Examples of poor driving you have witnessed!

ATJ

ATJ

Well-Known Forumite
Just want to check I'm not going mad.
Twice recently I've been in my car turning left out of a side road. Both times I checked left for pedestrians, saw none, checked right for traffic, started moving out and nearly hit a cyclist. Both cyclists were travelling on the footpath, coming from the left against the direction of traffic, weaving around the front of my car.

Is this acceptable behaviour for cyclists now? Are drivers supposed to expect fast-travelling vehicles on the footpath? Who is to blame in the event of a collision?
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
ATJ said:
Just want to check I'm not going mad.
Twice recently I've been in my car turning left out of a side road. Both times I checked left for pedestrians, saw none, checked right for traffic, started moving out and nearly hit a cyclist. Both cyclists were travelling on the footpath, coming from the left against the direction of traffic, weaving around the front of my car.

Is this acceptable behaviour for cyclists now? Are drivers supposed to expect fast-travelling vehicles on the footpath? Who is to blame in the event of a collision?
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The cyclist is illegally cycling on the footpath, but you are also supposed to look before manoeuvring, so I dunno! They shouldn't be there, but you should also be able to react if it was instead a really fast pushchair, so.......

Had you come to a stop, or were still moving?
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
There was a time when a pedestrian walking on a footpath alongside a major road would expect (and have) priority over traffic emerging from a minor road, in the same manner as 'real' traffic had. Those days are long gone, of course, but the law may not have kept up with reality.

I know somebody who was cautioned for reversing over a footpath and being hit by a teenaged cyclist, riding (illegally) on the path - the copper who issued the caution found himself needing to reverse out after doing so.

There is an old dear who drives a mobility scooter up Sandon Road flat out on the footpath and right up against the garden walls. You have no chance of seeing her in time, or vice versa. Luckily, she seems to use the other side from me....
 
littleme

littleme

250,000th poster!
Gramaisc said:
There was a time when a pedestrian walking on a footpath alongside a major road would expect (and have) priority over traffic emerging from a minor road, in the same manner as 'real' traffic had. Those days are long gone, of course, but the law may not have kept up with reality.

I know somebody who was cautioned for reversing over a footpath and being hit by a teenaged cyclist, riding (illegally) on the path - the copper who issued the caution found himself needing to reverse out after doing so.

There is an old dear who drives a mobility scooter up Sandon Road flat out on the footpath and right up against the garden walls. You have no chance of seeing her in time, or vice versa. Luckily, she seems to use the other side from me....
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I think i may of heard this somewhere else....
 
ATJ

ATJ

Well-Known Forumite
Pedestrians and pushchairs you keep an eye out for though, you don't expect much more than, say, 8mph on a footpath? And yes, pedestrians on the footpath should expect right of way.
Cyclists and mobility scooters zooming along at 15-20mph is almost impossible to see far enough in advance, on the wrong side of the road, with poor visibility. They behave as though they have the same right of way as pedestrians but drivers don't have the visibility.

I was at a complete stop BTW, both times I had to wait for main road traffic to clear.
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
ATJ said:
I am aware of the law. I am not aware of how often it is adhered to. I see many that seem to zoom along much faster than that!
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There are some capable (legally) of 15mph, but only on the road, where they will get such abuse off motorists that they will soon be back on the footpath.
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Proceding southwards on Beaconside - here - at about the 50mph limit, I found myself being overtaken by a white Mitsubishi pickup, DK17UTE, despite the solid white line suggesting that this was a bad idea.

Sure enough, a van appeared over the bridge, long before the attempt was complete, and myself and the approaching van had to take avoiding action to prevent either, or both, of us ending up in contact with the pickup. A bizarre manoeuvre, considering that he was, as could easily be predicted, stuck in the queue at the Tech Park lights anyway.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Gramaisc said:
Proceding southwards on Beaconside - here - at about the 50mph limit, I found myself being overtaken by a white Mitsubishi pickup, DK17UTE, despite the solid white line suggesting that this was a bad idea.

Sure enough, a van appeared over the bridge, long before the attempt was complete, and myself and the approaching van had to take avoiding action to prevent either, or both, of us ending up in contact with the pickup. A bizarre manoeuvre, considering that he was, as could easily be predicted, stuck in the queue at the Tech Park lights anyway.
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I suspect its cos he was a bit of a nobber.
 
Apricot

Apricot

Well-Known Forumite
Gramaisc said:
I think you might be right.

I had just been admiring the new set of skid-marks at the Borona Way junction, that is becoming quite an incident-prone location now.
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Returning from Uttoxeter this afternoon down the A518, I drove over the brow of a hill to see a car coming directly for me on the wrong side of the road. It was trying to overtake a long queue of traffic. I left skid-marks both inside and outside the car.
 
Amerlan

Amerlan

Well-Known Forumite
The sooner we all get to live together and share the road, paying due respect to the needs and limitations of each road user the better. It will never happen of course. We have kids who think they are immune from damage when they saunter in a pack down the middle of a road while there is a perfectly adequate footpath. You get motorists racing to beat or even ignore traffic signals and hitting roundabouts at speed rather than giving way to the right. Then we also get cyclists riding three or four abreast in a group creating a rolling road block with a quarter mile of cars queued behind them. All seen and experienced around Stafford this week.
I have just returned from a foreign holiday and actually enjoyed the driving experience while there. People took their time, some went quickly but they were allowed to and people moved over to let them pass. Traffic stopped to let pedestrians cross no sign of a crossing point. Traffic waiting to enter the main roads was invited to pull in front. The whole driving experience was relaxed, cooperative and really pleasurable.
 
proactive

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
Congratulations to the arsehole in the (yes, you guessed it) black Audi, who swiped the side of my assistant's car as she drove home last night. At the lights on the Island going straight ahead towards Lichfield Road, she was the third car to go through after the lights turned green and Audi twat, coming from Asda way, still went through the lights when they were red. Lucky she had three independent witnesses, happy to give statements because Audi twat was denying everything.

Hopefully plod will now do him for dangerous driving which will lead to him losing his car and his job. Nobber!
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Amerlan said:
The sooner we all get to live together and share the road, paying due respect to the needs and limitations of each road user the better. It will never happen of course. We have kids who think they are immune from damage when they saunter in a pack down the middle of a road while there is a perfectly adequate footpath. You get motorists racing to beat or even ignore traffic signals and hitting roundabouts at speed rather than giving way to the right. Then we also get cyclists riding three or four abreast in a group creating a rolling road block with a quarter mile of cars queued behind them. All seen and experienced around Stafford this week.
I have just returned from a foreign holiday and actually enjoyed the driving experience while there. People took their time, some went quickly but they were allowed to and people moved over to let them pass. Traffic stopped to let pedestrians cross no sign of a crossing point. Traffic waiting to enter the main roads was invited to pull in front. The whole driving experience was relaxed, cooperative and really pleasurable.
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I feel the need to say that a single bike is a rolling roadblock, as you are only meant to pass them when there is space to overtake leaving a decent amount of clearance. This never happens of course, cyclists end up riding in the gutters to let cars through, but legally that is the case.
 
Amerlan

Amerlan

Well-Known Forumite
tek-monkey said:
I feel the need to say that a single bike is a rolling roadblock, as you are only meant to pass them when there is space to overtake leaving a decent amount of clearance. This never happens of course, cyclists end up riding in the gutters to let cars through, but legally that is the case.
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In most cases, there is plenty of room for a CAREFUL AND CONSIDERATE overtake of a cyclist without the need to cross the white line leaving adequate room for oncoming traffic, both parties need to be aware of each other of course. We seem to have adopted a rule while unwritten which says a cyclist needs at least 6ft clearance. As I said, pass slowly and carefully as you would a horse for example, and there is plenty of room for everyone. Three or four abreast used to be a Highway Code breach I recall. But it all boils down to mutual care and consideration doesnt it?
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Amerlan said:
In most cases, there is plenty of room for a CAREFUL AND CONSIDERATE overtake of a cyclist without the need to cross the white line leaving adequate room for oncoming traffic, both parties need to be aware of each other of course. We seem to have adopted a rule while unwritten which says a cyclist needs at least 6ft clearance. As I said, pass slowly and carefully as you would a horse for example, and there is plenty of room for everyone. Three or four abreast used to be a Highway Code breach I recall. But it all boils down to mutual care and consideration doesnt it?
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1.5 metres - four foot nine - seems to be becoming the adopted standard.

Wide%20berth%20needed.jpg


http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/p...pass-drivers/story-30229282-detail/story.html
 
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