ago, i was at the Biggleswade A1 rounderbout here: map I'm coming from the golf shop direction and going straight over. The single carriageway road spilits into two lanes, right at the rounderbout, so i'm in the left lane. Its not easy to get out, because its A1 traffic so its a pretty steady stream. If your turning left it isnt too bad as you can just blast it, but going straight over, you need two clear lanes, and if you go too fast, then your going pretty fast onto the southbound A1 traffic. You get quite the queue of traffic here sometimes. I dont remember it being particularly bad this day. I'd only just got to the rounderbout, and was awaiting a gap in the traffic. i hadnt been there long, when an Audi Qsomething or other pulled in to the right hand lane, and he wanted to go left!?! so he thought, rather than just wait his ******* turn he would just cut straight in front of me. as it happens, i moved slightly before him. so he nailed it, then had to brake hard, then negotiate around me... right knob.

There is plenty that annoys me on the road. Mono-speeders (40-45 mph everywhere), people who cant accelerate on a slip road to an appropriate speed to meet the traffic. People who just indicate and pull out to overtake on a motorway, regardless of how much it causes the traffic to slow down to let them out, because they are coming out anyway... this didnt happen in my day. When i was a lot younger (i'm 44 now) i used to drive everywhere as quickly as i can, but there was always a rule that you wouldnt cause people to have to brake if you change lanes. so if you did pull in front (ish) of someone, you'd put your foot down. Now no one cares. they want to pull out, so F everyone else.

The best thing i did was to change jobs with a much shorter commute. 40 miles each way to 7 miles each way. It all winds me up a lot less now.

Rroff · 21 Dec 2022 at 15:09

champ222 said:
I work out in the sticks. loads of people have started constantly driving in the middle of the road. Lunging over to their side as soon as they see someone coming the other way.... sometimes they only just make it over in time. I get that the roads are a mess with pot holes everywhere, but its getting a bit ridiculous now.

Also living out in the sticks I see an increasing amount of that especially lazy entries into corners or cutting across on junctions (not people trying to maximise their visibility on entry) - even after near misses, etc. they are still doing it the next time I see them - I see the same people time after time having near misses on the sharp bend at the end of the road past my house.

Greebo · 21 Dec 2022 at 17:09

Rroff said:
Also living out in the sticks I see an increasing amount of that especially lazy entries into corners or cutting across on junctions (not people trying to maximise their visibility on entry) - even after near misses, etc. they are still doing it the next time I see them - I see the same people time after time having near misses on the sharp bend at the end of the road past my house.

cutting the corner when turning right I see almost every day. No idea why it has become so prevalent nowadays. None of these people would pass a driving test nowadays.

233 · 21 Dec 2022 at 17:14

absolute twonkts jumping red lights seems to be a regular occurence along with god awful lane discipline when it comes to dual carriageways and motorways

SexyGreyFox · 21 Dec 2022 at 17:15

Greebo said:
cutting the corner when turning right I see almost every day. No idea why it has become so prevalent nowadays. None of these people would pass a driving test nowadays.

Terrifying when I'm cycling and happens daily.
If I don't take centre of the road then some berk is trying to get up the outside of me when I'm turning right and I have indicated.

233 said:
absolute twonkts jumping red lights seems to be a regular occurence along with god awful lane discipline when it comes to dual carriageways and motorways

Only saw 4 cars jump lights today on my drive to Wickes but I only went through two Pelican Crossings and one set of traffic lights.
I can't believe how much this has got worse but a cyclist does it and it's the end of the World.

Dis86 · 28 Dec 2022 at 11:48

A1 section with 3 lanes near Newcastle. Massive problem with middle lane morons and as far as I can tell 90% of them are women.

Stu999 · 28 Dec 2022 at 15:03

Dis86 said:
A1 section with 3 lanes near Newcastle. Massive problem with middle lane morons and as far as I can tell 90% of them are women.

That’s the undertake zone for me. Stick at 50 in the inside lane and overtake the wallies in lanes 2 and 3.

Blackjack Davy · 31 Dec 2022 at 03:44

Tailgating is the worst its just really annoying its not so bad daytime but at night theres some berk right behind you the inside of the car is lit up like the spacecraft in Close Encounters and you're dazzled by the mirrors it actually makes it difficult to see whats on the road in front when theres more light inside/behind than infront. It'll happen at least once a night

Dis86 said:
The collision was entirely caused by the person coming to an unnecessary stop.

The collision was caused by the following driver either following too close or moving too fast and possibly both.

Its was a learner. You give them distance and time because they may do things unexpectedly and incorrectly, thats why have L Plates on them. Its a warning to other drivers which was clearly ignored.

Greebo said:
cutting the corner when turning right I see almost every day. No idea why it has become so prevalent nowadays. None of these people would pass a driving test nowadays.

Everyone does it I usually pull up gingerly at the junction to turn right incase someone hurtling down the road is going to cut the corner infront of me, sometimes I get there just before them and the exaggerated extra turn they have to do together with the look of surprise that someone is sitting in their favourite corner cutting spot is worth it

SexyGreyFox said:
Terrifying when I'm cycling and happens daily.

Its even worse when its an HGV and the rear wheels of that trailer are on a collision course with your face. Still remember when I used to motorcycle unlike a car theres no reverse gear so you're frantically trying to push this weight backwards with your feet hoping theres nothing behind you or its curtains, sunshine.