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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

<Warning, may contain ranting and unreasonable-ness>. OAP's driving slowly whilst wearing hats.

200 replies

Mumofaflump · 09/06/2011 14:40

Seriously? If you cant manage at least 40 mph down a perfectly good A road with a limit of 60 mph then, in my opinion, you shouldn't be driving.

Every morning I get stuck behind at least one person who crawls along at 35mph. Invariably they are driving fast expensive cars too!

Dont even get me started on those who drive fast cars slowly whilst wearing hats..... GRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Disclaimer - it is a perfectly good road, 60 is a perfectly sensible speed, conditions permitting.

OP posts:
nickelbabe · 09/06/2011 16:14

I followed a car for hours once when I was going to gillingham
it was going 25 i the 40 mph zone, slowed down to 20 when in the 30mph zone.
it drove me mad because it's like that all the way from sittingbourne to nearly gillingham.

CMOTdibbler · 09/06/2011 16:15

Those people could be my parents tbh. They bought our hot hatch off us when dh got a company car, and now neither of them should be on the road. But its difficult when neither of them can cycle now, both can manage to walk 10m at a time, and they live far enough from everything that they would need transport. Dad is terrified that he'll lose his license as they will not have any independance - you can't even get the bus easily, but tries to stop mum driving as she forgets where she is going.

I know this is a light hearted thread, but think of two old people clinging to the only way they get out before you laugh

SarahStratton · 09/06/2011 16:15

Not just a supermarket carpark. One old dear nearly reversed over DD2 this morning. Then just breezily said 'Oh well there is a blind spot'.

Yes, that's why you look over your farking shoulder Angry

CinnabarRed · 09/06/2011 16:18

As well as virtually all of the above, my mother is also guilty of:

  • slowing to a stop at roundabouts and only then looking whether there is anything else coming
  • leaving her left indicator on after turning left. It only goes off if she happens to be obliged to turn right.
bupcakesandcunting · 09/06/2011 16:22

What about the ones who...

fuck it I am still laughing at this "OAP's driving slowly whilst wearing hats" too much to consider the thread Grin

diabolo · 09/06/2011 16:24

The worst, the very worst at the ones who drive at 27mph on the 60mph A roads out in the countryside, then speed up to 40mph in the villages, because there are street lights and the road is a little wider!

Nutters.

God- I hope I don't turn into one.

Blatherskite · 09/06/2011 16:30

I'm sorry for your parents CMOT but driving is not a right.

It may be their only way of getting out but it's not fair to put other road users and pedestrians lives at risk. How would you feel if they ran over and killed a child because they didn't see them or couldn't stop? If they shouldn't be on the road, they need to sell their car and move not carry on driving!

This happened to my Grandad. He had to drive to get to the shops but he was crashng before he even got off the drive! We had to take his keys away for the safety of everyone else on the road. Relatives took it in turns to take him to the supermarket after this and still do for his sister who is also unable to drive.

He may have lost his independance but it's better than someone losing their life!

Insomnia11 · 09/06/2011 16:34

The terrifying thing is some of them then progress to mobility scooters and can get you on the pavement too...

misty0 · 09/06/2011 16:35

Yes! Yes! Yes! THANK YOU OP, for the chance to vent.

Drives me mental when they drive up the middle of the road soley to stop you overtaking as well.

"If its fast enough for me - it'll have to be fast enough for you" smug @?"^&'s. emoticom.

Being the "only way they can get out", as someone said earlier, does not make dangerous drivers ok to be on the road - what ever their age!

And ...... relax. sigh.

TandB · 09/06/2011 16:36

Oh gawd, YANBU.

I had to drop some friends off somewhere a couple of weeks ago. We got stuck behind a woman in a hat right from the end of our road till the duel carriageway which is about 6 miles away. She did 15mph the whole way. I thought the lorry driver behind me was going to combust.

TooManyBlossoms · 09/06/2011 16:42

I don't know if it's just round here, but the majority of the cap wearing crawlers drive Toyotas. When I ended up behind a W reg Corolla, still in showroom condition, with a pair of flowery velvet cushions on the parcel shelf this morning, I knew it would be a long journey. It was.

DartsRus · 09/06/2011 16:45

The one's that get me these days are those who rigidly stick to 10 mph below whatever limit they're in. I happened to be introduced to someone the other day and the suject got around to driving (not sure how). This chap was actually boasting how doing exactly this (the 10 mph below thing) made him a safe driver.

Until I punctured his smugness with the comment that driving in this way so rigidly showed he was more likely to be dangerous than less likely and that I thought his inflexibility showed he might be too rigid to cope with an emergency.

QOD · 09/06/2011 16:50

Has anyone mentioned the ones who drive along a straight road and indicate they are turning right but are, infact, just driving passed a parked car?

"BUS STOP W@NKER!" is my usual rant (as in they should be waiting at one...)

CurrySpice · 09/06/2011 16:50

I've just been behind one Angry

Dual carriageway. Drives at 45mph in the outside lane so nobody can get past. Christonabike

Original poster
Mumofaflump · 09/06/2011 16:55

As we say round these 'ere parts...

"Makes I laarrffffff it do!"

Grin

(just had a "comical typo" moment. Typed [groin] rather than [ grin ]!)

OP posts:
Original poster
Mumofaflump · 09/06/2011 17:05

I am probably outing myself here, but never mind. The road I'm on about is the A30 between Salisbury and Shaftesbury if anyone else knows it?

OP posts:
CoffeeDodger · 09/06/2011 17:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

iamaLeafontheWind · 09/06/2011 17:16

On the A6 in Derbyshire here, where we have oldies with caravans, lots of motorbikes and 30, 40, NSL repeat for miles. Scary driving.

wannabesybil · 09/06/2011 17:17

How about the old dears that drive like bats out of hell?

Darling father is not currently driving, and is 80 soon, but not only saw speed limits as minimum but after a series of strokes got steadily less reliable when it came to directions.

Breathed huge sigh of relief when he sold his last car as he was drinking and driving - I know this as he tried to drive to our house and stopped to ask for directions in pubs in every postcode in Leeds. He could barely get up the steps to our house when OH finally met him (at a pub) and guided him home.

My late great aunt gave up driving in her eighties. She never drank and drove - she never drank. However she did drive like a bat out of hell. She passed her driving test at the age 57 and never quite got the hang of the clutch, she went through several engines. She drove like a bat out of hell, particularly in narrow, winding, high-hedged country lanes and was known for miles. She never had an accident, but saw a lot of near misses.

And OH, who isn't that old and doesn't wear a hat - please can someone explain to me why he has to drive at 60mph, down a very winding road with high hedges, no pavements, strange area, no following traffic, because it is a NSL.

StyleandBooty · 09/06/2011 17:27

Shodan - my Uncle Bob had a similar emergency stop routine during his motorbike test approx 40 years ago. He ran over the examiner!

iamaLeafontheWind · 09/06/2011 17:35

Bat out of hell old dears - my Nanna was one! She could get from the edge of Derbyshire to Wigan in an hour, before the new Manchester motorways. Maybe she was a timelord & I never knew.

passiveaggresive · 09/06/2011 17:43

oh, my poor old dad used to do this - not all the time, he would drive at the speed limit, unless he was talking, then he would slow right down - it was like he coudlnt do the two things at the same time, but then he did go on to get dementia so i think it might have been the very early stages of this.

Jenstar21 · 09/06/2011 18:12

I have a fleecy blanket in the back of my car. I'm now concerned it's the early signs of old person driving. I'll watch out for signs of bunnettage.

Also, is it just round here, or are all Micra drivers terrible drivers? I don't know if it's because they're nervous drivers they buy a small car, or if it's because Micras make you a terrible driver.... hmmm.. has puzzled me for some time!

MrsSchadenfreude · 09/06/2011 18:26

The Bunnets all drive Micras. My mother has one. She is an atrocious driver - drives at 50 mph everywhere, scant regard for speed limits through villages, and drove while waiting for her cataract operation, when she really couldn't see very much at all.

CroissantNeuf · 09/06/2011 18:43

Its not Micras around here, its the little square boxy cars like Vauxhall Agilas.

Also, like someone else said earlier on the thread, they can also be in old but quite big cars in pristine condition like Corollas or, in the case of the old dear I saw today a big old Suburu.

She was hurtling towards me on my side of the road, forcing me to pull over to let her past (even though I had right of way as the parked cars were on her side of the road). She put her hand up to say thanks to me for giving way but its not as if I had a choice really Hmm