Have you noticed....

[New POD]

Current stable must create the least reaction from anyone, because

 

1) Black Astra mk4 is just totally annnnnnonnnnnyyyyyymous.  No one can possibly be jealous, but at the same time, they know I can keep up if I choose to.

2) BRG  Mk1 Mx5 with deep or noisy exhaust (depends on revs).  I get the occasional smile (particular on motorway with roof down in 3rd at 70 with foot down and a howl, as I pull into outside lane and floor it)

3) YELLOW and Black BINI. Girls love it, and blokes can see it, so they ain't about to cut you up. And they don't see it as a threat. Driven hard, it is quite fast, so occasionally you surprise something that is actually faster, but there is never any 'rage' ever.  

[Urko]

People make stereotypical assumptions. Some people are twats, some are not. I tend not to lose too much sleep over it. some of the nicest people I know are murderers. Odd but true. Life is a bit fucked up really and society as a whole seems hell bent on being self serving and wanting something for nothing. I have no idea what the point of this is other than "try not to be that twat" and dont rise to twattish behaviour from others.

Great post - this is what I aspire to be like.

[HH-R]

I've noticed less tailgating the past few weeks when the weather has been nice and bright? Maybe people are more pissed off during the miserable winter days.

[stripped fred]

I always find it interesting where two lanes merge into one. There are several places round here like that. Soar valley way and the foxhunter roundabout are two that come to mind for the locals on here. If you are crawling along in the outside lane a lot of the cars on the inside bunch up and really don't like to let you in. I've found that if you don't push they will let you in easier than if you're a bit keen. Some will refuse to let you in at all though. When I was driving in new Zealand they had signs that said 'merge like a zip' and they all seemed to do it. Not here though where each car length is fought over to the death. Van's do seem to be worse possibly due to the higher likelihood of young males with high testosterone levels. I know, I was one, many moons ago.

[fred]

With the forester it tends go one of 3 ways; when I've got the basset in the back, people tend to try and tailgate just to get a look at him, otherwise it's either "fuck me, keep out of the way in case the wheels fall off" or "it's an Impreza innit, he obvious wants to race so let's drive like a wanker to get his attention".

 

Driving the wife's modern 1.4 punto tends to elicit the sort of rage and dickish driving that makes me check I've not got Hitler as a passenger and "I run over nuns and kittens" scrawled on the doors! Mind you, it's a 77hp 1.4, so a ferrari it bloody well ain't...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ha ha Yes, My old Forester usually gets similar , ''W reg, jesus how is this still going, '' Or the Low slung batty boi sort seeing as its a Turbo  decide its fair game for a race , Bah

[doobietoo]

Strangely despite the hatred the PT rarely gets pulled out on or tailgated, most peeps grin and let you out of a side road into traffic and on a recent run up the motorway in a bit of a rush they do tend to pull over once they notice you behind them..... Having said that its such an easy, relaxing car to drive that I am usually running at the speed limit with the cruise doing all the work. It is amazing how much less others bother you when you are relaxed yourself.

[Coprolalia]

I think the South West is more chill, I rarely have any of these issues.

 

From prior experience:

Scirocco- people are interested but won't let you in/out. Pineapple associations perhaps? Lots of dickish dubbers around here.

Octavia- everyone polite, nobody interested in racing, modern enough to be anonymous to twats, large enough not to get fucked with.

 

The best was my old W reg Audi A6. I'm a fairly chill passive driver, but people just cleared a path. Perhaps being an old rep mobile with blacked out windows, dents and lacquer peel people were worried I'd start a turf war.

[Guest bangerfan101]

With a copy of wasted mag on your parcel shelf and a stink bridge and banger drivers go in harder sticker on your back window. People tend to back rite off

[SiC]

Witnessed a road-rage incident an hr ago between a white Mercedes Sprinter/Vito type van and a recovery truck...

Tried taking a video, but the adrenaline kick of such incidents gives me a shaky hand.

 

Didn't see the actual incident that sparked it (I probably going to guess it was pretty minor), but saw the aftermath.

 

White van pulled in front of the recovery truck and slammed its brakes on, while hurling abuse at the recovery driver. Recovery truck pulled to get around the Van Driver, Van driver got out and started shouting more abuse at the recovery truck driver. Recovery driver went off around the roundabout and parked up on a kerb where it was a bit safer. Other van driver followed and parked up by the side.

 

Then all hell kicked off with him. Recovery driver, somehow calmly tried to explain something while waving his mirror around (I was keeping a distance at that point) - but either the white van driver hit it, saying about visibility or something along those lines. White van driver started to get into the recovery drivers face and yelling + threatened to punch the poor guy, tell his boss, etc. All while the recovery driver was trying to take pictures of the other van while somehow stayed very calm and professional.

 

I went over, gave the Recovery Driver my business card and told him I'll happily back him up about the other drivers de-meaner. The angry van driver then alleging to me that the recovery truck stank of drugs and that the driver must be smoking some - how he knew that without even getting in the recovery truck I don't know. Anyway I certainly couldn't smell anything when I was standing near the recovery driver and if he had, smoking illicit substances give off a very powerful aroma ...

 

At this point, as I'm not a bigish bloke plus a pedestrian in this incident, I decided to scamper before I was involved too!

 

I decided to make the effort of phoning up the recovery company control centre, telling them all that happened and how impressed I was with their driver staying calm. The guy at the company seemed pretty thankful that I gave them a call. I left my name+number in case they needed further clarification. Apparently their trucks are all GPS tracked and can tell which driver it was anyway.

 

How the Recovery Truck Driver stayed calm and professional is beyond me. But then I guess recovering vehicles on the motorway in the dark during driving rain, gale-force winds and dodging tired truck drivers, makes this type of incident pretty minor...

 

Does make me sad that people are like this.

 

I really need to get a dashcam.

[Buzz1024]

I get different responses depending on whether in in my Camel Trophy Discovery or the p38 Range Rover - get treated nicely when in the Disco but the RR brings out the twat in other drivers - even my wife has noticed that even pedestrians give us a disdainful look filled with hatred as we pass. The camel disco is great though - ive never been cut up or had horns blown even when in the wrong lane somewhere unfamiliar.

[SiC]

I have to admit, I have found myself not yielding to RR drivers before ...

[andy18s]

See,That's where you're going wrong.

You should know your place and immediately get out of the way.......

[stripped fred]

Witnessed a road-rage incident an hr ago between a white Mercedes Sprinter/Vito type van and a recovery truck...

Tried taking a video, but the adrenaline kick of such incidents gives me a shaky hand.

 

Didn't see the actual incident that sparked it (I probably going to guess it was pretty minor), but saw the aftermath.

 

White van pulled in front of the recovery truck and slammed its brakes on, while hurling abuse at the recovery driver. Recovery truck pulled to get around the Van Driver, Van driver got out and started shouting more abuse at the recovery truck driver. Recovery driver went off around the roundabout and parked up on a kerb where it was a bit safer. Other van driver followed and parked up by the side.

 

Then all hell kicked off with him. Recovery driver, somehow calmly tried to explain something while waving his mirror around (I was keeping a distance at that point) - but either the white van driver hit it, saying about visibility or something along those lines. White van driver started to get into the recovery drivers face and yelling + threatened to punch the poor guy, tell his boss, etc. All while the recovery driver was trying to take pictures of the other van while somehow stayed very calm and professional.

 

I went over, gave the Recovery Driver my business card and told him I'll happily back him up about the other drivers de-meaner. The angry van driver then alleging to me that the recovery truck stank of drugs and that the driver must be smoking some - how he knew that without even getting in the recovery truck I don't know. Anyway I certainly couldn't smell anything when I was standing near the recovery driver and if he had, smoking illicit substances give off a very powerful aroma ...

 

At this point, as I'm not a bigish bloke plus a pedestrian in this incident, I decided to scamper before I was involved too!

 

I decided to make the effort of phoning up the recovery company control centre, telling them all that happened and how impressed I was with their driver staying calm. The guy at the company seemed pretty thankful that I gave them a call. I left my name+number in case they needed further clarification. Apparently their trucks are all GPS tracked and can tell which driver it was anyway.

 

How the Recovery Truck Driver stayed calm and professional is beyond me. But then I guess recovering vehicles on the motorway in the dark during driving rain, gale-force winds and dodging tired truck drivers, makes this type of incident pretty minor...

 

Does make me sad that people are like this.

 

I really need to get a dashcam.

I've seen this sort of thing happen a few times when the red mist descends. Not pretty! I used to get angry behind the wheel but as I've got older I've mellowed. I don't rise to it and just move on. Being chased by four travellers in a Nissan Patrol a few years back also helped.

[Norbert]

There's been plenty of comment about people expecting (normally older) cars to be slow and pulling out on them etc, and this is a large problem. Unfortunately the opposite is also true - a car that is perceived as being faster than it actually is can also get the hard-of-thinking crew's anger to the boil.

 

The Pug of Many Miles is the right bodystyle and colour to pass for its GTi cousin, and a previous owner fitted some alloys from that model at one stage, so it kind-of looks like a GTi if you stand a few yards away and squint a bit. Unfortunately those 3 letters after the model designation at the back say not GTi but HDi, the 1.4-litre power* unit and monumentally tall gearing making for a car that is GR8^8 for economy and trundling up the motorway at ~60, but GR0.008 for nippiness away from the lights.

 

This all means that, when one pulls away at normal pace in a slow car, it's perceived by the hurry-up guys behind as deliberately holding them up in your fast car, leading to more than a few arguments over the years. Sorry chaps (and it is always chaps), that's how fast it is, not my fault if you can't read badges.

 

On the other end of the scale, a year or so ago I borrowed a Ka off a friend for a month while Mrs_N was using the Pug. as a favour to the owner I serviced it and replaced the coil pack / plugs / leads as it was stuttering a bit under load. Following this work the thing flew - easily the fastest 1.3 Ka I've driven and it would hold its own in lane 3 no sweat. I've never known a car wind up other people so much - the threat to their social status caused by a little old turd passing them at speed led to some ridiculous moments of retaliation / blocking / racing that simply wouldn't have happened if I'd had the good sense to be driving an A4 TDi S-Line like everyone else.

 

Conclusion: Round these parts everyone seems to be channelling the spirit of Gerry Marshall: "There's only one place for the car in front, and that's behind you"

[nisfan]

I can wholeheartedly confirm that my previous post about being bullied/thought to be driving slow/idiots pulling out in front of you is 10000% true, in the four days ive been using my stanza for work there has been a cunttard on every journey. Got to almost 100mph to prove a point to  bint in a corsa, twat pulled out in front of me at a small roundabout, went to overtake someone and the dicksplash sped up. Seems worse than before but maybe i was used to driving a modern for a few months

[RoadworkUK]

It is odd how stereotypically people treat you.

 

In the A4 I can cruise at 80 on the A12 and people give me space, let me pass, generally extend courtesy.

 

In the Rover, only 6 months older and with a bigger engine, I'm an obstacle to everybody and a magnet for tailgaters. People cannot bear being overtaken by it.