Blacked-out SUVs.. a massive warning sign?
Discussion
More a rant than anything, but I've just had an experience with a blacked out X5 in the local village that rather irked me.
I'm sat, waiting for oncoming traffic to pass so I can get round an Amazon delivery van that's stopped on my side of the road. The van is parked on the apex of a left-hander, so visibility isn't great. There's an oncoming lorry drawing adjacent the van, but I'm holding slightly back from the van so that I can see down the nearside, enabling me to spot the two cars following the lorry.
As I'm waiting, Mr Big b
ks in his new, blacked-out X5 rocks up behind me, and without actually assessing what's going on infront of him, goes to overtake me as the lorry passes. Instantly he sees the two cars following through, bottling his overtake and retreating back in behind me. As the last car passes, I pull round the Amazon van and continue along the road, smartly up to 30, keeping half an eye on the recent addition to my rear bumper.
The meatheat in the X5 is following so closely that all I can see in my rearview mirrors are the rear pillars of my tailgate and then kidney grilles. I pondered whether he would drop back a bit but nope, he remained glued to my rear bumper in a seriously aggressive act of tailgating. Knowing that the village exits onto a rather good bit of twisty A-road, but also solid double whites for good couple of miles, not fancying the frankly dangerous distraction of having 2 tonnes of BMW imminently about to embed itself into my P&J, I elected to stop at the exit to the village, allowing the neanderthal to pass and go have his accident somewhere else but not involving me. Never saw him again but his speed through the initial twisties as he disappeared off was sufficiently great that he couldn't keep his blacked-out behemoth on his side of the double whites.
Time and time again on my commute up and down the M6, it'll be a Range Rover Sport, Q5, Q7, X5 etc all in black, seemingly 100% tints, black alloys, inevitably "4D" plates or maybe tinted plates that I spot in the rearview mirrors, approaching at Mach 2 or generally driving without any regard for anyone else on the road and using their sheer size and presence to intimidate anyone else out of their way.
I know a bad driver can be found in any sort of car, but blacked out pseudo-premium SUVs seem to literally be the weapon of choice for the most aggressive possible demonstration of driving.
I'm sat, waiting for oncoming traffic to pass so I can get round an Amazon delivery van that's stopped on my side of the road. The van is parked on the apex of a left-hander, so visibility isn't great. There's an oncoming lorry drawing adjacent the van, but I'm holding slightly back from the van so that I can see down the nearside, enabling me to spot the two cars following the lorry.
As I'm waiting, Mr Big b
ks in his new, blacked-out X5 rocks up behind me, and without actually assessing what's going on infront of him, goes to overtake me as the lorry passes. Instantly he sees the two cars following through, bottling his overtake and retreating back in behind me. As the last car passes, I pull round the Amazon van and continue along the road, smartly up to 30, keeping half an eye on the recent addition to my rear bumper. The meatheat in the X5 is following so closely that all I can see in my rearview mirrors are the rear pillars of my tailgate and then kidney grilles. I pondered whether he would drop back a bit but nope, he remained glued to my rear bumper in a seriously aggressive act of tailgating. Knowing that the village exits onto a rather good bit of twisty A-road, but also solid double whites for good couple of miles, not fancying the frankly dangerous distraction of having 2 tonnes of BMW imminently about to embed itself into my P&J, I elected to stop at the exit to the village, allowing the neanderthal to pass and go have his accident somewhere else but not involving me. Never saw him again but his speed through the initial twisties as he disappeared off was sufficiently great that he couldn't keep his blacked-out behemoth on his side of the double whites.
Time and time again on my commute up and down the M6, it'll be a Range Rover Sport, Q5, Q7, X5 etc all in black, seemingly 100% tints, black alloys, inevitably "4D" plates or maybe tinted plates that I spot in the rearview mirrors, approaching at Mach 2 or generally driving without any regard for anyone else on the road and using their sheer size and presence to intimidate anyone else out of their way.
I know a bad driver can be found in any sort of car, but blacked out pseudo-premium SUVs seem to literally be the weapon of choice for the most aggressive possible demonstration of driving.
Only recent experience mirrors OP's somewhat, an X3 tailgating me through a rural 30mph village (Tockwith, North Yorkshire for anyone that knows it, heading towards York direction). As soon as we get near the exit of the village and the de-restricted NSL signs the mouthbreather guns it and overtakes me. I then follow him along the A road, spotting several circuit stickers on the rear end (#Neverbeen, Snetterton outline etc.) and expecting some enthusiastic driving to ensue.
In the end the chap got dealt about 400 metres down the road, the look on the obese skinhead's face when getting passed was brilliant as his little 2.0 diesel strained to haul his heft down the road. Given the stickers/coming from Tockwith whether or not the car was anything to do with Tockwith circuit I don't know, however one thing that was patently obvious was the chap couldn't drive his way out of a paperbag.
In the end the chap got dealt about 400 metres down the road, the look on the obese skinhead's face when getting passed was brilliant as his little 2.0 diesel strained to haul his heft down the road. Given the stickers/coming from Tockwith whether or not the car was anything to do with Tockwith circuit I don't know, however one thing that was patently obvious was the chap couldn't drive his way out of a paperbag.
There is an X4 round the corner from us. Black car, black wheels, limo tint all round, 4D plates with glittery letters, sign outside the house (on a public road, next to an office block) saying "If you don't live here, don’t park here !". They drive exactly as you think they would. They even park aggressively. If someone is in "their space" they will either park mm's from their bumper, or if they have to park slightly further away, it's always at an angle or a few feet from the kerb.
MitchT said:
All consistent with my experience. Gender and age doesn't seem to be a factor either - just the degree of arrogance seems to increase with the price tag of the vehicle. Last one I had rubbing the paint off my back bumper was a twentysomething trophy totty in a Cayenne.
Absolutely mirrors my experience, the level of entitlement these people seem to have is off the scale. They always assume they have right of way and they are always in the right, so if they pull out in front of you and force you to brake that is your fault for driving an inferior vehicle.Bullying people out of the way wherever they go because they think they have a bigger, better and more expensive car. They are so stupid they will even f
k with you if you drive a £500 shed that you couldn't care less about. The amount of times I have just wanted to not bother braking is incredible, do they really want to risk their £50K car against my £500 stbox?But it is just not worth it, they are the sort that would just get out of the car and stab you.
My proof reading skills are clearly a little crusty.Yep, that's the company car for the council c**ts these days. It's usually a poverty spec one with 180k+ on it, financed at a rate where it'd be cheaper to have a new one and driven like they're getting paid to wreck it. Heaven forbid you prang their beloved tarmac tank, too. You'll be getting abuse and death threats before you've even finished enjoying your accident.
There's nothing much new here.
What was the knuckle-dragging neanderthal of dubious income (usually fat and balding) riding around in his 12 year old Ford Granada / Capri with dark tints / visors, cheap aftermarket alloys. incorrect badging etc, is replaced nowadays with a PCP low riding BMW X / M whatever, the bigger and uglier the better.
Rarely known to behave in anything approaching a considerate or pleasant manner, in or out of his ming-hole vehicle.
What was the knuckle-dragging neanderthal of dubious income (usually fat and balding) riding around in his 12 year old Ford Granada / Capri with dark tints / visors, cheap aftermarket alloys. incorrect badging etc, is replaced nowadays with a PCP low riding BMW X / M whatever, the bigger and uglier the better.
Rarely known to behave in anything approaching a considerate or pleasant manner, in or out of his ming-hole vehicle.
Stop Press, brain donor can't see through the limo black windows of his penile extension, so can't assess why someone hasn't themselves gone barging through a space that doesn't exist.
They really are everywhere and in all sorts of vehicles, its most amusing when they try it on with a muck shifter tipper wagon and bits of plastic bumpers mirrors and accessory tat end up strewn down the road.
Like you if i get a half wit tailgater i make sure they can overtake easily, don't want them behind me either.
They really are everywhere and in all sorts of vehicles, its most amusing when they try it on with a muck shifter tipper wagon and bits of plastic bumpers mirrors and accessory tat end up strewn down the road.
Like you if i get a half wit tailgater i make sure they can overtake easily, don't want them behind me either.
Blacked out SUV = almost always some dodgy looking roadman or roid head behind the wheel, and almost always driven like a bell.
I treat them the same way I treat angry looking tanked up geezers in a pub - stay well clear and let them pass. They'll act with impunity and probably get little to no punishment for whatever they do, so I think why bother engaging.
It's not like I'm some scared of my own shadow type either. In another life or with less to lose, sure I'd be up for engaging with these mouth breathers, but not at the moment.
I treat them the same way I treat angry looking tanked up geezers in a pub - stay well clear and let them pass. They'll act with impunity and probably get little to no punishment for whatever they do, so I think why bother engaging.
It's not like I'm some scared of my own shadow type either. In another life or with less to lose, sure I'd be up for engaging with these mouth breathers, but not at the moment.
Edited by rawenghey on Thursday 25th May 15:48
Joey Deacon said:
MitchT said:
All consistent with my experience. Gender and age doesn't seem to be a factor either - just the degree of arrogance seems to increase with the price tag of the vehicle. Last one I had rubbing the paint off my back bumper was a twentysomething trophy totty in a Cayenne.
Absolutely mirrors my experience, the level of entitlement these people seem to have is off the scale. They always assume they have right of way and they are always in the right, so if they pull out in front of you and force you to brake that is your fault for driving an inferior vehicle.Bullying people out of the way wherever they go because they think they have a bigger, better and more expensive car. They are so stupid they will even f
k with you if you drive a £500 shed that you couldn't care less about. The amount of times I have just wanted to not bother braking is incredible, do they really want to risk their £50K car against my £500 stbox?But it is just not worth it, they are the sort that would just get out of the car and stab you.
I drive a triple black new Defender and formerly a similar L494 RRS. I drive everything I own with courtesy, restraint and consideration for others. Maybe it’s because you are able to put these black on black cars into a convenient little subset that you make these generalised statements.
There are knobs driving all sorts of cars and vans.
There are knobs driving all sorts of cars and vans.
budgie smuggler said:
lol what's that from? Had a quick google but didn't see anything
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7mSXMruEoIt's from research showing how the US car industry got Americans out of cars and into SUVs which now account for a whopping 80%+ of new car sales in the USA. I hadn't realised but unsuprisingly it's all about money; in the US they managed to get SUVs classified as 'light trucks' which meant they dodged enormous penalties for emissions compared with cars - despite the fact that SUVs and pickups were/are hugely more polluting compared to cars.
The research they did (could do with citation in all fairness but it certainly makes sense) showed how they convinced US car buyers to buy enormous SUVs instead of cars - and it worked. That's despite SUVs being more dangerous, less economical and paradoxically often less spacious inside etc. They guy gets a little repetitive toward the end of the video but there's not much I could find to argue with in it. I'd imagine a lot of it rings true over here to a large degree.
Edited by Funk on Thursday 25th May 16:00
It's a similar group of people with untrained fighting dogs they can't control.
Ask yourself why someone would choose to drive a very large vehicle, with blacked out windows, and extra large blingy wheels?
Ask yourself why someone would own an aggressive fighting dog and not train one?
The answer is because they think it makes them look cool/powerful/scary.
It does make them look scary. Scarily stupid and dangerous.
Ask yourself why someone would choose to drive a very large vehicle, with blacked out windows, and extra large blingy wheels?
Ask yourself why someone would own an aggressive fighting dog and not train one?
The answer is because they think it makes them look cool/powerful/scary.
It does make them look scary. Scarily stupid and dangerous.
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