Annoying things motorists do

[expat]

.....
9) You're queuing at a junction, there's a slight gap but a car is coming... and then it turns into your road at the last moment, when if they had indicated you could have pulled out...

Indicating does him no good, but does you some good. I would almost judge a whole country by how well they behave in such circumstances.

[Purple Dalek]

Indicators should never be relied on for anything and are best ignored. Which is harder is to ignore the absense of indicator. But that one must also.

[Beefy198]

Forgot a couple:

You're behind a slow moving vehicle (usually a tractor in my neck of the woods) and you know that coming up is a nice straight bit of road... you wait patiently, you get to the straight bit, go to pull out.... and the car behind you floors it and goes around you first (sometimes without even knowing if the way is clear).

In defence of the usual 'victimised' car drivers on this thread, I see all types of cars do this.

Secondly, people that sit in a traffic queue indicating. You're not benefiting anyone by sitting there motionless with it flashing. Even worse are people that indicate in a filter lane where you HAVE to turn in a certain direction - especially funny if you have concrete kerbs either side of you at a traffic light controlled junction so there is definitely no other direction to turn in!

[TimberWolf]

Has anyone been caught letting out a white van [usually] parked on the side of the street, only to discover he had his hazard lights flashing (all 4 indicators) and not just the two offside ones you could see?

[Spacecadet]

Has anyone been caught letting out a white van [usually] parked on the side of the street, only to discover he had his hazard lights flashing (all 4 indicators) and not just the two offside ones you could see?

guilty as charged

[Purple Dalek]

Has anyone been caught letting out a white van [usually] parked on the side of the street, only to discover he had his hazard lights flashing (all 4 indicators) and not just the two offside ones you could see?

Yes, hazard lights make me laugh. If you know you're a hazard, why are you parked there you plank.

I rationalise that they don't actually understand they are a hazard, but that in the combination of 'a','b','c' they have to flick that switch. Which, lets face it, is about the peak of the mental abilities of the average delivery driver.

[BoredBloke]

That's how it's supposed to work. The point is that, if the traffic sped up to 70, it would shortly catch up with slower-moving traffic some distance ahead. This would cause a wave of braking, which would ultimately propagate backwards to the point of causing a dead stop a mile or three behind.

By keeping the limit at 50, it allows the congestion up ahead to sort itself out to some degree before the traffic you are in catches up with it. The end result is that you may have to travel the entire stretch at 50, but you at least get to keep moving. If you (and the other traffic around you) had been allowed to speed up, you would all have then had to slow right down again, or even stop, a short distance ahead.

That's why it's called Active Traffic Management - the intention is to prevent or minimise congestion, not just try to fix it after it happens.

I know how it is supposed to work, but when lane 3 is completely empty and its 7pm on a Thursday night, that traffic you are talking about catching has already got home, had its tea and is watching the telly. I'm all for traffic management if there is traffic to manage. I've been on the M42 when there has been little or no traffic yet the signs are on limiting the speed. To me it's more like they are on a timer than being actively managed.

[BoredBloke]

Yes, hazard lights make me laugh. If you know you're a hazard, why are you parked there you plank.

I rationalise that they don't actually understand they are a hazard, but that in the combination of 'a','b','c' they have to flick that switch. Which, lets face it, is about the peak of the mental abilities of the average delivery driver.

It's amazing how many people brake down right outside shops etc on double yellows - you can tell that they have obviously broken down because they have their hazard lights on.

[Doggy Styles]

My Cortina DeLuxe doesn't have hazard warning lights.

[Bagpuss]

Urban legend. The cameras previously weren't type-approved to deal with lane changes, which is why the limits weren't actually enforced. Now they do have type-approval, and the limits are enforced. It changed quite a while ago.

It must be in the last year or so because I drove on that road regularly, and seldom stuck to the limit.