My current 'pet hate' with drivers

Rob Gaskin

Rob Gaskin

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I'll put my GOM hat on - to be honest I never take it off these days!

There is an alarming trend these days for drivers to 'amber gamble'. It has got to the stage where I now EXPECT cars to come through lights on red and I have a very good look right before moving on green.

When sitting at red lights I look at the traffic lights showing to the other drivers and it's VERY common to see them change to amber - cars keep coming and then red and a couple more come through at speed. Very often the last across is a woman too.

When I approach lights I don't slow down but I am very alert to stopping in necessary and I decide my 'cut-off' point if they change to amber. If it's late I don't brake but I never have to go through on red!

I have even stopped at traffic lights and had the driver behind pull around me and go through as they change to red!

My wife's cousin was killed when a young girl by an amber gambler on a blind crossroads many years ago.
 
The general standard of driving seems to be dropping even though driving tests are supposedly getting harder. The amount of people I see driving in bad visibility with no lights on around here, and I mean really bad visibility ie. at dusk in the rain...
 
Driving standards in the UK are appalling. Tail gating is one of my least favourite driving habits. You make a really good point about lights. When I was a driving in thick fog up the M4 recently, I was staggered by the number of people who not only didn't have fog lights on in visibility <50m but people who had no lights on at all! Tail gaters, lane hoggers and inadequately skilled or attentive drivers....... why aren't the police stomping their guts out?
 
Don't get me started... A lot of drivers sit at lights texting on there phone and end up missing the lights going green. Then there is the drivers that hog the outside lane and refuse to move over because they are turning right six miles down the road!!
 
Mobile phones while driving is another. Seems to be on the increase.

Dare I say it all those terrible BMW drivers seem to have traded them in for Audi's as well.
 
I drive a BMW...... I think it is mainly Audi drivers now though. Especially those Q7's. I like the way it is in Germany. You keep right unless overtaking and you only pull out to overtake, not the usual, well I'l have to pull out again in 700 yards so I might as well stay here. That attitude drops a motorway down to 2 lanes or even 1 instead of three. Also in Germany, they flash you when they are approaching not to be a knob but just to say "I'm coming up fast, please let me by" and it's taken in that way, no furious hand gestures on the way past. lol

I've noticed it is worse up north, I frequently see all the traffic stacked up in lane one and two leaving lane one almost empty.
 
Gaz 300 said:
...Then there is the drivers that hog the outside lane and refuse to move over because they are turning right six miles down the road!!
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Yep, is that because they can't react to a decision later on and move over? It's maddening.

RIDDLER we need you professional input here!
 
Ever since I started driving I have used the addage, NEVER expect another driver to do what he/she is supposed or should do. Drive defensively. Worked well for me.
 
I have my C+E license, I'm convinced that some drivers want to know what it's like to be squished under a truck!
 
Rob Gaskin said:
Yep, is that because they can't react to a decision later on and move over? It's maddening.

Not even that Rob, we have two double lanes of traffic outside our house and even on empty roads they sit on the outside lane of a 50mph road doing 30 to 40 ! The joys of driving :cool:
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Now this is a subject that really gets my goat.

What makes me laugh the most is that the average driver thinks they have talent behind the wheel. Because they have a bit of power and have a license it's like a numpty let loose on the world.

The thing is, with 99% of drivers they always think they are right.
They are also pretty selfish and think they each bit of road belongs to them as well as being 'lazy' drivers.

I personally think it boils down to education behind the wheel, what can happen, how easily it can happen and what the long lasting effects are.

I would say that I'm an very average driver, I know my talent behind the wheel but never push to exceed it unless in a go-kart or on a track.
What makes me laugh is when I tell the drivers who think that they are great how to steer the car with the pedals about heel and toe and i'm met with a blank 'wtf' you on about look.
I dislike airheads from both sex on the road too. Figiting about with their ****** hair, on the mobile and driving with a drink in hand all at the same time. You beep at them and tell them to sort it out and they bark back at you because their little ego has been dented a tiny bit. ARGAAGGHHH.

Current hates are:

1) Drivers on roundabouts not signalling when turning off.

How frigging hard is it to flick the indicator on as a courtesy for other drivers?
Lazy and Selfish

2) Middle road hoggers.

No need to explain, we all hate them. Most are ignorant to what they are doing.

3) Amber jumpers.

I've seen a car at a red light and it's about to turn amber. An 18 wheeler lorry anticipates the amber and pushes without taking into consideration the car in front. It hits it and pushes the car onto a dual carriageway. Luckily there was no traffic on the dual carriageway.

Going back to education. I wish we could really hit home with people about the consequences what being stupid on the road does and what the long lasting effects are.

I used to be on another forum where like other car forums, they would meet every so often. 1 member with another went on a spirited drive but then started to go on a full out attack. Sadly we didn't hear a good story at the end of the run.

Please bear with me as this happened a few years ago so It's from memory. Long story short is that one of the drivers hit another road user on two wheels. I won't go through the ins and outs of it but the driver came out with minimal injuries but IIRC the biker lost his bottom half of himself. The driver was then charged and put in prison aswell as being banned.

The driver is on another popular forum where he talks about his experience, how it has effected his life ( career, family and a whole lot of emotions), the person he hit and also talks about the emotions and pain both parties suffered when at the bottom of it all, if he didn't exceed his talent and slowed down, it all could of been a different story.

Problem is, nobody thinks it can happen to them....

In regards to MattBibey - German motorways.

Totally right, flash someone here to say 'please let me pass' and you're met with a angry attitude.
From driving on the Autobahn and around europe, the driving level for public seems to be a lot better.
 
Well, I am a driving instructor with a grade 5 rating from the Driving Standards Agency - putting me in the top 25 per cent of instructors in the UK.
I agree with most of the comments here - particularly the amber gambling. I teach all my pupils that when waiting in the centre of a junction to turn right they should NEVER assume that on amber the oncoming car won't come through at them.
But here are a few other examples of poor driving that I find maddening that haven't been mentioned.
1. What about all those numpties who seem to think you can't move out onto a yellow box when turning right at traffic lights? They just sit behind the white line hoping for a gap in the traffic before the lights change. Of course you can move out onto the box to wait - as long as your exit road is clear.
2. Cyclists. Now I have a healthy respect for them as they are vulnerable road users, and I teach all my pupils to approach with care and give them plenty of room when passing. But what drives me mad are cyclists who just ride straight through red lights as though the law somehow doesn't apply to them. Also cyclists who insist on riding two abreast along very narrow country roads causing huge tailbacks.
3. And this one is specific to me as an instructor. Drivers who blast their horn because a learner driver in front of them has stalled when moving off. They seem to have forgotten that that they themselves had to learn how to drive once and no doubt stalled plenty of times. How they think blasting their horn is going to give an anxious learner complete mastery of the clutch is a mystery to me!
Another one is drivers who come right up behind a learner driver car which is waiting to move off on a hill and stop right behind with their front bumper almost touching our rear bumper. You would think that all the learner signs on the car might give them a clue that the person at the wheel might not be that brilliant at hill starts yet!
Yes it is frustrating for drivers when they are in a hurry and come up behind a learner - but please remember that we all had to learn once - and show a bit of patience!
And just for the record - the driving test today is CONSIDERABLY tougher than when most of us took ours, so to pass today you have to be of a very good standard. Trouble is, after people pass and the years go by, a lot of drivers forget what they have learned and everyone is always in such a bloody rush these days!
 
All drivers should be made to ride a low powered motorbike for 2 years before getting behind a car etc, then they would learn a bit of defensive riding/driving and skillfull road craft, either that or they won't survive!
Radical but it might work!
 
My pet hate is drivers stopping at roundabouts when they can clearly see that there is no one there, RIDDLER might have an answer to this, but I always thought it was be prepared to stop and give way not stop altogether, or some muppets sit there until someone does come WTF is that all about???:smash:
 
I find the slowest drivers to follow are the same ones that have just raced out of a junction right in front of you!
 
RIDDLER said:
the driving test today is CONSIDERABLY tougher than when most of us took ours, so to pass today you have to be of a very good standard. Trouble is, after people pass and the years go by, a lot of drivers forget what they have learned and everyone is always in such a bloody rush these days!
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Trouble is also just because the test is tougher it still doesn't prevent the 2 faced personalities from passing tests or exams and then resorting back to being the utter no conscience ***** they really are,too many people know how to ACT nice.Lol i think the psychology/personality testing is a long way off yet.
 
I always have respect for learners and getting too close to them normally only makes them more nervous.
What really annoys me are drivers who cut me up because they can't be bothered to wait in the filter lane. I must be honest I tend to flash them and sound my horn if in a bad mood. Recently i was coming up to a roundabout in the left lane, the car to my right was marginally ahead and then came speedy Gonzalez on the outside and pulled straight in front of me. I flashed him and he slammed the brakes on - fortunately I was paying attention - he then moved off but couldn't resist flashing him once more as he pulled off the roundabout (no signal).
I sometimes wonder what it would be like too have so much money that I could drive a strengthened car into the back of people who cut me up and then smile and say sorry I think your indicators aren't working.
 
There's a roundabout near me that is half way down a stretch of dual carriageway. It's a 40mph limit. Almost every third time I hit it, whomever is in lane 1 will come right over the lane and almost side swipe you. Lane discipline is dreadful nowadays. I'm always hovering over the brakes and the horn. How often do you go around a corner in stick and the idiot coming the other way has his tyres on or just over the stripes?
 
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