What really gets your goat while driving?

[domd1979]

Some people seem to get fairly irate just chatting about riding their bikes...

Yep, you only have to say "RLJ" and that's it.........

 

[Lisa21]

What I hate, what I really hate is when your approaching a roundabout, looking ahead, and it is completely clear, no traffic AT ALL and your all set to carry on around then you glance infront again and the bl@@dy car infront has Stopped. STOPPED. Why??? Why on earth would you do that????

I have had so many slammy brakey moments because of that.

 

[thomas]

Don't want to preach but your primary concern on the approach to a r/about would be the traffic in front of you. Drive for other people, person in front could be old, young, just passed, blind, an amputee driving a disabled vehicle....the list goes on.

I bloody well hope the person driving in front or behind of me isn't blind and can see what they're doing!

A common cause of accidents is people at roundabouts not paying attention to the car in front....whether they stop for nothing, or stop because a car is coming around (and the person behind thinks there is enough room for them to have gone).

 

[thomas]

I was joking....having said that the amount of people out on our roads who would fail the eyesight test - reading a plate at 65 feet.....

whoopppsss! Though, you should add dumb to that list. The only time someone went into the back of me was when we were in traffic, been stationary for about 5 minutes...she got bored and decided to drive into the back of me. Dumb bi****....had an exam that morning too.

 

[Lisa21]

Dont worry, Im not a numpty who doesnt look where they are going
I always watch the car in front but when iv seen a completely clear roundabout, and a car infront which isnt slowing, It has caught me by surprise when they then suddenly decide to stop.I can never figure out why.....unless they fancy a nice insurance payout

 

[CopperBrompton]

Or they do leave a gap, but take it as some sort of personal insult to their manhood when you overtake them and pull in.

There seems to be an increasing number of people under the impression that overtaking is illegal.

 

[bonj2]

To be honest, I actually had very little time to do anything. It came to a split second choice between braking quite heavily with a lightly loaded trailer (an easy way to lose control on a damp motorway), or holding the thing in a straight line and possibly nudging the back bumper of the twat who'd brake tested me at perhaps a five or ten mph speed differential. I've seen the aftermath of a lorry driver braking and swerving to avoid a brake tester (M1, seven or eight years ago when a tank transporter hopped the central reservation) and it's a lot less pretty than a damaged back bumper on a chavved up Citroen Oxo.

oh ok, fine then.

 

[CopperBrompton]

No, the people who drive all the way to where the cones start tapering out the lane then try and force their way over are tossers and deserve not to be let in.

You are mistaken: zip-merging is actively encouraged by the Highways Agency as it maximises the capacity of the road.

What this means is that drivers use the full length of *both* lanes, then take it in turns to merge into the one open lane at the cones. If everyone cooperates in doing this, traffic flows well.

They were running an education campaign for a time, aimed at people who hold your view, but it tapered out far too early to do much good.

 

[slowmotion]

You are mistaken: zip-merging is actively encouraged by the Highways Agency as it maximises the capacity of the road.

What this means is that drivers use the full length of *both* lanes, then take it in turns to merge into the one open lane at the cones. If everyone cooperates in doing this, traffic flows well.

They were running an education campaign for a time, aimed at people who hold your view, but it tapered out far too early to do much good.

This is a bit of a grey area, perhaps. If the signs say "use both lanes" and "merge in turn", it is pretty clear what the motorist is supposed to do. The problem comes at road works, usually badly signposted, and there are no clear instructions, and the "last minute people" really get on my tits, maybe irrationally. I do not seem to be alone with this irritation, however.

 

[CopperBrompton]

The TRL study that led to the recommendation of zip-merging was completed in 1998:
http://www.ha-research.gov.uk/projects/index.php?id=428

The only reason it remains a 'grey area' 11 years later is that the Highways Agency didn't put enough time and money into the education campaign to promote zip-merging, despite it being policy:

Better information and signing, including initiatives like "zip merging", can minimise any unavoidable delays and make queuing more efficient and less frustrating.
(http://www.highways.gov.uk/aboutus/1906.aspx)

People who use the full length of both lanes are not 'pushing in', they are doing exactly what we are all supposed to be doing - it's just that too many people don't know it.

 

[bonj2]

This is a bit of a grey area, perhaps. If the signs say "use both lanes" and "merge in turn", it is pretty clear what the motorist is supposed to do. The problem comes at road works, usually badly signposted, and there are no clear instructions, and the "last minute people" really get on my tits, maybe irrationally. I do not seem to be alone with this irritation, however.

No - correct. You're far from being the only ignoramus on the planet.

 

[slowmotion]

No - correct. You're far from being the only ignoramus on the planet.

LOL

 

[domd1979]

The TRL study that led to the recommendation of zip-merging was completed in 1998:
http://www.ha-research.gov.uk/projects/index.php?id=428

The only reason it remains a 'grey area' 11 years later is that the Highways Agency didn't put enough time and money into the education campaign to promote zip-merging, despite it being policy:

Better information and signing, including initiatives like "zip merging", can minimise any unavoidable delays and make queuing more efficient and less frustrating.
(http://www.highways.gov.uk/aboutus/1906.aspx)

Curiously the study is unpublished, so difficult to comment with any certainty...

People who use the full length of both lanes are not 'pushing in', they are doing exactly what we are all supposed to be doing - it's just that too many people don't know it.

There comes a point though where it isn't safe and it is pushing in. There are too many idiots who force their way in at the point where there is physically no longer any room for two cars to be safely side by side. I suspect even if the HA advocate "zip merging" they do not mean zip merge at the point where there is only one and a bit vehicle width of lane left.

 

[thomas]

No, the people who drive all the way to where the cones start tapering out the lane then try and force their way over are tossers and deserve not to be let in.

Pfft. You'd hate me. If there is a safe way that I can shorten my journey I see no reason not to. I wouldn't 'force' myself in or do it in a way to actively piss someone off, but it is silly not to utilise as much of the available road network as possible.

On the way to sixth form I used to save a few minutes by taking the right hand lane, going all the way around the roundabout to go left. If I stayed in the left hand lane (left and straight over) I'd be sitting there for a good few minutes.

 

[Archie_tect]

Pfft. You'd hate me. If there is a safe way that I can shorten my journey I see no reason not to. I wouldn't 'force' myself in or do it in a way to actively piss someone off, but it is silly not to utilise as much of the available road network as possible.

On the way to sixth form I used to save a few minutes by taking the right hand lane, going all the way around the roundabout to go left. If I stayed in the left hand lane (left and straight over) I'd be sitting there for a good few minutes.

Oh dear me.... thank goodness you're joking.