No, it's not just you. People coming towards me over the white line seems to be getting more frequent. A lack of concentration or just intimidation. It's usually a game of chicken because I don't adjust my line, and they usually veer off at the last moment back onto their side of the road. I've had a few near misses though when I swear our mirrors were going to collide.

You notice the difference when a good driver approaches on a narrow road and we both cut into the verge as much as possible with masses of space between us as we pass.

Lack of police intervention except for the usual speed cameras but drivers being pressurised by the pace of life encourages them to cut corners meterphorically.

Usually round hers it’s mums on a time schedule to pick children up after work and combining the two . The pressure they encounter when they leave an office full of co workers still hard at work can cause stress.

But the width of some SUVs and the cost of refurbishing wheels and replacing wing mirrors adds to the problem.

No it's not just you. I've had 3 or 4 very close shaves where drivers veered towards me across the central lines. Once when on my bike, very frightening. They're on their phones. I followed someone the other day on a video call on his phone in the car. Should be all banned!

In my experience living in a rural-ish area and especially when out cycling mainly along such roads, most of those with poor road manners / car control are of the well-off former townies in upmarket vehicles (of any type, though mostly 'luxury sport' and range-topping off-roader ones), plus some proper (born and bred) 'bored' boy racer locals with nothing better to to at 5-7pm and on the weekend.

I suspect some of it is that some don't care (for many reasons), others are not up to the job of handling such (often) large / powerful vehicles, and who often drive too fast for the type of road, prevailing conditions and other users.

Almost everyone else who lives in these areas tends to be respectful and courteous. Even 'white van man' delivery drivers (home grown or otherwise) aren't that bad compared to the first lot, probably because someone might report their bad driving to their paymasters and get them the boot from the job / contract.

I reckon they can't be bothered to turn the steering wheel any more than necessary. A bit like folk who move one way, before turning a corner the other.

Pothole avoidance. You have to drive in the middle

Makes no odds in London as potholes are all over the road, you have to be careful of those drivers who suddenly steer toward you from the other direction and narrowly miss you, difficult to steer away from them in case you hit a hole in the road, it is getting worse but takes months for potholes to be filled in only to return a few days later....

Pothole avoidance. You have to drive in the middle

I can gratefully report, after my (ir)regular trip to north Wales, that stretches of the eastern Chester bypass (NSL, a continuation of the M53) have been completely repaired in the last few weeks. Parts were quite badly damaged, calling for some deft steering in places. So some money is being spent here and there. Not sure whether it had anything to do with an imminent election :-)

Edited by Andrew-T on 07/07/2024 at 09:43

Fortunately on the B roads I use for beekeeping, the SUVs are too wide for the roads--- passing spaces are few and ditches are up to a meter deep.

As most SUVs are driven by doddering incompetents who cannot - or will not - reverse to the passing space they have just passed AND don't want to go off road.. When they meet a HIGH tractor with trailer which cannot reverse, fun ensues..

And so they tend not to use B roads.. thankfully.m

The horses are a nuisance - gave a lift to a lady rider whose horse bolted. Half a mile later it stopped and she got out. Left some leather type of hand shield behind...in error. Noticed it next day...

Definitly see a lot of this around our way.

Some of it is pothole avoidance but I suspect a major factor may be cars bought on PCP or similar arrangements with penalties for scratches on the bodywork.

Drivers therefore stay away from the hedges at all costs.

How is the condition of the said B-road? Do you have ditches on sides or grass verge at the same level of the main road? Are there too many pot holes?

If there are ditches on sides, then most drivers won't like falling into one and they'd tend to hog near the middle, with assumption they will move to further left if any car is coming from other side.

Drivers who are not regulars, may assume (mistakenly) there won't be much traffic in B roads.

Also, if drivers can't see bonnet of their cars, it is often difficult to judge how far their car is from the side of the road. One can look at the side mirror in daytime, but at night it is difficult.

I mentioned the road condition when replying to an earlier poster.

Generally better than many of the county single carriageway A roads, a bank either side so very little danger of being drawn into the ditch unless you actually aimed to do so, hedges well trimmed back and beyond the ditches so almost no possibility of hedge scratches.

The county has become the distribution hub of the country with already vast numbers and ever more being constructed warehouses mostly stuffed with Chinese made tat, plus the inevitable supermarket and parcel carrier distribution centres, all built in a county that had inadequate roads 50 years ago and which are barely changed now apart from the A14 (itself woefully inadequate), hence the major roads are disintegrating before your very eyes due to 24/7 battering by 44 tonners and why its kinder to your car and your back and generally safer apart from the usual incompetents being discussed here to use the 7.5 ton limited B roads.

The road i mention isn't narrow, more than enough room if people actually bothered to learn to drive.

Anecdotally my Forester proved itself last year, as i was rounding a long right hand bend on another route one afternoon, a car driver coming the other was unprepared for the sudden blinding of the low afternoon sun which was odd because prior to the bend he must have had issues before, as a result he was completely on my side of the road and a head on crash seemed inevitable, however the good old Forester still on its winter tyres retained control as i took to the thankfully wide left verge (all grass and weeds), enabling me to carry on as if nothing had happened, nothing to do with me the car just sorted it all out, maybe an uncalled for insight into why Subarus did so well rallying.

As you might have guessed by now, as in many other counties the standards of driving competence here have dropped dramatically over the last few years.