Stop Line Bandits : What to do?

[Paulatic]

I thought it was a "huge truck" [emoji2]

[Zimba]

I've been tempted to throw down on front of every car that's done it to me this week

[Paulatic]

The lines are give way lines, not stop lines, you are supposed to adjust speed and join traffic already on the roundabout if there is space. You only stop if there isn't a space.
I assume these bandits are intending to get in behind you or are they pulling out in front of you?

[Zimba]

They are mostly over the white lines and coming straight at me before I'm past the car. Hoping, i assume that might not hit me before I clear the roundabout junction entirely. It only takes a slight error of judgement on their part and I'm a statistic. My uncle is a driving instructor of some 40 years and confirms that would be not only illegal, but would result in a 100% fail in any driving test. To my mind its a fairly new phenomenon and extremely irresponsible and erratic behaviour. Bandits that they are!

[mjr]

The lines are give way lines, not stop lines, you are supposed to adjust speed and join traffic already on the roundabout if there is space. You only stop if there isn't a space.

As if many motorists can judge that! So many drive up, nearly stop, look and then accelerate if it's clear. The idea of roundabouts keeping things flowing is pretty much dead.

At first, I thought the roundabout in the opening post was like my most-used one (A10/A149/A47) which has been festooned with traffic lights on most of the accesses so they really are stop lines. Not that it matters because many motorists creep forwards into the toucan crossings... or a few at quiet times just completely ignore red lights if they can see the roundabout is clear - I guess they just pray no-one is crossing? I especially like that some even crept over the stop line while Google were Streetviewing, such as the white car in the middle of https://goo.gl/maps/ktVX9ZHC2Es (about to creep onto a toucan crossing) or the red truck in https://goo.gl/maps/hh4paHAmaRK2 or I could probably spot more if I continued round the roundabout. It's really really common. It seems like the handbrake is just an unfashionable ornament to most people and stop lines no longer really matter.

Red Light Cameras now, please!

[rmurphy195]

Heard a bit of a horror story last week. My friends lady friend had to give a lift to a colleague in the boss' car.

The car was a top-of-the range Mondeo.

A stop-line bandit pulled across in front of her while she was going around a multi lane roundabout.

So she swerved to avoid him - plenty of room, no problem

Except

The Mondeo's steering wheel jerked itself out of her hands and steered the car violently to the left - straight into the stop-line bandit!

Her boss' comment "Oh, it's programmed to do that!"

We thinks the "Lanekeeping" facility on the car - she didn't know of it's existence, let alone how the boss had set it up ! And it obviously was working at a lower speed than it should.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

[tykeboy2003]

We thinks the "Lanekeeping" facility on the car - she didn't know of it's existence, let alone how the boss had set it up ! And it obviously was working at a lower speed than it should.

What a stupid and totally unnecessary facility on a car.

Anything which allows the driver to pay less attention to driving is surely a bad thing, another example being automatic parking. The more a driver practices manoeuvering the vehicle the more they learn and the more able they will be to get out of dodgy situations. Crazy.

[Bonefish Blues]

Heard a bit of a horror story last week. My friends lady friend had to give a lift to a colleague in the boss' car.

The car was a top-of-the range Mondeo.

A stop-line bandit pulled across in front of her while she was going around a multi lane roundabout.

So she swerved to avoid him - plenty of room, no problem

Except

The Mondeo's steering wheel jerked itself out of her hands and steered the car violently to the left - straight into the stop-line bandit!

Her boss' comment "Oh, it's programmed to do that!"

We thinks the "Lanekeeping" facility on the car - she didn't know of it's existence, let alone how the boss had set it up ! And it obviously was working at a lower speed than it should.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Really?

And on a roundabout too?

Riiiight.


What are the Ford Driver Alert and Lane Keeping Aids?

The Ford Driver Alert and Lane Keeping Aids use a camera mounted at the top of the windscreen to monitor the road ahead of the vehicle. The images from the camera are continuously analysed to detect driver fatigue and lane markings, typically solid or dashed white lines that delineate the edges of a lane or carriageway.

How do they work?

The Ford Lane Keeping Aid works in two ways. As the car drifts towards the lane marking, a slight steering torque is automatically applied away from the line, towards the centre of the lane. This steering torque is very gentle but is enough to be sensed by the driver to act as an indication that corrective action should be taken.

Secondly, when the Lane Keeping Aid detects that the car has drifted over a line, the steering wheel vibrates as a warning to the driver.

[whoof]

In answer to the original post. I try to ride so it looks like I've no intention of stopping ( think 'Just a Minute' but without the repetition bit) if the other vehicle fails to give way, keeping your legs turning even if your not applying any drive can add to this illusion. Whilst doing this I also try to allow myself space if the worst happens. This is easier to do than describe. I get a lot of 'creepers' and even a fair few who appear that they will carry on regardless but pretty much the only ones who don't stop are those that haven't looked properly and there's no regulating for them. I've followed a friend who will brake every time someone looks like pulling out and the majority of these drivers take this to mean they can pull out. I found this very disconcerting as you are then putting yourself at risk of being hit from behind.

[Cyril Haearn]

These are not bandits or highwaymen, they are terrorists. My tip: do NOT make eye contact because it is usually understood as a challenge. In many cases one can hold out ones hand to signify stop/wait hiding ones face so that eye contact is not possible. Then, I suspect, the terrorists think I am unpredictable.

[Mick F]

Slightly OT but relevant maybe?

The A386 between Okehampton and Tavistock goes over Blackdown - outer western edge of Dartmoor.
The road is an ancient route, and in the 18th century was a coaching route and because Tavistock was a Stannery Town and a customs and a exchequer place where mine owners took their silver and copper samples for assaying, the cash flowed from Cornwall and Devon up the main road to London.

Strong-boxes were prayed upon by highwaymen, and some of them were caught and taken to Tavistock for trial and sentencing. They were hanged of course. Later they were gibbeted and exhibited on Gibbet Hill just north of Mary Tavy.

Gibbeting consisted of the dead body being covered in tar to preserve it and dangled on the gibbet and left to rot. The coaches and travellers along the road would see the dead highwayman up on the hill and be assured that justice was seen to be done.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Tavy
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.61208 ... 312!8i6656

[Merry_Wanderer]

Going off topic with Mick F - There's the remains of a gibbet post near the village of Congerstone in Leicestershire;

http://www.tripmondo.com/united-kingdom ... ngerstone/

On Gibbet Lane just outside the hamlet of Bilstone. It's a good if slightly morbid place to have as a destination although those with an interest in Canals or Steam Trains are well served by the Ashby Canal and the Bosworth Battlefield Railway Line which run next to Congerstone

[Bmblbzzz]

There is an Executioner's Street in Stone. But that's a village called Stone (Kamionka) in Poland, not the town in Staffordshire.

[wfbroddy]

These are not bandits or highwaymen, they are terrorists. My tip: do NOT make eye contact because it is usually understood as a challenge. In many cases one can hold out ones hand to signify stop/wait hiding ones face so that eye contact is not possible. Then, I suspect, the terrorists think I am unpredictable.

making eye contact is key to understanding if the driver has seen you or not, which then dictates your action.

It taught to motorcyclists during training (there not called lifesavers for nowt) and I believe advance driving teaches something similar

If your NOT looking at the other road user, you've no idea what's about to happen.

I know when I'm in the car and somebody does it to me I take my foot off the accelerator slows you down just enough for them to get the hint.

[Vorpal]

Although I do make eye contact when possible, I think it's overrated. Most of the time, I can't tell if someone has seen me; the angle of windscreen often means I am looking at reflections, and sometimes, even when it is blatanly obvious that someone has seen me, s/he still does something stupid.

IMO, it's me looking at them that does the job, rather than eye contact. I think it's a fair point abuout the intimidating stare, but I sometimes feel like I can *will* someone not to pull out in front of me, and I'd rather stare than not. Anyway, as wfbroddy points out, at least if I look, I can see what's happening and have a chance to react.