driving standards

[skyboy]

The standard of driving on the A1, M18 M1 around Donny isn't too bad, I shall be doing it today. It gets markedly worse the further south you get.

It gets markedly worse dependent on the make of car driven.

I could write a full hypothesis on how car model choice affects driving behaviour.

People are labelled by a 'caste' system according the their mode of transport.

Pedestrians are not caught out in this as they could be anyone but as soon as a person is combined with a wheel social predjudices instantly take form.

Its starts with skateboarders who are revilled by pedestrians but are accepted by drivers.

Cyclists are just the bottom of the evolutionary swamp and treat as such by both pedestrians and motorists.

Motorcyclists believe the road was made specifically for them and they wear their 'victum' status on their sleeve until you want to vomit about them claiming drivers never consider them while they ride around in total ignorance of what drivers would actually be capable of observing even when they are trying their best.

Car drivers -

These need a whole chapter on their own but basically the BMW driver thinks your cheaper car is an unnecessary hinderance.
Drivers of normal cars loathe to let Mercedes and Porsche drivers out of their driveways or out of a side street.
Drivers of equal make cars will allow similar drivers out of side streets-

Old people driving at 40mph on trunk roads will accelerate when overtaken and risk the nosebleed at 60mph just to flash their headlights in misplaced righteous indignation.

Lorry drivers -

Basically all need to take their tests again as flashing your indicator three times before changing lanes DOES not give following traffic the opportunity to take evasive action.!!!!!

 

[longdogs]

I think the biggest problem on the road these days is the drivers who just don't plan their journey. The people who know it will take them half an hour to get to work, and leave their house 20 minutes before they have to clock on.
Rush hours too have always intrigued me. Why don't businesses/factories etc try having staggered start times so there's not as much traffic on the roads , all at once?

John i disagree, i think a huge problem is the differential between the different vehicle on the road, and then the difference in attitudes amongst drivers. Firstly, things like HGV's on a hill on a M-way.... they take up 2 lanes, really slowly.... and the whole things just about stops...

Then, young lad, souped up Scooby, and Daphne, popping the the library......

As for the rush hour.... the Sun rises, the news is on, the markets open,your customers are all up at the same time....you can't change any of that !!!

They now take up three lanes on the widened M25

 

[wingcoax]

Try the M62 round Leeds at rush hour! The norths biggest car park, No rhyme nor reason for it, just the mentality of a caveman, I am coming on and i must go to the third lane even if i can't go anywhere. Thereby causing chaos.[/b]

 

[conny]

Prats in X5's, in front of you,going down a country lane at 50-60mph, not reducing their speed as they approach a junction on the right thereby giving you the impression they are going straight ahead. THEN suddenly throwing the anchors out, beginning to turn right Then put their indicator on and THEN stop halfway across the road to let some old lady out who is now in front of you toodling along at 25mph!!! You can't overtake her because the road is twisting left and right until it reaches the outskirts of a housing estate. Now she reduces to 15 mph and applies her brakes at every 'speed bump' to crawl across it yet you know they are the full width ones with barely a rise in them! In fact they are so shallow they feel like normal undulations in the road. FFS!!!!!!!!!!
What normally takes between 5-8 minutes to travel has now just taken you over 20 minutes!!!!! And the tail back is horrendous!

 

[longdogs]

Has anyone else noticed that under-taking seems to be the norm nowdays?

 

[JohnD]

How could it be? Surely it could only happen to someone who was driving along in the overtaking lane while not overtakling anyone?

 

[seco services]

How could it be? Surely it could only happen to someone who was driving along in the overtaking lane while not overtaking anyone?

Bloody day dreamers.

 

[subman101]

"Intelligent" cars are the key here - those that can sense the surrounding traffic and give pop-up advisory suggestions, especially "get into the inside lane, you k**b"

 

[skyboy]

To be fair the two inside lanes are now hogged by the lorries.

The lorries slipstream each other with no safe distance tailgating and then pull out with scant notice just so they do not have to lift off the throttle and potentially lose that half a mile an hour they have gained over the lorry in front.
This makes driving in Lane two extremely dangerous for car drivers who are now all ushered accross to lane three just so they are safe and do not have to keep braking everytime a lorry swings accross in front of them.
The lorry situation is worse now because of increased online sales.

 

[petit_pablo]

To be fair the two inside lanes are now hogged by the lorries.

The lorries slipstream each other with no safe distance tailgating and then pull out with scant notice just so they do not have to lift off the throttle and potentially lose that half a mile an hour they have gained over the lorry in front.
This makes driving in Lane two extremely dangerous for car drivers who are now all ushered accross to lane three just so they are safe and do not have to keep braking everytime a lorry swings accross in front of them.
The lorry situation is worse now because of increased online sales.

Lorries are not an excuse not to use the inside lanes of a motorway.

If drivers actually looked ahead and read the road / traffic better then it would all flow much better. Too many drivers blindly follow their sat nav and arent aware whats going on 2ft from the end of their bonnet.

There is nothing worse imo on a motorway than someone who sits at 65 in the middle lane and stays there regardless of the other traffic.

 

[skyboy]

To be fair the two inside lanes are now hogged by the lorries.

The lorries slipstream each other with no safe distance tailgating and then pull out with scant notice just so they do not have to lift off the throttle and potentially lose that half a mile an hour they have gained over the lorry in front.
This makes driving in Lane two extremely dangerous for car drivers who are now all ushered accross to lane three just so they are safe and do not have to keep braking everytime a lorry swings accross in front of them.
The lorry situation is worse now because of increased online sales.

Lorries are not an excuse not to use the inside lanes of a motorway.

If drivers actually looked ahead and read the road / traffic better then it would all flow much better. Too many drivers blindly follow their sat nav and arent aware whats going on 2ft from the end of their bonnet.

There is nothing worse imo on a motorway than someone who sits at 65 in the middle lane and stays there regardless of the other traffic.

Hmm it depends on the traffic of course .

Many lorry drivers go willy nilly into the middle lane at 60mph!! because their speed is governed and then sit there for two or three miles until they finally manage to overtake the lorry on the inside.

I actually use the left lane when possible then the middle lane however if on a journey I get constantly frustrated by lorries pulling out with little warning and by that I mean you have to brake to avoid a collision because the lorry driver is going to pull out whether they hit you or not then I deem it safer to use lane 3...

 

[petit_pablo]

I deem it safer to use lane 3...

Safer for who?
Cars sitting in the wrong lane causes the traffic to back up, undertaking and winds people up.

Then an accident happens.

 

[chapeau]

There is nothing worse imo on a motorway than someone who sits at 65 in the middle lane and stays there regardless of the other traffic.

A lorry doing 57mph in the middle lane overtaking a lorry doing 56mph is worse. And when they pull out to get into the middle lane forcing me into the outside lane that is worse still. Of course I could always stay in the outside lane whenever I see a line of lorrys ahead and call that defensive driving....

 

[SALL2009]

"Intelligent" cars are the key here - those that can sense the surrounding traffic and give pop-up advisory suggestions, especially "get into the inside lane, you k**b"

Why bother with that, they have me for doing that by undertaking them. But They don't seem to like it for some reason.

 

[andyandy2]

The lorry situation is worse now because of increased online sales.

Just wondering why you think this is the case