Pet Hates When Driving (incl fog lights)

[richierich]

So, as eluded to in a post elsewhere, what are your pet hates, anybody want a rant??

Mine, amongt others.

1. Those drivers who sit at 40mph down a country lane, when you get to a village you slow down and they continue, you catch them up just in time for the next village.

2. Drivers who obviously haven't adjusted the mirrors, when following them you can't even see their eyes.

3. Women drivers** with a car full of kids on your arse in a 30mph zone.

** In my experience its usually a woman, I would say in 99% of cases.

4. People texting whilst driving.

Come on, lets vent that spleen, it makes you feel alive!!

[basegreen]

1. Indicators at roundabouts, Lack of Use, Misuse

2. Tailgating for NO reason

3. Over aggressive mergers

4. People who dangerously speed

5. People who overtake without the skill or vehicle to do so safely

6. Parking at junctions

7. Middle lane hoggers

[TTDegs]

all the above plus:

people who speed through roadworks (or indeed in 20/30/40 zones)

people who crawl up my rear end in lane 3, even though there's nowhere for me to safely pull into in lane 2 - I know you're there and I'll get out of you way when I can - ok?

people who fly up to Gatsos, emergency brake, then fly off into the distance again

It's 'mirror signal manouvre' ok? - NOT 'manouvre mirror signal'!

cyclists who think that red lights don't apply to them

anyone who touches my car! (particularily with another car)

people undertaking on the motorway (not those that have sat behind a single car in lane 3 at 50 mph for the last 3 miles, but those who use lanes 1 and 2 to dive in and out of in heavy traffic)

people who chuck rubbish - particularily fag ends - out of car windows (ex-biker in me showing there LOL)

anyone with kids in the car who are not strapped in - just exactly how stupid ARE you?

that'll do for the minute

[Jazz]

absolutely everything above plus :

Drivers who don't stop at red lights at pedestrian crossing ( the van driver zoomed past, totally ignoring the red traffic light and luckily the lady in front of me took a step back )

Drivers who tailgates me in a 30mph in a housing + school area... give me a break , police has been known to be there with their radar camera. The closer they get, the slower i go

Drivers who ignore mini roundabouts... they are there for a reason. They have no regards for your "right of way"

Drivers who hogs the entire road when waiting for a parking space . DOn't get me wrong, if it's a narrow road, i don't mind, not when the road is wide enough for 2 cars.

[JB75]

Cyclists who think they're exempt from the highway code.
Drivers who half pull out of side roads, trying to force someone to give way.
Being tailgated when on the speed limit.
Those who insist on driving at 65mph in the inside lane of a clear motorway.
Inconsiderate parking: people reducing a road to single car width unnecessarily or dumping their car 5 metres from a junction.
People who still think it's OK to gab on their mobile while driving one handed in traffic.

I'm sure I can think of a few more things that make me

[civicsport]

One of my main hates

People who drive at 55mph on the motorway, lorries overtake and cause 3 mile tailbacks. WHY!!!!!


PS I live in the north and we only have poormans 2 lane motorways.

[WoolyCiv]

People who overtake and squeeze into my 'safety gap' between me and the car in front then some of them even slow down!

[Fedorov]

Originally Posted by WoolyCiv

People who overtake and squeeze into my 'safety gap' between me and the car in front then some of them even slow down!

Yea those *****! About 6 months ago in my Mondeo some idiot dived in 2 cars in front of me, just as a lorry had to break hard, and just as I'd kindly let a Micra in in front of me which reduced my safety gap......... slammed my anchors on and managed to gently touch her Micra, I could have stopped completely but I knew that a motobike had just moved in behind me a few seconds earlier! Gave her a gentle "turbo-boost" then followed her and signalled to pull over off the busy A19 - we both checked bumpers and all was okay, she realised it was just unlucky timing that I'd just let her in just as some **** caused everyone to brake

All of the above points in this thread plus...

Cyclists who refuse to use the MUCH safer cycle lane on the other side of the kerb!!! It's there for a damn good reason!!!

ANY car driving under 65mph on a 70mph road - give them tickets for not driving close enough to the speed limit - absolutely ridiculous that our middle/outside lanes on motorways get clogged up with lorries having to overtake cars!

Fags/litter being thrown out.

How come you smokers are allowed to light-up and smoke while driving yet I can get taken to court for biting an apple or taking a quick drink???!!!

Lorries travelling at almost the SAME speed trying to overtake each other, slowing us all down in the outside lane!

[TTDegs]

Originally Posted by Fedorov

How come you smokers are allowed to light-up and smoke while driving yet I can get taken to court for biting an apple or taking a quick drink???!!!

because the g'ment doesn't get much revenue from food?

Originally Posted by Fedorov

Lorries travelling at almost the SAME speed trying to overtake each other, slowing us all down in the outside lane!

How on earth did I forget that one!

What really p1sses me off is when, after 5 miles of holding everyone up on a dual carriageway, the 'overtaking' lorry finally gives up and pulls back in behind the one he was trying to overtake

I mean - FFS all it would take is for the one being overtaken to lift off the gas for a few seconds

[Trekker308]

I don't know - a great opportunity to prove that I am the architypal Grumpy Old Man, and I can't think of anything - well, anything that won't result in a torrent of flaming!

Drivers who patently aren't concentrating on the job in hand - driving! At the risk of being very un-PC, there is a certain section of the community who think the car is an OK place for a really deep and animated conversation ..... These people frighten me!

Litter-chuckers

Those who feel that everone else has to guess their intentions - indicators, what indicators??

OK, I'm going to live dangerously:- BMW Z4s - there is absolutely no rationale behind this apart from the fact that they seem to be owned by complete t**sers!

[sonicsteve]

Originally Posted by Trekker308

OK, I'm going to live dangerously:- BMW Z4s - there is absolutely no rationale behind this apart from the fact that they seem to be owned by complete t**sers!

Isn't that a prerequiste for owning a BMW?

[Bungle]

People using the wrong lane (faster moving or even free flowing) only to cut in at the last second to avoid a queue waiting in the correct lane!

There was a particular area that is renound for this behavior near where I used to work. Turning right to join A2 coast bound from south circular A205. There is a lane for cars turning right, which got busy at times. Some cars used to approach in the left lane, and turn right across or with you to aviod queue.
I drove a old beat up truck in that job, and made a habit of taking that right turn ever so wide if a car tried it on next to me. Forced them to screech to a stop between me and a concrete wall
What made it better was when they got all furiated at me and were sitting there inches from the wall, completely stopped beeping and waving furiously!

I know, I know, it was silly and not clever, but it was great stress relief. Why should we all wait patiently and them not?

Agree with all other statements above, but had to include queue cutting in this!

[Charles_Harding]

Yup!

Know that (A2/A205) bit well, it has often happened to me many times.

Unfortunately I don't drive a truck so I tend to try and preserve my motor, so they usually get away with it!

Wonder where I can get those axle extentions I saw 007 use the other day???

[WoolyCiv]

Got another one. The folk who go into the right hand lane approaching traffic lights when they can see other cars waiting to turn right then try to cut into the left hand lane as they are going straight on and while I am on a rant, I hate even more the stupid 'polite' folk who let the ones from my previous rant into the left hand lane

[Fedorov]

...ah yes, that reminds me of one of my favourites, on the roads/motorways when there are plenty of advance warnings that the 2 or 3 lanes are about to merge down to 1 or 2 lanes and you ALWAYS get the cheeky ***** who see how many cars they can pass on the hashmarks and dive in at the last second - I always watch my mirror for them coming and close the gap in front of me and NEVER let them in.

As above WoolyCiv, you then get the "stupid polite" folk who let them in!!!

[rja1980]

- Tailgating. Full stop. If you ever think there is any good reason to tailgate, please consider alternative forms of transport.
- On roundabouts...those who pull alongside and try to move over to your side of the road.
- Those who speed up whilst being overtaken.

- Drivers who don't pay attention to what is going in front. I can give two examples; I was on roundabout when I had to brake as someone drifted into my path. The car behind also braked (he was some way off but was travelling too fast round the roundabout) and got angry with me as if was my fault! Never mind the driver who pulled into my path, I was annoyed with knobend behind! The second time was when I slowed down gently from around 60 to 40 as we entered the lower limit. Checked mirror before - Clio driver had left reasonable amount of room - checked mirror after slowing down - Clio right up my backside, who then gave me full beam and horn. Didn't the '40' sign mean anything?

- Those who consider motorway drivers doing 70, 80, 90 etc are obstructing their progress. I don't mind people exceeding the limit on good roads, but if someone in front of you is observing or exceeding the limit and he's in 'your way'...tough, don't break the limit in future. You may say its not always danagerous, and I will almost certainly agree. But the limit is the limit..take it on the chin. Most likley the 'victims' will remain in the middle/outside lane at 80, 90 etc once they finally get pass, and then log on to some internet forum to complain about lane hoggers.

- Also...People who don't understand roundabouts with only two exits (excluding the road you've come from):

If turning left, they don't bother signalling.
They signal right to go straight on
Turn right without indicating.
Use the right-hand lane to turn left because the left turn exit is a dual carriageway.

Not something that annoys me but...if you caught behind a slow moving vehicle but can't overtake, it would be great if you could increase your gap to allow others to overtake. And while on the subject (and this does p1$$ me off), if you decide to drive under the speed limit and provide a big enough gap in front, do not show indignation towards those who do overtake safely.

[TTDegs]

Originally Posted by rja1980

Not something that annoys me but...if you caught behind a slow moving vehicle but can't overtake, it would be great if you could increase your gap to allow others to overtake. And while on the subject (and this does p1$$ me off), if you decide to drive under the speed limit and provide a big enough gap in front, do not show indignation towards those who do overtake safely.

Oh yes - that's a good'un!

How often do you see a couple of (slow moving) cars in front of you, where the 2nd one obviously has no intention of overtaking the one in front - but you then need a lot longer gap / straight to get round both of them at once...

That is the extra beauty of sat nav tho - on the 1/2 mile setting you get a bit of extra notice that potential overtaking places are coming up and can be dropped back and in the right gear ready to pounce

[basegreen]

Thing about "two slow moving cars" is that often I ended up in that situation in my Corsa. Someone doing say, 55 in a 60, but my car just COULDNT overtake safely with a 1.2L engine... I'd often get arrogant idiots up my backend because THEY could have overtaken.

[CivPilot]

Fog lights in clear conditions

People using only foglights and side lights at night instead of their dipped beams

Middle lane hoggers

The 40mph brigade as mentiond before - Those who drive at 40mph regardless of the posted limit keeping said speed through 30mph zones, and then still stay there in 50zones. Limits are a maximum speed, but being 10odd mph beneath them causes tailback and tailgaters (The biggest road menace. Period)

People who overtake on the motorway, pull back in front and then slow to a speed lower than your going anyway. Re-overtake them and they will make the pass again

Cyclists who ignore the highway code and shoot out from junctions and red lights then complain when you have to slam the anchours on and sound the horn. They really dont like it when you stop a few hundred yards up to road to ask what it was they were shouting as they almost caused you to kill them with your 2 ton car Then the police pulled up (who were 2 cars behind in the traffic) and gave the cyclist a huge stand up rollocking. No problem with cyclists in general, but observe the rules of the road... they will save your life someday.

Those who move into lane 3 on the motorway at 70mph to overtake and then only increase their speed to 73mph. I drive 50+ motorway miles a day and this is dangerous. Lane 3 is not a lane to drive in unless you are passing and if you are then the highway code clearly states you should adjust your speed to pass safely. Pulling out moving (often) 20mph slower than the rapidly approaching cars is bloody unsafe. The amount of times I've seen this happen is amazing. At least 4 or 5 times a day. Not being derogatory, but its always the "older" driver who seems to think he has a right to be in that lane and that everyone is driving too fast. Its alomst a "I'm here to make you slow down" attitude that actually causes major congestion as the amount of cars that were moving have to slam their brakes on. I'm not saying that 90mph on the motorway is good, bad or otherwise. But if you wish to overtake on the motorway you wait for a safew gap and then accelerate top a speed that will both minimise disruption to the lane you are entering and shorten your overtaking manouver to the maximim. Its the onyl safe way to overtake on the motorway.

The single most dangerous thing I see daily...... apart from tailgating!!

To quote rja1980:-

- Tailgating. Full stop. If you ever think there is any good reason to tailgate, please consider alternative forms of transport.

Absolbloominlutly . There is NEVER a reason to tailgate. It is the single biggest factor of rear end collisions and the most dangerous thing you can do in a car. If anyone thinks there is ever a reason then as rja says, get the **** out of a car and catch the bus.

[Bungle]

Originally Posted by CivPilot

Fog lights in clear conditions



Those who move into lane 3 on the motorway at 70mph to overtake and then only increase their speed to 73mph. I drive 50+ motorway miles a day and this is dangerous. Lane 3 is not a lane to drive in unless you are passing and if you are then the highway code clearly states you should adjust your speed to pass safely. Pulling out moving (often) 20mph slower than the rapidly approaching cars is bloody unsafe. The amount of times I've seen this happen is amazing. At least 4 or 5 times a day. Not being derogatory, but its always the "older" driver who seems to think he has a right to be in that lane and that everyone is driving too fast. Its alomst a "I'm here to make you slow down" attitude that actually causes major congestion as the amount of cars that were moving have to slam their brakes on. I'm not saying that 90mph on the motorway is good, bad or otherwise. But if you wish to overtake on the motorway you wait for a safew gap and then accelerate top a speed that will both minimise disruption to the lane you are entering and shorten your overtaking manouver to the maximim. Its the onyl safe way to overtake on the motorway.

Can't say I totally agree with waht you siad. If I am doing 70, and meet a car going slightly slower in lane 2, I will mover out (when safe) and overtake at 70. I will not speed up to do so. If it tkaes a good few seconds to overtake so be it. If anybody wants to do more in that lane, sod them. I do have a right to use that lane, and will not be forced to speed up by anybody. If you have to break the speed limit to overtake, you shouldn't do it.

I feel the limit should be increased on motorways, but until then, I will stick to 70 (75 on my speedo!)