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Original poster

To be pi**ed off at behaviour of 4x4 driver

175 replies

peacelily · 10/12/2007 16:06

Earlier today I pulled out of a side road to park my rather humble ford focus after having a good look. dd asleep in the back, when I got beeped my the driver of a 4x4 BMW monstrosity who'd roared up behind me going at about 40mph (I live on school lane and it's called that for a very valid reason 3 schools within half a mile) in a 20zone.

As I parked he then pulled up beside me and started tapping his head as in "are you mental?" gesture, I shrugged and mouthed "what" at him in response and he went to get out of the car!!?! His passenger stopped him in time tho and he just roared off.

I'm fuming who the f**k do these idiots think they are!?!

And yes, I am ranting against 4x4 drivers, I know I'm making a massive generalisation and before you jump in no, I'm not jealous because I can't afford one!!

OP posts:
needmorecoffee · 10/12/2007 18:32

I just hate cars.

TheDuchessOfNorksBride · 10/12/2007 18:38

My 4x4 was in the garage last week, my other (ancient) landrover is only for off-road use, so my mechanic lent me a Rover 600-something. I had about 1ft clearance between my arse and the tarmac. Absurd little thing. And despite being this low, when my friends DD1, aged 2, ran from their car to mine in the school car park, I could not see her. So the little Rover is also dangerous from a child-safety point of view.

And whilst sitting in my lowly seat next to the other school mums cars, I did notice that all the people carriers and family saloons are pretty much the same height as the 4x4s. So the safety issue is much more widespread.

On these threads there are usually quotes about the higher figures for child road-accident deaths caused by 4x4s compared to other cars. But I've never actually seen them - does anyone have a link? Ta.

Pan - excellent name btw.

DeePancrisPaneven · 10/12/2007 18:43

eye thang yew.

but, yeah, all cars are a bit dodgy. 'Cept mine of course.

Domesticgodlessyoumerrygents · 10/12/2007 18:45

deepancris, it was 4x4s and all other selfish roadhogging drivers I was trying to get at.

All road users, occasionally including other pedestrians, piss me off. I am talking from the point of view of surely the lowest of the low, the walking woman with pram and attached child.

The cyclist I was thinking of was speeding round a corner while I was crossing the road with ds aged 4. At that speed I should think he could have caused us serious injury if I hadn't yanked ds back onto the pavement.

Mostly I was trying to rubbish paula's 'point' that if we slag off road users we must be 'jealous' of their vehicles.

DeePancrisPaneven · 10/12/2007 19:36

"So I must also be 'jealous' of all the drivers of pedal cycles who have pissed me off this week...."

so it was just the one then?

I do get a wee bit overly-defensive on this point, sorry. Most drivers ARE considerate, and cyclists tend to be younger and more gung-ho in attitude. Like my good self.

Domesticgodlessyoumerrygents · 10/12/2007 19:51

I also mean those f*ing (excluse language) teenagers on bikes who use the pavement as their own private accelerator pad. So that is where the 'all' comes from.

And yes you do come across a wee bit defensive but then cyclists certainly deserve defending rather more than the 4x4 monsters we started off with.

DeePancrisPaneven · 10/12/2007 20:18

yeah! Down with 4 wheel drives and that sort of thing!!

Desiderata · 10/12/2007 20:32

Oh! Just one question about cyclists.

Am I right in thinking they don't need to stop at zebra crossings? I mean, that's in the Highway Code, right? That they don't need to stop ...

DeePancrisPaneven · 10/12/2007 20:33
sparklygothkat · 10/12/2007 20:35

I hate the student srivers around here, they don't know how to drive correctly, I get cut-up regularly, they refuse to give way even if its my right of way, and they roar around in their souped up cars. They drive anything they can get cheap.

TheDuchessOfNorksBride · 10/12/2007 20:42

souped-up?

Emprexia · 10/12/2007 20:45

I think if it hadn't been a 4x4 it wouldn't have been so intimidating.

I drive a focus myself, and quite frankly 4x4 drivers ARE aggressive, and it IS scary when they try and park on your bumper and force you out of their way.

Ubergeekian · 10/12/2007 23:48

There are, I think, three sorts of drivers who buy 4x4's.

First of all, those who really need them - and that's a tiny number. We live in the middle of the country in soggy Scotland and, apart from farmers who need to drive in fields, nobody here has 4x4's. Our 2CV and Micra cope perfectly well with the roads year round - and big cars are stupidly awkward on small country lanes. So if we see a clean 4x4 here we know it's a half witted visitor.

That leaves the people who don't need a 4x4 but who do want a 4x4, and I think they fall into two categories:

Aggressive drivers who like towering over other cars so they can intimidate the drivers. Just like the twit whose behaviour started this thread.

Nervous drivers who want as much damn metal round them as the possibly can. For fairly obvious reasons, they tend to be bad drivers as well.

No other reason or excuse holds water. Want room? Buy an estate. Want safety? Buy a Volvo.

And just to finish, you know what pisses me off most about 4x4 drivers? Excluding the farmers, they will not ever put a bloody tyre off the road unless you force them. I go pootling along a lane in my little car, some great shiny (dead giveaway) tank with wheels the size of the London Eye comes the other way ... and they invariably expect me to go up on the verge so they can pass. It's a bloody offroader. Drive it off the bloody road!

Although my car is small, I am bloody-minded and patient, so I always get my way in the end. Even if, as has happened a couple of times, I have to switch the engine off and settle down with a newspaper while the other driver gets the message.

And ... relax.

fortyplus · 10/12/2007 23:54

When I had a horse I had a 4x4 to tow the trailer because it's far better for the job - you need a heavy vehicle to tow a heavy load and if you go to horsy events in muddy fields you need 4wd to get out unless you want to wait 3 hours for a tow from a tractor driver.

But when the horse went - so did the 4x4. I can't begin to imagine why soppy blonde gym babes want to take the children to school in one. They're horrible great things to drive and use loads of fuel so not at all kind to the environment. Oh... and one last thing... if you put bull bars on the front of them they'll kill a child even if you're only doing about 7mph.

notjustmom · 10/12/2007 23:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bozza · 11/12/2007 00:00

D'you know if I had a lot of money to spend on buying a car and fueling it and insuring it I would not buy a 4x4, I would buy something nice and low and sporty, so I know I am not jealous of them. So why is that argument used so often?

And Duchess a 600 is not a "little Rover".

notjustmom · 11/12/2007 00:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bozza · 11/12/2007 00:03

notjustmom:

wouldn't be seen dead driving a volvo.
i get really cross with folk who think it is acceptable to make a judgement on people bsaed on what car they drive. do you judge people on their clothes, houses, choice of work ?

So you are not judging volvo drivers at all?

And the reason you should buy a volvo is because they are roomy and safe without the additional risk to pedestrians. But obviously that is not a concern of yours.

fortyplus · 11/12/2007 00:03

I wouldn't make a generalisation - especially as I used to have a 4x4! But it's a fair observation that about 70% of people who drive them are either aggressive, inconsiderate, incompetent or a combination of all three.

notjustmom · 11/12/2007 00:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

fortyplus · 11/12/2007 00:28

The thing is... when a Volvo driver is tailgating someone on the motorway you notice it. Similarly when a 4x4 is driven in the stereotypical way.

When drivers of these vehicles are considerate to ther road users no one notices so the good drivers don't make an impression on other road users.

Tortington · 11/12/2007 00:33

volvos are like accountants. sexless and boring.

4x4s are like the spice girls - shiny and cheap...but in an oh so expensive way.

cyclists should pass a proper test and pay road tax and have bike MOTs

fortyplus · 11/12/2007 00:34

[snort!] at anything linking me to the Spice Girls!

PrincessSnowLife · 11/12/2007 07:59

"The thing is... when a Volvo driver is tailgating someone on the motorway you notice it. Similarly when a 4x4 is driven in the stereotypical way.

When drivers of these vehicles are considerate to ther road users no one notices so the good drivers don't make an impression on other road users."

SPOT ON, Fortyplus!

needmorecoffee · 11/12/2007 08:30

re cyclist. Not defending the twats who jump lights etc as those people would be twats in cars too but cyclists haven't killed over 3000 people this year. Cars have.
As for road tax, its actually vehicle excise duty and gives you the right to opperate a large dangerous machine on common roads. Its not road 'tax'
Bicycles don't pollute and generally if you do something stupid you only hurt yourself.
(yeah I know ridden badly they can be dangerous, as can wheelchairs, old people scooters, heck even baby buggies and shopping trolleys but not in the car league.
yaaaaaaaaaay for the bicycle that don't cause climate change.