Driving standards

[SM42]

6 hours ago, zarniwhoop said:

I think @SM42 was in Poland at the time. As far as I know, in GB you cannot be breathalysed for riding a bike, although you can be charged.

 

I was. 

 

Things are crazy enough over there.

 

They don't need alcohol adding to it. 

 

 

Meanwhile back here the regular hotspots for ignoring the rules and the law continues unchallenged due to lack of anyone authority to challenge. 

 

I know that the right turn lane at the lights will be used to overtake the queue going straight on, there will be traffic due to the line of cars parked on the double yellows, speed limits will be optional and what better place to check your messages than in slow moving traffic. 

 

And why do people insist on indicating right to go straight on at roundabouts, cut the corner to the inside to look as if they really are turning right and get uppity when someone behind believes them and has the cheek want to go straight on too. 

 

In fact on second thoughts  Polish driving is far more sane than it is here. 

At least there they only want to overtake you. 

 

Andy

[TheQ]

2 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

I was. 

 

Things are crazy enough over there.

 

They don't need alcohol adding to it. 

 

 

Meanwhile back here the regular hotspots for ignoring the rules and the law continues unchallenged due to lack of anyone authority to challenge. 

 

I know that the right turn lane at the lights will be used to overtake the queue going straight on, there will be traffic due to the line of cars parked on the double yellows, speed limits will be optional and what better place to check your messages than in slow moving traffic. 

 

And why do people insist on indicating right to go straight on at roundabouts, cut the corner to the inside to look as if they really are turning right and get uppity when someone behind believes them and has the cheek want to go straight on too. 

 

In fact on second thoughts  Polish driving is far more sane than it is here. 

At least there they only want to overtake you. 

 

Andy

It is common teaching for driving that if on a large roundabout you indicate right until your exit is next, at which point you indicate left.

If not for example on the NDR round Norwich, the left hand lane is normally marked for left turns and straight on. If you don't indicate right before the left turn you are likely to get someone pull out In front of you coming  from that turn.

Cutting lanes on roundabouts though is just bad driving..

[Compound2632]

4 minutes ago, TheQ said:

It is common teaching for driving that if on a large roundabout you indicate right until your exit is next, at which point you indicate left.

 

That is, a multi-exit roundabout where straight on is ambiguous. But say there are five exits of which the major road on which you have approached continues as the third exit? It seems to me that that is straight on and the road markings should confirm that; I would see it as appropriate to match one's indication to the lane markings.

 

Then there's that roundabout where the A352 (?) meets the A303. Travelling west, the left turn to Chard and the right turn to Taunton are both after the straight on along the A303.

[SM42]

19 minutes ago, TheQ said:

It is common teaching for driving that if on a large roundabout you indicate right until your exit is next, at which point you indicate left.

If not for example on the NDR round Norwich, the left hand lane is normally marked for left turns and straight on. If you don't indicate right before the left turn you are likely to get someone pull out In front of you coming  from that turn.

Cutting lanes on roundabouts though is just bad driving..

 

So we are now teaching practices that serve  only to confuse others. 

 

I despair

 

They'll be teaching indicate right to turn left next

 

It bad enough down the road at the new improved roundabout with the straight /  right lane which goes deep towards the straight on before cutting back sharply. 

 

Hey the arrow says I can turn right, why tell anyone I am.

 

Seems all sense has been erased by those nice arrows on  the road

 

I was taught indicate left to go left, right to turn right and nothing till you pass the exit before and then indicate left for going straight on. 

 

I can appreciate with a large roundabout and a more complex layout than a simple crossroads that some additional indication would be helpful, but so is sticking to a lane or a consistent line. 

 

The Doris Stokes school of motoring obviously has a lot of franchises still out there. 

 

Andy

Edited Wednesday at 08:04 by SM42

[Vistisen]

On 06/09/2024 at 21:48, johnofwessex said:

I would like to see a mandatory ban with retest for driving at 100mph or over.

 

Ditto failing a drugs or alcohol test
 

No ifs no buts automatic and on the spot.

 

Thats before any criminal penalties

In Denmark, reckless driving means that your car is confiscated and sold at an auction. Even if it was borrowed, rented or leased. It your car is registered in another country it makes no difference. https://www.thelocal.dk/20210702/why-bad-driving-might-cost-you-your-car-in-denmark-even-if-its-rented

[Deeps]

29 minutes ago, SM42 said:

I was taught indicate left to go left, right to turn right and nothing till you pass the exit before and then indicate left for going straight on. 

Getting some drivers to actually use their indicators would be a major improvement!

[Reorte]

31 minutes ago, SM42 said:

I was taught indicate left to go left, right to turn right and nothing till you pass the exit before and then indicate left for going straight on.

Ditto, although "straight on" was only if it literally was straight on - one roundabout I frequently went though on my lessons had "straight on" at perhaps 200 degrees, and I was taught to indicate right for that (although I have to confess I probably wouldn't now).

[SM42]

30 minutes ago, Reorte said:

Ditto, although "straight on" was only if it literally was straight on - one roundabout I frequently went though on my lessons had "straight on" at perhaps 200 degrees, and I was taught to indicate right for that (although I have to confess I probably wouldn't now).

 

Makes sense and removes doubt on a situation where doubt may exist due to the road layout. 

 

There's similar near here 

 

3 exits in a sort if a Y  

 

Straight on is along the  right arm of the Y as it were. 

 

Dual carriageway each side and both lanes can be used.

It is signed for this. 

 

If in the left lane indicate right and hold the line round. 

 

No need if in right lane unless doing a U turn 

 

Indicate left to exit regardless of which lane you started in

 

Andy

[GrumpyPenguin]

15 hours ago, black and decker boy said:

Are you thinking of DVSA officers

Yes (formally VOSA).

[GrumpyPenguin]

4 hours ago, 97406 said:

If only that revenue was spent on sorting out the atrocious road surfaces!

Or even repainting worn out road markings, painting speed limit "roundals"** on the road, funding Traffic Police - anything but empire building.

 

** cue the perfect examples of citizenship who have a blemish free record.

[GrumpyPenguin]

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

So we are now teaching practices that serve  only to confuse others.

Indeed, when I was taught to drive (decades ago) I was taught to only indicate left when you were turning off a roundabout - not indicating told other road users that were were staying on the roundabout.

 

On the subject of roundabouts, in the winter I drive a gritter/snowplough, our standard practive when gritting roundabouts is to go all the way round the outside with an "offside" bias to the spread. last year I nearly collected a Police Car that tried to cut in front of me to exit the roundabout onto a dual carriageway, he ended up going round with me. Furious tooting & light flashing from him which I ignored until he overtook me and recieved some extra grit for his efforts.

 

Can't really miss it can you ?

 

Edited Wednesday at 09:57 by GrumpyPenguin

[black and decker boy]

1 hour ago, Deeps said:

Getting some drivers to actually use their indicators would be a major improvement!

I was going to say similar, from what I see BMW/Audi/Merc don’t seem to fit indicators these days as they are rarely seen in use..  

[Reorte]

On the subject of gritters several years ago I was going over the A6 at Shap. It had been snowing, and the road had been cleared. But quite a lot of that stretch was originally built with the daft third suicide lane (by this time most of it had been repainted in to being a crawler lane uphill, although a small bit at the top was still three lane - that seems to have been repainted now too). The problem was that only two of the three lanes had been ploughed, but which two seemed to vary. So one eye was following the lane markings, the other following the edge of the snow, and then they came to meet... It took a bit more effort to keep my wits about me then than I felt it should've done!

[97406]

8 minutes ago, black and decker boy said:

I was going to say similar, from what I see BMW/Audi/Merc don’t seem to fit indicators these days as they are rarely seen in use..  

 

Not everybody is prepared to fork out for the optional indicator pack!

[Enterprisingwestern]

3 hours ago, 97406 said:

 

Not everybody is prepared to fork out for the optional indicator pack!

 

Some do, but it seems BMW aren't ready for such a rare occurence!

 

[GrumpyPenguin]

3 hours ago, Reorte said:

On the subject of gritters several years ago I was going over the A6 at Shap. It had been snowing, and the road had been cleared. But quite a lot of that stretch was originally built with the daft third suicide lane (by this time most of it had been repainted in to being a crawler lane uphill, although a small bit at the top was still three lane - that seems to have been repainted now too). The problem was that only two of the three lanes had been ploughed, but which two seemed to vary. So one eye was following the lane markings, the other following the edge of the snow, and then they came to meet... It took a bit more effort to keep my wits about me then than I felt it should've done!

Driving a gritter/snowplough can be quite an intense task (it's not just a case or "grit on/grit off". However, we are not equiuppend with x-ray vision to enable us to see the road markings under the snow - going back if you have missed a bit is not always an option either as they are not the easiest vehicles to turn around, especially if the surace is slippery even with all wheel drive & diff/exle locks.)

[PhilJ W]

6 hours ago, Vistisen said:

In Denmark, reckless driving means that your car is confiscated and sold at an auction. Even if it was borrowed, rented or leased. It your car is registered in another country it makes no difference. https://www.thelocal.dk/20210702/why-bad-driving-might-cost-you-your-car-in-denmark-even-if-its-rented

I could only read half of the article as one of those 'IN YOUR FACE' forms popped up asking me if I wanted to subscribe with no apparent means of getting rid of it.

EDIT The pop-up didn't appear the third time I tried.

Edited Wednesday at 14:28 by PhilJ W

[IWCR]

I  think  BMWs,  Audis  etc  are  fitted  with  indicators  as  standard,  perhaps  however  these  are  one  of  the  optional  built  in  items  which  the  owner  has  to  pay  a  subscription  to  have  enabled.

 

Pete

[TheQ]

I once drove down a motorway in the snow to suddenly find a wall of snow in Front of me. The gritter plough could only have done that by stopping, reversing then changing lane. I had nowhere to go as there was a line of traffic to my left...

[stewartingram]

1 hour ago, IWCR said:

I  think  BMWs,  Audis  etc  are  fitted  with  indicators  as  standard,  perhaps  however  these  are  one  of  the  optional  built  in  items  which  the  owner  has  to  pay  a  subscription  to  have  enabled.

 

Pete

I thought tey were ALL fitted with them, but the snobs who think the best car is the most expensive one, pay more to have them disabled.

[PaulCheffus]

19 minutes ago, stewartingram said:

I thought tey were ALL fitted with them, but the snobs who think the best car is the most expensive one, pay more to have them disabled.

Hi

 

They just don’t fill up the indicator fluid bottle.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[GrumpyPenguin]

7 hours ago, TheQ said:

I once drove down a motorway in the snow to suddenly find a wall of snow in Front of me. The gritter plough could only have done that by stopping, reversing then changing lane. I had nowhere to go as there was a line of traffic to my left...

They work in multiple on motorways - you probably did not see the one further up front - you certainly did not see the flashing warning beacons on the gritter/plow.

 

[TheQ]

5 hours ago, GrumpyPenguin said:

They work in multiple on motorways - you probably did not see the one further up front - you certainly did not see the flashing warning beacons on the gritter/plow.

 

I know that, but you can't leave a wall of snow blocking one lane,  without stopping reversing and changing lanes. 

 

[Vistisen]

16 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I could only read half of the article as one of those 'IN YOUR FACE' forms popped up asking me if I wanted to subscribe with no apparent means of getting rid of it.

EDIT The pop-up didn't appear the third time I tried.

This was one example of it happenening:  https://robbreport.com/motors/cars/danish-police-seize-lamborghini-1234640612/

[kevinlms]

1 hour ago, Vistisen said:

This was one example of it happenening:  https://robbreport.com/motors/cars/danish-police-seize-lamborghini-1234640612/

There has been at least one case in Australia, where the owner of the vehicle, successfully appealed the high end vehicle's suspension, which normally occurs.

The owner (a major vehicle rental company) was able to prove, that the vehicle was heavily booked out for the next 30 days (length of seizure) and importantly, there was no spare vehicle of similar standard, even from competitors - perhaps it was the Spring Carnival (horse racing big race season) or the Grand Prix.

 

Anyway the judge agreed, that even if the owner had been reimbursed for the loss of the vehicle income, the rental company was not the organisation, intended to be punished. So they got their vehicle back.