Are driving standards going down?

[Technonotice]

Driving around recently I have been appalled at the standard of driving displayed by some folks.
I've had so many near misses from people going over the centre line on wide carriageways, not to mention the narrow local roads around me, people just pulling out in front of me as though I'm not visible.
Speeding on the country roads (that they clearly don't know well enough) and on the local by-pass to me - a guy in a Focus ST appeared behind me the other day as though he had de-cloaked.
And the level of rudeness is astonishing - if you point out any poor standards, you are made to feel as though you're the one at fault.

I'm interested to see if it's just me and my age or is this a global issue that's on the ascent?

 

[fnegroni]

for me it's a combination of several factors

1. i'm getting older, wiser, and more risk aware as i age.
2. My driving awareness is very high, but i don't have the patient of a saint aka driving instructor.
3. Drivers of my generation who were shit drivers back in the day when so they could afford was a vauxhall corsa or peugeot 106 have more money but not more sense.
4. Drivers are more distracted and i really welcome the new tech like the driver attention camera monitor
5. too many drivers of my generation suffer from an inferiority complex and rather remove driving aids. if it beeps, you screwed up. admit it, accept it, do better next time.

 

[5teep]

Reference your option 3, that's perfectly legal and in fact advised in some situations. Lane markings are mostly advisory unless they are solid/cross hatching as long as you can see ahead.

As for bad driving... I live in the Highlands and see a lot of issues with tourists driving badly because they are not used to the roads and unsure of their direction etc. but that's always been the same.

Where I really have notice a deterioration in standards is with HGV drivers. Since .gov decided to relax the driving test for HGVs I come across them speeding on narrow roads, flying round corners over the center line and generally being much more aggressive than previously.

 

[securespark]

I've noticed for many years that a honk gets people's goat. Depending on who it is, you get a varied reaction.

I've had anything from a honk back, a yell through an open window and a brake check.

Once, I was turning right and there were two lanes going right. I was in the left lane and the guy in the right lane was taken by surprise when I turned right. When we got to the next lights, he got out, red-faced and furious, hammering on the window, demanding a fight.

The exchange of words that followed went like this:

"Why on earth do you want to fight me?"

"Because you turned right back there!"

"The road markings allowed me to. Go back and look, you'll see."

He was absolutely furious.

But my personal peeve is professional drivers driving badly.

 

[OriginalBigAl]

Most on that list I can deal with, its people who are completely distracted and treat driving as a personnel right without the need for respect to other road users and those who are completely unaware of what's going on around them, those you can follow for several kilometres and you know they have not seen you. I wonder if there is a link between this and the skills and consideration they have when pushing a trolley around Tesco's or continental equivalent.

 

[fnegroni]

you should add people who can't/won't/don't know merge in turn

 

[Anon70]

I think the correlation might have something to do with the number of drivers and how many miles (much time is spent) on the roads. If you have more folk on the roads for more time it is more likely you will encounter a numpty.

 

[Ian Key]

If you want to really see some bad driving become a PCV or LGV driver. Some car drivers think it's fun to brake test a bus full of passengers or think they've got plenty of time to pull out on a bus doing the speed limit.

 

[Giller]

Having voted and viewed the poll results so far, cannot wait for the wife to get home so I can show here and go “See! It’s not just me!”

 

[Technonotice]

There is a road near me that I use twice a week or so, that has priority signs and island things to slow traffic. On Wednesday while driving along and where I had right of way, someone in a pickup pushed past me, having gone around the island and ignored the sign - and gave me the finger for my somewhat surprised gesture of . This isn't a 'have a go at pickup drivers' thing as I have one for the farm, but the attempt to intimidate me didn't work - I just blew them a kiss!

 

[Giller]

There is a road near me that I use twice a week or so, that has priority signs and island things to slow traffic. On Wednesday while driving along and where I had right of way, someone in a pickup pushed past me, having gone around the island and ignored the sign - and gave me the finger for my somewhat surprised gesture of . This isn't a 'have a go at pickup drivers' thing as I have one for the farm, but the attempt to intimidate me didn't work - I just blew them a kiss!

It’s things like that are why I have front and rear dash cams.

 

[Technonotice]

It’s things like that are why I have front and rear dash cams.

Me too, my friend!

 

[EVsince2016]

If you want to really see some bad driving become a PCV or LGV driver. Some car drivers think it's fun to brake test a bus full of passengers or think they've got plenty of time to pull out on a bus doing the speed limit.

My dad had a simple rule for this.

If a passenger falls over its 100% your fault. If you squash a car, its evens!

 

[T1 Terry]

Over here, it is drivers that don't have a clue how to merge onto a freeway, rather than build up speed to match the traffic flow, they either pull straight out or slow to a stop because no one stopped to let them in or something .....

That, and the bloke who has just retired, caught the train/bus to work every day, never had a traffic violation in 50 yrs that they've held a licence, but would be unlikely to have driven more than 5,000kms during that 50 yrs.
But they have retired and going to live the dream, buy a monster 4 X 4 so they can tow the over weight and poorly loaded van, they don't need to take a driving course to learn how to tow a caravan, they have had a licence for 50 yrs etc ....
So they hit the road, drive as fast as they can think, 60km/h on the narrow parts but accelerate to 100km/h on the two lane overtaking section .... it's straight and wide, the limit is 100km/h here so why can't I drive at that speed, then slow down again as soon as the road drops back to a single lane ......

T1 Terry