Folks,
For the past few months on my daily commute between Basingstoke and Reading I've been taking particular notice of the bad driving habits that I am witness to.
Most of them can be lumped together as poor (or non-existant) lane-discipline or signalling, but a puzzling trend appears to be developing.
On any particular day it seems that a majority of the offenders are all doing the same thing. For example, this morning was:
"I'm going to turn right from the LH lane at this roundabout, but I won't signal".
Yesterday was:
"I'm going to turn right at the next roundabout so I'm staying in the RH lane at 25MPH for the next 3 miles".
This can happen multiple times on the same day then won't be seen again for a week or so.
I am beginning to call this my NoRaID (Non-Random Idiot Distribution) Theory and was wondering if this phenomenon is limited to the Hants/Berks area or is more widespread ?
Can there possibly be telepathic communication between some of these drivers or is there perhaps a website they use that stipulates what tomorrows infringement will be ?
Regards, Kevin...
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Kevin,
Veeeerrrrry interesting. I was musing on my way to and from the office yesterday why there was such an unusually high incidence of lighting offences.
So maybe yesterday in the Worcs. area the instruction was remove one or more bulbs!
regds,
S
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Hi Stuart,
Heres my diary of lighting troubles.
Nov 12th - stupidly volunteer to change Mk IV Golf dip bulb
Nov 14th - second dip bulb pops on same car (documented elsewhere)
Nov 16th - having bought new Phillips dips for Synergie, check lights and find a main is out.
Nov 23rd - relieve sales manager of Rover 75 "it's got a sidelight out" says he, referring to yellow lamp on dash. Left it in car park over weekend.
Nov 23th - Madame's AX dip beam pops on way to see Harry Potter (events connected?) Replaced immediately with spare in glovebox.
Nov 26th - Took Rover to Sunderland on business. Switch on lights to check which. It's a dip beam out. Get out to give it a "technical tap" to see if it'll come to life and the other side goes out!
aaaaarrrrrrgh!
Madame thinks I am developing spooky powers.
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Did you know Noraid were reported to be (allegedly) US fundraisers for a well known group of Irish gentlemen?
www.noraid.com/
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Wow Alwyn!
I've heard of them but the old grey matter didn't make the connection.
There's no way I want an acronym associated with a bunch of lunatics that sponsor terrorism. Let's change it to the "Co-ordinated Idiot Activity" Theory.
Aw heck.... That won't do either.... Someone help me here !!!
Regards, Kevin....
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Well if the USA is going to bomb countries who harbour known terrorists, perhaps we should get in our bunkers NOW.
Did you read that we have given £1000,000 in legal aid to help a convicted terrorist avoid deportation?
Good 'ere, innit?
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I used to work for legal aid paying these types of claims about 5 years ago. Even then we were paying a couple of hundred thousand pounds a day in legal costs for imigration claims. I would have thought it is worse now.
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How about
Wandering Aimlessly, Not Knowledgable, Erratic Road-user?
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Would that be West Life by any chance?
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This is a good theory!
Included in this bracket is the latest trick. When you have a three lane approach to traffic lights you don't actually need to get into the right hand lane to turn right!
What you have to do to be in the club is arrive in the middle lane, then suddenly sweep right ,cutting up the person in the correct lane, causing heavy braking and road rage all round. This now seems to be a national sport, along with ignoring red lights during heavy traffic!
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Even better...I get off the M53. The sliproad is three lanes at the roundabout. I've seen several cars start in the outside lane, only to drive across the other two lanes to get off!
Maybe we should have an award for "Lunatic Manoeuvre Of The Day"
Andy
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YES! Another succesful South African export!
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BrianT
As well as turning right on no right turn junctions, thereby half or fully blocking the road for following traffic and causing sudden braking because you are not expecting the vehicle in front to stop to turn.
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Brian,
Yup! It sure is fun out there.
New game - Spot the loony! -includes anyone driving a white van, Astramax, Nova with bodykit.
Better game- Spot the hidden loony!
-Categories please from everyone, this could be festive amusement for us all
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You need to subscribe to Bangernomics like I do with one of my cars. It doesn't stop people from doing it, but it leaves then with a nasty scrape if they do. It takes a bit of practice to stop yourself from hitting the brakes when they cut across you, but the result can be quite satisfying. The other advantage with old bangers is that they tend to have good solid bumpers, not nice shiny colour coded jobs, so damage to you own vehicle is negligable, and even if you can see damage, so what?
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Easily done, but weird, none the less.
David
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In a similar sort of vein, in Hampshire as well!
A while back I topped up with petrol, went to pay and the cashier asked for so and so pounds. I said "no, I put £10 in" She told me that I'd been watching the wrong dial and had put ten litres in. She went on to say that she'd worked there for years and that every month around the same date, for a couple of days she'd have umpteen customers making the same mistake, then it wouldn't happen again for another month.
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mmm there is one roundabout in reading where it really is unsafe to turn right in rh lane, and its actually safer to apprach in middle lane...
you have to be careful about drivers who dont know the area comming up on your rh side
its terrible road design really, if you stand and look at the way the lanes are marked out its just asking for a weekly accident (and they do happen that often)...
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A 130 Sainsbury's RAB coming from Colchester direction?
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Kevin,
How about :
"Loonies Are Driving Around" , of LADA for short.
S.
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1- People who pull out in front of you on a high speed road e.g. 60 stretch of the A59, and then accelerate oh-so-slowly
2-Those who tailgate on a motorway when you are moving at the same speed as the traffic in front. Had a Lexus tailing me at about 85; I left more of a gap than the other bunched up traffic. Was certainly not dropping back. Lexus kept on trying to undertake. Would not happen. Interesting reaction.
3-People who don't indicate on roundabouts (unless they are going straight on, which is fair enough.)
4 - People whose theory for EVERY SINGLE speed limit, even e.g. the motorway late at night or on a clear day, is 'the law is the law.' I say to my mate, find another reason. Still hasn't.
5 - Tourists who appreciate the scenery, not the queue behind them. Any similar driving in fact.
6 - People who stay on the crown of the road when its safe to overtake, even when the road markings say so
7 - Debatable - butwhat about people who use full beam on a country road when they are behind? Is this legal? I always get dazzled.
8 - Finally, residents who order a pizza but choose not to have a number on their door, especially in dark roads. This annoys the traffic behind me as well, so i suppose the list can include pizza delivery drivers.
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Early evening 27th November (Tuesday) in Hampshire (again).
3 mile journey through residential areas, counted 8 seperate vehicles with a blown headlamp, and 2 cars driving without their lights on at all.
You weren't around here were you Darcy?
There is definitely something in this theory (whatever we call it).
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In fact, ive seen a number of people around Lancs with blown headlamps including a police car. Cursing them on dark roads, I return to find my own off-side dippped headlight has blown.
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This morning was 'Volvo 360' morning so in the words of Gerry Anderson it was a case of :
"Anything can happen in the next half hour !"
And why were they all either dark blue or grey ?
Did Volvo 360's come in any other colours ?
Ciao, Kevin....
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A colleague has provided me with a logical explanation for why there were more than the usual number of Volvo 3XX's on the roads around Basingstoke yesterday.
Apparently, these cars are popular with retired folks and Thursday is the day that they collect their pensions!
Easy init ?
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I had a Volvo 360 for a while - fantastic "granny bashing" car. Mine was gold and looked for the world like it was falling apart. That 2 litre engine, however, could outpace a 318i BMW and it would astound people how fast the car would go (easy 120mph on the motorway) - Always amazed me older folks went for these cars, a big sneeze with your foot over the throttle and you'd be doing 80 before you knew it!
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Not been in Hampshire for ages, can't take the blame for those.
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Kevin,
This morning the Worcs website instruction was,
"drive up the backside of anyone in a 30/40 limit" then pointedly refuse to accelerate once you onto the nice clear straight at the other end and into NSL.
Mind you it also appeared to be the day they had instructed tractor drivers to make deliveries of beet to the sugar factory. Mega muddy on the way home tonight methinks!
S
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Stuart, hope you made it home OK on those muddy roads.
Around where I live, a number of the roads at the moment are covered in patches of wet leaves making it a bit slippery. It's amazing though how many folks are still flying around and either don't realise or don't care.
Regards, Kevin...
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Thanks Kevin no problemo, oh there was one actually, the clip round the ear from Madame due to her catching the back of her trews on the muddy door sill, ho hum.
But you make a fair point, folks just don't make these observation links, it all washes over them. You know the sort of thing I mean, wheely bins out at the kerb, there just might be the bin wagon round the next corner with bin men, sorry refuse collection executives, all over the road.
Plus its not just things you can see, one "observation" link which saved me a nasty moment one summer morning, on the way to work listening to John Naughtie giving some politico a grilling was "That new mown grass smells nice.....wonder if there is a tractor cutting the verg............................!"
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"Losing Control" accounts for a far larger proportion of accidents than "Excessive Speed".
Although what is a reasonable speed must be related to the road surface.
Personally, at this time of the year I take corners on the motorbike VERY slowly, due to leaves and mud on the road.
Pity so few people start off their motoring on a bike nowdays.
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