Why is everybody moaning about driving here in the UK?!

[Skylinecrazy]

Fuels cheap (ish)
Plenty of fun/used cheap cars out there
Trackdays and other Motorsport events are also cheap
Get up early and go for a blast? There's no traffic about at 6am on a Sunday..

The guy from Wolves moaning about commuting in an M3.. My heart bleeds, really it does. You're about an hour from Wales and the peak district....

So rather than moaning, can we have a bit of positivity here?

[kambites]

I'm certainly not. I think the UK is a fabulous country to be a motorist in (as long as you avoid horrible places like London but no big city is particularly pleasant to drive in/around).

[andy-xr]

I think that for many, the majority of driving isnt for pleasure, as in, going for a blast. It's more the necessary type of driving, where you have to get somewhere at some time.

The way fuel ramped up in the last 5 years means for many it's perceived as expensivecompared to what it was. I dont find it cheap personally, I'd rather have 85ppl levels but I doubt we'll ever see that again

I dont know how this will format, but it's a look at petrol prices over the years from Speedlimit.org, here: http://www.speedlimit.org.uk/petrolprices.html

Petrol Prices 1983-2013
Year Price per Litre (p) Price per Gallon (£) Retail
Prices
Index Petrol Price
in constant terms
(1983=100) 5-year
% increase ¶
1983 36.7 1.670 83.1 100.0 -
1984 38.7 1.759 87.5 100.0 -
1985 42.8 1.946 92.8 104.3 -
1986 38.2 1.737 96.7 89.4 -
1987 37.8 1.719 100.6 85.0 -
1988 34.7 1.578 104.1 75.4 -5.5
1989 38.4 1.746 112.3 77.4 -0.7
1990 40.2 1.828 121.4 74.9 -6.1
1991 39.5 1.796 131.4 68.0 3.4
1992 40.3 1.832 136.7 66.7 6.6
1993 45.9 2.087 139.3 74.6 32.3
1994 48.9 2.223 133.1 77.6 27.3
1995 50.9 2.314 147.5 78.1 26.6
1996 52.9 2.405 151.5 79.0 33.9
1997 57.9 2.632 155.4 84.3 43.7
1998 60.9 2.769 160.8 85.7 32.7
1999 61.9 2.814 164.1 85.3 26.6
2000 76.9 3.496 168.4 103.3 51.1
2001 77.9 3.541 173.1 101.8 47.2
2002 69.9 3.178 174.5 90.6 20.7
2003 77.9 3.541 179.9 98.0 27.9
2004 77.9 3.541 184.6 95.5 25.8
2005 79.9 3.632 190.5 95.0 3.9
2006 88.9 4.041 195.0 103.2 14.1
2007 87.9 3.996 204.4 97.4 25.6
2008 103.9 4.723 212.1 110.9 33.4
2009 89.9 4.087 211.3 96.2 15.4
2010 111.9 5.087 220.7 114.8 40.1
2011 129.9 5.905 232.5 126.5 46.1
2012 134.1 6.096 240.8 126.1 52.6
2013 138.9 6.314 248.7 126.5 33.7
2014 130.9 5.951 254.8 116.3 45.6

I think what it comes down to for me is that those days of being able to nip out for an hour or two's drive for fun, without actually wanting or needing to go anywhere are gone, replaced by working or doing 'other stuff' and the temptation to sacrifice that other stuff isnt really there because of the price of fuel.

If you consider that 300 miles can cost £70 it slows down the amount of times you want to spend that wthout getting a real return from it

also, everyone else on the road is a nobhead

[kambites]

Fuel prices have risen, but other costs have fallen quite dramatically in real terms thanks to falling purchase prices, the availability of cheap finance and a general increase in the reliability of cars.

Anyway, if you shove present prices (about 106/l, around here) in for 2015, it shows current petrol prices to be the cheapest they've been since the turn of the century.

[Skylinecrazy]

The daily commute in rush hour traffic is/has never been 'fun' though has it? Mine certainly isn't. It's a procession of cars down the A449..

Petrol certainly isn't cheap if you're using a 4.0 V8 S-type as a daily but that's precisely why I'm using a diesel bus for work, and something that's ridiculously bad on fuel at the weekends.

[The_Burg]

Pot holes you can lose a car in, even on motorways.
Speed cameras.
Appalling driving standards.

Plenty to moan about. The good bits, erm.

[SturdyHSV]

I moved to live near work, so I walk in. This means I can have stupid cars that piss away fuel

I do about 10,000 miles a year, almost all of which are optional and great fun.

I very rarely drive in traffic, but by god is it miserable. If I still commuted 25 miles twice a day, I can see how I'd be pretty miserable behind the wheel by now.

Of course the entire country lives in London right? So there's loads of viable public transport options, you're just a bunch of capitalist pig dogs that refuse to go near the prols, and insist on driving your tree killers exclusively during rush hour simply because you hate the planet

[Skylinecrazy]

The_Burg said:

Pot holes you can lose a car in, even on motorways.
Speed cameras.
Appalling driving standards.

Plenty to moan about. The good bits, erm.

Driving standards are a lot better here than abroad, and there certainly isn't many speed cameras on NSL back roads.

[Robert Elise]

maybe it's too many little englanders who only experience abroad with a quick blast on the french autoroute?
OP is right, there is a lot going for the UK. Haven't lived there for 8 years but enjoy getting back as often as i can.
We haven't talked about warm winters, excellent ale and good humour yet...

[Dblue]

Skylinecrazy said:

Fuels cheap (ish)
Plenty of fun/used cheap cars out there
Trackdays and other Motorsport events are also cheap
Get up early and go for a blast? There's no traffic about at 6am on a Sunday..

The guy from Wolves moaning about commuting in an M3.. My heart bleeds, really it does. You're about an hour from Wales and the peak district....

So rather than moaning, can we have a bit of positivity here?

+1

[andy-xr]

Skylinecrazy said:

The daily commute in rush hour traffic is/has never been 'fun' though has it? Mine certainly isn't. It's a procession of cars down the A449..

Petrol certainly isn't cheap if you're using a 4.0 V8 S-type as a daily but that's precisely why I'm using a diesel bus for work, and something that's ridiculously bad on fuel at the weekends.

I took a job that means I work from home, so I dont actually have a commute. I still travel to see customers but as far as making my way in to the office, I'm fairly glad I left that behind.

It's strange though, the city I live in has the worst traffic outside London, it's a city that not many will know where it even is, other than somewhere up north. That's mainly caused by people coming into it from the surrounding areas, and people leaving it to go somewhere more interesting. Not that much is local going around town type traffic.

I think the other thing for me is that it's not particularly fun to drive to a lot of places. I've got the Forest of Bowland on my doorstep pretty much, but the driving part of that is more going to somewhere to park it and do something else. I guess attitudes change, I'm older now than when I thought nothing of heading into the hills for a bit of a blast, but everything around me has changed as well, fuel price is still a biggie, even if I dont take the V8 one

Robert Elise said:

maybe it's too many little englanders who only experience abroad with a quick blast on the french autoroute?
OP is right, there is a lot going for the UK.

Compare it to California, which is about the same size as the UK, maybe bigger, but driving over there is a lot more relaxing and more fun, even if the speeds are lower and the traffic lights take longer to change, there's just a different attitude to it

[annsxman]

Skylinecrazy said:

Driving standards are a lot better here than abroad..........

Are you thinking generally or have specific countries in mind?

I've just come back from my first European trip of the year - I probably have 15 to 20 such trips each year of between 2 and 5 days usually driving through France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands and Italy - and I'd have to disagree. Certainly on motorways lane discipline is much better than in the UK although I have noticed an improvement in terms of a reduction in CLOC membership over the last 12-18 months.

[braddo]

kambites said:

I'm certainly not. I think the UK is a fabulous country to be a motorist in (as long as you avoid horrible places like London but no big city is particularly pleasant to drive in/around).

Like anywhere, London doesn't need to be all bad.

For example, drive in at 8am on Sunday morning, enjoy driving past a few sights from the Monopoly board, park on any single yellows (free), breakfast at the Wolseley, drive out before 11am.

[Dr Jekyll]

andy-xr said:

Compare it to California, which is about the same size as the UK, maybe bigger, but driving over there is a lot more relaxing and more fun, even if the speeds are lower and the traffic lights take longer to change, there's just a different attitude to it

Much bigger, with a little over half the population.

[Jasandjules]

Skylinecrazy said:

Driving standards are a lot better here than abroad, and there certainly isn't many speed cameras on NSL back roads.

I'd say not compared to France and Spain and Portugal and Germany - I am not talking about the tourist areas where it is Brits driving like holiday loons, but the main motorways and cities.

I drove all over Europe last year, came back here and within 10 miles experienced the usual s**e UK driving.

[V8forweekends]

Dr Jekyll said:

andy-xr said:

Compare it to California, which is about the same size as the UK, maybe bigger, but driving over there is a lot more relaxing and more fun, even if the speeds are lower and the traffic lights take longer to change, there's just a different attitude to it

Much bigger, with a little over half the population.

This is the key. In many places here, there are simply too many of us to make it fun. Anecdotally, I thought the traffic lights were quicker to change - they certainly seemed to be phased to help, rather than deliberately hinder, traffic flow. Also very very few aggressive tailgating knobheads and other rude and nasty driving - maybe they are scared of being shot.

[Limpet]

Depends where you drive and at what time.

A good B-road on a Sunday morning is a very different proposition from a motorway or A-road in the South East at rush hour. I was forced to put in a flexible working request to change my working hours (thankfully granted) because I could no longer do my 20 mile commute in under 90 mins.

I now leave the house at 6:30, and am at my desk, online, with a steaming hot coffee by 7am.

Driving standards are pretty appalling. Second only to Belgium in Western Europe, in my opinion.

[Dblue]

Driving standards are fine, potholes a bit of an issue but caused by a generally benign winter climate that sees temps wavering from just below freezing to several degrees above it constantly, so much more pleasant than central european winters

its a crowded island and we all live in the same parts of it leaving huge areas of near empty countryside to play in

[StefanVXR8]

I always find it interesting comparing recent/current prices to 2000 when we had the fuel protests, massive difference but we all seemed to have put up and shut up!

I moved to Perth, Western Australia last year, whilst we enjoy fuel at 56p a litre, the standard of driving here is crap and if you get caught doing 9km over the speed limit you get fined!

By the way, in 1989 I worked at a Shell Petrol Station, diesel was £1.64 a gallon Vs £1.75 a gallon for 4*, Crikey, 4*, showing my age there!!

Stef

Edited by StefanVXR8 on Thursday 22 January 12:45

[CrutyRammers]

Skylinecrazy said:

Fuels cheap (ish)
Plenty of fun/used cheap cars out there
Trackdays and other Motorsport events are also cheap
Get up early and go for a blast? There's no traffic about at 6am on a Sunday..

The guy from Wolves moaning about commuting in an M3.. My heart bleeds, really it does. You're about an hour from Wales and the peak district....

So rather than moaning, can we have a bit of positivity here?

Because many people prefer to moan than to enjoy themselves I think.