Dickish driving behaviour

[chocolatesaltyballs22]

Is it just me or has the standard of driving on the roads in the UK got worse and worse? Have just done around a 4 mile round trip and encountered the following:-

Huge lorry parked on double yellows and blocking the road, causing a big queue of traffic

Someone doing an illegal u-turn and almost causing an accident

Car pulling out on me on a roundabout causing me to slam brakes on

Car in Tesco car park almost reversing into me until I sounded horn and then they stopped

I realise my driving probably isn't perfect but it feels like people don't give a shit on the roads any more and it's just breeding more bad driving behaviour because people think why should I drive carefully if no one else cares?! Maybe I'm just a bit grumpy today but bloody hell I feel like I have to be on high alert every time I get in the car!

@PettyContractor I wouldn't pull over for someone who wanted to speed if I was going the speed limit. Those people need to learn to slow down and stay within the speed limit.

@Rockmeamaryllis I hate the undertaking on motorways and the way they then cut in front of you
This is a piss take of the thread, right?

Why would you pull over in a 20 zone if you are doing 20? So some idiot can zoom past you and possibly hit a child as 20 limits are usually near schools.

@PettyContractor that is a really dickish comment. Speed limits are there for a reason.

People who use or look at their FUCKING HANDHELD MOBILE PHONES WHEN DRIVING

People who drive everywhere at 40mph regardless of road conditions, speed limits etc.

Tailgaters, pushing you to go over the speed limit especially in 30mph zones.

People who drive slowly in outside lanes or who do 30mph on slip roads joining a motorway or dual carriageway.

People who honk back when you honk them

People who ignore give way signs.

People who don't indicate.

I have noticed this much more recently. Just this morning I was in a queue of traffic, 2 lanes, one to go left and one to go right on an enormous and god awful junction where loads of accidents happen.

Car is qued behind me, pulls out into the right lane, waits for the traffic to stop going past, pulls out and turns left whilst the lights are still red. To miss sitting in traffic for about, I dunno, 30 more seconds. Tosser.

Other night, I am driving down a street, parked cars on the right, I am already next to the parked cars, car pulls out from behind parked cars and stops in front of me on my side of the road. I flashed at him as if to say "erm what are you doing" and he put his full beam on and just sat there. I eventually had to reverse past 4 parked cars to let the selfish twat past. I was on my way to collect my son but If I hadn't been in a rush I think I would have just sat there until he relented.

I see all sorts of twats who don't understand merging on a daily basis too.

I actually hate what should be an easy 20 min drive to work, its carnage sometimes.

I hate the undertaking on motorways and the way they then cut in front of you.

Well move to the left then. "Keep left unless overtaking" is the rule and lane-hogging causes a lot of the rush hour delays we experience on a daily basis.

It's not a "Fast Lane", it's an overtaking lane.

Roundabouts are a huge bug bear of mine.

Not only is every one in my town laid out differently, a lot of people don't know how to use them.

The highway code says use the left lane to go straight ahead unless marked. A lot of drivers in my town use the left lane when the right one is marked straight ahead. They use the right hand lane when the lanes are not marked. I have also noticed a lot of drivers now using the left hand lane to go right (and with no indicators either)

You’re supposed to drive on the inside (“slowest”) lane of the motorway unless you’re overtaking something. That’s the rule. If there’s space on the inside on you, unless you’re about to overtake vehicles up head or a stream of slowe vehicles up ahead, you go into the slowest lane. A stream of slow moving vehicles might lead you to spend most of your journey in the middle or outside lanes but you are still technically overtaking and must pull in when you no longer need to overtake. You shouldn’t be driving along with empty lanes to your left (in the UK).

It’s very dangerous to overtake on the left hand side/ inside of someone, commonly known as undertaking. You might not he seen, and risk someone pulling in front of you, among other reasons. If there are three or more lanes it gets very confusing if people are “undertaking” (not really a word) all over the place, while others try to overtake.

Often people just haven’t had the chance to move in safely - give them a moment!

Conversely you shouldn’t “block” the outside lanes just because you think another car doesn’t need to go any faster, or you’re already going the speed limit, or don’t want to be overtaken for whatever reason. That’s very dangerous too - it can lead to road rage, to people undertaking (even though they shouldn’t), and just isn’t the way the Highway Code tells you to drive.

Obviously no one should be speeding, but it’s not for you to try to police this by blocking the overtaking lanes.

Yes no one should “undertake” but if your are blocking an outside lane you are partly to blame.

Kept left unless turning right. Why would you want someone right up your exhaust if they want to get past. You maybe doing the speed limit but just move over and if you really need to - move back into the lane and hog it again.

because cars do the driving now ie park/lane assist, cruise control, automatic lights/wipers.

I've turned the majority of that crap off on my car. Cruise control never gets used and the rain sense wipers were the first thing to be switched off.

Oh and people who pull out on you when you are happily driving along. The ones that cannot judge the speed you are going at and the ability to leave enough space that you are not right upon them in the next second. Very dangerous.

reboot there is a roundabout in my town that for some reason always ends up in a Mexican standoff. Nobody ever seems to know who goes first. There are loads of entrance lanes but no actual lanes on the roundabout itself, its chaos.

There is another one that people routinely just drive over to get in front of the traffic coming from the other way!

People who don't indicate left at roundabouts, middle lane hoggers who are too nervous to use the motorway properly, people who join the motorway but don't understand that people ON the motorway DON'T HAVE to move over to let you join. You should be prepared to stop!
People who drive inches from your backside as if that's going to make you go faster, and then when the road opens up, they are too nervous/stupid to overtake!

people who join the motorway but don't understand that people ON the motorway DON'T HAVE to move over to let you join. You should be prepared to stop

eh, I thought the worst thing you could do was stop?!

(disclaimer: I don't do very much motorway driving and when I do its not at peak times so I have always been able to successfully merge and not stop!)

Our road leads to a bigger road which is quite busy and if you need to turn right eg. crossing the lanes it's becoming so difficult at rush hour for instance. What really pisses me off though is that even when traffic is slow, almost to a standstill and people can clearly see me indicating but don't leave a gap for me to come out. Why? Just sitting there idling their thumbs not going anywhere. People just seem to be completely unawares of what's going on around them.

people who join the motorway but don't understand that people ON the motorway DON'T HAVE to move over to let you join.

But you are a complete knob if you don't change lanes. If you're observing correctly, you will have more than enough time to change lanes to let traffic join.

Re undertaking. I’m in the outside lane, in a line of traffic all travelling at the same speed. The undertaking car, undertakes several cars in the lane and then pushes in. I’m not hogging the outside lane.

people who join the motorway but don't understand that people ON the motorway DON'T HAVE to move over to let you join

No, but if you can move over then you're a bit of a selfish twat not to.

Re undertaking. I’m in the outside lane, in a line of traffic all travelling at the same speed. The undertaking car, undertakes several cars in the lane and then pushes in. I’m not hogging the outside lane

If someone can undertake several cars in a row then they're all in the wrong lane.

So ppl driving down a slip way have to stop and wait to join the first lane of a motorway with cars travelling at high speeds?

WTF?

Why wouldnt you let some one on the motorway?

I generally let people past, admittedly I'm only talking on motorway, and only if I can with at most slight disadvantage to myself.

Ironically the people calling me "dickish" for my comment are exactly the people who in my book are the dick drivers themselves. Those who think because they are at the speed limit, they have zero obligation to let anyone past.

(Incidentally, on the motorway I'm never the one looking to overtake a car in front of me in the outside lane. I drive very precisely at the speed limit, as determined by GPS rather than speedometer. I use adaptive cruise control, so if I'm in the outside lane and the person in front of me is slower, I automatically slow down to their speed without getting close enough to be a tailgater.)

@Rockmeamaryllis Well the person pushing in is merely 'filtering'. Too many people line up in what they perceive to be the 'fast lane' and then don't use their brains and turn two lanes into a 'zipper'.
'Must get in front' rage seems to take over.

Shwibble - why are you honking people so regularly?