Road rage.....

[kesdrive]

Just a few observations on the the comments so far.
There is no slow or fast lane. You should keep to the left unless overtaking. Motorways are the safest roads with around 3% of crashes. All you need to do is keep a safe following distance (2 seconds) and concentrate.
You will all be pleased to know that we driving instructors will be able to take our charges on to the motorway network sometime this year. (Date not yet set by Transport Minister). So if you see a driving school car on your local motorway he has'nt taken a wrong turn!
 

[davieb]

its not just the fact that people just don't have time anymore
it't also the fact that there are so many non qualified drivers out on the roads its frightening

here's an example

a few years ago me and a co-worker took a tractor unit each over to hull docks to pick up 2 new trailers off a boat. We were a bit early so sat in my unit waiting for the trailers to be cleared 

10 mins later another tractor unit appeared and started to hitch up to another trailer

some 45mins later he had still not managed to hitch up so me and my mate went over to see why he was having so much trouble only to be told that he knew what he was doing and would we kindly leave him to get on with the task
anyway 5mins later he had hitched up and left the docks in which time we had done the decent thing and informed the police what we had just witnessed and that they may like to have a word with said driver

when we left the docks we came across said driver at the side of the road with the police

when it went to court it turned out that he was using his brothers license and wasn't even a full license holder for a car

now that was FRIGHTENING   

dave 

[Oldman]

I agree totally with the comments since my last post,
My car has ABS, AWD, and will break the speed limit from 30mph in less than 5 seconds but NO Airbags - they were not fitted to Japanese cars in 1994.
I know I could drive the car at it limits, but I also recognise my own limitations, even though I held a competition licence for many years and have seen so many close shaves .
I now try to plan journeys so I can have a  break every 100 miles even if only for 10 minutes.
It just clears the grey mist that helps me keep my concentration is at its best.
I still get there when I say I will be there even if I leave 30 minutes earlier.

I have driven  underpowered commercial vehicles with Tacho's and trailers so know how commercial drivers feel.

Touch wood the  only 2 accidents I have had since passing my test(1974)  are where I was stationary and people drove into me.

[Pete Mc]

Now I don't want to tempt fate by talking about how many accidents I've had over the years so I won't.Suffice to say there are those that will say they've never had an accident but seen a few in their mirrors,more than likely due to their lack of common sense or road sense.

People just don't realise that sitting in the middle lane on the motorway means that to execute a legal overtake from lane one that you must take your eyes off the road in front to look in the mirror then check over the shoulder for the blind spot.At 70mph this means you have travelled the length of 3 football pitches just to do this.

When was the last time you saw a footballer run the length of one football pitch whilst looking backwards?

It just doesn't happen,but we,as drivers are forced to do this regularly.And as for illegal,unlicenced drivers,these should be locked up when caught and left to rot.The police or road crime units as they are called now spend most of their days tracking and chasing after the same people only for them to get off the charges brought against them due to technicalities or lack of proof or poor police investigative procedures et al.They think its all a big joke,only thing is thay one day they'll have a big accident and hurt either themselves,their friends or some innocent person going about their business.

Tomrrow night on channel five,Police Interceptors is back on and is featuring South Yorkshire Police's ANPR Interceptors.Now this program does get on my nerves a bit due to that bloke who narrates the program and that they keep overdubbing the engine noise with a Jag straight six sound.I do like the sound of a jag engine but is completely out of kilter with a Subaru flat foor or Evo engine.They never do it on Traffic Cops or Road Wars do they?

Pete

[Kipper]

Driving home last night on a dual carriageway, behind a queue of artics, came up to a slip road joining from the left. Two cars on the slip road, and the second decided to jump in after the artics had gone by (probably didn't see me) and caused me to slow down - fair enough. The he slowed right down to let the first car in, causing me to nearly stand mine on its nose. What a dope. I should have realised he was a wally driver when I first saw his car, a customised white Astra, with zig zags on the back, red stripe on the side and blue lights on the top! Glad I didn't hit him, it would have been deemed to have been my fault, I bet.