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Re: Do you think that driving standards are getting worse?
Posted: 16 Apr 2010, 4:20pm
by Edvardus
I took this picture of an idiot in a 4 x 4 completely parked on a pavement and sent it into our local rag with a covering letter. I'm pleased to say it was published.
Re: Do you think that driving standards are getting worse?
Posted: 16 Apr 2010, 4:46pm
by gilesjuk
reohn2 wrote:We are surely the stupidest species on the planet,cost of fuel rockets,so do sales in gaz guzzling 4x4 cars,err I mean trucks!
Homo sapien a legend in its all to brief existance (which will be short at the current rate).
You get the usual "I can afford the fuel" argument from the drivers, they seem smug about having so much disposable income.
But of course forgetting that oil is a finite resource and them burning it off at twice the rate that everyone else does isn't really going to help the price or availability of fuel in years to come.
Re: Do you think that driving standards are getting worse?
Posted: 16 Apr 2010, 5:43pm
by thirdcrank
Braveheart wrote:... I was sceptical of using the Sussex police website - Operation Crackdown - but after my 1st report, I got a nice email back saying that I was the 17th person to report him and whilst they could not do anything until he was caught breaking the law, he was on a watch list. What they were able to do immediately was get him to remove his highly tinted windows and get rid of his fat and noisy exhaust. Clearly he has now over stepped the mark (The police won't tell me what he has done, and hopefully he had not injured anyone, except perhaps himself) . He was stupid enough to tell the world on facebook that he had his car confiscated. Even funnier was that his mate went to the Nick to give him a lift home and got his car confiscated too for illegal numberplates (again stupid enough to tell the world on facebook. ....
I find this really encouraging because it means that s 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002 is being applied. On another thread, I suggested that this was a means of getting some action over drivers repeatedly harrassing cyclists and I'd urge you to give your positive experience the widest publicity possible - at least try to have it included in the CTC Newsnet.
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Re: Do you think that driving standards are getting worse?
Posted: 16 Apr 2010, 10:24pm
by drossall
Tonyf33 wrote:However I would say that I'm encountering more & more good drivers who have given me a bit more space or time...
Maybe, given that we're only a couple of miles apart, it's not surprising that I do find somewhat the same. However, it's not entirely positive. Previously, a certain type of driver would have squeezed past in the face of an oncoming car. Now, they give more space. However, there's still an oncoming car, so now they run that off the road instead of me
We haven't quite made it to the advanced stuff yet, where you time the maneouvre so that there isn't an oncoming car
Of course, many drivers are, and always have been, fine.
Re: Do you think that driving standards are getting worse?
Posted: 17 Apr 2010, 10:31pm
by SilverBadge
fatboy wrote:It seems to me that "might is right" comes into play.
IIRC there is a specific statement that might does NOT equal right in the foreword to the Road Traffic Act.
In my (long) time (ago) at TRRL, the Safety Department were of the opinion that the casualty rate was falling due to the successive implementation of various measures (vehicle safety, improved road layouts etc) outweighing the increasing stupidity and complacency of road users - it was really a question of whether they would run out of ideas before the driverless car was universal and the major problem eliminated.
Re: Do you think that driving standards are getting worse?
Posted: 17 Apr 2010, 11:37pm
by reohn2
SilverBadge wrote:fatboy wrote:It seems to me that "might is right" comes into play.
IIRC there is a specific statement that might does NOT equal right in the foreword to the Road Traffic Act.
In my (long) time (ago) at TRRL, the Safety Department were of the opinion that the casualty rate was falling due to the successive implementation of various measures (vehicle safety, improved road layouts etc) outweighing the increasing stupidity and complacency of road users - it was really a question of whether they would run out of ideas before the driverless car was universal and the major problem eliminated.
Some of the motor vehicles I come across on the road may as well be driverless for the attention the person sitting behind the wheel is giving to actually driving!
Re: Do you think that driving standards are getting worse?
Posted: 18 Apr 2010, 1:20am
by drsquirrel
mw3230 wrote:GrahamNR17 wrote:I don't think they're getting worse, just greater in number. With that vast increase comes higher odds of them hitting things
I agree but don't you think that there seems to be a greater anger about people - demanding their rights, defending personal space and being less tolerant of others. I think that the ready access to no fee legal representation and the expectation that every perceived wrong should addressed by means of a compensation payment is having an impact on tolerance. This changing attitude is manifested in a number of ways, poorer driving being one
If the higher rate of "compensation" claims is higher and thus a greater worry, wouldn't this have the impact in that it would make people take more care? Which obviously doesn't seem the case.
I think it's a mix of incidents occurring more plus the increase in awareness of what you can get away with... "I kill a cyclist and only get 3 points? Well I speed everywhere and could get 3 points at a moments notice but I haven't ever gotten any points so I guess I won't kill a cyclist no matter what I do?" (exaggeration for comedic effect).