People have lost the ability to drive

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.

Interesting comments from further down.

I can quite easily observe and remember vehicle registration numbers without losing concentration on my driving, and any driver unable to do this shouldn't be allowed to drive since reading and remembering signs is what this is.

Those who criticised Eastman's driving must be assuming he or she is as dangerous as they are when taking note of registration numbers and looking for opportunity to trash good drivers.

What it really shows is that those who think a driver isn't concentrating on the road are reflecting barriers they have and aren't able to observe properly or have impaired memories.

I can still remember the details of last night and didn't write anything down. That isn't unsafe.

POLITE NOTICE

Car registration number
WKZ7534

This vehicle was witnessed being driven eratically and dangerously cutting into the paths of other traffic when overtaking on the A676 from Bolton to the M61 at about 21:00 on 17/03/09.

It was a dark vehicle but witnesses didn't observe the make and model but just the registration number.

This number is not registered so it has false number plates.

Dangerous and illegal.

Trying to get away from me are you, you little prats?