Unusually, did the school run today. Had a good view of the following incident. A woman in a Peugeot estate was moving slowly down the road about 20 mph (in a 30 mph limit) with her left indicator going, obviously looking for a parking space. The car was full of kids, it was 8:45 am and we were within 50 yards of the school gates. On finding a suitable space she slowed and took up position ready for a reverse park. Unfortunately, the moron behind drove right up behind to within about 2 feet of her rear bumper and blew his horn. Mrs Peugeot remained where she was, indicator still on, forcing the car behind to reverse so he could overtake. After reversing he set off so quickly that he took a much wider than needed course past the Peugeot, forcing an oncoming car to clip the kerb to avoid him as he blew his horn yet again. Mrs Peugeot then executed a faultless, accurate reverse park into the space and put her head in her hands. I felt sorry for her, it was school time, outside the school and she was blatantly looking for a space. Is anticipation a forgotten art?
Darcy.
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Sadly the moron to whom you refer is becoming more and more common. I feel so sorry for Mrs Peugeot (wow, what a coincidence - having the same name as the car you drive ;-)) as she was obviously in the right, and obviously a good, careful driver. Like it's being said elsewhere in the BR, anticipation is definitely a forgotten art. Too many people are so wrapped up in their own important little worlds that they cannot see beyond the end of their own nose, never mind their own bonnet.
I've mentioned this before but I feel that it's relevant to the thread. I've lost count of the number of times that I've pulled into a bus stop at the side of the road, having done everything correctly only to look in my o/s mirror to find someone no more than three feet from my back bumper and a long tail of cars behind them.
And, IMHO, the more and more driving 'aids' that we fit to a car, the more and more detached the driving experience is leading to a situation (we're nearly there now!) where nobody actually has to think about their driving. They just get in, turn the key and the car does the rest. I think that we should follow the lead set by F1 and ban certain driving 'aids' in a bid to improve safety.
Sorry about the length of this post - I only set out to give a quick reply but have ended up waffling on!! :-)
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Sounds like complete idiocy/arrogance to me. A bit like the psychological game 'now see what you've made me do!'.
I think I can safely add common sense and manners to your 'list'.
Steve.
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What is even worse is seeing fast and agressive driving when the kids are going to school and trying to cross the road. It would be nice to see a 20mph limit and speed cameras on roads outside schools.
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This sort of thing happens to me frequently on the road I live. You need to be looking for a space, with indicator on, for at least 50 yeards before my house such is the paucity of spaces at certain times of day. You'd be amazed at the number of people who follow me up the road while I'm indicating & then express surprise when I stop just ahead of a space waiting to reverse into it, only I can't 'cos they're blocking my way. I am generally then the recipient of agressive arm gestures, expletives etc.
Matthew Kelly
No, not that one.
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this is one of my pet hates - I do about 1000miles a week all over the country and its the same everywhere. Not many answers but if its a van I try t get the company number and phone the transport manager. I always do this on the M-Ways when the iconsiderate/ignorant/stupid (delete as aplliacable) park themselves 18" from my rear bumper
Dominic
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My solution now is: pull up just short of space, point into the parking space so the driver behind can see what I'm doing, advance, then reverse into the space.
Despite all that, I still get morons who set off when I go to drive the five yards to move to the front of the space. In that case, I just pop it into reverse and wait. They always get out of my way somehow.
V
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Reminds me of the time I did the same as Mrs Peugeot, pulled up just ahead of the space, and the moron behind me (Mr Xantia, I seem to recall) simply drove into 'my' space forwards, positioning his car by driving up the kerb on his way in.
What could I do apart from let his tyres down?
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What could you do?
Well when this happened to me on a very crowded day at a shopping mall (sorry for the americanism) after politely waiting several minutes, I went straight to the Sainsburys, bought the biggest potato I could and promptly forced it into the naughty person\'s exhaust. Personally I would have liked to beat the pink fluffy dice out of him and his car. I wonder if he was still laughing when it cut out and wouldn\'t start?
Steve.
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Darcy,
nope, I agree, it's not rocket science is it? Wish they'd invent an "idiot" camera and use them as often as speed cameras.
On the flip side, I've just driven up the M1 from M25 to Yorkshire at a steady, well, let's say "~70mph" in lane 3.
A speed more than adequate to pass the traffic in lanes 1+2.
For a considerable stretch it was almost a joy as I could keep a sensible distance to the chap in front and moreover, the gentleman in the 5 series BMW behind me kept a decent distance, despite the various loonies who were tailgating him. It's such a long time since I've seen such sensible driving, I wish there were a way I could have thanked him.
Result? We all made rapid (as conditions would allow) and safe progress and I could look out of the front window rather than worrying about what's happening behind me.
In contrast to that, the number of people gesticulating and shouting at each other around London, cutting each other up and generally trying to crash into each other to gain 5 yards in traffic makes me very glad to be living in the "grim" North. Rats in a cage.
Lee.
Lee
MINI adventure in progress
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