Rant for the Day

[Fareham_Bee]

Sorry but have to get this off my chest. Had a gutfull of the brainless wonders I've encountered in the last couple of months so here goes.

Who are these idiotic, living brain donors that think it is safe and right to plonk themselves in the middle land of a three lane motorway when there is nothing in lane one?

They drive along oblivious to the chaos they cause around them as they don't look in their mirrors except to pull accross the "slow lane" in the last fifty yards before a slip road, normally into gaps too small for them to fit into, causing them to brake hard and the poor sod they have carved up to brake even harder before they drift up the exit. Even then I doubt they look in the wing mirror, just the "big middle one" quickly to see the queue they've caused behind them.

Flash your lights at them and if they do manage to see you there, they will point to the outside lane (the SECOND overaking lane) or totally ignore you. I have even had one or two pull into the outside lane!

The M27 in the morning is full to not moving - in two lanes, Lane one, the driving land or the inside lane, is normally empty for miles. You can cruise up there at sixty while the other two lanes are full of goms standing still.

If I hear one more person say "If I'm doing seventy you shouldn't be overtaking me" I'll be on a murder charge. The police would rather some drivers actually go at up to eighty (unofficially 85 in Hampshire so long as not up another car's arse or driving erratically) to stop bunching which causes accidents. And yes I got this from a traffic cop mate. If you are doing seventy and there is nothing inside you, then do it on the inside lane so everyone else can pass you safely. One doing seventy is followed by another and another and the queue does get gradually slower anyway.

It's not unlike the berks that queue up in the outside lane of a dual carraigeway because there is a lorry five miles up the road. They slow the road down as they all queue up behind each other, not yet close enough to overtake the lorry, but stopping faster moving traffic from getting past them!

Before you ask. Clean licenece, no at fault accidents and I drive approx 100k a year as I have for the past twenty odd years. So no I'm not a mad nutjob! LOL.

Here endeth the rant!

[Fareham_Bee]

Absolutely not! I, like anyone else who is honest, do nick the odd mile or two of the speed limit, but,am always courteous (except to middle laners LOL) and will always put my hands up to say sorry when I do make the odd silly mistake, unlilke some who just carve you up then give the finger! I find that if you do put your hands up to admit a boo boo and smile most will just wave ok back and smile, Much better than all that road rage stuff.

Doing the miles I do I see loads of it, three weeks ago I saw three bad smashes and one dead body in the road. Hence, apart from a flash of the lights at a middle lane owners club member, which is fair game if you can't get out to pass them, I am well behaved. It ain't worth the other extreme.


Aaryk, that scares me to think you have been picturing me LOL. When we pm'd re AS, I signed it as Paul surely? Gonna have to change my avatar for a little while! I'm the one on the right ;o)

[Carmel]

you still can Aarky every one to their own noone will think less of you.

[christoph404]

If you undertake a middle lane hogger that apparently is a recognised traffic offence which will get you a fine and 3 points on your licence! Im sure I read an article about a new law that will penalise the dozey idiots you are talking about who sit in the middle lane for no apparent reason and cause hold ups and frustration for other motorists. I think it would be as difficult to enforce as it is to enforce speeding, tailgating, and blabbing on your mobile phone or even sending texts while driving, all those things illegal and stupid but people will do it anyway because there are many perfectly sane reasonable people out there who for some reason when they get behind the wheel of a car become selfish,thoughtless agressive maniacs!!......grrrrrr......then when they get out of their car at their destination they usually revert back to being a normal person again!....Im not a phsycologist but I think there is a lot to be said about the phsychology of driving and being enclosed in your own safe little steel box to do what you want including making rude gestures to other motorists. Would you make a rude gesture to somone who cut you up in the supermarket with their trolley? No, because there is no safety bubble and you might get a bop in the face if you did! I myself am a classic car enthusiast and I have become a very defensive driver in my old age...(mid forties).. I like driving for the shear pleasure but curiously I have become less and less enamoured with speed and more concentrated on getting from A to B in one peice! I would also say the type of car you drive very often provokes extreme reactions in people. I have a 35 year old Triumph car and when I drive that around other motorists are very polite and positive, letting me out at junctions, giving me a thumbs up or approving smile or even winding their window down to pay compliments to my 30 year old banger! The flip side of the coin is if you drive a flashy expensive car, that fact alone is enough to provoke a fairly negative and aggresive reaction in people, I was once a passenger in a fairly exotic Italian car on a trip across London and as well as being literally spat on at the traffic lights by some bully in a large 4x4 several insane motorists took it upon themeslves to drive inches from the back bumper and to zoom past and brake hard into our braking space and generally make the journey very unpleasant, an experience I would not want to repeat! So what is wrong with people when they are behind the wheel of a car? I think that kind of competitive and aggresive nature is probably the cause of most road accidents, not to mention frustration with middle lane road hogs! Drive safeley! ......85 mph wil probably only get you to your destination about 12mins quicker than 70 ( travelling a distance of 80 miles for example)

[batman]

Originally Posted by christoph404 Drive safeley! ......85 mph wil probably only get you to your destination about 12mins quicker than 70 ( travelling a distance of 80 miles for example)

'Better to arrive in one piece than not to arrive at all' as my Dad used to say.

Bats.

[samkydd]

Originally Posted by Fareham_Bee Sorry but have to get this off my chest. Had a gutfull of the brainless wonders I've encountered in the last couple of months so here goes. Who are these idiotic, living brain donors that think it is safe and right to plonk themselves in the middle land of a three lane motorway when there is nothing in lane one?

One other thing is that by law you are not allowed to have a video screen in the front of the car i.e. a screen displaying any visual images like a TV set, portable DVD player etc. Why is it okay to have a bloody satnav screen then? This is surely more distracting than using a mobile whilst driving, and even with audio instructions drivers still look at the screen and start punching in postcodes as they drive!

I travel the A31 and M27 every day and the A31 is a dual carriageway with virtually everyone doing 40 mph in the overtaking lane and no bugger in the inside lane except me! Having done HGV and PSV driver training a few years ago their are a few things I remember:

There is no such thing as the slow lane, middle lane or fast lane on a motorway. There is one driving lane and two overtaking lanes, and on a two lane dual carriageway, one driving lane and one overtaking lane.

Overtaking means you pass a slower vehicle then move back into the driving lane.

When you approach a busy motorway/dual carriageway junction i.e. lots of traffic joining the carriageway, you move out into the overtaking lane well in advance to allow them on, then move back in again once you're clear of it.

Undertaking is akin to sleeping with your best friend's wife and is a no-no. However, sometimes if all the tossers are bumper to bumper doing 40 in the overtaking lanes there is nothing you can do if you're doing 45 in the driving lane and undertaking.

Undertaking or driving on the hard shoulder is akin to having sex with your best friend's daughter, unthinkable! (Undertaking is also the name of the profession you're next likely to do business with, or at least your family will).

When driving with passengers you should always drive smoothly to make their journey as comfortable as possible i.e don't weave in and out of traffic, slamming your brakes on every few yards, and changing up and down the gears like a twonk!

Coach and lorry drivers from abroad who have no blind spot mirror fitted to their left hand drive vehicles should be beaten with sticks. They often pull out to overtake on motorways unable to see, and end up wiping out yet another innocent car driver or motorcyclist.

If you're talking to a passenger sat next to you, you don't have to look at them at the same time.

If your journey is say 60 miles up a busy motorway, whether you do 60mph or 90mph is still takes the same amount of time to get there. At 90 all you're doing is catching up with the congestion quicker, getting stressed out and using a hell of a lot more fuel. Then when you're queuing up, presumably in the first or second overtaking lane, if you look to your left in the driving lane I'll probably be right beside you despite you charging past me twenty minutes before!

[Steve Crook]

Originally Posted by samkydd One other thing is that by law you are not allowed to have a video screen in the front of the car i.e. a screen displaying any visual images like a TV set, portable DVD player etc. Why is it okay to have a bloody satnav screen then? This is surely more distracting than using a mobile whilst driving, and even with audio instructions drivers still look at the screen and start punching in postcodes as they drive! I travel the A31 and M27 every day and the A31 is a dual carriageway with virtually everyone doing 40 mph in the overtaking lane and no bugger in the inside lane except me! Having done HGV and PSV driver training a few years ago their are a few things I remember: There is no such thing as the slow lane, middle lane or fast lane on a motorway. There is one driving lane and two overtaking lanes, and on a two lane dual carriageway, one driving lane and one overtaking lane. Overtaking means you pass a slower vehicle then move back into the driving lane. When you approach a busy motorway/dual carriageway junction i.e. lots of traffic joining the carriageway, you move out into the overtaking lane well in advance to allow them on, then move back in again once you're clear of it. Undertaking is akin to sleeping with your best friend's wife and is a no-no. However, sometimes if all the tossers are bumper to bumper doing 40 in the overtaking lanes there is nothing you can do if you're doing 45 in the driving lane and undertaking. Undertaking or driving on the hard shoulder is akin to having sex with your best friend's daughter, unthinkable! (Undertaking is also the name of the profession you're next likely to do business with, or at least your family will). When driving with passengers you should always drive smoothly to make their journey as comfortable as possible i.e don't weave in and out of traffic, slamming your brakes on every few yards, and changing up and down the gears like a twonk! Coach and lorry drivers from abroad who have no blind spot mirror fitted to their left hand drive vehicles should be beaten with sticks. They often pull out to overtake on motorways unable to see, and end up wiping out yet another innocent car driver or motorcyclist. If you're talking to a passenger sat next to you, you don't have to look at them at the same time. If your journey is say 60 miles up a busy motorway, whether you do 60mph or 90mph is still takes the same amount of time to get there. At 90 all you're doing is catching up with the congestion quicker, getting stressed out and using a hell of a lot more fuel. Then when you're queuing up, presumably in the first or second overtaking lane, if you look to your left in the driving lane I'll probably be right beside you despite you charging past me twenty minutes before!

Well said Sam

Fareham_Bee, your not having had an accident says nothing about how good a driver you are. It just means you've been lucky - so far. I think your rant is the perfect example of a bad driver trying to justify themselves. It doesn't matter what the other drivers do, it's up to you to drive safely. If they leave room and the road conditions allow, then overtake. Otherwise, just wait patiently behind them.

If you sit behind another vehicle, flashing your lights and fuming when there's room to overtake then you're on the fast track to ulcers, heart attacks and/or accidents.

Steve

[samkydd]

Originally Posted by Steve Crook If you sit behind another vehicle, flashing your lights and fuming when there's room to overtake then you're on the fast track to ulcers, heart attacks and/or accidents. Steve

I used to do around 50K miles per year but now thankfully it's down to 15K, but due to many years of long distance commutes I just don't get worked up any more if other folk do silly things on the road. Learning to anticipate the actions of others isn't difficult if you spend a lot of time driving, and so hopefully you avoid danger. The habits of other drivers also become easy to judge.

BMW's never let you out from a junction into queuing traffic in front of them but would rather block the junction completely to all road users, and if possible, pedestrians as well.

Myopic pensioners always drive Honda Civics, and often practice their Post Office queue dithering technique when behind the wheel and will often slam their brakes on at the slightest deviation from straight on the road. They will always do 40mph whether the speed limit is 70mph or 20mph. Their cars come fitted with passenger side old bag, the ash-tray is known as the boiled sweet dispenser, there is a huge steering wheel that they crouch behind and a tall dashboard that they can barely see over, and a trilby rack on the rear parcel shelf!

People in huge 4x4 double cab pick-up trucks think they're Colt Seevers from The Fall Guy, and you'll always give way to them, even if you can't, because the chromed bullbars (or cow horns) are glinting menacingly at you like a highly polished lead cosh! These chaps would dearly love to be American and always seem to wear checked lumberjack shirts, stetsons or American tourist baseball caps, cowboy boots and fly to Florida every year to take advantage of the generous portions at the local cafeteria restaurants and discounted Don Williams CDs, hot diggerty!

[Fareham_Bee]

Originally Posted by Steve Crook Well said Sam Fareham_Bee, your not having had an accident says nothing about how good a driver you are. It just means you've been lucky - so far. I think your rant is the perfect example of a bad driver trying to justify themselves. It doesn't matter what the other drivers do, it's up to you to drive safely. If they leave room and the road conditions allow, then overtake. Otherwise, just wait patiently behind them. If you sit behind another vehicle, flashing your lights and fuming when there's room to overtake then you're on the fast track to ulcers, heart attacks and/or accidents. Steve

Sorry Steve, I am going to raise to the bait. What utter bollocks. Luck doesn't run for that long, sorry. Don't get me wrong I am not sitting back on my laurels saying "what a great driver I am", I, like everybody else, make errors, but human ones not downright, ignorant ones that are just through lack of knowledge of the road rules. My rant is a perfect example of someone who does a lot of miles and spends many hours on motorways getting fed up with idiots who shouldn't be using motorways because they don't know how to. I clearly said I am calm on the road as I have seen to much to be stupid enough to get like that, and I also clearly said I flash my lights if I can't get out to overtake them, and if they don't move all you can do is wait until you can get out.
Fact is, them being there, they are wrong., driving badly and the rest of us have to suffer busier and more dangerous roads because of their ignorance. They are effectively closing a three lane road down to two. What is wrong with having a rant about the stupids on an internet message board? Or are you a member of the middle lane owners club and I've touched a nerve LOL?
Completely agree with whoever it was that said you soon get to learn to anticitpate what certain drivers are going to do. There doesn't seem to be enough people anticipating others to be honest. For instance how many times have you seen someone pull out to overtake a lorry but can't because the bloke overtaking him doesn't anticipate that he needs the room to and doesn't move out for him if it's safe to?
I see it all day, everyday Steve, stupid avoidable errors that are plainly down to lack of knowledge of basic road rules.
I know what you mean bats, I used to use the NCR round Hangar Lane, Chiswick roundabout and up to Staples Corner. Not as chaotic as your end but still bad enough. Not as much fun as the Perphique though!
Chris would have to agree with you about how psychotic people get, As I have said, and will reitterate for the person who didn't see it first time, I am calm as I've seen to much carnage, but have, in the last week seen at least one person chasing another who'd cut him up and given the finger when hooted, squeaky wheels all round, two playing silly buggers on the M27, Lord knows why, one a souped up Peugeot and the other an Audi TT. As for the idiots that spoilt your trip in the Italian car, they beggar belief and you have to wonder what they get out of it.

[Carmel]

what annoys me most here in Ireland is when a tractor is going onto a busy road and slows up all the traffic, it shouldn't be allowed especially if your stuck behind them for a few miles. I have been late for clinics due to this and i drive a fair bit too as i have clinics in 4 different hospitals.

[Fareham_Bee]

When I drove round Wexford I found the tractor drivers doing that, but soon learnt that's just the pace of life round there so chilled, I however, didn't have clinic appointments to get to so I can empathise totally.
I come across the odd tractor on the country part of my day but by and large they pull over pretty often to get rid of the tail back behind them here.

[batman]

Originally Posted by Carmel what annoys me most here in Ireland is when a tractor is going onto a busy road and slows up all the traffic, it shouldn't be allowed especially if your stuck behind them for a few miles. I have been late for clinics due to this and i drive a fair bit too as i have clinics in 4 different hospitals.

It really annoys me if the driver of the tractor ignores places where they could pull in.

I may be wrong, but I believe it is actually an offence if slow moving vehicles do not make way at either the earliest opportunity, or asap after three miles.

Bats.

[christoph404]

Originally Posted by Carmel what annoys me most here in Ireland is when a tractor is going onto a busy road and slows up all the traffic, it shouldn't be allowed especially if your stuck behind them for a few miles. I have been late for clinics due to this and i drive a fair bit too as i have clinics in 4 different hospitals.

Aye, there is a similar phenomena in Scotland, though where Im originally from its usually herds of sheep trotting along the road and motorists take second place whether they like it or not.... I think the farmers and tractor drivers must get equally annoyed with us pesky motorists zooming around the country lanes....

BTW. while on the subject of phsycopathic drivers( and I don't mean you Carmel!! Im sure you are a very safe considerate driver!) has anyone seen Quentin Taranntinos new film with Kurt Russell as a deranged stunt driver terrorising young girls with his beefed up stunt car? Wondered if it was any good, the clips look "interesting"

[Steve Crook]

Originally Posted by Fareham_Bee Sorry Steve, I am going to raise to the bait. What utter bollocks. Luck doesn't run for that long, sorry. Don't get me wrong I am not sitting back on my laurels saying "what a great driver I am", I, like everybody else, make errors, but human ones not downright, ignorant ones that are just through lack of knowledge of the road rules. My rant is a perfect example of someone who does a lot of miles and spends many hours on motorways getting fed up with idiots who shouldn't be using motorways because they don't know how to. I clearly said I am calm on the road as I have seen to much to be stupid enough to get like that, and I also clearly said I flash my lights if I can't get out to overtake them, and if they don't move all you can do is wait until you can get out.

Exactly, all you can do is wait. But it's not the end of the world if you have to wait for a bit. So why bother to complain about it?

Do you complain if you're held up by traffic jams, accidents, landslides, snow or other natural hazards? Bad drivers are just a natural hazard. There's nothing you or anyone else can do about them so there's no point in moaning about them

Steve

[Aaryk Noctivagus]