I have noticed a propensity for people to try and squeeze by, without slowing down if they can help it. Whilst they might not care about their rims being damaged on the "edge" of the road, or their mirrors, I do care about mine.
What's the best way of dealing with this? I have been forcing a slowdown by occupying a central position. I'd rather not drive onto the verge and wait every time I see someone approaching.
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Thats the way FT. You dominate the centre of the road forcing them to slow on approach and then perform the squeeze by at a suitable pace.
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I know I shouldn't, but I do the same, especially if they are pulling out to pass a parked car on their side of the road.
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Someone came around a parked car, nearly swerving into me, this morning. I was not impressed. A mummy taking hers to school, by the look.
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They appear to me to be the people that drive down the midle and only move to their own side when another vehicle approaches.
I now move to the middle and pretend to be fiddling with the radio. Avoiding eye contact makes them think you haven't seen them - that make them more cautious.
I've found this also works with the macho, arrogant pedestrians that seem to deliberately stroll across the road in front of you.
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Around a lot of A-roads in Devon the council have added thick white lines delineating the edge of the road. It actually works pretty well, but because they're offset about 12 inches from the verge it does make the road a bit narrower.
People will eventually swerve across them if you keep going though.
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Yep, i do the imbecile routine a bit too convincingly maybe when the flyer comes the other way barging all and sundry out of the way on approach, i just sort of fail to position meself properly like to aid their 40mph 'i stop for no one' routine, and then i fumble the gears whilst matey fumes away...sad old git i know.
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FT. You want to see the narrow roads in Cornwall.
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>>You want to see the narrow roads in Cornwall.<<
:-}
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(Cornish lanes)
I know many of them well. Additional issues are demented toursist who don't know the width of their vehicles, stones hidden by vegetation in "Cornish hedges", and loffies filled with produce motoring along. A relative was complaining of having to "hedge it" a while ago, to avoid a tourist-crash - he was lucky to just have a shredded tyre and buckled rim. The rim was salvageable with a bit of welding.
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>>stones hidden by vegetation in "Cornish hedges"<<
Hehe! I've been caught out by that one myself, and I live ere :)
pity anyone camping in Cornwall @ the mo weather-wise :(
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>>They appear to me to be the people that drive down the midle and only move to their own side when another vehicle approaches.
I do that. The roads round here aren't fit to drive on at the edges. My wife insists on driving on the left and down every pothole and drain.
The rule on the canals is to stay down the middle except when passing an oncoming boat. I find it works just as well on the roads, though you need to allow for junctions, refuges and remember to move left rather than right...
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It's not just narrow roads - it's 'oncoming traffic should give way to me while I overtake/pass this parked car/cyclist/bus/patch of water/pothole'
Me, I'm with ON and GB
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On narrow country roads, on which I often drive, you obviously have to suit your behaviour to the width of the road. On the whole people who are used to those roads know whether they need to slow down or not.
When I see that another car is approaching, I hug the nearside, wheels on the muddy or dusty edge, at undiminished speed if it seems appropriate. If the other car knows what it's doing, and I am not mistaken, then everyone passes in a decent flurry with a bit of dust or mud in their wake.
However I have noticed a tendency for some people to approach down the middle of the road, forcing one to slow down, and then clumsily getting out of the way. Doing it all the hard way.
I don't look at these carphounds as a rule, but think of them as old and doddering, or fat, blonde and female.
Raspberry.
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I have noticed that most of the people who are reluctant to move over onto the verge, at any speed, are people driving 4WD vehicles!
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But of course they are!
"I have a 4x4, peasant, and I am therefore MUCH more important that you, and... * my journey is MUCH more important than yours!"
*The same attitude extends to:
"... therefore I can park anywhere I like, inconveniencing you, because my trip to the shop/gym/winebar is much more important than your prolish activities."
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Going where, pat?
I have no truck (excuse the pun) with our local 4x4 brigade... the guys who have genuine off-roaders, for genuine reasons. It is the soft-roaders I get annoyed with, not least because the average driver hasn't got a clue how to drive them safely and efficiently, and thus they are either a danger to me and mine in my little sedan, or can seriously inconvenience me with their habitual (and often unintentional) flouting of the laws, bad parking etc etc etc.
Classic example recently. Waiting to turn right at a traffic light. There's a queue of cars waiting to turn right (ie to my left) on the opposite side. The bint behind me started hooting and gesticulating, because I'm not going. Why not? Because I'm unsighted. She isn't. Cos she's in a 4x4. BUT she doesn't realise that what she sees isn't what I see.
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See what I mean:)
I can relate so many similar situations to you of sedan ( car) drivers being thick and useless, but it will be because they are thick and useless full stop.
Not because they drive a BMW/Audi/Ford or a 4x4!
Lorry drivers call it the 'I hate anything bigger than me' syndrome.
Pat
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>> I can relate so many similar situations to you of sedan ( car) drivers being
>> thick and useless, but it will be because they are thick and useless full stop.
>> Not because they drive a BMW/Audi/Ford or a 4x4!
>> Pat
>>
We're back to the difference between 'vehicle users' and 'drivers'!
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But if you take a thick and useless driver out of a 4x4 and place him in a rowing boat, he'll still be thick and useless.
It's a state of mind and not a type of car thing.
Pat
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I think it is often a case of the barely competent car user upgrading to a 4x4, but not realising the vehicle's (and their) limitations, and thus they are far more prone to make mistakes and more glaringly obvious when they make them!
*edit to add*
In addition, the 'I have a BIG one' attitude and arrogance often comes to the fore - I recall the Harry Enfield: 'I can't help noticing that I'm considerably richer than yoooou.'
Last edited by: Ian (Cape Town) on Thu 15 Jul 10 at 07:40
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>> However I have noticed a tendency for some people to approach down the middle of
>> the road, forcing one to slow down, and then clumsily getting out of the way.
They could be people who've suffered expensive damage before, and don't want more of the same.
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>> I have been forcing a slowdown by
>> occupying a central position.
It sounds to me as if you're equally as bad as the drivers you're criticizing.
Falstaff: 'The better part of valour is discretion; in the which better part I have saved my life.'
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I have the choice of my Defender 90 (single-cab pickup with an Ifor canopy, very much a working vehicle) or my Discovery 3 when I go out. Doesn't matter which I'm in - retired miserablists in their budget korean turd boxes still drive down the middle of the road and expect me to throw myself into a ditch or culvert at their whim. In their ill-informed mean-mindedness they equate 4x4 with "indestructible" and presume no damage will be caused if I drive through a hedge or drop a wheel into a culvert. What they don't know/realise/care to understand is that the art of driving offroad is to keep your speed down and negotiate passable obstacles, not bounce through impassable ones!
The 90 ended up in a ditch on its side a couple of years ago when Mrs Do$h moved over on to the edge and slowed right down, only to have the clueless tosswit coming towards her take this as a sign that the whole road was theirs for the taking, forcing Mrs D further over, at which point the side of the ditch collapsed and the car gracefully toppled on its side in a 4' storm ditch. Were we able to claim from the other's insurance? Of course not! And before anyone reads that and assumes the "if it wasn't a 4x4 it wouldn't have fallen over - they're unstable you know" line of reasoning, the Defender was almost stationary and the edge of the ditch turned out to have been "badgered" under the long grass. You have to go some to get a 90 to fall over - I frequently use it offroad and the tilt warning device (the passenger door opening as they jump out in panic) comes in at about 30° whereas the car will keep going to well past 40°
Pet hate, witnessed as recently as last night, is people driving past passing places on their side of the road when there are none on yours and expecting you to drive into the hedge. Last night's Accord driver did this with some aplomb and a smug grin, right up to the point where I simply stopped and indicated that he had a passing place 20 yards behind him and he was bloomin well going to use it. He'd clearly already decided all 4x4 drivers were arrogant swine who "need to be taught a lesson" so I saw no reason to waste my time attempting to change his view. He's a familiar sight, this Accord driver, as he often bombs through our village at 50, despite it being 30mph with narrow lanes, blind bends and a large riding stables on the edge of the village. I long for the day I come across his wrecked car so I can whisper "told you to slow down" into his ear as they load him in the ambulance.
Still, it's always the 4x4 drivers that are at fault, so all of the above is clearly imagined.
Bet you lot have missed me, haven't you :o)
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Good post ND, except your blinkered view of Korean cars, or was that a generalisation of Korean car buyers of a certain age.
Perish the thought.
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I am suitably "meh"* about Korean cars in general. Around here it's specific members of the silver-haired mafia in their Diarrhoea Matiz/Lanos and their Khristthatisawful Picantos (there's a Micra on the list too) that cause the issues; they and a select few civilian employees at Dorset Police headquarters who see our village as their personal racetrack. Strangely enough, multiple requests to the Dorset "Safer Speed"** partnership have fallen on deaf ears. Could this be due to many of said bastions of road safety being civilian employees based at Dorset Police HQ?
Cynically yours
ND
(* www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=meh)
(** I presume it's a non-addictive variety. Would be great if they can come up with a better version of Heroin though; speed-heads just talk cobblers at 150miles an hour)
Last edited by: NoDo$h on Thu 15 Jul 10 at 09:28
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>> I am suitably "meh"* about Korean cars in general.
Whatever!
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>> Whatever!
>>
I'll see your "Whatever!" and raise you a "talk to the hand".
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>> I'll see your "Whatever!" and raise you a "talk to the hand".
>>
Please don't i now have a nightmare vision of a studio audience from the same hell hole as the victims chanting..
'Jerry...Jerry...Jerry'.
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No Dosh? [rubs eyes] Have I gone back in time a few years?
Not managed to convince yourself back into an Alfa then?
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Ah, the Congleton Bear! How goes it?
No, not going anywhere near Alfas again. Too much towing, carrying and field work needed these days. Toying with changing my latest Disco3 (bought another new one in 2008) for a Defender 110 but definitely NOT a saloon/estate/hatch.
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Fair enough. What moved you away from the Japanese pick-up types I seem to remember you favouring to Land Rover products?
We have a baby bear on the way now, so finally going to get some use out of the back seats of the GTA.
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L200 had the worst seats EVER and the turning circle of.... well let's just say you had to make a three-point turn to get around the M25.
So a 90 pickup for the rough stuff (they really do go anywhere) and a Disco3 for the less rough and comfy stuff.
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>> L200 had the worst seats EVER and the turning circle of.... well let's just say
>> you had to make a three-point turn to get around the M25.
I seem to recall, from the mists of time, in the other place, I warned you - in no uncertain terms - about the sheer awfulness of the seats in a L200
You ignored me.
I love ITYS moments
< smirk>
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You did - but as it wasn't my car.....
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>> We have a baby bear on the way now, so finally going to get some
>> use out of the back seats of the GTA.
No. No, really, I mustn't. I'll keep quitet, now.
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>> >> We have a baby bear on the way now, so finally going to get
>> some
>> >> use out of the back seats of the GTA.
>>
>>
>> No. No, really, I mustn't. I'll keep quitet, now.
>>
I must admit to a chuckle.
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Tee hee FT.
I am slower in the uptake than you ON....
:o}
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>> No. No, really, I mustn't. I'll keep quitet, now.
>>
Difficult, isn't it? I only just managed to keep it out of the original post.
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>> No, not going anywhere near Alfas again. Too much towing....
Required by the breakdown companies ;o)
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One breakdown in 90,000 miles on the Alfa I had. Not bad.
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>>One breakdown in 90,000 miles on the Alfa I had. Not bad.
Presumably that was on mile 1, and the other 89,999 were driven in the courtesy car supplied by the garage challenged with fixing the tractor ?
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Every Saturday I take beekeeping lessons just outside Leek so travel 7 miles on very narrow roads with passing places , a ford, various farms and stables.
The obvious road blockages are best met with patience and a sense of humour.. and leaving with 10 minutes to spare.. Fortunately most other drivers have the same approach..
Nutters? They would not last 5 minutes: a tractor would get them or a bull or several horses..:-)
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How do you define a narrow road?
Are we talking of single track road here
or
B roads or un-named roads which at least have a dividing line in the middle?
If the former, I just avoid them - even if it means traveling a bit more.
If the later, I can't see how it is a problem as long as two Hummers are not trying to pass side by side.
Of course, even A roads are sometimes nearly single tracks in South West England and many places in Wales.
I appreciate the fact that most drivers in Cornwall/Wales are quite experts. They manage to squeeze into narrow roads with larger cars (often with caravans) where I pass nervously in a much smaller car.
Last edited by: movilogo on Thu 15 Jul 10 at 11:18
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B roads? B Roads???? Luxury! The roads I refer to around my particular part of Dorset are singularly lacking in sufficient width to paint a white line. We're talking perhaps 8-9 feet width of tarmac and verges of varying degrees of softness/bumpiness/hedginess
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>>
>> I appreciate the fact that most drivers in Cornwall/Wales are quite experts. They manage to
>> squeeze into narrow roads with larger cars (often with caravans) where I pass nervously in
>> a much smaller car.
>>
Quite simply, you end up having to be or you get nowhere. I spend a large part of my lorry driving time on roads which aren't as wide as some peoples' driveways; I can always spot a tourist by their unwillingness (and usually inability) to reverse their car. Most locals round here can drive just as well (and quickly) backwards as forwards, knowing full well that it's much easier for them to reverse a car than it is for me to reverse the lorry.
I'll offer a tip; it's always worth looking *over* the hedges if you can, especially on winding lanes; gives you a chance to tuck in before you're confronted with a tractor and trailer on a blind bend. As with a lorry, the height gives them an advantage; never ceases to surprise me how many cars come belting round a bend and have to jam the brakes on hard when confronted by the front end of my lorry, this despite my having already stopped because I had already seen them.
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We were heading down here gingerly with the CRV and the caravan
tinyurl.com/28jad77
when a BMW turned towards us from the side road on the left. He hadn't even looked to his right despite it being single track.
He sat there and refused to reverse back into the side road.
We sat there and turned the engine off :)
Eventually he reversed but his retaliation was to blast his horn continually while we went past him.
Observation and forward thinking would have saved him all that stress.
Pat
Last edited by: pda on Thu 15 Jul 10 at 17:47
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Nothing can save twozzers like that Pat.
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Lifes too short for sharing roads and verges like that
EDIT: even the maintained single tracks further north in Scotland are in better nick than that road :-(
Last edited by: CraigP on Thu 15 Jul 10 at 18:03
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It's brilliant, it deters most people from using the touring site we use.
There's a hairpin bend and a 17% hill further up:)
Pat
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>> Eventually he reversed but his retaliation was to blast his horn continually while we went
>> past him.
clearly he was very annoyed and upset. How very satisfying.
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I'll bet that BMW driver was a motorcyclist on his days off..:-)
(sits down and waits for incoming :-)
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Narrow roads, pah! you lot don't know you're alive :)
This is the lane that led to our gaff on the Bodmin Moor, it was barely wide enough for ONE car ~
tinyurl.com/3xfbptf
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OK Dog, narrow, but what a surface! And sinuous but not too sinuous, if you see what I mean.
I bet the lads of the village hit a wriggling ton down there sometimes when you are tucked up in bed... Of course these modern motors are pretty quiet.
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>>bet the lads of the village hit a wriggling ton down there sometimes when you are tucked up in bed<<
There were only about 200 souls in the whole area Sire, and in the 6.5 years we lived there we never had any problem driving down the single track lane although we used to have a larf when in the holiday season there would be quite horrendous traffic jams on the A30 near Temple and the Jamaica Inn and they would divert the traffic down the quiet country lanes and through Warleggan (Hohoho!) much fun :)
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>> clearly he was very annoyed and upset. How very satisfying.
>>
I've found that if you wear glasses, taking them off and "offering" them to the other driver can get the point across quite well!
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Pat - something vaguely similar happened to me but as it was a quiet country lane and about 1/4 mile from home, I just abandoned the car and took a shortcut home across the fields after bidding him a cheery farewell and taking a photo of his car on my phone.
I actually lurked behind the hedge until he turned around, but the knowledge of the fact that he just went into a 6 mile detour down narrow, twisty Devon lanes made me feel much better.
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I too pretend not to pay attention by looking out of the side window if someone's trying to bully their way through. Of course I am looking really but it does make them behave a bit more!
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Narrow roads - oncoming cars. - Zero
