Well Santa failed to give somebody some tolerance for Christmas then.
Andrew what would you have done if it had been a horse blocking your urgent passage homewards. Your car may have looked quite different if you behaviour had been the same.
We all have to start somewhere and we all continue to make errors of judgement whilst on the road. Please sit back relax and let the world revolve.
Next time somebody on a big bike is in your hind quarter trying to squeeze through this side of Double Whites,legally, whilst your progress is being hindered I hope you will pull into the gutter for him. Or will you just peep your pretty little horn with annoyance again.
BB
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Sorry to gang up on you, Andrew, but what would have happened if it had been you doing 30 and say, a mum in her BMW [no reason, just a stereotype that gets a lot of kicking on here] trying to push you off the road, whilst tailgaiting you and beeping her horn and so on.
My question is; would you have come on here and aired your problem with her for driving recklessly and dangerously?
Kev
Everyone who drives slower than me is an obsticle.
Everyone who drives faster than me is a maniac.
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Well, that stirred some of you up, didn't it? I never suspected the Backroom had so many self-righteous users!
Hawkeye - I wasn't looking for sympathy. And I did apply the brake - I had to.
Thommo - if you can honestly say you never reach 32-35(indicated) on a 30-limit road, you are not typical. I don't consider that speed makes my journey seem 'urgent', BikerBoy. And the big biker - no, I probably won't pull into the gutter, but neither will I deliberately obstruct his progress. If it had been a horse, I would have passed it at a cautious speed on the other half of the road, which was clear for at least 150 yards ahead.
Incidentally, the Highway Code is not clear about crossing solid lines: is one expected to pull in again before the lines start? and if so, it may not always be possible to see the start of the lines when one begins the manoeuvre at a safe point?
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Seems and interesting post, as pointed out earlier the L on a car/motorbike is there for the purpose that the person is a learner therefore on our roads learning how to drive a car/motorbike, if a learner makes a mistake yes they might have a lot to learn but also you got to take into consideration that learners make mistakes thats the whole point of learning, i take it most of us backroom'ers learnt to drive/ride at one point, we all make mistakes. Experienced drivers should be aware that a learner will/might make a mistake and give them plenty of room.
Double white lines, extract from Highway Code rule number 107
Double white lines where the line nearest to you is broken. This means you may cross the lines to overtake if it is safe, provided you can complete the manoeuvre before reaching a solid white line on your side. White arrows on the road indicate when you need to get back onto your side of the road.
same rule would apply if you are approching double white lines from single broken white line.
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Only two points in response:
Tolerance, again. We're all in it together and sometimes it's as well to just slip it into second give people some space and see what develops.
Planning through correct observation. You know the road, you know where you're going, you know where the double whites are, you do travel it frequently. You also know that you will be pulling off shortly. Decision made sit and wait. The extra stress that people will impose upon themselves to get home maybe 30 secs earlier is unbelievable.
BB
PS why would you not give way to the bike, you would be impeding his progress by staying out in the road ;-)
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Thanks for that, urlife. The L-rider wasn't the problem, he was proceeding in a fairly steady and predictable manner. The problem was caused by the one posing as his instructor!
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The problem with L-riders is that they can start at 16, with nothing more than CBT which is hardly demanding. Eight or nine people ride scooters to school at my college everyday... at least 50% have been knocked off, and of course, it's not their fault. Naturally.
They have little or no road sense - they cut corners, pull out without looking and expect other drivers to stop for them.
However, in my opinion, their most lethal problem is that they are allowed on dual-carriageways while they have a top speed of 30MPH. I drive to college everyday along a fast stretch of the Devon Expressway, where most traffic is moving at 70-80MPH. You can tell a scooter is ahead in busy times because heavy vehicles and cars suddenly end up swerving into the fast lane... they have no choice, usually, as these people have no lights on and wear dark clothes. What's better - swerve and sideswipe a car or mow down a scooter?
I've nearly killed one once - I came so close I missed him by feet. Driving home at 11pm one night, doing 80 as no other traffic on the road when I saw a dark shape in my headlights, doing less than, I estimate, 25MPH. His rear light had gone and he had black clothes on. No reflectors... it was the white L plate that alerted me to his prescence and I ONLY JUST missed.
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Driving home at 11pm one night, doing 80 as no other traffic on the road when I saw a dark shape in my headlights, doing less than, I estimate, 25MPH. His rear light had gone and he had black clothes on. No reflectors... it was the white L plate that alerted me to his prescence and I ONLY JUST missed.
Of course, if you had hit him then the cause of the accident would no doubt have been recorded as your excessive speed and used as justification for lower limits & sterner enforcement.
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>Driving home at 11pm one night, doing 80 as no other traffic on the road
Except that there was other traffic on the road: the badly-lit scooter that you didn't see. So the judgement on which you justified speeding was wrong. Roads are often not as empty as they seem: it might be an unlit broken down truck next time.
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Trucks rarely break down and block an entire lane when the hard shoulder is nice and wide. There is also no reason why they shouldn't be showing any light. They are also a large target, difficult to miss with headlights on full beam.
Final point - I may have been speeding but the problem would have been the same at 70MPH - the relative speeds are so great that you are just on them almost before you can relax. BAM. Just like that. Shocks the hell out of you.
Lastly, to use your truck analogy - had I hit a truck, I would probably have killed myself and done minimal damage to the truck. I leave you to use your imagination RE: the scooter.
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I witnessed a variation of the 2 bikes scenario a few months ago. A small bike with L plates and a large bike 'riding shotgun' on derestricted country roads. Both were travelling under 40mph and the big bike positioned himself about 30 yards behind and toward the middle of the road - a veritable moving roadblock.
I was several cars back in a frustrated queue following them. At a suitable opportunity a car tried to overtake them both. The rear rider angrily waved him back and veered in front of the would be overtaker. I followed for about 5 miles passing a suitable layby where they could have pulled in. In the end I stopped for some petrol(non supermarket!)
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Oh to 'L with it all..... Two weeks time and we'll all be back into the swing of work again and it will become second nature to be tolerant and accepting of other motorists mistakes.
Won't it?
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