There's ungrateful sods in every group of road users - I find most horse riders acknowledge me when I slow down.

Indeed, most are grateful. It's just that horse riders are so visible. So easy to just smile.

Sometimes you can miss that briefly raised hand or nod of acknowledgement if you look away for a fleeting moment to check your rear mirror or door mirror as you might do.

'Slighted by some rudeness. You seem to consider horse-riders an ungrateful group. Do you consider car drivers as a group are ungrateful, or do different rules apply?'

nortones, just read the first post, you'll find the answer.

Only one post a day here.

Logic?

Well the first one obviously deserved to be blocked in and i failed to do so, by blocking in the next person it averages out and restores universal balance.

Not at all... Not at all... let the next one out! Let more out! Spread some love and happiness and they may let someone else out who would otherwise go home and wish they'd never been born at all... It's the time of year to uphold the teachings of It's A Wonderful Life! Don't tell me your soul has shrivelled away to such a dried out husk that actually paying forward is an alien concept.

Sorry... Lurker here, touched by Chrimble and by good tidings to all of mankind.

Some car drivers are so rude that they actively discourage direct visual communication by using 'privacy' glass. They are generally poor, inconsiderate drivers.

Given the laws on excesive tinting I find that difficult to believe.

Windscreen and front side windows have to be no more than a certain very modest tint.

Since most cars have windows already tinted at the maximum, then any extra on windscreen or front side windows is essentially illegal - but there's plenty of evidence out there that it's not policed very well.

Oh yes BT.

It's like a nuclear arms race with stupidly overpowered dazzle lights isn't it. Couple that with badly adjusted lights. People who can't be a***d to have two working ones...fog light abusers....bliddy drl's grrrrrrr. Enough to make your head explode!

Man expects acknowledgement for acting sensibly driving a car.

Exaggerated sense of entitlement?

I drive every weekend for 6 months along a very narrow lane infested with horses. Stopping for them (or tractors or cars) is obligatory... #

I usually receive a wave or smile but I don't EXPECT one.

# as it is single track. with very occasional passing spaces.. to which one has to sometimes reverse.

Edited by madf on 01/12/2011 at 09:43

Nope I disagree. I show courtesy. Courtesy costs nothing. It's just good manners and I expect to be treated with the same good manners that I display.

Yes I get disappointed but thats just sad that some peoples parents did a poor job.

You and me both matey

strabismus- oh very good. I had to look that up...googly eye syndrome.

looked like summat to do with bad breath ..I thought how the heck can you tell that from inside a car! Gatso spot it?

"strabismus!"

What's he got to do with lights? I thought he made very excellent and expensive violins!

Since it's dark on my way to work now, I have noticed some very poorly aligned lights. It's the headlamp equivalent of someone with a very bad strabismus!

At least they're switched on. I lose count of the people that don't have their lights on. It seems to be getting worse every year. If you can't even remember to make yourself visible to others, take public transport.

Nope I disagree. I show courtesy. Courtesy costs nothing. It's just good manners and I expect to be treated with the same good manners that I display.

Yes I get disappointed but thats just sad that some peoples parents did a poor job.

Agree 100%. A smile/wave/raised hand says so much, takes so little effort.

Yes if ONLY your car could have backfired, if ONLY there could have been an animal or rider sacrificed to compensate for your shattered feelings.

Most excellent, MOST excellent. The car does have a horn, but I wouldn't be that irresponsible, nor that inconsiderate.....................dear me carr, I'm most outraged that you could imagine such a thing, your thoughts beggar belief, tut, tut!!!

Life really sucks a motorist sometimes trilogy, our hearts go out to you at this time..

carr, you're too kind, too kind, no doubt at some time you've run over a rabbit, that poor creature had to die because you were driving along just at the wrong moment. Did your heart go out to the rabbit and its family?

Edited by Trilogy on 03/12/2011 at 20:14

This thread is a microcosm of the selfishness and intolerance endemic on British roads.

If it's any consolation, OP, my life is frequently endangered by impatient, aggressive drivers who cannot wait until it is safe to pass me on my bike. They exhibit the same attitude towards me as you do towards the horse riders who apparently blight your life.

Perhaps you should be grateful that you only have trivial things like this to worry about?

I find motorbikers generally acknowledge when I've kept left so they can easily see past me and decide for themselves whether to overtake.

Excellent point RT. Indeed, in my experience most do. Ditto people who tailgate me in any vehicle. If they are in a hurry to get past, I might as well make it as easy as possible. Most wave or use indicators to thank me.

BenG

'If it's any consolation, OP, my life is frequently endangered by impatient, aggressive drivers who cannot wait until it is safe to pass me on my bike.'

As is mine and pedestrians etc, by cyclists who ride towards me/them on one way streets, jumping traffic lights etc. Perhaps, if cyclists didn't hide anonymously in their hemets, flouting the law and had to have number plates and insurance they wouldn't ride so selfishly, as if they are above the law and cannot easily be traced. Thankfully this is only a minority.

Whenever I pass a cyclist, I treat them as though I'm going past a car. I give them enough room, so that if they topple over, I won't run them over. Mind you, not that people in cars topple over. :)

Please keep this to polite, reasoned debate - otherwise the virtual blue pencil will have to come out.

Some people get soo twitchy over the smallest thing!!! I'm sure it was meant in a light hearted matter (a joke in other words). I'm pretty sure that trilogy doesnt go around deliberately causing horse riders to have an accident and would certainly be horrified if such an occasion arose.

btw does anyone know what are the statistics of horse riders being caused injury as a direct consequence from other road users??

'This whole thread in a nutshell'.

Manners are not the smallest thing!

Rabbits are not rodents - nail missed.

Rabbits were classifed as rodents when I was a lad but they certainly aren't to be confused with horses.

The tails are different for a start.

Not sure it's a good idea trying to avoid rabbits

http://www.mailtimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/teen-driver-swerves-to-miss-rabbit-rolls-car/2356801.aspx

I run over everything except badgers, deer and pheasants.. I ran over a dog.. at 2mph from front to back of car.. It emerged unscathed apart from exhasut burns. (it ran underneath in slow traffic)

(pheasants fly up and break lights).

No wild boars here.. yet. Lots of male bores.

The most amsuing things are chickens on a misson crossing roads: neck thrust forward, wings flapping and legs going flat out... Cartoon stuff.

The joys of the countryside.

Watch it! I have a rabbit. Very nice he is too.

My ex girlfriend once held up an entire que of traffic to let a rabbit cross the road.

trilogy thanks for the info, it does show what i had thought to be the case. although terrible for that one rider, in the grand scheme of things its a very unlikely occurance.