Your top three driving pet hates...

[itaintemeyouno]

And by courts. It has long been the case that there are circumstances whereby the driver in the 'front' vehicle shares liability with the rear-end shunter.

Rear end shunt - a change of judicial direction? John O?Neill v Ashley Monkman (Nottingham CC, 14 August 2013) - Insurance Litigation - Horwich Farrelly

Seems like neither the judiciary nor legal people know that it is an overtaking lane, NOT the fast lane! Small claims courts don't create a precedent. I believe that it has to go to crown court before a legal precedent is set. That's not to say that insurers or courts wouldn't consider these cases.

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Seems like neither the judiciary nor legal people know that it is an overtaking lane, NOT the fast lane! Small claims courts don't create a precedent. I believe that it has to go to crown court before a legal precedent is set. That's not to say that insurers or courts wouldn't consider these cases.

It also seems odd to quote "three car lengths" as a safe following distance. It's safe up to about 20mph, but that's all. I'd be disappointed if I couldn't stop within three car lengths from that speed. But the report doesn't say what the speed was at the time of the incident. IMO the trial judge probably had little or no idea what a safe following distance was.

 

[meeeb]

Seems like neither the judiciary nor legal people know that it is an overtaking lane, NOT the fast lane! Small claims courts don't create a precedent. I believe that it has to go to crown court before a legal precedent is set. That's not to say that insurers or courts wouldn't consider these cases.

Crown courts are criminal courts and would deal with a criminal offence, eg driving without due care and attention, as opposed to a claim for financial redress by an injured (in the widest sense of the word) person. Stated Cases (precedents as you describe) are merely interpretations of the law by judges, which become guidance in other similar cases, and there is no reason at all why a civil court judge would not take notice of a case stated by a criminal court judge, and vice versa, if the circumstances before him were similar.

These days many fewer drivers than in years gone by appear before criminal courts following blameworthy involvement in a road accident and whereas insurance companies in deciding liability would take their lead from the outcome of a criminal case, in the absence of a criminal court process they or the 'injured' driver, would need to seek redress at a civil court if the circumstances warranted it and they so desired. So the case I quoted in my first post is relevant to the comment made by Pontoneer regarding liability of the front driver.

As to the language used in the link, it was written by a solicitor illustrating a point to Mr Average, so I wouldn't take too much notice of it. One has to assume that the 40/60 distribution of blame took into account the speed and distance of separation of the vehicles. As, from the description of the incident, they seemed to be driving between sets of traffic lights, there is every possibility that they didn't exceed 20mph or whatever is a reasonable distance. Distance of separation are arbitrary anyway.

 

[gl boy]

I had a newish wide Ford Fucus with central exhaust pipes try this with me recently.

Promptly dispatched to the tune of a loud V8.

Really don't see the point in doing this !!!!!! Just a total disrespect for other drivers imo

 

[John]

Really don't see the point in doing this !!!!!! Just a total disrespect for other drivers imo

It seems they can't stand being overtaken by something faster and try to prove something?

They look even more stupid when their car is not as quick as they hoped it would be.

They'd have been better off maintaining the same speed...

I even caught a glimpse of the driver as I looked through my rear NS window and the face he was pulling was hilarious as he looked for the rear of my car in what looked like shock.

That crappy 10 year old Merc wasn't an E200K then eh...

 

[meeeb]

It seems they can't stand being overtaken by something faster and try to prove something?

They look even more stupid when their car is not as quick as they hoped it would be.

They'd have been better off maintaining the same speed...

I even caught a glimpse of the driver as I looked through my rear NS window and the face he was pulling was hilarious as he looked for the rear of my car in what looked like shock.

That crappy 10 year old Merc wasn't an E200K then eh...

Why were you looking through your rear "NS" window?

You're an accident looking for somewhere to happen.

 

[zipdip]

My number 1 pet hate would be people putting their fog lights on when it is raining,they seem not to know it is illegal,and of course they leave them on after the rain/fog has gone
number 2 would be that people put fog lights on when they do not need too,some motorists even when there is a light mist cannot wait to put the fog lights on a simple rule of thumb is if you can see 3 lamp posts 2 gaps and I do not mean pin sharp,then leave them off.
Number 3 is the sneaky ways of the old bill when using their speed cameras,a prime one is on A12 at the Colchester football ground,early morning they put their car at the top of the down slip at a angle to block the inside lane so that traffic cannot see them on the A12 .

 

[zoros]

All these anecdotes, dislikes and pet hates serve to remind me that I come across more and more drivers these days for which driving appears to be a chore or a very simple means to an end without consequences.
From people on the phone, doing makeup, dawdling at obscure speeds, wrong position on the roads, wrong gear, no indicators, never using their mirrors.......
More and more people have little or no understanding that they are in command of a lethal weapon which even if it doesn't bite them - can easily bite others.

I spend the majority of my concentration nowadays - defending myself from these moronic imbeciles than I do on actually driving to the best of my ability.

In a way perhaps, that is why I have always bought fast cars. It's not so that I can see if it will do 100+ (because of the UK roads) it is to have ready to hand that instant torque to be able to extricate oneself from such moron territory. Over the last several years what has become of more importance to me is the TORQUE in fact, rather than most other performance feature. I memorise the torque curve very early on and in times of concern - always position the revs just before the top of the curve, ready for instant response from 530 lbft that blows nearly every other car on the road into yesterday.......

PS: Fog lights: don't forget, for some cars, the handbook calls them 'driving lights' which means you could switch them on whenever. On the whole I'd rather be overly seen than not at all.

 

[John]

Why were you looking through your rear "NS" window?

You're an accident looking for somewhere to happen.

If you are driving straight ahead with nothing in front of you on a dual carriageway, you can do that for split second.

If you took your head out of your 4rse for a moment, you could probably have worked that out for yourself.

 

[renault12ts]

There is some crap talked on this thread...289 posts worth so far...get a life and enjoy the ride.

 

[meeeb]

There is some crap talked on this thread...289 posts worth so far...get a life and enjoy the ride.

291 now including yours.

 

[Satch]

Yesterday I was obliged to do a Surrey- Plymouth-Birmingham-Surrey trip of 14 hours duration for entirely absurd reasons. It is long story but since it involves recently widowed Mother in Law, all possible objections are discounted and application of common sense suspended.

In the course of this horror journey I witnessed just about every pet hate in this thread and some more on top.

Foremost of these were people who seem to think that the concept of using the hard shoulder as an extra lane on managed motorways is now is of universal application to all motorways

 

[HughSurrey]

All of my dislikes are summed up by: People who wear hats in cars. Whether baseball caps, flat caps trilbys or whatever I have learned, by experience, that they are to be avoided.

 

[Maurauth]

When a road has just been re-surfaced so you don't know to take a different route so you bravely drive at 10mph whilst listening to the click clack crack of your paintwork being ruined, and then the knob jockey behind decided that it's therefore appropriate to overtake you accelerating up to 40mph whilst they pass and cut straight back in infront of you giving you some nice windscreen chips as well.

Also on the odd occasion where you have to use your legs to get somewhere and despite there being no visual obstructions on the pavement for at least 50 feet someone decides to swerve up across the pavement trying to shine your shoes with their rear tyres!

 

[JDL60]

worst for me id inconsistent speeds on motorways. Countless times I have it in cruise, ahem 75- pass someone only for them to accelerate inside, they slow down, you go out and...on it goes. Usually the ***** are chatting or something
Texting whilst driving - some folks think they are invisible
lane discipline - or lack of

 

[Maurauth]

Oh, and also those horrible side roads that are littered with speed bumps every 30 feet to stop them from being a rat-run. On the off chance the satnav takes me down one of these streets in an unfamiliar area (all the local ones I know to avoid!).

Yes I'm going to slow down to 5mph for each speedbump, no I'm not going to go above 15/20mph between each set, yes I'm going to try and use the middle of the road or any gaps between the speed bumps, don't sit on my bumper and expect that to speed me up... with this lowered setup I get close to scraping the front just coming out of my driveway let alone those nasty lumps they put in the road.

It's called traffic calming for a reason to be fair!

 

[alzieboy]

All of my dislikes are summed up by: People who wear hats in cars. Whether baseball caps, flat caps trilbys or whatever I have learned, by experience, that they are to be avoided.

Followed a total prat yesterday driving with a Hoodie up, kept my distance from that numnut

 

[Maurauth]

To be fair in the winter months it's hard to set out at 6am without a coat and a hat on whilst waiting for the heater to get going!

 

[Mike Walker]

You need a car with heated seats^^

 

[Scott_F]

To be fair in the winter months it's hard to set out at 6am without a coat and a hat on whilst waiting for the heater to get going!

Sigh........Southerners.......