An epidemic of insanely slow drivers

[LennyM1984]

I know this is a pointless rant but I am beginning to feel as though I am the only sane person to drive on the roads in Oxfordshire and wanted to see if I was alone in this observation.

In the good old days (I'm 39) most people would drive at a sensible speed. Every now and again you would meet a little old lady driving at 40mph but in general that was the exception rather than the norm. Fast forward to today and the norm is for me to be stuck behind people (of all ages, sex, race, and weight... before anybody tries to go there) doing 30mph in a well sighted 50 or 60. The speed is often dangerously slow and will result in a queue of cars/lorries bumper to tail crawling along (some of the roads are busy enough - like the A40 - to make overtaking opportunities low).

Some of the perpetrators of these heinous crimes are parents at the school where my kids go. They seem like normal people and yet the speeds at which they are driving would imply that they are incapable of rational decision making and/or being in control of a vehicle. Even white van man these days is likely to be doing 35 in a 60 - these guys used to be the fastest human beings on earth and yet here we are today with articulated lorries trying to overtake them.

So what the hell is going on with people??? Am I alone in wanting to get where I am going???

[For context, I do not drive fast on public roads - I have a race license for that - and am not expecting others to break the speed limit or drive beyond a safe speed for the conditions. What I am objecting to is the dangerously slow speed at which almost everybody now wants to try and traverse the roads]

[LennyM1984]

K4sper said:

What about the epidemic of "is it just me, or having driving standards got worse??" threads that pop up on PH every other day??

Very fair

[LennyM1984]

Mr Tidy said:

I think it is a cultural thing depending on where you grew up.

I got a job in 1998 in Victoria Street, SW1 and had a work colleague from Frankfurt who would only cross when the green light was on while us Brits just found a gap and went for it!

She said doing that in Germany you'd get prosecuted for jay-walking.

When we lived in Germany, an old lady called me an ahole for crossing on a red man on a totally deserted fairly residential street in a well-to-do part of town. I didn't do it in front of kids as my colleagues pointed out - quite rightly - that it set a bad example and they may try to do the same without being able to judge the traffic

[LennyM1984]

I saw a 20 in a 30 moron this morning regularly brake checking the poor person behind them (who wasn't even following that close). It was so odd, they kept slamming the brakes on and stopping in the middle of the road (during rush hour) for no other reason - that I could see - other than to try and catch out the person behind them. These people really should be banned from driving...or executed

[LennyM1984]

carreauchompeur said:

And another one last night. 37mph on an arrow straight mile of road.
Juke sitting a couple of foot off their bunker.

Dispatched both with a quick flash as I thought the Juke might go.
Nope. Still sat there for the remaining clear half mile.

People are fking useless at vehicle operating.

I think a lot of people just "follow the car in front" without thinking at all. It amazes me how many people follow me onto the wrong side of the road when I am lining up to reverse onto our drive. Despite me signalling, they just appear to blindly follow my movements.

The same happens when I am waiting to reverse my trailer in. Despite signalling, people just wait behind me (which means that I can't do the maneuver). I have had to check that my lights are working on multiple occasions as I just cannot understand it otherwise (they work fine).

[LennyM1984]

robinessex said:

Er, wrong. An HGV is quite capable of a 1g deceleration if required. I know, I've measured them doing it. Good old Newton and tyhe apple on his head. Forc = Mass x Acceleration ..

I'm not sure that I understand this...

Deceleration = Force/Mass. The bigger the mass the greater the force needed to overcome it. So logically, assuming force is basically friction (braking friction and tyre friction on the road), you would need a much larger force to stop a lorry than you would a Caterham (which I think is what the other poster was suggesting and is kind of the point that Newton was making).

I assume lorries have massive braking systems and obviously have more tyre surface than a typical car but I'm still fairly confident that I could out-brake one in a Caterham

Edited by LennyM1984 on Thursday 28th November 13:25

Edited by LennyM1984 on Thursday 28th November 13:27

[LennyM1984]

No good deed goes unpunished as they say! Let somebody out from a side street (traffic lights were red so it wasn't a big deal) and she repaid me by driving at 10mph (no joke) in a 30. Eventually I gave a gentle hoot and so she signalled left and start moving into a bus stop. As I started to go past her, still signalling left, she then started driving out of the end of bus stop into the side of my car (I think she thought that the bus stop was like an extra carriageway). Cue dirty look (from her) and some honking. She then proceeded to continue at 10mph causing the person behind to almost crash into her... fun times.

I really don't understand how these people function or how they don't cause more accidents... The lady in question looked no more than 25

[LennyM1984]

OP here! Well things are not improving are they? I've just been stuck behind a taxi doing 20mph in an NSL (country road but two lanes and well sighted) as a queue of traffic built up behind him. When I eventually got past, the driver seemed blissfully unaware of the chaos he was causing... despite the horns honking and the line of angry people passing him.

What the actual hell is wrong with these people??? Are they mentally deficient or do they get a kick out of making everybody else's day just that little bit worse?

Also... he was a bloody taxi driver. His job is supposed to be driving and yet he seemed entirely incapable of actually driving. Arrrrggggghhhhh!!!

(And yes, I know that this is - again - a pointless rant)