Drove back from Bath today and noticed on a few occasions a new (to me) mimser.
On a few occasions, at the end of a dual carriageway, approaching a roundabout, the car behind would move to the RH lane and move along side. They'd then look very surprised to see me still on their LH side exiting the roundabout.
I've no objection whatsoever to being overtaken by someone wanting to go quicker, but I tend to 'maintain progress'. These seemed to want to go round as if there was ice about.
They tended to be 'prestige' makes, white and Audi.
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Had to laugh last Sunday, driving from Munich back to Cologne, a UK registered Audi A3, advertising some flower show in west London, bottled it in the fast lane at 100mph and pulled over to let the queue behind them make progress...Including a 7 seater 1.6 litre diesel people carrier.
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The sunshine brought out the local Sunday mimsers in force yesterday. A new looking Honda Jazz doing 30 on a rural NSL road was just one example. One guy had the answer though, on a NSL dual carriageway I was in lane two in a line of cars doing 70ish and behind a German registered 5 series BMW estate car. Lane one was empty for a bit as people were staying in lane two because of a lorry ahead. You guessed it, BMW into lane one and floored it. :-) Obviously not a local as that road is notorious for the speed camera van on a Sunday.
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>> The sunshine brought out the local Sunday mimsers in force yesterday.
Tell me about it. Local country roads are full of them. I was behind one doing 20mph for a mile. I'd flashed my lights a few times, hoping for them to pull over, and eventually I pulled out ready to overtake and hooted a warning to wake them up. She came to a sudden halt, very disconcerting. I don't think they were even aware I was there. There is only so much patience one can display. I do think you have a responsibility to be aware, and not drive as if you own the roads.
That said, today on the way home I was in a very long queue behind a cyclist doing 10mph up a hill, for several miles. That is when you question the right of cyclists to use certain roads. When there is a queue that goes back hundreds of meters, and each journey is delayed 10 minutes, it does seem selfish of the cyclist, even though legally he has every right.
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Extract from the HC.
169
Do not hold up a long queue of traffic, especially if you are driving a large or slow-moving vehicle. Check your mirrors frequently, and if necessary, pull in where it is safe and let traffic pass.
A pity the mimsing drivers don't read it.
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A pity, too, that a couple of drivers - because that's all it takes at the front to start a very long slow queue - haven't the nous to pass a cyclist even if it means (quite legally) nipping over the double whites for a second to do it.
What does one despise more, the crass ignorance or the craven wimpishness? Both equally I reckon.
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You're right AC. As they say: number 2 makes the queue.... Then it's much harder for the third vehicle in line to pull out and overtake 2 cars.
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>> ............. pass a cyclist even if it means (quite legally) nipping over the double whites for >> a second to do it.
Which Highway Code rule says that?
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>> 129
You'll ding dang do for me, WillDeBeest.
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>> >> ............. pass a cyclist even if it means (quite legally) nipping over the double
>> whites for >> a second to do it.
>>
>> Which Highway Code rule says that?
>>
Rule 129 (Double white lines where the line nearest you is solid): You may cross the line if necessary, provided the road is clear, to pass a stationary vehicle,or overtake a pedal cycle, horse or road maintenance vehicle
Edit: beaten to it, but I typed more words ;-)
Last edited by: PeterS on Tue 29 May 12 at 07:24
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"if they are travelling at 10 mph (16 km/h) or less."
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>> A pity, too, that a couple of drivers - because that's all it takes at
>> the front to start a very long slow queue - haven't the nous to pass
>> a cyclist even if it means (quite legally) nipping over the double whites for a
>> second to do it.
>>
>> What does one despise more, the crass ignorance or the craven wimpishness? Both equally I
>> reckon.
>>
I crossed a double white to overtake a cyclist when a police traffic car was behind me. I must admit I had second thoughts but as it was safe went for it. So did he, and soon after he overtook me and I was just over the 60 limit for that road. :-)
I prefer a human to a camera any day.
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The 10mph maximum seems a bit low - and hard to test - but I can't imagine any traffic officer objecting even to an almost-legal manoeuvre that was done safely and helped the flow of traffic. As a cyclist too, I'd much rather a driver behind get on and get past than shadow my back wheel for miles.
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>> A pity, too, that a couple of drivers - because that's all it takes at
>> the front to start a very long slow queue - haven't the nous to pass
>> a cyclist even if it means (quite legally) nipping over the double whites for a
>> second to do it.
>>
>> What does one despise more, the crass ignorance or the craven wimpishness? Both equally I
>> reckon.
Very true, although in the case I mentioned it was a winding road, so very hard to pass.
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>> They'd then look
>> very surprised to see me still on their LH side exiting the roundabout.
>>
You really don't want people next to you while going through roundabouts. They have a habit of turning into the car on their left if they don't expect it to be there. These incidents nearly always go 50/50 regardless of how correct you think you were.
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>> >> They'd then look
>> >> very surprised to see me still on their LH side exiting the roundabout.
>> >>
>> You really don't want people next to you while going through roundabouts.
It is always a bad move to surprise anyone on the road, it can backfire big time. I always try to stay out of others blind spots and not to get alongside anything on a roundabout, it only takes a little planning ahead of your windscreen wipers.
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I watched a 50mph mimser on the A1 this morning.
In the left hand lane and wouldn't let an articulated lorry onto the motorway from the short run on slip road.
The lorry driver had to use the hard shoulder to gain access onto the motorway.
Lorry drivers fault as the car is already on the motorway ?
Not really. it takes longer for a lorry to change speed (brake or increase speed) than it does for a motorist already on the motorway to read the road ahead and slow down or move into lane 2.
Some people just are completely in their own world and do not read the road at all !
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>> completely in their own world and do not read the road at all !
My impression is that they do read it, sort of, but being phenomenally stupid and only semi-literate they think they have rights and are damned if they're going to give them up for anyone.
Like the pathetic idiots who claim they wouldn't get out of the way of an emergency vehicle on a shout if it would involve 'breaking the law'. Damn carphounds begging for a kick up the jaxie.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Tue 29 May 12 at 12:44
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>> Like the pathetic idiots who claim they wouldn't get out of the way of an
>> emergency vehicle on a shout if it would involve 'breaking the law'. Damn carphounds begging
>> for a kick up the jaxie.
What about an emergency vehicle behind you at a junction on red when crossing the line triggers an automatic 3 point penalty? And what if you are on 9 points already? (I have no points, just thought I'd mention.)
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>> junction on red when crossing the line triggers an automatic 3 point penalty? And what if you are on 9 points already?
Just shows how ridiculous these machines for picking people's pockets are. If you can't explain your way out of that situation and have the points rescinded there's something very wrong with the system.
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>> >> junction on red when crossing the line triggers an automatic 3 point penalty? And
>> what if you are on 9 points already?
>>
>> Just shows how ridiculous these machines for picking people's pockets are. If you can't explain
>> your way out of that situation and have the points rescinded there's something very wrong
>> with the system.
I quite agree. But ... what would you do in practice? (Rhetorical question, no need to answer. It's not an easy one.)
There are also the pigs who after the emergency vehicle has passed, do not let you get back into the right lane, having for example moved left, even though you were turning right. Moan mona moan. :)
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I agree with AC, I think they do read the road, just in their own way. They may see the give way lines on the slip road and stick to that, 'you have to give way not me' * and then carry on or may see it as bullying to force them to change lanes when they don't want to.
* I know in the HC it says to give way to traffic on the mway, but equally move over if you can.
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I admit to a degree of bloody -mindedness about sliproad etiquette. Anticipating colourful abuse from AC, I'll plead in mitigation:
- most of my motorway driving is on the M4 at its busiest times, and there's really no point in trying to make progress beyond what's possible in lane 1;
- I always make sure there's room for at least one vehicle to merge ahead of me;
- if I am approaching appreciably faster than the sliproad traffic, I'll commence my overtaking manoeuvre before reaching the mouth of the sliproad.
And yes, of course I'll check my mirrors for options on case the joining traffic forces me into a change of course or speed, but it'll be done with muttered oaths and the minimum of good grace, a bit like having held a door for someone, only to find the gesture was expected, not appreciated.
Last edited by: R.P. on Tue 29 May 12 at 14:31
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...b*****-mindedness...
Oh, Aunt Betsy, for heaven's sake!
sorted the bloody thing
Last edited by: R.P. on Tue 29 May 12 at 14:31
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I used to be in the outside lane most of the time if there was any traffic, but I am a bit more leisurely these days seldom exceeding a speedometer 80.
However if I happen to be in the nearside lane approaching a sliproad with joining traffic on it I look automatically in the mirror and when safe, usually well before the sliproad, get into the middle lane. If I can't do that I try to accelerate or back off to zipmerge with the merging traffic.
Of course there are sometimes eager beavers in the joining traffic who will spot their line and swoop straight across one into the outside lane accelerating hard for the horizon. They don't bother me at all. I approve of them. Done it myself often enough.
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>> However if I happen to be in the nearside lane approaching a sliproad with joining
>> traffic on it I look automatically in the mirror and when safe, usually well before
>> the sliproad, get into the middle lane. If I can't do that I try to
>> accelerate or back off to zipmerge with the merging traffic.
If only everyone had that sort of sense AC, people might actually make progress.
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>> people might actually make progress.
Well exactly. Instead of the ugly paranoid wimpish self-righteous shunting we have to put up with most of the time.
'Speed is an essential quality and an essential advantage of the automobile.' As any fule kno. But it's surprising how often a bald statement to that effect puts a frown on the bien-pensant brow.
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>>
>> Some people just are completely in their own world and do not read the road
>> at all !
>>
I think there is quite a high proportion of older mimsers who know exactly what they are doing and see it as their business to baulk other people.
I encountered one yesterday on the run home from work. It's mostly a 60 mph single carriageway, with a few good places for overtaking.
He drove at 25 mph where it was impossible to overtake, and then accelerated smartly up to 65 as soon as the road opened out. Occasionally one person managed to overtake, but most of the long queue just had to suffer him.
I have met others like him, one dangerously-so who waited until someone was actually overtaking and then floored it. Another would deliberately start indicating right as soon as anyone tried to overtake.
I don't believe they are in a dream world. I think they live in a world framed by grudges against other people.
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>>I think they live in a world framed by grudges against other people.<<
Yes, we see a bit of that on here!
Pat
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>> >>I think they live in a world framed by grudges against other people.<<
>>
>> Yes, we see a bit of that on here!
>>
>> Pat
>>
He he. Very good!
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>> >>I think they live in a world framed by grudges against other people.<<
>>
>> Yes, we see a bit of that on here!
>>
>> Pat
:)
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>> I think there is quite a high proportion of older mimsers who know exactly what
>> they are doing and see it as their business to baulk other people.
>> I don't believe they are in a dream world. I think they live in a
>> world framed by grudges against other people.
>>
....and the desire to get others to conform to their ideals/standards.
Exceptionally selfish.
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" I think there is quite a high proportion of older mimsers who know exactly what
they are doing and see it as their business to baulk other people."
Do you really think that is true?
Can't remember being deliberately balked by an older driver
I see a small proportion of selfish driver of all ages, a small proportion of people who shouldn't be driving and the majority of drivers being in the adequate to good category. The latter category will make mistakes occasionally like finding themselves in the wrong lane in a strange town.
Probably the biggest fault of drivers is impatience and intolerance of other's errors.
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>> and see it as their business to baulk other people."
>>
>> Do you really think that is true?
>>
Yes. I have encountered 3 examples in the last year on my route home from work.
A man in a cap drives slowly at a steady speed, oblivious to everything. His speed is inversely proportional to the number of white-haired old ladies he has in the car with him.
But these baulkers are something else, because they cunningly vary their speed. Watch his eyes in his mirror - glued to the car following to spot and forestall every attempt to overtake.
Last edited by: Cliff Pope on Thu 31 May 12 at 08:24
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Drivers are just people, good, bad, skilled, incompetent, thick, alert, stupid, drunk, arrogant, poser, you name it it is out there. It can change with mood, passengers, and a whole host of variables.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 31 May 12 at 08:46
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>> I have met others like him, one dangerously-so who waited until someone was actually overtaking
>> and then floored it.
I had one of those the other week - a chap in late middle age driving a brand-new Golf convertible. One of the straight bits of the A283 between Chiddingfold and Northchapel (which AC will doubtless know). Doing 35 in a 60, indicated left to let me past and then absolutely mashed it when I was halfway round him.
Fortunately the Bravo was in the right gear and on full boost, so I was able to complete the overtake, whereupon chummy attempted to chase me for the next 20 miles or so. He damn near lost it on a few of the bends - given that I now commute a 130 mile a day round trip to work via that route, I have evaluated where (and where not) progress can be made. He clearly had not.
One wonders about a) sobriety and b) mental health of such.
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>> One wonders about a) sobriety and b) mental health of such.
One does indeed. But there's nothing new about it. I've come across many such in 50 years.
It is quite simply murderous behaviour. What a pity you weren't unmarked fuzz paulb. Even then the carphound wouldn't have got what he deserved, which was a savage beating followed by six months in hospital.
I do know that road although not well. Like several roads in that area it is fastish if no one is in the way. At certain times of day the Surrey eager beavers come out, tailgating and occasionally doing risky overtakes.
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>> What a pity you weren't unmarked fuzz paulb.
Quite. If I had been, a discussion of the elements of roadcraft would certainly have ensued at a convenient layby. Indeed, there was an opportunity when the traffic paused in Petworth to hop out and invite an explanation, but I forebore - never know which unhinged idiots have a weapon of some sort in the car these days, and age is no limiting factor for that sort of nonsense.
The pity of it is that sooner or later a very tidy little motor is going to get stacked, through no fault of its own, simply because its owner can't keep his wossname together on the road.
Sigh.
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Driving habits are not dissimilair on the continent.On the Rotterdam ringroad a eldery Belgian driver in a Merc decided to cut across my bow no indication.Oblivious of me, the Focus got good brakes.Some sections on the M/Way outside Rotterdam 130km is allowed,lost of lights flashing to drivers who won't go faster than 110km.I used to stop and have a word,if I got pestered,never with eldery people when I was young.These days the young put the boot in.(:
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Been up to Sheffield and back today to recover Miss B and her stuff at end of Uni Yr1.
Northbound on a crowded M1 driving standards were truly execrable Three lanes all moving a variable speeds in 50-70 range. Seems that CLOG now has a sister organisation that owns the outside lane. But if it's like that why did one guy in an Astra weave between lanes 2&3 aggressively tailgating?.
Bit better on way back but still impelled to leave M1 at J20 for A426/A5. First mimser between DIRFT complex and Kilsby turned out to be messing with his satnav. What ailed the 53 Rover 75 followed from Watford Gap to to Weedon at 45-60mph is a mystery.
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Nice road that Bromp, plenty of good old overtaking chances that dont involve chance of death.
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>> What ailed the 53 Rover 75 followed from Watford Gap to to Weedon at 45-60mph is a mystery.
1953 you mean? Nice old motor, very refined but slightly vague steering, a traditional Rover defect. But you were dealing perhaps with a restless foot mimser, in need of a speed awareness course or a bit of Yoga to steady the nerves...
I had always taken you for a cyclist first and foremost Bromptonaut, enthusiastic but eminently reasonable. I see you are a man of parts.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Sat 2 Jun 12 at 23:02
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Ah yes, in line 6 with ioe. Not very fast. Anyone who had a Rover 75 could avail of the freewheel facility, whcih would make it even more stately....
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>> in line 6 with ioe. Not very fast.
Could wind up to 90ish and went far better than most of the cheap cars of the day. But its virtues were refinement and comfort. Had a friend, dead alas these many years, who used to clout the banks in his father's example in the Buckinghamshire lanes at insane speeds. The same friend, an architect by training, once hit two foreign tourists 20 yards from Piccadilly circus in a Land Rover. I was there that time too.
The freewheel, never used by my friend, was controversial. Some thought it dangerous. I suppose with a thoughtful driver it might have saved a bit of fuel because that engine wasn't frugal. It was recycled for the 3 Litre which was later improved with the small aluminium V8 (Chrysler? GM? Can't remember) in the 3.5, the same engine that powered the SD1 and a host of brisk sporting cars.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Sun 3 Jun 12 at 01:03
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No doubt you are correct AC, but we never explored its higher speed capability! Dad rarely took the 75 above 40, but then there were very few other cars on the road in Malaya. The occasional overtaker was dismissed as a lunatic. Always a shame to be overtaken, as it put him in an even more grouchy mood:(
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>> >> What ailed the 53 Rover 75 fol
>> I had always taken you for a cyclist first and foremost Bromptonaut, enthusiastic but eminently
>> reasonable. I see you are a man of parts.
You mean like Frankenstein's monster? It would explain a lot.
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>> like Frankenstein's monster? It would explain a lot.
With due respect to Bromptonaut, there's the germ of an idea for a well wicked schlock movie there Leif.
:o}
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>> 1953 you mean? Nice old motor, very refined but slightly vague steering, a traditional Rover
>> defect
Thanks AC!!
The real prob was that, like Rovers of old, it was driven well towards the crown of the road.
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>> it was driven well towards the crown of the road.
That would be the vague steering probably. I've been in many an old Rover with several inches of play at the wheelrim.
My cousin's grandfather, a nice old retired major who lived in Ascot, had the Rover model previous to the 75, the one with separate wings and a running board. A small man who could barely see over the scuttle, he steered the thing with generous swings of the wheel, conversing cheerfully as he did so. Although I was about 17 and still not a driver (or particularly wimpish about cars or the road) he used to put the fear of God into me. He was very nice though.
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>> My cousin's grandfather,
>>
Please forgive me, there is quite obviously something that I have overlooked, but......
Isn't your cousin's grandfather, also your grandfather?
Doh!, or, is it the other side of the family?
Last edited by: Duncan on Sun 3 Jun 12 at 13:20
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I had a friend, living not far from Ratto, who had a 100. I used to take him to the station in it now and again...he was the president of the Royal Photographic Society and had occasional meetings in London'
The steering was awful. Later he asked me to do the kingpins. He came round to help and we got one unit off and into the big vice. Well clamped in, we put a 6ft length of gas pipe on the stub axle and , with both of us pulling, we couldn't turn the hub at all. Imagine the stresses through all the linkages to the steering wheel.
The problem was that there was an oil reservoir at the top of the kingpin. The cover used to rot away and road muck got in the oil. Owners used to put grease in instead of oil. The grease got contaminated even more than the oil did.
Arthur was an ex Desert Rat and had a wealth of tales......left us about 10 yrs ago, maybe more.
Ted
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Ah! My old Rover 75, that brings back sweet memories.
My first car 6 months after I passed my test, I bought her in 1969 when we were both 18, for the princely sum of 30 GBP.
First thing to do was to renew the MoT test, so re-tread crossplies all round (70 shillings each, if I remember correctly) and some re-wiring to allow both headlamps to dip, rather than the nearside dipping and the offside turning off: it was made that way! There was a single, large spotlight bang in the middle of the radiator grille which was good for annoying drivers of small cars such as minis and imps as I drew up on then at night.
Inside, my favourite feature was the well-sprung bench front seat: there were, of course, no seatbelts to separate me from my passenger. The free wheel was also a great teenage driver feature. Turn the knurled knob just under the dash in the middle of the car (that, in itself, could prove quite interesting) and free wheel with the car in second (out of three) behind someone mimsing along at 30 mph. When a space appears, full throttle, the engine roars like injured lion and the clutch engages at 25 mph with such ferocity that the rear tyres spin and squeal and you are propelled forward with a punch in your back.
I went to Cornwall soon after I bought the car, having to buy two new tyres there as the rear ones were shedding their tread. I also managed two and a half return journeys to Manchester, the engine block cracking near Newport Pagnell on the way back at the end of Summer term.
A couple of years later, I received a telephone call from a policeman (which is how, I presume, he found my name and number) asking me if he could take some parts from my car as he was restoring one.
Happy days: wasn't life simpler and easier then?
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A new type of mimser? - ....
