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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wish that incompetent car drivers should stick to public transport?

126 replies

CockularDepravity · 09/02/2011 22:15

Having nearly been involved in an accident this morning due to the woman driver indicating one way and then turning the other, AIBU to suggest that some people should simply not be allowed to drive?

The overly timid and indecisive drivers are almost as bad as the loons who drive everywhere at 100 miles an hour. People on mobiles, applying eyeliner, smoking cigarettes, eating food ... the list of idiocy I see goes on and on.

AIBU to think that many drivers should be limited to public transport until they learn to drive adequately?

OP posts:

RustyBear · 10/02/2011 07:51

"AIBU to think that many drivers should be limited to public transport until they learn to drive adequately?" - and how will they learn if they don't drive?

"Can I add old people after a blind senior reversed out of her parking space today and nearly hit my car" - the person who did this to me was mid thirties, so obviously we should ban those too....

Tangle - Despite cutting and pasting CockularDepravity's post you didn't read it properly - it didn't say 'you can't do 30 in a 40 zone' it said '40 in a 30 zone'.

GotArt - sorry, but you were too close- you have to assume someone may stop suddenly.

And several posters - cars have brakes, not breaks.

[pedant rage]

DoingTheBestICan · 10/02/2011 07:55

I was pissed off with the toe-rag who jumped the lights & almost crashed into me side on,then he had the nerve to stop, after i had done a rather fabulous spin away from him, to shout abuse at me & call me a fuckin blind cunt

I would have liked to have given him a good swift kick in the testicles,bastard.

MrsTumbles · 10/02/2011 07:57

lesley33 is right, I treat every car on the road as a bad driver and I go off road positioning more than indication nowadays, but this has only come with experience.

I do have to say the motorway comments have left me a bit I think that the law needs to be changed so that ALL drivers after passing their test should have to take compulsory motorway lessons. It beggars belief that you cannot go on a motorway until you have passed your test, but the second you have passed you can go unaccompanied on a Motorway at speeds you will have never driven whilst preparing for your test.

nomoreheels · 10/02/2011 08:00

I hate drivers who refuse to stop for me at pelican crossings when they have plenty of time to stop safely. It's the way they always look straight ahead as they drive past that sends me over the edge. I end up shouting bad things at them.

Morons.

lesley33 · 10/02/2011 08:09

nomoreheels

This may not be relevant, but one of the things that has surprised me since I have been driving, is how hard it can be at night, in some locations, to see pedestrians if they are standing on the pavement. Occasionally I haven't seen people waiting to cross until the last minute and so have driven on.

I am sure some people may deliberately be ignoring you, but depending on the situation, they may not have seen you until it was dangerous to stop suddenly.

MrsTumbles · 10/02/2011 08:14

Pelican Crossings are light controlled so by not stopping the drivers would be running a red light

I have the same problem with a zebra crossing near my house, it comes just after a roundabout and drivers never stop unless you are halfway across, and then it?s always an emergency stop!

Ormirian · 10/02/2011 08:17

A 'woman driver'? Fancy that

EricNorthmansMistress · 10/02/2011 08:22

I agree with Lisa and Reality regarding Mways. Of course I move over to the inside lane when it's clear but when there is a lot of traffic on the Mway including lorries I tend to stay in the middle doing 70-80.

What I hate is people who don't indicate on roundabouts. I hate missing an opportunity to go because some numpty forgets to indicate and by the time I see what they are doing it's too late.

melikalikimaka · 10/02/2011 08:24

Not so much of the women! Go to my local Waitrose in quite an affluent area, you don't see old people ambling along there. They have all got brand new Honda Civics and Nissan Micras and you can find them revving the crap out of them and doing 100 point turns in the car park. I give them a wide berth, they are also on my road, after 9.30am, they all come out. They just won't give up but they are dangerous. Sometimes you can't even see the driver because they are so low down in the car.

GwendolineMaryLacey · 10/02/2011 08:24

dizzyblonde I often wonder this. You're on a dual carriageway and the traffic is gridlocked. An ambulance is trying to get through and everyone just sits there because there is nowhere to go. Is there anywhere we can go IYSWIM? The ambulance is generally understandably tooting and flashing like crazy. What's the best thing to do in that situation? Am I making any sense?

CaveMum · 10/02/2011 08:24

Drivers who don't slow down for horses also get on my proverbials. I haven't ridden for a few years but the number of times I have been out on the road and almost hit by idiot drivers is ridiculous. Thankfully, where I live now has several by-laws to protect the thousands of horses that use the roads.

nomoreheels · 10/02/2011 08:24

Sorry - I actually meant zebra crossings. (I'm not from the UK originally so still getting used to road terms!) I've actually had very good experiences overall with pelican crossings - perhaps all zebra crossings should be converted?

For me this happens just about every morning, in bright daylight, as I walk to my bus stop. It's a decent patch of road with good visibility & not a curve. The drivers are usually a good 50 ft away and I step into the road a little so they can see me. Basically - in this case there's no excuse, just someone being selfish I'm afraid!

pointissima · 10/02/2011 08:27

I am. I do.

lesley33 · 10/02/2011 08:31

nomore heels - okay they are just being selfish. I actually find where I live, as a pedestrian, people are really good at stopping at pelican crossings and zebra crossings.

MrsTumbles- the pelican crossing near my house isn't light controlled. You can go over the pelican crossing and through the next green light very easily.

PickleSarnie · 10/02/2011 08:33

mrstumbles it's a sensible idea but a completely impractical one. What about people learning to drive in Aberdeen for example? The nearest motorway is over a 100 miles away and even then it's only a two landed glorified dual carriage way.

I don't think it's possible to prepare drivers for all driving situations. Driving in snow? Should all lessons take place in winter? Driving in the dark? Should they be done at night? I learnt to drive in central London. I had never ever been above 40 miles an hour and had never put a car into 5th gear. So now driving round winding country roads scares the crap out of me.

So does the fact I'm not yet fully competent in all situations mean I should hang up my car keys immediately?

notyummy · 10/02/2011 08:33

People who pick a lane on the motorway and stay there - do you move over if there is a constant flow of traffic coming up behind you at a higher speed than you are doing, then overtaking you, and then pulling back in....not just in front of you...but into the inside lane? They are doing that as a not so subtle hint to MOVE BLOODY OVER, if you hadn't guessed by now.

Can appreciate why people don't want to pull out every 30 seconds, but sticking to one lane regardless of flow of traffic is ludicrous and shows an underconfident driver who shouldn't be on a motoway.

mousesma · 10/02/2011 08:37

I think a bigger problem can be unnecessarily aggressive drivers who are intolerant of other road users.

Yes it is frustrating when someone makes a stupid mistake but everyone (including experienced drivers) has off days and as a safe driver you need to anticipate that this could happen.

However I am biased because yesterday I made a stupid mistake which saw me misjudge a width restriction and burst my tyre on the kerb.

I suspect anyone who saw it would have thought I was an idiot who shouldn't have a licence and I did and still do feel like a total dickhead but I won't be ripping my licence up just yet!

BTW dangerous driving i.e. using mobile phones, applying make-up, chatting to your mate and not paying proper attention is inexcusable IMO.

EricNorthmansMistress · 10/02/2011 08:39

Notyummy - yes I do

melikalikimaka · 10/02/2011 08:43

Applying make-up is ok if you are stuck at traffic lights for minutes, isn't it?

Iggly · 10/02/2011 08:48

The problem is that most people think they're better than average drivers so rage at others. Well they cant all be better than average, surely.

As a learner I'm constantly shocked by the poor driving out there - forgetting indicators, stupid overtaking, using roundabouts incorrectly. It pisses me off because I can't trust anyone else.

I think they should make it compulsory to resit your test after a number of years - maybe a less strict one than the first one. And raise the driving age from 17 to (why is it 17?)
Something needs to change - people out there can cause accidents and kill people. It's madness.

MrsTumbles · 10/02/2011 08:53

Sorry PickleSarnie I accept that not all situations can be covered in learning to drive, but I think it is nuts that people can be allowed to drive at speeds of over 70 with no training! I learned to drive in the summer so obviously no snow/driving in the dark for me, however I did a pass plus course to make sure that I was safe and could tackle motorways/night time driving and at least go through the theory of other driving conditions.

The driving test teaches people to drive to the MINIMUM standard, and personally I believe that like many other countries in the world there should be a graduated driving licence.

Sorry Lesley33 I'd never heard of a Pelican Crossing that wasn't light controlled, I'll have to read up on my highway code when I get home

Mymblesson · 10/02/2011 09:16

then overtaking you, and then pulling back in....not just in front of you...but into the inside lane?

Sometimes you can be on the inside lane and actually catch up with some idiot hogging the middle lane. Then it's a choice of either overtaking on the inside or going right out into the outside lane before coming back over into the inside lane again.

Decisions, decisions...

lesley33 · 10/02/2011 09:28

MrsTumbles - I don't really understand what you mean by light controlled? The pelican crossing near me - anyone can walk across at any time. Further on there are traffic lights that operate totally separately from the pelican crossing.

LisasCat · 10/02/2011 09:40

Cavemum if the inside lane is empty I definitely go in there. But if there are slow moving vehicles, even a little way up ahead, that I know I will have to move around, I stay in the middle rather than move into a lane that I know I'll have to move back out of in less than a minute.

Unless it's 4am and pitch black. On a couple of occassions I've been on a motorway when I am the only vehicle for miles, and I stay in the middle lane. I'm just very aware of the fact that I cannot see a thing along the side or the central reservation, and if a drunk person in dark clothes happens to be wandering along the side of the road, I have far more options open to me for swerving if I'm in the middle. This might sound like a ridiculous scenarion. Except that it has happened to me, on a dual carriageway, a man dressed entirely in black standing in the middle of the road at 2am. There's no contingency plan for nutters when you're doing 70mph.

scurryfunge · 10/02/2011 09:45

lesley, don't you mean zebra crossing?

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