You can take the boy out of the shite, but you can't take the shite out of the boy

[Hendry]

I was pondering this as I was driving around the M25 yesterday, leaving a decent braking distance to the car in front.  When you've driven a large number of ropey old cars you know that hitting the brakes hard can be a dangerous thing; that rear-left tyre doesn't have as much grip as the others, was that drum brake going to grab on one side, and how much stopping power can a set of 165 tyres provide anyway?

 

This kind of thing is probably hard wired into my head now, so I like to leave a gap between me and the car in front.  Not the full 2 seconds because I haz lightning fast reactions and that seems like an unfeasibly large gap these days.  So my gap is just over half that, zipping along at around 70mph with hundreds of other people.  I'm in Mrs_garethj's Jaguar with large, grippy tyres, massive disc brakes, ABS and I'm really concentrating to keep a tight gap.

 

 

 

So why is there always someone who cuts into my braking gap?  How can they fit into a space leaving a braking distance less than half of mine?  The only thing I can imagine is they don't have the old shite factor built in so they know they can stop in time.

 

Of course when they accelerate into the space in front of me they're almost up the chuff of the car in front so the first thing they have to do is hit the brakes.  My normal gap means I can usually just lift off the throttle to slow down, but now I have to brake too which sets up a nice ripple down the traffic queue behind.

 

And it's not just on motorways, what makes people drive around almost blind corners much faster than me?  When I can see far enough I love a bit of speed, I've had fast cars and very fast bikes and they've all gone much faster than speed limits.  But when the roads are really tight there's no way I'd go fast; I couldn't be sure that the dampers would glue me to the road, the brakes would pull up straight or the car would spin horribly if I jam on the brakes with the steering wheel turned.

 

This fear is probably what helped when I started riding bikes, the instructor told us all several times that if you brake when steering on 2 wheels the front would slide "and you aren't good enough to catch a front wheel skid".  But after owning several swing axle cars I knew with arse-clenching certainty that braking with steering lock applied was a bad thing.

 

I'm also usually disappointed when I look over my shoulder in a modern car and all I see is some headrests and roof lining.  But let's be honest, it's decades since Michelotti did narrow screen pillars but I still think that being able to see out is A Good Thing, not some freaky concept.

 

And... breathe....

For this reason I now I'm ashamed to admit sit too close to the are of the car in front cos if there's a gap then some fucker will fill it on the M77 into/out of Glasgow city centre of a morning, other morning I was behind a 2003 BMW 3 series coupe which left a 4 or 5 CSR length gap and cunts kept filling it, each time one car filled the gap despite there still being a 3 car length gap between him and the fucker who'd just filled his gap he drop back and someone else would fill then he'd drop back, in the end I had to go into the inside lane and undertake and fill the gap myself, (on this 2 lane motorway if you sit in the inside lane you consistently get caught with 20odd cars joined the inside from the slip road meaning its slower moving)

 

What fucks me off is the "I'll flash my indicator 3 times then just move lane" mentality even if theres no gap or you haven't been flashed in, or a gap made for you.

[garethj]

One of the twats that cut across me last weekend was when I went from the M3 to the M25, he actually came over the chevrons painted on the road to cut me up.

 

I hit the brakes but I also did a bad thing - I hit the horn.  I know you shouldn't, that's not what it's for.  But the (at least 10 seconds of swearing) driver then gave me the finger!

 

A similar thing happened on the M1 when I was in the Land Rover; some cretin in a new Merc swooped across the chevrons onto the slip road in front of me and I hit the horn.  He sped up, then gave me a brake test.  The brakes on the Land Rover are pretty good considering it's an old truck but it weighs loads and it has a visible thick steel girder as front bumper, what kind of person thinks that a brake test is a good idea?  But he's virtually the brain of Britain compared to the one who brake tested CreepingJesus' truck in the post above.

[Lukas]

I think the reason for the really bad driving nowadays, in Austria too, is the mindset in our society. Everyone thinks he/she is better than the others and is more important than everyone. Thoughtfulness is almost extinct, everyone is looking out for every advantage over others. And that0 is how almost everyone drives. 

 

Mrs. Lukas has a Suzuki Jimny. Cute little thing, a lot of fun to drive. But it is really interesting to see how other drivers react when driving with the small Jimny. They cut you up, tailgate you really aggressive, some even want to push you off the road it seems. Numer-One-reason why I dont like small cars. 

 

I think you are right, the best days of motoring are long gone. The best days of our society too...

[Taff]

I would use cruise control in my Beamer, set it for say 75mph and then keep an eye out. The amount of drivers who would end up getting the arse with you for perceived infringements was huge. I could only deduce that while I was doing a reasonable constant 75mph, they would be hovering in the band between 70 & 80, so I would be inching past them one moment, only for them to pass me again a few minutes later. One bloke (also In a BMW, which made me chuckle) took proper umbridge, break tested me, hand gestures, swearing, the works.

 

Give it a try, it's quite good fun!

[derskine]

I try to stay as far away as I can from the car in front, even in dry conditions it's good to know you've got plenty of room.

The 18 has massively over servo'd brakes meaning it's very easy to lock up, and the fact that the bias valve is sensitive means sometimes it tries to switch ends, hence I'm very careful to avoid heavy braking.

It really pisses me off when people cut into my braking space.

[DSdriver]

A piece of advice that made me change my country roads driving tactics was "Imagine meeting yourself coming the other way".

[danthecapriman]

It is mainly down to people's attitudes nowadays. We are now living in the generation of people who genuinely believe that they should never have to wait for anyone else, never have to show courtesy, and I go first because I'm better/my car is better/my dick is bigger!

I see it all the time when I'm in the works Sprinter van. People will pull out in front of you as they think they are far too important to be stuck behind a van, even if there's nothing behind you. Cut you up because your slower than them and since your driving a van that must mean your of lower social standing and are some sort of peasant they have the right to abuse.

My van is restricted to 70mph aswell, the amount of idiots who will let you pull out to overtake them, then once your half way past they then wake up and decide to do all they can to stop you getting past. This leaves me stuck in the overtaking lane with a que of other bell ends tailgating, flashing lights etc. All you can do is slow down, pull in behind them then watch them slow down again!

I tend to plan ahead when driving though so I can normally see a truck or other slow moving vehicle and get into the overtaking lane first and get past both of them!

 

I did used to get pissed off with other people on the roads and give them what for, but don't bother anymore. It's just not worth reacting to them and winding each other up. Better to just let it go, otherwise, with the amount of morons on the roads you'd end up angry and in a bad mood all day and I'm not ruining my day because someone else is a dick head.

[purplebargeken]

Travelling home tonight, car very close behind me (Merc Coupe). Car in front of me doing a tad below the posted limit. Wanker then overtakes me on a bend, solid white lines with cars coming in the opposite direction. He was along side me so I kind of let him in and gave him the full beams for a few seconds. He put on his hazard lights and then peeled away when the road was clear, cutting over more solid white lines. He was one car ahead of me in Enfield Town sat at the traffic lights at the end of all that stupidity. Knob end. Kind of funny though as the lights changed an Audi decided to veer left cutting across two lanes and nipped in front of the Merc as he pulled away from the lights on his section. Fuckwit Wednesday indeed. 

[RoadworkUK]

I followed a car along the A12 the other day. A Citroen C1, not the kind of thing you usually associate with tailgating, but it never put more than seven feet between itself and the car in front. It didn't flash them or anything, just kind of "intimidated" them out of the way, and no, I didn't know a Citroen C1 could do that either.

 

Then, when the traffic thinned out, it just sat there in the middle lane at 70. It seems that they weren't even in a rush. Intrigued, I pulled past to get a look at the driver; it was an eighteen year old girl.

 

She clearly just had absolutely no idea how to drive on A-roads.

[STUNO]

I followed a car along the A12 ,She clearly just had absolutely no idea how to drive on roads.

 

That's better  .

[Luckythirteen]

Further to what I said before (and almost on cue, spookily enough) I had a bit of an incident yesterday morning: minding my own business, across into the right lane to make my right turn at the upcoming roundabout...I watched this guy in a Jag S-type undertake me, and push in in front. I flashed him, he brake tested me. I could see him watching in his mirror, as he slowed down, round the roundabout (which nobody does, for fear of their life) to hang me out in the traffic. Then he brake tested me a couple of times more, just to be sure.

When I pulled off the road, into a residential street, it was for a quiet couple of minutes to calm the fuck down. I was starting to wonder what I had in the car, that would easily smash headlights. And that's never good.

I just had the feeling that the guy was intrinsically a bully. Pick on a girl in a Clio, why don't you? But then, as I wished all the best to anyone who has to deal with him (they're going to need it), I realised it probably didn't matter. He da man. He's got to get there first, and he'll rub anyone who dares challenge him's face in it. How fucking inadequate do you need to be?

 

Then thinking about it (and from the motorway thread on the other side), I've driven cars and tractors, and ridden horses on the road. I've tried motorbikes, trucks, Loadalls and 4x4s, off the road. Each one brings their own perspective on driving and road use, and I've learned something from each.

Maybe the idea of driving experience days has some merit. Throw in some people who could educate in the ways of basic car maintenance, and a few driver's ed-style crash videos...maybe we could make this better. If enough people got behind it, and the incentives were worthwhile.

 

Although, now I've had a drink or two...if someone wants to hold my jacket while I get five minutes with the Jag cockwand and a baseball bat...

[danthecapriman]

^^

I bet, jag man is only a big hard bully behind his steering wheel though! If he was confronted in person he'd probably crap himself. Not that I'd recommend doing that though.

 

this thread reminds me, several years ago I was visiting family up north. During traffic on the M1 and M18 there this tosser in some sporty pile of shit car (can't remember what it was) he was tailgating, cutting in and out of lanes, the lot.

The traffic cleared so he shot off. Some time later I passed the scene of a recent accident. Guess who it was!?

Yes, it was the knob end in sporty pile of shit car, except his car was now embedded in the side of a lorry trailer! What goes around, comes around!