Slow drivers.... Slow for a reason...

is_that_so

realdanbreen wrote: »

So the moral of the story is.......don't act the clown when driving behind me!

No, it's don't be as much of an ass as whoever is following you. Move in and let them go on their way.

tuxy

is_that_so wrote: »

No, it's don't be as much of an ass as whoever is following you. Move in and let them go on their way.

What about people who tailgate?
I often slow way down if someone is tailgating as I'd rather be rear-eneded at a slower speed if they lose concentration.
I then speed up as they back off but that usually causes them to tailgate again!

blade1

Strumms wrote: »

Correct, in fairness if someone is being a prick on the road...adding to their number by driving dangerously/in contravention of the road traffic act isn’t helping any.

is_that_so wrote: »

No, it's don't be as much of an ass as whoever is following you. Move in and let them go on their way.

Waste of time trying to explain to that poster the error of their ways. I've tried already.
And there lies a lot of the problem.
Pig ignorance.
No matter how wrong they are,they still think they are right.
No talking to some people.

is_that_so

tuxy wrote: »

What about people who tailgate?
I often slow way down if someone is tailgating as I'd rather be rear-eneded at a slower speed if they lose concentration.
I then speed up as they back off but that usually causes them to tailgate again!

I tend to pull in for tailgaters if I can and get them out of my mirrors! Very annoying but less common IMO these days. Let them bother someone else.

blade1

Rodin wrote: »

Most drivers well under the speedlimit that I come across are elderly.

Their brains and bodies cannot cope with the speeds required.
Many have never even sat a driving test.
Many would fail one now were they to sit out.

A driving licence for life based on one test is a joke.

I don't think testing people more will solve a lot of the problem though.
There's people out there well capable of passing a test and still driving like assholes imo.

I get tested every 2 years and my driving always gets complimented by the different testers each time.
That doesn't mean I can't be a complete psycho on the road the other 364 days of the year.

jim-mcdee

Gave up road rage and getting stressed behind the wheel a long time ago. There are no winners only loosers with it. What's so important that a few mins delay makes any difference

is_that_so

is_that_so wrote: »

It's extremely inconsiderate to other road users and you don't get to make up speed limits that suit you. You wouldn't be deemed competent for a full driving licence at that speed unless the conditions warranted it. Speed limits are not targets but they are an indicator of the safe speed to travel at in a zone.

It was a simple lampoon

Shefwedfan

If the kid is autistic and hates the noise of the engine then just buy electric car

In the US and UK you can get pulled over for going too slow. They should bring it in here.

Paddy@CIRL

There are two issues here; one is that there are an increasing number of drivers who are faiingl to make progress on the road, and others who let their emotions dictate their decision making when behind the wheel.

Both are obvious issues, but this is a case of two wrongs not making a right.

FishOnABike

Shefwedfan wrote: »

If the kid is autistic and hates the noise of the engine then just buy electric car

In the US and UK you can get pulled over for going too slow. They should bring it in here.

They have. You can receive a fixed penalty fine and penalty points for driving without reasonable consideration which, although it is a bit vague, can include driving so slowly as to cause an obstruction or nuisance to other traffic.

realdanbreen

Shefwedfan wrote: »

If the kid is autistic and hates the noise of the engine then just buy electric car
e.

If you don't mind me saying it but that's a real "let them eat cake " solution. Fact is very few drivers are going that slow that it necessities some clown who didn't leave in time and doesn't want to miss his sunbed appointment coming up behind you flashing and beeping. As for tailgating, I have a right solution for those f*****s but might be best not to post it as it could be seen to be a tad dangerous.

Blueshoe

stop animal cruelty wrote: »

Listening to the local radio station today and a lady text in.

She has to make a 20km drive from her home to school, for her child who is autistic child 5 days a week. She drives under a certain speed so not to upset/trigger off her son.

Everyday. Everyday, she says she get hooted at and is the victim of road rage from other drivers. She said the beeping and hooting distresses her son.

My heart actually broke for her. What a distressing suitation to be in.

I've posted this so to make others aware that maybe not all slow drivers are pain in the hole and should get off the road.

I'm guilty myself for road rage, but this really makes me think twice, we really don't know the full story. If your in a rush or late for work.... That's ur responsibility... Leave 10min earlier next time.

Let's just be more aware of people who have it tougher than us.

No.
Pull in and let others pass. Her problems are not my problems.
I have my own to deal with.
Pull in and get out of the way.

I guarantee the lady who is driving is panicking when all of these cars are beeping and accelerating past her. This has to be adding to the distress of the child.

Cantona's Collars

Blueshoe wrote: »

No.
Pull in and let others pass. Her problems are not my problems.
I have my own to deal with.
Pull in and get out of the way.

I agree with this, I've driven large,slow vehicles and the number one thing is to pull in when I can to let traffic pass. It's the lack of awareness of slow drivers that annoys other road users, pottering along at half the limit in the middle of the road oblivious to what's behind them.
This and the fact that quite a few don't actually know that they are allowed to pull into the hard shoulder on roads (except motorways)
While I feel bad about the woman's kid,the sense of entitlement is pouring out of what she says. Why not put those sun shades on the back windows which negate any view or sense of speed. There's more ways to solve the issue rather than hold up lines of traffic for over 20km.

realdanbreen

blade1 wrote: »

Waste of time trying to explain to that poster the error of their ways. I've tried already.
And there lies a lot of the problem.
Pig ignorance.

? Careful now.:cool:

selectamatic

stop animal cruelty wrote: »

She has to make a 20km drive from her home to school, for her child who is autistic child 5 days a week. She drives under a certain speed so not to upset/trigger off her son.

To me this is the bit that sticks out. And I see it time and time again with different situations regarding kids on the spectrum.

When the child first became aware of travelling in a car you can be sure it was a stressful situation which probably led to a meltdown but and this is the key thing that meltdown was most likely unavoidable.

By making a big fuss and changing the situation (slowing down) it is confirming to the child that this is/was a stressful situation and now that we're going slower it's not as bad. Hence this habit was born.

It is better for all involved to keep things as normal as possible and try to deal with and then overcome the inevitable meltdowns as they crop up. It's tough but it's for the best and the end result is a child that is much more equipped to deal with daily life.

A good distraction for such a scenario would be playing the child's favourite songs/music on the radio or failing that perhaps through headphones although a stressed child will most likely turn these into a missile.

As an absolute last resort playing films or cartoons on a screen fixed to the back of the seat in front would again offer a good distraction. The downside of this is the child won't be visually taking in its surroundings as they change which many feel is important to development.

For a parent the above is tough but in the end it genuinely is best practice.

martingriff

Blueshoe wrote: »

No.
Pull in and let others pass. Her problems are not my problems.
I have my own to deal with.
Pull in and get out of the way.

I guarantee the lady who is driving is panicking when all of these cars are beeping and accelerating past her. This has to be adding to the distress of the child.

If she can pull in off course safely and can pull out safely.

Irish Steve

Where to start.

Nearly 200 messages, and no one has mentioned an issue that is at the heart of Irish motoring on minor roads, the state tax policy that has resulted in a massive number of underpowered cars in this country, because of the way that the road tax system works. The result of that is a significant number of cars that struggle to accelerate well when asked to do something like overtake quickly, and the reality is that the difference between a 1.4 and a 1.6 in fuel economy is often insignificant, but "chape tax" means that the underpowered engine variant is often the choice, and depending on the number of people in the vehicle, that can be a significant factor in the performance of the vehicle.

Second, there is an appallingly poor level of understanding of what ASD really is all about, and how it significantly affects both the individual with the disorder, and the family of the individual. We have a grand daughter with a relatively mild level of ASD, she's the third of 3, and completely different from the other 2. There is no way to predict what will cause a meltdown, and the same scenario on 2 days can produce a different response. Our grand daughter can and does travel without too many issues, but things like getting her into the car seat can be problematic, and if I go with my wife to collect her from the pre school, that can throw her, as she's not used to me being in that location. The only way round that is to keep doing what we are, so that she gets used to it, and not give in, or take any notice of the meltdown.

That's easy to say, but a lot harder to actually do, depending on the severity of the meltdown. What too many people don't recognise is that this is not a discipline issue, and even more so with young children, many with ASD have communication issues, the worst are non verbal, so they cannot communicate what is stressing them, and in some cases, a meltdown is the only way to relieve the stress.

Last weekend was a big unknown in that respect, we had a trip to Clare and back in the day, in a vehicle she's not used to, and with a different driver to usual, but in the end, it was no problem, but it could have been very different.

We're in the discovery phase of ASD, and it's become clear that it is still very much not properly understood in Ireland, and the level of support available to parents of a child with ASD is very patchy, and hit and miss, with more miss than hits, it's yet another area where "the system" is not working well, and not providing the levels of support that are needed, especially for some of the most severe cases, where any integration into non ASD environments is very challenging.

Things are starting to improve, some of the supermarkets are introducing ASD friendly shopping sessions, and some more enlightened employers (Microsoft being one of the leaders here) are looking for staff members with ASD, as for some types of work, they are better employees, both in terms of productivity and creative skills, but there's a long way to go in terms of awareness and public education before the full spectrum of ASD is fully understood.


I don't know the circumstances of the driver that's at the focus of this thread, but I have to admit to being concerned that she seems to be fixated on the journey, and if the child is upset by it, then some way to provide a distraction from the stress aspects of the journey needs to be found, and based on our experiences, that should be possible, which may help resolve the problems.

And yes, too many people are not leaving enough time to do the journey they are facing, with the result that any sort of delay causes stress, and the standards of driving in Ireland are not good.

I don't have an answer for you, maybe you can't change things to reduce that stress, but if that really is the case, then at some stage, that stress will produce more long term and possibly life changing results for you, and changing that now may be a better option that having to make bigger changes at a later date.

Some slow vehicles are indeed a problem, one of the worst for me is the tractor on the motorway with a large trailer behind it, it's questionable if they should be allowed on the motorway system in the first place, and given the massive speed difference between them and most other traffic, I find myself thinking that hazard warning flashing lights or beacons on the back should be mandatory, to ensure that following drivers are aware of the hazard, especially at night in wet weather conditions, especially at peak periods, it can be very disconcerting to have an HGV pull out to pass such a vehicle, to then discover (very quickly) that the next vehicle in front of you is not moving at the sort of speeds that are expected on a motorway.

Entitled. What an over used and inappropriate word for most of life. The reality is that we are "entitled" to very little in this life, and the level of expectation of too many people is too high these days, and they then have an attitude when those expectations are not met. it's across all areas of life now, and I have to admit, I am hoping that some reality will come into the situation before too much longer, but i suspect I will be disappointed in that respect, in that too often, the people providing leadership are also the ones displaying the worst levels of expectation.

I suspect this thread is going to be another one that I will stop reading, as it will end up becoming very unpleasant and going nowhere, if the first 5 pages are anything to go by.

corks finest

LirW wrote: »

F34 wrote: »

I notice the speed she drives at isn't mentioned. Maybe if she let other drivers pass they wouldn't be getting so irate.

Honestly often that doesn't matter if it's 30 or 60. My husband is doing his license at the moment and when he started driving on the big roads here, the amount of people that would get their knickers twisted because he's doing 65 instead of 80 is crazy.

The world would be a better place if people would be nicer to each other.

Highway code keep up with pace of traffic or such if I remember right, FFS 65 in an 80 is not on,ppl have work to go to etc ,in an 80 km per hour stretch you'd expect ppl to drive 70/80 ,now in a 100 km stretch I don't go 100 but always give way etc

Blazer

Had a tractor holding up a convoy of cars yesterday and causing a 3 mile tailback.
The prick refused to pull in anyway even though there was several places with plenty of space for him to safely do so.
15 minutes behind this asshole and I was praying the ****er would drop dead at his wheel.
As regards the ASD child..both my children are ASD and the important thing is routine. By that woman slowing down so as not to trigger her child she has in fact done worse because now drivers are being impeded by her and obviously are beeping at her which is now triggering her son again.
What she should have done was drive at a normal speed to get him used to it and make it part of their routine.

beauf

Irish Steve wrote: »

....
Nearly 200 messages, and no one has mentioned an issue that is at the heart of Irish motoring on minor roads, the state tax policy that has resulted in a massive number of underpowered cars in this country, because of the way that the road tax system works. The result of that is a significant number of cars that struggle to accelerate well when asked to do something like overtake quickly, and the reality is that the difference between a 1.4 and a 1.6 in fuel economy is often insignificant, but "chape tax" means that the underpowered engine variant is often the choice, and depending on the number of people in the vehicle, that can be a significant factor in the performance of the vehicle.

...

I suspect this thread is going to be another one that I will stop reading, as it will end up becoming very unpleasant and going nowhere, if the first 5 pages are anything to go by.

While I agree this thread likely to be unpleasant and I'll add typically full of people who want to drive flat out 100% of the time and have no patience.

But the small car stuff I wouldn't agree with. The cost savings in a small car go beyond just the tax. Parts will be cheaper, it will be lighter and easier on wear and tear, and insurance is often cheaper.

Also some new small engines 1.0 turbos are putting out more power than an early GTI.

The reality is our roads are bigger and our average speed are faster and we are are far more aggressive and impatient today than 10yrs ago. Our standard of driving especially in motorways is dysmal. We've a lot more bullying drivers than ever before. Far less empathy and more selfish than ever.

There is no problem making decent progress in a small car if you are a competent driver. But if you don't want to drive flat out you'll meet only derision from modern Irish society. Very little enforcement also.

There is a reason why everyone getting dash cams. Our driving is as bad those countries we used to slag off.

phelant

Blazer wrote: »

Had a tractor holding up a convoy of cars yesterday and causing a 3 mile tailback.
The prick refused to pull in anyway even though there was several places with plenty of space for him to safely do so.
15 minutes behind this asshole and I was praying the ****er would drop dead at his wheel.

How were you inconvenienced by his behavior. Was it so bad as to warrant his death? Or was it just a minor inconvenience compounded by your frustration.

beauf

If you are getting that angry you need to ask yourself why?

That said, why people won't pull over when they can I have no idea. Its equally ignorant.

Isambard

a worse problem than a slow driver is the guy on his tail who won't overtake, but noone else has room to.

He doesn't have to overtake but could hang back to let other have the room to pass him and then the slow guy.

Shefwedfan

Blazer wrote: »

Had a tractor holding up a convoy of cars yesterday and causing a 3 mile tailback.
The prick refused to pull in anyway even though there was several places with plenty of space for him to safely do so.
15 minutes behind this asshole and I was praying the ****er would drop dead at his wheel.

3 mile tailback? really?



Why would he pull over?


He is as entitled as you are to be on the road, plus if it was only a short journey, 15 mins, if he pulled over for every person in a car he would never get to his destination

martingriff

Shefwedfan wrote: »

3 mile tailback? really?



Why would he pull over?


He is as entitled as you are to be on the road, plus if it was only a short journey, 15 mins, if he pulled over for every person in a car he would never get to his destination

Didn't a person in a tractor get pulled for this. But only if safe to do so do you pull in.

Also if someone behind a slow driver and do a risky or dangerous manoeuvre that is on you not the other driver

Isambard

he's obliged to pull in if causes a significant problem. Tractor drivers have been prosecuted

the_pen_turner

Isambard wrote: »

he's obliged to pull in if causes a significant problem. Tractor drivers have been prosecuted

only if its safe to do so. on rural roads its harder than you think to find a safe place to pull into and out of safely with a tracter and trailer.

same law aplies to every vehicle. so the woman in the op should be prosecuted for this the same as some farmers have rightly been

Shefwedfan

Isambard wrote: »

he's obliged to pull in if causes a significant problem. Tractor drivers have been prosecuted

One farmer


Very specific case


The Garda have confirmed there is no specific law to say the farmer has to pull in......

Rubberchikken

who decides someone is a slow driver.

the nimrod who thinks the speed limit doesnt apply to them. the bozo who thinks everyone else should pull in to the hard shoulder and let them get on with their oh-so-busy amd impirtant life.

these people need to get a grip, to realise that the limit is just that- a limit.

tuxy

Isn't the hard shoulder only for emergencies only?
There's not many legal places to pull in on a main road.