Safe Speed Forums

Following on from the tw@t* I saw last night, I wondered what you folks considered to be the single most annoying act other drivers can perform in your opinions.

In mine it is attempting to overtake somebody who has pulled over to let oncoming traffic through.

In my first ten years of driving I witnessed this twice. In the next five I've seen it about ten times. More and more drivers are becoming utterly selfish.

If I get enough ideas I suggest a poll, so try and keep suggestions as specific as possible.






*The guy I described last night decided to try and pass a car that had obviously pulled in to let a whole stream of cars through a prolonged single-track section. When his intended victim moved to try and block him, he got out and started shouting.

i think this has only happened to me a couple of times on a residential that is often parked on both sides. both times it has resulted in the offendee having to brake suddenly and reverse back past me (and in one case the car that was behind him!) on meeting the traffic i was yielding to coming the other way

While I'm tempted to nominate MLMs or people who drive at 60mph in L2 of a dual carriageway, I think my vote has to go to the motorhome pilot I encountered at Lymm services a few years ago.

The services has 4 pumps arranged in a square, and this guy in his hulking great motorhome with a smart car on a trailer pulls in diagonally in the middle of the pumps. He gets out and starts filling up the smart car (which has the filler cap on the right) while his partner fills up the motorhome (which has the filler on the left)

A quick ascii diagram:



There was no-one at the top-right pump, but there was a big queue behind him.

Those that drive towards me on my side of the road and expect me to get out of their way.

(More here )

Mine is the old chestnut of parking with the headlights lit, dazzling oncoming road users and creating a blind spot all around the offending vehicle.
Like the examples above it's just unnecessary and inconsiderate.

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Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

I would go for not bothering to indicate or indicate in time, particularly on roundabouts.

This is pretty minor as a one off but is so frequent it becomes major imo. Apart from safety issues it can really contribute to congestion.

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Driving fast is for a particular time and place, I can do it I just only do it occasionally because I am a gentleman.
- James May

Killing my girlfriend would have to be it.

And I'm serious - both in the observation and in the context of the question. It's important that we try to focus on 'real' dangers rather than simple inconvenience.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Good candidate! There's a newsagent in my village just the other side of a single width stretch caused by parked cars on the other side of the road. People park outside in the morning, so not only does this cause a chicane (on the A30), but when I come from the other direction, I can't tell whether it's someone who is waiting to come through (and because cars are on my side) and who's priority it is, or just a parked numpty.

And if I hesitate too long, someone will overtake me

Mine would be the idiot this morning. I'm in the inside lane of the M3 travelling at approx 70mph, car in middle lane about 15 yards in front of me and a car travelling parallel to me in outside lane.

Idiot cuts between me and car in L2 then indicator flashes once to pull out in front of car in L2 then immediately pulls out into L3.

All executed in approx 20 seconds.

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Prepare to be Judged

Drivers who speed up as I am overtaking!
However, for obvious offenders on dual carriageways I now stay alongside them until we catch up to a vehicle in their lane and watch with amusement when they signal because they have nowhere to go and are actually expecting me to do them a favour!!!!

Not receiving a 'thank you' for letting someone out etc.

Tailgating - People sometimes do this with soft tops, just spray your windscreen for half a mile and it gets rid.

I don't know if it is due to having children or even older age but the compulsion for a violent response has gone.
I do enjoy a little light road rage every now and again though.

People can be real jerks at times.
People who think they can tread all over you from the anonimity of their cars can be even bigger jerks.
Acknowledge that, watch out for them and count quietly to ten whenver you avoid a collision with them.

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Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical, liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

I would say that people who deliberately hold others up. They seem to be attracted to micras, or like to display an "I think I am more important than you and need special attention" sticker in their back window while driving. They cause frustration and that's when people overtake at more dangerous times.

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Andrew.

Apart from the MLMs...

People who toddle along then boot it when you pull out to overtake them.

People who hog the centre of the road to block overtakes.

And the biggest one - people who flash their lights at you when you pull back in after an overtake. WHY?

Special mention to the guy on the A12 the other day. Was pulling out of a layby into a good sized gap, middle-aged bloke driving a mini-MPV of some sort decides that he's going to floor it and close the gap. Leaving me parallel with him on the verge with nowhere to go.

Fortunately the car behind him had seen what the idiot was doing and backed off leaving somewhere for me to slot into. I'm sure the sign I gave Mini MPV Man wasn't mentioned in the Highway Code though!

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Magistrates rule #1: "Never let justice get in the way of a conviction."

On the same theme, approaching a T junction on a side road and and finding someone turning into it on my side of the road, and I get the 'dirty looks', no excuse for this in these days of power steering.

fatboytim

ah i was just about to add the same thing myself... happened on the way home.
traffic queuing for lights decide to skip the queue to get into the right hand lane at the lights..... by driving mostly on the wrong side of the road.
works well when its clear.... but alot of muppets seem to blindly follow the person in front without thinking to check if anything is actually coming

So far mine has to be the idiot girl last night who was in the right hand lane at a roundabout whilst I was in the left to go straight ahead and then she turned left across me. Good job I was'nt in a hurry and drove off fast as I would have slammed right into her.


Will think of more, as I often wonder, as do my friends these days, if we are driving invisible cars.

A very valid observation, Paul - but as I read it, the argument is that people who drive in a manner which causes inconvenience or annoyance to others are more likely than most to cause - by their inconsiderate driving - accidents which might injure or kill.

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Save a cow - eat a vegetarian

This may be a little pedantic, but I can think of better words than "antisocial" to describe someone who kills when driving.
A lot of the examples being posted are better explained by stupidity or inexperience wheras I would suggest that antisocial implies a deliberate action with a disregard to others, as oppose to plain old stupidity

i think i will nominate 'use of vehicle lighting' to generalise.

front fogs when its not foggy (or its daylight where they serve no purpose at all
no lights in low light conditions (or when its dark like the silly cow who drove through linlithgow last week with no lights on)
leaving their main beams on
parking with lights left on

its always a case of too many lights or not enough

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Richie

SSAFA supporter
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126025031585

I view spitting, dropping gum and treating the world as your ashtray as antisocial though I think it is done with casual rather than deliberate disregard. Lets say ignorance rather than stupidity.



That would be the woman this morning that could not be bothered to wait so drove anti-clockwise around a mini roundabout with two vehicles already on it .

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Driving fast is for a particular time and place, I can do it I just only do it occasionally because I am a gentleman.
- James May