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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Inept drivers
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Galloping Granny
Shipmate
# 13814
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Posted
When I was in my twenties and a sixth former offered me a ride into town, I insisted on my next trip home that Dad teach me. The only result was that every time I went home in the holidays we'd drive slowly round and round the block practising changing gears.
So when I then spent time in a small country town I signed up for lessons with the local driving instructor. It was a flat area; the only place to learn a hill start was where the road crossed the railway embankment. And when it came to my test, the officer had me drive round the block and then said something like, 'Well, if Laurie D says you're ready for your licence I know you're okay.'
Apparently they've toughened up the test here; I've read of an increasing percentage of kids failing on their first or even second try, sometimes for quite trivial faults. There was also a TV programme about basic skills they were *not* taught – I remember that one was that they didn't know to brake *before* a bend but accelerate round it, but went round with their foot on the brake.
GG
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The Kingdom of Heaven is spread upon the earth, and men do not see it. Gospel of Thomas, 113
Posts: 2629 | From: Matarangi | Registered: Jun 2008
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
I feel sorry for our local inept driver. He lives just over the road and cannot (as his wife has told us) get his car in and out of the driveway. His/her car is therefore parked in the road, although it is clear of most of the driveway so as to give him plenty of room for manoeuvre (and grab as much of it as possible).
When driving his wife has to tell him when the traffic lights change and a few years ago he had a small stroke. Not only did he not inform the DVLA (our driver licencing authority) but he was back behind the wheel in a fortnight because herself is a colossal snob who will not use public transport. I expect there are other poor drivers in the same situation.
Can you not dob him in before he kills someone? Why does he need telling the traffic lights have changed? Can he not see, or does he not notice?
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
I don't know exactly where you live. But, if you indeed live in an urban area, taxis or minicabs might be a reasonable alternative.
After all, the "fixed" costs of running a car such as tax, insurance, parking, depreciation, servicing and maintenance soon mount up into four figures each year; if your friend keeps having to repair bumps and scrapes the costs will be higher still. The wife doesn't have to use buses (although she should!) - £1500 or £2000 p.a. will cover quite a lot of cab rides. (In our town, most journeys will cost £6-7 each way and parking for a couple of hours can cost £4.50).
I had a gentleman in my church who could never understand this. When he gave up driving he always used the bus to get into town because he had been raised to believe that taxis were "extravagant". He just wouldn't understand that a large chunk had been taken out of his annual budget simply by getting rid of his car.
[ 30. October 2015, 13:37: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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crunt
Shipmate
# 1321
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Moo: quote:
Originally posted by North East Quine:
...I had a great uncle who believed that driving straddling the white lines in the middle was the most fuel-efficient way to drive.
My father used to complain about drivers who wanted to take their half of the road out of the middle.Moo
Just-pick-a-lane
Any-fucking-lane
My main passenger now mimics me perfectly as we come up behind one of the many drivers on the roads who can't commit to a particular lane.
Here's a picture of me getting an award for being a brilliant driver
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Posts: 269 | From: Up country in the middle of Malaysia | Registered: Sep 2001
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marzipan
Shipmate
# 9442
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Posted
Many drivers where I live don't seem to understand the purpose of (a) stop lines and (b) red traffic lights.
We had one today who blatantly ran a red light because the pedestrian lights had turned green so the traffic light must have been on red for at least a couple of seconds before the car got to the line.
Often when the traffic is busy in town, you get cars that stop in the middle of a junction because there is queues back from the next light along, and so the traffic in the other direction can't move when their lights go green as the middle of the junction is full of vehicles... (Most of the major junctions here are yellow boxes to emphasise that you shouldn't enter if the exit's not clear but everyone seems to ignore them)
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formerly cheesymarzipan.
Now containing 50% less cheese
Posts: 917 | From: nowhere in particular | Registered: May 2005
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
She uses distinctly uncharitable language for those who slow to walking pace to go round corners.
I usually take corners with street traffic at 10-15 MPH in second gear without braking. I find that manual gearboxes last much longer than automatics. Both our Vectra snf my Focus have five- speeds.
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
I have just remembered another class of inept drivers--those who do not consider the nature of the specific road and terrain they propose to travel.
I have described one such driver in this post. At the time I only thought about my own inconvenience; now that I have had time to consider it, I suspect he kicked himself during the whole drive for letting himself in for something like that.
People look at a map, and if they see a road that goes where they want to, they take it for granted that that's the best route. In the mountains, it frequently isn't.
I once saw a tractor-trailer on a mountain road with lots of switchbacks. It was stopped. The rear of the trailer had not completely cleared a left-hand curve when the front of the cab needed to start turning into a right-hand curve. This episode was especially stupid because there were many warning signs on the road before it started up the mountain saying that it was unsuitable for tractor-trailers. I can't imagine how they got it out of there.
Another disaster took place on a very winding road that existed only for the sake of the houses along it. There were plenty of warning signs. A truck driver looked at a map and decided it would make a good shortcut. The truck tipped over and dumped more than a thousand gallons of embalming fluid. Some wells were polluted and some farm fields were contaminated.
One final accident. A truck was hauling a fully-loaded, double-decker cattle trailer. Naturally, it had a very high center of gravity. The driver took a sharp curve too fast, and the trailer went over. Many of the animals died immediately, and many others had to be put down because of their injuries.
I get very fed up with people who drive stupidly in the mountains.
Moo
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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
I think there is a class of inept drivers who drive large lorries and vans down roads too narrow to pass them at peak hours.
One of my roads to work is just wide enough for 2 cars. Once a week, a lorry drives down it during the commute, causing chaos. Today - in a nightmare commute - there was a lorry coming along the road the other way. Extra chaos.
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Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
My sister lives in a house that was once a pub. Opposite it, for obvious reasons, is a footpath from the rest of the village. For some odd reason the Google and TomTom cartographers had the idea it was a lane, though it was barely wide enough for a wheelbarrow in places, with several tight bends between walls, and a bollard at the end.
One day she found a car had found its way down, and was now blocked by the bollard.
I'm not sure how it was extricated.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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crunt
Shipmate
# 1321
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
though it was barely wide enough for a wheelbarrow in places
The city I used to live in, in Korea, was constantly upgrading and extending roads. One particular stretch was a nightmare until I discovered a nifty little shortcut along the side of the river. It was all good until everyone else discovered it, too. One time, fed up of being stuck in queues along the river bank, I took another road to cut through a tiny hamlet that lay between the river and the new roads. 'Tiny' extended to the width of the lanes as well as the size of the population, and at one point my wing mirrors were scraping the house walls as I squeezed through.
Lesson Learned.
If I was a real local, I would have known already, but at least I wasn't fooled by gps / sat' nav' just my own impatience. Unlike visiting tour bus drivers who often get caught out by a certain steep and windy road in my hometown
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Posts: 269 | From: Up country in the middle of Malaysia | Registered: Sep 2001
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Those pix remind me of a coach trip I was on in the Julian Alps in Slovenia. I couldn't understand why the tour guide kept assuring us that we had a very good driver. Until it came to taking a large vehicle round 23 acute hairpins where at points the whole thing would have to be gently rocked, inches at a time, thousand foot drops inches from the wheels. The chap doesn't really belong on this thread since he was one of the most ept drivers I have ever seen.
[ 12. November 2015, 06:30: Message edited by: Firenze ]
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Uncle Pete
Loyaute me lie
# 10422
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Posted
That reminds me of the road up to Mysore. My friends would not drive through it at night, so we always stopped the previous day to gird our loins for the 27 hairpin turns up the road. I know I drove up it the first time with my eyes half closed and clutching my rosary. Subsequently, I kept my eyes open to better enjoy the scenery (which was gorgeous on one side) But the other side usually included broken down vehicles with the drivers squatted and facing their vehicles rather than looking out over the gorge.
Buses and taxis? 24/7. ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
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Even more so than I was before
Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
Less terrifying but still hair-raising is the postal carrier who insists on taking his truck, at speed, the wrong way down my one-way street, because he can't be bothered to do it the right way and have to walk several feet to put mail in boxes. I've nearly hit him several times, when he pops up out of the entry-turned-exit like a suicidal gopher just as I'm turning into it. (no visibility, but there shouldn't have to be)
I've complained at the post office, but no results. And now the garbage trucks are starting to imitate him.
All this on a faked-up road built for horses, and so narrow that locals park on the sidewalk in order to let ambulances through.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Time to rat them out to the local constabulary? A nice round of traffic citations would brighten up the day.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Arch Anglo Catholic
Shipmate
# 15181
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Posted
My late Great Uncle considered that third gear and upwards were ornamental only...
Posts: 144 | From: Shropshire | Registered: Sep 2009
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
Less terrifying but still hair-raising is the postal carrier who insists on taking his truck, at speed, the wrong way down my one-way street, because he can't be bothered to do it the right way and have to walk several feet to put mail in boxes. I've nearly hit him several times, when he pops up out of the entry-turned-exit like a suicidal gopher just as I'm turning into it. (no visibility, but there shouldn't have to be)
I've complained at the post office, but no results. And now the garbage trucks are starting to imitate him.
All this on a faked-up road built for horses, and so narrow that locals park on the sidewalk in order to let ambulances through.
Which is great until some poor sod tries to use the sidewalk for its intended purpose.
I like the Japanese approach - you want a car, you provide somewhere to park/garage it. Or so I'm told.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Moo:
People look at a map, and if they see a road that goes where they want to, they take it for granted that that's the best route. In the mountains, it frequently isn't.
Not really. They switch on the sat nav and follow it unthinkingly. Roads which are no better than farm tracks in the Yorkshire Dales have the same problem with our truckers.
Don't let that put you off, The mountain rescue guys would be happy for the practice. ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
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Last ever sig ...
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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Dal Segno
al Fine
# 14673
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
quote:
Originally posted by North East Quine:
A long time ago (he died in the 1970s) I had a great uncle who believed that driving straddling the white lines in the middle was the most fuel-efficient way to drive.
Perhaps he was just obeying the signs which say "Drivers use both lanes"?
No, he's obeying the instruction on his drivers license application form: "tear along dotted line"
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Yet ever and anon a trumpet sounds
Posts: 1200 | From: Pacific's triple star | Registered: Mar 2009
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
Problem is, this area was built as cottages belonging to a nearby hotel that burned down in '26, and the preferred method of transport was probably walking. The old train station is just down the street, and no longer in operation ![[Waterworks]](graemlins/bawling.gif) .
As for why we park on the sidewalks--95% of us prefer to suffer with muddy feet if we can just be sure the paramedics can reach us when we need them. (The remaining woman gets pleasure by calling the traffic cops on all of us, who go apologetically about ticketing everybody while assuring us in the same breath that they totally understand WHY we're parking this way, but they can't avoid doing their job once someone has officially reported it... I'm not at all sure she (our helpful fink) would be happy if we suddenly all became law-abiding parkers, as it would mean a) no more fun calling the cops on us, and b) she would not be able to get her car to her own driveway--what stops ambulances stops everybody else as well.)
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
Many of Sydney's older suburbs in inner west have roads like this. A friend lived in such a street in Erskineville for some years. After seeing a fire engine take out five cars as it tore through, they made sure they parked in their tiny backyard, accessible from a lane.
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Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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Fr Weber
Shipmate
# 13472
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Posted
In general, any driver who doesn't realize that his merge/lane change is his problem.
And if you know you need to make a right turn off the street you're on, why would you be cruising along in the left lane until OH MY GOD THAT'S MY STREET?
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"The Eucharist is not a play, and you're not Jesus."
--Sr Theresa Koernke, IHM
Posts: 2512 | From: Oakland, CA | Registered: Feb 2008
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lothlorien:
Many of Sydney's older suburbs in inner west have roads like this. A friend lived in such a street in Erskineville for some years. After seeing a fire engine take out five cars as it tore through, they made sure they parked in their tiny backyard, accessible from a lane.
Love.It.
(Did I mention we're trying to get permission to put a parking place in our backyard?)
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
Inappropriate speed causes accidents: while everyone automatically thinks this only applies to lame-brained teenaged speed merchants, it is true also of elderly ladies pootling along a motorway in the middle lane at a stately 35mph.
And would someone please tell the same elderly ladies that if they are turning right (third exit or more) at a roundabout the left-hand lane on the slip road is not a good choice.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Albertus
Shipmate
# 13356
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
Those pix remind me of a coach trip I was on in the Julian Alps in Slovenia. I couldn't understand why the tour guide kept assuring us that we had a very good driver. Until it came to taking a large vehicle round 23 acute hairpins where at points the whole thing would have to be gently rocked, inches at a time, thousand foot drops inches from the wheels. The chap doesn't really belong on this thread since he was one of the most ept drivers I have ever seen.
And you were sitting there at the back, just waiting for your chance to say your line...
Posts: 6498 | From: Y Sowth | Registered: Jan 2008
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
Problem is, this area was built as cottages belonging to a nearby hotel that burned down in '26, and the preferred method of transport was probably walking. The old train station is just down the street, and no longer in operation .
As for why we park on the sidewalks--95% of us prefer to suffer with muddy feet if we can just be sure the paramedics can reach us when we need them. (The remaining woman gets pleasure by calling the traffic cops on all of us, who go apologetically about ticketing everybody while assuring us in the same breath that they totally understand WHY we're parking this way, but they can't avoid doing their job once someone has officially reported it... I'm not at all sure she (our helpful fink) would be happy if we suddenly all became law-abiding parkers, as it would mean a) no more fun calling the cops on us, and b) she would not be able to get her car to her own driveway--what stops ambulances stops everybody else as well.)
Around here the problem is not muddy feet, but having to walk in the road and risk being run over.
Personally I think that car owners have a responsibility to park their vehicle such that it causes inconvenience to neither pedestrians nor the emergency services.
If this means parking half a mile away and walking from there, then so be it.
[ 13. November 2015, 10:26: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
And would someone please tell the same elderly ladies that if they are turning right (third exit or more) at a roundabout the left-hand lane on the slip road is not a good choice.
Except, for some reason, on the A34-M40 junction north of Oxford, where the road is laid out in exactly that way. I have no idea why, but it winds people in the middle lane up no end.
AG
Wot no sig?
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
I once had a friend who was a Minister in a small country town. Shortly after he had arrived, he was driving down the main street when a lady cyclist suddenly shot across the road and turned right into a lane, giving no warning.
My friend recognised the lady as one of his new flock, so on the Sunday challenged her about her dangerous behaviour. "Oh", she replied, "but everyone knows I turn right on Thursdays!"
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Amorya
Ship's tame galoot
# 2652
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Fr Weber:
In general, any driver who doesn't realize that his merge/lane change is his problem.
I was taught in my driving lessons that if you're driving down a motorway and you see someone indicating to join the motorway, you should move over one lane if it's possible to do so, in order to let them on.
Of course, if it's not possible to do so, it's another matter.
Posts: 2383 | From: Coventry | Registered: Apr 2002
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Ricardus
Shipmate
# 8757
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Posted
Yes, so was I.
Also there are enough places where people change lanes at the last moment as a consequence of inept lane markings - I can think of a few junctions where one or more lanes go somewhere specific, but the only clue to this is an arrow on the tarmac that is hidden underneath everyone's cars in the sort of conditions that make lane changes awkward.
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Then the dog ran before, and coming as if he had brought the news, shewed his joy by his fawning and wagging his tail. -- Tobit 11:9 (Douai-Rheims)
Posts: 7247 | From: Liverpool, UK | Registered: Nov 2004
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Today was the day that the inept gathered in one place. Mostly little old ladies looking for parking spots, who did not notice that someone was trying to manoeuvre out, or had pulled out of the way of that someone so drove past into the blocked way. The climax was in the supermarket car park where, for some crazy reason, someone drove the wrong way towards the stream moving towards the one way exit, on the wrong side.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Ricardus
Shipmate
# 8757
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
The climax was in the supermarket car park where, for some crazy reason, someone drove the wrong way towards the stream moving towards the one way exit, on the wrong side.
I'll confess to driving the wrong way round a car park yesterday because some git had scratched the NO off the NO ENTRY sign ...
(Fortunately there was no one else about to post about it here.)
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Then the dog ran before, and coming as if he had brought the news, shewed his joy by his fawning and wagging his tail. -- Tobit 11:9 (Douai-Rheims)
Posts: 7247 | From: Liverpool, UK | Registered: Nov 2004
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
Annoying Samaritans are inept drivers.
Car-driving human yields right of way to cyclist when said right of way should not be yielded. This Annoying Samaritan does not please the cyclist, was waiting for his turn, but rather angers other motorized humans who direct their anger at the cyclist. Which causes danger to said cyclist.
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
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Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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crunt
Shipmate
# 1321
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
Annoying Samaritans are inept drivers.
Car-driving human yields right of way to cyclist when said right of way should not be yielded.
I recently came across the 'rule' - "If you have the right of way TAKE IT". To be honest, I hadn't really thought about it before, but if it is not applied it leads to a lot of dithering at intersections. If you give way when you shouldn't (as no prophet's etc. points out) it causes more trouble than it's worth.
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Posts: 269 | From: Up country in the middle of Malaysia | Registered: Sep 2001
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
And at roundabouts. Bus drivers are the worst at this, often stopping when on the roundabout to let other buses onto the roundabout. Bad enough in normal circumstances, but I've seen it on roundabouts that have traffic lights, so it backs up traffic horribly.
I sometimes wonder if bus drivers are trained to bugger up the normal flow of traffic.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Galloping Granny
Shipmate
# 13814
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Arch Anglo Catholic:
My late Great Uncle considered that third gear and upwards were ornamental only...
A much loved and respected member of our congregation (a paediatrician, she operated in the jungles of Vietnam in wartime) never learned to love the motor engine. I went with her to a lecture once and had to hold my tongue as she raced up the hill in bottom gear.
Stopped by a cop who'd observed her erratic driving on the way to the airport one day, she was asked when she had last drunk alcohol. She thought carefully and replied '1952'.
GG
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The Kingdom of Heaven is spread upon the earth, and men do not see it. Gospel of Thomas, 113
Posts: 2629 | From: Matarangi | Registered: Jun 2008
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Galloping Granny
Shipmate
# 13814
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by crunt:
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
though it was barely wide enough for a wheelbarrow in places
The city I used to live in, in Korea, was constantly upgrading and extending roads. One particular stretch was a nightmare until I discovered a nifty little shortcut along the side of the river. It was all good until everyone else discovered it, too. One time, fed up of being stuck in queues along the river bank, I took another road to cut through a tiny hamlet that lay between the river and the new roads. 'Tiny' extended to the width of the lanes as well as the size of the population, and at one point my wing mirrors were scraping the house walls as I squeezed through.
Lesson Learned.
If I was a real local, I would have known already, but at least I wasn't fooled by gps / sat' nav' just my own impatience. Unlike visiting tour bus drivers who often get caught out by a certain steep and windy road in my hometown
Ah, Devon Street! Not the first time a bus has been caught. I wonder how often it happens. Why can't they read the warnings?
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The Kingdom of Heaven is spread upon the earth, and men do not see it. Gospel of Thomas, 113
Posts: 2629 | From: Matarangi | Registered: Jun 2008
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basso
Ship’s Crypt Keeper
# 4228
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Posted
I grew up on a steep but not winding road. Only one lane, and the only exit was at the bottom of the hill. Houses on each side of the road had a drive. A couple of doors down on the other side of the street lived a schoolteacher and his family.
His wife wanted driving lessons, and he asked a driving teacher from the school to come by and provide some lessons. Said teacher got into a jam getting the car out of our neighbor's drive and managed to turn the car turtle in the middle of our road.
That was the most spectacular failure, but many times I've run down the road to bounce on some unprepared person's bumper to get them enough traction to get off the road.
This was in the early sixties, and the neighbor wasn't the only one who needed driving lessons. My mother had never got a driving license - her mostly urban life hadn't needed it. When she landed in the suburbs with three kids, she broke down and learned to drive.
She didn't get her license, though. In those days the California test required a demonstration of parallel parking skill, and Mom wasn't having any of that nonsense.
Finally the law caught up with her. She got a ticket. She went to court and fought the ticket and won. I think she was so well-prepared that she caught every one off guard. She drew diagrams and everything.
The judge dismissed the ticket and everything was fine until the bailiff coughed and said, "Your honor, there's still the matter of driving without a license."
Hizzoner just said "Mrs. M, go get your license."
She did, and drove for the rest of her life.
Posts: 4358 | From: Bay Area, Calif | Registered: Mar 2003
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
Annoying Samaritans are inept drivers.
When I was learning to drive my dad told me that the two types of drivers to avoid at all costs were nuns and men wearing caps.
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
Point of Order - there is no Right of Way. There is priority, but you should always be willing to yield your priority if doing so will avoid an accident.
A Right of Way does exist in English Law, but it's a completely different thing. It's the right, for example, I have to walk across the fields to the hospital in our village.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Ricardus
Shipmate
# 8757
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Posted
I can think of a few junctions where at peak periods it would be impossible for anyone to get out if people on the main road didn't filter. Plus a few roads where it's impossible to turn in until the person waiting to turn out has ignored priority rules and done so.
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Then the dog ran before, and coming as if he had brought the news, shewed his joy by his fawning and wagging his tail. -- Tobit 11:9 (Douai-Rheims)
Posts: 7247 | From: Liverpool, UK | Registered: Nov 2004
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
I have been inept this morning. I have been parking my car in a nearby carpark since the footpath in from of my drive is being relaid. I tried to dash out and move it before the workmen turned up and blocked access to the carpark with their big grab lorry, but didn't quite make it. On of the men kindly moved their other lorry from where it was blocking me, which meant I didn't reverse quite as sharply as I would if he had stayed where he was, which meant that I scraped my bumper on the small digger bucket which lay on the ground close by where I couldn't see it. I had seen it when going to my car. I had forgotten it, while avoiding their tamping machine, which I could see.
It is a bit more damage than polishing and one of those scratch pens will deal with. I'll need some touch up paint - but the car is non-metallic white, so not too tricky.
Gar.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
Inept road design may help drivers be inept. Crossing as a pedestrian at a low frequency of use crosswalk this morning nearly had me stopped so northbound car could hit me because southbound car did not appear to be stopping. The inept is that this cross walk requires an illegal crossing of railway tracks - signed "No Trespassing" with various threats - but they built a crosswalk anyway for the adjacent road that only us illegals use. Without which it is a "you can't get there from here". Crazy!
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
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Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Tukai
Shipmate
# 12960
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jane R:
NEQ: quote:
I had a great uncle who believed that driving straddling the white lines in the middle was the most fuel-efficient way to drive.
...whereas I always thought it was a political statement.
Or, if it's the Bishop's car, a theological statement (all Anglicans believe they are middle-of-the-road).
QUOTES FILE!
[ 21. November 2015, 00:26: Message edited by: Tukai ]
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A government that panders to the worst instincts of its people degrades the whole country for years to come.
Posts: 594 | From: Oz | Registered: Sep 2007
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
I was reminded yesterday of another kind of inept driver--the one planning to go straight or turn left who pulls as far forward as possible when the light is red. This prevents the drivers in the next lane who can legally turn right on red from being able to see whether there are cars coming. ![[Mad]](angryfire.gif)
Moo
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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
And then you try to edge forward. And then they edge forward. I hate that, too.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
And then you try to edge forward. And then they edge forward. I hate that, too.
They all seem to drive big tall cars, too, to better block any chance of you being able to see. I haven't yet worked out what goes though their heads when they do that - I assume they're inept, and not just arseholes.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Yeah, it seems like the bigger/ taller the car, the more assertive they are about pulling forward. I don't necessarily think they are deliberately blocking the view, but it is like some little "SOMEONE IS SLIGHTLY AHEAD OF YOU" indicator goes off in the car, whether or not it directly effects their path.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
There is a point on the anticlockwise South Circular road in South London where the road has to jink left under a railway bridge. At the same place, two lanes which have come through two sets of traffic lights very close to each other reduce to one. This requires some care on the part of drivers, though often the ones in the outer lane will try to impose their wills on the inner lane.
Last night, I was, in the inside lane, behind a Smart car, one of those little ones slightly larger than a invalid scooter as we drew away from the lights.
When, suddenly, with no signal, the little car pulled left at an angle to the kerb and stopped. (There is a little nook at the spot which isn't in line with the carriageway.) I slammed on the brakes (also pulling in to get out of the traffic, having no alternative, and without any time to check what was behind me. Fortunately, the outer car, which had been going to pull in behind me (thank goodness) was also able to stop without impact. I was stuck behind a car whose actions I could not predict, while the rest began to move past, slowly.
As suddenly again, and with no signal, the Smart car moved off and tore up the road, forcing its way into the stream, and I lost touch with it. Like the train at Adlestrop, no-one got out, no-one got in the car.
Seriously inept on a fairly busy road.
[ 29. November 2015, 17:01: Message edited by: Penny S ]
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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