We've got idiots on the road
02-September-2010
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We've got idiots on the road

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There are many different types of road users out there on our roads, some good, some bad and whilst none of us are perfect I have noticed that there are categories of drivers that may not be breaking the law but make life a misery for everyone.

I shall start off with one that most of us are familiar with and I like to call them “middle lane merchants”.  These people are incredibly frustrating and even when cars are undertaking them they are totally oblivious to their wrong doings and the world around them.

However they can be passed with a disapproving glare and shortly after the frustration fades away, they are history (until the next one).  There’s no point in getting mad at these people as they cannot be helped.

VW Beetle

Then we have the “safe driver”.  These drivers can be spotted from a distance by the trademark fish on the boot of the car (you know the one).  They are usually wearing driving gloves as the steering wheel is obviously so hideously textured that they cannot bear to touch it and they have a dodgy Burberry style blanket on the back seat – clearly a fashion statement.

They are usually driving a Volvo and it’s usually a really fast one such as a T5 ironically!  This person seems to think that by driving along at 50mph on major motorways they are the safest driver on the road.  Even though I have stereotyped this driver I have no prejudice as he or she is genuinely trying not to pose a threat to anyone; unlike your little idiot in his 1.1 Corsa with 18inch alloys and stupid loud exhaust (don't get me started on them).

Unfortunately in this rushed and busy world we now live in “safe driver” does present a hazard.  I have noticed that roughly 80-90% of cars on the motorway are doing at least 80mph where possible and in this scenario a vehicle not keeping up with the flow of traffic becomes an obstruction, obstructions lead to tailgating and congestion, tailgating and congestion leads to road rage and so on.  This isn't something I have just thought up for a rant.  I do a fair number of miles on motorways and I see it happen regularly.

So many times have I been behind one of these “safe drivers” and tried to overtake only to have a BMW or Mercedes approach rapidly in my rear view mirror doing at least 40mph more than me and staying dangerously close until I can get back up to speed.  We have HGV’s that are travelling at about 3mph faster than these “safe drivers”, but the man with the gloves just wont slow down to let the lorry pass quickly.  He just looks at the guy in the cab like he is Beelzebub himself!

Then we have lorries overtaking other lorries, they drive parallel to each other for miles and miles like its a competition one lorry slowly gaining ground on the other.  I'm not going to elaborate on this because I don't know the cure and we've all seen it.

Next is the driver who sits in the slow lane insanely close to the driver in front waiting to overtake but cannot be bothered to indicate, why would you indicate?  That would be like asking for help and an indicator is clearly beneath your standards.  Why would you be asking for help in your Audi, BMW or Mercedes, you are clearly a superior being.  Well my friend, if you cannot be bothered to use your indicator then I cannot be bothered to let you out and you can look at me however you want as I pass you by!

Then we get off the motorway and onto roundabout monkeys.  I love roundabouts.  They are function in simplicity just like a biro pen and are there to make all our lives easier.  Why then are so many people are totally baffled by them?

I see cars sitting on the outside or left hand lane and they stay there all the way round to the third/fourth exit whilst the rest of are expected to know what their intentions are!

Getting stuck on a roundabout?

Even road markings and great big arrows aren't enough for these people, they just cannot grasp it.  They think that roundabouts were back engineered from crashed alien spacecraft and are a complicated technology far beyond their understanding.

I don’t know how many times I have sat at a roundabout with my right indicator flashing in the right hand lane, when some Nissan Micra to my left that wants to take the first or second exit decides that to save fuel it will go in a dead straight line and into my lane causing me to either brake hard or mount the roundabout itself!  You people should open Google, type in roundabouts and digest!

We next encounter “The Constant Braker…” It’s either stop or go for these people and nothing in between.  They constantly feel the need to brake and refuse to just ease off their accelerator to slow down for a slight curvature in the road.  They have to brake sharply every few seconds and then put their foot down again until they see the next 2 degree bend or bump.

These drivers suffer from a number of other afflictions such as width distortion.  This is when they believe that their tiny, reasonably priced car has the same proportions as a B52 bomber and will dive into a hedge whenever the road becomes narrower than the M20 and a car comes the other way.  Alternatively the may have sports car syndrome, where they seem to think that their bumper is a mere 5mm from the ground.  This causes them to come to a complete stop at speed bumps, like you would at the bottom of Everest before tackling it.  They then burn their clutches out with intense revving to climb over it at a snails pace.

Now finally ladies and gentlemen I bring you my number one rage inducing, door slamming, profanity-sparking pet hate.  It is of course parking.  When I park my car I ask myself a series of questions before I even attempt to get out and lock it up.  First of all, have I utilised the space I have parked in efficiently?  Secondly, have I parked in uniform so as to not cause other motorists to swerve out in the road to avoid hitting the front or rear of my car?  Finally, is it dangerous and have I parked somewhere that may put other peoples lives at risk?

Only once I have considered these three questions am I happy to leave my vehicle and if it’s a bit of a walk then so be it.  Am I right in saying that i am in the minority when I do this?  So many drivers do not even bother to think about anything other than how close they can get to Tesco’s door.

I am sick and tired of seeing cars parked smack in the middle of two parking spaces.  All too often I come home and find that three Chinook helicopters have taken all the space outside my house, no sorry they're not Chinooks they are just normal cars that have taken the same amount of space!  There’s two things that make this more frustrating; first is that they have driveways but don't want to use them in case they get oil on their expensive new block paving and secondly, when you ask them to move to accommodate you, they look at you as if you are a vicious dictator demanding to de-flower their daughters!  The result is, my van is parked a mile away out of sight where anyone can take a browse through the back to see what’s on offer.

I am also fed up with having to suddenly swerve out into the middle of the road to avoid the front wing of a car, parked with the front end a meter away from the kerb, with the rear wheels touching it as if the driver has reverse parked, waited until they hit the kerb and thought to themselves, "that'll do".

And then you have car parks, look at the white lines, they are not there to tell you which way your car has to face, you have to park in the middle of two of them!  Some car parks fine people for parking across over these lines and I think that all car park operators should take note!  Even if they are robbing, mafia type organisations (don't get me started on these guys either).

I think that just about does it, it's been therapeutic writing this and even if it doesn’t get published, no one reads it or agrees with me, I've got it off my chest and that felt good!

I conclude with this.  Why do i pay the same amount of tax on my car that I only drive to my mate’s house on a Saturday afternoon, as my van that I drive hundreds of miles in every week?  Nothing else is ever taxed like that.

Thanks for reading.

By: Jon F


Other Related Gripes

Car driver stereotypes and the driving test
Pedestrians - walk on which side of the road?
Get out of the way of that ambulance!
Driving in snow and ice
Highway Code - drivers don't bother to indicate
Cars that park too close to mine
Drop off time outside a private school
Roundabouts and dithering car drivers
My grandfather, the victim of an insurance scam?
Tailgating and flashing headlights
Idiots who drive on your side of the road
People have lost the ability to drive
Old drivers create chaos on the roads
Advanced driving not age limits
Middle lane morons on the motorway
Nice cars go to the wrong people
Dangerous things people do when driving
Lorry drivers are rude and selfish
Speed humps and mini roundabouts
Front fog lights
Bad driving habits and road safety
Roundabouts built too high
Incorrect use of fog lights
Car parking for the selfish
Dangerous driving on a narrow road
Driving lessons, wrong time and place
Slow drivers are dangerous too
Speeding fines, yet another one!
Mobile phones and dangerous driving





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What a brilliant read, so funny and perfectly true! I drive a lorry for a living and try to be courteous,I use my brain and I'm not oblivious to other road users. I know the highway code better than most (from what I can see on the roads not many people know it) and through the many years of driving I've got to know what WILL happen before it actually does(90% of the time).
Like you say, indicators are not used by over half the drivers I see on the road. I wait patiently for the car to come across the roundabout from my right only for him/her to turn off before my road without indicating left, I could have gone if I had known they were to do this. Also I'm just going to go across, again at roundabouts, only to brake hard because the driver who I assume is driving straight on decides to come round in front of me without bothering to let me know that they want to turn right i.e. not indicating. Usually I try to keep going, if they have to stop then I let them know that if they had bothered to indicate then there wouldn't have been a problem.
*Trucker1  29-Aug-2010 10:59

 
Oh dear where and when do you people think you are living?. You can do anything on our roads (and off) and get away with it. Or at least that is what a large part of the population think. .instead of moaning about white van man and reckless trucker I am trading in my 4 door saloon for the most intimidating van I can get cheap and going to give the *******s a taste of their own medicine. Might even get a pit bull type dog to sit next to me for the next yob who thinks he owns the road. Welcome to Britain 2010
*yob 2  25-Jul-2010 21:54

 
After nearly taking us both out, she tried accelerating in her farty 1.4?. Within 1/2 mile we were sat at a roundabout, I pulled up on the N/S of her car with my window down, I recieved obnoxious verbal abuse before I could say anything about her needing some form of horse tranquiliser and a priest, then she flew off again, this time, with me flying past her on the island exit.

I need to brake slightly to leave the duel carrageway onto a 30mph slip road...the serious circle type. For some reason, everytime I now come off at this exit, if she is behind me, she swerves into lane 1, doesn't brake, misses my rear bumper by millimeters each time and swerves into lane 2 while sounding her horn.

Police are not intrested. After the first incident, I went down to the local police station and reported it and gave them an honest account, including my illegal undertaking manouver and they seemed to think that the person at fault for this situation is me. All I need to do when leaving the duel carrageway is to brake slightly harder when she is near me and..... well, you get the idea.

Oh yes, people never indicate anymore.
*Chris.  23-Jun-2010 02:24

 
I've started commuting to work via 3 miles of motorway and 13 of duel carrageway.

Every morning I leave pretty much at the same time. By doing this, I've now encountered some mid 40's woman in a Green Honda del sol that uses the complete route that I do.

She sits in either lane 3 or 2 depending on the road, so she is always in the furthest right.

After tailgating every morning down lane 3 on the motorway, she swerves, cuts up and gets into the braking space of someone leaving the motorway at my junction.

She then sits in lane 2 of the duel carrageway ALL the 13 miles, no matter how many light years the road ahead in both lanes, is clear.

WHY?, why the hell does she do this?. She sits at 55mph for the love of god! on 70mph roads.

When a lorry is coming up in lane 1 it will either sit there, undertake or pull into lane 2 behind her or behind me and tailgate. Same story with every other vehicle.

I spent 2 days on the trot, just sat behind her losing my patients. On the 3rd day, no traffic in sight for around a mile ahead, I sat and sat and sat and she still sat there. I took to the tactic of flashing lights and a toot on the horn. She just sat looking into my eyes with her rear view mirror.

I decided on day four to undertake. I move from lane 2 to lane 1 and she then decided to sharply pull into lane 1 and brake hard. I braked less than her and swerved into lane 2 and got to where her rear bumper was and she did the same.
*Chris.  23-Jun-2010 02:12

 
DU58WOR
White Vauxhall Astra Club CDTI

At approx 9pm on 2nd June '10 this shandy drove through a red light on the A6110 by M621 and impatiently undertook and squeezing through gaps between vehicles.

I was overtaking another vehicle and always leave space before moving back over but could he wait? No. He squeezed through the gap to undertake me when he should have waited to overtake.

Had either I reduced my speed or the driver I overtook increased his speed there would have been an accident.

A dangerous and impatient risk taker for selfish gains and impatience.

A pervert of a driver.
*Bramley Apple  03-Jun-2010 06:49

 
Well done Jon, a good piece of writing and you've made a number of valualbe points in an entertaining and highly readable way.

Just one point where I disagree with you :

"Why do I pay the same amount of tax on my car that I only drive to my mate’s house on a Saturday afternoon, as my van that I drive hundreds of miles in every week? "

You van is taxed proportionately to its usage through the tax and duty you pay on fuel consumed, and that is the only fair and realistic way of taxing usage.
*MikeP  20-May-2010 15:34

 
Another thing that makes me laugh is so often it is the young boy/girl racers who insist on driving in the fast lane of any motorway in their 1.1 cars that can just about keep up. Their windows are normally heavily tinted so thankfully we can't see them, though worryingly they may not be able to see the road either! These drivers have a high expectation of thier little vehicles. They are normally identified early on as not only do they have blacked out windows, they are normally playing their music so loud that it vibrates the rust off any cars driving within a 50 mile radius!
*Noneedforname  20-May-2010 13:07

 
Excellent gripe! I agree with every bit! I was laughing all the way through.
*Noneedforname  20-May-2010 13:01

 
well I saw a man a in a transit van in 1997 doing 32 in a 30mph area ,I can t remember his reg hang on its coming to me ,no it s gone...
*cheer up  15-May-2010 20:45

 
May I simply say that this gripe is probably the best gripe I have seen for a long long time, absolutely true and absolutely hilarious. Well done Jon F, you have brightened up an otherwise sh*tty day...
*Rider of the Apocalypse  06-May-2010 13:39

 
Amongst the numerous complaints I particularly noticed the one about 'the constant braker' the person who is either stop or go.When I was taught to drive my instructor said that if you have to use your brakes then you haven;t been concentrating,that brakes are not part of the speed control system for a car.His view and one I firmly agree with is that brakes are an emergency back up a bit like a ships anchor.If you see traffic lights a few hundred yards away then start to slow by easing off the accelerator then possibly dropping a gear.all the time calculating the possibility of arriving at the tail end of the waiting traffic just as the last one starts to move.The same with with all obstructions.Look well down the road and start to slow naturally avoiding the need for last minute braking.The situation is exaggerated by the the tendency to drive too close together even when traffic is light and some blame must be given to the official line that recommends driving with a 2 second separation' only a fool breaks the 2 second rule'.The aim is to give an absolute minimum separation when driving but most driver take it as a target.I walk by a local rural road sometimes which has a steep slope leading to a near 90 degree bend and there are often small groups of vehicles maybe 2 ,3 or 4 which plunge down the hill at 50-60 mph but separated by about a car length then each has to brake furiously at the bottom.My treatment is to drop to third gear and 40 mph and keep 200 yards behind .The question always in my mind is'if the car in front stopped dead just as I was glancing in the mirror could I stop without panic?'If the answer is no then I move back,I don't believe that you can go faster by being closer .
*playsafe  06-May-2010 13:19

 
gangster wanna bes in there range rovers with private plates in there farmer giles coat driving 120mph on the motorway with there whores in the back sticking there fingers up at you as they wizz past, new vauxhall astra drivers biggest muppets on the planet, and then u get the polish imigrants they kill you without hesitation cause they got no brain to care when they swerve in front of you car oh and to all mini drivers give it up you just look like a douch bag.
*MARK  20-Feb-2010 18:27


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