Could I add the following?:

1. The front foglights on in good visibility brigade (I asked a friend why he does this – his answer? “because it looks good”);
2. Sidelights or no lights on in poor visibility (an oversight perhaps as lord only knows what they think they might be saving);
3. Middle lane hogs – an old favourite which refuses to go away;
4. Drivers who have to race around the outside of a traffic island to get to their exit – particularly frequent at J4 of the M54;
5. Loud exhausts fitted to extremely mediocre cars whose owners seek any opportunity to accelerate quickly in order to make more noise;

I’m sure there’s many more. By the way, is it coincidence that those noted in 1, 4 and 5 above are often one and the same?

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8/10 for that rant.

And no mention of speeding.

Bravo, Sir!

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i agree with dave about the indicators, also i want to point out that on a motorway and duel carriageway that when you leave on a slip road it’s nice to indicate before you reach the slip roasnot 2 yards from it, i followed a car that left on the same sliproad on the m54 going up to tesco’s and i was indicating at the 300 yds marker , was just going to take the exit when the idiot in front decided that he was going the same way as me but without indicating.
Also i find that taxi drivers have got a different highway code to the rest of us, as a few weeks ago i gt to the roundabout by sainsbury’s in telford , there was a taxi on the outside lane supposingly turning right to go to the car park ,i was going left so was onthe inside off him and the idiot turned left then gave ME a dirty look as though i was in the wrong.
If i can use my indicators when necessary then why cant evry one else.

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Just get real. I agree 100% with you, but, when in rome and all that. I get peed off with in car mobile phone user’s,and other’s, can I change things? NOT a hope. I drive a 4×4 tank and people will argue with me at their own cost. Chill out man. MADMAX.

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A good rant, but be careful you don’t give yourself an MI! The days of considerate motorists has gone. I use to let people out, but when they stopped being polite, I stopped. The domino effect has taken over!

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Totally with you on this one Mr B! I reckon this is the main reason my BP is high!
Can I add in the people who are utterly incapable of indicating at roundabouts full stop?!
There you are, waiting to join with cars coming from the right, then they either turn left before your entrance without indicating so you’re left sitting there for no reason OR they come from the lane ahead of you, don’t indicate that they’re turning right so you assume they’re going straight on into the road you’re trying to leave, only to cut right across your path as you go when they are, in fact, wanting to turn right! Do they think crystal balls come as standard on everyone else’s motor vehicle or something?!
I’m by no means perfect by any means, but come on – it’s the people who are waiting to join the roundabout who need to know which way you’re going more than the ones already on it behind you! Simply indicating left just before the exit you decide you need is NOT good enough!
And don’t even get me started on people using their mobile phone while driving..!
Grrrrr….!

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OOOOHHH someone cut me up OOOOOOhhh someone didn’t indicate. Get a grip and face facts you can’t drive on todays roads .Go and apply for a bus pass x

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The fact is that there are many varying standards of driving encountered on our roads.

The hallmark of an experienced driver is to spot the hazards presented by those displaying lack of skill, observation, sigalling etc , and take appropriate action.

Generally speaking, (and in my expereince of driving spanning 44 years and well over 800,000 miles) a competent and experienced driver will spot all of the defiencies mentioned in this article WELL before they become a hazard and will not be affected as a result.

Put simply – you can virtually always “spot” the vehicle / driver likely to cause problems – call it sixth sense, observation, skill or what ever – but that again, is the Hallmark of the experienced driver. – And we have to allow room for others to make mistakes.

Also – in my 800,000+ miles of driving, I really can’t ever remember being caught out by such simplistic errors made by others such as lack of signalling. I’ve always been able to make good progress on journeys without incident!

On the subject of signalling – I might go so far as to say that signalling or lack of it given by others, doesn’t really make that much difference! Planning for the worst outcome, Using good ALL round observation (particularly on roundabouts / junctions will easily identify the rogue driver well in advance and you can then take appropriate action.

In short – I really can’t see the problem! There are good and bad drivers out there – but the experienced driver deals with it without fuss or bother !!

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what gets me is people who dont indicate when pulling off a roundabout, even if you are going straight on, you must indicate to show you are coming off, please people of shrewsbury (amongst the worst in my 30 years of driving around UK) i beg you all readers, please indicate when exiting a roundabout!

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“askeric dotcom” I agree – I would never trust a flashing indicator at a junction anyway as they are just an “indicator” not a premise to an absolute given action.

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James Avery,

If you think Shropshire drivers are bad you should try the Black Country. I used to drive all over there for five years and always breathed a sigh of relief when crossing back into Shropshire.

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Where as I don’t normally disagree with Askeric, I do about the fact that he says that the lack of signalling on roundabouts doesn’t matter.

I agree with him that experienced drivers develop a “sixth sense” towards bad drivers and can usually spot them a mile off and usually predict what they might or might not do BUT inexperienced drivers probaly cannot detect these poor traits and so when two “poor” drivers get together with their lack of skills this is when accidents happen. Also lack of indicators on islands slows progress down because sometimes people will wait for another to cross there path only to find that they willl shoot off left at the last moment.

Lack of indicators,usually goes with lack of mirror useage and generally poor driving…which as we all know leads to deaths on the road. More deaths are caused through lack of attention and poor driving than “speeding”.

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we would ban speed cameras, stop cyclists from going though red lights, cut taxes on petrol, cars etc, build more roads and make it cheaper for more people to drive a BMW M Series, labour is anti motorist, we can change that and make it better for the car owning majority

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You are so right Mark, you don’t think !

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Che – and how would you qualify #28 then given your obvious total lack of consideration for other road users?

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