People have lost the ability to drive

A slip in driving standards is just a reflection of a slip in social standards. Once upon a time you could go shopping as a pedestrian and you were rarely bumped into, accidently pushed etc and when you were, the other person said sorry. Now it's common and apologies are less so. So is it any surprise that when these people get behind the wheel of a car, they are just as rude, ignorant and selfish?

If I could see just one change, it would be positive action on persistently slow drivers. Everyone is aware of the dangers of high speed driving which is not suitable for public roads and is illegal. That's all well covered. What's being done to protect us against slow drivers? These people are a menace. If driving at 40mph in good conditions in a 40mph zone is beyond you or your vehicle, get off the roads and stay off them until such a time that there are no issues. The same applies to other limits.

Driving is a privilege, not a right.

150 drivers - 150 drivers like to grip the steering wheel in the classic ten to two position. Grip as in grip like your life depends on it. 150 = 1.50 am/pm, hence the name. 150 drivers never exceed and rarely reach speed limits. A 150 driver only has to be travelling at 10mph and see a parked car 200 metres in front of them to apply the brakes, yet not adjust their speed at all. 150 drivers love braking for no good reason, nor changing their speed. Excessive braking causes unnecessary traffic congestion and unnecessary accidents. I deliberately brake as little as possible, but at the same time never pose any risk to myself, passengers or others. With sensible driving and a sense of anticipation, you need only do a tiny fraction of the braking a 150 driver does. 150 drivers have a habit of driving just a teeny weeny bit faster than lorries on motorways and dual carriageways. That's fine, their choice. But when they want to overtake, they do so that same teeny weeny bit faster, thus causing a hold up. And don't you just love those who cannot wait till you passed at 80. They have to pull out, slow you down, take an age to pass, followed by the same for indicating and returning to the slow lane.
Too many people get in their cars and forget about other drivers. They dither, they send texts at traffic lights which they are still typing with their head down when the lights have turned green and everyone behind is ready to go. They stay in the fast lane and won't let the faster drivers behind through. They pull out of junctions, blocking half the road while they wait for a gap the opposite way.

Again, I find myself concurring with the points made in the article.

Like others I'm sure, I find myself seeing the same repeated acts of ignorance, selfishness and stupidity on our roads.

Furthermore, I see the same types of driver doing the same kind of thing. Asians have a thing about pulling out in front of you and then not accelerating hard when the decent thing to do is wait for an appropriate opportunity to do it. I should know, I live near an Asian area and it's rife around there and spreads to here. It's also a chavvy driver thing, normally in a crap car. And the elderly are prone to doing it too. Then there are the vacuus ditherers who have nothing more substantial to focus the mind on than what to cook for tea tonight. The concept that other drivers around them may wish to arrive at their destinations with just a hint of a sense of urgency seems to be totally lost on them. Take a road with a 60mph limit through fields and open land, whilst being reduced to 40 through villages. Well, ditherers just stay at 30-35 all the way through. They never seem to see the queue of frustrated drivers that's built up behind them. They will never pull in at a layby to allow the traffic behind to pass through. What is it with these people? Not everybody has a life so dull and meaningless as yours. Remember that. Next, fourth/fifth gearers. A car has gears for a purpose. It isn't intended to be driven around at low speeds in a high gear because you're too lazy to change. Anybody who has seen how slowly drivers like this accelerate will know how frustrating it is. If you want to knacker your gearbox, fine. But could you please do it alone?

Re Admiral, don't forget the dotted line between the middle lane and fast lane,

This is reserved for under, and overtaking loud fast motorbikes.

Re centre lane hogs, the rules are quite clear: inside lane = lorries; middle lane = cars; outside lane = BMWs.

Let me add my story and views

MM05ZVF

Silver Audi A6 TDI SE

11.25 on 31.05.09

As we were travelling through Bempton in East Riding the road is narrow in places - only enough for one vehicle to pass at a time.

A car was already coming towards us through this narrow stretch in the middle of Bempton and had priority when a numbskull of an Audi driver in front of us continues forward forcing the driver of the car which had right of way to reverse and let this Audi driver bully him into having priority.

Talk about the "I'm bigger than you" mentality, well in this case Audi = A useless driver inside.

It is a shame that a handful of power freaks with such low capability get all big car drivers tarred. It is not the cars but the drivers - and all types of car have useless drivers.

There appears to be an increase in the proportion of smaller car drivers being bad drivers while the bigger cars have decreased. Maybe the bad biggies of the past cannot afford such cars now and can only get credit for smaller cars.

However, I still believe the worst drivers are women drivers and young (immature) drivers, although not all are - one of the best drivers I know is female.

Interesting points raised on Mallory's 'near miss'. I recently had a debate with grumpyoldwoman on another forum on the subject of differing perceptions of motoring incidents and Mallory's case is a pretty good illustration of this.

Mallory quite rightly feels aggrieved at the van driver's last minute change of mind and he obviously was somewhat miffed at her apparently pulling out without warning.

In truth both viewpoints have their merits, to varying degrees maybe but still valid.

Only this morning I had a driver flash me for daring to overtake him on a clear stretch road in a 40mph limit. He was maintaining a steady 35mph and I went up to 45mph temporarily to overtake and then eased back to 40mph. He was annoyed at my daring to overtake him and then I became annoyed at his impertinence!

Thousands of collisions a year are caused by two drivers misunderstanding each other's intentions, making assumptions and acting upon them and in the vast majority of situations both sides could argue the rights and wrongs of their respective viewpoints with some vigour and later often proceed to blame the other party as 100% to blame, idiots, poor drivers, careless, dangerous etc.

A lot of people have lost the use of their indicators. I find this a lot at smaller, single lane approach to roundabouts when you await from the right and they just turn in with no thought of indication. It would be nice to let people know what you are doing.

If you are travelling along a road and you are the only one on it, the only person in the whole world and you wish to turn left or right, then there is no need to indicate. Twofold, there is nobody there to indicate your intention to turn and you are just wasting your bulb.

1445 on 26th 04 2009

St Walburgas Road
Blackpool

Red Vauxhall Agila Y878ACK

Speed cameras certainly show how two-faced some drivers are and the danger they create when making up for slowing down.

I was driving along this road towards Victoria Hospital when I saw this car speeding and the driver suddenly became law abiding as he approached the speed camera.

Further along from me the dual carriageway narrowed and I was doing about 30mph. But once this car was out of the speed camera detection area the driver accelerated and managed to overtake me before the road was too narrow to overtake.

It must have done a fair speed if it covered twice the distance in the same time when I was averaging 30 mph.

Speed cameras certainly warn decent drivers of two-faced drivers who are more dangerous than the average driver.

Mallory,
ANY vehicle approaching from the right on a roundabout has priority over you, regardless of it's signal or lane position! You should not have relied on the signal shown, he may have been turning right from the opposite side of the roundabout, and been late with the left signal/position.
Particularly if he was a stranger to the area, being a van driver.
Your actions would have been an instant fail, on the driving test!
Such actions contribute, to the accidents you mention!!
Don't know how long you have been driving, but maybe you should consider a refresher course?

Approved Driving Instructor Grade 6/Instructor trainer/ M.I.A.M/Lgv C+E/Motorcyclist.

There are way too many vehicals on the road, and way too many people who don't care about other drivers.

Today I saw countless vehicals going over the speed limit, illegally parked vehicals, people ignoring bus lanes, not indicating particually on roundabouts as already mentioned and even a few that thought it was ok to jump the traffic lights as they turned to red!

There was even one Jamacan man who drove his car into the bus station which he was not allowed to do and stopped alongside a bus picking up passengers and let out his girlfriend! There were buses behind him but he would not move to let them through, he just waited for his girl to come back from the shop! He even had the cheek to give the bus driver the "finger" as he eventually moved away!

My solution would not be trying to improve on the current driving test. You only have to pass that and then people find their own way of driving.

No instead I would start to take stiffer penalties. For instance if you are like the man in the bus station that I mentioned then he should be banned and have his car confiscated. Other offences such as illegal parking I think it just that if you are found to be parking illegally more than twice in a twelve month period than it would be fair to suspend the drivers licence.

This may sound harsh to some. But we do need to get harsh People today do not care, they think of themselves and rarely of others. The authorities have to act now.

I was waiting at a roundabout a few weeks ago indicating to take the first exit left into a supermarket car park. A white van was coming round on the inside lane, indicating right, so naturally I thought he'd be, well, going past my exit. So I pulled out onto the outside lane to take my first exit and lo and behold, the van driver decides he likes the look of the exit I'm taking after all, and honks at me for getting in his way! He then tailgates me, trying to intimidate me, all the way through the car park. Luckily he never said anything to me once I'd parked or I'd have told him off! This kind of obnoxious ignorant behaviour is just one reason why there's so many accidents on our roads.