After having driven for over 3 years and living in an age where there are more cars on the road than ever before, it’s hard not to notice other people’s bad driving habits. With seeing these on a weekly basis, I thought this provided a great opportunity to share you with a pick of the ones that I think are worst, or in other words the ones that irritate me the most. Just before you read on, I want to disclose the fact that I am nowhere near the perfect driver, I myself have been involved in various scrapes with dustbins, farmyard animals and suchlike.
Anyway, below are my five worst pet hates of drivers:
1. Full beamers
Sometimes I enjoy nothing more than going driving late at night with some of my best pals, but sometimes when I return I wonder how I can still see, after being dazzled more times than Matthew Kelly can say “stars in your eyes”. It’s not so much people keeping full beam on permanently but it’s more when they have it on and don’t turn it off until you actually make eye contact with it. I can tell drivers have it on when the faint aura of their lights appears on the brow of a hill. Even though they can probably see my lights in return, 95% of people seem adamant on not turning them off until they physically see me in my little car, subsequently blinding me for a few seconds.
I just don’t understand why nearly all people don’t turn them off in time. Perhaps drivers forget they have them on? Perhaps they don’t see me in time? Maybe even some might think it’s a low flying UFO just passing by. Even with these explanations I still think that offending drivers see myself and others in plenty of time to tone down their lights before we see them. I could easily go cruising dazzle-free if people just acted the same time as they noticed my oncoming appearance and not three seconds later.
2. Crafty little motorcyclists.
So we are told that even though 1% of all traffic are motorbikes, 18% of road accidents contain a motorbike. Motorcyclists always tell us it’s because we never bother looking out for them. However after seeing the behaviour of some motorcyclists it’s no wonder why we never see them.
Generally bike riders are just as patient and safe as car drivers, but you get the odd intolerant one who will cheat the queue, dart in and out of cars and squeeze into the tightest of gaps in order to get home before Deal Or No Deal is on. I guess at least if it’s a moped you can hear the Crazy Frog-like noise from a mile away, giving you enough time to acknowledge it’s existence and look out for its whereabouts.
Of course, this impression of motorcyclists only represents the smallest fraction of them, but then again you never really remember the safe, by-the-book drivers do you? 65% of drivers claim that when they are involved in an accident with a motorbike they never seen it in the first place. Although most, if not all, people who drive cars can definitely sharpen up on their observational skills on the road, I do wonder if motorcyclists had a bit more patience then this statistic would be lower.
3. Chavs who race with cars that can only be described as milkfloats.
So, Bracknell is famous for its chavs and the boy racer attitude that synonymously comes with it. This is why car insurance is so high for young drivers and why burnt out cars are part of the scenery in the area. However, one of the more laughable incidents that can happen if you come across a boy racer is if you meet them at a red traffic light. As soon as you make eye contact with them, this apparently means you have committed yourself to a driving duel with them, with no definite finish line.
However, more often than not, the cars they drive often share the same engine power as a milkfloat, such as a Fiat Cinquecento. If it’s a car similar to this then I reckon the cars that feature in the Flintstones could outpace this “badboy”. I haven’t got the biggest or quickest car in the world, a 1.4 Polo, but sometimes when these guys pull up beside me I do fancy my chances.
I don’t normally race at all, but one set of boys turned up in an ancient Ford Fiesta, and they looked particularly cocky so I thought I’d try and embarrass them. For sure, my car took off before theirs even registered the green light, but the noise that came from their car just sounded like it had thrown up the gearbox and left it dragging along the tarmac.
So maybe this doesn’t annoy me so much but just makes me laugh at how ridiculous some drivers can be. They’ll learn someday, I’m sure...
4. Rich people with cars as big as their egos.
Porsche 911. Bugatti Veyron. Aston Martin DB9. 11 plate Range Rover. Most of us can only dream of owning one of these cars or one that has a similar price tag.
However usually all or the majority of us have at one time shared a view of digust at the people who drive these vehicles. Put that down purely to jealousy or just disbelief at the way these beefy cars squeeze the smaller, more cosy cars off the road, but there is typically something that these flash cars will never live up to in size: the driver’s ego.
The reason as to why some people think they own the road completely baffles me. My car, Percy the Polo, might be 13 years old, it might need a new exhaust and possibly a good wash, but no way does he deserve to be pushed off the road by your snarling Lotus Elise Mr rich businessman. Every car and it’s owner has equal rights on the road, and there is no written law that newer, bigger cars can jump to the queue ahead of it’s older namesakes. Ok, enough of the sentimental stuff, I’ll stop pussyfooting around with page 572 of the Highway Code and try and grasp the reason as to why money seems to equal road selfishness.
I’m not saying everyone that owns a top sportscar is a mindless and selfish driver but the ones that are try to multitask beyond what is naturally feasible. I’ve noticed one elegant but big-nosed lady try to feed her spoilt baby food straight from Blenheim palace while trying to navigate round a busy intersection. Another? Yes, he was on the phone no doubt furiously trying to strike a deal while responding to an email on his Blackberry from Wilkinson’s saying they’d rejected his latest and greatest invention. I don’t think even Einstein has a theory to explain why these road users can carelessly drive like this, probably thinking they can just wave a wad of notes at the police to let them off the hook. Want my opinion? I’m not trying to pin the blame on a certain section, but I think they’re all bankers.
5. People who think indicating doesn’t exist.
Yes, those little flashing amber lights on the side of your car do actually mean something. They are to help pedestrians, cyclists and fellow motorists alike learn which junction you’re turning off at, which exit on a roundabout you’re leaving at or just the general direction of your journey.
They basically do as they say on the tin, they INDICATE to others which direction you’re taking.
People who don’t indicate properly waste other people’s time, if I added up all the time I had waited unnecessarily in order to guess which way cars were taking, I could have driven across America, especially with all that extra petrol I was using. I mean, it could potentially cause accidents, whereas some drivers are seemingly treating roads as a trial run for road wars, holding off the indicator and then crazily swerving down a backstreet without prior warning.
It’s commonplace in driving to indicate whenever you are changing lane or direction, so it’s difficult to understand why a select group have forgotten to signal, especially when it should have been drilled into them right from the start. I bet these people are the same lot who indicate in car parks when there is clearly only one direction to go.
Basically not indicating, whether it on your way to the local supermarket or on a road trip to Land’s End, hinders everyone else’s journey and even though you know where you’re going, no one else does. Unless if you have a stalker, getting chased by the police car whilst making a cameo appearance on Road Wars or getting followed because you have a nice car and a fat ego. Still, there’s no excuse.
Rant over. Thank you and good night.
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