Nearly killed a few insects on my bumper

[andydclements]

This morning on the way to work (Owen will have to check the roundabout to validate this) I left two BIG THICK black marks on the surface of the roundabout. A dozy Golf drive pulled from the junction into the first lane of the roundabout (2 lane roundabout) and stopped perpendicular to the lane. I didn't really have time to think thus didn't release the brake and pump, I just planted my right foot and the Esprit managed to stop in time before getting within a couple of inches of here car door. And she looked at me as though I was doing something wrong by going round the roundabout. If I'd have been doing 60mph round the roundabout I could understand it, but I had a car and moped pull from the junction before her, they joined the roundabout ahead of me and they were moving faster than me at the point she pulled out, and she only missed the vehicle in front by the fact it was the moped and therefore she pulled into the space that a car would have taken. No apology or anything.

Pity I wasn't in something more substantial, she's have been taken away in an ambulance and that would have made the roads a lot safer for everybody.

That's the second time in two months a silver Golf has pulled out from that junction at around that time without looking, didn't notice the driver the first time, I got a good look at this one. maybe it was the same dozy F***ing Cow.

Rant over.

[Boots]

Just lean on the horn for a count of five it will embarrass them and is worth it to see them try to sink into their seat. Also if you are stopped in traffic and you see someone not using hands free just lean on the horn till they have to hang up because they can't hear the person they are talking to. 

[andydclements]

Went and checked the roundabout, only 1 wheel locked up and left a track the other was on debris, which probably explains why it took so long to stop the car. About 8 feet long. So I'd have thought that means I wasn't going anywhere near the 40mph limit on that roundabout, probably nearer half that.

Oh i so need that Landy on the road.

Anyway when checking out my skid mark (I know how that sounds), I witnessed a BMW 3 series going round the roundabout with what sounded like a big end gone, or at least for the first half of the roundabout, when it came back into sight 9and sound) it seemed as though it was on starter motor (probably because the engine is FUBAR and will not run) don't you just love some drivers?

[molemot]

I always find a bellow of "NOT VERY GOOD, ARE YOU??!!!" to be quite effective....at least, at restoring my own equanimity. The real problem is the truly inept lack the ability to recognise their own incompetence...

"Incompetent People Rarely Know They Are

Updated 11:09 AM ET January 21, 2000

By Deborah Zabarenko

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The truly incompetent may never know the depths of their own incompetence, a pair of social psychologists say.

"We found again and again that people who perform poorly relative to their peers tended to think that they did rather well," Justin Kruger, co-author of a study on the subject, said in a telephone interview Thursday. Kruger and co-author David Dunning found that when it came to a variety of skills -- logical reasoning, grammar, even sense of humor -- people who essentially were inept never realized it, while those who had some ability were more self-critical.

It had little to do with innate modesty, Kruger said, but rather with a central paradox: Incompetents lack the basic skills to evaluate their performance realistically. Once they get those skills, they know where they stand, even if that is at the bottom. "

So...seems there's no hope for the driver of the silver Golf!!!

Edited July 6, 2010 by molemot

[Paul C]

Bugger. "dozy F***ing Cow" indeed mate.

If Sue had not been reading* this thread then i'd have suggested we guys all now go and find our missus's driving license and cut it in half, then bury their car keys in the back garden to make sure they don't get behind a wheel and kill someone, or damage something while doing something inanely cosmetic and unimportant instead of looking at the road in front of them to check for cars and other obstacles. It started off with the vote and now look, some of 'them' are driving lorries! the mind boggles on what damage an idle thought about kittens could do when you drive, say, a lorry full of gas cannisters into a packed school bus (no wild assumptions here girls, but a real life example of what could actually 100% happen). Vicki (who is currently out, driving, god help us all) can crash the toaster making breakfast, it's not her fault, it's just a gender thing. Burning bra's is simply not adequate enough experience to gain entitlement to everything men can do. Cars are big and have lots of moving parts, and mens brains are bigger and heavier than womens brains, it's not being sexist, it's just simple maths. At heathrow airport once i saw a policewoman with a gun, i kid you not, a real gun, loaded too probably. I know guys, you are all thinking the same as me: 'bad hair bloodbath'. Who was it that wrote that song 'It's a mans world' ? Thats a bloody good song that, i'm going to get it as a ringtone or something.

*But as Sue is reading i won't say any of that.

[andydclements]

PMSL

[Boots]

Sorry Paul I was thinking about kittens and maybe baking some fairy cakes. What was that you didn't say?

[Paul C]

Cakes?

[Kimbers]

Andy

What is it with Norfolk people and roundabouts? Is it confusing them or something?

Thickthorne has 4 lanes going in and 4 lanes round the roundabout. I was stationary at the light leading on to the roundabout in Lane 3 and next to me in lane 2 was a Micra. As we pulled away I stayed in Lane 3 and he came across into my lane. I stuck my hand on the horn (not a frightening thing in an Exige) and he swerved to avoid me. I stopped at the lights on the round about and he pulled up (with his family in the car) alongside me and shouted "You need to F**king learn to drive don't you?".....Wha????

I was so Stunned I just said "You were crossing into my lane mate" When I should have said "You dozy F*** W***** Son of a B***** Useless F***"

Oh well I feel better now.

[andydclements]

What you did wrong was you should have blipped the throttle, that's enough to scare most people.

[winners]

Just lean on the horn for a count of five it will embarrass them and is worth it to see them try to sink into their seat. Also if you are stopped in traffic and you see someone not using hands free just lean on the horn till they have to hang up because they can't hear the person they are talking to. 

Be careful with when you use the "lean on the horn tactic". This week while in Stockport a white van was signaling to exit a roundabout at the junction prior to the one I was entering on, I pulled out only for him to carry on, only quick reactions from me avoided an almighty smash. I leant on my horn, he the stopped the van on the roundabout got out and ran towards me!!! Luckily traffic was clear and I made a sharp exit...you don't know what sort of nutters are driving.

[mangel]

Its odd really, I find that the smaller your acknowledgement of their stupidity the angrier it makes them.

I find shaking your head at someone can make them absolutely incandescent, far more so than a few abusive gestures and words.

[rip]

I don't know why drivers insist on swapping lanes on roundabouts. Those drifting left as they exit puzzle me. Why do they do it? If they exit on the left, WTF is the right-hand lane for?

Most drivers do not observe well enough to change lanes on a roundabout. I don't have a problem with this except that most change lanes anyway

I also had someone cut me up very badly on a roundabout the other day. I gave a short beep & he raised his hand in apology when he realised what he had done. It may sound like a useless gesture, but makes a huge difference.

Edited July 9, 2010 by rip

[MPx]

Thing is Iain regular driving in MK gives you a different perspective on roundabouts cos its such a high proportion of your driving. For most folk its one of the least common junctions and many are positively wary. So an MK resident will enter a roundablout at higher speed and closer to oncoming traffic already on the roundabout, without thinking anything of it. Out-of-towners will see that as dangerous. Also the pace of traffic around MK is very impressive. But for those not used to constant roundabouts, keeping up that pace on roundabout entry and exit will test their cornering resolve and most often result in them straightening out their route (ie cutting lanes).

I've been very impressed with the MK road system - it seems better than any other town I've been to. Its a shame that the current lot in power dont see what they've got and are sticking traffic lights everywhere and not maintainig the grid system. Wont be long before the queues build up there the same as everywhere else! Enjoy it while you still can....

[rip]

I agree, Mike.

The sheer number of roundabouts in MK encourage a different driving style & level of awareness at roundabouts. Once you adapt to it, the place is really quick to get around.

It is so different that I know some outsiders who have found it intimidating.

[IanQ]

Nearly lost my life on this machine yesterday because some dozy driver ( wont reveal her sex) failed to take notice of the signs for one and a half miles that she needed to change lanes and so she just stopped in the middle of lane two with an indicator on completely ignoring the rush hour traffic behind her at the front of which was me. This is on the A14, one of the country's busiest roads. When I sounded the horn on the bike I got some very unladylike abuse. What I should have done is to have ignored it. What I did was to fold her offside mirror back against the car and told her she clearly didn't need it as she clearly wasn't using it.

Edited July 9, 2010 by IanQ

[rip]

What I did was to fold her offside mirror back against the car and told her she clearly didn't need it as she clearly wasn't using it.

Brilliant!

That was far funnier than ignoring her.

I'll bet it gave you some satisfaction & was a gesture that the drivers behind you surely would have understood & appreciated.

[Paul C]

Nearly lost my life...

dozy driver...

her...

she...

she...

her...

unladylike abuse...

her...

she...

Well done for not mentioning the sex of the driver mate.

[IanQ]

Damn.....you noticed it was a woman. And there I was trying not to mention it above seven times in one paragraph...am off for a glass of Old Hooky now mate! Cheers!

Edited July 9, 2010 by IanQ

[Bibs]

I had a **** on a bike call me a today and rub his rear tyre on the front bumper of the car at 50mph on the M25, awesome. All because I moved over to the left on the entry ramp for him to overtake, he showed me coffee beans as he passed! I was being nice as I always give bikers room to pass if they wish so returned the compliment to which he replied with a healthy dose of high speed road rage. I've never known such moronic riding and how he didn't just fall off I don't know, it was 100% on purpose and he knew what he was doing. Twat.

[IanQ]

There are morons who drive Lotus cars and morons that ride bikes and morons with class 1 LGV licences. I have a licence for each of these road vehicle categories but I hope, not a licence for being a moron.You would think all that driving experience has given me a good breadth of knowledge over the years of what to expect from road users. But I am still amazed that I see such selfish and dangerous driving and riding every week.

One day I expect will be playing the organ at a funeral for a road crash victim. The graveyards are full of road rage morons....

[andydclements]

I've driven in MK a little bit, the closest I've lives is Luton, so not really close. I find it refreshing to drive through, and when I move dot Stevenage I found it had a half-hearted attempt to do the same but was hindered by the fact it wasn't an entirely new town. Now I'm back in Norfolk it's a nightmare, they take roundabouts out and replace them with complex traffic light systems with one-way systems built in, or put lights on the roundabouts.

I cannot say I've ever had an altercation with a biker, several with car drivers and truckers etc, but I did one deliberately block a car driver getting away when the biker he just cut up wanted to have a go at him.

[Bibs]

The increase in traffic lights is to take away any kind of decision from the motorist and insist on regimented control. There are thousands of junctions screaming for a roundabout but traffic lights are used. In all seriousness, they are also used to generate more revenue by making us use more fuel, remember the 'red wave' system?