Busaholic
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My wife would agree, but my girlfriend wouldn't. God, I'll be in trouble now.
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Driving - a lifetime lesson!
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My wife would agree, but my girlfriend wouldn't. God, I'll be in trouble now.
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RailUK Forums
I drive around 50-60000 miles a year. I encounter someone doing something stupid daily! And people who can’t reverse. I had a case last week I had 5 or 6 cars behind me in a country lane, blind bend 100metres back no passing place for some distance. Woman coming towards me nothing behind her didn’t wait at the passing place, got out mouthing off at me to reverse. I couldn’t go anywhere with the long queue behind and driving a van with little visibility at the back reversing round a blind bend isn’t the best option. I switched engine off, started reading my newspaper. After 10mins she decided to reverse. And then I waited at the passing place and she couldn’t get through due to i imagine poor spacial awareness (on my return leg I met and passed a bus at this same passing place showing how wide it was!). She then reversed approx 1/2 mile clipping the hedgerow multiple times. It certainly explained why she became so agressive at the need to reverse.
With experience you’ll learn to read where they’re actually going from road position and driver eye and body language at roundabouts even if no indicator used.
With experience you’ll learn to read where they’re actually going from road position and driver eye and body language at roundabouts even if no indicator used.
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bramling
Veteran Member
Ah yes, the classic make an error than then somehow it's everyone else's fault, which I find particularly infuriating. Not sure why however experience does seem to find this is more common with women drivers.
It’s funny though isn’t it, that it’s always really difficult to convey to others how much of a moron someone that you’ve come across out on roads actually was?
I’ve tried in the past to explain to friends/partner etc what I’ve just seen. But unless you actually saw the ridiculousness for yourself...
I’ve tried in the past to explain to friends/partner etc what I’ve just seen. But unless you actually saw the ridiculousness for yourself...
bramling
Veteran Member
It's even more noticeable when one is driving a larger vehicle, or when getting into the car having been driving a train all day!
I’ve had similar so many times myself over the years (I drive a LWB Sprinter).
The amount of times I’ve had to reverse because someone in a tiny hatchback doesn’t know how to go ten metres backwards is unbelievable.
There’s another thing about having a bit of driving experience I suppose: Remembering where the nearest passing spaces are as you drive down country lanes (plenty of those in Devon I must say).
I was congratulated by a truck driver on my reversing a few weeks ago after I’d reversed a quarter of a mile up a mud soaked lane and around a blind corner to let him past.
I’d never say I was a brilliant driver though. The last time I did that I flipped the car onto it’s roof 30 seconds later on a B road between Exmouth and Exeter...
Mind you that was 23 years ago when I was young (21) and had a peanut for a brain.
I must admit that I much prefer driving a larger vehicle.
When I occasionally drive Mrs Cs car I find that a) no-one lets you out of junctions, b) I can’t see properly because of the thick window pillars and small mirrors and c) I can’t see more than a couple of cars ahead because I’m so low down.
Whenever we go anywhere she says “shall we take the car?” and I say “no, because the radio in the van is better”
.The truth is though that I prefer it because of the above reasons...
bramling
Veteran Member
I must admit that I much prefer driving a larger vehicle.
When I occasionally drive Mrs Cs car I find that a) no-one lets you out of junctions, b) I can’t see properly because of the thick window pillars and small mirrors and c) I can’t see more than a couple of cars ahead because I’m so low down.
Whenever we go anywhere she says “shall we take the car?” and I say “no, because the radio in the van is better”
The truth is though that I prefer it because of the above reasons...
I do find that when driving vans one noticeably gets messed around by others a lot less. Still encounter idiots of course, but generally driving a van is a surprisingly refreshing experience compared to a car, even if rather less comfortable on a long run.
I don't really get why we tolerate such poor standards of driving. Weed out the incapable, and at the same time those who can't be bothered to maintain their cars properly, and congestion would be reduced overnight. Part of the issue is there is too much of a focus on speed limits -- not that these are particularly well enforced either. When was the last time someone was pulled up for not driving in the left-most available lane on a motorway? Or for pulling out in front of someone?
Very true.
When I first learnt to drive in 1991 I was frequently pulled over by the police in my old VW van for a check up. They’d issue me with a ‘producer’ - which meant appearing at the local cop shop with my license, insurance and MOT certificate etc.
The point was that there were police out on the roads all the time keeping an eye on things (including hiding behind bushes on well known speeding spots in the dead of night, ready to catch you out). This just doesn’t seem to be the case these days and it all seems to be a bit lawless out there now.
That is a real irritation of mine which has been exacerbated by the sudden growth in the numbers of SUVs and 4x4s on the road, it makes it impossible to read the road ahead and react appropriately if all you can see is the back window of the car in front!
Yep absolutely, and I know I’m partly to blame driving a big van (it is my work van though to be fair).
There seems to be so many cars on the road these days that are far bigger than they need to be. Most of them look like jacked up hatchbacks with big alloys and 5000 quid on the price tag just to say that you have a ‘lifestyle crossover’ vehicle. Absolute nonsense.
Edit - Just to add, I took a friend around a few car dealerships a couple of years ago to look at new cars. He was a wheelchair user and would’ve needed the car to be adapted to suit his needs. We found ourselves at one point in the local Nissan dealership inspecting a Nissan Qashqai (or Cashcow as I wittily called it. No? Well I thought it was good). This car was thousands of pounds more than pretty much the equivalent hatchback and didn’t have anything more going for it other than it was a bit taller.
It was in fact the absolute opposite of Doctor Who’s Tardis -smaller and more cramped on the inside than it looked on the outside.
What is the point of such a thing..?
bramling
Veteran Member
Where I am I suspect there's a simple reason for this, namely showing off to the neighbours or even more so at the school gate. The irony is many of these are likely purchased on finance or with hubby's income!
GusB
Established Member
I don't think it's the vehicles themselves that are the problem - it's the people who drive them who think they're better than everyone else because they have a big, fat high-up vehicle. Traditionally, (from my own experience), it was people with Range Rovers and BMW X5s that tended to think they were god, but with this new class of "crossover" vehicle, you don't have to be rich any more; anyone can become an a******. Equality in action, I suppose! My biggest gripe is when I park in a car park and return to find that someone in a Big Motor has parked so close to the bloody door that I can't get in. There's no dignity in trying to climb into a Citroen Xsara through the rear hatch!
On a more serious note, my dad just swapped his Peugeot 208 estate for a Vauxhall Meriva, which has a higher seating position than the previous motor, but he needs the extra height just to be able to get in and out of the car these days, so I do understand the need for some people to have slightly taller cars.
Equality in action, I suppose! My biggest gripe is when I park in a car park and return to find that someone in a Big Motor has parked so close to the bloody door that I can't get in. There's no dignity in trying to climb into a Citroen Xsara through the rear hatch!On a more serious note, my dad just swapped his Peugeot 208 estate for a Vauxhall Meriva, which has a higher seating position than the previous motor, but he needs the extra height just to be able to get in and out of the car these days, so I do understand the need for some people to have slightly taller cars.
bramling
Veteran Member
I don't think it's the vehicles themselves that are the problem - it's the people who drive them who think they're better than everyone else because they have a big, fat high-up vehicle. Traditionally, (from my own experience), it was people with Range Rovers and BMW X5s that tended to think they were god, but with this new class of "crossover" vehicle, you don't have to be rich any more; anyone can become an a******.
On a more serious note, my dad just swapped his Peugeot 208 estate for a Vauxhall Meriva, which has a higher seating position than the previous motor, but he needs the extra height just to be able to get in and out of the car these days, so I do understand the need for some people to have slightly taller cars.
I can get why some people might want one due to back issues, but apart from that I simply don't see the practicality benefit. More awkward to get into tight spaces, and not much other benefit. My neighbour - just a couple with no kids - have a range rover, all it gets used for is a couple of trips to Waitrose every week, and very occasionally for a weekend break somewhere in Britain. The rest of the time it's merely on display in the road, basically using up what would be space for two cars. I simply can't understand the point of it. If I were going to have something other than a standard saloon car, I'd go for a small van to actually be useful for moving large items.
GusB
Established Member
I can't see the point of them either, to be honest. Maybe I'm just a bit of an old stick-in-the-mud; if you want a big car with loads of space, why not just go for the traditional estate car. A Volvo, for example; they're boxy, but they're good
A 4x4 is fair enough if you live in such hostile parts that you have to ford rivers and climb mountains to get home, but a Toyota Land Cruiser will probably do just fine. (I feel a Tina Turner moment coming on...)It’s a good way to see the scenery.
I have a low car, haven't had any problems reading the road ahead...if all you can see is the back window then perhaps you are too close and need to drop back a little?
Warwick
Member
Oi! I resent that. My saab has a flag of St. Piran on the back.
"...at least most of them aren't boy racers". 250 bhp on tap results in me occasionally proceeding briskly - at 67 years of age I'm hardly a boy racer.
The real nuisances on the road are hat wearing little old men in ancient Rovers and Japanese hatchbacks or twenty something year olds in a 1.4 Golf who imagine that it's a Golf GTi.
You sound like a disgruntled Devonian.
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Simple answer.......drop back!
Difficult to drop back far enough when it's inner city traffic which is where my main gripe was. When you are sitting in stationary traffic (and obeying the rule that I learnt from a few different places about stopping so that the rear wheels are level with the bottom of the windscreen) and you can't see what is happening ahead is what irritates me.
Living in the country I see a lot of these. The one thing that all the owners of big 4*4s have in common is a total fear of having them touch anything vaguely to do with the countryside. I once encountered a lady driving one on a single track road who planted it dead centre in the middle of a passing space with just over half a car width free on each side and expected me to reverse. Heaven forfend that a leaf should touch the paintwork.I can't see the point of them either, to be honest. Maybe I'm just a bit of an old stick-in-the-mud; if you want a big car with loads of space, why not just go for the traditional estate car. A Volvo, for example; they're boxy, but they're good
Of course the guy hauling fodder to livestock who needs a 4*4 is in an ancient short wheelbase landrover.
However do you manage with the plethora or vans and lorries that have always been on the road before the influx of 4x4 I'll never know
Inner city and queuing traffic you should be waiting back far enough that if the vehicle in front failed you can swing round it without reversing.
How do you know what people need? I have a big 4x4 and in fact have always had big cars (estates previously) because I've needed them. Used to cycle race at one time and have had up to four racing bikes in the back (no I would not have left them on a roof rack overnight outside a B&B). I am always needing to carry stuff - daughter moving twice in the last year, fencing, white goods, building materials, whatever. I tow a caravan and can pull it out of muddy fields, and I pull out tree roots in my garden. As for alloys, I hate them (they corrode) and I replaced mine with steel; but doesn't almost every car have alloys these days? Surely not a 4x4 thing?
Indeed, and the boxier (= more useful) the better. I once had a classic Volvo estate and as far as other road users are concerned I don't see much difference from my present 4x4, which is in fact shorter. Wife has a 4x4 Panda which is almost indistinguishabIe from the 2wd version apart from logos. It is hard to understand why having a second prop shaft under the floor generates so much hate.
Space for two cars? Do the maths. and don't forget to allow for a gap or stopping distance which is independent of the car length. A small van puts you into a commercial category with all that implies, my local council rubbish disposal depots wouldn't let you in for a start (unless you pay by weight). I have been taking loads of rubbish to my depot - left around the garden by the previous owner probably because they only had a small car. I did hire a skip once and was shocked at the cost. I don't give a light about "display" BTW.
I have a lot to do with the countryside - I live in a forest in the Welsh hills. Funny, but from my perspective when other drivers see I have a 4x4 they stop dead and expect me to climb round them on the bank or in the ditch, or reverse. Actually, I don't mind provided it is physically possible. Perhaps you should contemplate some pictures like this before you generalise too much (that's not me BTW) :-
GusB
Established Member
Do please bear in mind that much of what has been said here is somewhat tongue-in-cheek! Obviously there will be people whose circumstances dictate that a more rugged vehicle is necessary, but the average school-run or shopping trip does not a Range-Rover require.
birchesgreen
Established Member
Do please bear in mind that much of what has been said here is somewhat tongue-in-cheek! Obviously there will be people whose circumstances dictate that a more rugged vehicle is necessary, but the average school-run or shopping trip does not a Range-Rover require.
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