Motorists who DO NOT indicate when driving/Ignore Speed Warning Signs, Endangering law abiders

WellKnownSid

My son works for a main dealer and regularly takes cars out for road tests.  Defensive driving is the norm because he's very aware that he's driving around in a customer's £100,000 pride and joy.

Very occasionally he gets to road test a police car - the difference in driving standards magically improves!  He ends up stuck behind some white van doing 35 in a 60 limit and everywhere he looks he sees people checking their mirrors and indicating!

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prowla said:

Note that the HC is not the law; it states that in the introduction.

It also states that it gives a reference to the respective law in its "must" assertions, but some of them are incorrect.

Thus it's a guide for commonsense, respectful road use, but it is not rules per-se.

Absolutely.

However, as a guide for commonsense, respectful road use, blatantly flouting it is the very definition of Careless Driving as defined by the RTA 1988 section 3ZA.

A person is to be regarded as driving without due care and attention if (and only if) the way he drives falls below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver. 

and

A person is to be regarded as driving without reasonable consideration for other persons only if those persons are inconvenienced by his driving.

A competent and careful driver would be driving in accordance with The Highway Code.....

Careering into a junction on two wheels as a pedestrian is about to step off the pavement having walked steadily and obviously towards the junction would fit the definition, if they are actually on the road and had to step back or run for their life it would be Dangerous Driving under section 2 of RTA 1988

 a person is to be regarded as driving dangerously if (and, subject to subsection (2) below, only if)—

(a)the way he drives falls far below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver, and

(b)it would be obvious to a competent and careful driver that driving in that way would be dangerous. 

and 

“dangerous” refers to danger either of injury to any person or of serious damage to property; and in determining for the purposes of those subsections what would be expected of, or obvious to, a competent and careful driver 

twopenny

I've long advocated for a shortened driving test every 5yrs.
Just basic manoeuvring and brief highway code.

That should cut the number of cars by half .

Position in road especially when turning right. Reversing. Priority at roundabout.  Not overtaking on diagonal stripes.

I'd also like to see a compulsory test for motorhome drivers as many are now the size of lorries.
They should also be required to have a satnav suitable for the vehicle.
Or is that a step too far 🙂
In summer I take the dedicated caravan roads because you won't find another vehicle on them, a clear run.

Bigphil1474

It's funny how you often see people moaning about 'the standard of driving these days', yet nobody seems to be one of these poor drivers. TBH, you should travel abroad more and you'd soon be praising the relative talents of UK drivers.

The slow down signs are often set nowhere near the actual speed limit. There was one near my old house and after much testing I found out it flashed 'slow down' if you were driving above 13mph (on the speedo) in a 20mph limit. Another one was spot on the speedo speed (in a 30), but a few mph off the actual speed.

Best advice my driving instructor gave me was that I should assume every other driver on the road is a complete moron, and that was in the 80's. Still applies. I don't personally think driving standards have declined much, I just think there's more drivers in general so the number of poor drivers has naturally gone up. That, and a lack of tolerance and patience from society in general. I do use a dashcam, but I wouldn't go reporting people every time they make a small mistake, or fail to indicate or make a bad turn.

Re motorhomes, you can only generally drive up to 3.5t motorhome on your car licence, and that size is often based on a van chassis, so in reality nobody is driving huge motorhomes without additional tests.

Baldytyke88

facade said:

The earliest Highway code I have is the 1959 edition. 

Rule 26 : "when turning at a road junction, give way to pedestrians who are crossing"  

What could be simpler?

Rule 170: give way to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross a road into which or from which you are turning. If they have started to cross they have priority, so give way

But the problem arises when both parties don't know or ignore the rules. Or the fact that the vehicle turning should give way to pedestrians wanting to cross, but there is no recommendation for the other vehicles approaching the junction.

HedgehogRulez

Those warning signs are for the mindless masses, not for the driving elite.
Which group do you belong to? 

facade

Baldytyke88 said:

facade said:

The earliest Highway code I have is the 1959 edition. 

Rule 26 : "when turning at a road junction, give way to pedestrians who are crossing"  

What could be simpler?

Rule 170: give way to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross a road into which or from which you are turning. If they have started to cross they have priority, so give way

But the problem arises when both parties don't know or ignore the rules. Or the fact that the vehicle turning should give way to pedestrians wanting to cross, but there is no recommendation for the other vehicles approaching the junction.

I guess it was because the intent of the simple 1959 rule was that pedestrians have priority at junctions when they are crossing (to continue along the main road, exactly as if they were motor vehicles) but pedants interpreted "crossing" to be when they actually have both feet on the road and are moving across it rather than they will have by the time the car gets there if they don't break step.

MattMattMattUK

Where I live there are a few rules which relate to different things from a few very distinct groups in the community.

Vehicle lighting:
Night - Full beam headlights, ideally with one widely out of alignment
Dawn or dusk, legally night but not fully dark - No lights
Day (clear) - Fog lights
Day (rain) - No lights
Day (fog) - No lights

Traffic lights:
Green - Look at phone for 3-10 seconds, then drive forward
Amber - Drive through whilst aggressively accelerating above the speed limit
Red (up to five seconds) - Drive through as if still green, ideally above the speed limit
Red (up to ten seconds) - Drive through whilst beeping horn and flashing lights
Red (longer) - Drive through slowly, whilst gesturing aggressively at other drivers.

Roundabouts:
Turning left, right or going straight on - No indicators required
Changing from lane to lane on a roundabout - Either do not indicate, or indicate in the opposite direction.
Lane discipline - Get in whichever late you think will be fastest, then cut across multiple lanes to get where you want to go
Box Junctions - Block these at every opportunity

T Junctions:
If pulling onto the major road from the minor road - Keep pulling out into the road until you have fully blocked the lane, sit there until flashed out from the other side.
If turning onto the minor road from the major road - Do not indicate until already turning

Speed Limits:
20 = 5 or 35
30 = 10 or 50-60
40 = 20 or 60-80
50/60/National - Any speed between 5-20 mph or 80-120

Vehicle Modifications:
Speakers - Play awful music so loud it can vibrate windows fifty meters away
Exhaust - Fit an illegal straight through exhaust or drill holes in the exhaust to make it obnoxiously loud
Timing - Retard the ignition point so that the engine pops and bags like a misfiring scrap heap being destroyed with explosives
Windows - Tint them all, including the windscreen to a level so dark they might as well be painted black
Suspension - Lower it so that you have to slow to 2mph to go over a minor bump, by accessible dangerously between speed bumps
Numberplates - Optional, remove the front and very often also the rear, if numberplates are fitted then they must not be compliant with the rules in any way

General driving:
Ignore everything in the highway code, up to and including driving on the wrong side of the road
Use phone continuously, bonus points if having a second phone or tablet to watch a film on whilst driving
Ignore the concept of lane discipline entirely, either drift in and out of lanes because of incompetence or swerve in and out of them because of being a certain kind of person
Have no idea how to get where you are actually going
Reverse onto main roads from driveways
Attempt to run pedestrians over at all types of crossing
When overtaking cyclists leave a maximum distance between the cyclist and car of thirty centimetres
Drive an obnoxiously large vehicle because you "need" it to go to and from a shop in a two ton plus SUV when driving in a town
Drive an obnoxiously loud vehicle because you are inadequate as a person

Know that pretty much regardless of what you do, the chance of police enforcement are close to zero, even for the most flagrant breaches. 

MattMattMattUK

5unnyphoto5 said:

Then there are the portion of drivers who don't adhere to the speed limit which is particularly noticeable where there are Speed warning signs that illuminate as you approach them. 

• Speed Warning Signs:
  These are distinct from speed cameras and are designed to alert drivers to their current speed, often displaying it digitally if you are exceeding the speed limit. They serve as a deterrent and a reminder to slow down, without issuing a penalty....
  

I am not sure how useful they actually are. I have driven past these using a normal speedo that I know the difference on and using a GPS speedo, they are out by at least five MPH at best. I have also seen them show a car that I am following at a continuous speed and distance show that I was travelling at up to a 5mph difference. Driving past the same one every day, I go past it with my cruise control set to 33mph, which I know is a dead on 30mph actual speed and it will report anything between 28mph and 33mph.

Grey_Critic

You can criticise/report other people’s driving habits and even submit Dash-Cam footage but you must remember that when they go through the footage they will also be observing your own personal Good/Bad/Indifferent driving habits at the same time. Any found may well result in you personally being prosecuted. Do not disagree with comments but we are all guilty at times of the same.

I always found it amusing when I operated a vehicle hire business the answer to the question when doing the documentation.

Have you had any accidents?

No

How long will you need the car for?

Depends on how long the car is in the bodyshop

So you have had an accident?

No it was not me it was that idiot who pulled out in front/stopped suddenly etc.

Bible says **Let he who is without sin**

Can you truthfully say that you have never been guilty of similar?