Driving standards

[Coryton]

I may be wrong but I have a feeling that if it's evidence is to be used in a court of law then it needs gps too.

 

The link at http://www.policewitness.com/which-camera/choosing-the-right-dash-cam/ suggests that the main thing that matters is the video quality, and in particular whether you can read number plates.

 

No mention of GPS...

[MJI]

That's scary and brings this topic back to earth with a bump.

 

However, just to stay in topic for a little longer with no side references to grass verges etc, here's what happened to my Peugeot 207 a month after I bought it, when a clown who was not looking forward or sideways decided to come off of his forecourt and onto a main A road.

 

001.JPG

 

Car was almost written off,  and had I not been very forceful with the insurer, it would have been.  It was off the road for several months, largely waiting for a body panel to be maufactured in France as RHD 207 body panels are not always available off the shelf, and the repairer did a trawl of all the parts suppliers.  The write off was going to be as a result of the ongoing costs of the hire car.  It was the hidden damage to the inner sills and door frame which caused most of the problem.

 

My last car was bent a little more than that and I was quoted around £2000 to repair.

 

I ran it for a month with the side stoved in until I found another car.

 

The other two cars were total write offs, exploding wheel BMW airbag deployed and whole front smashed, the other car I THINK a Peugeot was whole front smashed even before it hit me. The old Y reg car was the only vehicle to make it home. and I made about £1000 by breaking it

[MJI]

I have been accused of not being able to drive as I

 

1) Refuse to reverse onto a main road, but only reverse off and drive on.

 

2) Cannot easily drive in and reverse out of a spot. I have to reverse in and drive out.

 

Has anyone noticed that when reversing it is easier to check the corners? Also small cars can be totally hidden.

[newbryford]

I have been accused of not being able to drive as I

 

1) Refuse to reverse onto a main road, but only reverse off and drive on.

 

2) Cannot easily drive in and reverse out of a spot. I have to reverse in and drive out.

 

Has anyone noticed that when reversing it is easier to check the corners? Also small cars can be totally hidden.

 

I have been accused of not being able to drive as I refuse to use grass verges to overtake............

[Baby Deltic]

I have been accused of not being able to drive as I refuse to use grass verges to overtake............

Ah yes, but therein lies your problem. Being a qualified driving instructor you should be more than aware that the Highway Code states that grass verges should generally be used for undertaking only due to the fact they are usually on the near side. The only exception is using the central reservation to overtake on a dual carriageway if:

 

1/ There is no crash barrier

 

2/ It's a grass verge.

Edited July 18, 2016 by Baby Deltic

[45156]

My last car was bent a little more than that and I was quoted around £2000 to repair.

 

My repair estimate was more, as it needed two doors, rear quarter panel, inner and outer door sills, and the door frame realigned, also a replacement alloy wheel. 

[MJI]

My repair estimate was more, as it needed two doors, rear quarter panel, inner and outer door sills, and the door frame realigned, also a replacement alloy wheel. 

 

Mine was on the cheap (SH doors) as B Pillar was distorted

[PhilJ W]

I was nearly hit by a cockwomble reversing out of a parking space without looking yesterday. Fortunately a blast on the horn made him aware of my presence. The worst I have seen is people trying to reverse vans into a stream of traffic, how can they observe the traffic when they are reversing virtually blind?

[Coryton]

I was nearly hit by a cockwomble reversing out of a parking space without looking yesterday. Fortunately a blast on the horn made him aware of my presence. The worst I have seen is people trying to reverse vans into a stream of traffic, how can they observe the traffic when they are reversing virtually blind?

 

I was nearly hit once by a van which passed me as I was walking along the pavement and then turned across the pavement into a driveway ahead of me. I carried on walking and crossed the driveway just as it suddenly reversed back towards the road without any warning and nearly went over me.

 

Driver's justification: "I didn't see you".

 

It wouldn't have taken much effort to predict that the pedestrian he'd just overtaken might continue along the pavement. I realise that vans have blind spots behind them, but given that perhaps it might have been prudent to give a bit more warning and then reverse slowly?

[mezzoman253]

I was nearly hit by a cockwomble reversing out of a parking space without looking yesterday. Fortunately a blast on the horn made him aware of my presence. The worst I have seen is people trying to reverse vans into a stream of traffic, how can they observe the traffic when they are reversing virtually blind?

It's because they know, you know, they can't see, and you will slow or stop to avoid an accident. Hence their objective is achieved: they got out OK.

 

On another instance, yesterday whilst driving I was approaching a parked van and a lorry, both parked half on half off the pavement on my side of the road. As there was sufficient room and nothing coming the other way for a distance I indicated to pass them and start to pull out. The passenger of the lorry appeared between the van and lorry stepped into the road and on seeing me opened the passenger door and proceeded to get in. By this time I'd rapidly pulled to a stand and the approaching traffic was now blocked. The passenger looked at me as though I was from another planet and didn't seem to understand he could have cause a serious accident.

 

The "I'm going to do what I want" syndrome in play.

 

Rob

Edited July 19, 2016 by mezzoman253

[Judge Dread]

On the odd occasions when I take my van to the weekly shop I take great care in reversing out of the parking bay. I'm aware that I cannot see and before anyone says I should use one  where I can drive out, I have to park as close as I can in the disabled bays. That would be because my wife is disabled!

Several times I have had a horn blown at me by a driver who cannot assess the situation and stop short to give me space.

By the way I did get one clever person observing "That thing is not disabled!". My reply was "No it's a Citroen and it's my wife who is disabled not the van!"

[Horsetan]

How do you react when the Lexus 4x4 sitting behind you in the outside lane of the North Circular starts flashing his high beams? It's not like getting out of his way is going to make any difference if you're stuck in a tailback!

[bbishop]

Entitlement to road space is in direct correlation to expenditure on road tax.  I don't pay road tax on my bike, so I have no entitlement to road space and should be knocked over if I have the temerity to get in the way.

 

Bill

[Judge Dread]

Entitlement to road space is in direct correlation to expenditure on road tax.  I don't pay road tax on my bike, so I have no entitlement to road space and should be knocked over if I have the temerity to get in the way.

 

Bill

That seems to be the attitude taken by many motorists. Some 18 years ago whilst cycling home from work I had that abuse thrown at me also. I was in the cycle lane but this car driver wanted to come out of his lane into mine so as he could undertake the traffic queue and get to the  left turn lane at the traffic lights which were causing the holdup.

I agreed with this loud mouth and told him I would be in my car upon the morrow, but I pointed out that would make his car one place further back in the traffic queue. I forgot to tell him that my car was a 1967 Morris Minor, and therefore I did not pay road tax on that either.

[Baby Deltic]

My last car was bent a little more than that and I was quoted around £2000 to repair.

 

I ran it for a month with the side stoved in until I found another car.

 

The other two cars were total write offs, exploding wheel BMW airbag deployed and whole front smashed, the other car I THINK a Peugeot was whole front smashed even before it hit me. The old Y reg car was the only vehicle to make it home. and I made about £1000 by breaking it

That's the problem with driving at speed over grass verges. The bumpy ground damages the bodywork and suspension and grass gets tangled in everything.

[Coryton]

That seems to be the attitude taken by many motorists. Some 18 years ago whilst cycling home from work I had that abuse thrown at me also. I was in the cycle lane but this car driver wanted to come out of his lane into mine so as he could undertake the traffic queue and get to the  left turn lane at the traffic lights which were causing the holdup.

I agreed with this loud mouth and told him I would be in my car upon the morrow, but I pointed out that would make his car one place further back in the traffic queue. I forgot to tell him that my car was a 1967 Morris Minor, and therefore I did not pay road tax on that either.

 

I've come across the "I pay road tax argument" being used towards cyclists, but I was somewhat taken aback recently to have this used against me as a pedestrian to explain why I had been wrong to cross a road at a junction between cars 2 and 3 waiting to turn onto the main road, delaying car 3 because by the time car 2 started to move I was still in front of car 3.

 

This seems particularly odd to me because, unlike a cyclist, I was only a "road user" because somebody put one in my way and I had to get across it. Presumably by that logic a driver who doesn't use the train shouldn't object to waiting indefinitely at a level crossing because the train users have paid towards the maintenance of the railway and he hasn't?

 

I do wonder how drivers can tell whether someone owns a car and thus pays "road tax" or not from the way they ride a bike...

[rockershovel]

How do you react when the Lexus 4x4 sitting behind you in the outside lane of the North Circular starts flashing his high beams? It's not like getting out of his way is going to make any difference if you're stuck in a tailback!

Ignore them totally, if they do it again then move the mirror so they can see that you are ignoring them. Works for me, but then again I usually drive an elderly Land Cruiser so people are reluctant to push their luck with a car like that

Edited July 19, 2016 by rockershovel

[alastairq]

 

 

but then again I usually drive an elderly Land Cruiser so people are reluctant to push their luck with a car like that 

 I find similar with the old Daihatsu.........the more dents and mismatched paintwork, the better?

 

AN incident that I endured many years ago, whilst driving my Cannon trials car through my local town...[it's quite a short, narrow wheeled , very open 2 seater...]

 

An impatient Discovery driver [young, so I should have offered sympathy?] thought he'd pass me, using my side of the road....in a 30 limit, when I'm doing 30!..

 

He seemed to be trying to impress his passenger about how much of a bully he could be...when I happened to reach into my passenger footwell, wherein lay a small box of tools.....and including a rather large, yellow handled lump hammer.

 

Said lump hammer then got waved about by my right hand....very much outside the car!!  When said lump hammer appeared in his passenger window, the effect on is ability to steer, etc was quite amazing.......for he miraculously 'saw the light', and dropped back rapidly...in fact, probably the only time he has ever put a 10 second gap between him, and the car in front [my car] when it wasn't snowing?

 

Never knowingly saw him again.....but I would have seriously put his passenger window through if he hadn't given me more room.....and he would have had problems explaining why he was less than an arm's length from a car he was 'overtaking?'  Or why he felt it 'safe' to overtake another car, with a continuous line of oncoming traffic.

[Arthur]

....a rather large, yellow handled lump hammer.

 

but I would have seriously put his passenger window through if he hadn't given me more room.....and he would have had problems explaining why he was less than an arm's length from a car he was 'overtaking?'  Or why he felt it 'safe' to overtake another car, with a continuous line of oncoming traffic.

Er,....you are telling us you would have put a hammer through the passenger window of an overtaking vehicle and then he would have had some explaining to do?

 

Good luck with that one.

 

 

.

[alastairq]

Easy....he was overtaking between myself and oncoming traffic, on a narrow-ish urban street..he was, quite simply, being a bully [largely because I was driving properly, complying with the speed limit, giving way to oncoming traffic when needing to cross the centre line, etc...and generally getting up his nose,] so he quite simply, pushed alongside between me and the oncoming traffic....

 

He obviously thought I would swerve out of his way, off the road onto the pavement, or into a lamp post.....he was giggling all the way, I suspect..until the lump hammer appeared.  [My car isn't wide...with a  3 foot 9 track...maybe no  more.than 4 and half feet wide at best]

 

And yes, he would have had to do some explaining.......as any overtaking driver would have to, if a 'contact' was made between them, and the vehicle they were overtaking. [''keep clear of the vehicle being overtaken, etc??]

 

The presence of the lump hammer would simply be, 'his' word agin mine....and he would have to sort a busted side window to boot...and no, I had no concerns for his 'passenger'....why should I?

 

We see that all too often, even today.....from the viewpoint of cyclists...who regularly get pushed around by  drivers who could not give a tinkers about anybody else except themselves....so, since I have no intention [or, ever did] of 'beating' them, why not simply 'join' them?

 

In other words, if they have no concerns for the welfare of other roads users, why should they receive any in return?

 

As I've mentioned before...never had a 'successful' claim made against me...

[PhilJ W]

How do you react when the Lexus 4x4 sitting behind you in the outside lane of the North Circular starts flashing his high beams? It's not like getting out of his way is going to make any difference if you're stuck in a tailback!

I had one like that a few months ago, I moved over to see if he would do the same to the clearly marked police patrol car in front of me, he did.

[rockershovel]

Er,....you are telling us you would have put a hammer through the passenger window of an overtaking vehicle and then he would have had some explaining to do?

Good luck with that one.

.

I'm inclined to agree... I find that people are understandably cautious of large 4x4 sprinkled with dents and scrapes, especially ones with winches and plant tow bars fitted (I had a spectacular encounter with a boy racer hatchback a few years ago, very much a case of Toyotas 1, hatchbacks 0 but it was just one of those things which happen on the Queens Highway, and I'd like to think that driver is a wiser man now.. Edited July 19, 2016 by rockershovel

[PaulCheffus]

I have been accused of not being able to drive as I

 

1) Refuse to reverse onto a main road, but only reverse off and drive on.

 

2) Cannot easily drive in and reverse out of a spot. I have to reverse in and drive out.

 

Has anyone noticed that when reversing it is easier to check the corners? Also small cars can be totally hidden.

Hi

 

I can't drive either then :-)

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[MJI]

I was nearly hit by a cockwomble reversing out of a parking space without looking yesterday. Fortunately a blast on the horn made him aware of my presence. The worst I have seen is people trying to reverse vans into a stream of traffic, how can they observe the traffic when they are reversing virtually blind?

 

That is why I just can't do it.

 

Much easier to reverse in drive out

[Penlan]

How do you react when the Lexus 4x4 sitting behind you in the outside lane of the North Circular starts flashing his high beams? It's not like getting out of his way is going to make any difference if you're stuck in a tailback!

There's a chap in the home Counties who has a couple of Blue Lights hinged up in the back of his Rav4, when somebody like your example flashes, tailgates etc., so they can go over the speed limit to get past, he lets the lights swing down and flash......  

Works every time..... 

I say no more.

....and yes, I know it's illegal, but I'm in West Cornwall, he's in the home Counties.

Edited July 19, 2016 by Penlan