There are some god damn awful drivers out there

Nod said:
It doesn't work!

I used to drive a LandRover (S IIa) painted white and I still used to get people pulling out on me. More than once, I got out at traffic lights and told them just how lucky they were not to have a long, horizontal dent in their rear end because series Landy brakes are NOT good!!! (Especially the early diesels - drums all round and no servo... the first application of ABS...)
Click to expand...

But old landys are slow... ;)

My sister used to have a series II and I can attest the brakes are rather poor. I recall one occasion where I was hangin onto the wheel, arse off the seat and almost literally standing on the pedal to stop in a similar situation.

As for not seeing them - well I'd bet some do and just want to get out in front of the slow landy.
 
Nod said:
series Landy brakes are NOT good!!! (Especially the early diesels - drums all round and no servo... the first application of ABS...)
Click to expand...

Series drivers live by the motto: The car in front is my brake. :lol:

When I had my old 109 I found that a couple of 250 watt work lights on the rear of the roof rack tended to discourage tailgaiters quite a lot.
 
jammy_c said:
Hey matt!
I've got a good trick to stop idiots tailgating you.
if you speed up, they will too. wait till your going fairly quicklu, then (very, very, very gently) rest your left foot slowly depressing the brake pedal (just enough to make your brake lights glow for a second, but not enough to slow you down) and see how hard the idiot behind brakes because he thinks your about to slam yours on for no apparent reason along an open road. it generally works although some muppets need it doing a couple of times before they learn.
The last chav I did this to nearly disappeared in a cloud of his own tyre smoke. :lol:
Make sure no-one is behind them, of course (unless it's their equally stupid mate).

(I'd seriously stress that you practice this when there is no-one behind you as your left foot is used to stamping on the clutch pedal, and brakes are usually a lot more sensitive, and keep accelerating ;) ) :lol:
Click to expand...


No. Brake testing people is pretty stupid at the best of times. Expect to be done for dangerous driving in the event of an accident.

If somebody wants to be an arse, let them past. Its easier to avoid them whene theey arre in front of you.
 
I increasingly seem to get stuck behind other drivers who refuse to accelerate to a reasonable speed on slip roads when about to join a dual carriagway or motorway.
Then there are bus drivers who own the whole road including the opposite side of the road drving straight into oncoming traffic when overtaking parked cars on their side of the road.
 
whitewash said:
im so glad your many many miles away from where i live. you think tail gating is acceptable? lets hope the person whos arse you barrel into due to driving too close doesnt have their family in the car with them or infact are too badly hurt. does it not occur to you that somoene who is in the wrong lane on a motorway/due carriageway might be slightly unsure of themselves and suddenly back off/brake/pull over into the right lane (thats why a good gap should be left to allow you time to react in such circumstances) in the time it will take you to take avoiding action you;ll probably have made a darn good attempt at getting into their boot.


i always think with undertaking that if someone is in the wrong lane then the chances are they wont be attentive enough to spot a car undertaking them when they finally decide to pull over. hence why for me its a no no regardless of its legalities.
Click to expand...

Tailgating? well no it's actully called driving along the road and sitting up someone's arse until they move over, if they are not driving fast they shouldn't be in the two overtaking lanes. hence why i just sit up behind middle lane hoggers until they get out the way. It's not illegal
 
As long as they are overtaking another car they are entitled to be there.

Whilst it's not illegal but if they brake and you rear end them it's your fault and your insurance has to pay out.


"driving closer than the two-second gap advised in the Highway Code – was responsible for 10,000 road accidents in Britain in 2006....tailgating is responsible for approximately 7 per cent of road traffic accidents in the UK"

"When asked to rank the most annoying habits of other road users, drivers taking part in the study said that tailgating was the worst."
 
All drivers are rubbish, I'm the only good one.

Ask anybody who travels in a car with me, I often comment upon it.
 
Techno-Geek said:
Tailgating? well no it's actully called driving along the road and sitting up someone's arse until they move over, if they are not driving fast they shouldn't be in the two overtaking lanes. hence why i just sit up behind middle lane hoggers until they get out the way. It's not illegal
Click to expand...

It is in many countries. And with good reason. It is stupid.

I must say that of the good drivers that I know, none of them are aggressive behind the wheel.

Conversly I don't know anyone who behaves aggresively who is anything better than mediocre as a driver.

Entering into competition with or challenging other drivers is rather pathetic and immature imo. If you want to make progress then do so. Your aim should be to pass through the traffic with minimal disturbance, like a gentle breeze through trees.

And no, I am not a mimser.
 
who? said:
Your aim should be to pass through the traffic with minimal disturbance, like a gentle breeze through trees.
Click to expand...

I like that :)

I happen to think tailgating is one of the most dangerous ways of driving, on any road. Not only does it give less visibility of the road / time to react etc as already said, but it can make the person in front nervous and therefore more likely to make mistakes. Tailgating on a motorway is insane imo. And the power of the car in question has nothing to do with anything, if someone wants to overtake or drive faster / slower than you it's up to them.

I'm not old either, and I do drive a modified hatch ;)
 
who? said:
Conversly I don't know anyone who behaves aggresively who is anything better than mediocre as a driver.
Click to expand...

I do.. Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikonnen, and a few others who are regarded as some of the best in the world. They are all known to drive "agressively" on public roads...

Out of interest sake, how do you judge whether a driver is good or not?
 
being a good driver on the road is nothing to do with being a good driver on the track though, hence why most racing drivers appear to be police magnets when they drive on the public road.

personally being a good driver is all to do with driving in a safe manner that matches the road conditions, the traffic levels etc and ensuring the safety of both yourself and anyone around you (be it passengers, other road users, cyclists and pedestians. it has very little to do with getting from point to point as quickly as possible and ahead of everyone else (a measure of a good racing driver compared with those around them).)


am i a good driver? i dont think so personally.
 
Techno-Geek said:
Tailgating? well no it's actully called driving along the road and sitting up someone's arse until they move over, if they are not driving fast they shouldn't be in the two overtaking lanes. hence why i just sit up behind middle lane hoggers until they get out the way. It's not illegal
Click to expand...

Well done. You have sucessfully proven that you are a god awful driver in that situation. If that is the judgement you display then I wonder how many others situations you handle badly/dangerously.

The correct thing to do is to pull into the right hand lane and overtake them. Regardless of whether they are driving properly or not the actions you take in 'forcing' them to pull over are evidence of a far poorer standard of driving than theirs.

Sure, as you approach them there is nothing stopping you flashing your lights to remind them they are in the wrong lane, but tailgating them is wrong. Oh, and I don't care what you believe - driving too close to the car in front IS tailgating regardless of you rmotivation for doing it.
 
The center lane huggers I hate are those that have an inabillity to maintain speed. They can mainly be found frequenting the A13 between Dagenham and the M25 junction. They are a right PITA.
When I had a Mk3 Cortina I used to flash my reversing lights at tailgaters. Easily acheived by the location of the switch in the gearbox, without having to put the car in reverse. Always seemed to work too.
 
These days it's unavoidable getting stuck behind someone slower than you at least once on any given journey...
Though I have noticed a lot more centre-lane huggers than I used to - In Germany people get back into the nearside lane asap for the most part and if you forget, someone will remind you!

Coming back along the M27 this morning on an almost empty motorway, I was surprised (really? was I surprised or just depressed?) at the number of people sitting alone in the middle-lane surrounded by 100's of metres of empty space...meaning I had to overtake all the way from the inside lane to the outside and back again...a few of them must have woken up at that point as one or two actually moved over after i'd passed them...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top