Can I start a rules of the road you don’t learn on driving lessons thread?

[RebornFlame]

These are mine:
You will be treated differently depending on what car you drive (having passed in my 30’s people see my banger of a tiny hatchback and treat me far worse on the roads than when I’m driving dh’s estate)

2: a tractor that slows down and indicates right is telling you it’s safe to overtake them.

3: playing rock anthems so loudly the static kicks in is a very sad look for a mum on a school run and cars and not sound proof to the outside world. (I am the sad twat in question here!).

Please add your own

Most modern cars have running lights these days
They’ve been required on all car models approved in the EU after 7 February 2011.

All that nonsense you were taught when learning to drive about slowing down when approaching a roundabout and giving way to the right is NONSENSE if you live in the North East of Scotland... Speed up, as fast as you can and just enter the roundabout. Don't even look. Don't worry if there are other cars on the roundabout, they have brakes.

Many cars with running lights only have them at the front. Do not rely on running lights if the light is fading. You may be able to see forward, but noone can see you from the side or behind.

Posh cars are not fitted with indicators or a reverse gear, this is because everyone else is required to simply get out of the way.

Most modern cars have running lights these days
@kittenVsXmastree yes I was just going to post that.

turn on your bloody lights, don’t rely on the daylight ones
Your dash may look like a Christmas tree, but your arse is as bleak as our future under Boris.

If you're letting a pedestrian cross in front of your, do try to remember that they can't always see you. A light flash is far more effective than a wiggle of your index finger.

When driving down a narrow road that is difficult to pass oncoming cars whatever you do don't stop to let an oncoming car / cars through to ease the jam keep moving forward at all costs.

Yes @fuzzymoon just keep piling forward, it will help the situation.
I had one last week like that where a woman in her shiny merc just pushed through past a bin lorry we had been waiting behind. So now no one could go anywhere.

Beeping, just beep long and hard when there’s traffic. It WILL make it all move out the way.

I forgot the one about driving on Scottish Islands.
If you are a local then keep your main beam on so that the visitor (me) is blinded by the light hitting the mirrors so that you cannot see the edge of the road/massive drop into the sea/fecking sheep/rubble from minor landslide.
Then as you pull into the nearest passing place to allow incoming traffic past, speed up and pass causing both you and the oncoming driver to suffer heart failure.

Women (it's mostly women) driving range rovers own the road, park where they like and can't reverse.

Very old people need watching like a hawk as they will make unexpected moves, usually into another lane. Drive defensively around them.

Be very wary of lorry drivers and never drive in their blind spot (or any car for that matter). Lorry drivers are bastards and use mobile phones at the wheel of a death machine.

If people flash you to let you out, don't forget all the other rules about looking first.

On a motorway look 99% of the time ahead. Only use mirrors when manoeuvring. Everything dangerous happens ahead of you.

It’s absolutely fine to park on a road junction, because it’s the nearest space to your house. It doesn’t matter that you’re parked on a road hump, or that cars coming from other directions are unable to see what’s round the corner and have to drive on the wrong side of the road, because your need to be as close to your front door as possible, is paramount.

You can also park one of your cars in your drive and the other behind it, across the pavement, because it’s not your fault you bought a house with a garage and a parking space and you don’t use the garage and have three cars.

When you have done something dodgy, like creep forward into traffic to try and cross, or cut someone up, NEVER make eye contact with the victim; by denying their existence, it completely justifies your actions.

On a motorway look 99% of the time ahead. Only use mirrors when manoeuvring. Everything dangerous happens ahead of you.

No, it is possible to glance at your mirrors far more frequently than that and if you can’t, you’re not driving safely.

No, it is possible to glance at your mirrors far more frequently than that and if you can’t, you’re not driving safely.

I think she was being sarcastic.

But the rest of her post wasn’t? 😆 Confused now...

1) If you drive a BMW you own the road

Correct. So get out of my bloody way!

On a more serious note, on motorways never drive immediately to the right of LHD foreign trucks. You are sitting in the driver’s blind spot, and asking for trouble. If there is no space for you to overtake the truck, drop back so he can see you.

Please ignore OP
If a tractor indicates R do not overtake. It is most likely turning R and you will be in a pile up
Any slow moving vehicle will indicate L if they are giving a signal to overtake

New rule round here seems to be that it is perfectly fine to overtake cyclists and cross into the oncoming lane regardless of oncoming traffic as you are far more important and have the right to expect them to pull over / stop. If you do this on a blind bend you also have the right to expect all oncoming drivers to be telepathic too.

@Abraid2 I drive motorways a heck of a lot of hours weekly.

Just tell me what do you see in the rear view or other mirrors (outside of lane changing/exiting/entering the motorway, that is of any use to you? If someone is tailgating you, there's not a lot you can do about it except ensure you are keeping a safe distance from the car in front....hence look ahead of you!

At 65-70 mph things happen horrifyingly fast if anything is going to go wrong so that's where you need to be looking. Anything behind you is a dangerous distraction.

Just tell me what do you see in the rear view or other mirrors (outside of lane changing/exiting/entering the motorway, that is of any use to you?

Emergency vehicles?

@NamechangeoutedbyMIL I'm not being sarcastic at all. I said 99% of the time except changing lanes, and other lane changing manoeuvres.

Eg. I was on a 'smart' motorway in the left hand lane about to exit. No hard shoulder and a car transporter lorry in the right lane next to me. My attention was diverted for 2 seconds as I wondered why 2 men were lurking in the undergrowth, before I almost hit their broken down van which was straddling my lane. If I'd stuck to my own rule I'd have had time to brake more. Looking behind is just a diversion.

@NeedAnExpert I said 99%. That 1% would cover emergency vehicles. I microsecond glance is enough.

Where I live only drug dealers drive BMWs but Audi drivers don’t indicate, ever and think they are better than everyone. People who drive silver cars never put their lights on at dusk or in heavy rain or fog so they become invisible.

Turning your radio down/off when making a tricky manoeuvre or looking for a street in an unknown area is a must.

At roundabouts drivers sometimes go all the way around and go back the way they came but even when indicating correctly other drivers will still enter said roundabout (usually at speed) and cut you up.