Mumsnet Talk

I have nearly had 3 accidents in the last week, all because people genuinely don't know what the crap they're doing on the roads!

1st near miss, a really old man just cuts across me in traffic without indicating, making me absolutely anchor brakes, while his poor wife waves madly at me mouthing, "I'm so sorry!"

2nd, I'm driving down a bendy road, road bends completely to the left and as I come round the corner, a guy coming in the opposite direction is overtaking a frickin' bicycle on the bend - had to ramp the pavement to stop from getting hit, lucky I didn't burst a tyre.

And then this morning, I'm minding my own business driving down a residential road and when a huge pick-up truck jumps out of one of the side roads and would have driven right into the front of my car if I didn't put my brake pedal through the floor of the car.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?????

Just realised I posted this in AIBU instead of Chat. Oops.

Um. So. AIBU to be mightily hacked off by these dumb ass dumb asses?

YANBU.

I find anticipating other drivers stupidity is helpful.

YANBU. But their journey is more important than yours you see.

Yanbu but I wouldn't tell anybody they are a crap driver because most people are under the impression they are the stig

I don't give my opinion on their crap driving either. No honking of flashing of lights and no hand gestures. I am scared that they may have an axe in their boot mainly.

Almost every time I am out in the car, I see people who clearly got their driving licences by correspondance course.

I had a few this week, mainly caused by people being in the wrong lane on roundabouts thinking that their best option is to weave through the lanes and pushing in without indication to make their exit at the last minute. These are daily commuters so no excuse for not knowing the road. Just too important to get in the queue like everybody else. I would have more sympathy for someone who genuinely got into the wrong lane, but sometimes they have to realise that the wonder of a roundabout is that you can always go round again rather than risk a collision!

There's been loads of floods and road closures round here this week. Appears the Road Closed signs don't apply to all though.

Alisvolatpropiis the constant driving on tenderhooks waiting for someone to crash into me is that only way I managed to avoid getting hit these last three times! I genuinely expect everyone to be a total idiot and am normally proved right but it gets very tiring!

I'm not allowed to wave, gesticulate, mouth obscenties, or do any of those things anymore because DH thinks I'll get stabbed. He's probably right, to be fair.

So now I reserve hooting for trying to stop pick up trucks and old men driving into me, rather than ragey hooting aimed at Aggressive Lane Changer driver.

And while we're on the topic - WIBU to label anyone who drives up my backside (when I'm already just over the speed limited) as an unmitigated prick? Surely someone who does that has no redeeming qualities whatsoever?

Tailgaters are everywhere. It's horrible.

I was heading into my local town yesterday afternoon. The weather was terrible and it was getting dark. I was in a 40 zone coming into a residential area. Some utter prick zoomed past me at about 80 mph going towards the centre of the town. People were breaking and swerving and it's just a miracle that no one was hit.

YANBU

favourites round here include not indicating when turning right at a roundabout and giving way to the left on roundabouts.

I wonder how many drivers rate themselves as having 'below average' driving skills?

Someone has to be below average. (hope it's not me!)

YANBU,

It would seem that the worse the weather conditions are, the more hideous the driving abilities become. People forget to indicate, don't check their blind spot and generally act like utter dick-heads.

I hate to sound like my Grandad (may he rest in peace) but the quality of driving standards really is at an all time low.

It is ignorance coupled with stupidity coupled with couldn't-give-a-shit-about-anybody-else-itis.

Rarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I'm with you OP. I swear for some reason in my city on a Wednesday everyone drives like complete wankers. EVERY freaking Wednesday I have people cut me up, tailgate me, overtake cyclists at dangerous points etc.

What is it with sodding Wednesdays?

bloody men drivers

Almost everyone is technically a 'bad driver' complex. People who've been driving for a while have about a 5% pass rate if they try to take their test again, iyswim.

Everyone still seems to be driving whilst on the phone, I saw about three this morning. No excuse for that.

Not sure what the current penalty for driving while on the phone is but it ought to be both phone and car being crushed.

What I hate most is becoming the 'wanker buffer'. I never ever tailgate, I'd rather not end up in the back seat of the car in front if there's a reason to hit the brakes and where I live there is an abundance of winding country lanes.

Many people choose to drive quite slowly on these lanes, and sensibly so, as you never know if there'll be a tractor around the next bend. So there'll be someone in front of me doing around 40-45, I'll be keeping a good, but not ridiculous, distance between us, and then some complete wanker will come tearing up behind and spend the rest of the journey glued to my back bumper, weaving aggressively, shouting and waving their arms at me to hurry up (as though I can simply pass through the car in front by sheer force of will). Often they'll overtake me dangerously, just to end up stuck between me and the slow the driver in front. And then another wanker will hare up behind and the whole thing will begin again.

Yup, I hate being the wanker buffer.

I don't understand why more people aren't prosecuted for using their phones when driving.

I can think of a particular junction near us where a police office/PCSO could book a driver a minute.

YANBU

I was driving home from work on the motorway last night, torrential rain, no motorway lights, very poor visibility, spray on roads. I was doing 50mph which felt safe and was realistic. People were overtaking me at about 70-80mph They were also driving way too close to the car in front.

I hung way back in case one of them crashed and I got caught up in it I said 3 million Hail Marys and arrived home safely

There's a particular roundabout near me which people just don't seem to be able to understand (for anyone who knows the town I'm in, no, it's not that one suprisingly! )

The last few times I've been on that roundabout I have had
- someone in the right lane next to me who then decides they actually want the first exit, so deciding to turn left across my path.
- someone in the left lane who decided they wanted to go right, again across my path.
- as I went past the 1st exit, planning to come off at the 2nd, someone sped onto the roundabout just behind me then zoomed past me on my left hand side forcing me to swerve out of their way and go right round the roundabout again!

It's a simple bloody roundabout, nothing unusual about! How the hell do people get it so wrong?!

Exactly Jenai, and I could name a few places to catch people speeding.

Motorways in torrential rain are frightening, but that doesn't stop people screaming down the outside lane. How can they even see with all the spray?

Today I witnessed a car in front of me overtake another car on a blind brow of a hill/bend type location.......exactly a week ago today someone was killed in that exact spot.

In fact the police signs asking for witnesses to the fatal accident are still there.

If that isn't going to stop someone then I don't know what will.

MurderofGoths does your town begin with a S, end with an N and have a Magic Roundabout in the middle?

Murder/Imperial - could it be HH? Another 'magic' roundabout town. I love that r.a.b.

The best example of shit driving I witnessed was a couple of years ago before I moved to where I live now.
Parking is on a residential street. Its dark and cold, I am sitting in my car waiting for the windows to demist. Behind me a car reverses into a space, there's a good 50 metres of clear space in front of him so by no means a tight squeeze. My lights are on and I notice he is getting quite close, I keep thinking he'll stop in a minute.

Not only does he reverse into my car but he keeps on going, pushing mine down the street. I start furiously beeping the horn, at which point he looks in his rearview mirror puzzled as to where that car behind him suddenly appeared from.

I avoided him like the plague after that, his car was never parked straight, I mean to the point of being unsafe and fooling other cars into thinking it may be pulling off.

Yanbu. I frequently drive in the outside lane of the motorway at 90, lit up like a Christmas tree only to have some idiot tailgating me and flashing lights to get me to move over because their journey is more important than mine. No it isn't. My blue lights trump your getting home any day.

My bugbear is those who drive with full beam lights on.

They haven't got a clue what they're for.

WIBU to buy some zips to hand out to the drivers who don't seem to grasp the concept of merging in turn?

The worst place I can think of only has one lane for about 50 metres then people can speed off in two lanes again to the back of the jam another 50 metres away.

My car has an invisibility button some days! Even to pedestrians who walk right out in front of me as if I wasn't even there!!

Also my pet hate at the moment is when people stop dead to let someone out of a side road, if they bothered looking in their mirror they would see that other than me behind them the road is totally clear!!

It's the HH one, but it's not the magic roundabout with the problems

I was arriving back to where I live recently to see the biggest lorry I've ever seen pulling out, carrying the biggest crane I'd ever seen, trying to join traffic which is tricky to get into unless someone is generous and they never are

The lorry driver was on his phone! I just stood there like this ->

What bugs me most are the ones who stick two fingers up at me, or shout "cuck off you funt" at me when THEY are in the wrong.

The elderly man who pulled in out front of me while I was on a roundabout and received a polite toot of my horn then drove parallel with me up the dual carriageway, trying to ram his car into mine while screaming he was going to kill me - that was the worst.

Oh where I live is awful for this, there is one particular roundabout, which is clearly signposted both before the roundabout, at the approach to it and even on the lanes as you drive onto it. The amount of times I've nearly been hit on it is unbelievable. And a lot of my friends go on about what a nightmare it is. No. It's not. It's a spiral roundabout, unless you got your license at the braille academy then it was shown and explained to you during your lessons. Even people I know who sat their tests in Orkney understand the concept. You drive up, pick your lane and STAY IN IT.

And don't even get me started on tailgating. A couple of months ago I was driving home behind a cyclist (who happened to be my DH) and couldn't see round the blind corner in front of me. The van driver behind me, threw his hands in the air, flashed his lights and when I did finally overtake the bike gave me a slow clap. He then followed me home and waited meekly while I parked outside my house before driving around the corner to his own house. Arse. Like 60 seconds is going to make much difference on what was a three minute more journey home.

I took DS1 out today on quite a long trip. He takes his test in 2 weeks and is very competent, drives to the speed limit and doesn't hold any one up. We had a man behind us in a 307 estate flashing his lights and gesticulating, because obviously going 60 mph was not good enough for him, so he had to dangerously cut us up and sound his horn really loudly as he did so, on a round about.

Coming back, we came round a sharp left hand bend, to find a 4x4 in our lane, over taking another car! It was just as well DS1 is close to taking his test so could hit the brakes quickly and control the car, otherwise we probably would have been killed.

What winds me up is these idiots pay next to nothing in insurance premiums, but young kids have to pay through the bloody roof!

I've just had a scary drive home this evening trying not to get killed by a Merc driving tosser who cut me up 3 times weaving in & out of lanes without indicating, only one headlight working, stopping in the middle of a roundabout for no reason, chatting on his mobile while swerving all over the shop, before finally pulling up behind a bus doing a U-turn (clearly doing one) and blocking 4 lanes of traffic. Its been about the only time I've seriously contemplated getting out of the car & bollocking another driver.

Oh I agree, the standard of driving seems to have reached an all time low. Not a day goes by without some driver behaving like a twunt during my commute.

However, was recently coming home from hols on the motorway. Nighttime, late, 11pm ish. Both kids fast asleep in the back. Roadworks in central reservation...bright flashing orange lights, very noisy, massive 50mph signs everywhere with traffic cones. Went down to 2 lanes, we were in fast lane. Lots of traffic so we were completely stuck where we were. Car in front doing 50 . I have absolutely no idea where
the fucking moron in a massive articulated lorry that tailgated us thought we would move to. I honestly thought he was going to ram us. He then put his lights on full beam to dazzle us and pressed his horn for 5 MINUTES. I timed it.

We were terrified. I only wish we had got the bastards plates and / or who he was driving for from the lorry. Clearly he had missed the 50mph signs and wondered why everyone had slowed down. Dickhead.

yanbu i am sick of idiots who drive with their dipped lights on and there friggin fog lights. and the twunt that followed me yesterday had only one headlight working dont the prats realize that they cant see properly

Well it's marvellous to hear the angels chat so serenely about the real world. Immaculately perfect and they never make a mistake or lose patience with anyone else, even in the tiniest matter. They're all so mature, not young or inexperienced, tired, harassed or older and more cautious. Certainly not prepared to spend a single penny on having their own driving impartially re-evaluated. What I tell my pupils is to do their best, but look out for the 'other idiots' and make allowances for them. I've discovered that courtesy is contagious: help one other road user and they will help three others. You'll find your common sense and good deeds repaid within days! And maybe the worst clowns will eventually start following your example. Kill them with kindness! (See my YouTube channel SafedriverN)

Don't worry - it's the L plates they're cutting up, not the driver. Trust me, I'm a Grade 5 DSA Instructor. When I'm driving, I and my pupils get a laugh over it. Real life is better than television comedy, if you can see it that way.

Yes, until someone gets hurt, Avuncular. This is why bad driving irritates and frustrates us - because these people clearly don't realise they are in charge of a heavy, deadly weapon. They are safe inside their little bubbles, with no interest at all in the outside world, it seems.

We live in a semi rural area with a road that goes from too fast with steep hills to very slow with tight bends. One of the zigzagging tight bends has a series of humps at close intervals for about 300m along it as it is REALLY IMPORTANT to go slowly round the sharp blind bend.

The other day some dick overtook me on the hump. Actually alongside me on the wrong side of the road, on the bend, on the hump. There was literally nowhere to go if a car had been coming the other way. Words fail me at the way some people drive. Where are they going in such a tearing rush that they need to shave seconds off their journey and blow their stacks if they perceive they are held up for a micro second? It's terrifying.

I was walking my girls to school recently and a police car came tearing through our village with its lights and sirens blazing. Overtaking every parked car. Leaving no room or time for the lorry coming the other way which had to go up the pavement to avoid it. The pavement that I was walking along with my two dd's. Sometimes they run a bit ahead but thank The Lord they were actually right beside me and I just grabbed them out of the way. The lorry's wheels were bigger than they were. I was nearly sick with fright. Fair put the wind up me. Unfortunately I didn't get the number of the police car. He would have got a fucking rocket up his arse and no mistake.

This is some years ago - I was walking the boys home from school, when a driver decided he didn't want to wait until the lights ahead changed, and the queue of traffic moved off, so that he could turn left - so he simply headed up onto the pavement, where I was walking with my three primary school-age children!

I stood in front of his car, yelled at him and actually pounded on the bonnet until he reversed back onto the road - and then I told him off for not having strapped the child in the back of his car into a car seat.

Some people genuinely ought not to be allowed to have a licence or own a car.

My rule is to anticipate that everyone else will be unpredictable and treat them as a potential hazard.

Yesterday I was driving along the dual carriageway at night at 40mph because one lane was closed. Plenty of space between next and following cars. Suddenly, out of literally nowhere, a car pulled in front of me out of the blocked off lane. I don't even know how he got in the lane in the first place but I didn't see him until he was right in front of me and I had to slam my brakes on. I think the idiot thought he could just slot in between the cars but the lanes are divided by posts atm so driving through the gap slowed him right down. Dick.
I actually wish that stupidly reckless drivers end up having a non serious crash - one that fucks up their cars and teaches them a lesson.

Yes I've had a few oddos this week too. Sort of 'wtf are you doing!' moments.

Mind you I did figure something out last night in the dark, coming back from a hospital trip that was an utter waste of time.

I figured out why, possibly, women are perceived as probably worse drivers than men.

It's because we've been generally brought up to think we are, ie, when I was young (Ok many moons ago) all the little boys I knew were actively involved with motor vehicles in either maintenance capacity or 'driving' stuff or playing with toy cars, or all three.

It wasencouraged among them, massively, and actively discouraged in girls (I know - the trouble I got when I was interested in model railways - shocking) and we got laughed at whenever we expressed an interest.

Thus we, or I'm certain a lot of us, grew up feeling like we would never be accepted by men as drivers or as able to fix cars or anything like that. We never had the early background in it. We were excluded.

And NOW they get to laugh at us for being crap at driving, when really, we're just disadvantaged and it was never our fault.

Saying this fully aware that most women are just as good as most men, but we've had to learn as teenagers or adults while a lot of them were sat on their dad's lap as a young boy and told how to drive right there.

Makes me really cross...and it means that if women ARE ever worse at driving, it's probably for that reason, not because we are women - just because we were never shown the ropes when we were kids.

(sorry to bring gender into it - hope it won't start anything - just a revelation that needed a gender based aibu thread to go on, and there wasn't one)

Oh don't get me started, please.!

OP are you me? ;)

We have a roundabout near us which only has 3 exits and all 3 approach roads have two lanes. It couldn't be simpler, if you're going left you need to be in the left lane and if you're going right you need to be in the right lane. How do people not get that?! And yet...

I really hate drivers who think they are being nice by stopping in the middle of the road and waving me and DD across the road while walking to school - not realising that I'm not going to cross the road cos there's a car coming round the bend going in the other direction and another car coming out from the junction behind me.

How can I teach DD good road sense when some drivers stop randomly and wave her across??? Grrrr

I nearly pulled out into the outside lane into the side of a car overtaking me last week Why? Because it had NO HEADLIGHTS on at 6.45am in the pissing rain Luckily I realised and didn't pull out and I flashed and flashed as it went past

"Immaculately perfect and they never make a mistake or lose patience with anyone else, even in the tiniest matter."

Seeing as most of the posts are about people driving aggressively that comment is more than a little out of place.

I posted this at the time, but a while back we were driving on a dual carriageway, doing the speed limit, so not dawdling along. There was a slow moving lorry in the slow lane, so we moved over to overtake it. When we pulled over there was no one to be seen behind us in either lane.

We had barely started overtaking the lorry when some idiot came zooming up behind us, tailgating us and flashing his lights.

We moved over as soon as it was safe, but that wasn't enough for this twunt, he then tried to ram our car off the road and into a barrier.

Driving is one of those things that anyone who has passed their test becomes a complete expert on.

I passed earlier this year and the crap people came out with while I was learning was hilarious. I think lots of people just don't know the highway code, but are utterly, utterly convinced they do.

I'm glad it's not just me! I feel scared to go out this week, I seem to be infested with corner-cutting dickweeds on every street I drive up. Nearly had my front end removed 4 times in the past couple of days, not to mention the buck-toothed Kyle-target who decided to attempted a right hand turn when coming the opposite way to me yesterday (he must have thought I was turning to, as I wasn't indicating to go straight on along the street!).

I was about to overtake a lorry on the dual carriageway that was tailgating a small car ( less than a car's length behind it at 60mph ) .
the small car had to break as another car joined in front of it from a slip road so the lorry had to pull out in front of me - I had to break hard as had been level with his bumper

I rang his employer with his numberplate - if he had not been tailgating then all would have been fine but no -he is a twat tailgating pisses me off no end but if a lorry tailgates and can't break in time people are most likely going to die.

Ps if you're on a country road try to stay on your own side rather than coming round blind bends on the wrong side just to avoid breaking a bit more and approaching the bend at the appropriate speed grrrrrrrrrrrr!

Yes lorries take a LOT longer to slow down and stop than a smaller vehicle. They know this

and still they do it.

I witnessed a right arse of a driver last week. We were driving down a main road which had a couple of miles of road works on it and a ambulance blue lighting comes up a couple of cars behind us. We pull over on the round about to make room for it to pass and low and behold a right douschebag thinks that its a great opportunity to overtake us and goes who whizzing past...and now the ambulance is stuck behind him due to all the traffic cones on the road. So now the ambulance can't get past. We go past another roundabout and douschebag doesn't pull over but continues to drive in front of the ambulance. Cue now lots of drivers coming the other way flashing douschebag, yet he continues obliviously or maybe he's doing it on purpose. The ambulance is getting rather peeved and starts tailgating him, finally the road works stop and the ambulance over takes him (but not with about 3-4 opportunities for this guy to pull over and let the ambulance pass).

The ambulance then drew up next to him, the passenger window was rolled down and the paramedic extended his middle finger to the driver. Cue cheers in our car.
I hope that the ambulance guys reported this driver.
Honestly, I can't believe someone would obstruct an emergency vehicle. How would they feel if there loved one desperately needed help and was unnecessarily delayed because of someone's lack of driving skills and downright arseholeness?
It was a young guy driving with a passenger, not like an old dude who couldn't hear or see the ambulance.

Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme I had a similar experience with an ambulance.

It was piling on towards me on a narrow road, not giving me any time at all to slow down whilst at the same time forcing me to ramp the pavement to avoid being hit.

I burst my tyre and had a close encounter with someone's front garden because of that

Hey what does anybody think about having to re-take the driving test every 5 years, ten years?? I'd like to see safer roads, too! From next April Police will be able to pull in anyone driving poorly and give them a ticket on the spot.

I don't think everyone should be subject to a retest though maybe enforce one or a compulsory refresher course for those whose driving falls below standard. Difficult to manage though.

given that everybody was deemed fit to drive at some point, it is unbelievable.

using a phone while driving has been illegal for a while. Nope, still happening.
continually braking-accelerating wastes petrol, which is expensive. So many do that.
less than 2 seconds apart is too close. No-one seems to know that.
speed limits are maxima, not targets. If it is raining or foggy, SLOW THE FUCK DOWN.

one small note of good cheer. I was going along signalling to turn left into a junction, chap was waiting to come out of it. I noted that he did not actually come out until my wheels started to turn and he saw that I really was turning. I know to do that but have never seen anyone else do it!

Two things I notice most mornings coming into work.

1) Drivers not signalling at roundabouts or junctions. 9 times out of 10, female.

2) Cyclists with helmets but all dark clothing, no lights on bike or person. 10 times out of 10, male.