One single thing that makes you think "knob" Vol 5

One single thing that makes you think "knob" Vol 5

Author
Discussion

captain.scarlet

1,824 posts

35 months

Monday 19th February
quotequote all
Red9zero said:
Anyone that buys these number plates





Crikey. Just when you thought there was nothing else and that the '4D' / fridge magnet effect was bad enough.

captain.scarlet

1,824 posts

35 months

Monday 19th February
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Franco5 said:
Muddle238 said:
The throbber in his 14-year old grey diesel 3 Series today, who has not the slightest clue about safe following distances.

Caught up with me on a single carriageway A-road, I'm stuck at the back of a convoy of cars following an HGV up ahead. Matey boy thinks that about 10ft is an appropriate following distance at 45-50mph.

Popping the hazards on seemed to generate zero improvement in the following distance, but he did flash his lights at me. Once we got to a long straight with nothing coming the other way, I tucked into the nearside, wound down the window and gestured for him to overtake, having created a gap infront from the MINI I was following. Zero response, so indicated left, nothing, decided to start braking, nothing. Not until we were down to about 10mph did he decide to overtake, such was his tailgating that all he was looking at was the back of our car with zero awareness of anything else.

He then proceeded to tailgate the MINI instead, simply a typical braindead dickwad piloting a ton and a half of steel around without a single brain cell in operation behind the wheel. Unbeknowst to him, I had my wife and 5 month old son in the car, and so take it seriously when another driver decides to sit just a few feet from my rear bumper. My wife is a nervous passenger already from when she was involved in a collision a couple of years ago, funnily enough due to a tailgater who didn't react in time. Nowadays those who take the piss are invited to pass, and if necessary forced to pass; not having that with my family in the car. He can go have his crash with someone else.
Sounds like a bizarre overreaction from you there OP but you’re right there’s a reason he has to drive a shed and that’s because it’s unlikely he’s a gifted critical thinker.
Not sure about that.

It's perfectly normal these days to come across people driving their brand spanking new cars as though they're asking for them to be written off.

They may as well get someone to vandalise their cars for them. Same effect, except someone else is doing the damage rather than the damage being self-inflicted. It was only a matter of time, surely.

Then again, it could be because they're on lease and just a commodity / white good, and so ''never mind, they'll just give me another one".

Tommo87

4,220 posts

114 months

Monday 19th February
quotequote all
Tiglon said:
biggbn said:
Franco5 said:
Muddle238 said:
The throbber in his 14-year old grey diesel 3 Series today, who has not the slightest clue about safe following distances.

Caught up with me on a single carriageway A-road, I'm stuck at the back of a convoy of cars following an HGV up ahead. Matey boy thinks that about 10ft is an appropriate following distance at 45-50mph.

Popping the hazards on seemed to generate zero improvement in the following distance, but he did flash his lights at me. Once we got to a long straight with nothing coming the other way, I tucked into the nearside, wound down the window and gestured for him to overtake, having created a gap infront from the MINI I was following. Zero response, so indicated left, nothing, decided to start braking, nothing. Not until we were down to about 10mph did he decide to overtake, such was his tailgating that all he was looking at was the back of our car with zero awareness of anything else.

He then proceeded to tailgate the MINI instead, simply a typical braindead dickwad piloting a ton and a half of steel around without a single brain cell in operation behind the wheel. Unbeknowst to him, I had my wife and 5 month old son in the car, and so take it seriously when another driver decides to sit just a few feet from my rear bumper. My wife is a nervous passenger already from when she was involved in a collision a couple of years ago, funnily enough due to a tailgater who didn't react in time. Nowadays those who take the piss are invited to pass, and if necessary forced to pass; not having that with my family in the car. He can go have his crash with someone else.
Sounds like a bizarre overreaction from you there OP but you’re right there’s a reason he has to drive a shed and that’s because it’s unlikely he’s a gifted critical thinker.
Some people apply their critical thinking and choose to drive a 'shed'. I'll keep my car till it falls to pieces.
Haha "has to" drive a shed? How do you know he has to?

A neighbour of mine, a rather successful lawyer, owns a £4m house and drives a 20 year old golf shed.
Are you suggesting that your neighbour bought said shed so they could tailgate?

Or, did the parrot block your view of the text as it whooshed by?

Triumph Man

8,721 posts

169 months

Monday 19th February
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Muddle238 said:
RayDonovan said:
Personally hate people who tailgate, but in that situation, surely ignoring him would've been better than provoking him.
Ignore right up to the point that he collides with us because he's not watching what's going on ahead, only staring intently at the back of our car.

You then have the hassle of the crash;
- ruining the plans for the day
- having to deal with insurance (a massive faff)
- the temporary loss of the family car

Along with other and potentially more serious issues;
- the risk of injury to my son (still in a rear-facing child seat, so a rear-end collision will be very dangerous in terms of neck injuries)
- the risk of injury to my wife
- the risk of injury to me
- the near certain psychological impact it'll have on my wife, which affects her everytime she goes in a car

I'd rather avoid all of that and just let the pleb past, personally. It's less risk, less hassle and costs me nothing.
I open the window and make a "back off" hand gesture. Normally works.

The worst was the day after my daughter was born - it was in the evening and I was driving us back from hospital - very, very gingerly as any dad would! It was only me and this poxy small white van on the road but he decided to glue himself to my bumper. I didn't react (I didn't want to cause any stress in the car) and I didn't want to go any faster (I think the fastest I went on the drive home was about 60) but he didn't do anything, didn't overtake, didn't back off, just sat glued there.

Tiglon

151 posts

43 months

Monday 19th February
quotequote all
Tommo87 said:
Tiglon said:
biggbn said:
Franco5 said:
Muddle238 said:
The throbber in his 14-year old grey diesel 3 Series today, who has not the slightest clue about safe following distances.

Caught up with me on a single carriageway A-road, I'm stuck at the back of a convoy of cars following an HGV up ahead. Matey boy thinks that about 10ft is an appropriate following distance at 45-50mph.

Popping the hazards on seemed to generate zero improvement in the following distance, but he did flash his lights at me. Once we got to a long straight with nothing coming the other way, I tucked into the nearside, wound down the window and gestured for him to overtake, having created a gap infront from the MINI I was following. Zero response, so indicated left, nothing, decided to start braking, nothing. Not until we were down to about 10mph did he decide to overtake, such was his tailgating that all he was looking at was the back of our car with zero awareness of anything else.

He then proceeded to tailgate the MINI instead, simply a typical braindead dickwad piloting a ton and a half of steel around without a single brain cell in operation behind the wheel. Unbeknowst to him, I had my wife and 5 month old son in the car, and so take it seriously when another driver decides to sit just a few feet from my rear bumper. My wife is a nervous passenger already from when she was involved in a collision a couple of years ago, funnily enough due to a tailgater who didn't react in time. Nowadays those who take the piss are invited to pass, and if necessary forced to pass; not having that with my family in the car. He can go have his crash with someone else.
Sounds like a bizarre overreaction from you there OP but you’re right there’s a reason he has to drive a shed and that’s because it’s unlikely he’s a gifted critical thinker.
Some people apply their critical thinking and choose to drive a 'shed'. I'll keep my car till it falls to pieces.
Haha "has to" drive a shed? How do you know he has to?

A neighbour of mine, a rather successful lawyer, owns a £4m house and drives a 20 year old golf shed.
Are you suggesting that your neighbour bought said shed so they could tailgate?

Or, did the parrot block your view of the text as it whooshed by?
No, I'm suggesting not everyone who drives a shed "has to". Consequently, driving a shed may not be evidence of being a less than gifted critical thinker.

georgeyboy12345

3,562 posts

36 months

Monday 19th February
quotequote all
I have my front wiper jets angled in such a manner that, while they clean my windscreen, they will also spray cars that sit too close behind me with a substantial amount of washer fluid too. I deploy this on cars that are too close to me. Sometimes it works, sometimes it makes no difference. Idiots gonna idiot, I guess.

When I was 17, one of my mates had a mk2 Fiesta 1.1 popular plus and he had turned the rear wiper jet a full 180 degrees, so it would act like a water pistol, directly hitting the windscreen of the car behind. He got me a few times when I was following him.

Antony Moxey

8,172 posts

220 months

Monday 19th February
quotequote all
georgeyboy12345 said:
I have my front wiper jets angled in such a manner that, while they clean my windscreen, they will also spray cars that sit too close behind me with a substantial amount of washer fluid too. I deploy this on cars that are too close to me. Sometimes it works, sometimes it makes no difference. Idiots gonna idiot, I guess.

When I was 17, one of my mates had a mk2 Fiesta 1.1 popular plus and he had turned the rear wiper jet a full 180 degrees, so it would act like a water pistol, directly hitting the windscreen of the car behind. He got me a few times when I was following him.
Yeah, that'll learn 'em. Imagine the horror of being in a car with the windows up and a roof and someone squirts water at your windscreen - with a lot of cars having auto wipers these days they probably don't even notice. Still, at least your saving them having to fill their washer bottles up I suppose.

Honourable Dead Snark

435 posts

20 months

Monday 19th February
quotequote all
I can’t stand tailgaters. Partly why I miss having a faster car, gives you another way to get away from them whilst also making them look even more stupid.

Probably is better though just to ignore it and let them become someone else’s problem.

Rusty Old-Banger

4,110 posts

214 months

Monday 19th February
quotequote all
georgeyboy12345 said:
I have my front wiper jets angled in such a manner that, while they clean my windscreen, they will also spray cars that sit too close behind me with a substantial amount of washer fluid too. I deploy this on cars that are too close to me. Sometimes it works, sometimes it makes no difference. Idiots gonna idiot, I guess.

When I was 17, one of my mates had a mk2 Fiesta 1.1 popular plus and he had turned the rear wiper jet a full 180 degrees, so it would act like a water pistol, directly hitting the windscreen of the car behind. He got me a few times when I was following him.
That is the most passive aggressive thing, next to a sticker saying "The closer you get, the slower I go".

Hol

8,419 posts

201 months

Monday 19th February
quotequote all
Rusty Old-Banger said:
georgeyboy12345 said:
I have my front wiper jets angled in such a manner that, while they clean my windscreen, they will also spray cars that sit too close behind me with a substantial amount of washer fluid too. I deploy this on cars that are too close to me. Sometimes it works, sometimes it makes no difference. Idiots gonna idiot, I guess.

When I was 17, one of my mates had a mk2 Fiesta 1.1 popular plus and he had turned the rear wiper jet a full 180 degrees, so it would act like a water pistol, directly hitting the windscreen of the car behind. He got me a few times when I was following him.
That is the most passive aggressive thing, next to a sticker saying "The closer you get, the slower I go".
The guy who had the Fiesta.

Is he still flipping burgers for a living and did he ever get that 5th star?

ChevronB19

5,835 posts

164 months

Monday 19th February
quotequote all
georgeyboy12345 said:
I have my front wiper jets angled in such a manner that, while they clean my windscreen, they will also spray cars that sit too close behind me with a substantial amount of washer fluid too. I deploy this on cars that are too close to me. Sometimes it works, sometimes it makes no difference. Idiots gonna idiot, I guess.
Are you saying the tailgater was the idiot, or you? (The answer is ‘both’ btw).

donkmeister

8,327 posts

101 months

Monday 19th February
quotequote all
Rusty Old-Banger said:
georgeyboy12345 said:
I have my front wiper jets angled in such a manner that, while they clean my windscreen, they will also spray cars that sit too close behind me with a substantial amount of washer fluid too. I deploy this on cars that are too close to me. Sometimes it works, sometimes it makes no difference. Idiots gonna idiot, I guess.

When I was 17, one of my mates had a mk2 Fiesta 1.1 popular plus and he had turned the rear wiper jet a full 180 degrees, so it would act like a water pistol, directly hitting the windscreen of the car behind. He got me a few times when I was following him.
That is the most passive aggressive thing, next to a sticker saying "The closer you get, the slower I go".
I had someone do that to me when I had the audacity to expect them to finish their overtake and move left on a 2 lane motorway.

I think they thought it was a clever trick. At the next gap they should have pulled into, I overtook them on the left and returned the favour. Their impotent rage was hilarious as they got bukkaked by their own petard.

A general warning that anything you think is a "clever trick" when driving probably isn't particularly clever, and doing it to the wrong person on the wrong day could end in tears, but at the very least a bruised ego.

Whataguy

851 posts

81 months

Monday 19th February
quotequote all
georgeyboy12345 said:
When I was 17, one of my mates had a mk2 Fiesta 1.1 popular plus and he had turned the rear wiper jet a full 180 degrees, so it would act like a water pistol, directly hitting the windscreen of the car behind. He got me a few times when I was following him.
There was a chap not too far away that did this, except he filled his water tank with oil!

Police eventually caught him, could have caused some nasty accidents.

captain.scarlet

1,824 posts

35 months

Monday 19th February
quotequote all
Honourable Dead Snark said:
I can’t stand tailgaters. Partly why I miss having a faster car, gives you another way to get away from them whilst also making them look even more stupid.

Probably is better though just to ignore it and let them become someone else’s problem.
Sometimes they're adamant to keep it your problem, unfortunately.

I remember one September night a few years ago when I was behind a stream of vehicles on a semi-rural single carriageway NSL A-road with no street lights.

In order to keep a safe distance between me and the caravan being towed in front, about 55mph was an adequate speed.

I was tailgated by someone who was flashing away for me to move faster. He could've overtaken but he didn't.

He then decided that main beams on my car in an attempt to dazzle me would be a great idea, so I angled my rear view and wing mirrors to deflect the light away from my eyes and shine his light back at him because I didn't want it. He could have it back. If he wanted to play stupid games then he could expect to win stupid prizes.

It must have incensed him, but when he did decide to both overtake and remain behind the caravan, albeit with a greater gap than I had kept, he proceeded to slow down in front of me and try to call my bluff in overtaking him back. I didn't bother as I had better things to do with my life and just increased the gap between us further.

He buzzed off at the next roundabout but he must have been trying to have the final word because he was straddling across the lines at snail's pace.

It does make you think: if someone has the time to engage in such reduced speed shenanigans then they clearly were never in such a hurry in the first place.

Pit Pony

8,809 posts

122 months

Monday 19th February
quotequote all
Antony Moxey said:
georgeyboy12345 said:
I have my front wiper jets angled in such a manner that, while they clean my windscreen, they will also spray cars that sit too close behind me with a substantial amount of washer fluid too. I deploy this on cars that are too close to me. Sometimes it works, sometimes it makes no difference. Idiots gonna idiot, I guess.

When I was 17, one of my mates had a mk2 Fiesta 1.1 popular plus and he had turned the rear wiper jet a full 180 degrees, so it would act like a water pistol, directly hitting the windscreen of the car behind. He got me a few times when I was following him.
Yeah, that'll learn 'em. Imagine the horror of being in a car with the windows up and a roof and someone squirts water at your windscreen - with a lot of cars having auto wipers these days they probably don't even notice. Still, at least your saving them having to fill their washer bottles up I suppose.
I've noticed that even these days, people slow down as they look for the wiper switch. They can't concentrate on 2 things at once.

yellowjack

17,085 posts

167 months

Wednesday 21st February
quotequote all
captain.scarlet said:
Sometimes they're adamant to keep it your problem, unfortunately.

I remember one September night a few years ago when I was behind a stream of vehicles on a semi-rural single carriageway NSL A-road with no street lights.

In order to keep a safe distance between me and the caravan being towed in front, about 55mph was an adequate speed.

I was tailgated by someone who was flashing away for me to move faster. He could've overtaken but he didn't.

He then decided that main beams on my car in an attempt to dazzle me would be a great idea, so I angled my rear view and wing mirrors to deflect the light away from my eyes and shine his light back at him because I didn't want it. He could have it back. If he wanted to play stupid games then he could expect to win stupid prizes.

It must have incensed him, but when he did decide to both overtake and remain behind the caravan, albeit with a greater gap than I had kept, he proceeded to slow down in front of me and try to call my bluff in overtaking him back. I didn't bother as I had better things to do with my life and just increased the gap between us further.

He buzzed off at the next roundabout but he must have been trying to have the final word because he was straddling across the lines at snail's pace.

It does make you think: if someone has the time to engage in such reduced speed shenanigans then they clearly were never in such a hurry in the first place.
Twice on my drive back from Winchester to Bournemouth yesterday, I had halfwits pull out in front of me close enough that I had to brake to avoid them. Both times there had been a big enough gap behind me for them to emerge safely. Both times my braking was accompanied by a flash of high beams. And yes, both times that provoked the other driver to slow down. One gradually lost the speed, the other went right in with a brake check. Interesting, as you say, that one moment they're in too much of a hurry to wait 5 or 10 seconds for a safe opportunity to emerge, but suddenly they're happy to cost themselves minutes by pissing about at 35 mph on a clear NSL road, dabbing at their brakes.

I think they must have "two braincells competing for third place" to borrow a phrase I heard recently...

Unreal

3,631 posts

26 months

Wednesday 21st February
quotequote all
yellowjack said:
captain.scarlet said:
Sometimes they're adamant to keep it your problem, unfortunately.

I remember one September night a few years ago when I was behind a stream of vehicles on a semi-rural single carriageway NSL A-road with no street lights.

In order to keep a safe distance between me and the caravan being towed in front, about 55mph was an adequate speed.

I was tailgated by someone who was flashing away for me to move faster. He could've overtaken but he didn't.

He then decided that main beams on my car in an attempt to dazzle me would be a great idea, so I angled my rear view and wing mirrors to deflect the light away from my eyes and shine his light back at him because I didn't want it. He could have it back. If he wanted to play stupid games then he could expect to win stupid prizes.

It must have incensed him, but when he did decide to both overtake and remain behind the caravan, albeit with a greater gap than I had kept, he proceeded to slow down in front of me and try to call my bluff in overtaking him back. I didn't bother as I had better things to do with my life and just increased the gap between us further.

He buzzed off at the next roundabout but he must have been trying to have the final word because he was straddling across the lines at snail's pace.

It does make you think: if someone has the time to engage in such reduced speed shenanigans then they clearly were never in such a hurry in the first place.
Twice on my drive back from Winchester to Bournemouth yesterday, I had halfwits pull out in front of me close enough that I had to brake to avoid them. Both times there had been a big enough gap behind me for them to emerge safely. Both times my braking was accompanied by a flash of high beams. And yes, both times that provoked the other driver to slow down. One gradually lost the speed, the other went right in with a brake check. Interesting, as you say, that one moment they're in too much of a hurry to wait 5 or 10 seconds for a safe opportunity to emerge, but suddenly they're happy to cost themselves minutes by pissing about at 35 mph on a clear NSL road, dabbing at their brakes.

I think they must have "two braincells competing for third place" to borrow a phrase I heard recently...
Unless you're prepared to go all the way, it is completely pointless letting people know you are unhappy with their driving, or many other aspects of their behaviour. I understand the frustration and have done my share of beeping and light flashing etc but now I just cannot be bothered. I'm sure it's an age thing as I see opportunities to get stressed everywhere and have to tell myself to let it go. I reserve my moments for things that matter - like the fkwit company that think my complaints about their ste installation are going to go away if they keep ignoring me. I can see that I am going to have to be extremely unpleasant and I can also predict that they'll then bleat about me being unnecessarily aggressive. The fk you school of motoring and customer service mentality have never been more prevalent.

matchmaker

8,515 posts

201 months

Wednesday 21st February
quotequote all
captain.scarlet said:
Not sure about that.

It's perfectly normal these days to come across people driving their brand spanking new cars as though they're asking for them to be written off.

They may as well get someone to vandalise their cars for them. Same effect, except someone else is doing the damage rather than the damage being self-inflicted. It was only a matter of time, surely.

Then again, it could be because they're on lease and just a commodity / white good, and so ''never mind, they'll just give me another one".
I tend to agree. I had one of these on the M80 last night. Both lanes moving at 50-60mph - inside lane slightly slower. I was in the outside lane when some knob in a brand new Renault decided to overtake several of us on the inside. As he passed me he put on his right hand indicator and just pulled in front of me. It was close enough to activate the emergency braking function on my car. He then proceeded to tailgate the car in front of him.

ashleyman

7,001 posts

100 months

Wednesday 21st February
quotequote all
Honourable Dead Snark said:
I can’t stand tailgaters. Partly why I miss having a faster car, gives you another way to get away from them whilst also making them look even more stupid.

Probably is better though just to ignore it and let them become someone else’s problem.
I also hate tailgaters and people who are just in my boot whilst in standstill traffic. I've always gone by tyres and tracks which means there's usually a decent gap in front of me as I make sure I can see the road between my bonnet and the car in fronts tyres.

However it seems like most cars would be happy to be inside my boot whilst in stationary traffic. I've now made a point of leaving extra space in front of me so that when they stop behind me, I edge forward to create a gap - although sometimes they will still move forward after me even with nowhere to go.

I have also been sometimes moving to reverse to get the lights to come on to make them feel a bit uncomfortable but they probably have no idea why I am doing it in the first place.

A.J.M

7,944 posts

187 months

Wednesday 21st February
quotequote all
The lady driving the VW golf who tried to go from the hard shoulder straight into lane 1 without trying to build up any speed at all on the hard shoulder, or even look in her mirror to check if it was even safe to try such a stupid manoeuvre.