Why is driving such a chore,,,,

[Weihrauch17]

14 hours ago, ditchman said:

i drove long distances for the jobs i had going all over the UK.....driving during the day was a real PIA so i did all my driving late evening ?night ...i had a top car a volvo estate auto...(same the police had) it was all leather interior amd supremley comfortable and fast......

driving at night/eve...was a good wind down and really relaxing...used to love it...used to stop regulary for food and water etc

dont know what it would be like now...

I had a green 850 T5 and loved it, great car.

[ditchman]

41 minutes ago, Weihrauch17 said:

I had a green 850 T5 and loved it, great car.

it was a rental car from Bristol...which i had on long term rental....the last person who had or the first person to have it was Terry Wogan believe it or not.........as it was a BBC rental car at first

[Weihrauch17]

14 minutes ago, ditchman said:

it was a rental car from Bristol...which i had on long term rental....the last person who had or the first person to have it was Terry Wogan believe it or not.........as it was a BBC rental car at first

Terry Wogan, that's a blast from the past.  A friend of mine bought an M3 from a dealer whose previous owner was David Coultard, nice car.

[ditchman]

23 minutes ago, Weihrauch17 said:

Terry Wogan, that's a blast from the past.  A friend of mine bought an M3 from a dealer whose previous owner was David Coultard, nice car.

the car was that comfortable ..being an auto and quiet.....driving at 2 or 3 in the morning listening to classic FM or Gold FM...the old eyes started getting heavy and i would have to drive with the window down for cold and oxygen ..before the next service station where i would pull in ....drop the electric seat back and go out like a light for an hour...

[Weihrauch17]

46 minutes ago, ditchman said:

the car was that comfortable ..being an auto and quiet.....driving at 2 or 3 in the morning listening to classic FM or Gold FM...the old eyes started getting heavy and i would have to drive with the window down for cold and oxygen ..before the next service station where i would pull in ....drop the electric seat back and go out like a light for an hour...

Mine was a manual but as you say very comfy, I have had 3 Volvo estates and the T5 was my favourite but all were great cars.  Modern Volvo's seem to be a woke shadow of their early relatives.

Edited February 13 by Weihrauch17

[ditchman]

9 hours ago, Weihrauch17 said:

Mine was a manual but as you say very comfy, I have had 3 Volvo estates and the T5 was my favourite but all were great cars.  Modern Volvo's seem to be a woke shadow of their early relatives.

when i had reached the milage on the volvo ...i had to take it back and swap it over for a 4x4 volvo estate...which was again good but not as nice as the first one...took me 10 mins figuring out how to start the bloody thing.......

until i realised that you had to put your foot on the footbrake first whilst turning the key......

what a muppet 

[mel b3]

On 13/02/2025 at 10:01, DUNKS said:

I dont think its just driving that has altered, its people that have altered and that affects driving and most other aspects of life today.

JMHO of course with 88 years of experience! 

Very much this 👌. 

Driving manners have vanished , and it has a great deal to do with the amount of foreigners on the road. 

My observations are . By some considerable margin , the worst drivers on the road (lack of ability), are Asian taxi drivers , followed very closely by Asian van drivers .  Eastern European drivers drive as if they're the only car on the road , and treat red lights as advisory .

The most ignorant drivers are Africans . They have no understanding whatsoever of road manners , or , driving etiquette. 

This is not a racist rant . It's just my factual observations from years of driving for a living .

[TIGHTCHOKE]

8 minutes ago, mel b3 said:

Very much this 👌. 

Driving manners have vanished , and it has a great deal to do with the amount of foreigners on the road. 

My observations are . By some considerable margin , the worst drivers on the road (lack of ability), are Asian taxi drivers , followed very closely by Asian van drivers .  Eastern European drivers drive as if they're the only car on the road , and treat red lights as advisory .

The most ignorant drivers are Africans . They have no understanding whatsoever of road manners , or , driving etiquette. 

This is not a racist rant . It's just my factual observations from years of driving for a living .

Just to add, whenever I have someone too close to my rear bumper it is invariably a young woman in a Fiat 500 or similar small car. 

Do they NOT get taught "breaking distances" these days?

[mel b3]

13 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Just to add, whenever I have someone too close to my rear bumper it is invariably a young woman in a Fiat 500 or similar small car. 

Do they NOT get taught "breaking distances" these days?

Junctions is the one that does me. People have stopped pulling up slowly behind the broken white lines at junctions . They seem to screech to a halt with bonnets hanging three feet over the junction,  and into live traffic , *** is that all about ? .

[TIGHTCHOKE]

5 minutes ago, mel b3 said:

Junctions is the one that does me. People have stopped pulling up slowly behind the broken white lines at junctions . They seem to screech to a halt with bonnets hanging three feet over the junction,  and into live traffic , *** is that all about ? .

That's a simple one to explain Mel.

It is to STOP the damned cyclists getting to the front and through the junction and holding everyone else back.   

[mel b3]

6 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

That's a simple one to explain Mel.

It is to STOP the damned cyclists getting to the front and through the junction and holding everyone else back.   

I think cyclists are on the pw banned list , along with mole trapping and cats 😁.

[JKD]

1 hour ago, mel b3 said:

Very much this 👌. 

Driving manners have vanished , and it has a great deal to do with the amount of foreigners on the road. 

My observations are . By some considerable margin , the worst drivers on the road (lack of ability), are Asian taxi drivers , followed very closely by Asian van drivers .  Eastern European drivers drive as if they're the only car on the road , and treat red lights as advisory .

The most ignorant drivers are Africans . They have no understanding whatsoever of road manners , or , driving etiquette. 

This is not a racist rant . It's just my factual observations from years of driving for a living .

I'd agree with this bit 👍 Had a spat with one last week in a stationery queue leading up to roadworks and temporary traffic lights. It was like my vehicle was the only one in front of him,,,, not the other 50 odd 🤦‍♂️😆

And yes,,,, manners and curtesy get left at home by most drivers these days 🙄

And as for cyclists,,,, they have every right as anything else on the roads. Yes some can be rude and ignorant etc etc, but vehicle drivers and even a lot of motorcyclists are a lot worse, IMHO as someone who only rode a bike until I was 30 😁 Doing so gave me very good 'road sense' which I'm sure kept me alive 👍

[mel b3]

16 minutes ago, JKD said:

I'd agree with this bit 👍 Had a spat with one last week in a stationery queue leading up to roadworks and temporary traffic lights. It was like my vehicle was the only one in front of him,,,, not the other 50 odd 🤦‍♂️😆

And yes,,,, manners and curtesy get left at home by most drivers these days 🙄

And as for cyclists,,,, they have every right as anything else on the roads. Yes some can be rude and ignorant etc etc, but vehicle drivers and even a lot of motorcyclists are a lot worse, IMHO as someone who only rode a bike until I was 30 😁 Doing so gave me very good 'road sense' which I'm sure kept me alive 👍

I've said for years that every car driver , should do 6 months on a moped before getting behind the steering wheel of a car . It would teach them road sense and road manners , and also just how vulnerable other road users can be .

[TIGHTCHOKE]

16 minutes ago, mel b3 said:

I've said for years that every car driver , should do 6 months on a moped before getting behind the steering wheel of a car . It would teach them road sense and road manners , and also just how vulnerable other road users can be .

Have you seen just how poorly the food delivery mopeds are ridden?   

[mel b3]

17 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Have you seen just how poorly the food delivery mopeds are ridden?   

Oh yes . They ride like pizza delivery is the fourth emergency service 😄 .

Mind you , those top  boxes the size of a small trailer probably don't help.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

10 minutes ago, mel b3 said:

Oh yes . They ride like pizza delivery is the fourth emergency service 😄 .

Mind you , those top  boxes the size of a small trailer probably don't help.

I just let them get on with it, confident that I will eventually be needed as a WITNESS for a nasty accident.  

[mel b3]

6 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

I just let them get on with it, confident that I will eventually be needed as a WITNESS for a nasty accident.  

It always gives me a nice warm feeling , to know that some dole dosser is laying in his nice warm bed , waiting for his McDonald's breakfast to be delivered, while I'm at work paying for it .

[Bigbob]

Simple answer too many idiots on the road makes you wonder how they got there licence 

[London Best]

7 minutes ago, Bigbob said:

Simple answer too many idiots on the road makes you wonder how they got there licence 

A very large percentage don’t have a licence!

[Bigbob]

Valentines day is also the wifes birthday , daughter and granddaughter took us out to a new place for brunch i was doing a steady 50 and noticed a Kia  Sportage  nearly on my back bumper when he overtook me i thought i know him ? Yes it was the policeman that did my Firearms renewal , Then he did the same to the car in front of me till i turned off , If he was in that much a hurry surely he could of blues and two'd it ?

[TIGHTCHOKE]

10 minutes ago, Bigbob said:

Valentines day is also the wifes birthday , daughter and granddaughter took us out to a new place for brunch i was doing a steady 50 and noticed a Kia  Sportage  nearly on my back bumper when he overtook me i thought i know him ? Yes it was the policeman that did my Firearms renewal , Then he did the same to the car in front of me till i turned off , If he was in that much a hurry surely he could of blues and two'd it ?

Do the police use Kia Sportages?

[Bigbob]

They have a few different pool cars here 

[JKD]

4 hours ago, mel b3 said:

I've said for years that every car driver , should do 6 months on a moped before getting behind the steering wheel of a car . It would teach them road sense and road manners , and also just how vulnerable other road users can be .

That's a good idea in principle, but wouldn't make a jot of difference in reality methinks 🙄 Another big annoyance to me is lane discipline. That includes both directions, ⬆️⬇️ and that includes motorcyclists heading towards me on 'my' side of the white lines ! Many times I've not moved over for them,,,, see the look on their faces behind the visor 😬😲

I could fill pages and pages on here with the awful driving instances I see daily ! I'm assuming that when it affects me directly, it's because I drive sensibly with respect to all other road users 😆😇

Edited Monday at 12:49 by JKD

[Vince Green]

On 13/02/2025 at 21:43, countryman said:

Narrow country roads are the most dangerous for me, I had a van driver the other day come aggressively right up to the front of my car, he wanted me to back back which I would if I was the nearest to a passing point, I could see just behind him was a passing point but he just kept edging closer to me, another car then came up behind me and he had to then go back, as I went by I put my hand up to thank him which was met with a one finger salute, some people are really not right these days no wonder there are so many road rage incidents. On another note my insurance we’re offering insurance for road rage saying they are getting a lot of Dental claims.

You must have been in Cornwall.  Traffic laws and manners don't apply to the locals

And let's not even mention tractor drivers or I will have to go and lie down in a dark room afterwards

[chrisv]

On 17/02/2025 at 07:17, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Just to add, whenever I have someone too close to my rear bumper it is invariably a young woman in a Fiat 500 or similar small car. 

Do they NOT get taught "breaking distances" these days?

That’s my experience as well. This morning I was following a young woman in a Fiat 500. At times, she was so close to the car in front that I couldn’t see that there was a car in front of her.

As well as Fiat 500s, it’s often  Audi A1s, VW Polos, or a small Seat, often with an FR badge on the back.