Which vehicle makes your blood run cold?

redvee

TailWindHome wrote:

Ford Fiesta

or

BMW X4 towing a horse box

3 or 5, not 4. Either way not the best drivers on the roads. If the money came my way though I wouldn't say no to an X5 :oops:

EKE_38BPM

wombar wrote:

For me, it's got to be Mercedes, primarily silver ones (mostly because they're pretty much all silver). If I see a silver Merc (especially an Estate), my road awareness jumps by a factor of 10 because I know they're gonna do something stupid.

I find that the smaller the Mercedes, the worse the driver. My aunt drives an A Class. If she is on the road, I make sure that I'm not.
Women drivers. I have come to the conclusion that as well as poorer spatial awareness (studies have proved this and no doubt those studies can be proven unscientific or biased) many seem to be bad drivers simply because driving doesn't seem to be top of their list of priorities whilst they are driving (kids in the back playing up, make up, phone etc). Not a good thing.
Men drivers. I have come to the conclusion that many are bad drivers because they think they are better drivers than they really are and are overly agressive.
WRT loud drum and bass or rap, that probably just means the driver is young and therefore inexperienced and therefore more likely to do something stupid. There again, it could also be me driving and that I'm having a old skool moment and the song is particularly good so I've whacked the volume right up*. Would it be any better if the loud music was Dire Straits or Pink Floyd and the old bloke driving was lost in a drum solo or playing air guitar?
We were all young once and no doubt we all have stories about how lucky we are that we didn't snuff it in that crash/near miss.
Old people. So many dither and dawdle or just can't see properly. Bring in annual retests from the age of 65. And retests every 5 years from the age of 50.
Addison Lee. I've heard that when a driver applies for a job there, they have to take a driving test. If they fail the test, they get the job.
HGV drivers. Bullies who think that might is right and have little respect for anyone using a smaller vehicle than them. Make them drive an original 1960s mini when they are off duty.
Taxi drivers. Jeremy Clarkson seems to think they are all murders and rapists. Judging by Christopher Halliwell, maybe he is right. They are also not required to take any additional driving tests and don't have any checks on how many hours they work, unlike HGV drivers.

Who have I missed in the 'EKE Guide To Why Everyone Else Is A Rubbish Driver"?

I expect all other road users to be rubbish and I'm always pleasantly surprised when someone does something sensible.

*I once drove down a motorway with my left hand sticking out of the sunroof whilst playing a 'hands in the air' hardcore house song that I hadn't heard in almost 15 years.

too slow to go

Who have I missed in the 'EKE Guide To Why Everyone Else Is A Rubbish Driver"?

Buses & WVM

EKE_38BPM

too slow to go wrote:

Who have I missed in the 'EKE Guide To Why Everyone Else Is A Rubbish Driver"?

Buses & WVM

Time constraints make them both do stupid things.
Bus drivers (who earn a fortune BTW but who perform a hard job) have passengers in their ear and tight schedules to keep. Bring back conductors and maybe one of the things hindering their decision making process will disappear. Better training wouldn't hurt either. I've heard that some bus companies are making their drivers spend some time riding a bike so that they get an idea of what its like from the saddle and how annoying it is for us when they overtake and then stop at a bus stop a few metres later.

WVM. Salt of the earth. It must be very hard to do a day's work and still have to drive a commercial vehicle to and from the job.They never do anything wrong.
Apart from trying to bully other road users, rush everywhere as they are on the clock, not care about 'minor' collissions as its not their vehicle or their insurance, being distracted by the latest sporting travesty being discussed on Talk Sport or from looking at the fake tits in the Daily Sport that their colleage is 'reading'.

That has got to be everyone now, right?

Anonymous

Bikequin wrote:

fuelex wrote:

Blacked out Addison Lee mpvs, just full of arrogance and Ignorance in equal measures.
.....In London anyway.

+1 - I can't stand Addison Lee drivers

+1 again, I view that big Addison Lee logo in the rear window, not as corporate branding, but more as a helpful warning.

Even most Taxi and other PCO drivers look down on the quality of driving of Addison Lee employees.

Also any HGV/Builders lorry/skip lorry, quality of driving whether good or bad should be a imediate warning to any cyclist. Never EVER be on the left side of one of these. I saw the aftermath of one such accident a few years ago in Mitcham, the sight of the mangled bike and police markers showing evidence of blood and marks in the tarmac will reamin with me for a long time.

shouldbeinbed

I don't have a lot of problems with Addison Lee drivers in Manchester

silver Rovers & BMW's

cars driven by small old people

cars driven on the A62 Manchester to Oldham road - all sense goes out of the window on that stretch.

The spiteful and bizarre routing of the Tameside Metrolink, zigzagging, alternating sides and into the middle on Ashton New Road will make that and the side roads lethal for cyclists where any vehcle is concerned too. Cars will either be speeding on the straights or take to the side streets. the positioning of the tracks and the incomprehensible kerb build outs (bus stops??? parking bays, possibly boat moorings judging by the width) will force everything to stop repeatedly or into the path of the trams. Road carriageways have been squeezed to barely wider than a van, the tram tracks are crossing the full carriageway repeatedly the entire length of the road they'll be absolutely impossible to avoid when wet and icy, they are at all sorts of angles to the direction of travel and are likely to see a few biking mishaps into the path of motor vehicles. they've made it a killing zone for bikes and we won't even have the relative safety of side roads being quiet anymore.
I'm expecting the odd stop start cycle lane as well, there isn't room up the full length for a continuous one so no doubt we'll be getting the use the cycle lane abuse and spat out the end of them at inopportune points into other vehicles paths.

it truly is a work of genius - on the day the genius had fifteen pints, overdosed on his strong medication and took a heavy blow to the head before getting into work.

(regional bias restored & rant over)

too slow to go

That has got to be everyone now, right?

Thats it, your off the clock! relax 8) [/quote]

rb1956

sjacob33 wrote:

B-bloody-Doubles (Rural Queensland Aus)Nothing they are doing wrong they are just big and even if they go to the wrong side of the road they are still making a big air wave that wakes me up quick smart.

+1 We get these in the city too. They're usually well-driven, but they still scare the crap out of me even when I'm driving a car.

Small to medium trucks with box-bodies and extension mirrors are a genuine threat. Their drivers get used to the idea that the extra width of their mirrors is above the roof-height of most cars, and don't seem to grasp that they're at head/shoulder height for a cyclist. I've been clipped on the shoulder several times.

bobbygloss

Artic lorries with a 10ft container loaded on the back of a long trailer.
I used to commute on a dual carriageway, and when they come past, there is an initial blast of wind followed by a terrifying suction towards the gap behind the cab, then the next blast of wind as the container passes.

Low Centre of Gravity

Bendy buses.

18m of articulated death going round a corner. You never know which lane they're going to swing through/into. And filtering between two of them is never worth the risk.

+1 on Addison Lee drivers (not such a problem on my present route) but it might have been sheer numbers that made them conspicuous.

CrackFox

Anything towing a catering trailer.

Shiny black SUVs, especially when in the vicinity of a school at certain times of the day.

And ice cream vans because they're just creepy.

bunter

Low Centre of Gravity

Also- National Express coaches. Unpredictable and unaware.

I like EKE_38bpm's conclusion that almost everyone's potentially lethal but his blood must run cold a lot of the time!

pst88

Anything with a "child on board" sticker. Do they really think i'm going to change my behaviour in some way because I now know they have a child on board? Or is it meant more if a warning that the driver probably isn't paying attention to where they're going.

sketchley

It can talk and drive itself. Very creepy if you ask me.

Anonymous

No ones's mentioned other cyclists, bunch of RLJing unlit pavement hoping little feckers that most of them seem to be in London.

Last night I saw a women on a bike coming a single line of traffic right at me, with a flashng red light on the front of her bike (very confusing) as she passed I looked in my mirror to see a flashing white light on the back.

mudcow007

around here its usually girls in Audi's A3's.

Fiat 500's and Mini's also are generally driven by "wuckfits" too

hangeron

Sketchley wrote:

Pink Bikes!

Pink Fixied wheel bikes :shock:

DonDaddyD

Anything with black paint work and blacked out windows.

Anything with the minicab sticker in the window.

HGVs or all varieties.

notsoblue

I have collated all your replies and carried out a statistical analysis and it turns out that we all hate/fear everyone (P < 0.05) :P

simonaspinall

Anyone who drives with the idea that getting in a car is anything other than a functional means of getting from A to B and as the last resort.

Failure to do so inevitably means:

- Laziness
- Poor observation
- People who seem to equate fun with getting in a metal death box and using harsh accelearation, late breaking and trying to constantly 'make the gap/lights' and taking risks at the expense of more vulnerable road users where they get any payoff and I take all the risk.
- D*ckheads with blacked-out windows so I can't see if they are at least pointing their head in my direction so they have a chance of seeing me.
- People are so unbelievably impatient they overtake me to make a left turn about 2m before I am going past the junction, cutting me up and causing me to slam on my brakes

also

- Anyone in a BMW, Merc or Audi - Admittedly people may perceive them as poor drivers simply because they notice a stereotype more, but from my experience it really seems to be a true stereotype
- Bus drivers - Why Why Why Why Why cut me up to stop at a bus stop when I am just about to pass it and you as the bus driver are about to stop!?
- School run parents - Not a bad driver per se as they tend not to be 'aggressive' but they are take up so much road space with stupidly large 4x4s and MPVs because little oscar, Harriett or Millicent can't walk their fat avacado-eating, cello-lesson playing a*ses to school! So you constantly worry about getting doored or lemming children walking out in front of you.
- Old people really need to just have a rolling film of road put in their car window and remove the engine and replace with a recording of revving and motor sounds. I was nearly taken out at a roundabout the other day by some grandma who couldn't possibly have had a pulse and the passengers had to grab the steering wheel to avoid her going into kerb and apologised profusely to me

However, for all my criticism I am a fair man so I will say that

- Lorry Drivers tend to be pretty good as a category of road user
- Same with larger transit vans, but definitely not smaller vans

rick_chasey

Lorries make my blood run cold.

Busses make my blood boil.

From my experiences as a person on a bike and even more as a bus passenger (where I've had as bad if not worse experiences)- there is no profession I have come across which has such amoral, anti-social, dangerous and bullying behaviour as standard as bus drivers (and I talk to investment bankers all day).

I spend a lot of time going on at people about terrible generalisations, but I take exception with bus drivers who are, 99 times out of 100, scum of the earth.

*angry*

asprilla

danbrum wrote:

BMWs are most likely to be driven badly

shouldbeinbed wrote:

silver Rovers & BMW's

DonDaddyD wrote:

Anything with black paint work and blacked out windows.

My car

EKE_38BPM

Asprilla wrote:

danbrum wrote:

BMWs are most likely to be driven badly

shouldbeinbed wrote:

silver Rovers & BMW's

DonDaddyD wrote:

Anything with black paint work and blacked out windows.

My car

BURN HIM!!!!!!!!

roger_merriman

on my commute buses are fine, else where with more room they are bullies or try to be! But with the change from a heavy hybrid to a SS road bike, they are much less of a problem as I have the legs on them.

bikes partially the spring summer ones can have interesting riding habits but while I don't like their RLJ etc they are so slow that they are no real worry.

dumper trucks etc tend to be the real dangerous fools.

Greg T

Asprilla wrote:

My car

Asprilla today:



Also



Nature's warning sign isn't black and yellow . . . . .

Black people movers of death

SickAsAParrot

Rolf F wrote:

Which vehicle makes my blood run cold?

Only this one...........



(luckily I haven't found it on my commute yet but I check every corner I pass.......)

LOL is that the one that punted the cyclist off the bridge? Also the truck out of Duel.

IRL, whenever I'm approaching a side road and I see a woman waiting in a small hatchback of some sort, and she's waiting, and I'm sure she's seen me, and I've made eye contact, and she's waiting, I STILL assume she's going to pull out on me at the last second, EVERY FREAKIN' TIME.

bails87

HGVs tend to be pretty good. I've had a few stuck behind me on the big hill at the start of my commute home and they've always waited for me to crawl up the hill before overtaking widely.

I did have one on the way in (on my first ever commute!) who just didn't move out. Full size artic maybe a foot, at most, from my right shoulder whilst going full speed (I was wearing a bright orange backpack, a hi-viz top with a Fibre Flare on the backpack and a Smart 1/2 watt on the bike, he shouldn't have missed me!) :shock: :evil: . I now avoid that stretch of road.

They still make me much more nervous than other traffic, just because the potential for harm is so much greater.

The biggest danger from 'normal' sized traffic is probably doddering old folk. At least WVM know what they're doing and where the edges of their vehicle are, if they're one of the few I've encountered who drives like a diick. And with younger drivers, if they're of the showy-off ballbag variety (most are very, very good), a bit of assertive riding and 'taking the lane' normally puts them off. Whereas, do that in front of a half blind pensioner with the reflexes of a hatstand and they'll just go straight through you.

I get the feeling with a lot of them that after so long since a test or reading the highway code, they simply don't know what they're doing.

The Rookie

Only one car to truly make the blood run cold

Red Plymouth Fury
http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/upload/110 ... stine2.jpg

And the silver 'Mini' (mini in what way exactly) who clipped my bars with her mirror as she drove past while on the phone.

Simon

asprilla

Greg T wrote:

Asprilla wrote:

My car

Asprilla today:



Also

Silly commuter racing is a bit like making love to a beautiful woman; first you've got to creep up silently behind her.....