Sunday Drivers

Post by **Charles** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 12:23 am

Rugby down near Cheltenham this morning and of course we were running late!

However, the B3S was running beautifully and I was in a good mood so No1 son enjoyed a spirited drive down there with minimal traffic to deal with

On the way back was a different story ...

... team had played well and I was keen to get back to watch the Grand Prix on Sky+ so we got on with it.

The A40 between Cheltenham and Oxford offers plenty of safe opportunities to overtake and keep moving (if you know what I mean).

However, the Sunday afternoon drivers were clearly all fast asleep until they suddenly realised they had been passed. At which point they managed to locate the horn and/or full beam flash - I guess just to try and convince me that they were awake!

I wouldn't mind too much but it is happening more and more often these days. Each time I replayed in my mind what I had done and at no stage do I believe I put anyone at any risk whatsoever - apart from disturbing their dreams

Is it me or are more and more drivers running on autopilot these days? And if so, surely this is more dangerous than someone driving spritedly in order to keep progressing?

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 1:43 am

Couldn't agree more. We were taking the 2 kids to a soft play place this morning and pulled up behind a T reg fiesta with an elderly gent behind the wheel at a set of lights. He was first in the queue at the lights and as they were at red he proceeded to light his pipe. The lights went to green and back to red without him moving as he was so engrossed in trying to set light to his Ford...

I kid you not...

John_C · Post by **John_C** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:41 am

There's probably a thread somewhere on another forum by one of those drivers whinging about some arrogant fool in a BMW

who wouldn't just settle down and wait in the queue of traffic but felt they had to get to where they were going ahead of everyone else

So many people seem to see overtaking as almost "antisocial", but if it's safe to do and you're not impeding anyone else then what's the problem?

Overtaking safely is becoming a lost art these days, usually it's either suicidal moves or dithering. Nearly got wiped out on Friday by an idiot in a new-shape celica who moved out to overtake a learner driver obviously without noticing the B10 on the other side of the road.... grrrr.....I can understand it though, the 5 series is such a small car

Bruce M · Post by **Bruce M** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:21 am

I feel another rant coming on.......

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-..... and relax.....

Where I live, is a Sunday driver hot-spot. I lot of dither-ers go for a wee drive to my village and the winding country 'B' road is not great for overtaking.

However, I don't think I've been flashed before. Probably wouldn't notice tho!

The worse experiences I've had since owning the B3S has been overtaking a queue of 5 or 6 cars in one go. After passing 2 or 3, the second car in the queue pulls out

. It has happened twice, and the second time, it was a vespa scooter that pulled out!!!

The brakes got a good test both times.

I find, when stuck behind someone, I check whether I can see the drivers eyes in the rear view mirror (depends on the time of day, of course). If I can't see their eyes, they haven't adjusted the mirror properly and therefore can't see me!!!

It is surprisingly common.

Post by **Charles** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 12:14 pm

Bruce M wrote:The worse experiences I've had since owning the B3S has been overtaking a queue of 5 or 6 cars in one go. After passing 2 or 3, the second car in the queue pulls out . It has happened twice, and the second time, it was a vespa scooter that pulled out!!!
The brakes got a good test both times.

One of the problems with such magnificent performance

Seriously though, I have taken to putting the lights on full beam when faced with the opportunity of such a manouevre. I also place the car as far over to the right as I can and watch every car that I am about to pass like a hawk.

If there is space between cars then I will move half left to straddle the centre line so that the car in front has a good chance of seeing me. Might appear a bit aggressive with the weaving in and out but I would prefer to be seen.

BTW - top "cock meister" yesterday afternoon was an Audi driver who was so asleep that he appeared to have been told by the passenger to flash me as he waited about 5 seconds after I had pulled in front of him (with about 3 car lengths between us). He then mistook my (genuine) thumbs up to acknowledge him as something to do with my middle finger and proceeded to push right up onto my bumper.

John_C · Post by **John_C** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:16 pm

Agree with everything that's been posted.

I'm very VERY careful about acknowledging other drivers these days for exactly the reasons you state Charles. The only safe methods I've found are a nod of the head when possible or raising the entire hand with the palm flat and fingers close together, anything else is just too easy to mis-interpret especially if the other driver is already stressed/annoyed/a tosser

blacky · Post by **blacky** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:48 pm

its the tom tom genaration isnt it

evey time you pass a junction on a roar it dosent want you to turn off at it says keep right

so they do