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80% of drivers believe they are better than the majority of drivers
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
It's a logical fallacy, isn't it?
Yet every. Single. Day. On my way home from work I encounter countless bad drivers who seemingly have their licence without any problem. There are junctions where I know for a fact people will dangerously break the highway code, and have to be extra vigilant because of this mass lemming effect.
Why are so many bad drivers on the road? I'm not a great driver, but crucially I am a safe driver. I still have two hands on the wheel. I still check my air and seating positions on a regular basis. I still check for cyclists, pedestrians and motorbikes every single time I change from stationary to moving, even if I'm in the middle of a dual carriageway.
It's not that hard to be at least adequate.
Yet every. Single. Day. On my way home from work I encounter countless bad drivers who seemingly have their licence without any problem. There are junctions where I know for a fact people will dangerously break the highway code, and have to be extra vigilant because of this mass lemming effect.
Why are so many bad drivers on the road? I'm not a great driver, but crucially I am a safe driver. I still have two hands on the wheel. I still check my air and seating positions on a regular basis. I still check for cyclists, pedestrians and motorbikes every single time I change from stationary to moving, even if I'm in the middle of a dual carriageway.
It's not that hard to be at least adequate.
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They're too good to share a lane with lorry's and think that it's safer to stick to one lane. This causes other drivers to get upset when they cause a rolling road block and an upset driver is a dangerous driver. Often you'll find people who complain about tailgators are MLMs and don't even know it.
When I see somebody being stupid I don't have a problem letting them know. Have had a couple of physical altercations with cyclists in London. Wankers.
If no one is hurt (they rarely are, thankfully) I'm glad that the driver who did the idiocy's car is totalled and sad for the other one.
I'm a safe enough driver when I'm not angry, but I get angry too often now when driving. So now I only drive when I have to. Its the best way of avoiding the fuckwits who can't read speed limits (either way) and those who feel all unmanned when I overtake their Audi Cockwagen in my little Aygo.
I had the same problem for a while but just practice detachment. My 'objective' when driving is to have the highest MPG, which really lends itself to defensive driving. I think men in particular are 'objective based' and transfers over to driving subconsciously, meaning plenty will overtake for the sake of overtaking even if they gain no advantage from it.
And don't even get me started on tailgaters, people who try to race you at lights (why?), and the motorway vigilantes! Yes, we are all annoyed that the idiot is pootling along in the middle lane, but cutting in about 2 feet in front of him makes you just as much of a dick as them. Also people who think that you get in the left lane to turn right at a roundabout despite the huge signs suggesting otherwise!
The ones who indicate right as they join a roundabout but just drive straight on.
People who refuse to overtake parked cars if there is oncoming traffic when you can see they've got about 4 feet of clear space either side of them.
When you're the last car in a line of about 7 or 8 and there's a car coming out of a side-street, waiting to join the road and all the cars in the line ignore him....except the driver in front of you. If he'd looked in his mirror he'd have seen there's nothing behind you and had he not stopped, the car coming out of the side-street would have been away in a second.
Taxi drivers who simply just.......stop.
'Ethnic' drivers who come from countries where little or no attention is paid to staying (or getting) in lane and repeat this behaviour on our roads.
The kind of people who do travel to the UK for work or otherwise, they are often very poor and live in crowded houses and share shitty cars. So it gives a false impression that people who aren't white british are bad drivers, when really it's just poor people are more likely to be driving without a licence / sufficient driver education, and people who aren't white british are more likely to be these really poor people.
Absolutely
I think to put it better, probably 80% of drivers are 'alright', 10% are 'bad' and 10% are 'terrible'.
But almost every driver on that scale has seen that 10% of terrible drivers, often on a daily basis. They just drive like they dont. Give. A. Fuck. :P
I drive around 900 miles a week on average, and have done so on and off for years without having a single accident. I regularly drive on the continent and I have a few years experience of riding a motorbike on the road, which as any motorcyclist will tell you makes you much more aware driver.
I do break speed limits and have a few points to prove it, but I think I do so safely.
Pretty much the only time I feel myself becoming a worse driver is when I'm angry, and thankfully I'm able to control that much better as I get older.
That said, I've had an Institute of Advanced Motoring assessment that said I was a low risk driver, so would like to think I've got better grounds than most for saying it. I'm no angel. I overtake people, I speed and I like fast acceleration. I also moderate my driving based on the surroundings. I'll do 50 mph in the middle lane on a motorway, in wet conditions with poor visibility. I'll also do 90mph down the inside lane if that motorway is empty and the conditions are right.
Very true. I once hit a fire hydrant. What kind of asshole puts those up? Not my fault at all.
Actually in my experience, most people DO admit fault in accidents, although they do often blame outside factors for their distraction. I think (and I would include myself in this) most people are reasonably good drivers who sometimes do stupid things. It's just lucky/unlucky as to whether the stupid thing is a near miss or an accident.
I love it when people say they believe they're a "better than average driver" due to their high mileage or length of time they've been driving - I used to play darts down my local for 7 years and I'm still crap
And I don't assume I don't piss others off either.
Anyway, I don't feel even slightly sorry for any of you with the type of shit I have to put up with here. Basic things like moving to the left if you want to turn left at the junction. Not rocket science, but logic that's beyond most people here. Of course there's stuff that's counter-intuitive too, that you can only get from decent training. For example, if you want to move from the left to the right of the road (or vice-versa), make sure you're going faster than everyone else. You'll often see people here almost coming to a halt to try and switch lanes. I've got to say, I've never seen a crash here that's not been the result of someone blatantly breaking one of the traffic rules. My favourite was an idiot who ran the red lights and crashed into a police bike. Not a good idea. The police bike didn't move and he ended up on his arse. And that was probably just the start of his trouble.
So yeah, after living here, I'd say most people in the UK are pretty decent drivers.
I think in the UK we have a less tolerant view of drink driving, or drug driving, an expect a certain level of competancy that's a bit higher than european average.
Tbh, I thought I was going to die crossing a zebra crossing in Rome. Scary driving indeed!
Yeah, I realised that afterwards. They were still rather scary though!! I've never heard so many people honking in my life. It seemed constant from sunrise to sunset. It definitely put our driving habits into perspective.
Poor analogy.
A much higher mileage than most combined with accidents whatsoever, would suggest I am a safer driver. Insurance companies to to agree.
But I know what you mean. Lots of miles together with no accidents does tend to show good driving standards.
Insurance costs are not soley based on accidents. I've been driving for 19 years without an accident. Does that make me a good driver? Maybe. Is it possible that although I've not been in any accident, many may have occurred in my rear view mirror? Nothing to suggest they haven't.
It could be you have been very fortunate. My father has been driving for 45+ years and he's an awful driver. But never had an accident.
It is. I'm not saying that driving a lot of miles makes a me a better driver simply through practice, I'm saying my high mileage with a distinct lack of incident prooves I'm not a terrible driver. There's a difference.
And playing darts on a regualr basis will generally improve your playing.
In my experience the best drivers on the road tend to be Biritsh lorry drivers, even though they fuck me off overtakign each other on 2 lane carriage ways.
I went on a speed awareness course and it amazed me how little people knew about driving. Many thought the national speed limit on a dual carriageway was 60mph and that you couldn't get single lane dual carriageways.