Examples of poor driving you have witnessed!

Sir BoD

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.
I like Venice too.
 

Withnail

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?
Hello motorists...

You know when you say things like '... and there is a perfectly good cycle path' that 'they' can use?

This is exactly why many cycle paths are far from perfectly good.

Apologies @ATJ , i realise that this may not be the case in the instance you mention ^above - one presumes this isn't 'shared use' or otherwise designated in some way - but it is indicative of the very far from perfect imperfections of 'shared use paths' and footpath-based cycle lanes in general - when they cross driveways and side-roads.

Who has right of way in these instances? Does anybody know?

No. They don't.

That's why i'm on the road - we all know the rules there, whether we adhere to them or not is a slightly different matter...
 

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
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!

All the more reason that a dashcam is a worthwhile investment.
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
All the more reason that a dashcam is a worthwhile investment.
As he hit her car aft of the C pillar, it wouldn't have helped. We all need a roof mounted 360° cam, I think.

Edited: bloody predictive text!
 
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Cue

Well-Known Forumite
As he hit her car after of the Country pillar, it wouldn't have helped. We all need a roof mounted 360° cam, I think.

The dashcam would show she did nothing wrong at least. You don't need to see the collision to extrapolate some evidence from it. You can also get ones with rear view recording too.

I'm surprised cars with the 360-degree cameras (Tesla, Leaf, etc that I know of because I'm an EV nut) don't let you record them. Hopefully a software update will solve that eventually.
 

Trumpet

Well-Known Forumite
I had -5mm from the copper that clipped me and pretended he hadn't noticed....
My personal guideline is to give as much clearance as the road allows, will happily go across to the right hand gutter on rural roads if nothing coming the other way. Unless I come across a group riding like nobs, three abreast etc then the Trumpet rule of 'as long as I don't make contact then I've given enough clearance ' applies.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
As if the traffic lights aren't enough of an obstruction, we have to sit through a full extra sequence whilst some bloke executes a seven-point U-turn, using all five lanes, rather than going round Gaol Square or using Greyfriars Place.

BSJb5zM.jpg
 

Thehooperman

Well-Known Forumite
Driving along the A14 dull cabbageway today with traffic moving at a steady 65mph inside lane and 70mph outside lane I was undertaken in the outside lane, as were several cars, by a group of 10 or so Southern MC bikers.

Not a problem for me as I saw them and anticipated the move but I was quite amused when a mile or so up the road half of them took an exit and the others carried on. The exiting group then grass tracked back on to the carnageway and they all stopped pondering what to do next negating any advantage they had gain by their dodge undertaking manoeuvres.
 

Noah

Well-Known Forumite
65-70mph! Presumably not the section from Spittle Interchange (Huntingdon) to Newmarket then.
 

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
Do cyclists count?

Driving round Asda car park and some old bloke on a bike suddenly emerges from between two very closely parked cars on his bike and evidently hadn't stopped to check as he was going plenty fast. He's lucky I have good enough reactions to hit the brake or I'd have a nasty mark on the front of my car from his bike - 5mph-10mph isn't enough to hurt but it's enough to mark my paint.
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
Do cyclists count?

Driving round Asda car park and some old bloke on a bike suddenly emerges from between two very closely parked cars on his bike and evidently hadn't stopped to check as he was going plenty fast. He's lucky I have good enough reactions to hit the brake or I'd have a nasty mark on the front of my car from his bike - 5mph-10mph isn't enough to hurt but it's enough to mark my paint.
5-10mph is more than enough to get a serious head injury actually.

Cyclist obviously a twat though!
 

PeterD

ST16 Represent.
So I am heading up Corporation Street from the asda end and past the speed bump in front of the first chicane a big old range rover pulls around. That made mr slow down then a driving instructor thought the 20 yard gap was enough. Good 2 go? Get to shite more like.
 
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