Country lanes - why does nobody know the rules anymore??

Lum

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

Also why do some drivers think they can drive down the middle of the road. Have nearly ended up in the ditch several times!

Depending on the width and whether or not there's any road markings, middle of the road can be the best option as it provides better visibility and keeps you away from the edges of the road which are most likely crumbling away and are mostly constructed out of mud filled potholes.

As a rule of thumb I'll use the middle if the road is not wide enough to support two cars passing each other side by side at a reasonable safe travelling speed.

Strider590

s_b wrote: »

kids jaywalking gets me
its like they are saying hit me and your car will get hurt but not me
i reckon lots of people today dont know what pain is because of their molly coddled little lives theyve been living in because mummy wont let them out to play in case they get abducted by next doors cat

Yep, it's when they deliberately walk slowly across the road too, sometimes they even stop completely in front of oncoming cars..... Like they think it's "cool"...

But you see near here (over on one of the rough estates), about 6 years ago there were a number of incidents of kids doing this and then setting about the driver with cricket/baseball bats and golf clubs. So...... They'd better be quick on their feet, because I ain't stopping!!

s_b

Lum wrote: »

Depending on the width and whether or not there's any road markings, middle of the road can be the best option as it provides better visibility and keeps you away from the edges of the road which are most likely crumbling away and are mostly constructed out of mud filled potholes.

As a rule of thumb I'll use the middle if the road is not wide enough to support two cars passing each other side by side at a reasonable safe travelling speed.

the chief constable of lincolnshire told me to drive down the crown of the road if safe to do so and i have ever since
he also said it actually said it on my driving licence and indeed it does right down at the bottom

tear down dotted line

Strider590

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

Also why do some drivers think they can drive down the middle of the road. Have nearly ended up in the ditch several times!

In my experience that only happens in the hours before and after school, women in BIG 4x4's taking shortcuts down country lanes and having no sense of situational awareness, no idea how wide their Chelsea tractor is and would much rather hit an oncoming vehicle head on, than clip a tree branch with their wing mirror.
:mad:

Wig

And I thought this thread was going to be about who should reverse when you meet head on....
The person going up hill apparently has right of way, and the person coming downhill should do the reversing. I take this with a pinch of salt, I say whoever has the nearest passing point behind them should reverse. and if after they start reversing you realise they obviously should not be licenced to drive, I will sometimes beep my horn and reverse quickly to the nearest one behind me, it makes it quicker than waiting for the dummy to reverse 5 metres.

And then you get the idiots who see you approaching and they drive past the only passing place between you and them!

And yes I have seen the idiots who walk with their back to the traffic, there's a 2 lane road near my house 40mph where a teen girl was walking her dog with her back to the traffic and a pavement on the other side. I stopped and told her she was being really stupid, she just looked at me like I was from Mars.

But obviously where the lane is narrow, it doesn't matter which side you walk on, so you should really walk in the middle and and the outside of a curve as you approach and the inside of the curve as you walk away from the bend.

I was on a coach the other day and the idiot decided to take a country lane route, when two alternatives would have been much more sensible either a brand new bypass (the church village bypass) or the old route through the bypassed villages of Llantwit Fardre and Church Village, instead, this idiot decided to go a 3rd route through narrow country lanes far too small for a full sized coach. He had to brake hard and was forced to reverse by oncoming cars, he then proceeded to travel too fast and I could see him going round blind corners with no drop in speed.

On another time I was going through a small lane and met a huge Wall's recovery truck there was 2 or three of us cars so we forced him to reverse what an idiot going trough the lanes, he was only doing it as a shortcut to his home base which is on the other side of the lane....The lane is between Llanharry and Llantrisant, the Walls truck lives at the Llantrisant end.

s_b

this walls recovery truck
was it waver thin?

Lum

Wig wrote: »

I take this with a pinch of salt, I say whoever has the nearest passing point behind them should reverse. and if after they start reversing you realise they obviously should not be licenced to drive, I will sometimes beep my horn and reverse quickly to the nearest one behind me, it makes it quicker than waiting for the dummy to reverse 5 metres.

For once I agree with everything you have written in this bit. I've also encountered the same person you have apparently. Were they in a completely spotless brand new black Range Rover Sport that they didn't want to scratch on the nettles?

I was on a coach the other day and the idiot decided to take a country lane route, when two alternatives would have been much more sensible either a brand new bypass (the church village bypass) or the old route through the bypassed villages of Llantwit Fardre and Church Village, instead, this idiot decided to go a 3rd route through narrow country lanes far too small for a full sized coach.

Someone bought the cheapest satnav that doesn't have the dedicated options for trucks, busses etc.

He had to brake hard and was forced to reverse by oncoming cars, he then proceeded to travel too fast and I could see him going round blind corners with no drop in speed.

"but... but... it's national speed limit, which is 40 for coaches" said the driver as the local fire brigade scraped an elderly gentleman, a Labrador's head and the front end of a Ford Ka off the coach's windscreen.

On another time I was going through a small lane and met a huge Wall's recovery truck there was 2 or three of us cars so we forced him to reverse what an idiot going trough the lanes, he was only doing it as a shortcut to his home base which is on the other side of the lane....The lane is between Llanharry and Llantrisant, the Walls truck lives at the Llantrisant end.

Well done

Used to have a similar problem with the lane from Caerphilly to M4 J30 via Rhudry when there was a building side at the M4 end. Muppets in transit vans doing 40 mph around blind corners where the hedge was the same height as the van and both their mirrors were scraping through the leaves.

To be honest I'm kind of glad that since I moved my morning commute is now pretty much entirely M4.

flora48

We need to bring back the "Wear something light at night" slogan.

peter_the_piper

Biggest heart stopper I had was Dark night, Raining, A21, narrow section, no street lights Small hill. Just reaching brow of hill, traffic headlights semi-blinding coming towards me, saw pillock on my side of road, back to me, all in black with umbrella up. Talk about the invisible man.

reeac

peter_the_piper wrote: »

Biggest heart stopper I had was Dark night, Raining, A21, narrow section, no street lights Small hill. Just reaching brow of hill, traffic headlights semi-blinding coming towards me, saw pillock on my side of road, back to me, all in black with umbrella up. Talk about the invisible man.

I has a similar experience a couple of years ago and to make it worse there was a pavement which he'd chosen not to use.