This week's muppet of the week award (awarded weekly) goes to the driver of a black Range Rover Sport in Devon. Appreciate that this doesn't really narrow it down, so if you own a black Range Rover in Devon, assume that it's you.
I'm driving down a NSL A-road and see a RR coming in the opposite direction, but reversing back up the road to a missed junction. Bear in mind that I'm doing 60mph at this point, but beginning to slow as I consider what might happen.
As if on cue, Range Rover swerves violently onto my side of the road, still going backwards, leaving me face to face with it in a rapidly vanishing gap. Fortunately, exceptionally heavy braking avoids a collision leaving me nothing more to do than lean on the horn and hint by way of polite sign language that I don't think much of his driving.
Can you imagine filling out the insurance claim form? They'd never believe you. :-)
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My Nomination goes to a red Alfa Romeo driver, driving on the Tank roads from Redmire to Catterick this Sunday
We where travelling through redmire behind a bus, Alfa drive is two cars behind
Bus turns off and we exit the village and all 3 card (us at the front car behind us and the alfa driver) follow the twisty road up the hill
Alfa driver is desperate to get past, and waits until the road turns into the tank road and then over takes as we are still going up a hill. motorbike heads towards us so he had to push in behind us and the car that was behind us, otherwise the moterbike would have been a gonner
then as soon as the bike has gone, overtakes us just before a blind right hand bend still going up hill
what a idiot!
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I vote for the three bikers on Sunday afternoon coming away from (I presume) the MCN event at Butlins Skegness, along the A158 towards Horncastle.
All three bikes were under 4 years old, two of them were carrying a passenger, and they all overtook my car and the 50mph stream of cars behind and in front of it, crossing single and double white lines, round a blind curvesand over a blind crest at around 70-80mph.
Then we drove past them a minute later gathered in a field entrance on the left, visors up and conversations being had.
A minute or so later, they overtook us recklessly again.
Five minutes later we passed them parked in a lay by, in fact when I first saw the parked bikes in the distance my heart sank as I assumed the seemingly inevitable collision had occurred.
Then they overtook us up a hill with a 2ft-wide no-overtaking chevron section in the centre of the road.
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They sound like normal bikers to me. What did they do that was supposed to be so frightening or indignant making?
Oh yes, they drove over a few white lines and things.
Heavens to Betsy! Let's go and change our underwear.
Pah.
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Yes,perfectly normal bike riding around twisty Yorkshire roads,especially at the weekend.The other day I had three overtake me on a left hand bend as I was indicating right to turn into a side road.My friend,who was with me,reminded me of the time he had one ride into the front of his van on a narrow country lane.The biker came through the screen and died pretty much instantly,gave my friend quite a shock.
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What this style of biking does is to put a big responsibility for the safety and even lives of the bikers onto other road users who are already coping with looking after their own safety. Some drivers can cope with this. The sudden aggression of this style of biking can panic some other road users and lead to them driving erratically or irrationally.
I feel that I'm a fairly average car driver but I tense up when a pack of bikes starts to overtake in this manner. It's not a matter of anger, just a fear of the illegal or illogical behaviour that the pack will engage in. I genuinely believe that this style of biking is aggressive pack behaviour directed towards other road users who are perceived as inferior. I'm not saying this is a deliberate form of behaviour, it just happens when the Adrenalin starts to flood the brain.
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Annoys the hell out of me - I'm a press on rider, an will apply speed where appropriate and safe - signed speed limits are sacrosanct as are solid white lines and other signed prohibitions. MCN have been running a campaign on the heavy handed policing they perceive is coming from North Wales - I was actually up there riding from one of the venues they chose (a fortnight earlier) and was shocked by the poor standard of riding from what appeared to be "mature" men.
The chap that taught me to ride (after I passed my test) always told me to ride as if I was being watched all the time and that I was an ambassador for the sport. Applying this simple principle has stood me in good stead over the years.
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Rider through the windscreen dying eh? Quite a shock you say? Expect he needed a cuppa before continuing! Laughing out loud here, you make it sound so trivial!!
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It's not a matter of anger, just a fear of the illegal or illogical behaviour that the pack will engage in
Nail, head. I wasn't reduced to a quivering wreck by their behaviour, but I was incensed that these morons saw fit to behave in the way they were. Riding like that greatly increases their chances of having a serious accident and involving an innocent party too.
I have driven many, many miles and have seldom seen quite such risky on-road behaviour.
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Sunday morning, negotiating the traffic 'calming' moonscape of vicious speed humps I have to contend with on a daily basis, was overtaken by a Ford Kak travelling at high speed. it nearly took off as it crossed the hump on the opposite side and forced an oncoming car on to the verge. First prize for utter idiocy. Wish I'd got his number.
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I feel that I'm a fairly average car driver but I tense up when a pack of bikes starts to overtake in this manner. It's not a matter of anger just a fear of the illegal or illogical behaviour that the pack will engage in. I genuinely believe that this style of biking is aggressive pack behaviour directed towards other road users who are perceived as inferior.
The bikers you describe are no more than average car drivers themselves. mostly middle aged men who spent a year on an FS1E as teenagers then took a direct access test in their late 40's and went out and bought machines they don't understand and can't really control. I went to enough motorcycle gatherings to see this pack behaviour in action, and it is cringe makingly embarrassing to watch. As you say, there is an arrogance among certain types of bikers that leads them to believe they are a cut above every other road user in terms of skill and that attitude is encouraged by appalling rags like Motor Cycle News, whose standard of journalism falls way below that of the Sun on a bad day.
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The bikers you describe are no more than average car drivers themselves. mostly middle aged men who spent a year on an FS1E as teenagers then took a direct access test in their late 40's and went out and bought machines they don't understand and can't really control. I went to enough motorcycle gatherings to see this pack behaviour in action and it is cringe makingly embarrassing to watch. As you say there is an arrogance among certain types of bikers that leads them to believe they are a cut above.
But they are a cut above, RR - They have the latest, fastest, most powerful bike that money can buy and the latest race-replica helmet and leathers complete with knee-sliders etc....
Pity they don't know how to take corners...........
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I've always wondered about these tank roads. Do they have warning signs when tanks are driving up and down them or warning vehicles? The one near me (Patrick Brompton to Catterick) is quite bendy so coming around a blind bend and meeting a slow moving tank would be a bit exciting. Mind you, never seen one yet.
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The one near me (Patrick Brompton to Catterick) is quite bendy so coming around a blind bend and meeting a slow moving tank would be a bit exciting <<
Indeed, but remember the oft said adage - replace XXXX (tank in this case) with "a 7 yr old trying to fix his bicycle" and drive accordingly.
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>>.. so coming around a blind bend and meeting a slow moving tank would be a bit exciting.
I was mountainbiking on Salisbury Plain a few years ago, came round a blind bend and met a fast moving tank coming towards me. Caused the heart to miss a beat or two!
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I've always wondered about these tank roads. Do they have warning signs when tanks are driving up and down them or warning vehicles?
ASFAIK they just have the standard red warning triangle as a roadside sign - ive never though actually seen any tanks when ive been on the roads though
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