Morons on the road
Discussion
Alright guys, just been down to Chester Le Street to look at a Golf GTI MK2, had a rather alarming experience on the way back!
As I was leaving Chester Le Street and joining the A1 northbound by the sliproad, I was in the left hand lane, with a green range rover Freelander TDV6 in the right hand lane, matching my speed, several car lengths behind me. As I moved across to the right lane to join the A1, he booted it up behind me until he was literally 2 inches from my bumper. As I moved across into lane 1 of the A1, he swerved around me into lane 2, came alongside me and then moved over to the left, trying to force me off the road. I had to swerve towards the edge of the road to avoid him hitting me. I slowed down to try and let him go, and then, as evidenced by the huge gout of smoke billowing from his exhaust, dropped a gear and chugged off into the distance as quickly as he could.
Thankfully, my girlfriend got few photos of his registration number and his car, including one of him tailgating a car infront as he tried to speed away - what a charming fellow! Popped down to the local police station to make a complaint, and they said he would be added to the driving complaint log. I suggested it was likely that he would already be on their register because such appalling driving takes time to form and it's probably not the first time he has tried to barge people around with his car before. The fact that he was apparently quite willing to hit me and force me off the road, at speeds above 60mph at which a fatality is a serious risk, is absolutely shocking. Where the hell do these people come from?
Anyway, if you are driving on the A1 in the North East, keep an eye out for a green Freelander, with one of those spanish bull stickers on the back, being driven by a bald/crew cutted bloke in is 40s. He might well just ram you into the field I narrowly avoided!
As I was leaving Chester Le Street and joining the A1 northbound by the sliproad, I was in the left hand lane, with a green range rover Freelander TDV6 in the right hand lane, matching my speed, several car lengths behind me. As I moved across to the right lane to join the A1, he booted it up behind me until he was literally 2 inches from my bumper. As I moved across into lane 1 of the A1, he swerved around me into lane 2, came alongside me and then moved over to the left, trying to force me off the road. I had to swerve towards the edge of the road to avoid him hitting me. I slowed down to try and let him go, and then, as evidenced by the huge gout of smoke billowing from his exhaust, dropped a gear and chugged off into the distance as quickly as he could.
Thankfully, my girlfriend got few photos of his registration number and his car, including one of him tailgating a car infront as he tried to speed away - what a charming fellow! Popped down to the local police station to make a complaint, and they said he would be added to the driving complaint log. I suggested it was likely that he would already be on their register because such appalling driving takes time to form and it's probably not the first time he has tried to barge people around with his car before. The fact that he was apparently quite willing to hit me and force me off the road, at speeds above 60mph at which a fatality is a serious risk, is absolutely shocking. Where the hell do these people come from?
Anyway, if you are driving on the A1 in the North East, keep an eye out for a green Freelander, with one of those spanish bull stickers on the back, being driven by a bald/crew cutted bloke in is 40s. He might well just ram you into the field I narrowly avoided!
Edited by Mastodon2 on Sunday 6th February 19:39
Could it be anything to do with you leaving a slip road which filters into the 1st lane of the motorway automatically giving you priority? it seems to me that you have instead of being aware of the road configuration in front of you allowing you to freely filter onto a motorway, you have crossed into the path of a car in the centre lane already doing at least 70 mph when you had no reason to do so?
I would also state that the freelander driver who ever he was had the road priority and actually you should have given way to him, from his reaction it is likely that you didn't and joined the centre lane of the motorway without due consideration to him.
I am not condoning any poor behaviour from another driver in any motor vehicle but I do witness poor use of this slip road every day of the week.
I would suggest that before villifying other road users that you look carefully at the road configuration next time you pass and make sure that your driving was correct.
Generally I find that most people are reasonable on the roads and very few try to run you off the road, Are you sure your own actions and poor choice of road positioning didn't cause an unreasonable reaction?
Edited to add, having re-read your post it appears that the freelander drive may have also been on the slip road but in the R/H lane This would give him a choice of filtering into the left hand lane to enter in lane 1 or to accellerate and join directly into lane 2 if traffic flow allowed. given either scenario your move from lane 1 to 2 of a slip road which gives priority to lane 1 on the motorway would have been seen by any driver to be unnecessary and also un predictable!!
N
I would also state that the freelander driver who ever he was had the road priority and actually you should have given way to him, from his reaction it is likely that you didn't and joined the centre lane of the motorway without due consideration to him.
I am not condoning any poor behaviour from another driver in any motor vehicle but I do witness poor use of this slip road every day of the week.
I would suggest that before villifying other road users that you look carefully at the road configuration next time you pass and make sure that your driving was correct.
Generally I find that most people are reasonable on the roads and very few try to run you off the road, Are you sure your own actions and poor choice of road positioning didn't cause an unreasonable reaction?
Edited to add, having re-read your post it appears that the freelander drive may have also been on the slip road but in the R/H lane This would give him a choice of filtering into the left hand lane to enter in lane 1 or to accellerate and join directly into lane 2 if traffic flow allowed. given either scenario your move from lane 1 to 2 of a slip road which gives priority to lane 1 on the motorway would have been seen by any driver to be unnecessary and also un predictable!!
N
Edited by heightswitch on Sunday 6th February 10:52
I'm not sure if I explained the scenario properly, or if you have misunderstood it. Two lanes of sliproad joining the motorway, which turn into a single lane that runs alongside the motorway before ending, forcing you to merge before you run out of road and drive along the hard shoulder. I was way out in front of the other bloke, in the left lane, moved over to the right to join the A1 (before I ran out of road, as you do) and he had obviously thought he could slot in before I did by booting it up behind me - if anyone was being unpredictable it was him! Using a sliproad is about merging with the traffic when safe to do so, not speeding up behind other vehicles and attempting to push them off the road to join first.
It's not like I swerved infront of him, he just got a bit carried away with himself and tried to squeeze through a gap that did not exist, and then swerved towards me in a display of uncontrolled aggression. Perhaps I am not properly explaining how it happened, but believe me if there was no question that it was definitely a classic case of a man in a big car trying to bully a man in a small car out of the way, and one seemingly so focused on forcing his way through that he was prepared to cause a serious accident to do it.
It's not like I swerved infront of him, he just got a bit carried away with himself and tried to squeeze through a gap that did not exist, and then swerved towards me in a display of uncontrolled aggression. Perhaps I am not properly explaining how it happened, but believe me if there was no question that it was definitely a classic case of a man in a big car trying to bully a man in a small car out of the way, and one seemingly so focused on forcing his way through that he was prepared to cause a serious accident to do it.
Mastodon2 said:
I'm not sure if I explained the scenario properly, or if you have misunderstood it. Two lanes of sliproad joining the motorway, which turn into a single lane that runs alongside the motorway before ending, forcing you to merge before you run out of road and drive along the hard shoulder. I was way out in front of the other bloke, in the left lane, moved over to the right to join the A1 (before I ran out of road, as you do) and he had obviously thought he could slot in before I did by booting it up behind me - if anyone was being unpredictable it was him! Using a sliproad is about merging with the traffic when safe to do so, not speeding up behind other vehicles and attempting to push them off the road to join first.
It's not like I swerved infront of him, he just got a bit carried away with himself and tried to squeeze through a gap that did not exist, and then swerved towards me in a display of uncontrolled aggression. Perhaps I am not properly explaining how it happened, but believe me if there was no question that it was definitely a classic case of a man in a big car trying to bully a man in a small car out of the way, and one seemingly so focused on forcing his way through that he was prepared to cause a serious accident to do it.
No. you explained it fine.It's not like I swerved infront of him, he just got a bit carried away with himself and tried to squeeze through a gap that did not exist, and then swerved towards me in a display of uncontrolled aggression. Perhaps I am not properly explaining how it happened, but believe me if there was no question that it was definitely a classic case of a man in a big car trying to bully a man in a small car out of the way, and one seemingly so focused on forcing his way through that he was prepared to cause a serious accident to do it.
The 2 lanes of the sliproad end and the L/H lane of the slip road turns into lane 1 of the motorway which becomes 3 lanes. You joined lane 2 and in doing so crossed the path of the freelander who had priority over you in directly joining lane 2 of the motorway!!
Google earth shows the road layout very clearly.
N.
Edited by heightswitch on Sunday 6th February 18:38
heightswitch said:
No. you explained it fine.
The 2 lanes of the sliproad end and the L/H lane of the slip road turns into lane 1 of the motorway which becomes 3 lanes. You joined lane 2 and in doing so crossed the path of the freelander who had priority over you in directly joining lane 2 of the motorway!!
Google earth shows the road layout very clearly.
N.
That looks a sThe 2 lanes of the sliproad end and the L/H lane of the slip road turns into lane 1 of the motorway which becomes 3 lanes. You joined lane 2 and in doing so crossed the path of the freelander who had priority over you in directly joining lane 2 of the motorway!!
Google earth shows the road layout very clearly.
N.
t piece of road design.heebeegeetee said:
That looks a st piece of road design.
Road design is fine, allows slow traffic un hindered access to A1 and faster traffic the option of moving directly to lane 2 or filtering 1 for 1 , everything works fine untill drivers in left hand lane try to cut across effectively 2 lanes and join lane 2 of the a1!!t piece of road design.heightswitch said:
heebeegeetee said:
That looks a st piece of road design.
Road design is fine, allows slow traffic un hindered access to A1 and faster traffic the option of moving directly to lane 2 or filtering 1 for 1 , everything works fine untill drivers in left hand lane try to cut across effectively 2 lanes and join lane 2 of the a1!!t piece of road design.Around the country, there are countless different designs of slip roads that all come without warnings that they are different to the normal slip road. They're fine for the locals, not so good for the non-locals. The locals normally go mental at the drivers experiencing the unusual road layout for the first time though.
heebeegeetee said:
Are there any warnings that the 2 lanes of the sliproad become 1, and are there any warnings to the users of the m'way that the driver in l2 of the slip road is about to run out of lane?
Around the country, there are countless different designs of slip roads that all come without warnings that they are different to the normal slip road. They're fine for the locals, not so good for the non-locals. The locals normally go mental at the drivers experiencing the unusual road layout for the first time though.
I agree, and I don't condone road rage, but neither do I condone someone posting a motorists reg number when actually the offending motorist brought it on himself.Around the country, there are countless different designs of slip roads that all come without warnings that they are different to the normal slip road. They're fine for the locals, not so good for the non-locals. The locals normally go mental at the drivers experiencing the unusual road layout for the first time though.
Their are some fundamental rules which if followed lead to a peaceful and happy existance.
1. Always give way to traffic approaching from the right!!
In this instance that fundamental rule was not followed.
The road is very clear and very long, probably one of the longest slips in the UK. To my knowledge std road design dictates that all sliproads with 2 lanes are like this unless fully marked onto the road to be joined.
The short carriageway markings also clearly indicate danger which in essence seeks to warn joining motorists of the faster traffic in lane 2.
Edited by heightswitch on Sunday 6th February 19:06
Edited by heightswitch on Sunday 6th February 19:07
heightswitch said:
heebeegeetee said:
Are there any warnings that the 2 lanes of the sliproad become 1, and are there any warnings to the users of the m'way that the driver in l2 of the slip road is about to run out of lane?
Around the country, there are countless different designs of slip roads that all come without warnings that they are different to the normal slip road. They're fine for the locals, not so good for the non-locals. The locals normally go mental at the drivers experiencing the unusual road layout for the first time though.
I agree, and I don't condone road rage, but neither do I condone someone posting a motorists reg number when actually the offending motorist brought it on himself.Around the country, there are countless different designs of slip roads that all come without warnings that they are different to the normal slip road. They're fine for the locals, not so good for the non-locals. The locals normally go mental at the drivers experiencing the unusual road layout for the first time though.
Reg removed if that makes you happier. I may have been in error, I could have followed that slip road for some distance until the next exit, but I would have had to move over eventually to avoid being filtered off the A1 again. It's quite simple, I moved over, well ahead of another car, he boots it up behind me and then tried to swerve into me. I may have been in error - you think I was, I don't believe I was, it's moot really - but was his response, to potentially try and cause me to crash at high speed, reasonable or justifiable? I really don't think so. I've seen some terrible, aggressive driving in my time, but I have never witnessed an outright attempt to try and induce a crash or force a vehicle off the road, and then it happens to me.
I'm not naive, I know this kind of thing goes on (read about it often enough on Pistonheads) but I did not think that something as simple as changing a lane, with full and correct mirror, signal, maneuver procedure with another car several car lengths ahead of another vehicle, could spark such rage in someone as to cause them to attempt to push another car off the road. I suppose being a small, slow car, he probably thought I was an easy target.
I've put it down to experience and it's behind me now, I just thought this should serve as one of those reminders, you never know who is out there. I'm sure we won't soon forget the motorist knifed to death in front of his girlfriend in a road rage dispute; some people just lose all sense of rationality when you put them at the wheel of a vehicle.
As another note, had I bought the car in Chester Le Street I went to view (significantly faster than my current car, to say the least!) I would have put my foot down in 3rd and buggered off into the sunset before he tried to swerve into me!
I'm not naive, I know this kind of thing goes on (read about it often enough on Pistonheads) but I did not think that something as simple as changing a lane, with full and correct mirror, signal, maneuver procedure with another car several car lengths ahead of another vehicle, could spark such rage in someone as to cause them to attempt to push another car off the road. I suppose being a small, slow car, he probably thought I was an easy target.
I've put it down to experience and it's behind me now, I just thought this should serve as one of those reminders, you never know who is out there. I'm sure we won't soon forget the motorist knifed to death in front of his girlfriend in a road rage dispute; some people just lose all sense of rationality when you put them at the wheel of a vehicle.
As another note, had I bought the car in Chester Le Street I went to view (significantly faster than my current car, to say the least!) I would have put my foot down in 3rd and buggered off into the sunset before he tried to swerve into me!
heightswitch said:
heebeegeetee said:
Well we don't know that and certainly the police haven't said this. They'd have prosecuted him if he'd gone in and confessed to doing wrong, trust me.
i think matsodon admits to such in his second posting!!Mastodon2 said:
As another note, had I bought the car in Chester Le Street I went to view (significantly faster than my current car, to say the least!) I would have put my foot down in 3rd and buggered off into the sunset before he tried to swerve into me!
It's all becoming clear to me now - you drove a ford fiesta in lane 2. The other driver was trying to show you the correct lane for such cars.oldcynic said:
t's all becoming clear to me now - you drove a ford fiesta in lane 2. The other driver was trying to show you the correct lane for such cars.
i think you should settle down with the highway code?Consider a land rover freelander driver who is coming up the second lane of a slip road. he is looking behind himself, checking his mirrors and blind spot whilst matching his speed to the 2nd lane of the A1 motorway. he is looking for a safe place to filter in when all of a sudden another car which has a priority to enter lane 1 of the motorway decides to flash and move across 2 lanes when their is absolutely no need to! said fiesta has moved into the anticipated space that the freelander was going to take and the land rover has been forced into a position of braking, pulling out at a slower speed into lane 2 into the path of approaching traffic or pulling directly into lane 3 into 2 lanes of approaching traffic giving a real possibility of a high speed accident and involving an innocent motorist heading home from Durham.
I have seen this happen at this location many times.
Is the fiesta driver whiter than white, No. does the freelander driver have the right to take his frustration out on the fiesta driver, definitely not.
aren't we all fortunate that the fiesta driver hasn't progressed to a golf, since then after causing a dangerouse and avoidable incident he would simply accellerate away.
i am sorry there are always 2 sides to a story and I have seen this happen on that stretch of road so many times.
The fiesta driver made a mistake, learn from the mistake. after all you potentially endangered a 4x4 driver and possibly a mother and her children innocently ambling along the second lane of a motorway!! you didn't! how do you know, you obviously weren't aware of your surroundings!
You can look back down the motorway from streetview and see how wide the road is! you can also see the solid markings giving lane 2 a wider space in which to filter into lane 2. their is absolutely no need to move right when in lane 1 on joining the motorway, and the first time the lane 1 seperates from lane 2 again is some 4 - 5 miles away at the angel of the north!!
N.
Edited by heightswitch on Sunday 6th February 20:53
Edited by heightswitch on Sunday 6th February 21:15
Theirs a BMW ive seen a few times on the A19, has a private plate relating to a company and also has that said companies van following it on all occassions. Person driving the BMW drives in a manor that is totally ridiculous and incredibly dangerous, undertaking, tailgating stupidly close and forcing people out of the way, even been a victim of it myself but have seen him driving like that 3 times now so must do it all the time!
How on earth not been involved in an accident or spotted by the police is beyond me.
How on earth not been involved in an accident or spotted by the police is beyond me.
heightswitch said:
oldcynic said:
t's all becoming clear to me now - you drove a ford fiesta in lane 2. The other driver was trying to show you the correct lane for such cars.
i think you should settle down with the highway code?Consider a land rover freelander driver who is coming up the second lane of a slip road. he is looking behind himself, checking his mirrors and blind spot whilst matching his speed to the 2nd lane of the A1 motorway. he is looking for a safe place to filter in when all of a sudden another car which has a priority to enter lane 1 of the motorway decides to flash and move across 2 lanes when their is absolutely no need to! said fiesta has moved into the anticipated space that the freelander was going to take and the land rover has been forced into a position of braking, pulling out at a slower speed into lane 2 into the path of approaching traffic or pulling directly into lane 3 into 2 lanes of approaching traffic giving a real possibility of a high speed accident and involving an innocent motorist heading home from Durham.
I have seen this happen at this location many times.
Is the fiesta driver whiter than white, No. does the freelander driver have the right to take his frustration out on the fiesta driver, definitely not.
aren't we all fortunate that the fiesta driver hasn't progressed to a golf, since then after causing a dangerouse and avoidable incident he would simply accellerate away.
i am sorry there are always 2 sides to a story and I have seen this happen on that stretch of road so many times.
The fiesta driver made a mistake, learn from the mistake. after all you potentially endangered a 4x4 driver and possibly a mother and her children innocently ambling along the second lane of a motorway!! you didn't! how do you know, you obviously weren't aware of your surroundings!
You can look back down the motorway from streetview and see how wide the road is! you can also see the solid markings giving lane 2 a wider space in which to filter into lane 2. their is absolutely no need to move right when in lane 1 on joining the motorway, and the first time the lane 1 seperates from lane 2 again is some 4 - 5 miles away at the angel of the north!!
N.
There are two lanes in that slip road, and lane 2 is for overtaking only. If the Freelander wasn't overtaking he shouldn't be in the lane. The Freelander driver could see what the OP needed to do but it seems he deliberately crowded him, and removed the several vehicle lengths gap between them.
Both vehicles needed to join the inside lane of the A1, the OP is there first so has priority.
Lane 2 is the lane you don't want to be in, because it gets squeezed by lane 1 and the dc itself. Only a bad driver would put himself in that situation, good drivers would avoid it.
One of the most common scenarios that can be seen when vehicles are joining an m'way or dc, is that if there are two or more vehicles joining together, the driver of the vehicle behind almost always seems to have the urge to overtake the joinee in front, irrespective of the danger he may pose to other traffic. This seems to be exactly what has happened here.
The Freelander got himself into trouble, completely needlessly, and aggressively tried to make someone else pay for his own bad driving. Absolutely typical w
ker 4x4 driving, if you ask me, backs up my theory that bad drivers naturally gravitate to such vehicles. heebeegeetee said:
The Freelander got himself into trouble, completely needlessly, and aggressively tried to make someone else pay for his own bad driving. Absolutely typical wker 4x4 driving, if you ask me, backs up my theory that bad drivers naturally gravitate to such vehicles.
We have a one sided account of an incident which you feel justifies stereotyping all 4x4 drivers?ker 4x4 driving, if you ask me, backs up my theory that bad drivers naturally gravitate to such vehicles. gary80 said:
heebeegeetee said:
The Freelander got himself into trouble, completely needlessly, and aggressively tried to make someone else pay for his own bad driving. Absolutely typical wker 4x4 driving, if you ask me, backs up my theory that bad drivers naturally gravitate to such vehicles.
We have a one sided account of an incident which you feel justifies stereotyping all 4x4 drivers?ker 4x4 driving, if you ask me, backs up my theory that bad drivers naturally gravitate to such vehicles. Gassing Station | North East | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff