Captain Smithy
14th Dec 2006, 14:38
I was just reading the "Supermarkets/Post Offices" thread, getting much amusement from it, and it got me thinking. Usually around this time of year, everyone seems to go haywire. Especially on the roads. It can get really crazy at times.
This year seems to have been the worst ever. My commute to work involves a 7 mile drive through Edinburgh city centre. It takes me around 25 minutes to get there... on the way home, due to traffic, it can take 35 minutes. Nothing particularly special about this route. But the driving standards over the past few weeks have really slipped into the gutter.
I have lost count of the number of people who have jumped red lights, blatant red lights, when the traffic coming the other way has started moving. I have lost count of the number of people who have pulled out of openings without looking, dangerously close to other traffic. The other week a taxi pulled out of an opening in front of me when I was 5 car lengths away - I was almost wearing my windscreen in my face. Also tailgating seems to have become a fad, as has lane-chopping at the last minute, undertaking etc. Sometimes commuting seems like watching animals battling each other for survival. And don't get me strated about cyclists - those who are stupid enough to go out cycling in the dark, in gale-force winds and heavy rain, without any lighting or safety equipment. None of this is out-of-the-ordinary, but it seems like everyone is doing it now, not just the normal few idiots. And I admit fully I am not a perfect driver - heck, nobody is - but I follow the highway code, I don't jump lights, I don't tailgate, I don't do stupid things to other road users. Just wondered what everyone's observations were on Britain's bad driving, sometimes I feel like I'm going to go mad. Grrrrrrrrr!:ugh: :ugh: :ugh: :ugh: :ugh: :ugh: :ugh: :ugh: :ugh: :ugh: :ugh:
Why can't everybody just drive properly? D'oh!
Anyway, rant over. Sorry to seem like such a torn-face... I just needed to let that out. Aaah, I feel much better!
Cheers
Smithy
This year seems to have been the worst ever. My commute to work involves a 7 mile drive through Edinburgh city centre. It takes me around 25 minutes to get there... on the way home, due to traffic, it can take 35 minutes. Nothing particularly special about this route. But the driving standards over the past few weeks have really slipped into the gutter.
I have lost count of the number of people who have jumped red lights, blatant red lights, when the traffic coming the other way has started moving. I have lost count of the number of people who have pulled out of openings without looking, dangerously close to other traffic. The other week a taxi pulled out of an opening in front of me when I was 5 car lengths away - I was almost wearing my windscreen in my face. Also tailgating seems to have become a fad, as has lane-chopping at the last minute, undertaking etc. Sometimes commuting seems like watching animals battling each other for survival. And don't get me strated about cyclists - those who are stupid enough to go out cycling in the dark, in gale-force winds and heavy rain, without any lighting or safety equipment. None of this is out-of-the-ordinary, but it seems like everyone is doing it now, not just the normal few idiots. And I admit fully I am not a perfect driver - heck, nobody is - but I follow the highway code, I don't jump lights, I don't tailgate, I don't do stupid things to other road users. Just wondered what everyone's observations were on Britain's bad driving, sometimes I feel like I'm going to go mad. Grrrrrrrrr!:ugh: :ugh: :ugh: :ugh: :ugh: :ugh: :ugh: :ugh: :ugh: :ugh: :ugh:
Why can't everybody just drive properly? D'oh!
Anyway, rant over. Sorry to seem like such a torn-face... I just needed to let that out. Aaah, I feel much better!
Cheers
Smithy