Treatment of learner drivers
Discussion
I took one of my children out for their first drive on the road yesterday. Having driven on track a bit, they were pretty competent, albeit lacking in the niceties of road driving. Certainly not a dawdler.
But Jesus Christ almighty, don’t L plates make some other road users drive like idiots?
I hope it was just an unlucky first outing, but it seemed that it was difficult to stick rigidly to the law and not have someone try to pass, even when there really wasn’t the opportunity to do so.
It had to be the L plates, because most of the time the driving was perfectly competent.
But Jesus Christ almighty, don’t L plates make some other road users drive like idiots?
I hope it was just an unlucky first outing, but it seemed that it was difficult to stick rigidly to the law and not have someone try to pass, even when there really wasn’t the opportunity to do so.
It had to be the L plates, because most of the time the driving was perfectly competent.
I have noticed it as well. L plate couple of cars in front, and everyone all over the back of them.
"They're a f
king learner" normally gets roared out either by myself or the wife.
Always give them plenty of space and time, I was a learner once and appreciated the space and time people gave me.
"They're a f
king learner" normally gets roared out either by myself or the wife. Always give them plenty of space and time, I was a learner once and appreciated the space and time people gave me.
Swap his Fiesta for a pick-up with paving company livery and a "Highway Maintenance" sign on the back and watch people give him a wide berth.
It is true though, I've seen people drive perfectly normally but then turn into a tt to get in front of a learner who was driving perfectly reasonably. It's very odd.
It is true though, I've seen people drive perfectly normally but then turn into a t
t to get in front of a learner who was driving perfectly reasonably. It's very odd.Louis Balfour said:
I took one of my children out for their first drive on the road yesterday. Having driven on track a bit, they were pretty competent, albeit lacking in the niceties of road driving. Certainly not a dawdler.
But Jesus Christ almighty, don’t L plates make some other road users drive like idiots?
I hope it was just an unlucky first outing, but it seemed that it was difficult to stick rigidly to the law and not have someone try to pass, even when there really wasn’t the opportunity to do so.
It had to be the L plates, because most of the time the driving was perfectly competent.
There are some morons out there who will always bully and intimidate learners and other drivers. Sadly I think the situation has become more prevalent since the advent of SUVs. Being higher up, often in over-powered urban monsters, has given the bullies more power. I’m not a learner but I was harassed in London recently when driving a Caterham. An enormous Mercedes SUV in full gangster spec was driving inches away from my tail until the driver decided to overtake on a dangerous corner. Some drivers will always prey on those they see as weaker. But Jesus Christ almighty, don’t L plates make some other road users drive like idiots?
I hope it was just an unlucky first outing, but it seemed that it was difficult to stick rigidly to the law and not have someone try to pass, even when there really wasn’t the opportunity to do so.
It had to be the L plates, because most of the time the driving was perfectly competent.
F20CN16 said:
Stick to any speed limit these days, or even drive at 10% over (indicated, so probably bang on the limit in real terms) and you get tailgated. People are wkers. I get hassled a lot for wanting to keep my clean licence. The tailgater disappears in my rear view mirror on an NSL country road…
I’m going to go full-on misogynist here, but in my experience the most likely to casually tailgate are women - young women at that. They don’t do the properly aggressive tailgating that some men do, they simply drive too close up your arse. The properly wkers. I get hassled a lot for wanting to keep my clean licence. The tailgater disappears in my rear view mirror on an NSL country road…kerish tailgating is done by men, though. And the speeds that some of the Mum’s drive into and out of the school park are wildly inappropriate as well. And because I slow to a crawl through the car park I then have the women driving up my chuff….
People forget they were once learners - those people are generally overall stter drivers. I treat learners them differently in as much as I give them a bit more space. Plus, around the major towns and cities, they might be on their test - wouldn't want to be the reason they fail through perception of being held up!
tter drivers. I treat learners them differently in as much as I give them a bit more space. Plus, around the major towns and cities, they might be on their test - wouldn't want to be the reason they fail through perception of being held up! 
I put those who hassle learner drivers in the same group as people who are rude to waiters and waitresses; in other words, not nice people.
I was a passenger in a friend's car recently, a person who I've always considered to be very reasonable. However, when he considered that a learner in front of us was too slow in pulling away from a roundabout, he blasted his horn at her. The mother in the passenger seat looked round furiously at both of us and I was cringing with embarrassment.
His reasoning? "Well, she's got to be told otherwise she'll keep dawdling".
This, plus a couple of other recent things he's come out with, is starting to make me wonder if he might be a bit of a tosser.
I was a passenger in a friend's car recently, a person who I've always considered to be very reasonable. However, when he considered that a learner in front of us was too slow in pulling away from a roundabout, he blasted his horn at her. The mother in the passenger seat looked round furiously at both of us and I was cringing with embarrassment.
His reasoning? "Well, she's got to be told otherwise she'll keep dawdling".
This, plus a couple of other recent things he's come out with, is starting to make me wonder if he might be a bit of a tosser.
carlo996 said:
So 90% of this forum? 
pretty much.I never found learner drivers annoying mostly because we all started somewhere. Once my gf passed she ran a P plate for a bit before I ripped it off and she drove without it, people treat people with L/P etc plates as 2nd class citizens. Without P plate she drove like every other "slow" driver and that was it, no abuse. Weird how people work.
There are simply too many idiots who own cars and cannot drive correctly. The amount of threads lately that mention road users who cannot navigate past a cyclist, learner driver, raindrops, darkness, speed limits, inflate a tyre correctly, it goes on and on.
Too many people who have access to cars these days see it as a white good, its to get them from A to B as quickly as possible and fk anyone else who is near or around them. Cars are treated like mobile phones, if it breaks, rent another new one. No one has any patience because everything in society these days has to available in a split second or the inconvenienced tt will have a st fit.
TL/DR: Too many dheads about these days basically.
Too many people who have access to cars these days see it as a white good, its to get them from A to B as quickly as possible and f
k anyone else who is near or around them. Cars are treated like mobile phones, if it breaks, rent another new one. No one has any patience because everything in society these days has to available in a split second or the inconvenienced tt will have a st fit. TL/DR: Too many d
heads about these days basically. Interesting subject.
I always try to be sympathetic to learners.
I do sometimes wonder why some teachers elect to take novices out at busy times on busy roads though. (Not accusing the op of this at all)
Surely getting the basics right on a deserted trading estate in the evening is the way to go?
I always try to be sympathetic to learners.
I do sometimes wonder why some teachers elect to take novices out at busy times on busy roads though. (Not accusing the op of this at all)
Surely getting the basics right on a deserted trading estate in the evening is the way to go?
I remember back in the 80s when I had L plates on my motorbikes I removed the front one pronto - the difference in the number of people who pulled out in front of you (presumably not wanting to be “stuck behind a learner”) was like night and day. I considered the front plate an actual danger to my person.
Back to cars and drivers - I do get annoyed (when I say annoyed I don’t mean in any way that manifests itself to the learner) when all the instructors take the students to the same places to practice their three point turn, reverse round a corner etc. Which happens to be close by on the development where my parents live. It’s a bit of a pain in the arse and it’s been decades now.
Back to cars and drivers - I do get annoyed (when I say annoyed I don’t mean in any way that manifests itself to the learner) when all the instructors take the students to the same places to practice their three point turn, reverse round a corner etc. Which happens to be close by on the development where my parents live. It’s a bit of a pain in the arse and it’s been decades now.
When the girl was learning we had a BMW behind us at a busy junction (school time) who beeped when he decided she hadn't set off soon enough (I wouldn't have gone yet). Needless to say it was a good lesson in 'aholes are everywhere and there's nothing wrong with slowing down and taking a moment to doubly ensure it's safe before setting off so you don't inconvenience them further'.
I'm pretty confident that wherever he was going, he was late.
holes are everywhere and there's nothing wrong with slowing down and taking a moment to doubly ensure it's safe before setting off so you don't inconvenience them further'.I'm pretty confident that wherever he was going, he was late.
robemcdonald said:
Interesting subject.
I always try to be sympathetic to learners.
I do sometimes wonder why some teachers elect to take novices out at busy times on busy roads though. (Not accusing the op of this at all)
Surely getting the basics right on a deserted trading estate in the evening is the way to go?
They may be failing the basics as this is the first time they've driven in traffic (after having already covered them in a calmer setting of a car park or industrial estate as you say).I always try to be sympathetic to learners.
I do sometimes wonder why some teachers elect to take novices out at busy times on busy roads though. (Not accusing the op of this at all)
Surely getting the basics right on a deserted trading estate in the evening is the way to go?
When learning, the best incident I remember was having someone overtake me as I was indicating and just starting to turn right off a main road. Just really bizarre and almost certainly down to the L plate.
The same thing still happens when I'm cycling (and have moved right/indicating to turn).
F20CN16 said:
Stick to any speed limit these days, or even drive at 10% over (indicated, so probably bang on the limit in real terms) and you get tailgated. People are wkers. I get hassled a lot for wanting to keep my clean licence. The tailgater disappears in my rear view mirror on an NSL country road…
That's if they actually know the speed limit.kers. I get hassled a lot for wanting to keep my clean licence. The tailgater disappears in my rear view mirror on an NSL country road…On my way home there is a school just on the edge of town, so limit is 50kmh past the school and then it goes up to 80kmh.
Somedays there is a speed van on the 50mph section.
I quite often see people happy enough to go past the school at 60kmh+ but then slow down to 50kmh for the speed van, simply because they don't have a clue what the actual speed limit is, even thought the road changes from houses on both sides to open fields and there is speed limit sign where it changes.
They might be a bit faded, but I would guess 98%+ of people driving on this road do it nearly every day!
Olivergt said:
That's if they actually know the speed limit.
That was the only useful takeaway from the (two) speed awareness courses I have taken; most people in the room had NO idea what speed limits were on NSL roads in particular, they thought NSL on a dual carriageway was 60 or 50, on a regular road anything between 30 and 50, it was all over the place.People are also all so scared of getting bummed for speeding that they err on the side of caution for every speed camera and van and knock it down to the lowest the limit could possibly be on the road. I can't blame them given the fondness for changing limits every 500 yards and that sort of nonsense.
A few years back I did, through my employer, a defensive driving course which was basically a 3-hour drive around with an Advanced Driving Instructor in a fully stickered up learner's car; in west London of all places.
I had driven in London for 5 years at this point and was well versed with driving with your elbows out but I wasn't prepared for the amount of cutting up, honking and general abuse from other drivers. Also, keeping pace with traffic was definitely a no-no if I wanted to pass the training - having to sit religiously at 40mph on The Parkway and the elevated sections of the M4 whilst everyone including buses drove around you was soul crushing.
I had driven in London for 5 years at this point and was well versed with driving with your elbows out but I wasn't prepared for the amount of cutting up, honking and general abuse from other drivers. Also, keeping pace with traffic was definitely a no-no if I wanted to pass the training - having to sit religiously at 40mph on The Parkway and the elevated sections of the M4 whilst everyone including buses drove around you was soul crushing.
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