Drivers silly season?

[Cowsham]

The unusually warm ( warm for here in NI ) weather seems to have brought out the nutter drivers -- I had one pull out to pass me today then immediately swerve left in front of me to pull into an off street parking space for a shop saving himself nanoseconds.

Another while going under a low bridge ( the one that some ejit got his lorry stuck under last week ) where the road was narrow and I had right of way I had to pull in to my side quickly as the van driver was not prepared to stop in the stop give way box painted on his side.

A few weeks ago we had another good weather spell and while out in our old beetle we came across two accidents in town and jokingly said must get the wee car home before one crashes into us. We already had 3 drivers pull out in front of us that day. Later that day while out in the daily driver car it was wrote off by a young chap not paying attention to the road in front of him.

Seems to be at it's worst at about 4.30 to 6pm My theory is When the weathers good here the drivers commuting home they are panicking to make it home before the rain comes back.

[JohnW]

Pretty much normal stuff nowadays.

[Tangled Metal]

Round here I've been more impressed. Drivers sitting back and waiting instead of overtaking me just before a left turn they want to take that's at the foot of a dip in the road. So instead of turning right at the point in time I pass the left turn of I hadn't seen them they're actually sitting behind and waiting to turn left.

Or as I approach my driveway and make the appropriate right hand turn signal and move into the middle of the road, the cars don't just accelerate past me but slow to let me complete the right turn into my driveway.

I really don't know what's going on. All the bad behaviour of local motorists just hasn't been present lately. That's got me confused and wondering if there's some nefarious plan here.

[Nearholmer]

Driving seems to vary hugely around here, which seems natural given the wide variability of us human beings.

I’ve had multiple examples of drivers being exceptionally polite and considerate, plus random examples of pointless dangerousness.

In the latter case, a really bizarre one the other day a few hundred metres from home. I came out from home to turn right, stopped at the edge of the road, checked both ways. Nothing coming from my right, and a car very slowly rounding the sharp corner c600 metres down the hill on my left, plenty of time to pull out, so I did. Car now approaching me from behind, but closing speed low, he is driving well within the 30mph limit, straight road with long visibility, bags of room for him to overtake further up the road, no other traffic in sight. I’m riding c1.5m from the kerb to avoid lumpy drain gratings.

So, where does the driver choose to overtake? At the one point on this long empty stretch of road where a car was parked in the road in the opposite lane, so that he had to squeeze between me and said car, which meant far below 1.5m from me. His wing mirror was very close indeed. Why?? The tiniest deceleration would have allowed the overtake just after the parked car, with bags of room on both sides of him. He could possibly even have accelerated and passed with good clearance before the parked car.

The driver was an old boy with the window wound down and his elbow out, steering with one hand, looking super-relaxed, and my reading of it was that it just didn’t occur to him to vary his speed slightly …. He was just pootling along at c25mph come what may.

[francovendee]

At this time it's tractors we have to worry about. We stick to small lanes and so do they! Can't complain, I'm out enjoying myself and they are busy growing our food.

[Cowsham]

Round here I've been more impressed. Drivers sitting back and waiting instead of overtaking me just before a left turn they want to take that's at the foot of a dip in the road. So instead of turning right at the point in time I pass the left turn of I hadn't seen them they're actually sitting behind and waiting to turn left.

Or as I approach my driveway and make the appropriate right hand turn signal and move into the middle of the road, the cars don't just accelerate past me but slow to let me complete the right turn into my driveway.

I really don't know what's going on. All the bad behaviour of local motorists just hasn't been present lately. That's got me confused and wondering if there's some nefarious plan here.

You've probably better weather than us and people are used to it knowing that it might be sunny again tomorrow or not rain before they get home to cut the grass. In NI rain is never far away.

Generally I've always been treated courteously by drivers where I live with the odd numpy ( usually a young daft female ) doing something stupid but my point is that the good weather is either changing people's habits or bringing out the hoards of numpties that lay dormant during our usual weather.

[CyberKnight]

cant say i have noticed any difference , usual smidgaf driving .

[Nearholmer]

I unwittingly got involved in a “daft cyclist” incident today, fortunately a minor one of no consequence.

Was riding along a road crossing a village green, fairly narrow, I doubt two cars could pass without getting near side wheels onto the grass.

Coming the other way was a car and as she (woman bringing children home from school) came on the car didn’t deviate one inch from the centre of the road, forcing me onto the very edge of the road (I didn’t quite need to go onto the grass), and it passed inches from me. I was really annoyed, because to me it seemed that there was a room for her to have moved over and leave me a decent space, without her needing to go on the grass.

It was only when the car had passed that I realised there was another cyclist riding almost parallel, slightly behind me, on the wrong side of the road! The driver had been faced with two oncoming cyclists, and the need to thread between us.

Why the other clot decided to ride on the wrong side, rather than tucking in behind me on the proper side, totally beats me, but the driver must have gone home cursing us ….. both wearing orange tops and riding blue bikes, she would surely have formed the impression that we were together.

[a.twiddler]

I unwittingly got involved in a “daft cyclist” incident today, fortunately a minor one of no consequence.

Was riding along a road crossing a village green, fairly narrow, I doubt two cars could pass without getting near side wheels onto the grass.

Coming the other way was a car and as she (woman bringing children home from school) came on the car didn’t deviate one inch from the centre of the road, forcing me onto the very edge of the road (I didn’t quite need to go onto the grass), and it passed inches from me. I was really annoyed, because to me it seemed that there was a room for her to have moved over and leave me a decent space, without her needing to go on the grass.

It was only when the car had passed that I realised there was another cyclist riding almost parallel, slightly behind me, on the wrong side of the road! The driver had been faced with two oncoming cyclists, and the need to thread between us.

Why the other clot decided to ride on the wrong side, rather than tucking in behind me on the proper side, totally beats me, but the driver must have gone home cursing us ….. both wearing orange tops and riding blue bikes, she would surely have formed the impression that we were together.

Nevertheless it was her responsibility as the driver of a vehicle capable of causing the greater damage to stop, particularly bearing in mind that she could not give either of you 1.5 meters in passing. If she'd knocked either of you off, maybe the other rider would have been held as partially having responsibility due to his bizarre road positioning but she should have stopped.

[JohnW]

I really hate saying this, but the worst on-wheel behaviour that I saw today came from two balaclava clad teenagers on amazingly soop'd up heavy e-bikes, casing havoc on the local greenway, scattering elderly dog-walkers and a family group. The most recent injury inflicted upon a cycling acquaintance of mine was the result of being hit by a similar soop'd up obviously teenager ridden e-bike - my acquaintance was thrown off his bike, knocked unconscious and his nose broken.

Motorists on bikes?

[Nearholmer]

People on bikes.

People do daft things.

Young guys are prone to do a particular sort of daft thing involving speed and risk-taking. They’ve been doing that since the dawn of time, using whatever is available, and societies have always both exploited that tendency in wartime, and tried to curb it peacetime, for the protection of the young guys themselves and everyone else.

For the first time in years I was passed by two young guys belting along on scrambler mopeds, petrol ones, on a shared path today. There was a brief period c20 years ago when that became a common problem locally; I hope to goodness that particular problem hasn’t returned.

[Nearholmer]

she should have stopped.

She was driving very slowly, so I’m not sure stopping altogether would have made a decisive difference. But, maybe you’re right. And, maybe I should have stopped too.

[pwa]

You get all sorts on the roads. Yesterday, while walking with our dog on Cotswold lanes, the few vehicles we encountered were all driven by careful and considerate drivers who slowed down or stopped for us. At the other end of the spectrum are a few numpties who were swerving all over the M5 and M4 as we returned home.

[mattheus]

I really hate saying this, but the worst on-wheel behaviour that I saw today came from two balaclava clad teenagers on amazingly soop'd up heavy e-bikes, casing havoc on the local greenway, scattering elderly dog-walkers and a family group.

That's disturbingly topical: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... rce-admits

[Jdsk]

People on bikes.
...

Yes. It's an unfortunate trope in this forum and I agree with your response.

Jonathan