more gripes

GoneShootin

1)
Motorists who INSIST on speeding up to either match or beat your speed, as you try to overtake them going up a hill. im talking about the part of the road that has both a slow and fast lane, typically seen on main roads and so on.

I mean, I come across more people on the one before Rathcormac (cork side) than anyplace else. They seem drive fine on the flat at say 50-55 mph. So I reckon I wana do 60 dead on, and theres a slow lane up ahead, I'll pass them there and do it right. But as we approach the base of the incline, they speed up ! I have to travel to at least 70mph to overtake them before the lane ends.

This is the killer, when I have passed them out, they almost immediately slow down. So I've driven faster than inteneded to make the overtaking a safe one and they slow down once I am past them. Back to their original speed. It just doesn't make sense.

2
Cutting corners. Especially on the secondary roads, on my way I will invariably come across some idiotic car / jeep / van driver driving at great speeds, making sure to take up my side of the road, just to make sure that he doesnt slap into any pedestrians on his side, but make sure I have to get out of his way before he slams into me.

Trucks I can understand, as they just dont physically have the room, though they too are foul of going too fast on roads than cannot support their size. Like the trailer than almost takes your engine away.

People just dont understand that by using the engine brake, just to take the foot off the gas, will allow you to go round that series of bends without breaking that line. Its oh so simple and effecient, just a drop of can make all the difference. They seem to think that the road is theirs and theirs alone.

Im not sure if its lazyness, bad driving skills, poor road education, and a mixture of all, but it's a pain in the arse.

/end rant

Victor

Originally posted by GoneShootin
Cutting corners. Especially on the secondary roads, on my way I will invariably come across some idiotic car / jeep / van driver driving at great speeds, making sure to take up my side of the road, just to make sure that he doesnt slap into any pedestrians on his side, but make sure I have to get out of his way before he slams into me.

It happens anywhere, especially if the lane width is narrow, it's a real problem for cyclists on left turns with people cutting the corner.

Silvera

Agree with all your comments, GoneShootin.

mike65

Cyclists/motors scooters that sit right on your tail as they get a "free ride" in your slipstream. Brake hard - that'll learn them! :mad:

Mike.

Corega

Motorists who try to kill cyclists merely because the said cyclist is going a hell of a lot faster than them in the traffic jam.

Sundy

Originally posted by Victor
it's a real problem for cyclists on left turns with people cutting the corner.

incorrect: its a real problem for drivers on the inside lane(especially trucks) when a cyclist comes upon the inside of them, when they are turning left. They dont see the cyclists because they are close to the side of the truck. A number of cyclists have been killed this way and believe me they might be dead but the inocent driver suffers worse.

No disrespect meant to anybody associated with road deaths.

Victor

Originally posted by Sundy
incorrect: its a real problem for drivers on the inside lane(especially trucks) when a cyclist comes upon the inside of them, when they are turning left.

I'm talking about a bend on a road, as GoneShootin was, not at a junction. And cyclists are obliged to cycle on the left.

Chimaera

Agree with gone-shootin, especially on the cutting bends - lost count of how many times I've seen my life flash before my eyes coming around a bend to meet a car on my side, often for no good reason.

On the cycling issue, it is reccommended that car drivers allow about 3 feet inside them if possible to allow cyclists to pass safely inside them. I've been knocked off the bike by an inconsiderate motorist who decided that he was going to move in nearer the kerb as I travelled along the inside of the road at 20mph - got thrown onto the pavement, but not badly hurt.

As for overtaking a cyclist, be patient guys - you'll usually find a long enough straight bit of road to get by if you wait a minute or two.

mike65

Drivers who, when you make a space for them to pull out DONT!
I flash, I wave my hands across the windscreen, they look er
blank. What are they waiting for - A man with a red flag!? :mad:

Farm Traffic! Yes its summer and the living is'nt easy when you've got two or three fecking tractors line-a-stern. Why dont they start off 10 mins apart and give us all a chance?

"Johnny Two Lanes" - What is it with some folks? Dont they know which one they should be in?

Mike.

Pimp Ninja

Originally posted by Chimaera
As for overtaking a cyclist, be patient guys - you'll usually find a long enough straight bit of road to get by if you wait a minute or two.

Completely agree with this.. I have no problem driving at 10 - 20 mph while waiting for appropriate space to overtake a cyclist. My cyclist gripe is them running up your inside when you are indicating to turn left and slowing down for the turn.. I nearly took a fella off the road yesterday when he was doing this. What saved him was the fact that I always check over my shoulder for anything I might miss in my mirrors.

My other cutting corners gripe, really makes me question the mentality of some of the motorists in this capital city. I'm turning right at a major junction, as I begin to move off, the car behind me, also turning right, turns too, in a direct line cutting off my entrance to the road that I am turning into. This has happened to me on more than one occasion at the junction in Ballybough turning onto the North Circular Road.

My final gripe is fog lights, and the people that drive with them on all the time, I do mean when theyre not needed. :rolleyes: Its just inconsiderate blinding oncoming traffic so that, I'm assuming, their car looks cooler that the cars without them. Although I have come accross where this might be coming from. When I was buying my car the sales weasel was describing it as we walked over, and he said "Spot Lights." When we looked at it I said that they were fog lights... However my point is the sales weasel was marketing these as spotlights and this is possibly where some confusion is arriving among inexperienced motorists.

Seth Brundle

further to Pimp Ninja's post I think the idiots out there who don't know thet they are driving with big bright red rear fogs on are far worse than people who drive with the fronts on.

Da Man

Ah sure, mounting a few speed traps on motorways will sort them out.

ondafly

my personal gripes from city driving ;

1. Cyclists dont seem to believe in stopping at a red light
2. Tailgators - if its a 30mph speed limit, i'm going to do only 30, i'm not gonna go any faster - so get off my ass (same goes for all speed limits btw)
3. Idiots in the overtaking lane on the m50, doing their makeup/drying their hair - doing 50mph , while the normal lane is empty
4. Plonkers who text while driving !??!?!
5. Foglights , i'll say no more on that one
6. Bump parking - i see it every morning, drivers who can't parallel park, instead bump and bash their way into spaces
7. Finally idiots who pull in on front of you, with only inches to spare

Victor

Originally posted by mike65
A man with a red flag!?

And a bell

Originally posted by mike65
"Johnny Two Lanes" - What is it with some folks? Dont they know which one they should be in?

But on the form for the driving licence it said "tear along dotted line"!

Silent Bob

Cyclists who hit cars on the roof (I have seen this happen so often when the car driver was completely in the right)

ANYONE who runs red lights (There's an estate in Milltown called Mount St. Annes. I regularly see motorists blatantly breaking red lights there). And cyclists shouldn't constantly complain about how they are most at risk and car drivers are evil and then proceed to break every red they come across.

People who overtake you and then slow down.

people sitting in the overtaking lanes of dual-carriageways and motorways doing about 50mph.

Tail-gaters. Though I heard someone in another thread suggesting shifting into reverse (foot on the clutch of course) and seeing how they react

Seth Brundle

One way of getting them to back off is to (with left foot) gently brake for no reason - apply enough pressure to cause a slight delay to the car but by having the car driving shouldn't cause you to stop. If you want to add to the visual effect then stick on your rear fogs at the same time
If you are feeling really brave then apply a lot of left foot pressure! This really works.

rymus

I have just one addition (which may have been covered already)

- People that have absolutely no respect for motorbike riders. The crowd that seem to think "ahh shur its only a motorbike" as they change lanes without signalling, intentionally cut bikers off at lights & junctions and my personal favorite; try to overtake bikers on dual carraigeways without actually moving into the fast lane.

mike65

Originally posted by Silent Bob


people sitting in the overtaking lanes of dual-carriageways and motorways doing about 50mph.

They're the guys getting ready to take a right turn in 5 miles!:mad:

Tail-gaters. Though I heard someone in another thread suggesting shifting into reverse (foot on the clutch of course) and seeing how they react

I use a little left foot braking, just enough to show the brakes lights. :eek:

Mike.