Aggression on the roads. Is it getting worse?

[Bobthebeard]

Do a fair few miles a year now. Currently around 20,000 a year mainly in our 2003 Honda Accord, but often in my old tat. Not that the car is relevant. A high percentage of other road users seem to be always angry and looking for a reason to cut you up, not let you change lanes, speed up when you pull out of a busy junction then blow horn etc. I consider myself to be a reasonable driver and certainly don't dawdle about! Have been wondering if its just me getting old, am 51. A friends son is 22 and he says similar, lots of drivers seem to be angry and impatient lately. Sign of the times?

I also ride a motorbike on the occasional warm days in summer, ride a push bike and have done an advanced driving course, although that was in 1989.... Not exactly inexperienced on the road.

Have noticed that quite often the angry intolerant drivers seem to be in newish expensive stuff, Audis, BMW X5, etc.

God forbid that you ever slow them down by more than 2 milliseconds. Latest was a Milf in a white Audi A6 in Newcastle this morning. Traffic light changed to amber, then... Paaaaarppp! Blowing the horn because I didn't set off, on amber... Plus she had a mobile phone clasped to her ear and was eating a bag of crisps!

Is it me?

[chaseracer]

No, it isn't...

[willswitchengage]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... ins_Roads/

[Split_Pin]

Have noticed that quite often the angry intolerant drivers seem to be in newish expensive stuff, Audis, BMW X5, etc.

God forbid that you ever slow them down by more than 2 milliseconds. Latest was a Milf in a white Audi A6 in Newcastle this morning. Traffic light changed to amber, then... Paaaaarppp! Blowing the horn because I didn't set off, on amber... Plus she had a mobile phone clasped to her ear and was eating a bag of crisps!

Is it me?

 

To use the overused: Internet Phrase '"^^This"

 

Worst I get is if I slow down to turn left into a side road at less that 35mph I get a horn blasted at me from the car behind. Its a 90 degree angle FFS!

[Bobthebeard]

Comforting words! If all the trouble hotspots in the world had an Autoshite forum there would be no more wars!

Well, fewer wars anyway!

[Morgan84]

As for the bint on the phone,she was breaking the law,so I would have taken her number,and reported her... after sitting there till the light go amber again,and then quickly move off leaving her to wait for another set of lights ! With regard for tailgaiting wazzocks,I keep to my own pace,and ignore them; I don't break the speed limit for nobody.

If I can let someone out in front of me,I will do so,or if I see someone trying to park,and in a muddle,I will give them space and time to park without getting into a scrape.Little things like dimming your lights so you don't dazzle someone in a carpark when trying to park,all help make other road users lifes that little bit easier

[Split_Pin]

If everyone just employed a bit of give and take like that driving for me would be soo much more pleasurable for me. If I need to go into the city I just let my wife drive as the other plonkers on the road stress me out!

 

That said, I know quite a few prefectly decent and amicable people who grow horns as soon as they get behind the wheel!

[Junkman]

Yes it is.

 

And I can prove it with the simple fact, that I am getting more agressive all the time.

 

I am sick and tired of people doing 34 in a 50 zone.

 

I am fed up with people starting to coast when they see a traffic light turn red on the horizon, then stop 30 feet behind the queue there.

Then, once I am stopped behind them, and the whole queue behind me came to a halt as well, they pull forward to close the bloody gap they left,

so now I am looking like a 'tard!

 

When the light finally turns green, they are taking off at the pace of a snail with gout, so the least possible amount of cars can get past it

until it turns red again.

 

Apparently, nobody is able to keep his pile of shit in a single lane anymore. Let alone parking his heap between two bloody white lines.

In England, you drive on the left, not in the goddamn middle of the road!

 

They are talking about raising the speed limit to 80? I bloody well hope not, because most people run out of their wits long before they hit 70.

Enter a car park behind another car and you can be sure they bloody stop after a few yards and have a good long peep around.

Then they set off again at a pace, that makes your brake discs glow if you have an automatic. I bet they think at the speed they drive.

80? No bleedin way!

 

Then, at the slightest inkling of fog, they switch on their umpteen Watt bloody rear LED lasers, despite I was forced to tail them for the past

ten minutes, and they won't switch them off again until Summer.

 

People drive around like bloody Zombies nowadays and I've had it.

 

Man, if there was one car accessory I would wish for, it'd be a Gatling. No. Two of them, actually.

[R9UKE]

I let milfs away with anything. The Audi Q7 brigade around here are just stunning. As for cocks in their A4 TDis... They soon step back into line when they realise my "normal" looking Renault will piss all over them.

[Morgan84]

Yes,its satisfying when a older car can put a shiney newer one to shame !

[Bobthebeard]

Yes it is.

 

And I can prove it with the simple fact, that I am getting more agressive all the time.

 

I am sick and tired of people doing 34 in a 50 zone.

 

I am fed up with people starting to coast when they see a traffic light turn red on the horizon, then stop 30 feet behind the queue there.

Then, once I am stopped behind them, and the whole queue behind me came to a halt as well, they pull forward to close the bloody gap they left,

so now I am looking like a 'tard!

 

When the light finally turns green, they are taking off at the pace of a snail with gout, so the least possible amount of cars can get past it

until it turns red again.

 

Apparently, nobody is able to keep his pile of shit in a single lane anymore. Let alone parking his heap between two bloody white lines.

In England, you drive on the left, not in the goddamn middle of the road!

 

They are talking about raising the speed limit to 80? I bloody well hope not, because most people run out of their wits long before they hit 70.

Enter a car park behind another car and you can be sure they bloody stop after a few yards and have a good long peep around.

Then they set off again at a pace, that makes your brake discs glow if you have an automatic. I bet they think at the speed they drive.

80? No bleedin way!

 

Then, at the slightest inkling of fog, they switch on their umpteen Watt bloody rear LED lasers, despite I was forced to tail them for the past

ten minutes, and they won't switch them off again until Summer.

 

People drive around like bloody Zombies nowadays and I've had it.

 

Man, if there was one car accessory I would wish for, it'd be a Gatling. No. Two of them, actually.

 

Have you tried decaff?..

[dollywobbler]

No, it isn't getting worse. It was bloody horrific 10-15 years ago when I was a young driver, and it seems much the same now. I recall driving in London late one night (well, early one morning actually) in 1998 and getting honked because I hadn't started moving for a traffic light BEFORE it changed colour. In other words, I'd failed to anticipate this traffic light I'd never encountered before.

 

The following year, I witnessed a drunk driver deliberately trying to ram another car off the road in a fit of rage.

 

About the same time, I had to have serious words with myself as I was commuting a lot (despite only being 18/19) in my dad's Sierra from our Birmingham base. I realised that I couldn't let myself get wound up by every example of bad driving as otherwise I wouldn't make it to 20.

 

So no. It isn't getting worse. Just take a deep breath and be glad you don't have to share a house with these people.

[Bobthebeard]

No, it isn't getting worse. It was bloody horrific 10-15 years ago when I was a young driver, and it seems much the same now. I recall driving in London late one night (well, early one morning actually) in 1998 and getting honked because I hadn't started moving for a traffic light BEFORE it changed colour. In other words, I'd failed to anticipate this traffic light I'd never encountered before.

 

The following year, I witnessed a drunk driver deliberately trying to ram another car off the road in a fit of rage.

 

About the same time, I had to have serious words with myself as I was commuting a lot (despite only being 18/19) in my dad's Sierra from our Birmingham base. I realised that I couldn't let myself get wound up by every example of bad driving as otherwise I wouldn't make it to 20.

 

So no. It isn't getting worse. Just take a deep breath and be glad you don't have to share a house with these people.

 

 

Wise words.... Point taken! Zen principles apply!

[Morgan84]

I used to have a guy come to us for MOT's,and the door pocket of his car will full of Gaviscon bottles and tablets. He was a nice enough chap,but did admit he had anger issues; the anger gave him acid indigestion,which then made him more angry,so it was like the incredible hulk spiraling out of control. He would get so angry at other motorists,that he needed the Gaviscon to help him cope,and not go completely mental ! Without his anti acid stuff,he said he wouldn't be able to cope with driving around idiots !

[garbaldy]

I usually just ignore rants like this but WTF guys come on this is surely for the grumpy thread we do not need yet another thread slagging of audi bmw drivers

whats next jobless chavs or just the guy who didnt serve you quick enough at the till.

come on cheer up its nearly christmas

[Albert Ross]

Tailgaters? It's a 42 year old Land Rover. Not a company renowned for creating racing cars in 1970. It did, however create the most excellent smoky diesel engine known to man. That and the reduction gearbox. Yes, to answer the question from behind..... I actually CAN go a bit slower. Would you like me to? Than carry on blinding me with your "Xenons" and following so closely I can count your "LEDs" in "YOUR" Headlights. I seem to prefer to plod along at 25mph. After all, a maximum speed limit is just that..... and NOT a target. I honestly do go slower, and after they have overtaken me, I stick to their bumpers like glue. I can stop too. Unservoed single circuit drums, fronts are twin leading shoe, rears a combo. Yeah, it scares them. Because it looks like shit, and so do I.

[Junkman]

I usually just ignore rants like this but WTF guys come on this is surely for the grumpy thread we do not need yet another thread slagging of audi bmw drivers

whats next jobless chavs or just the guy who didnt serve you quick enough at the till.

come on cheer up its nearly christmas

 

Don't get me started

[Bobthebeard]

I usually just ignore rants like this but WTF guys come on this is surely for the grumpy thread we do not need yet another thread slagging of audi bmw drivers

whats next jobless chavs or just the guy who didnt serve you quick enough at the till.

come on cheer up its nearly christmas

 

The main side effect of driving old chod is that we stay in a lot and have no life. Once we have read, and re read the existing posts we become edgy and irritable. Hence the need to post new things about Audi and BMW drivers. New Audis and BMWs that is. If we have no new posts to disagree with within half an hour then we become chemically and mentally unstable.

That's all.

[Spiny Norman]

It's a while since I had to regularly drive around down south, but up here in Glasgow I honestly can't say I've noticed much of what's being described. Yes cockwhisks in Audi TDDHDi Sport Quattros tend to get a bit uppity sometimes but there seems to be a bit of a reluctance to really 'engage' another driver.

I'm not going to do the 'we're all hard as nails up here crap, but you'd really need to be sure of yourself in most parts of this city to instigate festivities against someone just for going a bit slow, or hogging the middle lane.

[andrew e]

Anyone who uses a motorway knows its 3 hard shoulders, and a lane for traffic.

 

Me I'd have KEEP LEFT on every matrix...

[MikeKnight]

Me I'd have KEEP LEFT on every matrix...

 

Most of the ones on the major motorways now DO have that on every matrix.

[Station]

Always seem to get the same thing with 18k per annum sales executives in their fleet hire 2010 320td BMW's in a hurry to get back to the hotel to masturbate where they overtake only to get in front of you at a red light. What purpose does it serve or prove, other than you no longer fancy your saggy, overweight wife and feel like your kids are preventing you from escaping your mundane life, you buy your work suit from George, and you signed the facebook petition to elect Jeremy Clarkson as PM. I'm not vindictive and I let anyone out of side roads, apart from new BMWs/Audi's/etc.

[ProgRocker]

I must confess to getting really pee'd off at times. The 25 minute commute to work can stress me out.

 

I try an manage it as best as I can. Leave with plenty of time to spare. I notice that my driving style tends to change almost daily. Some days I am relaxed and others I am a bit 'angsty' - not aggressive as such but not driving as smoothly.

 

Back in September a young chap in a BMW was following me very close on the A148 in Norfolk (single carriageway). I was doing about 55-60 mph but I wasn't going fast enough for Mr. BMW and his bint in the passenger seat. He must have seen my 'single digit salute' as he backed off after that, after realising that not all Nissan drivers were doddery old codgers.

A mile or two later I was behind a cyclist (in the correct safety gear). Down to around 20-25 mph, once it was safe to do so I indicated and overtook the cyclist, using the full width of the road, accelerating quite hard so the manoeuvre was done quickly. I gave the cyclist the same room as another car. Although the opposite lane was still clear after 5 seconds, the BMW still dawdled behind the cyclist. The BMW chap must have lost his bottle behind the wheel in those few minutes.

[Partridge]

I do get annoyed on the roads. I can’t remember who said this but the quote “most people drive with their brains switched off, after all, driving is a mundane and routine task like microwaving a can of beans.†says it all. (It went something like that.)

But I don’t get angry or wound up. (apart from if they have a “Monster energy drink" sticker in their window) What’s the point? It only makes you feel worse and doesn’t affect the idiots day one jot.

We all do stupid things on the road sometimes. When there’s so many thousands of chunks of metal speeding around at the same time on our narrow, shit roads, you’ll get people doing silly things. It's something I just accept.

I’ve had drivers tailgate me in old Mondeos and brand new Mercs. I’ve also been let out of junctions by white vans and Q7s.

 

But it is easier to get angry with people on the roads behind our sheets of metal (and filler). It’s a lot easier to shout abuse at the retard who’s cut you up, than the person who barged you out of the way waiting to be served at WH Smiths.

The again I drive everywhere like Richard Bucket.

[fordperv]

Its not just the bmw/audi drivers, the little chavvy boy disgracers in their tiny hatchbacks tailgating you for doing the speed limit, I do one of either 2 things I either slow down and stop the car completely in the middle of the road or if space and road type pemits let them past, then push them and scare the shit out of them

[bub2006]

I must admit I'm not the most pleasant chap on the road. I drive safe and look for bikes etc but I get really annoyed with tailgaters and people who just think I'm invisible. And as for dickheads with stick on bodykits noisy pipes and floppy hats,they should try driving an older car. My robin would probably kill then in a day or two. Rwd,no power steering or abs. Same goes for a lot of older cars. Cars today lull people into a false sense of security.

[dollywobbler]

Its not just the bmw/audi drivers, the little chavvy boy disgracers in their tiny hatchbacks tailgating you for doing the speed limit, I do one of either 2 things I either slow down and stop the car completely in the middle of the road or if space and road type pemits let them past, then push them and scare the shit out of them

 

Ah yes. That'll really stop aggression on the roads.

[Albert Ross]

+1 on the "False sense of security" thingy. I reckon these modern box pilots ought to try a 40 year old car with thin pillars, crossplies, lack of servo/abs/heater/radio.. might make a few of them think. The vast majority will spend 3 hours looking for their iPod connection before they drive it though...

[boobydoo]

I can't say I've noticed any increase in aggression particularly, but I agree it's the slow, dithery drivers that irritate me somewhat.

 

On Wednesday, in the OMG!SNOW CHAOS! early morning, it took me 1hr 10 mins to do a journey that normally takes 15 mins. Yes, there was light snow, but the roads were clear.... yet a handful of people decided is was only safe to do 20mph everywhere, causing ridiculous congestion.

[bub2006]

Off topic but to prove a point. My other car is an 03 plate vectra. Most basic model available with 1.8 engine. That's got 10 airbags that I know of,air con,cruise control,abs,eps etc. Now 20 years ago a pov SPEC cav mk2 was more than likely 1.6 and everything manual unless you ticked options like leccy windows central licking power steering. I had a j plate cav 1.6 l that had carb engine and all mentioned extras. I had a k plate 1.6 l with nothing at all.