Mickle

.

[Edited by Mickle - 8/1/2003 4:53:27 PM]

corradoboy

I had a little trip out to Robin Hoods Bay on wednesday, and the behaviour of some drivers is shocking. As i went to pass one guy (35 in a 60) he veered across the front of me almost causing a pile up. On a steep hill with a crawler lane shortly after an old gimmer in a Primera moved out to O/T a slow van, and sat the same distance from it all the way up the hill (40 in a 60), and then moved back in behind it.
Those were the main two incidents in a day filled with appalling, inconsiderate, arrogant, dangerous, selfish and irresponsible driving. There seems to be an element out there who don't like to be overtaken and will actively deny the opportunity to others at risk to themselves and others.
The most dangerous people on the road aren't necessarily the fastest.

[Edited by corradoboy - 8/1/2003 4:54:35 PM]

magepaster

iTrader: (2)

A car length???
What happened to the 2 second rule? Was your watch fast?

"We were travelling at around 40MPH . Dry road, no other traffic about etc."

Why the need to drive a car length behind him then?



I`d have done a lot more than gesticulate

[Edited by magepaster - 8/1/2003 5:39:18 PM]

skiddus_markus

A cars length is say 15'max.Highway code says stopping distances should be 75'(or is it around 115'?) at 40mph IIRC.We all know this is outdated but I still think you were too close and it would p**s me off too.


[Edited by skiddus_markus - 8/2/2003 5:04:28 AM]

Leslie

If you read Apparition's posts more carefully DJ140, you would realise that she must have been appreciably further back behind the Corsa. The fact that she stopped successfully when he braked his car to a stop proves that. She also said that her originally stated distance was a figure of speech anyway.

Les

[Edited by Leslie - 8/2/2003 12:33:57 PM]

magepaster

iTrader: (2)

That statemanet alone shows impatience with the driver in the Corsa. I have a very strong feeling that you were driving a lot more aggressively than you care to admit.

[Edited by magepaster - 8/2/2003 12:43:38 PM]

TurboKitty

A study I read a while ago showed that whilst in moving cars, drivers underestimate the number of car lengths between them and the car in front. Even when maintaining a safe distance behind, when asked to judge how many car lengths back they were, most gave an answer lower than the actual figure.

Apparition's estimate of being a car length back is possibly not accurate in the same way. Without having been there none of us can judge whether she was too close or not, but I'd say we should treat the estimate of one car length as not necessarily accurate. Especially since considering it, she has said it was probably more than that.

I'd say that the fact she did not hit the car in front when he carried out sudden 'brake tests' indicates she was probably maintaining more of a safe stopping distance than some people on here seem to think.

However, as I said, without having been there, none of us can be sure.

Either way, there is no need for drivers to shake their fists at anyone. If someone is driving too close behind me, I tend to pull over and let them past.

[Edited by TurboKitty - 8/2/2003 10:08:42 PM]

Apparition

Just come back home from Amersham. Got onto the main , clear, straight and quiet road which leads back home from there and was following a white Corsa.
I was a good car's length behind Corsa but as we got a few hundred yards out of the village the (Male) driver started to wave his fist in the air. Thought nothing of it, then he jumped on his brakes several times , and continued to gesticulate.
I really wondered about his mental state since I was definately NOT tailgating him.
He eventually came to a complete stop. So I thought ah well here we go, preparing for him to leave his vehicle...... Suprisingly, he didn't but proceeded to drive off again.
I'd had enough by now. Knowing that we had another 2 miles or so of this road to go, I turned off into a garden centre for a breather and to let him get well clear. WHAT on earth was his problem ?
I might add that I drive a very innocent looking Peugeot 206 and not some great hulking Range rover type thingy !
Silly man.

Duck_Pond

He might have been listening to the cricket on the radio, and had stopped in sheer disbelief at the incompetence of the England team, so as to allow him to gather his thoughts and concentrate on driving again.

Either that, or he was a tw@t.

Mungo

A car length? At what speed? That is WAY too close - you most definitely were tailgating him. Sorry.

jhdee

Apparition

Well I felt I was a safe distance away and to check, I watched all the other drivers afterwards for the rest of the journey home. They were all at similar spacing to me and chappie in White Corsa. (Yes I was watching where I was going too) We were travelling at around 40MPH . Dry road, no other traffic about etc.
Then again.... maybe it WAS the cricket scores he was listening to !
Had a similar experience to the last posting earlier this week. Got carved up by a red van then he veered back into the outside lane only to veer back into the inside lane again. He had one of those "How am I driving" stickers on the back of his van, but he was swerving about so much we couldn't read the number to call!!

Jiggerypokery

and...

... do not go well together. Even at 30MPH this is WAY too close. If he does a brake-check in front of you and your reactions are too slow, he can jump out rubbing his neck and complaining of back pain. A no-win no-fee case later, and you're paying thousands. The road is LONG enough for both of you - STAY BACK!

TurboMav

Any 1 watch traffic cops lastnite? a 306 cut up a lorry, anyways they both got out of their vehicles, verbally abusing eachother. Dunno how it happened but the guy driving the 306, got his leg caught under the lorry's wheel, and about 4weeks later needed it amputated.

H7

Hold on! If the pr@t in the Corsa jumped on the brakes several times and eventually came to a complete stop, and Apparition didn't crash into the back of it, I'd say Apparition was keeping a safe distance

unclebuck

He had one of those "How am I driving" stickers on the back of his van, but he was swerving about so much we couldn't read the number to call!!

I called one of those numbers recently after some tw@t in a Sunblest lorry pulled straight out in front of me even though I had made eye contact, almost causing an accident

Discovered that you *also* need the vehicle registration to make a complaint as they merely act as an agency for different companies

How the hell are you supposed to gather the registration *and* the phone number from different parts of the vehicle in just a split second and then memorise them long enough to get to a phone to make the call. Better to just get the registration and report them to the police (not that they would take any action)

magepaster

iTrader: (2)

Could he have been so sure of stopping if the driver of the Corsa had to do an emergency stop?

LEUVEN

If everybody else does it then it must be safe.

andrewdelvard

So, what exactly do you call tailgating?

I really can't imagine. Maybe he was in fear of his life?
Drivers like you....

barge

boring

boring

boring

If he stopped why did he not get out ?

DocJock

One car length / 10mph was the advisory when I did my IAM......

magepaster

iTrader: (2)

For all you know the driver of the Corsa was just trying his hardest to warn some pillock driving up his a**e that he was driving too close and had realised that whoever it was couldn`t understand hand signals because maybe their second car was a Volvo, so he stopped the Corsa to get the message across and wasn`t interested in not being boring and getting out of the car in order to prove the fact that he wasn`t boring to someone who may happen to think that getting out of the car may be inciting trouble.

I said that without taking a breath

johneturbo

oh dear a whole car length..and you really dont think you was doing anything wrong.why do people do that, it must be ten times more concentration,then if you was at least the minimal 2sec gap then you don't get people waving at you. DUH

jjones

don't drive so ****ing close.


well done tho for stopping and instantly defusing rhe situation.

Apparition

OK OK ........ for a start I'm female. No I'm not blonde. I'm sorry if I was considered tailgating but although I said a car's length I was probably a good deal further back , having years and years ago hit the back of a vehicle I am extremely careful about not getting too close.
It was a case of , you had to be there. I just feel that Mr Cosa driver was displaying positive signs of overload in the testosterone dept. due to the fact that he had 2 female passengers. It was a stretch of road that was 60mph limit, nothing else was within sight, why he didn't get a move on I don't know. I stopped into the garden centre because quite honestly the whole thing shook me me up some. After I got home I decided to post on here and then proceeded to feel very very sick indeed. I really thought he was going to get out of his vehicle and dob me one.
Its an experience I hope I never ever find myself in again. In future I'll be one of these people who leave about a mile betwixt me and the car in front.....
Joking apart, Thanks for all your input. I'm big enough to take it all onboard and learn from this. How many ar$eholes out there wouldn't ?

Apparition

Oh and the red van incident.... believe it or not, there were two of us in our car and even the passenger couldn't get all the info down , reg number and all to phone through to the number displayed on the back of the van. He was driving so erratically it was impossible.

DJ140

I'm always telling my wife to drop back. IMO she drives to close and if she has no intention of overtaking, as you obviously didn't, then you may as well leave a huge gap, what is the point just leaving a cars length?

andrewdelvard

That isn't the point I'm afraid.
What would have been the result if he'd been forced to make an emergency stop? Shw would have most likely crashed her car into the rear of his.

Apparition

I do not drive aggressively. I have already said, "you had to be there to appreciate the situation". Its difficult to adequately describe such a situation on here.
Suffice to say, I only posted the thread because I was so shaken up by this bloke's attitude. It was a way of releasing the sheer sick feeling I was left with.
I did at one stage want to pass him but his stop start antics made this nigh impossible.
I'd like to meet him and ask him just what was going through his mind at that time.
Thanks for your Support Leslie, I am now wishing I'd never posted this subject. You have at least read this as it was intended.
Finally, I say again. At least I am standing up and being honest about all this, and hopefully learning something from it.

saucy-scooby

Whilst driving to Bristol yesterday I got tailgated by...
a Ford Transit builder's van...who eventually overtook me, just to see who was driving the car I guess, cos he was seriously shocked to see a female behind the wheel of something other than a Metro....
Then a 17 tonne oversize lorry tailgated me on the M4...being an ex artic driver I was far from amused by this cos I know from bitter experience what its like to have to pull up quickly in a larger than average vehicle.....
I was starting to think there was a conspiracy going on...until my business partner drove my car on the way back from Bristol and some **** almost got into the boot of my car...

And to think that heavy rain is supposed to make drivers drive with more care too

(my car isn't slow but i was driving according to the conditions which at the time were lousy)