Afraid to drive

[LuckyOliveDeer]

I am a good driver I have been told so it is just other drivers on the road that are the problem. I drive just below the speed limit so 28 in a 30 just so I don't go over but not a lot under. We don't know how a lot of these awful drivers have been given licenses. Speeding doing a 50 or 60 on a 30, then over taking at dangerous points, cutting you off, pulling out at a junction when you have right of way. it honestly happens every day. There are occasional cameras including at a box junction, but not many. They could cause an accident and almost have. It happens a lot if you happen to be out during the school run or coming home from work.. If this is you, you need telling off as it could cost lives

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Drive at 30 in a 30 in good conditions. If you're driving at 28, you're actually driving at about 26 because car speedometers under report. Driving at 26 in a 30 mph limit invites people to over take.

If you see someone overtaking you, slow down and make space. Don't get drawn into the drama.

If you are approaching a junction and a car is forward, ease off the accelerator - if they pull out you'll have the space you need, and you can always put the accelerator back on once you've passed the junction.

If you're in the left lane and someone filters aggressively from the right, check your mirrors and slow down to make space.

If someone is driving like an idiot, get behind them. Let them do their thing and you carry on doing yours.

People are idiots but there are so many ways you can avoid being drawn into the drama.

Where do you drive that you regularly encounter people exceeding the speed limit by that amount? You'll always get the odd dickhead behind the wheel but all you can do is drive safely and not let the pressure get to you.

This. There should be no reason to be consistently being under the speed limit when conditions are clear. I’m a stickler for keeping to the correct speeds but even I would be tempted to overtake if the car in front was driving at 28 (therefore closer to 26mph) in a 30 zone for no reason.

I didn't realise it meant I was doing closer to 26 or 25. I thought it was off by a few and 28 meant I was doing 30 or 31. Well you learn something new everyday.
Even so, they are always going much much faster when they over take. I don't want to say exactly where but I'm in moray.

Car manufacturers aren't allowed to report a lower speed than reality. They set the speedo high so that if you're caught speeding you can't blame the speedo.

The EU rule is that a speedo must never show less than the actual speed, and must never show more than 110% of actual speed + 6.25mph.

Most cars will say you're doing 30 when you're doing 28 and 40 when you're doing 37-38.

I think a lot of this you have to let it go. How often are you seeing people go 50/60 in a 30? I don’t see that often at all. If people are driving aggressively just give them space. You can usually see what someone is going to do before they do it (like pull out of a junction or force their way in). Just roll your eyes and let them get on with it.

That is one example but I see it at least once a week. I see dangerous driving each day. Lucky you if you live in an area where it doesn't happen.

I see dangerous driving daily. DDs are learning to drive and we have several dangerous junctions locally. I just tell them to watch the wheels because they don't lie. If someone is going to pull out, they'll be forward in that junction and their wheels will move fractionally before they start to pull out. Look ahead, look at them. They will often be forward in their seat, gripping the wheel. It's easy to spot. But seriously, just be prepared to slow down or stop, then get on with your day.

I was taught to drive by an ex police driving instructor and was taught always drive to the speed limit if conditions allow. If you’re poodling around below the speed limit I’m not surprised people are overtaking you. What pisses me off is the 20mph limit in Scottish towns which no one seems to stick to. I deliberately stick to it and often have folk sitting on my tail! As for the other stuff you mention try not to let it get to you.
Having said that I do think that non of us are perfect drivers and the day we think we are is the time to stop.

I’ll get crucified for saying this, but in my experience, over-cautious drivers are a nightmare. They think they are ‘good’ drivers, but they drive well under the speed limit and cause tailbacks, hit the brakes unnecessarily, start slowing down long before they reach a junction or roundabout, won’t turn into traffic unless the road they are turning into is completely clear, are agonisingly slow to move when traffic lights turn green, and are generally so focused on their own fear and risks that they don’t really pay attention to the traffic around them. If the OP is scared of other road users, it is probably safer for herself and for others if she gives up driving at all.

People that drive slightly under the speed limit drive me nuts. Just drive the actual limit.

Totally Agree.

If you’re not confident driving to the speed limits you are part of the problem. It’s not an excuse for anyone behaving like twats, but people will get frustrated. Have you considered getting some refresher lessons to boost your confidence?

Or it could be that you are a nervous driver who perceives other drivers as dangerous when they are not?

Moray is just an area of the UK like any other area, you are not a different breed up there with different attitudes. There are just as many dickhead drivers in Moray as there are in Devon, Shropshire, Argyll....

The Midlands! i have a set of roads that go thirty forty for a short stretch then back to thirty the amount of people that continue to try and do forty in the thirty is ridiculous we have those speed aware things all over the place but there are still accidents we recently had an influx of people who didn't grow up here they couldn't get the hang of a certain road and there were a lot of accidents in a short space of time its settled now but they are building more houses so we are expecting another set of crashes

Completely agree. Continuously driving under the speed limit all the time does not make you a good driver. It just makes you an annoying driver and invites other road users to overtake you pootling around with your so called morale high ground.
I was also taught to drive by an ex police officer who encouraged reaching the speed limit for optimal traffic flow as well as confidence and safety.

I think you should stop driving tbh

You also don't actually know the speed the other drivers are going, it's only a loose guess OP. If people are overtaking you a lot of the time then you're evidently driving too slow. I don't think anyone has ever overtaken me on a A road. Drivers rightly or wrongly also tend to pick up speed as they're overtaking you to get to the left hand lane again.

Agree also that over-cautious drivers are equally at fault. They're the ones who you follow up an open country road and they brake every time a car comes towards them in the other direction. Or are over-hesitant at roundabouts and junctions. Or who drive well under the speed limit for the road when conditions permit them to go faster.

But the nervous and poor drivers will be along shortly to say how it's not THEIR fault that the dickheads get so frustrated and have to overtake, and it's not THEIR poor driving which is the issue, it's everyone else who has anger/impatience issues and anyway, it's a limit not a target....

My elderly dad is always sounding off about other drivers and how terrible they are (in semi rural Yorkshire). Recently he was in London (I was driving) and he critiqued some poor mum who was crossing a junction…. He couldn’t see that it was a Green pedestrian light and she was 100% correct! Yes there are some dickhead drivers but his perception is that the vast majority of drivers are dreadful.

It’s not them. It’s him.

Christ, I hope he doesn't drive anymore!

Similar conversation with FIL at the weekend. He is 82 and still drives - although his driving is limited to the 2 miles to and from the local Aldi every week. He used to be a good and competent driver and when I knew them first he regularly drove all over the country without hesitation. He is still OK and safe but cannot accept that his attitudes have changed and comfort zone has shrunk. Yes there are more cars on the road but if you heard him speak you'd think that every single driver other than him was a dangerous maniac between the wheel, but he is defining "dangerous maniac" as anyone who drives at 30 in a 30 and easily manages to find a gap to pull out at a junction or roundabout.

When my children were learning to drive we showed them lots of dash cam videos on youtube and still do so they could see what the typical problems were, the near misses and the actual crashes and they do break down into just a few categories. They could see the dangers of the road without actually being on it.

This has meant that they can anticipate things more as they are learning from everyone else's mistakes. We also have dash cams in our cars, both front and rear facing in case there is an accident.

If you encounter aggressive or dangerous driving and you have a dash cam you can report this to the police and upload the video. It is called Operation Snap (also compilations of these on youtube released by the police and the punishment dealt out) I am not sure what it is called in Scotland.

People drive badly everywhere, you just need to be making sure you’re as safe as you can be. Watching people at junctions, you can see if they’re going to pull out, if someone is trying to cut in front of you- let them in, it’s not worth the agro.

If you’re nervous you’ll think everyone is being dangerous when they’re probably not.