Standard of driving

[clanless]

My commute to work takes me up and down the M56. Each day I am absolutely astounded by the poor standard of driving.

Tail gating, no indicators, leaving it far too late to take a junction, driving into the 'safe' stopping distance gap, speeding etc.

What really pisses me of, I'm coming up to a busy slip road onto the motorway and cannot pull into the middle lane to safely let the other drivers in - there's always some PLONKER up the arse of the car in front, hogging the middle lane.

These people appear to be sitting in the drivers seat, with no real control over the cars.

Assuming that they are going to work, why the hell are they in such a rush. I assume they can't wait to get there.

I must the only 'sensible' driver on the roads.

[jmkent]

No, not the only one, another here ... well most of the time

There is just an awful lot of complete idiots, and unfortunately, most have cars! I done 300miles motorway yesterday, and it never ceases to amaze me the way some people will drive.

[CMax_307]

had one today guy in a corsa 3 lanes go into 2 lanes i was in the 2nd lane hes in the 2nd lane jumps in to the 3rd lane that less that 150yards closes into the 2 lane he trys to over take me on the 3rd lane and try cause a crash not on my watch as my brothers wee girl was in the car so i kept him from over taking me so hes on with the horn and flash the lights at me then i noticed one thing whiles he is doing all this hes now on the phone!!,

wheres the cops when you need them any how set of lights coming up and turn to red so i pull into the 1st lane and hes in the 2nd lane he started to shout and you know wave the hand at me so i put the window down asked him to pull over up the road to have a chat he told me to go and fook myself at this stage i open my door and went to get out and ask him to repeat what he said he jumps the red light after this i got back into my car brothers wee one said maybe he does not want to talk to you lol,

you get drivers that dont care what they do every day i see drivers pull infront of other cars ect and my biggest hate is women and men using the mobile fone stuck to the ear talking away and not a care in the world what they should do it have unmarked cops driving about looking for these drivers every day i see upto 7 drivers on the phone!

[philkerman]

I don't consider my self the worlds best driver by any means, but I'd like to think I'm pretty good, I don't tailgate, I don't speed, I don't pull out in front of people, I'm always indicating etc.

My pet hate I have to say, and a real sure way to piss me off, is people who use the fucking phone whilst driving! So much so in fact that I was going down a one way street with some tool right up my arse, on the phone of course. Seeing as it was school kick out time, and it was littered with kids crossing the road, I decided to stop, and proceeded to let him know I'll move out of the way when he gets off the fucking phone.

Appropriate for me to stop or not, I don't care, it potentially stopped him clobbering some child!

Phil

[CMax_307]

I must try that sometime Phil!

am shocked that many still do it and cops dont really give a hoot i think, i bet if you say to the driver what would you do if a driver killed your child or family member while driving and on the phone would they be happy the answer would be NO! then why are you on your phone? bet you get no reply.

[Gibbo]

Originally Posted by clanless

My commute to work takes me up and down the M56. Each day I am absolutely astounded by the poor standard of driving.

Me too! M53 then M56. People drive too fast and too close and when you go over that small hill near the Chester services that's where the crashes happen.

I have a work colleague who lives in Chester. We've been doing a very unscientific survey - he gets on the same place as me and sits in the inside lane all the way to Warrington doing around 50-55mph. I chance it in lanes 2 or 3.

And every day without fail we arrive at the same junction at pretty much the same time or he's about three cars behind. When we get into town he's behind me - but much less stressed at not having to drive on full alert!

Do you have a red 307 HDI? I've seen one on the M56 a few times.

[clanless]

Nope - its silver. I also work in Warrington - spooky or what?

[john_h]

i do share the same pet hates, tailgaters and those on the phone. but as i said before, most of the time its audi and discovery drivers.

i have my own way of dealing with that....

make sure im alone in the car, let them get mega close, no witnesses and break check them....see how many back of and put that phone down! especially when you have gone from 70 *ahem* to 30mph on the A1 in a split second.

i have only been offered to the side of the road by one person, a motocyclist, who was an inch of my bumper on the a66. i checked him. he wasnt happy and thought he would speak with his hands...me and mate laid into the poor bar steward.

the best story though, was a few years ago, my uncle was driving down the felling bypass (trem will know) a tailgater then went right up his arse end and started flashing his lights. he pulled the emergancy stop, guy went into him. my uncle got out, took his jacket off to reveal his police uniform. asked him a few questions and did him as much as he could.

[Charlie]

The thing is EVERYone thinks they are a good and safe driver. EVERYone thinks it's the other bloke that is at fault.

I am not having a pop at anyone on here guys, maybe some of you guys genuinely are good drivers - but ask yourselves how many other drivers have ever taken advanced or refresher training since they passed their driving test maybe decades ago?

(the answer is a very small percentage).

Until periodic retesting/retraining for ordinary car drivers as it is is for other driver groups (PSV,HGV,ADI) is introduced the situation will only ever get worse.

Rules change, traffic density increases - when was the last time anyone on here looked at a highway code to see what changes there are in there ?

I see a lot of people drive and they really do have no clue that they are doing anything wrong - yet often they are.

Take some extra training - then you will realise just how poor your original driving standards were. I did (done and passed advanced and ADI and still continue with refreshers) and it has truly opened my eyes to how poor I actually was.

You do not need to drive like a learner driver, but you would genuinely be able to anticipate and avoid hazards before they develop into anything significant. Conflicts are effectively reduced to almost zero.

Ultimately it is not only safer, but more relaxing and pleasurable - and I still drive 35-45K miles a year (in a company BMW lol). However I am NOT the one that drives up your chuff and waits to the last second to pull into lane .....

.... and leave the application of what you interpret as safe traffic law to the professionals, dont go braking in front, blocking overtakes, flashing lights and sounding horns etc where it could all have been avoided in the first place. Crazy stuff like that is OK until you drop on the drug crazed psycho or the guy that has stolen the car - it only ratchets things up and THEN you have proper issues to deal with....let alone if you cause the guy to crash and kill someone.

Camera's are everywhere now. You may think you are not being watched - but you likely will be. Death by dangerous carries a long sentence - all better avoided in the first place really ....

Just let the idiots go on their way, you want them away from you - not driving behind you ....

[john_h]

Originally Posted by Charlie

when was the last time anyone on here looked at a highway code to see what changes there are in there ?

i have to admit i caught my dad out on this one. he well and truely beleived the national speed limit (white sign with black diagnol line) was 50mph on a single lane carriage way (like the a167 (north rd to north east lads)) and 60mph on a dual carriage way. however it is 60mph for single and 70mph on dual. he didnt beleive me to the point where i threw the highway code book at him and told him to read it.

another one, was indicating when passing parked cars... i did this on my driving test and the intructor said thats old school and you dont do it any more, same for passing cyclists.