Top Ten drivers who scare me.

[Sara_H]

From experience of my commute, here's a top ten of the vehicles that cause those sphincter-puckering moments.

1. HGVs.especially foreign left-hand drive who think they can get closer to you because they can see you for longer.
2. BMWs... (Especially black). Do selfish,aggressive drivers buy BMWs or do BMWs turn you into a selfish,aggressive driver?
3. Audi & Merc. (BMW lite).
4. White Van man. Aggressive & using Mobile phone.
5. Taxis.
6. Buses.
7. Bin Wagons. The Martini of HGVs...they stop "any time, any place, any where".
8. Any driver whose stereo can be heard from 200 m away.
9. Chelsea Tractors. Any footpath, cycle lane,junction or crossing is a legit parking space... Heaven forbid that Tristram & Jocasta should walk 10 metres to school. And then there's the random door opening!
10. Tractors... Especially Fast-Tracks... The BMW of agricultural equipment.

We refer to taxis/taxi drivers as "taxi b******s" at our house, so unenamoured are we with their behaviour.

 

[clockman]

Cars with a bike rack.

Have to agree, some of the worst overtakes I have experienced from cars, have had bikes on the roof or on a rack on the back.
If, when I pass a cyclist, if I can't see them in my rear view mirror, it's not safe to pull back in. To be honest, I use the same rule for any overtake.

 

[Spinney]

Just a hunch, but I guess they wouldn't empty many bins if they didn't do this?

The last bin lorry I encountered came up behind me....


...and kept a safe and unthreatening distance behind, followed me down a hill and round a roundabout, and did not pass me until the oncoming lane was clear. When he did pass he gave me lots and lots of space. I was so impressed I emailed the organisation to say thanks for such considerate driving.

 

[Berties]

One group that bothers me is the old ,the ones who's kin keep the car so they can still use it,and the ageing parents still use it as they have forgotten they have had their licence revoked,get rid of the car or remove the keys,
I've heard cases of this twice lately

 

[ayceejay]

I hate any motorist who treats the double yellow lines as if they were mined or that spikes will suddenly pop out if they cross them. If a cyclist is on a road with double yellows down the middle and you need to overtake because you want to go faster you check to see if anything is coming the other way and you over take as normal OR you hang back until there is a break in the yellow lines if you are a worrier. What you don't do is, what some idiot did this morning, squeeze yourself through between the cyclist and the lines without reducing speed at all.
OK rant over.

 

[andrewpreston]

I have to admit that the list is a bit tongue-in-cheek and probably says more about my hang-ups than anything else. I do see good drivers in all my categories (with the exception of very loud stereo drivers). The tractor thing comes from the last 2 miles of my commute which includes a B road used by several farms which can get "interesting" at harvest time... Long days, overloaded trailers in poor condition and lots of mud being thrown up.

 

[Smurfy]

Top ten! One will do for me at the moment. This one happens now and then on my commute, but it always scares me.

Cars that approach from behind at high speed when I'm only a few yards from keep-left bollards. So far they've always ignored the keep-left sign and passed on the wrong side of the keep-left bollard. But every time I hear a car approaching from behind at well over the speed limit, I wonder if this will be the one that tries to drive straight through me.

 

[andrewpreston]

The last bin lorry I encountered came up behind me....


...and kept a safe and unthreatening distance behind, followed me down a hill and round a roundabout, and did not pass me until the oncoming lane was clear. When he did pass he gave me lots and lots of space. I was so impressed I emailed the organisation to say thanks for such considerate driving.

I also believe in letting drivers, and their employers, know when they've done well. A wave, a smile and a congratulatory email or phone call are a good idea. If you're going to moan about the bad ones, you should praise the good ones.

 

[slowmotion]

The last bin lorry I encountered came up behind me....


...and kept a safe and unthreatening distance behind, followed me down a hill and round a roundabout, and did not pass me until the oncoming lane was clear. When he did pass he gave me lots and lots of space

............and in my case, having passed wide, steered sharply left into a side road, leaving me to brake hard to avoid going straight between his front and rear wheels.... Quite astonishing really.

 

[Twelve Spokes]

Have to agree, some of the worst overtakes I have experienced from cars, have had bikes on the roof or on a rack on the back.
If, when I pass a cyclist, if I can't see them in my rear view mirror, it's not safe to pull back in. To be honest, I use the same rule for any overtake.

I only really thought of that as I had grief with a car with a rack on near Waterloo last night.Didn't seem to know where he was going.

 

[Davidsw8]

It's not just drivers, I had 2 near misses with peds this morning. 1 walked straight at me and another 2 appeared from behind the only high-sided parked vehicle on the street. Lucky I'm wary of people being idiots like that or I'd have been under the vehicle behind me.

 

[coffeejo]

10 Pennywise the clown in a car - beep beep!

+1000000. Especially if the car's called Christine.

 

[XRHYSX]

1. BOB
2 Wesley
3 Frank
4 Elizabeth
5 Wendy
6 Rhys
7 Dan
8 Craig
9 Anita
10 Pennywise the clown in a car - beep beep!

What did I do?

 

[XRHYSX]

From experience, I do a points system of danger signs when assessing a potential numpty driver. 2 points= probably, 3 or above definitely. The danger signs are:
1. Prestiege German brand
2. Executive saloon
3. 4x4 (or pretends to be one)
4. Personalised registration plate
5. Blacked out windows
6. Wears a hat (you don't need to wear a hat in a car - your head doesn't get cold)
7. Too big to fit into a standard sized parking bay
8. Taxi or private hire
9. Has a modification or defect to their car that is illegal or would fail the MOT (2 points).

So a footballer's car like and Audi Q7 with personalised plates and blacked out windows will get 5 points. Of course the list is subject to change......

I have a British Cycling sticker in the rear window does that cancel it out?

 

[Markymark]

2.5 Other cyclists

I have had more near-offs with other cyclists not looking than with cars. Typically when we're all pullng away at the lights, RLJ and people swishing from undertaking to overtaking without looking if I'm already filtering on the right or in primary.