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I don’t know if it’s just me that is unlucky, but I seem to be seeing an increase in drivers who can’t judge the size of gaps. There is a particular stretch of road near me that has cars parked down one side, but you could still fit about three buses through side by side.
Nine times out of ten I’ll get stuck behind somebody that won’t go through the gap when cars are approaching from the opposite direction. I wonder what these people think they are actually driving. Does anybody else see this sort of odd behaviour on a daily basis?
Half of all drivers have below average ability.. maybe make allowances for the crap ones...
I'd rather a nervous driver wait than **** my wing mirror coming the other way. Around here they give far more room to the parked car than the on coming probably due to not being able to judge that distance as easily. A lot of bad drivers around.
They're probably driving leased cars and are panicking about any damage bankrupting them :p
Seems sensible to me rather than 2 cars passing each other where another is parked.
We’re not talking any danger of cars touching here. Big **** off gap with lots and lots of room. Most cars go through no issues
I like to leave a gap, having had a door opened on me in the past from a parked car.
Particularly on a bike, but I do the same in a car for the same reasons.
I've also had a kid step out from between cars, I was on the bike that time but I believe that 1.5m saved me and him.
Apologies if it delays your journey by a few seconds.
Jesus! Happy bunch this morning aren’t we. It’s just an observation. I actually don’t give a shit about being delayed. I was just curious if anybody else sees drivers who can’t judge space very well
. I was just curious if anybody else sees drivers who can’t judge space very well
Yes when they fail to leave a safe gap when passing me.
What I see on a regular basis round here (W/N Yorks boundary) is on a wide road with a painted central reservation which has occasional traffic islands is that the drivers will swing left to "avoid" the island despite it not encroaching into the lane. Has their car suddenly gained in width or something?
It's easy to work out where the near side of your car is in relation to the side of the road, parked cars, cyclists: find a straight stretch of road with a kerb and park up so that you are just away from the kerb. Now from your normal driving position look for a fixed point on the car (joint in windscreen wiper or similar) that aligns with the kerb as it comes into view. For a cyclist park 2 metres out from the kerb and figure out another mark.
Thanks Whitestone, that’s the exact sort of thing I’m talking about. I take it you’ve had your overnight oats and thus didn’t wake up in STW argumentative mode?
Driving is the hardest most difficult thing most people do. Some relish and enjoy the challenge and try to do it to the best of their ability. others panic, freeze, dread or just don’t GAS.
Round our way it is all 20mph people refuse to ever yield when the road narrows, not even lifting off to allow a little more time to pass more easily.
I think a lot of folk driving Chelsea tractor types who think their vehicle is much wider than it actually is. Driving the lanes round here you see quite a few Range Rovery/Q3 drivers who obviously think they are brushing the hedge when in fact they are nowhere near.
Opposite here.
Road round corner has cars parked all along one side, just enough space to have 2 cars to through, but no room for a door opening.
Folk still go, gesticulating at you for sitting a few feet out, whilst they're driving with 2 wheels on the pavement. Arseholez.
@funkmasterp - Ha ha! None of that horrible milk to ruin them 🙂
I should have mentioned that if there isn't an obvious fixed point on the car then attach a small sticker on the dashboard or (probably illegal) at the bottom of the windscreen.
^^yeah, get that too on our road. I suppose it’s like most other car threads on here. There’s just such a wide range of poor driving combined with people who don’t seem to give a shit.
Yes. I blame faux by fours ,they have to be driven 1 metre from any parked vehicle round our way.
Actually the worst spacial awareness round my commute is around a school where those ejecting their spawn out think 2 cars can pass each other where there is no room, I've taken to riding down the middle of the lane to avoid being barged out of the way.
But just watch people try and park and you will see how little people know about the corners of their cars, I'd rather turn up the sensors to make them feel even bigger so we all get more room
I'd always prefer drivers to err on the side of caution, allowing for things like hidden kids, dogs, cats etc stepping out, doors opening etc. Having had a £600 bill for a wing mirror when someone tried squeezing through and knocked it off, I would gladly trade everyone holding back a little.
More haste, less speed and all that. Better to slow down than do a bunch of expensive damage or kill/injure someone.
A stretch of road near us is very narrow, with just about enough space for two cars to pass each other as long as one of them stops. There are dry stone walls either side, so no verge or other passing places. You can plan ahead and pull in at one of three widest bits, to make life easier for someone coming the other way, and it always helps if you fold in your mirrors to pass each other. Yesterday I pulled in before the narrow stretch as there was a van going the same way as me, and at least three other large vehicle roofs visible coming the other way.
The van going uphill pulled over and stopped. A transit van eased past him, mirrors folded, followed by a pickup, then a Discovery. Next car down was a Golf, middle aged driver. It stopped and the driver started to shout at the van driver, gesticulating for him to reverse or somehow make the gap wider to get through. From my perspective there was at least a foot of room between the two vehicles, and surely the driver had seen three vehicles, all wider than the Golf go through the same gap? I leant out of the window and gesticulated to the Golf driver to drive through the gap. Good grief! You'd have thought I'd just offered to set fire to them and their children. Anyway, I had to agree with her last word on the subject, as I am indeed fat, and I can indeed be a complete bastard when the mood takes me.
I wonder what these people think they are actually driving.
I often wonder where drivers are going in such a hurry. Probably somewhere so important that waiting for a few seconds is life or death.
I was just curious if anybody else sees drivers who can’t judge space very well
Yes regularly see people who think you can get a bus through there let alone 3 then block an emergency vehicle as they don’t have any spatial awareness.
To be clear I’m not in any kind of hurry, don’t speed and don’t take risks. Your life and death comment is something that has affected me. My post history on car threads and reasons for this are quite clear. Passing on narrow roads is stupid and courteous behaviour is the best behaviour. I merely observed that some drivers aren’t very good at judging gaps, whether those gaps are minuscule or of truly epic proportions.
I was just curious if anybody else sees drivers who can’t judge space very well
Yes regularly see people who think you can get a bus through there let alone 3 then block an emergency vehicle as they can’t have no spatial awareness.
Huh?
I can’t get no.......
Corrected. 😳
I hate having to thank people for waiting when the gap they left is wide enough for 2 double deck buses. Twerps.
Still, there are worse things going on on the roads. Like the dick who overtook me on my bike this morning, then cut left across me without indicating. I look across as I catch him on the roundabout and he has his Costa cup in his hand. Far more important than letting people know which way you're going. ****.
Weird thing I find is the number who tailgate me is in the majority now the Chelsea tractor types, and "not to be sexist but", it's all the mums (but could be they're just the ones driving those types of cars in the majority). They're not driving threateningly and trying to overtake, they just like to drive very close. The only other tailgaters are on the motorway and yeah the usual guys in the BMWs and Audis (generalisation, but it's more than often true), but I get far less of this now. It's mostly the Chelsea tractor mums now.
It's spatial awareness in general. You've either got it or you haven't. People with spatial awareness make great mountain bikers and simply don't understand when someone else can't judge that gap
It’s driving ability in general. You’ve either got it or you haven’t. But everyone has the right to do it, unfortunately.
They don't have a right to do it. That's why you need a licence that can be revoked. However most people do treat it as a right rather than a privilege.
It’s mostly the Chelsea tractor mums now.
Based on what I see daily, it's usually these guys who hog the middle land on the motorway, & generally can't drive.
Although that said, if little Tarquin is in the back screaming blue murder cos he's not getting his way I'm sure my driving would go to pot too.
They don’t have a right to do it. That’s why you need a licence that can be revoked.
Not officially, trouble is, they do. You can take that test as many times as you like until you get lucky and they give you the license.
I’ll get stuck behind
and
To be clear I’m not in any kind of hurry
😉
Anyway
don't mistake
drivers who can’t judge space very well
for drivers who can judge space perfectly well but prefer to leave a large gap based on past experience, because better safe than sorry. I'm not saying all drivers have that perceptive capability mind - the number of bad passes i get on my bike indicate otherwise. Unless they all really do have brilliant spatial awareness but like to get that close because it adds to the excitement of my ride?
However most people do treat it as a right rather than a privilege.
That's because it is.
A privilege is a special right or advantage held by an individual or minority group, typically due to wealth or social standing. Anyone can drive as long as they show basic competency.
It's yet another argument about semantics, but I dislike far too oft repeated lazy soundbites. 🙂
I was always taught to leave at least a door's width between myself and parked cars, for obvious reasons. But also for less obvious reasons, like someone stepping out from behind a parked car. Just because you can fit a bus through doesn't necessarily make it safe.
In fact my experience is mostly the opposite. I find people charge through regardless of oncoming traffic or whether there is room or not. Rarely see people give way when they are supposed to.
Trying to remember who gave me the advice that "cars come in integer values, if the gap is 1.9999 cars wide, you'll still only fit one car through it".
The drivers I see tend to be those that are brake happy and very nervous. Some (every few days) will go through the large gap part way and then slam brakes on and angle their vehicle ever so slightly towards the parked vehicles to let oncoming traffic through. Just seems a bit odd (and dangerous) to me.
I’ll get stuck behind
and
To be clear I’m not in any kind of hurry
Poor choice of words on my behalf there.
😀
You get the same in supermarkets - trolleys paused to get through a gap they would fit through...
Fair point sbob, I retract my statement.
Many Edinburgh streets are double parked with just enough room for 2 cars, they would come to a standstill if anyone left room for parked cars' doors.
what theotherjonv said. A line of parked cars means doors, unsighted kids, dogs - anything really that could be unsighted and encroach into the carriageway. I rather stop and wait. Or if it really is 3 bus widths, then I'll leave a decent gap to the parked cars and squeeze the gap down to the oncoming cars.
A line of parked cars means doors, unsighted kids, dogs
What? All of them? What about where you can see the pavement? I find the situations differ, depending on the location, road width etc.
Potentially. Maybe not all at once though.
If I can absolutely see that it is safe to do so then I will go through a gap without leaving a safety margin (one that others on here may see as excessive - measured in metres rather than mm) but I'll do it at a proper slow pace. If i can see it is unsafe or can't tell, the risk-reward ratio for me says wait until it is.
If I can absolutely see that it is safe to do so then I will go through a gap without leaving a safety margin (one that others on here may see as excessive – measured in metres rather than mm) but I’ll do it at a proper slow pace. If i can see it is unsafe or can’t tell, the risk-reward ratio for me says wait until it is.
The first bit pretty much describes the road in my OP. Huge pavement with cars parked half on. Down hill so sight lines are great and actually wide enough to leave enough space.
Thanks for the input all. Especially those who assume I’m driving at excessive speeds and taking risks like Jackie Chan in the eighties. If it wasn’t for you no thread would ever make it past three posts
Thanks for the input all. Especially those who assume I’m driving at excessive speeds and taking risks like Jackie Chan in the eighties. If it wasn’t for you no thread would ever make it past three posts
What is the distance between the posts?
1.999999
Not large enough to get a tank through?
A stretch of road near us is very narrow, with just about enough space for two cars to pass each other as long as one of them stops. There are dry stone walls either side.....
I'm guessing from your username that you're talking about Scapegoat Hill in Slaithwaite. I used to live in Marsden so know it well. It's certainly a good spot for observing the total ineptitude of many drivers when it comes to a) squeezing through narrow gaps; b) reversing; and c) having any foresight that pulling in at a wider spot might be a good idea if there's a big van coming the other way. The real fun starts when an unwitting HGV-driver scrapes their way down the hill only to find a set of steep, tight S-bends to negotiate at the bottom.
".. I find the situations differ, depending on the location, road width etc."
theotherjonv
Potentially...
Is that really a reply to my post? 😆
If it wasn’t for you no thread would ever make it past three posts
It would be a pretty dull forum then wouldn't it?
Reversing, hmm.
A couple of years ago we went to Coll and Tiree with our bikes. After our stop on Coll we headed down to the ferry terminal. Because the ferry service is Oban - Coll - Tiree it means that the front of the ship is loaded up with those cars for Coll. It also means that cars embarking have to reverse on to the ferry to match the direction of the rest of the vehicles. It is at this point that you realise just how bad many drivers are. We looked at one of the staff who remarked "This is nothing! We see much worse than this". At least that day there was no-one with a caravan or short trailer.
Is that really a reply to my post?
No it was a response to
What? All of them?
Why, is that a problem? Yes, of course situations differ but as i then went on to say, if I'm uncertain about the safety of going through a gap then i won't, or at least I'll do it in a way that makes it as safe as I reasonably can.
If it wasn’t for you no thread would ever make it past three posts
It would be a pretty dull forum then wouldn’t it?
And that is why I gave special thanks, for the special people.
Not large enough to get a tank through?
Depends on the tank, there’s a significant variation in size, like cars, really.
I was behind a tiny pink Daewoo on the A48 today that was straddling 2 lanes!
Potentially... 🙂
<div class="bbp-reply-author">ElShalimo
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@Scapegoat – is that Clough Lane just above Slaithwaite?
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and Qtip
yes that’s the one.
Depends on the tank, there’s a significant variation in size, like cars, really.
TBH wouldn’t any size tank go thru any size gap thou 🙂
@Scapegoat - that's no surprise. I've seen Fiat 500s take up more room than our LWB Transit campervan along there.
It's common to find people driving in the middle of the road all over rural Hudds/Calderdale. I think they're worried that the stone walls will jump out and attack them.