Driving standards these days..

[Pigmy Pony]

People try to do too much these days, that's the problem I think. My father would get in from work and then sit in his chair and watch TV until bedtime. He'd go to the footy every other Saturday and that was it.

Now there seems to be this expectation that you have to be doing stuff all the time or your life is somehow not valid so people are stressed all the time. Driving like a dick is just one manifestation of that.

Yep, that sounds about right. Nowt wrong with doing nowt, as long as things that need done get done. Whenever I can get away with it, I can be lazy for England. In fact I have done, and got a medal for it. Didn't go to the awards, got someone to collect it on my behalf

[Macca]

, got someone to collect it on my behalf

You actually went to all the effort of arranging that? Blimey, Mr Active or what?

[Puffin]

Arrogance is the biggest blight to driving on the road IMO. I am just about to give up driving special needs and life limited children to a special school that keeps me on the road for 6-7 hours a day as the stress of driving a fairly large minibus has got too much. I could write a book about the antics of some, but those that signal once they have started their manoeuvre and are on on a roundabout/junction etc deserve something that hurts....quite a lot. Why should I tell you where I am going or what I am about to do, what business is it of your's...don't you know who I am! Yes....I really do know who you are. Most other arseholes on the road are of the same arrogant self entitled twats school.

[Barry]

Arrogance is the biggest blight to driving on the road IMO. ............ but those that signal once they have started their manoeuvre and are on on a roundabout/junction etc deserve something that hurts....quite a lot. Why should I tell you where I am going or what I am about to do, what business is it of your's...don't you know who I am! Yes....I really do know who you are. Most other arseholes on the road are of the same arrogant self entitled twats school.

Couldn't agree more!! The standard of driving these days is appalling.

[Alex_UK]

Isn't it funny how all of us are bemoaning the standard of driving of others, yet surely statistically we must all be someone else's "other driver"? I know I'm perfect, can't be me that drives badly!

[walpurgis]

The inadequacies of other drivers are easily addressed, just carry a .32 ACP Beretta Tomcat!

[Alex_UK]

I think it was Clarkson that suggested a giant spike on the steering wheel instead of an airbag...

Sent from my I3113 using Tapatalk

[Puffin]

Isn't it funny how all of us are bemoaning the standard of driving of others, yet surely statistically we must all be someone else's "other driver"? I know I'm perfect, can't be me that drives badly!

Yes Alex that is a very good point. I am not perfect...sadly, but I can't equate the driving ways and manners of those that would have passed their test many years after me with how I was taught. So many seem to have no road sense or feel for driving. What happened to the "do not effect any manoeuvre that would cause another driver to brake/swerve/change course or impede their progress on the road" (or words to that effect). Joining dual carriageways or motorways is for some a keep going and barge your way on exercise, anyone on the road will have to take avoiding action. Some have no idea how to match speed/slow or accelerate to join either behind or in front of a car, and to actually have to stop (it is their give way) What! Stop? Do you have a few months for me to add more

[Minstrel SE]

I think driving standards have always been pretty bad but if you pile more cars onto the road people will get cheekier and more desperate to get on with their journey.

We cant go on increasing the number of vehicles so something has got to give. Therefore I dont think its an automatic right to own a motor vehicle.

I would also force the transition to hybrids and all electric vehicles.

[alphaGT]

I too am a motorcycle rider, but here in the States it may be a bit better? Not a lot mind you, there are reports of bikes down on a daily basis in a 30 mile radius. Mostly in town traffic. My fellow riders and I try our best to ride toward the emptiest roads we can find, head out toward the county and try to get lost. And, I have adopted the biggest bike I could find! A full dressed Harley with crash bars and extra lights, and full open exhaust! When I first started riding on the road I thought this bike is too loud! I’ll need to put new mufflers on. But then as a woman was inching out in front of me, a quick rap of the throttle caught her attention! I decided the loud pipes stay.

I’ve had my close calls, to be sure, and you truly have to be defensive, you can never assume you have the right of way, no matter how green your light is. You must drive like everyone else is actively trying to kill you! Which, is more fun than it sounds once you get used to it.

And driving a bike or car, I am a far more calm driver since I’m retired. I’m never in a hurry to get anywhere, if someone wants to speed on ahead, I’ll let them on by. I saw an article not long ago saying that riding a dirt bike in no way prepares you for riding a bike on the road, and many readers and myself quickly informed the author of his err in logic. I’ve ridden motorized bikes since I was 6 years old! And as a teenager, if we didn’t wreck 3 times a day, we weren’t having any fun! (That May be why I’m so busted up now?) but I know how easy it is to wreck, how hard I can push it without wrecking. And hopefully it’s honed my reflexes to some degree?

Riding a bike every day as your usual means of transportation is a dangerous proposition, but riding as a luxury past time, when you can go where cars are scarce, enjoy the countryside, and not have to deal with hectic traffic, is a lot safer in the long run. A few years ago I dated a girl who loved to ride, but she could never get here until 9pm! So, we rode at night. We’d ride until 3am, no traffic, no where! We owned the road! And on a full moon on a cool Summer night, it was quite special. I do realize that it’s not as easy to get away from traffic in the UK as it is here, but I’m of the same mind as the OP, I love riding too much to let other ass hats scare me away from it.

Russell