The 'I've just seen an idiot in the snow suffering major FAIL' THREAD

johnos1984

This thread is inspired by this.

JohnDigital wrote: »

I saw a van driver trying his best to meet his maker this evening on the N11. The guy was in a 05 LK 20** red tarted up VW Transporter with more lights around it than a small stretch of runway, with a lovely green under body neon.

Anyway I was in traffic with said muppet from Deansgrange Road through to near Wyatville flyover in South Co. Dublin. I observed him attempt 4 stupid undertaking/overtaking manoeuvres which got him nowhere as I ended up ahead of him 3 times while doing a steady 40 kph.

On the approach to Wyatville flyover he decided to jump into the bus lane to undertake about 5 cars. He clipped the kerb at the Esso petrol station and span the van across the 3 lanes into the armco in the centre median. I managed to avoid him only because I was actually watching him make a fool of himself in the bus lane after his other unsuccessful escapades and half expected that something like this might happen.

By the time I was at Louglinstown roundabout he was back in my rear view mirror again, this time sans a row of those added lights and with the front end looking a bit worse than his driving. Oh how I laughed.

Anyone else seen people chasing the last few DARWIN AWARDS available for 2010?

Come on people you must have some entertaining stories for us who are snowed in at home by the fire now

Irish Steve

The 04 Skoda (I think) going out of Ashbourne at about 1900 this evening with about 6 x 4 of the windscreen cleared, no wipers running, nothing cleared off the side or rear windows, the roof covered with about 10 inches of snow, on sidelights, with the hazard warnings going, doing about 10 kph on the "old" N2 heading towards Slane. At the time, he was in danger of running onto the pavement, which was almost invisible in the snow on the edge of the road.



Best one ever was many years ago (1982 ish) in the UK, when a major snowfall ended up with the army being called in to help clear the roads in the South West, as there was too much snow for the normal equipment to deal with it.

A very large army digger had cleared one track on one of the major A roads, and was coming back along the track he had cleared to clear another section. He met a mini that had managed to get out onto the road, and they could not get past each other.

The driver of the mini got out, berated the driver of the digger and told him in no uncertain manner to get his fffing digger out of the Ffing way, or he'd have the driver busted to the rank for Ffing insubordination.

The digger driver backed up about 25 yards, turned slightly to one side and dug out a large bucket of icy snow.

He then drove back towards the mini, raised the bucket, and dropped the bucket load behind the mini. He then backed off again, picked up another bucket of snow, and dropped it in front of the mini.

He then backed off further, dug his way round the mini, and carried on with his appointed clearing. The mini was "rescued" about a week later. He never did hear anything further about the incident :D

Steve

Voodoomelon

This morning I came onto a stretch of road that has a 50kph limit and its safe enough to do 40kph minimum, the road had plenty of grip and was heavily gritted.

I turned onto this road and saw up ahead about 8-10 cars that looked like they were stopped, i thought "crap, someones after crashing". As i get closer, i actually see that the line of cars is moving and as i matched the last car in the lines speed, I could see we were doing 10kph!

There was some nut in a Yaris up ahead crawling along the road, I mean this was the worst I've ever seen, it normally takes 40 seconds to drive that half kilometer road, it took us all about 5 minutes to get to the other end!

There was also nothing wrong with the Yaris, I saw it drive onto the black main road and off it went at speed. Incredibly poor driving.

johnos1984

I had that a couple of time Voodoo.

I said to hell with it, its Christmas and I'll be patient......only to realise the road was clear ahead apart from one over cautious driver :rolleyes:

Voodoomelon

I'm the same of late, if i'm not in a rush I don't let it get to me but its infuriating if you have somewhere to be. 30kph maybe, 20kph would be pushing it, but 10kph?! Why did they even bother taking the car!

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

johnos1984

Captain Morgan wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

This is where taking note of whats going on around you really comes into play.

I've found you can tell who is going to do this before it happens from how they behave before hand

I try to leave a gap and then accelerate safely to get the momentum up to get up the hill etc.

I've had no issues when i do this.

I bear it in mind the effect of gravity and how it helps if you need to stop going up hill

JerCotter7

I watched a few grown men just standing there look at a van spinning wheels to pull a car up a hill away from the ditch. Said car had all 4 wheels on top of the compacted snow so it wasn't getting grip anyway. 2 lads were trying to push it up the hill. I placed myself against the side of the car and pushed against the ditch to bring the front of the car out from the ditch and they pushed it up the hill a slight bit. The car had been facing downhill anyway so they could have just pushed it out to begin with but instead they decided to try use a van that couldn't get grip. And this was while I was waiting for idiots on my side of the road to clear it up the hill. Once I got back to my car people decided to over take then stop at the bottom of the hill to just get stuck again.

Gregsor

Voodoomelon wrote: »

This morning I came onto a stretch of road that has a 50kph limit and its safe enough to do 40kph minimum, the road had plenty of grip and was heavily gritted.

I turned onto this road and saw up ahead about 8-10 cars that looked like they were stopped, i thought "crap, someones after crashing". As i get closer, i actually see that the line of cars is moving and as i matched the last car in the lines speed, I could see we were doing 10kph!

There was some nut in a Yaris up ahead crawling along the road, I mean this was the worst I've ever seen, it normally takes 40 seconds to drive that half kilometer road, it took us all about 5 minutes to get to the other end!

There was also nothing wrong with the Yaris, I saw it drive onto the black main road and off it went at speed. Incredibly poor driving.

I have the same everyday out here in Kildare,but what drives me more insane is the 4x4 vehicles going even slower than the average fwd cars.

Seriously concerned in the confidence of the Irish driver here and when to apply the methods of driving in the given situation and the overall reaction and consideration to other road users,even more crazier i passed 2 cyclists today on the backroads,(are they mad)but in a nutshell edgy motorists are making everyones daily commutes worse than most the weather conditions could throw at them.

Pointless delays on heavy commuted routes and imo hindering all other drivers in an already bad situation confused:

Mr Marston

Voodoomelon wrote: »

This morning I came onto a stretch of road that has a 50kph limit and its safe enough to do 40kph minimum, the road had plenty of grip and was heavily gritted.

I turned onto this road and saw up ahead about 8-10 cars that looked like they were stopped, i thought "crap, someones after crashing". As i get closer, i actually see that the line of cars is moving and as i matched the last car in the lines speed, I could see we were doing 10kph!

There was some nut in a Yaris up ahead crawling along the road, I mean this was the worst I've ever seen, it normally takes 40 seconds to drive that half kilometer road, it took us all about 5 minutes to get to the other end!

There was also nothing wrong with the Yaris, I saw it drive onto the black main road and off it went at speed. Incredibly poor driving.

Yeah, the ridiculously slow driving really grinds my gears. I overtook someone yesterday who was going about 10 mph in a Land Rover on a really long, wide-open straight and he started flashing me and beeping as if I was some sort of lunatic!

Another thing, theres a fairly steep hill on the way back to my area which is about 70m long with traffic lights for a junction at the middle of the ascent. I was sitting in traffic for about 30 mins, accepting the fact that things are moving slow, 'cause of the snow and all. But then I get a sight of the junction and see why things were going so slow. The cars were parking at the bottom of the hill, and 1 by 1 they were ascending when the lights went green, the car behind not daring to move until the car in front reached the apex of the hill, by which time the lights were red again. Pure madness! The hill wasn't steep enough for a car to roll back down if it was stationary, never mind with the momentum gained from the flat start-off point! I just waited for the car in front to get about 10m away and gunned it up after him.

Top Dog

Mr Marston wrote: »

Yeah, the ridiculously slow driving really grinds my gears. I overtook someone yesterday who was going about 10 mph in a Land Rover on a really long, wide-open straight and he started flashing me and beeping as if I was some sort of lunatic!

Had almost the exact same thing (minus the flashing of lights) when I overtook a 10 plate LandRover Discovery on the way home this evening. He was doing 12mph (according to my sat-nav). :rolleyes:

Doubt he was too impressed when he then saw me overtake the '08 LandCruiser that had been in front of him, and the car that was causing the 12mph train.

Managed to overtake all 3 of them safely, with no skidding or sliding, and without going over 35mph.

There's safe & cautious driving - and then there's the downright taking the mick driving! :mad:

Hal1

A merc 'crabbing' up hill at Lucan road on the wrong side of the road.

Stealthirl

I can mirror all of the above as well.

I over took a 4WD jeep that was doing 9kph [GPS] and the driver was shaking his fist at me,flashing lights beeping the lot.
Now i had 600M+ of clear road to overtake him as there was no other cars on the road. :rolleyes:

He then starts to speed up and try catch me,I'm only doing 20-30kph :eek:
he then loses it on a slight bend and ends up mounting the path and in a bush :rolleyes:

Also had 2 Garda cars stop me 1 in Dundrum and another local 1.Not for doing something wrong but to ask me how was i still driveing around the place

Healio

I was coming off the M50 at cheerywood last night, go to the light turning left onto the N11, and a BMW was stuck heading towards Cabinteely coming from the bray direction, his back wheels were going ninety, yet all of the CNUTS behind him tried to overtake, get out and give a push the ****, i end up lashing on the hazards and giving him a hand myself.

P.S. I couldnt give a bolox how legally wrong it was, the moral battle is won.

congo_90

The ambulance driver who crashed on the m50 /n3 junction in front of me. The ambulance bounced off the barriers. front end wrecked. that's one less life saver but I do feel sorry for the chap.

djimi

Captain Morgan wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Slowing down on hills is one thing, but stopping on them is an entirely different matter. There is a bridge in Sallins which has roads off it at either side of the very top so that you can drive down the canal. Now on both sides there are also roads at the bottom of the bridge that can used to get to the same place, but still morons insist on stopping on the bridge to wait for a gap in traffic to use the roads at the top of the bridge, thus making every else stop on the bridge also and have to take off from a standing start on an icy steep incline. The next time I see it I will seriously struggle to stop myself from dragging the driver out of the their car and throwing them into the canal.

cyrusdvirus

Mr Marston wrote: »

Another thing, theres a fairly steep hill on the way back to my area which is about 70m long with traffic lights for a junction at the middle of the ascent. I was sitting in traffic for about 30 mins, accepting the fact that things are moving slow, 'cause of the snow and all. But then I get a sight of the junction and see why things were going so slow. The cars were parking at the bottom of the hill, and 1 by 1 they were ascending when the lights went green, the car behind not daring to move until the car in front reached the apex of the hill, by which time the lights were red again. Pure madness! The hill wasn't steep enough for a car to roll back down if it was stationary, never mind with the momentum gained from the flat start-off point! I just waited for the car in front to get about 10m away and gunned it up after him.

Captains Hill in Leixlip, you HAVE to wait until the car ahead is clear of the apex. The hill is steep enough to roll back down. 2 weeks ago I made a big mistake on it, was waiting on the bottom, the car ahead looked like he had cleared the apex so i headed on up..... next thing he's coming back down towards me. I had momentum enough to get up so into the other lane (no traffic fortunately) and over took him.

Dangerous and stupid and I shouldn't have put myself in that position.

Next time i have to go up there in bad weather i'll wait until i see the car in fronts lights disappearing before i make my attempt!!

TwoShedsJackson

The real genius move is when you stop just before a hill begins as there is another car on it, stopped, and you want to wait for them to get going and clear it before you go up.

Cue some tool driving around you and into the space between you and the car on the hill. :rolleyes:

Stevie Dakota

Muppet on the N11 Northbound at Kilmac this morning in an old E-class, in the 'fast' lane which strangely was the clearest, doing 20mph, his rear screen covered in snow so no idea he was causing mayhem, holding everyone up and making them overtake in the more treacherous 'slow' lane.

cyrusdvirus

Stevie Dakota wrote: »

Muppet on the N11 Northbound at Kilmac this morning in an old E-class, in the 'fast' lane which strangely was the clearest, doing 20mph, his rear screen covered in snow so no idea he was causing mayhem, holding everyone up and making them overtake in the more treacherous 'slow' lane.

The not clearing your windows thing makes your car look cool and proves what a good driver you are, cos it shows how well you can drive with limited visibility.

This post is not entirely serious

Hissing Sid

gatecrash wrote: »

This post is not entirely serious

Thank god for that

PCPhoto

gatecrash wrote: »

The not clearing your windows thing makes your car look cool and proves what a good driver you are, cos it shows how well you can drive with limited visibility.

This post is not entirely serious

I know for my parents car (I think its a 08 Corolla) ... there is no rear window wiper so I assume (oh wait penny dropping - merc driver was just a lazy idiot) .... anyway my point was that without rear wipers he'd have to clear it manually as the heated rear windows would take forever.

dr.fuzzenstein

Mr Marston wrote: »

Yeah, the ridiculously slow driving really grinds my gears. I overtook someone yesterday who was going about 10 mph in a Land Rover on a really long, wide-open straight and he started flashing me and beeping as if I was some sort of lunatic!

Same here, going Ennis to Limerick on the motorway/dual carriageway, cleared and salted, no ice.
Passing people out at moderate speed and thinking if there's something wrong with my car because a few people flashed me.
I'm tempted to install this device in my rear window, it's operated by a button from the dashboard:

Yawlboy

Traveling from Youghal to Cork - roads complete clear of ice, well gritted etc and having to go at 15kph from Castlemartyr to Midleton for no reason whatsoever, well that I could see as I was at the back of a huge queue of slowly moving traffic. Then having a woman in a 08 Mondeo doing 60kph in the fast lane of the N25 from Midleton to Little Island - she was being undertaken by buses and lorries and she would not pull over, it wasn't snowing, it wasn't dark, other people were doing 90/100......


my 45 min commute took nearly 2 hours. Where were the Gardai? No idea didn't see a single squad car

Guy:Incognito

Was coming off the M50 at Tallaght (southbound) just after 7 on Monday when the snow was getting bad and there was a que up the slip. A few idiots decided that they didnt have to wait and forced their way up the hard shoulder on the slip which was completey covered in snow. A few got through then this complete fool in a Golf arrives and realises near the top that it gets a bit tight, but he didnt stop he just kept ploughing on, a few times almost mirror to mirror with me which sliding about the place. He refused to stop and try move back in, he wanted to force his way up, so I left him there. Omce we got to the top he swung out in to the outside lane on the slip, which had plenty of snow on it. Once the lights went green he wnet on to the inside lane of the roundabotu (which is 3 lanes), continued through the next light thats red and forces his way from the worng lane, back down on to the motorway.


These are the idiots makign things bad on the roads for you out there and causign crashes.

JohnDigital

Cheers johnos1984, potentially epic thread

Orando Broom

Monday night On the canal road from Portobello Bridge approaching Harold's Cross bridge.

Taxi goes up the inside of the queue on the footpath and undercuts the line of traffic and the car turning left. SCUMBAG.

Everybody in the queue being sensible and stopping before the hill so no one got stuck and then this flute through impatience, ignorance, stupidity and thuggery does his level best to cause an accident. I caught up to him at lights at the Maxol Station in Kennelworth and I was very, very close to knocking on his window.

no1beemerfan

I didn't witness it but heard it after.

This fella I know was clearing snow with the loader on the front of his tractor. Being as he is he put the loader flat on the ground and as fast as the tractor would go he raced down the driveway.

The next thing the tractor came to a stop and his head went through the windscreen. The steering wheel saved him going completely through. He'd forgotten that a piece of the curb sticks out.

And then two days later, in the snow, he lost control of his works vw golf van on a corner and rolled it.

ergonomics

I was driving into work in Limerick the other day and was coming down the country road I live on to join the main road. The road was bone dry but the woman in front of me was going no more than 5mph. I was in first gear and the car was struggling to go that slow. My revs were under 1000 the whole time. I was convinced it was going to stall.

Despite this she still braked for every bend, every incline, every decline, every time a car passed her, every time she sped up a little, every time she passed a house...you get the idea. When she pulled into a petrol station I was very tempted to say something to her but she probably thought she was doing the right thing and would think I was in the wrong.

r3nu4l

Saw this picture here today



EDIT: Explanation: BMW cars are Rear-Wheel Drive, this owner has put his chains on the front wheels.
However, as BMW will soon be producing a FWD 1-series cars, this might be the last time we can assuredly laugh at this sort of picture

RobAMerc

the silly bitch I saw this morning almost totally loose control of the car but managed to ... wait for it ..... continue talking on her mobile phone !

In fairness she did manage to catch the car before loosing it, so showed some skill I guess, but she never seemed to miss a beat in her conversation

stooge

r3nu4l wrote: »

Saw this picture here today

You may have to explain that to some people. Took me a couple of seconds!

mickdw

RobAMerc wrote: »

In fairness she did manage to catch the car before loosing it, so showed some skill I guess, but she never seemed to miss a beat in her conversation

Good drivers have loads of spare capacity for multi tasking. More likely though that she hadnt a clue.

Mr Marston

stooge wrote: »

You may have to explain that to some people. Took me a couple of seconds!

Yeah, I can't see whats going on at all.

Mr. Presentable

r3nu4l wrote: »

Saw this picture here today

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

Mr. Presentable

Mr Marston wrote: »

Yeah, I can't see whats going on at all.

The BMW is rear wheel drive.

RobAMerc

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

I can't see where they are showing any knowledge to be honest !

antodeco

Hill in Parkwest. People flooring it and getting nowhere.

Joe 90

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

The BMW is rear wheel drive.

But according to a recent survey 80% of 1 series owners reckon that they are FWD. True.

johnos1984

Joe 90 wrote: »

But according to a recent survey 80% of 1 series owners reckon that they are FWD. True.

Blue pill or pink pill............sadly there is no cure for stupidity

Gophur

Joe 90 wrote: »

But according to a recent survey 80% of 1 series owners reckon that they are FWD. True.

Care to provide a reference/link to said "survey" ?

johnos1984

Gophur wrote: »

Care to provide a reference/link to said "survey" ?

It was an internal BMW survey and I don't believe it is published

CEO Norbert Reithofer revealed that 80 percent of BMW 1-Series drivers believed that they were driving a front-wheel drive ca

r3nu4l

Gophur wrote: »

Care to provide a reference/link to said "survey" ?

What's the matter, don't believe it?

Apparently BMW themselves announced it according to the link below.

Link to article as requested Ha ha.

BMWBlog link

Original article where BMW CEO confirmed survey result

Anan1

r3nu4l wrote: »

What's the matter, don't believe it?

Apparently BMW themselves announced it according to the link below.

Link to article as requested Ha ha.

In what context did BMW announce the result of their own survey?;)

Gophur

r3nu4l wrote: »

What's the matter, don't believe it?

Apparently BMW themselves announced it according to the link below.

Link to article as requested Ha ha.

BMWBlog link

These are references alluding to a survey, but nothing indicating the actual survey itself.

Easy to extrapolate such a story , to give a dig at the BMW drivers, with every such opportunity seized upon by the marque's detractors.


There may be a substantial number, but I wouldn't believe it to be anything 80% of all 1-series owners.

johnos1984

Gophur wrote: »

Easy to extrapolate such a story , to give a dig at the BMW drivers, with every such opportunity seized upon by the marque's detractors..

That comment was made by the CEO of BMW when talking about rebranding FWD BINI's as BMW's from 2014

Zubeneschamali

Gophur wrote: »

to give a dig at the BMW drivers, with every such opportunity seized upon by the marque's detractors.

BMW's CEO is one of the marque's detractors? :rolleyes:

r3nu4l

Anan1 wrote: »

In what context did BMW announce the result of their own survey?;)

In their drive (ahem) to convince BMW owners and the world that it was okay for them to produce a FWD car. Surely you aren't accusing BMW of lying about the survey results? Marketeers aren't known for that are they?


On topic, my very own snow fail last year:

I decided to test my A3 quattro in the snow, everything was going well until I decided to hit the brake while going down a slope (forgot what I was doing). I slid right into and across a junction, thankfully without hitting anything

r3nu4l

Gophur wrote: »

These are references alluding to a survey, but nothing indicating the actual survey itself.

Easy to extrapolate such a story , to give a dig at the BMW drivers, with every such opportunity seized upon by the marque's detractors.


There may be a substantial number, but I wouldn't believe it to be anything 80% of all 1-series owners.

See the original article link I added later

Also very defensive tone, don't take it to heart, BMW are very lovely cars indeed. Better now?

TwoShedsJackson

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

The real genius move is when you stop just before a hill begins as there is another car on it, stopped, and you want to wait for them to get going and clear it before you go up.

Cue some tool driving around you and into the space between you and the car on the hill. :rolleyes:

I had a clever chappy in do this to me Monday night, had just gotten around a roundabout which leads into a hill, everone waited for the next person to make it around safely before entering the roundabout. Grand so on the next road we could see up just past the junction there were cars struggling on another hill so car two in front me decides f*ck that and goes to turn, me and the car in front leave plenty of space for him to do this and as he's turning some asshole in a lexus SUV decides that it would be a good idea to overtake and ends up stopped on the wrong side of the road with nowhere to go! plonker.

jmayo

r3nu4l wrote: »

Saw this picture here today



EDIT: Explanation: BMW cars are Rear-Wheel Drive, this owner has put his chains on the front wheels.
However, as BMW will soon be producing a FWD 1-series cars, this might be the last time we can assuredly laugh at this sort of picture

Ah maybe they have gone back in for the rear set ?

I hope that is the answer.

antodeco wrote: »

Hill in Parkwest. People flooring it and getting nowhere.

Is that the actual bridge over the canal you are on about becuase it becomes a sheet of ice once it starts really freezing.
Remember years ago a south African guy I worked with learned all about driving in snow/ice in his 3 series on that bridge