Standard of driving in different parts of the UK
Discussion
Just back from a few days in Manchester and the north west and found the standard of driving generally in the city to be abysmal and very inconsiderate and not much better further out (worse than south east England and east/west London (Heathrow area especially bad if you take the m25 regularly)). I was also surprised at how busy the roads were north of Manchester up towards the lakes. expected empty a/b roads and motorways but was very busy, just like Essex - guess a lot of you northerners are packed into that corner! had expected it to be on par with the north east, boy was i wrong!
is there any general PH consensus on what areas of the country are poor and those that are better? Done to death on here no doubt but interesting nonetheless.
I thought the standard in the south east and London was crap, but Manchester for me made them look great.
best for me east Scotland around Edinburgh and south west England.
is there any general PH consensus on what areas of the country are poor and those that are better? Done to death on here no doubt but interesting nonetheless.
I thought the standard in the south east and London was crap, but Manchester for me made them look great.
best for me east Scotland around Edinburgh and south west England.
I live in Norfolk and we’re exposed to all the nations drivers coming across to holiday for the weekend on a Friday afternoon. All I can say is if the cars driven in the wrong lane, at the wrong speed, or just dangerously, it’s usually got a registration plate beginning with an ‘L’ if it’s not an ‘L’ it’ll be an ‘E’.
I find cars driven with ‘D’ and ‘M’ to rarely register on the knobhead scale, whereas ‘B’s, particularly when I’m in Birmingham itself, they’re the worst.
I find cars driven with ‘D’ and ‘M’ to rarely register on the knobhead scale, whereas ‘B’s, particularly when I’m in Birmingham itself, they’re the worst.
It all goes mad once you cross from Wales into England. Tailgating, use of horns, impatience. Before the new Highway Code changes, that hierarchy of vulnerability was already observed here. I was crossing on a ‘green man light’ in Manchester with my grandson, car came bowling around the turn, obviously running a red light - luckily I was alert to the possibility. I never trust a (traffic) green light in the North West either, yes I know green means go only if it’s safe, but it seems I have to be watching because they don’t. Essex and Kent were OK-ish when I lived there. Decades since I drove in London, I’d rather pull my own eyes out.
I am not sure areas have much to do with this, although in any built up, heavily trafficked area, the chance of coming into contact with a `knob' is increased.
The issue is that there are quite a large number of car `users' out there, but not so many car `drivers'
To many, a car is just another tick on their white goods list, and they are no more interested in driving a car properly, than they are in operating their washing machine, tumble drier, or fridge freezer properly.
The issue is that there are quite a large number of car `users' out there, but not so many car `drivers'
To many, a car is just another tick on their white goods list, and they are no more interested in driving a car properly, than they are in operating their washing machine, tumble drier, or fridge freezer properly.
Bradford.
Hate driving through either Bradford or Leeds, both have plenty of terrible drivers. In Leeds the road designs are a big contributary factor though. junction design and lane markings seem to be out to confuse.
The worst driving I see in harrogate is around the police station - make of that what you will!
Hate driving through either Bradford or Leeds, both have plenty of terrible drivers. In Leeds the road designs are a big contributary factor though. junction design and lane markings seem to be out to confuse.
The worst driving I see in harrogate is around the police station - make of that what you will!
Must slower pace in Scotlandshire. Rarely get anyone racing you away from the lights.
Now Manchester. What a fkfest. All the pseudo-Sennas around. Traffic lights with green/blue bike lanes in front of them - you would get the food app delivery drivers overtake queuing cars to wedge themselves in the bike lane so they could go first.
Now Manchester. What a fkfest. All the pseudo-Sennas around. Traffic lights with green/blue bike lanes in front of them - you would get the food app delivery drivers overtake queuing cars to wedge themselves in the bike lane so they could go first.
I'd agree that Manchester is pretty terrible, and the M60 is by far the worst motorway driving in the UK, it's on a par with the Peripherique in Paris for people doing really dangerous aggressive manoeuvres, and much, much worse than the M25.
However I've never come across any city in the UK with worse driving than Bristol. It has a particularly lethal mix of oblivious old people, really aggressive minicabs/delivery drivers and left wing types who really hate cars so pay no attention to driving them well or considerably. On top of that, the road signs are really bad, so there are quite a lot of non-locals who are lost too. These days it's even worse because there are loads of those E-Scooters ridden suicidally everywhere as well! Oddly, the large number bicycles seem to be ridden surprisingly well and considerately there, perhaps they have to do that to avoid being squashed by the terrible drivers....
At the other end of the scale, where there is generally pretty good driving in urban areas, Milton Keynes and Northampton are quite reasonable.
In rural areas, North Yorkshire, Country Durham and Northumberland seem to be the best, though that might be down to the roads being fairly empty. Lincolnshire is probably the worst I've been in, though Cornwall can be pretty bad too.
However I've never come across any city in the UK with worse driving than Bristol. It has a particularly lethal mix of oblivious old people, really aggressive minicabs/delivery drivers and left wing types who really hate cars so pay no attention to driving them well or considerably. On top of that, the road signs are really bad, so there are quite a lot of non-locals who are lost too. These days it's even worse because there are loads of those E-Scooters ridden suicidally everywhere as well! Oddly, the large number bicycles seem to be ridden surprisingly well and considerately there, perhaps they have to do that to avoid being squashed by the terrible drivers....
At the other end of the scale, where there is generally pretty good driving in urban areas, Milton Keynes and Northampton are quite reasonable.
In rural areas, North Yorkshire, Country Durham and Northumberland seem to be the best, though that might be down to the roads being fairly empty. Lincolnshire is probably the worst I've been in, though Cornwall can be pretty bad too.
London, Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester are all horrible to drive in and around due to appalling driving standards.
Something else stands out in Birmingham as well. Presumably due to the factory location, every other car seems to be a either a Range Rover Sport, Discovery Sport or Evoque, and every other one of those seems to be driven by someone who bought their license rather than earned it.
Something else stands out in Birmingham as well. Presumably due to the factory location, every other car seems to be a either a Range Rover Sport, Discovery Sport or Evoque, and every other one of those seems to be driven by someone who bought their license rather than earned it.
Pan Pan Pan said:
I am not sure areas have much to do with this, although in any built up, heavily trafficked area, the chance of coming into contact with a `knob' is increased.
The issue is that there are quite a large number of car `users' out there, but not so many car `drivers'
To many, a car is just another tick on their white goods list, and they are no more interested in driving a car properly, than they are in operating their washing machine, tumble drier, or fridge freezer properly.
Yes, they've passed their test, and that's it. They get in the car, they're on auto pilot.....no awareness, no planning, just follow the car in front.....The issue is that there are quite a large number of car `users' out there, but not so many car `drivers'
To many, a car is just another tick on their white goods list, and they are no more interested in driving a car properly, than they are in operating their washing machine, tumble drier, or fridge freezer properly.
some bloke said:
Edinburgh is pretty awful - 1 in 3 or fewer indicate, red lights run, cabbies doing U-turns in front of you without warning, speeding etc. I hate driving here.
Interesting, IME Edinburgh is hassle-free and chilled compared to London. SE London drivers are cheeky; RBKC are arrogant and aggressive; north London – especially north of the A406 – are either ultra aggressive and confrontational or alarmingly slow and breathtakingly inept.
Bristol is best.
The Surveyor said:
ChocolateFrog said:
TooLateForAName said:
Bradford.
Hands down the worst. Most poorer towns are pretty bad IME.
It actually feels like you're under attack sometimes in Bradford, with the amount of evasive manoeuvers required.
As someone who is from Manchester and currently lives in Manchester, but who has lived in all four corners of the country (Devon, Kent and North Yorkshire), I have to absolutely agree with you.
The driving here in Manchester is shockingly bad. This is driven by the large number of people that hail from different parts of the world such as Asia and Africa, where the standard of driving is nowhere near as high as UK. Then also you have a large proportion of locals that are criminally inclined, plus a lot of people from out of town that are not familiar with the roads, it leads to a very poor overall standard of driving. It’s no coincidence that nearly all the Manchester postcodes are in the highest insurance band, and the rest of them are in the second highest.
I found the drivers in Devon to be best overall, though most are a little too relaxed, plus you still get the odd bellend. Drivers in the southeast are quite aggressive, but fundamentally most are good drivers. North east they are pretty good too, with the odd aggressive ahole, but mostly competent.
The driving here in Manchester is shockingly bad. This is driven by the large number of people that hail from different parts of the world such as Asia and Africa, where the standard of driving is nowhere near as high as UK. Then also you have a large proportion of locals that are criminally inclined, plus a lot of people from out of town that are not familiar with the roads, it leads to a very poor overall standard of driving. It’s no coincidence that nearly all the Manchester postcodes are in the highest insurance band, and the rest of them are in the second highest.
I found the drivers in Devon to be best overall, though most are a little too relaxed, plus you still get the odd bellend. Drivers in the southeast are quite aggressive, but fundamentally most are good drivers. North east they are pretty good too, with the odd aggressive ahole, but mostly competent.
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