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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think that drivers have become incredibly impatient post Covid?

98 replies

Sausagenbacon · 30/11/2022 18:30

3 times today I've had the car behind me sounding their horn. Obviously the driver doesn't think I should have been sticking to the 20 mile and hour speed limit. The 3rd time was when I waited for someone to come onto a roundabout before me - they had priority. But no, the person behind had to sound their horn, so that they could join the traffic queue immediately afterwards.
I hardly ever heard people sounding their horns before covid, now people do it all the time.
What's wrong with them (or you, if you're one of them)?

OP posts:
heretohelp22 · 01/12/2022 06:29

Just to clarify, I wasn't on about a slip road sorry. I know how to use them and this wouldn't annoy me. There's a particular road on my way to work every morning where there is usually a queue in the right hand lane to turn right through the centre of town. People will fly down the two left hand lanes that go the completely opposite way then right before the traffic lights, try and cut in. Maybe I should have explained it better Halloween Blush

Hepzibar · 01/12/2022 06:35

You are not wrong.
Yesterday morning my car stopped and wouldn't start at traffic lights. I was first at the lights. You never heard such a cacophony of horns behind me.

I got it started probably in less than a minute but unsurprisingly the beeping of horns didn't help with that. There are some absolute knobs about

tunthebloodyalarmoff · 01/12/2022 06:39

Why does it have to be Covid all the time. Drivers are arseholes always have been

MooseAndSquirrelLoveFlannel · 01/12/2022 06:54

Backthetruckup · 30/11/2022 22:03

Yes, so so aggressive these days. I'd like a car designed by Q with a button that shoots stuff out the back and a massive sign saying 'back the fuck off!'. I'm dyslexic so have difficulty focusing, poor spacial perception and sense of direction, need more time to process road signs and multitasking etc. I don't drive at night, mainly due to these issues. These people should leave a few minutes earlier if they're in such a hurry. As a wise man once said, better to be 10 minutes late in this life than 50 years too early in the next.

I'm not sure that someone who has difficulty focusing when driving and lacks special awareness should be driving full stop. I mean you've just basically admitted that you drive without due care and attention, because you're incapable of focusing and you have no idea if you're too close to other vehicles due to a lack of spatial awareness!

You're driving a 1-2 tonne weapon and your inability to focus could kill someone. You need to be focusing all the time, not struggling to do so. Sheesh, hope you dont drive past any schools at drop off/pick up time. You're a liability.

I drive a lot, all over the country. Roads I know, and roads I dont. I can count on one hand in 20 years how often I have been beeped at. So to be beeped at 3 times in 1 journey, the issue will be you OP.

girlmom21 · 01/12/2022 07:06

Sausagenbacon · 30/11/2022 21:43

so it's the job of the poster to sort that out, is it?
Any competent driver would know that it's against the Highway Code to sound your horn. Unless, of course, you are so important that you are entitled to signal your disapproval of other driver's standards

You can use your horn to warn people of your presence and any imminent danger

Sparklingbrook · 01/12/2022 07:41

Rule 112 of The Highway Code states: 'The horn. Use only while your vehicle is moving and you need to warn other road users of your presence. Never sound your horn aggressively

Yes so a person driving not to your liking in front of you doesn’t seem to be on the list. 😄

Original poster
Sausagenbacon · 01/12/2022 07:41

, but it makes the driver honking feel proud they are providing a public service or something.
Yes to this.
And, tbh, I don't understand posters who come on to tell op's that they're lying. Why bother engaging at all?

OP posts:
Sparklingbrook · 01/12/2022 07:44

Sausagenbacon · 01/12/2022 07:41

, but it makes the driver honking feel proud they are providing a public service or something.
Yes to this.
And, tbh, I don't understand posters who come on to tell op's that they're lying. Why bother engaging at all?

Because it’s a driving thread on MN. OP is always in the wrong whatever it is. 🤷‍♀️

girlmom21 · 01/12/2022 07:50

Nobody's telling you you're lying, but you're making assumptions about other people. Realistically, if you're frustrating 3 people that much you need to address your own behaviour, whether you believe you're wrong or not.

Devoutspoken · 01/12/2022 07:51

Many drivers are a bit too trigger happy on the horn, not sure if covid has made any difference tbough

Devoutspoken · 01/12/2022 07:53

Girl mom, but if her behavior is not wrong what is she meant to address?

Original poster
Sausagenbacon · 01/12/2022 07:53

Hang on, so I have to break the speed limit (twice) and cut up another driver on a roundabout, just to make sure the impatient dick behind me gets somewhere 2 seconds quicker?
Oh yes of course I'm making all this up.

OP posts:
Sparklingbrook · 01/12/2022 07:57

you're making assumptions about other people

That’s what MN Talk revolves around. 🤣

FlossMeg · 01/12/2022 07:58

Polecat07 · 30/11/2022 22:02

Yeah thanks, OP is obviously feeling a little defensive - I don't go about honking at everyone or targeting presumably nervous drivers - they might have just been completely oblivious or incompetent- I sounded my horn because slamming on their brakes in a 60 for a gentle bend (while tootling along at 30) is highly dangerous and someone will go into the back of them one day soon.

This is a well known scam in my area. I see loads of people doing this - slamming their brakes on in the hope I’ll go into the back of them. They tend to do it at slightly lower speeds than 30 though! I see them looking hopefully in their mirror and then looking a bit sad when I shake my head at them - you’re not getting a new car out of me today!

girlmom21 · 01/12/2022 08:06

Devoutspoken · 01/12/2022 07:53

Girl mom, but if her behavior is not wrong what is she meant to address?

It's rare to frustrate 3 people in quick succession without being at fault at all.

Original poster
Sausagenbacon · 01/12/2022 08:23

Did I say quick succession?
Does it make a difference if I tell you it was roughly 3pm in Birmingham, 5.30pm in Bristol and 6.30pm in Portishead?
Probably not.
Why bother engaging with someone you obviously consider to be a liar?

OP posts:
girlmom21 · 01/12/2022 08:24

Sausagenbacon · 01/12/2022 08:23

Did I say quick succession?
Does it make a difference if I tell you it was roughly 3pm in Birmingham, 5.30pm in Bristol and 6.30pm in Portishead?
Probably not.
Why bother engaging with someone you obviously consider to be a liar?

3 instances in one day is quick succession.

girlmom21 · 01/12/2022 08:26

By the way I'm not calling you a liar. I don't think you're lying. I don't think you believe you did anything wrong.

Sparklingbrook · 01/12/2022 08:30

girlmom21 · 01/12/2022 08:26

By the way I'm not calling you a liar. I don't think you're lying. I don't think you believe you did anything wrong.

You are making assumptions about other people…

girlmom21 · 01/12/2022 08:33

@Sparklingbrook yeah and the OP was making assumptions about the other drivers. She's saying what she thinks was going on with them and I'm saying what I think is going on with her...

You can make assumptions about other people but if you're doing so also need to think about alternative reasons for them behaving the way they have.

Original poster
Sausagenbacon · 01/12/2022 08:33

so how about you telling me why keeping to the speed limit is wrong? And cutting up people at roundabouts is right. You're telling me I imagined it?
Or, perhaps I'm not a liar, but just delusional.

OP posts:
Original poster
Sausagenbacon · 01/12/2022 08:35

there is no 'alternative version' of why you would use your horn. It just means that you're an entitled dick.
You think I'm driving badly? Yeh - use your horn, that'll sort it.

OP posts:
PauliesWalnuts · 01/12/2022 08:36

I think driving has deteriorated Covid - as a cycle commuter I’ve noticed it an awful lot. Journeys that I’d do without thinking twice now sometimes leave me with my heart in my mouth. Squeezing past me when there’s a car coming the other way, being left hooked at a junction because they can’t wait three seconds for me to cycle past it, and being isolated in the middle of a box junction because so many people come towards me after jumping lights that I no longer have time to turn right are probably the worst instances.

I’ve also noticed a lot of bad hypermiling. I don’t have a problem with someone driving 50mph on the motorway. When they start to do it in the middle or even third lane of a four lane motorway that’s when it starts to get really dangerous.

girlmom21 · 01/12/2022 08:36

Sausagenbacon · 01/12/2022 08:33

so how about you telling me why keeping to the speed limit is wrong? And cutting up people at roundabouts is right. You're telling me I imagined it?
Or, perhaps I'm not a liar, but just delusional.

You're being a bit dramatic.

Maybe you have a manual speedometer and they had a digital one - so what looked like 60mph was actually 56.

Maybe you're much more hesitant than you realise and there was space to pull out without cutting anyone up.

Maybe you're right and there was just a succession of angry drivers.

Sparklingbrook · 01/12/2022 08:37

You can make assumptions about other people but if you're doing so also need to think about alternative reasons for them behaving the way they have

Thanks for clarifying your rules surrounding the use of assumptions about other people.