Allspares (Auto) Ltd.

Archive for September 19th, 2011

Whilst this blog article is not actually CV related, it is something that affects all motorists, professional or not, and that is – Driving Ability.  Now although the vast majority of HGV drivers are very professional and experienced road users, from time to time you will come across someone who could be considered a danger to other road users.  Fortunately the number of drivers like this is relatively small compared to the number of light commercial van drivers who seem to be in a hurry, usually flying down the outside lane of the motorway.

However, by far the largest group who commit stupid and frequently dangerous manoeuvres are car drivers.  In my opinion, the two most likely reasons for this are laziness and a general lack of consideration towards other road users.

Despite assurances by the government to the contrary, I have noticed falling driving standards for years despite a more rigorous test.

Take one incident I was witness to on early Friday evening and another that almost caused me to collide with a car on Sunday morning.

In the first incident on Friday evening, I was sitting in the left hand filter lane at a ‘T’ junction leading onto a major A road.  Two further lanes to my right were positioned for traffic to turn right onto the ‘A’ road.  To my complete amazement, two cars turned into the outer of the two lanes I was adjacent to, into oncoming traffic, through the red light where stationary traffic was waiting for the lights to change.

The reason – well, they wanted to do a ‘U-turn’.  Instead of turning into the correct lane and travelling a mile to the closest roundabout and turn around, they decided to head into oncoming traffic at a set of traffic lights, on the wrong side of a dual carriageway to turn round!

The second incident was on a roundabout.  I was preparing to enter the junction I wished to turn into using the outside lane because a Mercedes was turning left ahead of me into the inside lane of the same turn-off.  But, too latethe driver obvioulsy decided he was turning into the wrong junction because he promptly slowed down and started to drive out of the junction he was already committed to.  He was now positioned in the junction side on to me, blocking all traffic into the junction.

Fortunately I stopped and the the driver drove off with a wave.  Not only was this a stupid manoeuvre, it was dangerous.  Another roundabout was no more than 300 metres away where he could have turned around safely.

With over 30 years driving experience and hundreds of thousands on motoring miles under my belt, I see this kind of stupidity all the time, but it is getting worse.  The drivers I see are from all age groups (the Mercedes driver was over 50), sexes and types (both business drivers and general motorists), so this is not just a problem with young drivers.

The Police and Local Governments appear to be obsessed with speed, and I agree that inappropriate speeding is dangerous but, just because you are driving slowly, it does not necessarily follow that you are driving well, or safely.  I believe a crackdown in poor driving would decrease the number of accidents on our roads more than just prosecuting those who speed.

I also believe a re-think is required as far as possession of a driving licence is concerned, and those that are caught performing stupid and/or dangerous manoeuvres should have to re-sit their driving test and not just merely face a driving ban, points and/or a fine.

Trying to rectify a driving mistake with an even greater (and more dangerous) manoeuvre is insane.  Too many drivers are relying on the speedy reactions and experience of other road users to avoid accidents.

Please feel free to comment on any stupid manouevres you have witnessed.