GRRRRRR ARGHHHHH!!!!

[AngelaG]

<Rant>

What is it with the amount of inconsiderate drivers on the road? People drive with no awareness whatsoever. People seem to assume that their journey is much more important than anyone else's. People hardly ever seem to say thank you when you give way to them. People assume rules of the apply don't apply to them.

There are also too many old gibbers, wih rapidly diminishing mental processes driving around in Devon. They say things like, "I've never been involved in an accident", but neglect to notice the pile up of cars they have left in their doddery wake.



</Rant>

(I need to get a job closer to where I live!)

[andym]

Not indicating whilst going all the way round a roundabout really grips my shit!

I was on the M25 coming off to get on the M23 the other day and the traffic was bad so I had to go a bit further down the slip road, started indicating to get inbetween cars and some utter gimp in a great big people carrier actually sped up to try and stop me getting in, I mean HOW pathetic!

[Aefibird]

I think we should do like in chariot-racing times (well, chariot-racing times as shown in films, anyway) and have big spikes on the wheels of our cars, just to get even with the inconsiderate numptys that are out there on the road today. I sometimes think that other parts of the country sends their idiot drivers up to South Yorkshire (Sheffield in particular), as we seem to be plagued with them up here. This is the land of the don't-bother-to-signal-driver! I had one bloke yesterday who was signaling right but turned left, an everyday occurance in Yorkie-land.

[andym]

Have they invented the wheel up there then? ;D

[AngelaG]

As a motorcyclist I am instinctively worried about anything with a Volvo or BMW sign on! ;D

[andym]

I'm always very courtious to motorcyclists. I think it's because they're so much more vulnarable.

[RigsVille]

AngelaG - I'm also a biker (check out my website for picture and stuff) I know what you mean about VOLVO’s and BMW’s

andym - your quite right, most car drivers think that they are very safe inside their cars (risk compensation theory) and as such tend to drive as if they are immortal, the problem bikers face is that we are VERY much vulnerable.

In a car a slight dent when tapping another car equates to a broken leg or arm (and in some cases even worse) of the biker.

[miffersy]

Hey I thought that I was the only one that met these t****rs on the road

[Aefibird]

miffersy said:

Hey I thought that I was the only one that met these t****rs on the road

Nah, they're all over South Yorkshire, so I get to meet them pretty frequently too.

[Mr. Precision]

angelag said:

As a motorcyclist I am instinctively worried about anything with a Volvo or BMW sign on! ;D

I'm guessing you haven't been a biker for all that long... A year, maybe two or you don't do huge milages?

The reason I'm guessing is that any longer and you don't even notice the muppets on the road, you kind of start magically avoiding them long before there's a problem. I used to do ~25,000miles/year through London on a bike. Serious 6th sense stuff. Ommmmmmmmmmm. I've lost it now I've stopped.

It'd be cool to get to that kind of level in my karate.

[Andy]

Not getting on a soap box, but I've been doing 40.000+ miles a year for the last five and a half years.
There are some shocking drivers out there.
I can't believe some of them can walk, let alone start a car.

If you look for bad drivers, you will find them.
Focus on your own driving though, and just accept that somehow, retarded/myopic/morons will be on the road beside you.

Keep your eyes on the horizon, and let peripheral vision do the rest.
You can usually spot a loony well before you get in their destruction zone.

As for bikers, no offence, but you are a lot less visible on the road, can accellerate into a car's blindspots before you are noticed, and are more at risk.
Always be sure you have been seen, especially when approaching a car from behind.

[Andy]

Anyway's, I just got my first company car.
I got it, and suffered a bad injury in MA which stopped me driving for three months.
Got back on the road, and was driving in to see a client on a lovely bright day.

Yards from my destination, I approached a T junction.
Now, the road was down to one lane, due to vehicles parked half on/half off the pavement on one side.
As I neared the give way at the end, I saw a white transit van approaching the junction from my left.
I knew the turning to my right was a dead end, so there was every chance, the van would turn into the street I had just come down.
There was no way I was going to reverse down the street, packed with car's and van's half on/half off the road, so I stopped and waited to be seen.

I saw the guy in the van clearly.
He did one of those lazy turns, where he'd probably shift gear once he was around the corner, but he wasn't even looking. I could see him clearly, looking into space above the roof of the premises I was about to pull into.
Before I could get into reverse, or think to sound my horn, he ran right into the front of my shiny new car, doing £700 worth of damage.

it took 18 months before it ended up in Civil Court, where I had to testify against his lie that I'd pulled out of a parking space in front of him.
Fortunately, the judge believed me, otherwise I might have been footing part or all of the bill.

I always carry a camera in the car with me now.

[AngelaG]

mrprecision said:

angelag said:

As a motorcyclist I am instinctively worried about anything with a Volvo or BMW sign on! ;D

I'm guessing you haven't been a biker for all that long... A year, maybe two or you don't do huge milages?

The reason I'm guessing is that any longer and you don't even notice the muppets on the road, you kind of start magically avoiding them long before there's a problem. I used to do ~25,000miles/year through London on a bike. Serious 6th sense stuff. Ommmmmmmmmmm. I've lost it now I've stopped.

It'd be cool to get to that kind of level in my karate.

I have friends that have been biking for almost as long as I have been born, and they travel all over Europe on their bikes. They still worry about Volvos and BMWs.