Intimidating Learner Drivers

MangoLime

I've been driving consistently for about a year now and I just can't believe the attitude that some people have towards me just because i'm a learner.

For example today: I was driving home from work along a stretch of road which had a load of cars parked on the left side. There were cars parked on the right side too but there were a lot of decent gaps in between. Said road is also fairly narrow. So this woman in a massive jeep starts coming towards me. There were no gaps in the parked cars on my side but there was a big one on her side. So by right, she should have pulled in a bit and allowed me to pass her out. But noooooo she keeps going forward, and because her car was so big there was barely enough room for me to pass.

I honestly didn't think I could pass her without hitting her, so I started to reverse a bit down the road in the hope that it would create some more room for her to pass me. While reversing, I tried to move to the left a small bit, but I'm not great at manoevering in tight spaces yet especiallly in reverse. So naturally I started to panic.

During all this, the woman in the jeep didn't do ANYTHING. She literally just stopped in the middle of the road and watched me, not making any attempt to resolve the situation, when she was the one at fault and I was clearly very nervous.

In the end I just thought "screw it, if you're going to be an ass about this I'm just going to drive forward and you can figure out a way to get past me" So that's what I did. I just drove on very slowly and eventually she started to move.

But I've noticed aswell that LOADS of people drive practically in my back seat, trying to make me speed up. Whenever I come to a junction or roundabout I usually slow down considerably and stop for a second just to make absolutely certain that it's safe for me to continue and people beep at me. For being safe!

I mean, why do people have to be so aggressive and intimidating towards learners? Is there some satisfaction to be had in frightening others?

BostonB

They do that to everyone not just learners.

Did not have anyone with you? What did they advise?

allym

It's the L-plates. They may aswell be target signs on your windscreen. As soon as people see them they think "oh here we go:rolleyes:" even if your driving perfectly fine, maybe even better than them!

My dad used to get it all the time while driving the car with my L plates up! Been driving for nearly 30 years at this stage and is a great driver so was clearly not doing anything wrong but would get beeped out of it all the time for nothing or have someone practically in his backseat as you said!

Mental_Legend

My mam says that there is a significant difference in the attitude of other drivers to her when she drives with my L-plates on her car than when she didn't. Like another poster said, you may aswell have a big target on your car.

gooch2k9

Not necessarily the L-plates. I'd wager its big car syndrome. They have a big expensive machine feel they can do what they like.

What I do in that situation(when I'm in no hurry and they are at fault), just sit and block their path, make them go back.

Never noticed any real difference in behaviour towards me from when I had L plates and when I got rid of them.

andrew163

You're right in that a lot of people seem to see red when they see L plates, and just lose all patience. However, in this case, it sounds like standard 4x4 driver syndrome. They make everybody's life equally miserable, it's not just you

realdanbreen

There are a lot of ignorant drivers out there who seem to forget they once had to learn to drive themselves.When I am driving my wifes car(which is a small car) I get a lot of fellas driving up my rear and attempting to intimidate me. Some people might not agree with this but first of all I give them the fingers,then if they keep it up I flick on the rear fog light, they immediately assume I've braked hard and they stick their own cat to the road. With a bit of luck they end up banging their head off the windscreen.

mikemac

It's the jeep factor

Even if you didn't have L plates she would have done this

sandra06

MangoLime wrote: »

I've been driving consistently for about a year now and I just can't believe the attitude that some people have towards me just because i'm a learner.

For example today: I was driving home from work along a stretch of road which had a load of cars parked on the left side. There were cars parked on the right side too but there were a lot of decent gaps in between. Said road is also fairly narrow. So this woman in a massive jeep starts coming towards me. There were no gaps in the parked cars on my side but there was a big one on her side. So by right, she should have pulled in a bit and allowed me to pass her out. But noooooo she keeps going forward, and because her car was so big there was barely enough room for me small bit, but I'm not great at manoevering in tight spaces yet especiallly in reverse. So naturally I started to panic
if she wast over the white line ,ur in the wrong if your over the white line ,having said that common courtesy she should have pulled in ,its 50/50 all that said and dont please take me the wrong way but try get some lessons on reversing ask a friend ,and never get nervous you have controll of your car ,if the worst comes to the worst ask the other driver to move:D

realdanbreen

sandra06 wrote: »

MangoLime wrote: »

I've been driving consistently for about a year now and I just can't believe the attitude that some people have towards me just because i'm a learner.

For example today: I was driving home from work along a stretch of road which had a load of cars parked on the left side. There were cars parked on the right side too but there were a lot of decent gaps in between. Said road is also fairly narrow. So this woman in a massive jeep starts coming towards me. There were no gaps in the parked cars on my side but there was a big one on her side. So by right, she should have pulled in a bit and allowed me to pass her out. But noooooo she keeps going forward, and because her car was so big there was barely enough room for me small bit, but I'm not great at manoevering in tight spaces yet especiallly in reverse. So naturally I started to panic
if she wast over the white line ,ur in the wrong if your over the white line ,having said that common courtesy she should have pulled in ,its 50/50 all that said and dont please take me the wrong way but try get some lessons on reversing ask a friend ,and never get nervous you have controll of your car ,if the worst comes to the worst ask the other driver to move:D

So what happened? Did you hit her?

BostonB

realdanbreen wrote: »

.... flick on the rear fog light, they immediately assume I've braked hard ....

A rear fog light usually looks nothing like a brake light.

That said I just let them by, end of problem.

realdanbreen

BostonB wrote: »

A rear fog light usually looks nothing like a brake light.

That said I just let them by, end of problem.

Really! So you've never seen a red rear fog light?What colour are yours?

BostonB

Flashing blue.

Generally a rear fog light is very obvious, as its often brighter than the other lights. also as its the standard for UK type approval most cars only have one rear fog light and on the drivers side. I think the idea is to make them look different to brake lights. If yours all look the same and have two rear fog lights, great. But usually that's not the case.

realdanbreen

BostonB wrote: »

Flashing blue.

Generally a rear fog light is very obvious, as its often brighter than the other lights. also as its the standard for UK type approval most cars only have one rear fog light and on the drivers side. I think the idea is to make them look different to brake lights. If yours all look the same and have two rear fog lights, great. But usually that's not the case.

And if your tailgating a car at 60mph and next thing a 'bright' red light appears 2ft in front of you what would be your first reaction? I know what mine would be and it wouldn't involve wondering about 'UK approval'

**Timbuk2**

I wouldn't advise turning on your rear fog light unnecessarily - yes, a tailgater might assume at first that it's a brake and back off, but he'll just come back, probably more angry (fog lights can be very dazzling!) and he won't be fooled the next time.

If someone is tailgaiting you, the best course of action is to slow down, because this means that the small gap between you and the tailgater is now less dangerous.

realdanbreen

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

I wouldn't advise turning on your rear fog light unnecessarily - yes, a tailgater might assume at first that it's a brake and back off, but he'll just come back, probably more angry (fog lights can be very dazzling!) and he won't be fooled the next time.

If someone is tailgaiting you, the best course of action is to slow down, because this means that the small gap between you and the tailgater is now less dangerous.

Well I have found so far in life that the best solution for bullying(which tailgating is a form of) is to give it back twice as hard.And before anyone replies with 'Oh its not in my nature' or 'It will only make them angrier' well I'm sorry but life can be tough and sometimes we have to do things we don't like doing.

**Timbuk2**

realdanbreen wrote: »

Well I have found so far in life that the best solution for bullying(which tailgating is a form of) is to give it back twice as hard.And before anyone replies with 'Oh its not in my nature' or 'It will only make them angrier' well I'm sorry but life can be tough and sometimes we have to do things we don't like doing.

But I think when you're on the road, it should be in your interest to avoid any incidents that may occur. I mean, the tailgater is tailgating you so you could pick an opportune moment to test your brakes, but this could potentially result in the car behind you hitting you - yes, it probably is his fault for driving to close, but it would be better for everyone (including other users on the road) if it didn't happen!

Putting on your fog light will accomplish nothing - he's not going to stay well back forever and thinking that you are constantly braking.

While "giving back twice as hard" is one tactic for dealing with "bullying", it sounds more fit for a primary school yard than it does on public roads.

realdanbreen

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

But I think when you're on the road, it should be in your interest to avoid any incidents that may occur. I mean, the tailgater is tailgating you so you could pick an opportune moment to test your brakes, but this could potentially result in the car behind you hitting you - yes, it probably is his fault for driving to close, but it would be better for everyone (including other users on the road) if it didn't happen!

Putting on your fog light will accomplish nothing - he's not going to stay well back forever and thinking that you are constantly braking.

While "giving back twice as hard" is one tactic for dealing with "bullying", it sounds more fit for a primary school yard than it does on public roads.

It applies everywhere tim IMO, school,workplace,where ever. I am no expert but most of the people that I know that accepted bullying encountered major problems in their lives.

realdanbreen

realdanbreen wrote: »

Well I have found so far in life that the best solution for bullying(which tailgating is a form of) is to give it back twice as hard.And before anyone replies with 'Oh its not in my nature' or 'It will only make them angrier' well I'm sorry but life can be tough and sometimes we have to do things we don't like doing.

realdanbreen wrote: »

It applies everywhere tim IMO, school,workplace,where ever. I am no expert but most of the people that I know that accepted bullying encountered major problems in their lives.

Driving on a road in a big lethal metal machine is NOT the time to start "taking a stand" and "giving it back" and doing analyses of whether they've had major problems in their lives. If you are in a potentially fairly dangerous situation of tailgating then slow down instead of trying to exacerbate it.

RustyNut

realdanbreen wrote: »

There are a lot of ignorant drivers out there who seem to forget they once had to learn to drive themselves.When I am driving my wifes car(which is a small car) I get a lot of fellas driving up my rear and attempting to intimidate me. Some people might not agree with this but first of all I give them the fingers,then if they keep it up I flick on the rear fog light, they immediately assume I've braked hard and they stick their own cat to the road. With a bit of luck they end up banging their head off the windscreen.

As much as I agree with you that there are a lot of ignorant drivers on the road and intimidating learners, or anybody else is just wrong I don't think responding to wan****sh behaviour with more wan****sh behaviour is the solution. Just say the tailgater sees your fog light mistakes it for brake lights tries to "stick it to the road" looses it and spins out of control into oncoming traffic that will teach him.

Responding to aggression with aggression might have it's place but it's not on the public road. How about either letting them passed you or slow down to a speed where the gap becomes safe eg 2seconds.

Don't bring your ego driving it will only get you into trouble...

BostonB

Yes counter bad driving with some anger and aggression. That will end well.

BostonB

realdanbreen wrote: »

And if your tailgating a car at 60mph and next thing a 'bright' red light appears 2ft in front of you what would be your first reaction? I know what mine would be and it wouldn't involve wondering about 'UK approval'

Think it though. Someone who is in the habit of tailgating that aggressively will have seen that trick a thousand times. Basically you are crying wolf with your fog lights, so if you then use your brake they maybe be very slow to react to it.

Also someone driving that badly maybe some nut job who really doesn't give a monkeys about crashing or escalating any aggression either.

Finally there's no sense logic in keeping some nutter on your bumper.

kavo87

People are very quick to forget that at one stage they were learner drivers themselves!

Compton

that is very true!!

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

ec18

happens to not just learners in a similar situation I pulled in on a narrow road to let an oncoming car pass down and the car behind me over took me and floored it nearly hitting the oncoming car.....Overtaking car stopped barely and waited for the other car to reverse back up the road

BostonB

I switch between difference cars a lot, and I've never notice one type of car getting more aggression than other types. Theres bad drivers out there and they don't care about anyone else.

stevenmu

OP, this happens to all of us. There's a subset of people who drive big SUV type vehicles who think that they own the road and everyone will just get out of the way. And I suspect that for most of them the car is way bigger than they are able to handle, however worried you were about reversing, I'd bet the other driver would have been far worse.

Best thing is to just stop and let them sort themselves out. For bonus points take out a newspaper and have a read while you wait for them.

overshoot

seen as the thread is on tailgating i thought id go here for a bit of advice.
m3 yesterday, me, behind car in fast lane (so i was going as fast as i could which was actually the limit anyway), slowly overtaking a lad in the left lane. black suv (merc according to my friend) comes up behind me and starts tailgating, does this for 30seconds when he swings left, starts undertaking. he gets to the back of the car in the left lane and indicates and starts moving right (at this point his rear wheel is level with my front). i begin blowing him out of it but he keeps coming so eventually i get out of it.... guess i finally found the point to which i will hold my ground.
anyway, he went straight up behind the white golf infront who moved in and took off, i got a rush of blood and followed, although it didnt last long realising it was stupid.
basically i have his reg, and i had a passenger who can verify this (i even said to him look at this c**t tailgating me right before he undertook) and while i never thought i would do this i may report him. just 2 things, its a NI reg so can they do anything? and if i tell that story il basically say i went speeding for a minute, will that come back to haunt me?

RustyNut

overshoot wrote: »

seen as the thread is on tailgating i thought id go here for a bit of advice.
m3 yesterday, me, behind car in fast lane (so i was going as fast as i could which was actually the limit anyway), slowly overtaking a lad in the left lane. black suv (merc according to my friend) comes up behind me and starts tailgating, does this for 30seconds when he swings left, starts undertaking. he gets to the back of the car in the left lane and indicates and starts moving right (at this point his rear wheel is level with my front). i begin blowing him out of it but he keeps coming so eventually i get out of it.... guess i finally found the point to which i will hold my ground.
anyway, he went straight up behind the white golf infront who moved in and took off, i got a rush of blood and followed, although it didnt last long realising it was stupid.
basically i have his reg, and i had a passenger who can verify this (i even said to him look at this c**t tailgating me right before he undertook) and while i never thought i would do this i may report him. just 2 things, its a NI reg so can they do anything? and if i tell that story il basically say i went speeding for a minute, will that come back to haunt me?

Hi I'd say the time to report him/her would have been at the time so probably too late now.

There is a lesson to be learned here tho, the guy tailgating was letting you know that he wanted to get passed and that he had no respect for your, his own or anybody else's safety, the appropriate response imo would have been to leave the overtaking lane when you completed overtaking the car in the driving lane and let the karma pixies put manners on the c#*t.

overshoot

overshoot wrote: »

seen as the thread is on tailgating i thought id go here for a bit of advice.
m3 yesterday, me, behind car in fast lane (so i was going as fast as i could which was actually the limit anyway),

It's not the fast lane, it's the overtaking lane. Overtake then get out of it, whatever speed you're doing

**Timbuk2**

Yep it's an overtaking lane! No matter how fast you are going there'll always be someone faster, so don't hog it.

A very general rule of thumb is - if you are being overtaken on the left (undertaking), it probably means you are in the wrong lane. Before changing lanes to overtake, take more than one glance in your mirror - this gives you an indication of the speed of cars behind you (one glance only gives you an indication of distance), if the car is going significantly faster than you, often it's just better to wait a few moments and let it pass, then overtake yourself!

challengemaster

RustyNut wrote: »

Hi I'd say the time to report him/her would have been at the time so probably too late now.

Reporting people is pointless in the long run anyway, unless you and a witness would be interested in making a court appearance months down the line to testify, and even then it'd either get thrown out or a slap on the wrist.

So in short, nothing will ever come of it unless the gardaí actually see it happen

BostonB

overshoot wrote: »

....behind car in fast lane (so i was going as fast as i could which was actually the limit anyway), slowly overtaking a lad in the left lane. black suv (merc according to my friend) comes up behind me....

Personally I watch the mirror, and if theres faster traffic coming up behind me, even it if requires me to slow down, or speed up, I move over and let them past.

I don't really see the point of staying in a lane because your at the limit. Its not my job to control the speed of others. However I don't want any nut job behind me, or undertaking me. I want him disappearing in the distance ahead of me.

RustyNut

challengemaster wrote: »

Reporting people is pointless in the long run anyway, unless you and a witness would be interested in making a court appearance months down the line to testify, and even then it'd either get thrown out or a slap on the wrist.

So in short, nothing will ever come of it unless the gardaí actually see it happen

Yea I agree, some people feel the need tho, the only real possibility is that they might get a pull if it was handy for the cops and "educated" as to the error of their ways rather than prosecuted, maby make them think twice next time.

Only felt the need once my self that was for some clown going the wrong way on the mulingar bypass.

overshoot

bluewolf wrote: »

It's not the fast lane, it's the overtaking lane. Overtake then get out of it, whatever speed you're doing

it was a force of habit to say that (o-ver-take v fast), i always keep left unless overtaking, i was faster than the car on the left and with the car infront on the right i couldnt go any faster!!! i didnt feel any need to pull over for the c**t beacuse with the car infront he was only going to go a few metres further up the road and intimidate someone else. plus if i did swing left i would have been within tailgating range of the other car. so the only way i could maintain safe distances to the other cars was to hold my own ground. just so we are clear he forced me out of it before i got to overtake the car on the left, i would have done what rusty nut advises if i got the chance!
iv never felt the need to do this before but then iv never felt a car has made such a dangerous move which put the people in my car and to be honest id add the car on the left to that too. even if he got a slap on the wrist id like to think he would at least learn a lesson out of it

BostonB

Hes learnt slower drivers won't pull over.

overshoot

BostonB wrote: »

Hes learnt slower drivers won't pull over.

here look i normally pull over, before anyone gets a chance to tailgate. i did it for the one car who caught me coming home from sligo today. but as i said i would be tailgating if i did. why would i put myself in the wrong and a third party at risk just because he was?! i would have had to slow down infront of him to move over and he would probably have hit me
i wanted to go faster than the car infront of me, who was going faster than the car in the left lane and he wanted to go faster than the lot of us. im pretty sure he was doing or close to 100mph when in the clear.

either way i had asked for advice regarding trafficwatch earlier not smart ass remarks which to be honest were unsafe for the situation at the time, only transfering the danger from car to car.

edit - although me becoming a tailgater for a few seconds probably was a better option in hindsight but in all fairness 999/1000 no one shows this type of disregard for safety and hindsight is alwas 20/20

BostonB

Well its an alternative to consider.