General > Random Chat
Driving standards falling or am I just being grumpy?
Tazocin:
Bit of a rant post here I'mm afraid but here goes...
Are people getting worse at driving? As far as I know the test hasn't been made easier or anything and there have been no major changes to road rules/car handling except improvements and yet I feel like people are worse and worse at driving!
Firstly, there are more cars on the road. Its a statistical fact and its obvious. I've been driving nearly 20 years and the last few have noticeably been much busier than my first years and this may account for some of the problem.
However, it doesnt explain it all. I live near south Manchester and traffic is pretty bad. We have had a series of new roads/roadworks/SMART (I know :sick:) motorway development ongoing for years now but people just seem unable to drive:
They cant drive at the speed limit. I like going fast, I've paid for it in the past with fines and have learnt my lesson (except when on a private road) but seriously people cant drive at the speed limit. A 40mph road is often driven at 30 or even 20 mph with constant heavy braking for things such as corners half a mile away, cars coming the other way or just straight bits of road. This really annoys me because the road has been deemed safe at this speed so why cant people achieve it? I also appreciate road/weather conditions play a part etc but it seems increasingly bad and really slows things down.
People changing lanes. We all make mistakes but what is this new trend of just stopping where you are or worse, pulling across lanes blocking them whilst you wait to get into the feeder lane you missed? Accept your mistake and carry on, it will be easy to rectify later, don't a) hold the rest of us up or put us at risk of an accident because you couldn't follow the sat nav or werent paying attention. Also in this group are people who stop in the middle lane of the motorway to try and enter the busy Left lane for a turn off because they didnt want to queue (anyone who has visited the trafford centre knows what I mean). Who feels it is sensible to be stopped dead in the middle lane of a 70mph road??
Matching speeds - pull onto the motorway at 60-70 mph, its much easier and safer than crawling on at 30-40 and forcing all traffic on the motorway to switch lanes or stand on the brakes. Also in this little section can I include the drivers who feel they have right of way joining the motorway? they dont. :slap:
Mobile phones - had to be mentioned, we all know the busy lights that only lets 5 cars through except someone was on their phone so no cars got through that time. Not as bad as it was due to the recent police efforts but still and issue
Also, roads in general. Subcontractors have ripped them up so many times some fall to pieces merely weeks after they are repaired. I see that budget increases are way behindf needs and so can only expect further deterioration and damage to my vehicle just on my commute to work.
OK, rant over. Am I being unreasonable? I appreciate not everyone loves driving or even feels happy doing it and I try my absolute best to not tailgate or pressure someone who is clearly not confident on the road but surely there is a minimum level of competence we should aspire to and it doesnt seem to be met as much anymore resulting in the roads feeling much more dangerous in spite of far slower speeds. Anyone else feel the same?
delob:
I think part of the problem might be all of the road safety campaigns. Constantly banging on about how speed kills and not focusing on the standard of driving. It seems that nowadays people think that driving slow equates to good driving. Things like moving left in the motorway and correct indicators on a roundabout have gone out the window. I know excessive speed kills but they need to focus on driving standards rather than constantly banging on about speed.
But then where would they generate all the lost revenue from speed cameras
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willni:
Yep there's a lot of bad drivers, one doing 30mph on a 70mph road the other day when going home. People are scared of speed because of tv ad campaigns etc but don't realise for the most party they're the worst instance, 90% of accidents I'd say are just minor damage with no injuries or an instance of crash for cash. We could probably stop the tv campaigns now we've got to thin out the numbers...
But yeah people don't like to think of others on the road equally bad for traffic is the tailgaters in traffic, at merging parts staying so close to the car in front they're breaking etc, which in reality is actually creating traffic vs keeping the proper distance and gap.
You can't really blame subcontractors either they're there to do their job, you'd probably be more cross going home and your sewer backlogging into the bathroom or having no water, electricity or gas. The budgets for these works aren't designed to repair to perfect standard, they're repair the problem underneath with a quick cheap patch on top.
As for speed cameras if all of those fines etc went on A) traffic branch police B) road maintenance, then you wouldn't really mind as much as the roads would at least be maintained but there's no system in place for road maintenance generation really. Road Tax in the literally sense would be a good idea but since it's emissions tax (ved) it's going to someone's benefits or worse school funded drama and music! :signLOL:
pudding:
It's exactly the same where I live in East Anglia and all the way down through London to the entire South East.
There are many factors involved, but the key ones are, imo....
1) Over population.
2) Ageing population living longer.
3) Practically zero new road development, or widening of existing trunk roads.
4) Poor eye sight.
5) Road craft on the decline.
6) Government scaremongering and revenue gathering punishments.
7) Selfishness.
Problems 1 - 3 generates what I like to call the rat syndrome. People in vast numbers fighting for the same road space behave like rats. Hostility, resentment, trampling over each other and everyone's journey is more important than yours.
4) is a growing concern. Bad eye sight, particularly in the middle aged and older brackets, is left up to them to sort, but the DVLA should really be enforcing mandatory eye tests every 10 years, or hang your keys up quite frankly. The amount of people I see on unlit back roads weaving all over the place at a heady 20mph, and stabbing the brakes every time headlights come towards them, is unreal. But because I can actually see, and over take them, naturally all the attitude comes out and they honk and flash me. Erm, f'ck you blind twat. You think I'm going to sit behind you at 20mph on a 60 limit road? These people are an absolute menace and a danger to society.
5) Jesus, where do we even begin. Shoddy lane discipline, selfish lane hogging, selfish speed limit enforcing, creating their own gaps in traffic under the misguided belief that indicating = right of way, just stopping in the road for no reason, no indication, ridiculous tailgating, mobile phone use etc etc.
I have no idea where all this is coming from. Probably a by product of 1 - 3, but bad driving needs harsher punishments to deter the arrogant f'cks who forget driving is a social activity and isn't their own personal road network.
6) Years and years of brow beating and fines has indeed slowed some people down, but generally just the holier than thou types who flash at people who aren't driving as slowly as they. Again, mind ya f'ckin business and concentrate on your own driving. If I get caught for speeding, that's my concern, not yours.
7) Part and parcel of 5 I guess. People in general just seem to have no regard for the law or each other. Too self absorbed in their own little space to even notice or give a schitt about anyone else.....just like rats.
How do we fix this mess? Kill 50% of the population and get rid of all the old fcks who can't see or operate a car properly. Done :happy2:
Joking aside, if Trump and that Korean odd ball don't stop locking horns, that may well happen anyway!
Kai96:
--- Quote from: Pudding on November 29, 2017, 10:51:49 am ---It's exactly the same where I live in East Anglia and all the way down through London to the entire South East.
There are many factors involved, but the key ones are, imo....
1) Over population.
2) Ageing population living longer.
3) Practically zero new road development, or widening of existing trunk roads.
4) Poor eye sight.
5) Road craft on the decline.
6) Government scaremongering and revenue gathering punishments.
7) Selfishness.
Problems 1 - 3 generates what I like to call the rat syndrome. People in vast numbers fighting for the same road space behave like rats. Hostility, resentment, trampling over each other and everyone's journey is more important than yours.
4) is a growing concern. Bad eye sight, particularly in the middle aged and older brackets, is left up to them to sort, but the DVLA should really be enforcing mandatory eye tests every 10 years, or hang your keys up quite frankly. The amount of people I see on unlit back roads weaving all over the place at a heady 20mph, and stabbing the brakes every time headlights come towards them, is unreal. But because I can actually see, and over take them, naturally all the attitude comes out and they honk and flash me. Erm, f'ck you blind twat. You think I'm going to sit behind you at 20mph on a 60 limit road? These people are an absolute menace and a danger to society.
5) Jesus, where do we even begin. Shoddy lane discipline, selfish lane hogging, selfish speed limit enforcing, creating their own gaps in traffic under the misguided belief that indicating = right of way, just stopping in the road for no reason, no indication, ridiculous tailgating, mobile phone use etc etc.
I have no idea where all this is coming from. Probably a by product of 1 - 3, but bad driving needs harsher punishments to deter the arrogant f'cks who forget driving is a social activity and isn't their own personal road network.
6) Years and years of brow beating and fines has indeed slowed some people down, but generally just the holier than thou types who flash at people who aren't driving as slowly as they. Again, mind ya f'ckin business and concentrate on your own driving. If I get caught for speeding, that's my concern, not yours.
7) Part and parcel of 5 I guess. People in general just seem to have no regard for the law or each other. Too self absorbed in their own little space to even notice or give a schitt about anyone else.....just like rats.
How do we fix this mess? Kill 50% of the population and get rid of all the old fcks who can't see or operate a car properly. Done :happy2:
Joking aside, if Trump and that Korean odd ball don't stop locking horns, that may well happen anyway!
--- End quote ---
This one gave me a good laugh
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