Which driver habits annoy you: bad indication, tailgating…

Particularly those who block others’ drives or park on the pavement. Or the learner driver who, the other day, parked in the middle of the road while the instructor had a long chat with him/her, being totally unaware of the traffic biuilding up behind, until someone decided to hoot (I blame the instructor, not the learner).

I think this is more than an irritating driving habit, but I do not see an easy solution to deal with dazzle. It was not too bad when all vehicles were fitted with a pair of standard power headlights but now many vehicles have duplicated main beams, and brighter bulbs (gas discharge or simply higher power) have become common. Sometimes headlights that have been upgraded to take brighter bulbs produce a lot more dazzle on the dip setting than original equipment.

I think we should go back to vehicles having a pair of 60/55 W headlights. Anyone who claims that they need brighter lights should not be driving on public roads.

It’s fairly easy to spot whether headlights are on main beam or dipped lights set incorrectly. If you are not blinded completely, look carefully before flashing your lights at the oncoming car.

I find the LED brake lights on vehicles a particular problem, since these are sometimes much brighter than the traditional 21 watt incandescent bulbs.

It is courtesy not to dazzle other drivers, and I switch off the headlights too if stuck in a traffic jam for any length of time.

Do they still teach learners to use the handbrake and take the foot off the footbrake when stationary? People don’t seem to be doing that any more. I don’t even see police cars’ brake lights go off when stationary these days.

Absolutely, though if use of rear fog lights does obscure brake lights it is because of poor car design in which the brake fog light(s) are close to the brake lights. I don’t know why rear brake lights are not combined with tail lights. I have only seen a couple of models where this has been done.

@John Ingram: I agree, but don’t get too annoyed by others who leave their fog lights on: it may not be deliberate. I once noticed that I had just driven a long distance with my fog lights on. I hadn’t turned them on myself, but my passenger had. The fog light switches in my car are in the middle, next to the handbrake, between the two front seats, and the fog light warning light on the dashboard does not look very different from the normal sidelights warning light, so is easy to miss.

@wavechange: I thought it was quite common to have brake lights combined with tail lights, and that this was the case in most cars. Certainly most (if not all) of the cars I have ever owned. Have you not seen all those light bulbs in car spares shops and petrol stations with two elements inside, and three contacts at the end (one common, one for brake, one for tail)? Hold on, maybe not at petrol stations, they don’t seem to sell car parts anymore, but sell groceries, coffee and pastries instead, after all car parts are only bought by motorists and you wouldn’t find any of those at a petrol station, would you?

(Sorry for the rant but I once broke down and asked a petrol station manager if they stocked tow ropes. He didn’t know what a tow rope was!)

Sorry, I mean fog lights combined with tail lights. Brain not engaged.

The bulbs you mention could be used for this job.

“… I rarely let anyone out because you are asking for someone to run into your rear end if you stop to let someone out and invariably there is always a gap they can pull into if they just have a little patience.
…

And whilst we are on the subject, I also find drivers who are turning right and pull out across the traffic, when there is not a suitable gap in the lane they are joining, and therefore have to stop and block traffic, extremely annoying. They hold up traffic and cause accidents. They should wait for a suitable gap in both directions before pulling out at all. Graham”.

In busy roads, there may not be a gap that develops. Just slowing down a little to leave a gap for someone to pull out (without needing to come to a complete stop) is both courteous and safe. As to the pulling out across traffic to turn right, again it may be the only option on a busy road. And again, it takes consideration and anticipation from the driver across whose path one has had to go. In busy conditions, following your comments, is it any more considerate to hold up the traffic behind you for ages, as they also want to emerge? This is equally dangerous, as people behind lose their patience and try to squeeze into a narrow gap, perhaps even mounting the kerb, or start hooting and flashing.

It takes common sense and consideration from all cioncerned.

Louis

Couldn’t agree more – It is the maximum speed – not as some posters seem to think a minimum. No wonder there are so many crashes.

Agree also there are some places where It takes common sense and consideration from all concerned.

“Having read the article, I’m surprised that drivers have a problem with drivers who don’t let other drivers out of side roads.”
I suspect that you read the wrong article Graham – the grumble was about letting cars join Motorways at slip roads. A vastly different situation from the problem with drivers waiting to join the main road from a side road. Really you can’t let them join because there is no valid way of signalling your intention to them is there?

The problem is that speedometers have a 10% permitted tolerance so if you are travelling at an indicated speed of 70 it is possible that you are actually only doing 63. The car overtaking might also have an indicated speed of 70 but is actually doing over 70. Personally, I keep to the left hand lane unless it is occupied by a series of slow moving vehicles.

That tolerance is 0% to PLUS 10% which means your speed will always be the same as or less than what is indicated – never more. I agree with Tony P – keep to the LH lane. Not only that – I happily undertake when the LH lane is empty and the rest of the world is stuffing the middle and RH lanes. Just don’t undertake near junctions as drivers often move to the LH lane without warning. But then again they do have mirrors don’t they?

I have driven a lot in the USA where passing on either side is permitted. This allows more relaxed driving because there is less need to change lanes, just stick to the one that is moving at the desired speed. There are a few other lessons we could learn from the USA, especially the ability to turn right when the traffic lights are red (it would be turn left in the UK). Before anyone comments that this would be dangerous perhaps I should add that the turning traffic has to treat the junction as if there was a stop sign and give way appropriately.

Roger, you tell us you have been driving for 52 years without accident, congratulations on that. However, reading your comments about motorway driving & your stubbornness & self-righteousness to “hog” the centre lane, (yes, albeit at the legal, 70mph limit), suggests you need re-educating & understanding of the “real world” on the M-ways.
I too have held my car license for a long while, 58 years, but I’ve tried to keep up with the modern world of motoring.
I suggest you enrol with the IAM, (Institute of Advanced Motorists), & see how you get on. It’s a very relaxed & educational process & whilst I underwent my observation drives I was indeed encouraged, no, expected to speed up to 80mph in order to safely pass other vehicles driving below the 70 limit. ALWAYS PULLING BACK INTO THE CLEAREST LEFT HAND LANE AFTERWARDS!
Sorry, Roger, but you are one of my pet motoring hates & I feel from your comments that you are not confident enough to change lanes on fast moving motorways these days.
I agree with “clint kirk’s” response too.

proboy: “signal before you move lane, don’t get lazy like all those who forget to signal”

I agree with what you said above, but I admit that I don’t always signal. I use my mirrors, ensure I am fully aware of where I am, where I am going, and where everyone else is and where they are going. Then I only signal to change lane if I deem such a signal to be of any interest to anyone.

For example, if I have just passed a slower vehicle, and there is no other vehicle in front and all vehicles behind are slower, then I don’t see any point in indicating to get into the inside lane.

Would anyone care to correct me with a convincing argument as to why I should signal in the above described situation.

Proboy: Thanks for the entertaining typo. I think one of the major problems is that some people do use the roads as duel carriageways! I presume you intended to type ‘dual carriageway’.

Tony P,

Whilst passing on either side is permissible in the USA, is it not dangerous to overtake on the inside lane? The driver in the next lane may want to change lanes and not see you in the blind spot.

Louis

You have to realise that all drivers are well aware of the situation and check mirrors on both sides before changing lanes. Added to this, there is much more tolerance to lane changing. I usually found that if I gave enough warning of an intent to change lanes then a gap would appear. In the UK, indicating an intent to change lane often results in drivers closing up to keep you out!

Louis: “indicating an intent to change lane often results in drivers closing up to keep you out!”

That’s one of my pet hates. What are they trying to achieve with such behaviour?

Roger: “if you must overtake me you would be breaking the law.”

Not necessarily. I could be a member of the emergency services.

More to the point, it is not up to you to police the motorway and dictate who is allowed to exceed the limit. What happens in practice, is that you get a long column of drivers in a hurry overtaking you in the right-hand lane because you single-handedly decide that the three-lane motorway should be turned into a two-lane motorway.

Then you get a police car answering an emergency call, approaching the column of cars in lane 3 with blue lights flashing. The driver of the car just in front of the approaching police car sees the blue lights in his mirror, sh*ts himself, thinking he’s going to get pulled over for speeding, and sharply applies his breaks. Because of that, he’s just suddenly dropped from 79mph to 63mph. If this doesn’t cause an accident behind him, it will cause a tailback.

And by the way, just because your car is new, and even if the speedo is digital, doesn’t mean it’s accurate. There are still many new cars with inaccurate speedos.

And, lastly, the middle lane on the motorway is statistically the most dangerous one to be in. You may not be changing lanes yourself, but drivers on both sides of you will be.

You only have to change your old worn tyres to new tyres, or perhaps winter tyres, and your speedo will then be giving a different indication for the same actual linear speed. If you check using a Satnav then make sure you are travelling on a true level surface. Going uphill or downhill your linear speed will be greater than the Satnav says. (Yes, I was a Surveyor in a previous existence).

Traveller, interesting stuff! I always assumed that my GPS was accurate. I was aware of the tolerance, as I had read about it elsewhere and when I’m doing 32 on the speedometer, the roadside light up speed signs say 30.

John Ingram, I agree that satnav is far more accurate than conventional dashboard speedometers. But I have also heard from people who thought that the satnav speed readout was completely accurate. I would estimate that it may be +/- 1mph at typical motorway speeds. While that’s far more accurate than dashboard speedos, it’s still not completely accurate because your absolute position at any moment is given to an accuracy of a few metres (unless you are the US military, who are given much more accuracy). So when the devices averages your position over a certain amount of time, it only has your distance travelled with +/- a few metres accuracy.

Also, I imagine that satnav devices take position samples at fixed regular intervals. I don’t know what the intervals are, but if you are driving round a bend at the time (instead of going in a straight line) the device will calculate the distance as a straight line between the two sampled points, which will be shorter than the arc that you have actually travelled. But I think the sample intervals are short enough to make this effect minuscule, unless you are going very fast in a very very tight circle (with the car tethered to a pole in the centre of the circle to prevent it losing grip and going off at a tangent.)

Sorry, but the GPS measures your distance against time on the geosphere. It really doesn’t matter how far away the satellites’ orbits are. Think on …… If the gradient is 1 in 10 up or down then your linear speed will not be the same as your road speed – which is what a radar speed measuring device will quote. You will find that magistrates believe the radar device rather than your SatNav! with good reason.

@John L – when you quote +/- 0.1 mph are you really talking about accuracy, or just precision?

@traveller – I seem to remember reading that GPS is capable of giving your position in three dimensions, so, theoretically, GPS devices can give you your true speed, and not just the horizontal component of your speed. Whether the GPS devices actually do that, of course, is a different matter.

I’m not sure exactly what you mean by “linear speed” and “road speed” but I assume by the latter you mean the speed at which the car is travelling and “linear speed” to be its horizontal component. At a 1-in-ten gradient, the horizontal component would be

horizontal speed = speed * sqrt(10^2 – 1^2) / 10 = 0.995 * speed

(by Pythagoras)

In other words, if your GPS device indicates a horizontal speed of 70.0 mph, your true speed would actually be 70.36 mph. I don’t think you would get prosecuted for doing 70.36 mph.