Why Are Driving Standards So Poor?
Discussion
With rare exception, I'm on the road most days of the week. It's not long into my journey before noticing poor driving or some kind of offence being committed, especially in built up areas. If I were to compile a list of a typical day or week it will be a long one.
Talking to a settled Aussie customer after swapping out the rear window on his E90, I told him about a good friend who wants to move to Oz after he spent a month just outside Melbourne with his cousin. One of the big talking points was about the way of life there and in particular, laws such as (the simplicity of) parking only in the direction of traffic, not facing the other way. My customer called this common sense, and as easy as the concept is to understand it highlights just how we either don't do common sense here, or if there is a law, it's how it doesn't apply to certain individuals.
There's a road not far from me where the bus stop has been moved to directly opposite a T-junction. Utterly bonkers planning.
It's almost normal to see the driver of a car coming towards you with his or head looking down into their lap as they catch up on messages or social media; the other one to that is a crawler hogging the middle lane, "oh, you're on your phone!"
Seeing someone driving on the North Circular as they're Face-timing someone is a regular site.
The policing is non existent, and it's focussed on penalising the motorist for an easy yield of revenue.
Dark tints, illegally spaced characters on registration plates, gel plates, tinted plates, 3D, 4D... All appear to be very common and go largely undetected.
Missed your turning? Looking for an address? That's okay, you can just cause chaos, havoc, a danger to yourself and everyone else as you try and get out of it rather than think about the safest way to negotiate being on that dangerous place we call a road. Nobody cares about how they might be affecting someone else around them (this applies to people in general, and limited to driving).
Whenever I've ventured into Europe the differences are immediately apparent and serve as a reminder about how poor the standards are here.
Sometimes it's best just to get in front of the driver (or middle lane hog) ahead. Sometimes I look at them and think, oh they're old bless 'em; oh, they're young, bless 'em; oh it looks like English might not be their first language, never mind. Whatever it is, keeping your blinkers on (to the problem) is best for self preservation.
Before I sign off, on my way home yesterday I came of the M25 and headed down towards Cockfosters. In the opposite lane, a long line of slow moving vehicles - mostly cars - on their way to the motorway. One car, a Mercedes, being driven with the windscreen totally misted up. You couldn't see the driver. Zero intelligence and no f
ks given by the driver.
Talking to a settled Aussie customer after swapping out the rear window on his E90, I told him about a good friend who wants to move to Oz after he spent a month just outside Melbourne with his cousin. One of the big talking points was about the way of life there and in particular, laws such as (the simplicity of) parking only in the direction of traffic, not facing the other way. My customer called this common sense, and as easy as the concept is to understand it highlights just how we either don't do common sense here, or if there is a law, it's how it doesn't apply to certain individuals.
There's a road not far from me where the bus stop has been moved to directly opposite a T-junction. Utterly bonkers planning.
It's almost normal to see the driver of a car coming towards you with his or head looking down into their lap as they catch up on messages or social media; the other one to that is a crawler hogging the middle lane, "oh, you're on your phone!"
Seeing someone driving on the North Circular as they're Face-timing someone is a regular site.
The policing is non existent, and it's focussed on penalising the motorist for an easy yield of revenue.
Dark tints, illegally spaced characters on registration plates, gel plates, tinted plates, 3D, 4D... All appear to be very common and go largely undetected.
Missed your turning? Looking for an address? That's okay, you can just cause chaos, havoc, a danger to yourself and everyone else as you try and get out of it rather than think about the safest way to negotiate being on that dangerous place we call a road. Nobody cares about how they might be affecting someone else around them (this applies to people in general, and limited to driving).
Whenever I've ventured into Europe the differences are immediately apparent and serve as a reminder about how poor the standards are here.
Sometimes it's best just to get in front of the driver (or middle lane hog) ahead. Sometimes I look at them and think, oh they're old bless 'em; oh, they're young, bless 'em; oh it looks like English might not be their first language, never mind. Whatever it is, keeping your blinkers on (to the problem) is best for self preservation.
Before I sign off, on my way home yesterday I came of the M25 and headed down towards Cockfosters. In the opposite lane, a long line of slow moving vehicles - mostly cars - on their way to the motorway. One car, a Mercedes, being driven with the windscreen totally misted up. You couldn't see the driver. Zero intelligence and no f
ks given by the driver. Been said before, Roads policing in England and Wales has declined significantly, with the number of dedicated officers falling by over 1,000 (roughly 21% to 22%) in the decade leading up to 2025, dropping to 4,149.
Unless you're involved in an injury collision then freely drive without due care or carelessly and you'll get away with it because nobody's out there to advise or prosecute you.
Unless you're involved in an injury collision then freely drive without due care or carelessly and you'll get away with it because nobody's out there to advise or prosecute you.
Standards are low in many ways. I have two roads I can use to get places, an A road which is a nice route and the B road which has been closed to due a collapse. Now all traffic goes on the A road. The last 4 journeys I've made along it I've been stuck behind a car doing 40-44mph (including in the various 30 zones we go through). Young, old, male and female drivers, it matters not. Also no one seems to have the ability to overtake anymore so just sit there following along.
The only upside is we are not Belgium which, aside from places where roads are fairly lawless, has to be the worst in the western world for driving standards.
As above there is no policing anymore other than the lazy vans catching speeders. But you could drive past one of those at 30mph with your windows misted up holding up swathes of traffic and not a jot would be given.
The only upside is we are not Belgium which, aside from places where roads are fairly lawless, has to be the worst in the western world for driving standards.
As above there is no policing anymore other than the lazy vans catching speeders. But you could drive past one of those at 30mph with your windows misted up holding up swathes of traffic and not a jot would be given.
When I was young there were plenty of traffic coppers or just normal police cruising about. I was stopped a couple of times for this or that. Trivial things.
But it made me think that I couldn't get away with anything.
Today the opposite seems to be the case. The chances of being stopped are very slim. And people react accordingly.
But it made me think that I couldn't get away with anything.
Today the opposite seems to be the case. The chances of being stopped are very slim. And people react accordingly.
MustangGT said:
It is roughly in line with the general decline in community standards. It is always 'somebody else at fault', claim culture etc.
This. I live in a very confined part of greater London, not much room and every single person who has moved in over the last five years has been an inconsiderate, antisocial bd who just does what they want to do and to hell with everyone else.Half the people out there are driving massive SUVs, have no interest in driving and just want to bully other cars out of the way. Again no interest in giving way or letting people out of junctions, and anyone who is in their way is clearly in the wrong.
Then we have the people who didn't get their licence in the UK and just bring the standard of driving from their home country with them. That is before we get on to the people who paid other people to take their test, or just use the "family" driving licence.
Don't get me started on the plague of people who sit in the middle lane of the motorway at 60MPH no matter how deserted it is.
And instead of approaching junctions anticipating having to stop, they speed up to the junction, then slam on the brakes at the last minute poking two feet into the road because someone dared to be driving along the main road.
Boils my piss
Edited by ThingsBehindTheSun on Friday 6th March 16:45
ThingsBehindTheSun said:
MustangGT said:
It is roughly in line with the general decline in community standards. It is always 'somebody else at fault', claim culture etc.
This. I live in a very confined part of greater London, not much room and every single person who has moved in over the last five years has been an inconsiderate, antisocial bd who just does what they want to do and to hell with everyone else.Half the people out there are driving massive SUVs, have no interest in driving and just want to bully other cars out of the way. Again no interest in giving way or letting people out of junctions, and anyone who is in their way is clearly in the wrong.
Then we have the people who didn't get their licence in the UK and just bring the standard of driving from their home country with them. That is before we get on to the people who paid other people to take their test, or just use the "family" driving licence.
Don't get me started on the plague of people who sit in the middle lane of the motorway at 60MPH no matter how deserted it is.
And instead of approaching junctions anticipating having to stop, they speed up to the junction, then slam on the brakes at the last minute poking two feet into the road because someone dared to be driving along the main road.
Boils my piss
Edited by ThingsBehindTheSun on Friday 6th March 16:45
finlo said:
ThingsBehindTheSun said:
MustangGT said:
It is roughly in line with the general decline in community standards. It is always 'somebody else at fault', claim culture etc.
This. I live in a very confined part of greater London, not much room and every single person who has moved in over the last five years has been an inconsiderate, antisocial bd who just does what they want to do and to hell with everyone else.Half the people out there are driving massive SUVs, have no interest in driving and just want to bully other cars out of the way. Again no interest in giving way or letting people out of junctions, and anyone who is in their way is clearly in the wrong.
Then we have the people who didn't get their licence in the UK and just bring the standard of driving from their home country with them. That is before we get on to the people who paid other people to take their test, or just use the "family" driving licence.
Don't get me started on the plague of people who sit in the middle lane of the motorway at 60MPH no matter how deserted it is.
And instead of approaching junctions anticipating having to stop, they speed up to the junction, then slam on the brakes at the last minute poking two feet into the road because someone dared to be driving along the main road.
Boils my piss
Edited by ThingsBehindTheSun on Friday 6th March 16:45
I think driving standards have always been poor. It is just overcrowding especially down the south that amplifies it.
I drive all over the country and the usual hot spots are London obviously, tunnel side Dartford is a mess 24/7 and M6 in various places if i were to pick a top 3. Stoke is pretty bad a lot of the time too. 50MPH limit doesn't really help as traffic just all bunches up feeding off the M6 and A50 NSL sections.
North East is by far the most pleasant. Especially the A19. I like driving around Suffolk and Norfolk despite the lack of dual carriage ways. Everyone drives pretty good around there.
Wales is okay as is Lincolnshire but in Lincolnshire you have a lot of tractors and Wales too many blind corners which makes overtaking tricky. Yorkshire is pretty good too but you are more likely to get your car stolen.
Central London will always be peak carnage mainly because you have loads of people on L plate motorcycles with at best a CBT and at worst no licence at all. Plus all the different countries that all got their licence at the bottom of a cereal packet.
I drive all over the country and the usual hot spots are London obviously, tunnel side Dartford is a mess 24/7 and M6 in various places if i were to pick a top 3. Stoke is pretty bad a lot of the time too. 50MPH limit doesn't really help as traffic just all bunches up feeding off the M6 and A50 NSL sections.
North East is by far the most pleasant. Especially the A19. I like driving around Suffolk and Norfolk despite the lack of dual carriage ways. Everyone drives pretty good around there.
Wales is okay as is Lincolnshire but in Lincolnshire you have a lot of tractors and Wales too many blind corners which makes overtaking tricky. Yorkshire is pretty good too but you are more likely to get your car stolen.
Central London will always be peak carnage mainly because you have loads of people on L plate motorcycles with at best a CBT and at worst no licence at all. Plus all the different countries that all got their licence at the bottom of a cereal packet.
Chances of getting called out on it by someone with some authority to actually do something is almost nil.
You could drive quite appallingly right in front of a police car and you're unlikely to be pulled over. You're not going to be pulled up for use of indicators, inconsiderate parking or any number of relatively minor infringements.
People push to find out where the line is and if they don't find it they'll keep pushing.
Imagine being pulled over for incorrect use of indicators while a guy in a balaclava goes past on the pavement at 40mph on the back wheel of a Sur-ron.
That's not even far fetched depending on where you live.
You could drive quite appallingly right in front of a police car and you're unlikely to be pulled over. You're not going to be pulled up for use of indicators, inconsiderate parking or any number of relatively minor infringements.
People push to find out where the line is and if they don't find it they'll keep pushing.
Imagine being pulled over for incorrect use of indicators while a guy in a balaclava goes past on the pavement at 40mph on the back wheel of a Sur-ron.
That's not even far fetched depending on where you live.
Blib said:
Every single driver makes mistakes from time to time.
Those who deny this fact are deluded.
100%Those who deny this fact are deluded.
One thing I've noticed is that less and less people seem to simply hold their hand up - literally - and acknowledge it.
You get cut up or undertaken or whatever and rather than simple blip of the hazards or a hand in the mirror you just get absolutely nothing.
Never quite sure if it's a conscious thing or if they're completely oblivious.
I do agree that driving standards are declining, generally as a result of laziness and selfishness (a trend seen in general life off the road).
I have never understood the need to park in the direction of traffic though. I understand the principle but think it’s utterly pointless and a non-issue which direction a car is parked.
I have never understood the need to park in the direction of traffic though. I understand the principle but think it’s utterly pointless and a non-issue which direction a car is parked.
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