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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Inept drivers
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
This is a spinoff from the the Hell thread about drivers who are gits. This is about perfectly pleasant people who don't know how to drive.
Some of this is regional. About twenty-five years ago I had occasion to drive through Pennsylvania frequently. I noticed many drivers stopping at the end of the highway on-ramp before they tried to merge. They just didn't get the concept of what the on-ramp was for. Then there were those who drove for miles in the passing lane at ten MPH below the speed limit.
Then there are the individual dangerous actions which are obviously done out of ignorance. Whenever I identify a driver of that type, I make sure to stay behind him and keep an eye on him. You can't tell what he's going to do next.
What are some of your experiences?
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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Offeiriad
Ship's Arboriculturalist
# 14031
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Posted
When it's safe to get into this position, I am much more comfortable in front of them, keeping an eye on them from my mirror!
Posts: 1426 | From: La France profonde | Registered: Aug 2008
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
That I don't agree with. Behind them, with adequate space to take avoiding action if anything bad happens is where I prefer to be. If they are behind, I have no control over spacing, and I rely on their braking skills.
[ 27. October 2015, 11:54: Message edited by: Penny S ]
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
Mrs Sioni, our Designated Driver, makes judgement calls. Basically, if they are speed merchants, let them go; we'll see you in 20 minutes with a police car at the side of the road (surprisingly often). If they are ditherers then get past them and get a couple more vehicles between us and them asap.
She uses distinctly uncharitable language for those who slow to walking pace to go round corners.
[ 27. October 2015, 12:01: Message edited by: Sioni Sais ]
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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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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
I wish more would slow down. The number of them who don't realise that pedestrians crossing side roads have priority over traffic turning into the side road is quite frightening.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
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Posted
Around Toronto it is unremarkable to make a right exit from the left hand (of three or more) lanes in busy highway traffic, or to join the traffic by swerving across from the ramp to the left lane (it is customary to drive on the right here). Out in the country, it is normal to pull out into the middle of the three lanes and slow down to well below the speed limit. I am usually happy for people to hurtle past me to become live bait for the next speed trap.
Curmudgeon alert: It's odd that the driving test is (in theory) more demanding than it was when I passed it, but the acceptable standard of driving seems worse, and there is little or no interest in driving skills and understanding how a motor vehicle behaves on the road. I blame it all on so many people driving automatics, which demand the same skill level as operating a washing machine.
I like driving, but as I get older my tolerance for other drivers is diminishing, so I hope I still have sufficient wits about me to give up my licence before our children file a petition to make it happen.
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Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stercus Tauri:
Curmudgeon alert: It's odd that the driving test is (in theory) more demanding than it was when I passed it, but the acceptable standard of driving seems worse, and there is little or no interest in driving skills and understanding how a motor vehicle behaves on the road. I blame it all on so many people driving automatics, which demand the same skill level as operating a washing machine.
I like driving, but as I get older my tolerance for other drivers is diminishing, so I hope I still have sufficient wits about me to give up my licence before our children file a petition to make it happen.
My theory, as a middle-aged non-driver tending to grumpiness, is that the emphasis of driving lessons is to teach people to pass the driving test, rather than to teach them to drive.
Marking schemes for school and other exams have this same failing, which enables people who are good at exams and tests to qualify for all sorts of things despite limite ability and/or knowledge.
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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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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
I wish more would slow down. The number of them who don't realise that pedestrians crossing side roads have priority over traffic turning into the side road is quite frightening.
If I can touch a car as a ped or cyclist, and it's possible, I give it a good thump. Might as well share the fear. People are often in such a frightful hurry to get to the next light.
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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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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Moo:
This is a spinoff from the the Hell thread about drivers who are gits. This is about perfectly pleasant people who don't know how to drive.
This must be the kind of driver an old friend of mine describes as "never had an accident; witnessed hundreds."
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"What is broken, repair with gold."
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
Apparently my grandmother wouldn't drive after dark as she couldn't dip the headlights on her car. On the rare occasions she really had to, the passenger would have to do so for her - this was a half-timbered Mini Traveller with the dip switch on the floor.
Dad once followed her as she drove down a lane with two wheels on either side of the white line, and she was most put out when the reply to her saying for the thousandth time that she was sure her neighbour had never had a motorbike during the war was "well, you wouldn't have seen her for dust, anyway".
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Wild Organist
Apprentice
# 12631
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Posted
The thing that currently gets my goat in my home town is people who indicate what they are doing - turning right, left or on a roundabout - after they've started doing it. As a frequent pedestrian I have been nearly flattened more than once by these complete pillocks. Grrrrrr!
But the best place I've been a pedestrian in is Berlin. Pedestrians have priority over traffic turning into a side-road, and everyone observes this. (I hurry across anyway, just in case it's another Brit who doesn't know about this.)
[ 27. October 2015, 18:01: Message edited by: Wild Organist ]
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Be very careful what you wish for. You might just get it.
Posts: 50 | From: West Sussex | Registered: May 2007
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Not inept drivers, but inept highway management. One of the two mainish roads out of the village has been closed for some work. The diversion has been set up with the traffic, including tradesmen's vans, going in opposite directions along a single track lane with very few anythings which can by any stretch of the imagination be called passing places.
I used my own route on the return leg.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
Originally posted by Sandemaniac:
quote:
as she drove down a lane with two wheels on either side of the white line
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.
An equally long time ago, my grandmother's elderly next door neighbour had a weak right arm, following a stroke. If he passed someone he knew whilst driving, he took his left hand off the steering wheel in order to lift up his right hand and wave it.
My brother and I loved getting a lift from our grandmother's next door neighbour because the speedometer needle in his car rested at below zero. We used to watch, enthralled, for the point at which the speedometer reached zero. It could take some time. Both of us could cycle faster than Charlie could drive.
North East Quine, feeling the warm glow of nostalgia.
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
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
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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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Carex
Shipmate
# 9643
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Posted
Before I was allowed to drive a survey crew for the Forest Service I had to pass a special drivers' training, including tests for depth perception and colo(u)r blindness. Part of the class was about defensive driving, which could come in handy when one had to share a narrow road with logging trucks.
The next week after completing the class I met another vehicle coming around a blind curve in the middle of the road at a speed that would be safe only if one knew the road ahead was clear of oncoming traffic and wildlife. Just as I had learned in class, I put two wheels into the ditch to avoid a collision.
Perhaps that was supposed to be my final exam - the driver of the other vehicle was my defensive driving instructor.
Posts: 1425 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
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).
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
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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).
Similarly, to quote Gerard Hoffnung's Advice to Foreign Tourists, "Ignore all Keep Left signs - they are merely political slogans".
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Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
I am always annoyed by those drivers who pull into the lane next to a sem-trailer but who will not go further. They slow right down and seem unable to recognise that if they are already beside the semi, then there is space to keep on going.
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Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Moo:
Some of this is regional. About twenty-five years ago I had occasion to drive through Pennsylvania frequently. I noticed many drivers stopping at the end of the highway on-ramp before they tried to merge. They just didn't get the concept of what the on-ramp was for. Then there were those who drove for miles in the passing lane at ten MPH below the speed limit.
Continuing the segue of inept management/roadways: here in L.A. we have the notorious 110 fwy, which has the distinction of being one of the first freeways built on the west coast-- iow, the guinea pig they made all their mistakes on. One of those is that it has stop signs at the bottom of the onramps-- and then no merging/passing lane-- you go from 0 straight into traffic. The freeway, which follows an old oxcart trail, also has ridiculously narrow lanes and many sharp twists and turns. Offramps are almost as challenging since, with no merging lane, you have to suddenly turn sharply onto the onramp then brake hard to come to a stop in a few feet.
I think of it as a spiritual practice: you get to the bottom of the onramp and then have a bit of quiet time while you pray for an opening in the traffic. Then when you decide to make your move you have a more charismatic sort of experience, shouting "o God o God o God o God" as you gun it hoping desperately that your aging car will get up to speed before the traffic catches up to you. Finally, you practice holiness by gripping the steering wheel tightly as you focus on remaining on the not-so-straight and narrow.
Less heavenly: oldest child once had a horrible accident when someone new to the area, not expecting a stop sign at the bottom of the onramp, blew right through it and plowed into her.
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
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"?
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by cliffdweller:
I think of it as a spiritual practice: you get to the bottom of the onramp and then have a bit of quiet time while you pray for an opening in the traffic. Then when you decide to make your move you have a more charismatic sort of experience, shouting "o God o God o God o God" as you gun it hoping desperately that your aging car will get up to speed before the traffic catches up to you. Finally, you practice holiness by gripping the steering wheel tightly as you focus on remaining on the not-so-straight and narrow.
Wonderful. Thank you for this. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by cliffdweller:
Less heavenly: oldest child once had a horrible accident when someone new to the area, not expecting a stop sign at the bottom of the onramp, blew right through it and plowed into her.
A friend of mine had his car totalled in a similar way. He came down the ramp to find the main road totally stationary due to an accident further along. He had to stop; but the person behind didn't and hit him at 50 mph. Fortunately no-one was hurt.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
My home town is a retirement/vacation community. There are a lot of elderly drivers who have less than perfect driving skills.
One of my most memorable inept drivers that I interacted with was not elderly. He ran into the back of my car. (It's bright yellow, how do you miss that?) We got out of our cars to check for any damage, and exchange insurance information. The young man was very well dressed, and asked if he could leave, as he had no driver's license. I gave him the Mama Look ™, and said he absolutely couldn't leave. In spite of asking two more times, I didn't give my permission, and the cops took care of his lack of a license problem.
Daughter-Unit has explicit instructions to take my license and keys when I can't drive safely anymore!
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Kittyville
Shipmate
# 16106
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Posted
With apologies to the various, no doubt highly competent at driver-instructing, NSW parents aboard, I have to wonder if some of the ineptitude I see on NSW roads isn't due to parents teaching their offspring to drive. In many cases, this just seems to result in the transmission of bad driving habits from one generation to the next. I also agree with Stercus Tauri about the effects of only driving automatic cars, although possibly, the point is true about most modern cars. My first car post-driving test was a Renault 4, which gave no assistance to the driver whatsoever. I certainly learnt to "really" drive pretty quickly!
Posts: 291 | From: Sydney | Registered: Dec 2010
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
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.
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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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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kittyville
My first car post-driving test was a Renault 4, which gave no assistance to the driver whatsoever. I certainly learnt to "really" drive pretty quickly! [/QB]
Kittyville, many teenagers here seem to have a couple of professional lessons, then parents and a few more professional lessons at the end to put finishing touches on.
I learnt to drive on a Renault R 4. When I went for test, the big police sergeant took one look in horror at the gear lever coming straight out of the dashboard. He had never seen one and said if I could drive that, I could drive anything. He did make me drive it before giving me my licence. Back in the days before Roads and Maritime Services testers!
Actually I could drive most vehicles. Mr L's uncle was a wholesale jeweller who usually had some vehicle for sale as well. He would often give me keys to the latest vehicle and tell me to drive it for a week or so and tell him if anything was wrong before he put it up for sale.
[ 28. October 2015, 19:58: Message edited by: Lothlorien ]
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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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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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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
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 ...
blog
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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