To hope they shit themselves?

[MaxPepsi]

I have just very nearly had a car crash this afternoon which would probably have resulted in serious damage to the other driver not just their car.

Thankfully, my reactions are bloody good and my car is practically brand new so the brakes are all in fine working order.

There I am, happily driving along the road, one car several lengths in front and one a bit further behind me. The part of the road I am on is NSL and I'm doing about 45mph.

To my left is a private driveway, with plenty of room to position your car so that you can both see and turn either way. (I know what it's like, I've come out of it myself). I can see the car waiting to come out, they watch the first car go past, then for some completely inexplicable dangerous fucking reason they pull out on me really fucking slowly.

I've had no choice but to do an emergency stop, only narrowly missing their tiny little car with my much larger and more robust estate car, whilst I sit in horror watching the car behind me getting closer and closer. Thankfully, they were far enough back to be able to stop also.

However, whilst I am sat there thinking fuck fuck fuck, the bastard who's caused all this just merrily carries on like nothing has happened.

This is the bit that has really annoyed me, I totally accept that people have lapses in judgement every now and then. Apparently it is surprisingly common from what my DH tells me (he's a fireman) and from accidents friends have had But surely when you have one of these lapses you fucking acknowledge it, a hand gesture to say sorry, a mouthing of the word sorry you don't just drive away.

I very rarely wish ill feeling upon other people, but AIBU to really hope they shit themselves literally when they saw my huge, not easy to miss car baring down on them at speed?

[humlebee7]

My grandpa was a terrifying driver. He had never sat a test as he'd driven tractors on the farm and vehicles during the war so I think he didn't need to get tested.

He drove as if he had the right of way the whole time. Plus his eyesight was terrible but he was too vain to wear glasses so I doubt he could see other cars anyway. My mum said she used to sit with her feet on the dash board if she had to go anywhere with him.

As a teenager he used to run me along the road 4 miles to visit my horse. He'd had a leg amputated by that point so had a tiny white metro automatic to run about in and I'll never forget him getting a fright when a car overtook him and he nearly drove off the road into the verge. He never had an accident but I bet he caused a few brown patches in some drivers pants or some ripe language as he carried on oblivious.

[biggles50]

Hope you're feeling ok, it can be very shocking. I was the passenger in my uncle's car once, he was driving and I nearly had a heart attack when he pulled out at a roundabout narrowly missed by another driver. "Jeez unc did you not see the car?". "No love don't forget I can't turn my neck to the right".

[SideOrderofChips]

My first car was written off 10 years ago by an older gentleman that wanted to turn accross my path into a pub car park. he waited until i was right on top of him (my right of way) and then turned straight into my path. i had no chance to stop and hit him at 30 totalling my little car.

He was adament it was my fault, that i should have stopped to let him turn accross in front of me! He carried on claiming that until his insurance company informed him otherwise.

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

I had a speed camera van nearly hit me on a roundabout once. I was going right round and he just came at me. I stopped, beeped at him and mouthed 'what the fuck?' or similar and he just shrugged.

The irony was not lost on me. His fucking camera could clock me from yards away but he couldn't see me right in front of him.

Reign this is why you can never assume where other drivers are going. Our road leads to a big T junction, the other side of which is a housing estate full of bungalows and sheltered housing for the elderly. Little old ladies often come sailing down the road, indicators going, blissfully unaware of what they're doing. We get used to waiting to see if they turn off or not and they quite often go sailing past. I also have a big 4x4, I could have taken several of them out by now in their little Micras and Corsas and Polos.

[limitedperiodonly]

That site is blackly comic GERTI .

I might nominate my Waterloo Station one. It's a similar problem to the picture of the one in Hillingdon, north London, where the lane goes through a bus queue, but there's much more scope for cyclists and pedestrians to bump into each other. I'm surprised it's not on there.

[Reginafalangie]

I narrowly avoided a motor way crash caused by a 12 year old driving a beat up orange fiesta. On the motorway just outside bolsover and I was in the middle lane having just over taken a lorry. The fiesta was in the outside lane doing about 80 and he just started to drift in to me. Now I was in a big black Honda frv 6 seater and I sit high up so you couldn't real is me. Luckily I was able to pull in to the slow lane but the driver of the fiesta didn't even realise he had nearly hit me as he was laughing with his two female passengers. I pulled back in to the middle lane and kept my distance (it wasn't.t busy on that stretch) as i had a feeling something bad was going to happen. Up ahead I could see lots of break lights come on and the fiesta had moved back in to the 3rd lane and I knew he was going too fast and
that he hadn't seen the traffic stop. Next minute he slammed on but was too fast and drove in to the back of the stationary Audi.

I pulled up behind the accident and put my hazards on, the idiot got out and was shouting sorry at everyone. The Audi had only a dint in its boot but the fiesta was crumpled and his passengers had to be cut out. He was done for dangerous driving and my statement was evidence against him. Scared the shit out of me. Funny enough while I was waiting on the hard shoulder with the police my brother rang me to ask if I was ok as he had just past me in his works van but couldn't stop.

[MaxPepsi]

My car is black. Completely black.

My previous car was silver, people pulled out in front of me in that put I presumed it was because 1. I'm a women driving a typical womans car and 2. It was fairly old so they thought it couldn't go that fast 3. I drove more in rush hour traffic, now I go against the flow of rush hour.

[Tinklewinkle]

Someone pulled out on my a couple of weeks ago. I was doing nearly 60 as it was a long straight, clear, wide road. Nothing in front of me and nothing behind.

The side turning he pulled out of was also wide with a clear view. He had stopped, was stationary for ages, then pulled out on me as I approached, then proceeded to toddle up the road at 30mph for 200 yards, before turning off again. It was cloudy so wasn't blinded by the sun or anything like that so fuck knows what he was doing. I still don't know how I didn't hit him.

As for motorway driving before passing tests. We don't have a motorway here. We have about 1/2 a mile of dual carriageway and that's it. It's quite scary actually. We don't have any madly busy roads, or massive roundabouts or anything like that. You leave here and bang, straight into a busy city, with no experience beyond a small dual carriage way it's quite daunting

[PurpleCrazyHorse]

Not long after DH passed his test (aged 17) his car was written off in an accident. At first glance it seemed like DH was at fault, he was sat in the back of a police car and they didn't seem to believe what DH was saying happened, the damage was that DH had driven into the other driver from behind. It wasn't until the other driver (older gentleman) happened to mention the traffic light was green to the other police man.

There was no traffic light from his minor road into the major road that DH was driving along. There was however a green man for the pedestrian crossing on the other side of the road. The older gentleman had (as DH had explained to the Police) pulled straight out in front of him slowly from the junction, DH had no where to go but straight into the back of him. The Police assumed DH was speeding and therefore couldn't stop in time.

The other driver had clearly not has his sight tested and had been pulling out of that junction for ages thinking he had a green light. Totally worrying and also worrying how the Police initially thought DH was at fault.

[limitedperiodonly]

There's another one which is crap; it's incredibly narrow, has to be shared with pedestrians - who (rightfully) have right of way, so if you meet one you have to dismount to pass each other.

That's interesting GERTI. Is that just that cycle path, or all of them?

There's one opposite Waterloo Station that I cross on foot a lot. Lots of people do when they're streaming to and from work.

It runs uphill, or maybe two-way, whereas the road traffic is strictly downhill only. I always look both ways because I've learned but lots of people don't, probably because they're fooled by the stream of one-way motor traffic.


The abuse from some cyclists is shocking. I find it quite funny to see someone who was obviously getting ready to scream at me have to turn it into a curt 'thanks' when he's noticed me look and stop. How disappointing for him .

It's a really stupid place to put a cycle path because it brings cyclists and pedestrians into conflict all the time.

[DisappointedOne]

Used to have a silver car. Never had any problems. Now have a navy blue 4x4 which 2 drivers (one of whom was in a silver car) have managed to hit when perfectly parked and unattended!

[Rattitude]

So... Only Womble driving a silver car then? I could do with more data to prove / disprove my theory.

[DisappointedOne]

Think my 3rd driving lesson was on a major A road dual carriageway. I passed after 12 lessons and drove from Cardiff to Glasgow 2 weeks later.

[alteredimages]

SuffolkNWhat that driver does sound stupid but in the state where I lived the right of way on a roundabout was with the car entering the roundabout and not the car already on the roundabout, so if you hadn't been stationary the driver may have been expecting you to cede the right of way.

Stupidest rule ever though.

[nocoolnamesleft]

Think it might be the same fuckwit that decided to right turn in front of me, with no time and not signalling, this afternoon. Thank god for nice new brakes.

[wol1968]

No wonder some people are scared of motorway driving with all the horror stories on here.

I was lucky enough at 18 to live in one of the areas that has an A road that is essentially a motorway in all but name, so my driving instructor took me out on it late on in my learning. I'm still a little bit wary of longer journeys though, and don't like doing long stretches of motorway driving.

[MayPolist]

Had she not done so of course

[MayPolist]

• driver parked up on the hard shoulder suddenly pulled out, in first gear onto the carriageway.......the carriageway I was doing at least 70 on hmm I couldn't pull over as cars were overtaking me. What possessed her I couldn't imagine!
  
  I knew I was going to crash and it'd be a baddun, so braked as hard as I could to try and minimise injury. All kinds of thoughts flashed through my head, but I had literally nowhere to go.*
  
  Couldn't you have swerved onto the hard shoulder?

[BabyMurloc]

My mum always said "when you drive always assume other drivers are stupid" This advice is great as it does prepare you for stupidity.

[WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant]

There seems to be one set of rules for "senior drivers" and one set for everybody else.
The woman who drove into the back of my barge last year has no idea about safe parking.
Twice this week I have seen her car, parked directly opposite a T-junction, blocking the pavement, a drive and a lane of the road.

I agree with the option of motorway lessons. I think there is (or was?) a thing called "pass plus".
That offered a few lessons, including motorways and night driving.

[Dionysuss]

I was going straight over a roundabout on a duel carriageway. A car pulled straight out in front of me. It was a huge roundabout with a small forest in the middle, so I hadn't just pulled out or appeared from nowhere. I slammed on my breaks, as did the other driver and we both came to a stop. He looked at me, shrugged his shoulders at me, then drove off. Just as a lorry drove into the back of me.

I don't think the stupid shit even realised he caused an accident.

[BlackbirdOnTheWire]

I used to drive to school on the M25. As soon as I passed my test, my parents booked me on an advanced driving course run by the local police, which included a couple of hours on the M25 and M1 as well as a session at the police skid centre and on a hazard simulator at different speeds. It was fantastic, incredibly useful. Courses like that should be compulsory - I frequently think of their advice whilst driving, and that's over 20 years on when it's mostly habit. It definitely saved my life when I went into a skid on the M1 after a lorry fuel spill.

Best of all, it was free.