[Closed] Why are some people such colossal...

momentarily elevating your right foot.

I've written about this in the past but I took to opening my window and waving the driver past me without lifting off and regardless of whether or not there was traffic coming the other way. To my surprise many actually took it as a sign to make the pass even though they moved out into oncoming traffic. Very weird.

I don't do it nowadays because it became quite dangerous, much like the way brake testing a tailgater is - it makes you no better. More dangerous, even.

The road is no place for games...

I try to do my bit by letting people out of junctions or allowing cyclists space. You inevitably get the shaved ape up your chuff waving their arms around and hooting because he/she's been held up momentarily, I take huge delight in taking my sweet time to accelerate to 29mph as they go berserk behind me.

You can't reason with these people. If you do try and communicate at their level you're going to lose as they've way more practice at being an idiot. Best to smile and kill with kindness.

Why are some people so wrapped up in themselves that they can't wait for 20 seconds whilst a fellow human being is getting a bit of help?

I was riding to work a couple of years ago on a January morning, saw something on the opposite side of the road, for anyone that knows glasgow this was on the A77 just at Ayr road just at Parklands 'country club'. Saw a shoe then realised it was a young boy lying in the middle of the road - he'd been hit by a car which had driven off.

I ran over and traffic both sides stopped but of course the really important people had to squeeze past me and a woman tending to the unconscious boy and the traffic on the opposite side of the road. Absolute ******* idiots.

Few broken bones btw but he was okay and the driver was eventually caught.

My car broke down a couple of times over summer. I was surprised how many people sounded their horns at me to get out of the way despite sitting there with hazards on (and in one case a breakdown truck...). Do they think I was parked there for the fun of it?

teasel - Member
Unfortunately Steve is chunky and has wide shoulders. Steve also now makes a point of standing his ground to the masses of on coming Zombies.
STEVE SMASH...!

OHH Yeah hate the ignorant buggers. Got one a pearler on Whitby bridge and he even apologised. 😆 Maybe if the Zombies could think they'd learn 😆

Oddly enough I've found driving around Manchester during the last year a very civilised experience. It seems around Stoke however all the indicator bulbs have blown. Guildford I see as a driver's (and ale drinker's) dystopia. Harrogate is on record as the country's happiest town yet it has the highest rate for drunk driving.

This is another benefit of driving a windowless van. Totally oblivious to all this shizzle going on behind me, because the angry bell ends are generally too close to be seen in the mirrors. Makes them marginally less likely to do a stupid overtake too as they can't see through to any hazards in front.

The road is no place for games...

You misunderstand perhaps, I'm not talking about "brake-testing" people. Rather, if someone's parked in your boot, lifting off for a few seconds and then accelerating back up to speed. It creates a braking distance behind you - particularly effective with vans and HGVs.

Cougar - Moderator
lifting off for a few seconds and then accelerating back up to speed. It creates a [s]braking distance[/s] very angry shaved chimp behind you - particularly effective with vans and HGVs.

FTFY

I know what you mean though, quite surprising these expert drivers never made it in F1, given they obviously have reaction speed better than sebastian vettel 😆

You misunderstand perhaps, I'm not talking about "brake-testing" people.

No, I wasn't referring to you lifting off as brake testing, rather just an unnecessary action. You can justify it anyway you like, tho... 🙂

Edit : And by that I mean I've done my fair share of that kind of stuff so am in no position to judge.

It doesn't necessarily have to be a momentary thing. You can't control the gap between you and the car behind, but you can control the speed you're going. Therefore in order to make the gap safe for the speed you're going all you can do is slow down. I have sometimes done this with people who get far too close. slowing down significantly - though certainly the closer somebody is behind me the slower I tend to go.

I know somebody who once did this with somebody tailgating and managed to come to a complete stop with the person behind so close that they couldn't overtake without reversing.

First rule of driving - you can't do anything about the drivers behind you. I never worry about them, nor their fuming.

I also thank considerate drivers when cycling, and don't like to re-overtake them if they have just given me a perfect 1.5+m of space and I catch them again.

The odd numpties are really the exception, sometimes they are the entertaining exception.

First rule of driving - you can't do anything about the drivers behind you.

That's why I never look in my mirrors. I only see angry faces when I do. 😉

I try to do my bit by letting people out of junctions or allowing cyclists space.

Pet hate of mine is traffic jams where if everyone just let one person out there would be no jam. Also up there is people not giving way to you when an obstruction is on their side of the road. Just barrel towards you regardless. If it’s just me in the car I’ll drive towards them and they can either reverse or sit there in a state of impotent rage and then reverse.

The standard of driving, but more importantly the care people take with regards to each other, is pretty disgraceful at the moment.

Things I see regularly:

In traffic with some slow movement, people furtively looking down at their phone, then up and slamming on the brakes or yanking the steering wheel because they haven't been paying attention.

People stopped immediately after blind bends on country roads, hazards on (thus absolving them of all responsibility), on the phone.

I think a lot of people have twigged the fact that, due to good old (unnecessary) austerity, there are basically no police around any more.

Seem to encounter them on a near-weekly basis:

Down in South Devon a few weeks ago, walking a footpath with our dogs and had to walk along a short section of singletrack, dead-end road to connect to the next path. 6 ft stone walls either side with about 18" of clearance. Brummy bell-end of driver in tranny with wife and kids drives toward us - we try and move to the side but driver keeps coming. One dog who hates cars starts backing up and risks pulling out her collar - I ask driver to 'stop' so we can pass. He then launches into a full-on rant about getting off the road, using the f*ing footpath, spoiling for a fight etc etc. Have no choice but to turn around and walk exceedingly slowly down the middle of the road for 200m back to the footpath whilst he's revving his engine and continuing to rant but no way past. If he'd stopped for 10 seconds, we would have got passed safely.

If it’s just me in the car I’ll drive towards them and they can either reverse or sit there in a state of impotent rage and then reverse.

I believe one of the mods once said on here that he kept a paperback in the glove compartment for moments like this..... until someone got out and lamped him(?)

First rule of driving - you can't do anything about the drivers behind you.

Aye you can - the lightest of nudges on the brake pedal, just enough to make the lights come on but not slow you down, can cause someone that's 3 feet away from your bumper shit themselves & drop their phone 😀

I believe one of the mods once said on here that he kept a paperback in the glove compartment for moments like this..... until someone got out and lamped him(?)

Ooh. I’ve got some old novels. Thanks for the tip 🙂

hazards on (thus absolving them of all responsibility

Oh god, I hate this so much. Hazard warning lights appear to have become park anywhere lights.

Bleedin do gooders, always holding up us busy folk. 😀

I believe one of the mods once said on here that he kept a paperback in the glove compartment for moments like this..... until someone got out and lamped him(?)

The former is me, but not the latter.

The only time I recall a road rage lamping was in a head-on "who goes first" situation. Driver leaped out his van, tore my door open and punched me in the face because he'd seen I was "shouting and screaming at him."

What I was actually doing was giving it some singing along to Guns 'n' Roses.

Yep, there are assholes everywhere. There's a single lane bridge you have to drive over as you come into my town, which is often busy at rush hour.

If you get a long stream of cars in one direction, it gives no chance for the cars in the other direction to cross.
If I see a long stream has been going over the bridge, I'll stop to let the oncoming cars have their turn.
Holy Crap! The shaking heads, fist waving, swearing and banging on steering wheels that this generates is amazing (and fairly amusing)!

Happened to me the other week, small road on the morning commute. 20 mph the whole way down the road with no idea what was at the front of the queue.

Round the corner to the single lane bridge where we have right of way. Traffic queued at the other side of the bridge so I stop and flash the other side through. Lady behind me flashes her lights, beeps her horn and forces her way past me meaning the people coming over the other way have to take evasive action. I let the two cars over after that and join the queue directly behind her. Childishly passed her on the next straight, regretted not just letting it go but there was nothing dangerous about the overtake (just pointless).

@mcj78 - I just turn my side lights on for a second or two, if they really aren't paying attention then they assume it's my brakes 😀

I've just had an experience this morning that has confirmed the *ishness of one group of people who are generally regarded as utter *s, but thrown another angle over the *ishness of another group of people who are generally regarded as utter *s.

I was on the M6 this morning, and there had been a crash shutting all 3 lanes. As everyone grinds to a halt the sat nav tells me that my estimated journey time for the 7 miles I have to travel is 2 hours.

Arse! Oh well. Nowt I can do about it. Travel news says the M6 is now shut. Nobody is going anywhere, so engine off and play my scrabble moves on my phone (rock and roll eh?)

Its a good mile and a half off the next junction, but it soon becomes apparent that a certain group of people think that they are now exempted from the rules of the road, and are now allowed to use the hard shoulder to drive this distance. Go on... hazard a guess who?

You're probably ahead of me.... every single one of this now regular stream is driving a German manufactured rep-mobile. Every single one! Anyone who isn't an utterly self-absorbed * would probably work out for themselves that if the motorway is shut, then theres a good chance that ambulances and the traffic police are going to be needing the hard shoulder to get to the incident. But hey... if you're more important than them?

But then another group of people, also generally regarded as *s took exception to this, and did something about it. As I looked down the motorway a large number of white van men started pulling their front wheels over on to the hard shoulder just enough to prevent German rep-mobile man from getting past, thus stopping the flow of them, but then nudging their bonnets back out when the ambulances came through

Turns out Mr German rep-mobile man isn't inclined to go through his usual swearing and gesticulating routine when he's stationary, and the other party is two hairy arsed plumbers or welders in a Transit 😆

Binners - I’ve seen a white van man do the same sort of thing too - quite heartening.

I only passed my driving test 10 years ago and was taught just to keep slowing down if someone was tailgating me really badly. I’ve managed to do 15mph sometimes and they still do it.

The Elland bypass going towards Halifax has a “filter in turn” thing as the end of the dual carriageway. Most people do just that but I was on it once and a guy tried pushing in front of me out of turn. There would be zero advantage to this as all he would be is one car ahead in a very long line. What he didn’t count on was that my Volvo 940 estate is built like a tank with huge bumpers and a slight mark on my bumper rubber would mean thousands of pounds of damage to his new SUV thing - he eventually realised and backed off when our bodywork was 5mm apart from each other.

I've just had an experience this morning that has confirmed the *ishness of one group of people who are generally regarded as utter *s, but thrown another angle over the *ishness of another group of people who are generally regarded as utter *s.

I was on the M6 this morning, and there had been a crash shutting all 3 lanes. As everyone grinds to a halt the sat nav tells me that my estimated journey time for the 7 miles I have to travel is 2 hours.

Arse! Oh well. Nowt I can do about it. Travel news says the M6 is now shut. Nobody is going anywhere, so engine off and play my scrabble moves on my phone (rock and roll eh?)

Its a good mile and a half off the next junction, but it soon becomes apparent that a certain group of people think that they are now exempted from the rules of the road, and are now allowed to use the hard shoulder to drive this distance. Go on... hazard a guess who?

You're probably ahead of me.... every single one of this now regular stream is driving a German manufactured rep-mobile. Every single one! Anyone who isn't an utterly self-absorbed * would probably work out for themselves that if the motorway is shut, then theres a good chance that ambulances and the traffic police are going to be needing the hard shoulder to get to the incident. But hey... if you're more important than them?

But then another group of people, also generally regarded as *s took exception to this, and did something about it. As I looked down the motorway a large number of white van men started pulling their front wheels over on to the hard shoulder just enough to prevent German rep-mobile man from getting past, thus stopping the flow of them, but then nudging their bonnets back out when the ambulances came through

Turns out Mr German rep-mobile man isn't inclined to go through his usual swearing and gesticulating routine when he's stationary, and the other party is two hairy arsed plumbers or welders in a Transit

Had a similar one to this coming back from wales on the M4, massive horrible accident had shut the motorway and the police were turning everyone round. Some numpty comes razzing up the hard shoulder and i thought i wish when people did that sort of stupid unthinking maneuver there would be a traffic cop waiting for them......on this occasion there was! the ones who were dealing with the massive crash and probably especially pissed off at some twit making their job harder. So whilst everyone else was either turned around of directed off the motorway said twits were sat in the back of a traffic police car :o)

I only passed my driving test 10 years ago and was taught just to keep slowing down if someone was tailgating me really badly. I’ve managed to do 15mph sometimes and they still do it.

I think some tailgaters just genuinely have no idea that they are doing it.

The [i]correct[/i] distance to leave between cars (e.g. ~62 metres at 70mph!) is purely theoretical to some folk, and is roughly fifty times the distance they [i]actually[/i] leave.

Another good reason for periodic retests.

said twits were sat in the back of a traffic police car

That pleases me.

I thought I would add to this, a mate has just come back from a day trip to wales LLyn Brianne. When he arrived he discovered he had forgotten his lid. He was with his missus, anyway they parked at the reservoir, he googled bike shops nearby and decided to just do the 3 hr ride anyway, a low risk bimble with his careful missus. A group of riders from a club (he said they were Essex - he is a fellow South easterner) tried to block him from going off down the road saying in all conscience they could not let him ride.
He isn't the confrontational type (there were 8 or so of them)he asked if any of them had a spare lid, thy didn't and in the end just packed up and went off for lunch and never did the ride.
He has come home quite sore and feeling a bit emasculated. I was livid, just because where the hell do people get off trying to enforce some unwritten rule that frankly is pretty controversial anyway.

A group of riders from a club (he said they were Essex - he is a fellow South easterner) tried to block him from going off down the road saying in all conscience they could not let him ride.

😯

They were lucky it wasn't Ton!

Were they threatening? Were they just going to stop him forever? He should have rung the police, or threatened to, as it's tantamount to false imprisonment, no?

Regardless, I would have got their club name, then exacted revenge at a later date.

My pal is an xc racing snake, he is a pretty good descender but is not aggressive. My interpretation is that he was kind of just dumfounded by why anyone would block his trail access just for not wearing a helmet. I don't think he got into anything more detailed.
That's what pisses me off is that really those dudes intimidated him off the trail. I would have just thanked them and cycled past but he isn't that type of person, plus when it all goes sour like that it kind of ruins your day doesn't it? Probably not conducive to happy riding even if he did get past them.
I am angry about it now.

Had some class bellendery from a lorry.
J15 M4 - between the hours of 07:00 and 10:00 it's basically a nice long queue to get off the motorway and into the promised land of Green Park. Now at the point I've bought an automatic as I was getting clutch cramp.
Was enjoying my usual scenic view of Verizon HQ when holy crap!! a lorry came hurtling up the hard shoulder and screeched to a stop inches from my rear bumper. Where he proceeded to gesticulate and mouth slurs on my parentage for not letting him in. Which I couldn't as I wasn't going anywhere either.
What can you do, other than turn the radio up a bit.

A group of riders from a club (he said they were Essex - he is a fellow South easterner) tried to block him from going off down the road saying in all conscience they could not let him ride.

he should have tj'd them with some facts about rotational injuries

Bastardised bump...!

Cougar »

Dannyh » I believe one of the mods once said on here that he kept a paperback in the glove compartment for moments like this..... until someone got out and lamped him(?)

The former is me, but not the latter.

I had to bump this coz I remembered the same as Danny and was a little bemused as to why we had the same recollection of that particular tale. So, I went and found this...

Cougar » I used to carry a book in the glove box for this sort of Mr Entitled eventuality. (I gave up after one bloke jumped out of his van, pulled open my door and punched me in the face, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.)

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-do-these-drivers-think-will-happen-in-this-situation

Sorry, Cougar, had to be done - can't stand irregularities in the Truth Continuum and dislike my own memory being challenged whether directly or not.

🙂

Also, the thread is about colossal arseholes, so...

Yeah, but it was a book about Guns n Roses and he was just reading aloud...

I've recently had to do a lot of miles for work, something I've not had to do for awhile, and I must say I've been pleasantly surprised at how non-knobish the majority of drivers have been - mostly motorway, lane-hogging gets very frustrating, as does a high percentage of drivers seemingly oblivious to what's going on around them, I'm sure city driving would be different but out-and-out ****tery has been thankfully fairly scarce for me. Even coming through the roadworks at the top of the M5 hasn't been too terrible, just the one van-driving queue-jumping knob jockey.

Cougar » I used to carry a book in the glove box for this sort of Mr Entitled eventuality. (I gave up after one bloke jumped out of his van, pulled open my door and punched me in the face, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.)

Yeah, but it was a book about Guns n Roses and he was just reading aloud...

8)

Barnard Marcus car nearly had me crashing into him yesterday as he pulled a u turn without warning, would have been okay normally but he was on my left when he did it.

Sorry, Cougar, had to be done - can't stand irregularities in the Truth Continuum and dislike my own memory being challenged whether directly or not.

The trouble is you remember the arsholes more than decent people.

I had a conversation with a properly arrogant baby boomer daliy mail type the other night, he hated everything and everyone who wasnt exactly like him.

Even now he's bothering me, mustnt mull it too much I suppose.

Cycling home the other night, I committed the grave sin of stopping at a zebra crossing, as there were some people crossing at the time. The cyclist behind me smacked straight into my back wheel and came off. He seemed to think it was my fault for "braking suddenly". I was not full of sympathy for his bumps and bruises.

Its a good mile and a half off the next junction, but it soon becomes apparent that a certain group of people think that they are now exempted from the rules of the road, and are now allowed to use the hard shoulder to drive this distance. Go on... hazard a guess who?

Bit late but......Sir Alex Ferguson? 😆