Scary Dangerous Drivers
Discussion
I have been reading about speeding and the relative pro's and con's and driver idiocy recently and I thought I should tell you guys of an experience that happened to me one summer a couple of years back.
I was driving up to Lancaster at about five am on a beautiful sunny mid week morning, I was cruising at about 95mph minding my own buisness, the roads were virtually deserted and I was just having a really good drive. As I came up to Junction 33 I was in lane 1 and up ahead was a Peugeot 306 moving at around 65 mph. I indicated into lane 2 to go around and the car in front did the same thing, I thought it was quite odd, so I proceeded to indicate into lane 3 as I was almost on top of the Peugeot, as I did this the stupid person ahead again did the same. I was very very hard on the brakes and almost piled into the back of this guy, he then pointed at his skull calling me an idiot and then gestured at me to slow down. He then moved out of my way and allowed to me to pass, I will admit to making a few unsightly gestures back at him.
Apart from making me quite angry and spoiling a nice run on a nice morning, this bloke endangered both our lives to make in what his mind was I'm sure a point about speeding.
Has anything like this happened to anybody else out in PH land?
I was driving up to Lancaster at about five am on a beautiful sunny mid week morning, I was cruising at about 95mph minding my own buisness, the roads were virtually deserted and I was just having a really good drive. As I came up to Junction 33 I was in lane 1 and up ahead was a Peugeot 306 moving at around 65 mph. I indicated into lane 2 to go around and the car in front did the same thing, I thought it was quite odd, so I proceeded to indicate into lane 3 as I was almost on top of the Peugeot, as I did this the stupid person ahead again did the same. I was very very hard on the brakes and almost piled into the back of this guy, he then pointed at his skull calling me an idiot and then gestured at me to slow down. He then moved out of my way and allowed to me to pass, I will admit to making a few unsightly gestures back at him.
Apart from making me quite angry and spoiling a nice run on a nice morning, this bloke endangered both our lives to make in what his mind was I'm sure a point about speeding.
Has anything like this happened to anybody else out in PH land?
Of course. Vigilantes are par for the course.
Had one Christmas Eve on the A12 heading for Colchester. I'd been making may way gently through the traffic and come up on a red hatchback Toyota thing. Gets to one of the sections that expands from two lanes to three. I pull into lane three and hit the gas. Matey pulls into lane three and hits the gas.
I wait behind at a safe distance as he accelerates past traffic. But I keep the distance constant as he gets faster and faster as I want to pass him so when he pulls back in I'll be ready. I reckon he's looking in his rear view and either thinks I'm racing him (not so) or just doesn't like the fact that the bright red Porsche is keeping pace (two second rule still in place, though!).
So he keeps on accelerating right the way up to whufty-one leptons despite there now being a gap to his left. I continue to keep pace waiting patiently. Finally he pulls over and I nail it. I pass at an indicated one whumpty and five leptons.
He couldn't have been happy about it as his car wobbles in its lane and he's flashing his headlights five times over. I get quite concerned looking in my rear view as I hope he doesn't spin his car with the wobbling. Eventually he stops and obviously slows right back down.
I use the three lane section to make good progress and, once again, slow back down in the next two section as there is traffic and I want to maintain a good two or three second gap.
Now I could be charitable and think that blokey was trying to warn me about the danger of travelling at whifty leptons on a regular basis but wobbling tha car about after I passed kind of defeated the object of that...
Had one Christmas Eve on the A12 heading for Colchester. I'd been making may way gently through the traffic and come up on a red hatchback Toyota thing. Gets to one of the sections that expands from two lanes to three. I pull into lane three and hit the gas. Matey pulls into lane three and hits the gas.
I wait behind at a safe distance as he accelerates past traffic. But I keep the distance constant as he gets faster and faster as I want to pass him so when he pulls back in I'll be ready. I reckon he's looking in his rear view and either thinks I'm racing him (not so) or just doesn't like the fact that the bright red Porsche is keeping pace (two second rule still in place, though!).
So he keeps on accelerating right the way up to whufty-one leptons despite there now being a gap to his left. I continue to keep pace waiting patiently. Finally he pulls over and I nail it. I pass at an indicated one whumpty and five leptons.
He couldn't have been happy about it as his car wobbles in its lane and he's flashing his headlights five times over. I get quite concerned looking in my rear view as I hope he doesn't spin his car with the wobbling. Eventually he stops and obviously slows right back down.
I use the three lane section to make good progress and, once again, slow back down in the next two section as there is traffic and I want to maintain a good two or three second gap.
Now I could be charitable and think that blokey was trying to warn me about the danger of travelling at whifty leptons on a regular basis but wobbling tha car about after I passed kind of defeated the object of that...
How many times have we met the provisional wing of the 'merge in turn over my dead body' revolutionary army, usually in vans or trucks, crawling in isolation in lane two at least a mile away from the closure. Then when you get past, surprise surprise there are no blue lights anywhere, or even judicial wigs, or dog collars and haloes, just a dick hanging down over the driver's nose.
Don said:
Of course. Vigilantes are par for the course.
I think there must be an unwritten 'no overtaking' rule amongst some older drivers, quite often they drift along at 25 in a 30, which I can accept because their speedo will be sayng 30, then they speed up to 40 for the NSL and if a short bit, carry on at 40 through the next 30.
It's usually by this point that they've decided they need to be overtaken at the next opportunity, so the first chance I get I dutifully drive past them. Now considering I don't tailgate or usually cut them up, I only cross broken white lines and usually I'm still within the limit + 10% when I'm going past as I pick moments when they slow (corners, junctions, hallucinations) - sometimes I'll still get the full fury flashing lights as I go past!! What the 'viligantes fvckwitus' doesn't realise is that I don't care about their ego, I'm going past because they are in the way and they'll spend the rest of the journey behind me.
Some also fail to realise that if they try and speed up when I'm going past and there is an oncoming vehicle, I'll run them off the road in self defence without a single reservation (I view speeding up when overtaking (in 2-way traffic) as attempted murder). One guy tried that and was flashing and beeping when I pulled in on him - presumably he thought I should have gone for the head-on? He looked so cross I was too busy laughing to get upset
More recently a friend of mine going up the A10 met both lanes full of headlights - she was the oncoming car in this case, and rolled the car saving herself and was lucky even to be found in the (big!) ditch, more lucky that the car didn't catch on fire as she was trapped. That stretch (above Cambridge) is notorious for desparate overtakes, especially since the 40mph truck limit.
turbobloke said:
How many times have we met the provisional wing of the 'merge in turn over my dead body' revolutionary army, usually in vans or trucks, crawling in isolation in lane two at least a mile away from the closure. Then when you get past, surprise surprise there are no blue lights anywhere, or even judicial wigs, or dog collars and haloes, ...
More to the point, there are no so-called "safety cameras"! - Streaky Met mad numpty today with a total fear of cameras.... Cruising at 75 NSL dual carriageway. 2 seconds at least behind car in front everyones happy. Go round bend and theres a fixed camera (well you cant miss it big signs before hand). Numpty in front hits the brakes , Im thinking ok he's a bit daft , hes going to get below 70 but thats ok so I also gently apply brakes. Then I realise he's doing a full on emergency stop type procedure on spotting the camera , forcing me to then hit the brakes hard. I didnt come close to hitting him but it was interesting enough as I took a peek in my rear view and noticed the car behind me had been too close and had belatedly realised I was shedding speed at a prodigious rate and he ended up going sideways !
Said numpty eventually settled for 40mph to go past the camera then accelerated back up to 75 once he had passed it.
Makes my blood boil.
Said numpty eventually settled for 40mph to go past the camera then accelerated back up to 75 once he had passed it.
Makes my blood boil.
Get a bike. Even on my million-mile R100GS the Provisional Wing of the British Numpties Association can't do a lot. Move over to the right? Fine - I'll do the same, and still pass safely. 
It's the ones who move out in traffic to stop me filtering I object to. Happens very seldom nowadays though.
It's the ones who move out in traffic to stop me filtering I object to. Happens very seldom nowadays though.
bigdods said:
Met mad numpty today with a total fear of cameras.... Cruising at 75 NSL dual carriageway. 2 seconds at least behind car in front everyones happy. Go round bend and theres a fixed camera (well you cant miss it big signs before hand). Numpty in front hits the brakes , Im thinking ok he's a bit daft , hes going to get below 70 but thats ok so I also gently apply brakes. Then I realise he's doing a full on emergency stop type procedure on spotting the camera , forcing me to then hit the brakes hard. I didnt come close to hitting him but it was interesting enough as I took a peek in my rear view and noticed the car behind me had been too close and had belatedly realised I was shedding speed at a prodigious rate and he ended up going sideways !
Said numpty eventually settled for 40mph to go past the camera then accelerated back up to 75 once he had passed it.
Makes my blood boil.
Said numpty eventually settled for 40mph to go past the camera then accelerated back up to 75 once he had passed it.
Makes my blood boil.
Perhaps there should be a speed limit repeater built into the camera warning signs. I'm assuming people are simply not confident they know what the limit is.
bigdods said:
Met mad numpty today with a total fear of cameras.... Cruising at 75 NSL dual carriageway. 2 seconds at least behind car in front everyones happy. Go round bend and theres a fixed camera (well you cant miss it big signs before hand). Numpty in front hits the brakes , Im thinking ok he's a bit daft , hes going to get below 70 but thats ok so I also gently apply brakes. Then I realise he's doing a full on emergency stop type procedure on spotting the camera , forcing me to then hit the brakes hard. I didnt come close to hitting him but it was interesting enough as I took a peek in my rear view and noticed the car behind me had been too close and had belatedly realised I was shedding speed at a prodigious rate and he ended up going sideways !
Said numpty eventually settled for 40mph to go past the camera then accelerated back up to 75 once he had passed it.
Makes my blood boil.
Said numpty eventually settled for 40mph to go past the camera then accelerated back up to 75 once he had passed it.
Makes my blood boil.
On the other hand he may have been scammed three times und just a little paranoid of the darned things
You see this occur rather a lot on a average sortie into LanCASH£££re
Was behind one on a 40 mph road.. und driver sliced speed down to 18 mph for every single scam we passed.
It even managed to annoy me eventually ...und I did want to stop him und ask why . I suspect though .. he might have been pinged so often for silly blips that he now have mortal fear now. It hardly make for safe driving practices
herewego said:
Perhaps there should be a speed limit repeater built into the camera warning signs. I'm assuming people are simply not confident they know what the limit is.
What - you mean stick the speed limits on the back of the cameras?? But surely then everyone would know the speed limit, and all that 60s in 30s/40s and 40s in 30s money would stop flowing!!! I can't see how that's going to help the SCPs bottom line at all? Doh! I predict that will never happen without a fight. A big fight.
Below Sawston there was a camera like that: on the A505. Coming in from an NSL it was not obvious if it was still NSL or a 30 (lamposts around, after a roundabout etc.). People varied taking it at 25mph, 35mph and 55mph. You know how I found out the speed?? Yup, had to look it up on the SCP website: 60mph.
That camera never caught a single speeder (no one ever wanted to go above 60 there), caused masses of panic braking and was eventually decomissioned. Idiots.
herewego said:
Perhaps there should be a speed limit repeater built into the camera warning signs.
There was an interview with Ladyman in the IAM magazine about a year ago, and they raised exactly this point. His reply was that drivers are under an obligation to be aware of the speed limit. It's all about safety, isn't it?
Major Bloodnok said:
herewego said:
Perhaps there should be a speed limit repeater built into the camera warning signs.
There was an interview with Ladyman in the IAM magazine about a year ago, and they raised exactly this point. His reply was that drivers are under an obligation to be aware of the speed limit. It's all about safety, isn't it?
Well he's right, we are, but maybe some of us need some extra help. I've noticed that the nearest camera to me actually has a small camera warning sign and a speed repeater combined even though it's a 30 limit. It looks pretty new, so maybe this is being rolled out.
Major Bloodnok said:
His reply was that drivers are under an obligation to be aware of the speed limit.
My counter to that would be the local authorities/highways agency are under an obligation to provide sufficiently high quality signage as to allow drivers to become aware of the speed limit, and whilst many cameras are placed on stretches of road where a semi-alert driver ought to be well aware of the limit, there are enough cameras located in areas of uncertainty - a significant distance away from the last repeater, adjacent to a sign on a parallel road/sliproad with a different limit etc. - for problems to arise.
herewego said:
I've noticed that the nearest camera to me actually has a small camera warning sign and a speed repeater combined even though it's a 30 limit. It looks pretty new, so maybe this is being rolled out.
Yeah, I've been noticing the same sort of signs (for both 30 and 40 limits) going up around the Thames Valley area over the last year.
bigdods said:
Met mad numpty today with a total fear of cameras.... Cruising at 75 NSL dual carriageway. 2 seconds at least behind car in front everyones happy. Go round bend and theres a fixed camera (well you cant miss it big signs before hand). Numpty in front hits the brakes , Im thinking ok he's a bit daft , hes going to get below 70 but thats ok so I also gently apply brakes. Then I realise he's doing a full on emergency stop type procedure on spotting the camera , forcing me to then hit the brakes hard. I didnt come close to hitting him but it was interesting enough as I took a peek in my rear view and noticed the car behind me had been too close and had belatedly realised I was shedding speed at a prodigious rate and he ended up going sideways !
Said numpty eventually settled for 40mph to go past the camera then accelerated back up to 75 once he had passed it.
Makes my blood boil.
Said numpty eventually settled for 40mph to go past the camera then accelerated back up to 75 once he had passed it.
Makes my blood boil.
I don't think you can really blame the guy here, I'm sure we've all been in a similar situation. Yes the speed limit should be 70, but how often are dual carriages 40 or 50 these days? I've often found myslef coming up to a camera not sure what the limit is. So far I've alwyas done a ''following speed', i.e what everyone else is doing, but that's no guarantee of being right
I was driving along a Scottish A road on the way to St Andrews and got stuck behind an old couple driving an old Merc doing 40-50 mph with no clear overtake i was stuck behind them. As I approached the a village with a 30 zone he carried on doing his 50 mph! Not wanting to get 3 points or worse still killing a pedestrian I slowed to 30. When the road opened up to the NSL I sped up to 60 came around the corner and saw the merc I made a clean overtake which he took great umbridge at and flashed his lights at me. A few miles down the road came the next village so I slowed back to 30 and mad old b'stard in the merc guns past me still doing 50.
Around the next corner stood plod with his speed gun and as we pass a bike pops out all blue's and two's passes me and pulls over a very surprised merc, he stops in the middle of the road blocking all traffic and as I manage to get pass i hear the copper saying "he wasn't speeding, sir, you were".
I like to nail it in the NSL zones but I would never in the villages too much risk to my licence and anybody living there. Maybe old man Merc will slow down in future.
BTW Happy New Year!!
Around the next corner stood plod with his speed gun and as we pass a bike pops out all blue's and two's passes me and pulls over a very surprised merc, he stops in the middle of the road blocking all traffic and as I manage to get pass i hear the copper saying "he wasn't speeding, sir, you were".
I like to nail it in the NSL zones but I would never in the villages too much risk to my licence and anybody living there. Maybe old man Merc will slow down in future.
BTW Happy New Year!!
r1ot said:
Around the next corner stood plod with his speed gun and as we pass a bike pops out all blue's and two's passes me and pulls over a very surprised merc, he stops in the middle of the road blocking all traffic and as I manage to get pass i hear the copper saying "he wasn't speeding, sir, you were".
TBH, sounds far too good to be true, but if only that sort of thing did happen more often.... It's annoying that, in general, the hypocritical belligerent tosser in question doesn't have their misconceptions corrected. Sadly I've even considered getting a series of signs drawn up that I can hold out of the window at people. "Keep left unless overtaking" etc. If no-one else will tell 'em.... 
(And no, I would never actually do it, although an LCD police-style display in the back window would be fun!)On the subject of scary drivers, I got a ride in a police car last night. Not just any police car mind you, oh no, the armed response unit. They drove like lunatics. It was a Ford Galaxy, neither of them had their belt on, neither had I (didn't really have much choice in that matter) and they were constantly flooring it (no lights or siren), regularly breaking the speed limit. They were also tailgating every vehicle in front of them, and I'm talking literally a foot off other peoples bumpers. At one point the passenger cop said to his driver, whilst laughing "are you going to pass this one? might get done for intimidation" *chortle chortle* "you tight c**t"
Scary drivers indeed. With guns!
Scary drivers indeed. With guns!
Edited by Oakey on Monday 1st January 08:53
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