Is it the same idiots all the time?

BrianD3

I was just thinking - is a relatively small percentage of the driving population responsible for most of the muppetry on the road. Eg 20% of the drivers doing 95% of the muppetry. Or is it more evenly distributed among all drivers.

I was just looking at some driving recently and counted up the number of errors and offences I saw in a short time. Eg I saw a woman driving out of a car park make a hames of a roundabout and ignore a no right turn sign all while driving with a defective tail light and to top it all her front seat passenger had a toddler on her lap :rolleyes:

It's amazing how crap some drivers are, just constantly doing stupid things and having near misses all the time. The wonder is that they don't have a crash on every journey. I'd say these clueless imbeciles are probably responsible for most of the damage that occurs in car parks from ramming other cars and careless door opening. Feckin muppets!

seamus

I don't think so. I think it's much more evenly spread. The people who make the serious ****ups are the ones that stick in our minds, but it's the minor irritants and indiscretions which lower our esteem of all drivers, even though they're fairly irrelevant mistakes that we all make on the odd occasion.

It does worry me though that if I take a journey anywhere anytime, I'm pretty much guaranteed to spot someone who can't drive to save their life, apart from everyone else just making mistakes.

el tel

I'd say that the Pareto Principle (aka "the 80:20 Rule") is valid here,

whereby 80% of the muppetry is being carried out by 20% of the drivers.
:v:

MadsL

I generally just make a point to avoid Micras if at all possible, especially 00 reg. Classic 60 year old no licence whatsoever type of driver.

mike65

If you screw up once and get away with it and anr'nt taught any better you'll proberly do it again and before you know it, its become habitual. So I rekon most trangressions are caused by a (substantial) minority of drivers who proberly can be grouped (ie the old who were never taught proberly, the young and stupid, the complacent lazy older driver etc).

Mike.

colm_mcm

some people just can't drive, if you look out for them and keep your distance, anticipate muppetry, and try not to let their stupidity get to you!

kc66

mike65 wrote:

So I rekon most trangressions are caused by a (substantial) minority of drivers who proberly can be grouped (ie the old who were never taught proberly, the young and stupid, the complacent lazy older driver etc).

...women drivers

C_Breeze

MadsL wrote:

I generally just make a point to avoid Micras if at all possible, especially 00 reg. Classic 60 year old no licence whatsoever type of driver.

thats exactly what i do. except every micra - not just OAP micras.

it really is amazing though . 8 out of every 10 micras I encounter on the roads are terrible drivers (which youll notice just by driving behind them for 5min)

i avoid them like the plague

TempestSabre

You'll find its habitual. If some one is driving badly it rarely tends to just one incident and they will commit a string of offences if you follow them for a short time.

As for small cars. I switch between a number of cars and a couple of them are small cars. Its very noticable the lack of consideration drivers of faster cars give you, when you are driving them. You can't pull out quickly, or overtake easily, and you have to time your merging much more carefully. So basically you tend to drive slower and with a bigger safety margin than you would in something with sharper brakes and more oomph.

However often you'll get some impatient person in a exec saloon, coupe, sports car or van riding your arse like the four horsemen are after them. If you take more than 10sec to pull out they pull up along side scowling and muttering, or roar past you in some crazy overtaking move.

I admit to stalling deliberately 3 times in a row and missing the lights a few times, just to watch them go crimson in the mirror.

JohnCleary

I feel like such a muppet. Yesterday, on a quiet road, I came to a T-Junction and forgot to indicate left. I just stopped, looked to check the road was clear and took the left! :eek: Thankfully there were no cars around (including behind me) so the only person that thought I Was a muppet was me!

Today, I saw someone jump a red light, at the round about she took the wrong lane, and didnt even indicate when she was exiting the round-about. Did she feel like a muppet? I doubt it... Probably proud as chips for being such a 'great driver' :rolleyes:

Padraig Mor

Was passenger in my GF's car going through Midleton on Sunday. Car pulls (from parked position) right out in front of her without indicating only missing her by inches because she slammed on the brakes. No ackowledgment of the incident from them either. Nothing unusual there, except it was a Garda car! She wouldn't blow them out of it either, despite my best efforts! If this is the standard from our police, should we really be surprised when 80% of people can't drive to save their life?

Archeron

Padraig Mor wrote:

Was passenger in my GF's car going through Midleton on Sunday. Car pulls (from parked position) right out in front of her without indicating only missing her by inches because she slammed on the brakes. No ackowledgment of the incident from them either. Nothing unusual there, except it was a Garda car! She wouldn't blow them out of it either, despite my best efforts! If this is the standard from our police, should we really be surprised when 80% of people can't drive to save their life?

I personally find that the majority of the gardai cant drive. On occasion when they do these silly things, and you make eye contact with them, they give you that "yeah, go on, beep me and I'll hang you" look. They know nobody will say anything, so they keep doing it. In fairness, I've found that older coppers have a lot more respect for the road (probably borne out of being on site at so many accidents) whereas the younger coppers still seem to have the power buzz.

seamus

I've beeped Gardai before.So long as you don't beep like a muppet (sitting on the horn, pressing it a million times), and give one medium length blast on the horn, they'll just acknowledge that they didn't see you (wave in the mirror) and move off.

Idleater

Hi,

Just for interests sake, to determine how many mistakes each of us do ourselves make when we are pointing out everyone else's faults might I suggest the following:

When I was doing my advanced (motorcycle) driving course, the instructor said when you are out driving, it doesn't matter for what journey, say on your way to work, start out with 10 points and subtract 1 every time you conciously notice you have made a slight mistake. This could be for example (as john pointed out earlier) forgetting to indicate when turning even though there was no one else around, going faster than the prescribed speed limit, tailgaiting the driver in front, pullling out in front of another road user, blocking a yellow box, anything, we all make these errors and notice them.

This figure is only the mistakes that you are conciously making note of. It does not take into account the ones that you don't notice. The idea is that once you begin to see that you are making some blatently obvious mistakes, you start to correct them leaving you free to nit pick at the smaller mistakes that you never noticed before. The process is all about constantly learning and adapting your own driving rather than saying, Right so, ive passed my test, thats me sorted...

Note, I am not saying that what all the posters here are saying is wrong, in fact I wholeheartedly agree. What I am saying is that we all need to reflect on our own driving habits as well as pointing out everyone else's faults...

L.

DublinWriter

I agree regarding Micra drivers, but I've also started giving taxis a wide berth on the road too.

Lots of taxi-drivers do crazy hours and if you catch one on the tail end of a 16-hour shift then beware.

As with HGVs, they should fit taxis with tacographs and ensure that they're not driving over 8 hours in any given 24 period.

Stephen

I can't see that working, given that many taxis will have multiple drivers working in shifts.

Mr Magnolia

QUOTE=el tel]I'd say that the Pareto Principle (aka "the 80:20 Rule") is valid here,

whereby 80% of the muppetry is being carried out by 20% of the drivers.
:v:[/QUOTE]


I think so too.


Good idea nereid, i'll try it out this evening.

MadsL

I can't see that working, given that many taxis will have multiple drivers working in shifts.

two words: fingerprint technology. Or if you want one, biometrics.

TempestSabre

DublinWriter wrote:

...but I've also started giving taxis a wide berth on the road too...

Started??? :eek: Thats the first thing you do!!!

Sparky

Women in big SUV's, they dont bother looking tbh.

stratos

I don't think there is a simple ansewer here.
There are a number of types of drivers, all with differing experience levels.
I find most people just aren't paying attention.
I am a professional driver and do large mileage on all types of roads.
If someone has almost caused me to crash, I look upon it as my failure to spot the situation, I am the experienced driver versus their occasional driving.
Most people don't drive much and use the same routes, I know this and will make allowances.
However I have pulled out in front of people blocked up yellow box junctions etc etc.
Noone is perfect all the time, but I do think there is no replacement for practice practice prctice, experience, and a little humility

DublinWriter

Stephen wrote:

I can't see that working, given that many taxis will have multiple drivers working in shifts.

Quite simple really, the tacho disc is specific to the driver.