Aggressive drivers

[RosaKim]

I’m back in the U.K. on holiday as I live overseas but have spent time going back and forth over course of last decade. Overseas country drive on same side etc. Always been a confident driver eg as a student did a driving job part time. Last here a year ago. Drove long journeys etc all fine.

I’m feeling totally miserable after several run ins on the road with aggressive male drivers, and questioning my own sanity here - have the roads got worse in the last year? Not only aggressive drivers but so many more cars and cars parked all over the show making narrow roads a nightmare. It’s like people deliberately try to catch me out or react to the tiniest perceived slight on the road.

I usually love my trips home to Blighty but between that and the weather I’m down in the dumps. Is it just me?

I'm afraid I agree, driving in the UK has significantly declined in the last 10 years.

Probably the most noticeable one for me is undertaking at speed on the motorway, now quite common in the U.K. illegal and potentially lethal.

I don't know the reason, but noticed in Europe generally the wealthier the area the better they drive.

Thanks - ironically the safest I’ve felt was on the motorway but agree it’s still not how it used to be. It’s making me fearful of driving :(

I return to UK two or three times a year and have not noticed any difference in driving behaviour.

@Dbank if people are moving back to left lane after overtaking this could not happen. Drives me mad people driving in middle lane and not moving over.

It's hideously aggressive. My DS just failed his driving test because someone cut in front of him. He braked and stopped, avoiding the collision, but the examiner felt that he should have braked more quickly. All of our efforts wasted - tests are booking for January and there are no cancellations. The woman that darted in front of my DS had absolutely no business doing it - she was just obviously in a hurry and literally barged with her car into DS's lane. I have dashcam of it and would like to take it to the police because I am so fucked off that DS can't get another test for months and has failed because of an aggressive, dangerous driver. Thing is, police haven't got time to care. Britain is totally broken. I would be happy I live overseas in your position OP!

I'm not advocating for undertaking (and I don't do it fwiw!) But this is pretty much the only antisocial driving habit that can be stopped/fixed by others. You can't stop people from tailgating, speeding, jumping lights, but if everyone drove in the correct lane(s) it wouldn't be possible to undertake. It's incredibly frustrating being stuck behind someone in the wrong lane pootling along well under the speed limit stopping you from overtaking.

Driving standards have definitely deteriorated. People park wherever they want - double yellow lines, blocking pavements. They have no patience - I was in traffic jam the other day - there were hands on horns (totally pointless as no one was going anywhere fast) and this morning I was behind someone who drove across a red light at a pedestrian crossing because the person had already crossed - they didn't even wait for amber!
And the number of reports of people failing drug /alcohol tests after being pulled over by the police is no doubt responsible for some of it.

The problem is indeed lane hogging, but, undertaking isn't the solution.

I find hazard lights are used now for totally inappropriate behaviour. There seems to be an attitude that as long as you warn somebody you have parked dangerously for example that's just fine now.

You absolutely should, look up operation snap in your force area. Your poor DS.

I will look at that, thank you

Yep it's awful around here. Entitled young men think they own the roads, tailgating, barging through gaps instead of giving way.
Just today I saw a learner trying to reverse into a space. Instead of waiting the bloke in the car immediately behind the learner squeezed past so that the learner had to just stop. Selfish git.

But you say that your DS failed because he didn't brake quickly enough. So her bad driving wasn't actually the reason for his failure. She may have triggered the incident he failed for but it was his reactions that caused the failure rather than her bad driving.

I agree. Took DD out for a driving lesson the other day and we came to a bin lorry, she didn’t feel she could see round it well enough to overtake so I told her to wait until it had moved forward. Literally a minute of waiting while the blokes threw the bins in. Car behind obviously didn’t like the fact she wasn’t moving and floored his car, beeping at DD the whole time.
I wanted to swap seats with her and chase the prick down and have it out with him (who the fuck beeps at a learner) but thought better of it.