Comedic "things you would ban": minor things that irritate you

[61653 HTAFC]

Whilst on subject of roundabouts, why are traffic lights needed on some roundabouts 24 hours a day, why can't they be turned off outside peak periods? Pointless.
The other moan is fog lights, why do a number of people drive around with front fog lights on, they make no difference in normal conditions? Also those that put rear fog lights on in slightest patch of fog where visibility is still good? Even more ridiculous those that have fog lights on then still do 80mph on motorway? If visibility is so poor fog lights are required then 80mph is far too fast!!

Some junctions do have part-time signals, but they're awkward legally because of the additional signage and road markings required for when the signals aren't in use. If you've gone to the trouble of installing signals it's easier to just leave them in use all the time- there's no real saving to only operating them at peak times. Sequences can be changed for quiet times, and/or use of sensors to prevent unnecessary waiting at quiet times.

Fog lights on the rear seem to get left on after the fog lifts. Front fog lights is probably people wanting to be Colin McRae.

 

[ABB125]

To which I'd add "building a roundabout when any other sane country would build something better".

For example: this, compared with this. Note that the Dublin example used to be a roundabout (as did most of the junctions on the M50), but was upgraded.

 

[al78]

Some junctions do have part-time signals, but they're awkward legally because of the additional signage and road markings required for when the signals aren't in use. If you've gone to the trouble of installing signals it's easier to just leave them in use all the time- there's no real saving to only operating them at peak times. Sequences can be changed for quiet times, and/or use of sensors to prevent unnecessary waiting at quiet times.

Fog lights on the rear seem to get left on after the fog lifts. Front fog lights is probably people wanting to be Colin McRae.

There can be a time saving for drivers accessing the roundabout when the green phase is five seconds long, like the newly installed traffic lights on the A24/A281 roundabout at Horsham/Broadbridge Heath.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 6 Jun 2022 ==

Certainly it was taught in the 90s only to indicate if someone could benefit from it, but I have never understood that as doing so is no effort and someone you didn't see might benefit from it.

In order to know if there is someone around to benefit, you have to look around first, and good observation prior to a manoeuvre is a good habit to get into.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 6 Jun 2022 ==

I, on the other hand, would ban people who overtake me and immediately pull in front of me, whether indicating or not, destroying my safe zone and compelling me to brake to restore it. I try and ensure I don't do likewise when overtaking others.

I would like to ban people who, when I am driving at 50 mph on a NSL road with excellent sightlines, pull out of a side road in front of me forcing me to brake to 20 mph, then trundle along at 30 mph, instead of waiting five seconds and using the large gap behind me. This happened to me on the A272 last Friday. Of course when this happens and being Friday in SE England, there is a convoy coming the other way which makes it impossible to overtake so I am stuck behind them.

 

[py_megapixel]

Let's just ban mini roundabouts. They're largely pointless, often ignored, and if a junction is busy enough to need one it's probably too busy for one. Certain councils seem obsessed with them though (cough cough Calderdale).

In my experience half the time people treat them as roundabouts and go round, and the other half people just drive straight over. This makes emerging onto one particularly confusing.

That is actively confusing with one exception - on a mini roundabout, you are supposed to indicate as if it were not there.

It's still actively confusing - it's just no longer "incorrect"!

I think roundabout signalling rules, for all roundabouts, should simply be "indicate right, unless you are taking the next exit, in which cases indicate left". Currently the rules are quite close to this, but the Highway Code phrases them in a way that makes them look confusing. A lot of people don't bother signal at all, which is poor.

Retail websites, that after entering a search term, list the items in terms of 'relevance'. Relevance to what? I've just put in 'kettle' so I would hope all responses would be relevant to 'kettle'. I'm guessing what it really means is the most relevant are the ones the shop want to sell first?

Also, retail websites which, if they don't sell something you've searched for, redirect you to search results for something different that they consider relevant, often only telling you this with one small line of text. No results for "kettle". Here is our "gas boilers" category!

 

[Bletchleyite]

It's still actively confusing - it's just no longer "incorrect"!

It doesn't really matter with a mini roundabout because there isn't generally the space to enter it when there's another vehicle on it.

 

[py_megapixel]

It doesn't really matter with a mini roundabout because there isn't generally the space to enter it when there's another vehicle on it.

It does matter if you're a pedestrian waiting to cross an exit!

 

[Busaholic]

It doesn't really matter with a mini roundabout because there isn't generally the space to enter it when there's another vehicle on it.

Double mini roundabouts should be banned. They're common in parts of Cornwall, and used to be in Bristol, though I've not been there for years.

 

[Jimini]

Special mention for Hemel and Swindon on this topic then for their “magic roundabouts”. Are there any others in the UK like those two?

 

[Domh245]

Special mention for Hemel and Swindon on this topic then for their “magic roundabouts”. Are there any others in the UK like those two?

Colchester has a magic roundabout

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

goo.gl

 

[D821]

"Hamburger roundabouts" can go on the list, too. The one where the East Lancs meets the M6 and A49 was a nightmare in rush hour.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Special mention for Hemel and Swindon on this topic then for their “magic roundabouts”. Are there any others in the UK like those two?

Not quite as notorious as those two, but there's the Greengate roundabout in Moston in North East Manchester when you're likely (as not) to get held at five or maybe six consecutive red lights when making a 270° (right) turn by going around the roundabout.

 

[bspahh]

Special mention for Hemel and Swindon on this topic then for their “magic roundabouts”. Are there any others in the UK like those two?

I used to cross a dual carriageway near the High Wycombe magic roundabout when it was one big roundabout on the way to school. The traffic was usually stationary, so it was easy. When the 2 way roundabout was added, the traffic flowed much more evenly and crossing was quite a lot more difficult.

 

[ABB125]

"Hamburger roundabouts" can go on the list, too. The one where the East Lancs meets the M6 and A49 was a nightmare in rush hour.

Again, this is due to the cheapskate-ness of British road authorities, where any other country would do something better. Occasionally, you find a hamburger that seems to work reasonably well, but the vast majority are useless and a complete waste of money.

 

[joncombe]

Not quite as notorious as those two, but there's the Greengate roundabout in Moston in North East Manchester when you're likely (as not) to get held at five or maybe six consecutive red lights when making a 270° (right) turn by going round the roundabout.

Yes this is why when using motorways I usually prefer to avoid any service areas that are off roundabouts and use ones with their own on/off slip roads. Too many times you find it's a right turn to get into the services and a right turn to get back onto the motorway and we seem to have a policy these days that every motorway junction has to have traffic lights it can often take ages waiting at multiple red lights.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 6 Jun 2022 ==

Special mention for Hemel and Swindon on this topic then for their “magic roundabouts”. Are there any others in the UK like those two?

Also Hatton Cross, near Heathrow Airport.

Whilst we seem to be on a driving related theme at the moment I'll also add drivers that want to go straight on pulling onto a multi-lane roundabout only when the left lane is clear (but the others aren't) thereby blocking traffic trying to move from the right lane to the left lane.

 

[ABB125]

To make things simple, how about just banning all terrible road junctions? (Admittedly this would render most of the British road network unusable, which shows how big the problem is!)

For example:

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

(I think this one's in the middle of an "upgrade")

(Sneaky jump to Norwich)

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.6259596,1.3803761,1038m/data=!3m1!1e3

And that's only a handful from East Anglia. Now multiply by several billion for the rest of the country...

 

[Bald Rick]

Yes, though I hope your Uncle also told you "this is what we do in the Police when doing pursuits, but unless you also join the emergency services you must never drive like this".

yes he did.

And then you biff into the adjacent vehicle whose lights aren't properly on. Loads of folk pootling around on the road network at night with lights that aren't working.

on motorways? And what difference would an indicator make to someone driving on a motorway at night who is a suitably poor driver to not have lights on?

Besides I find it surprising that people have cars creep up on them unexpected on otherwise empty motorways; are they not looking in their mirrors frequently? (Something else my uncle taught me; look every couple of seconds, use all the mirrors every check, and when changing lane look directly as well for a double check).

To which I'd add "building a roundabout when any other sane country would build something better".

in the US it’s endless strings of traffic lights, because they can’t cope with roundabouts. (Accepting the ‘sane country’ qualifier doesn’t apply).

 

[gg1]

To make things simple, how about just banning all terrible road junctions? (Admittedly this would render most of the British road network unusable, which shows how big the problem is!)

For example:

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

(I think this one's in the middle of an "upgrade")

(Sneaky jump to Norwich)

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.6259596,1.3803761,1038m/data=!3m1!1e3

And that's only a handful from East Anglia. Now multiply by several billion for the rest of the country...

The M58 deserves a special mention for both starting and ending at awful junctions:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.5349247,-2.6960322,1415m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-GB
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.4939611,-2.9518927,1191m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-GB

...and it's last but one junction is just weird:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.533558,-2.7475362,1030m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-GB

 

[ABB125]

The M58 deserves a special mention for both starting and ending at awful junctions:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.5349247,-2.6960322,1415m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-GB
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.4939611,-2.9518927,1191m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-GB

...and it's last but one junction is just weird:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.533558,-2.7475362,1030m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-GB

To be fair to the M58, the reason it had those rubbish junctions is because it was never finished. Whereas the A12 examples I linked are just rubbish, and are the final plan. And you can't say "those were built decades ago" either, because the Norwich example is only a few years old!

 

[bspahh]

Besides I find it surprising that people have cars creep up on them unexpected on otherwise empty motorways; are they not looking in their mirrors frequently? (Something else my uncle taught me; look every couple of seconds, use all the mirrors every check, and when changing lane look directly as well for a double check).

A car can join the motorway at a junction when they are hidden from my view by a lorry. Then you can then be in my blind spot. My car has 3 indicators on each side. Each shines light in lots of directions. I have one pair of eyes, so there will be people who can see one of my indicator lights, that I can't see.

The cost of signalling when there is no-one to see it is a tiny amount of electricity. The benefit is a very small chance of avoiding something very bad.

(I) last read Roadcraft about 1990. It then had advice on steering, which made sense for a car from the 1930s, where the steering wheel could jolt if you hit a pothole, but was pointless for the modern world, particularly once power steering became a standard feature.

It is a very good idea to actively look all around whilst you drive, but its not a replacement for signalling.

 

[Busaholic]

A car can join the motorway at a junction when they are hidden from my view by a lorry. Then you can then be in my blind spot. My car has 3 indicators on each side. Each shines light in lots of directions. I have one pair of eyes, so there will be people who can see one of my indicator lights, that I can't see.

The cost of signalling when there is no-one to see it is a tiny amount of electricity. The benefit is a very small chance of avoiding something very bad.

Last read Roadcraft about 1990. It then had advice on steering, which made sense for a car from the 1930s, where the steering wheel could jolt if you hit a pothole, but was pointless for the modern world, particularly once power steering became a standard feature.

It is a very good idea to actively look all around whilst you drive, but its not a replacement for signalling.

You make some excellent points.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The "Pathetic Motorways" site may be of interest to those previously unaware:
Pathetic Motorways

 

[Sorcerer]

Love Island.

 

[swt_passenger]

Going back to indicating when changing lanes, on my Focus the lane keeping system helps enforce indicating, in that it attempts to stop you changing lanes unless you’re already indicating…

 

[Gloster]

People who get a print out of their account from a machine in the bank and remove their card, but then stay standing where they are while they read the printout at a speed that would embarrass a four year old.

 

[Jimini]

The "Pathetic Motorways" site may be of interest to those previously unaware:
Pathetic Motorways

Cracking website, that

 

[61653 HTAFC]

People who get a print out of their account from a machine in the bank and remove their card, but then stay standing where they are while they read the printout at a speed that would embarrass a four year old.

See also:
People who request a receipt at a cashpoint, but then walk off leaving it behind for the person following them to dispose of.
Cash machines that ask you if you want to check your balance, when you've already selected "Cash Only". If I wanted to check, I'd have picked that option. Apparently this is because balance checks generate revenue for the operators, but something so counterintuitive really gets my goat.

 

[Calthrop]

Love Island.

I was hoping that there might be somewhere in the world, an island genuinely bearing that name; so that I could ask what you had against that innocuous isle and its inhabitants ; but alas, it seems there's no such place.

 

[Busaholic]

I was hoping that there might be somewhere in the world, an island genuinely bearing that name; so that I could ask what you had against that innocuous isle and its inhabitants ; but alas, it seems there's no such place.

Amourica?

 

[Strat-tastic]

I was hoping that there might be somewhere in the world, an island genuinely bearing that name; so that I could ask what you had against that innocuous isle and its inhabitants ; but alas, it seems there's no such place.

It's at the Amour roundabout on the A4291.

 

[Calthrop]

And I'm sure there are various islands in the Amur river; which for part of its length divides Siberian Russia, from China ...