Photo courtesy of Flickr’s Emma Wills
This isn’t a personal rant or crusade (okay maybe it is a bit) however, the masses may agree with me on these points.
We’re talking about bad driving habits. There’s so many it’s a question of where to start really. Here’s a good starter, and they may be easy pickings, but it’s also a popular one: old people on the roads.
Ever been behind one down a country road? They can usually be seen behind the wheel of a horribly coloured Honda Jazz (place your old people’s similar car here), which is some colour that the dealer has had in stock for ages and wants to offload it, like that nasty light Bluey Purple or Gold.
Back on the country road and it’s clearly a 60 mph limit but oh no, they want to drive at 40. Why? Only they know. The tailback is huge. A mass of drivers honking horns and flashing lights. Does the old person in question check their mirrors though? Apparently not, for 20-odd cars flashing and honking doesn’t seem to perturb them at all.
Soon though, that 60 mph limit turns into a 30 mph zone through the local village, but instead of the O.A.P slowing down to say 20 mph as would be expected, they continue to drive at 40. Annoyingly, why do we always get caught doing 33 by a sneaky Police laser, and yet these lovely old people can get away with speeding past Mrs Miggins Pie Shop and out the other side of the hamlet with no bother what-so-ever.
Old people, pay heed and watch your speed (in other words put your flipping foot down in the right places and take it off in others).
In this scenario we can also include Tractor driving farmers. Hello! There are around 10,000 cars behind you! Pull over and let us past you turnip-munching baboons.
Next victim please. Motorway lane hoggers. In much the same way as old people, lane hoggers get right up other drivers noses. Again, there’s the huge tailback, with one driver right at the front inevitably overtaking another (middle) lane hog at 70 mph, or exactly the same speed as the other driver. The dim-witted driver either never notices the line of angry drivers behind them or chooses to be completely selfish and not slide that accelerator pedal down another inch or two to get past in order to get back in to the slower lanes.
Now you may be thinking ‘70 mph is the limit on motorways so what’s the problem?’ Well pants to that. Nowadays 70 is the accepted minimum and even the Police won’t pull you for doing 80 unless they’re really bored. It’d be far too much paperwork for them if they did that every time.
The publics advice to these lane-hogging idiots is ‘use that accelerator pedal and get out of the way, you’re a nuisance and a downright danger to other road users!’
Actually, while we’re on the point of motorway users, truck drivers are in the habit of doing exactly the same thing for around ten miles at a time, especially on uphill dual carriageway sections so other people can’t get past. In Germany this sort of thing is not allowed and at most times of the day trucks are confined to only the inside lane. That’s definitely the way to go! Less danger of accidents and it also frees the roads up for other drivers too, which in turn means far less tailbacks.
So okay, we’re all guilty of our different bad road habits and we could all do to improve on some point or other. Nobody’s perfect right.
One common thing we should all work on though, is being aware of other road users. If someone’s tailgating you and wants to be past, don’t get mad and slow down even more, just pull over and let them past. If you’re a cautious road user and prefer to go slower down the road beware that there are other road users around you and do something about it. People do end up having accidents trying to pass slower drivers.
If you’ve annoyed someone and they beep at you, don’t give them the bird and honk back, just accept it and carry on. Whatever the thing is that’s bugging us, don’t let it get to you so badly that it causes you to drive dangerously, just chill out more often.
Here’s a proposition I have for the Government. All vehicles should legally have a copy of a Jack Johnson album in the glove box. Well, it’s one way to keep us all mellowed-out and I think we should push for it.
What do you reckon?
