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Haven't MOTs become more strict though? I used to get something resembling Fred Flintstone's car through an MOT but my Mazda failed recently because there was "mist on the rear shock".

Well wipe it off then and give me the certificate (No chance)

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

An Impreza, not a full on STI either just a standard dark blue '99 turbo with grey wheels.

He pulled out from my left on a roundabout at a distance of about 15 - 20 feet staring straight at me from his newish Audi A4 cabriolet. I was doing 20 - 25mph and managed to avoid hitting him but got within 3 feet of his bumper at about 10 mph, I was just easing off the brakes whereupon he slammed his brakes on.

He got out of the car with a big grin on his face and started capering around the road saying "that'll teach you for driving one of those" rapidly degenerating into screaming abuse at other drivers trying to get past our cars.

Unfortunately I did not have a mobile at the time or I would have called the police, I was pretty sure he was high on something. I had a bit of a moment when he reached into his car and pulled something silver out which fortunately turned out to be a mobile phone not a knife.

I eventually got him calmed down, he was all for driving off but I managed to get his details out of him. I had a good witness so even though it was a bit of a fight my insurance company and legal stuck with me and I received a full payout from his insurance.

My wife was pretty traumatised by the experience, the idea that there were people like that driving around kept her out of the drivers seat for 3-4 months and even now two and a half years later she is more hesitant than she used to be when driving.

Given the stress it caused my wife there is still a part of me that wishes he had actually tried to assault me. The better side of me knows that staying calm and cooling him down was the wisest course.

Oddly the experience has made me more tolerant of other drivers apparent aggressiveness, having experienced a real nut job in action most of the everyday stuff just pales into insignificance. You could say that in the end my driving improved another small step so he did me a favour.

Ah yes. My friend had one with the performance pakage. 304 bhp, 0 - 60 in 4.3 secs I believe. I was actually more impressed with that than my friend's F430. (Could have been the driver though)

They always sound like they're only firing on three pots to me - very distinctive.

Well, all I can say is if you're in one of them you must be a maniac toltec - obviously! Just like me, as a biker, must always be on the back wheel going 100+ mph. I wonder if police think that and follow/target such cars?

I think people like labels. I work with a guy who's always saying "BMW drivers are..." It get's on my nerves.


Anyway, Glad you're okay. Sorry your wife was shook up so much but I can understand why; I would have been too. I think there's much more road rage today than ever before. Think I'll buy a barge. (maybe there's canal rage too?)

I can just imagine it: "look at that nut doing 6 mph!!!"

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

That's a woman's car!

BMW driver. That'll be me when I drive my wife's car - must be a sucker for punishment.

Wouldn't be my first choice and if I was forced to drive one the roof would stay firmly up. Then again I did try a Mk3 MR2 the other day or at least I tried to try one, I didn't fit

I got the impression that he was a saleman/rep of some kind, briefcase and clipboard in the car, tidily dressed and well cut hair. I also thought he might be on coke or uppers or something as there was definitely a manic edge to his behaviour, though given that the only knowledge I have about such things comes from TV etc...

That's true, but even when I had my problem rusted through suspension parts should have been a fail... I didn't use that garage agin. It's nice to have your car pass an MOT but not if it is going to kill you two days later.

It's all this bloody computerisation nonsense!

Now the VOSA spies are likely to swarm over an MOT station and take it to pieces if they think even one thing was out of place!

MOT workers are scared that the area people from VOSA will close their MOT station down, so now they are more likely to err on the side of caution and fail a car when several years ago they'd have said: "Look, that rear shock is OK at the moment, but you might like to think about having it changed in three months time."

Now they'd rather fail it and play safe. After all, there are "Q" cars used by Trading Standards and VOSA to try to trap MOT stations. They really cannot afford to take the chance.

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