*short rant* WHY?

[Tahrey1043]

Why does my route to work attract morons like a flourescent light draws moths? Its only 6 miles but you can set your watch by the spacing of three different types doing something retarded and potentially dangerous in large hunks of metal.
I need to get a helicopter.

The upcoming 5-days a week train commute is starting to look heavenly by comparison, even though it does go through the centre and the inlying crime-ridden armpits of birmingham on the most packed route....

[bstardchild]

Why does my route to work attract morons like a flourescent light draws moths? Its only 6 miles but you can set your watch by the spacing of three different types doing something retarded and potentially dangerous in large hunks of metal.
I need to get a helicopter.

Sorry to dissappoint you but you are not being singled out for special treatment at all - I think that the stds of driving in this country are awfull and getting worse by the day......

Lane Discipline, use of signals, compliance to road signs and signals, courtesy to other road users, FOG LIGHTS in fact everything!!!!

I'm beginning to wonder if anyone round here has even passed their test or remembered anything learnt - then I realised - They haven't taken a test - don't have insurance, MOT or tax, and the car purchased from John down the pub (so likely to be ringers, stolen or two halves welded to gether) and unregistered so why should they worry........

I just try to keep out of their way in the hope that the accident happens to someone else

JM2pW

[deadcat]

The upcoming 5-days a week train commute is starting to look heavenly by comparison, even though it does go through the centre and the inlying crime-ridden armpits of birmingham on the most packed route....

Ah, the train commute through birmingham. used to do it everyday from Cannock to Solihull.
On it, you will probably meet:
Angry Dave, covered in gold chains, tattoos and sovereign rings always telling his missus how much of a stupid bint she is.
Tony the tramp, whose smell could kill a yak at 200 paces and always worryingly stares directly at your crotch.
Steven, the MD, always on the fecking mobile announcing that he is, "..on the train", comes complete with his own personal laptop to play "soccer toss manager 2005" on.
Last but not least, Clarance smith, the train conductor. an avid train spotter who would sell his own mother for a ride on the orient express but if you have a tenner to pay for a £3.50 train journey, he blatantly refuses to sell you one due to his "lack of coins" and you have to blag some change off other passengers or get off. Geekier than the geekiest geek (also smells).

You'll love it.

[hayesey]

I totally agree. rush hour traffic is a nightmare. not just the volume of traffic but the fact people seem to be worse drivers then.

going to work they're in a bad mood generally because it's early, they're tired & have a full days work ahead of them. Then going home people just want to get home ASAP.

It all leads to some completely tw*tish driving:

-tailgating
-pulling off stupid dangerous manouvers (sp?)
-people jumping from lane to lane constantly
-no one letting cars out of side steets or to do right turns
-people pulling out in front of you

[algenon_iii]

-no one letting cars out of side steets or to do right turns

Tell me about it, it's quicker for me to drive an extra half mile than to try get out of a side road and across the crossroad, people giving way is an rare thing. So it's actually quicker to drive around the block and join the right turn lane on the other road than it is to drive across

[david burton]

I think motorway driving should be a must on a driving test, and also driving tests should automatically give a FAIL if someone abuses lane discipline.

98% of people can't drive round a roundabout - the small ones particularly. @ssholes. Everyone in Solihull sees the exit and goes STRAIGHT to it. idiots. I NEVER go next to someone on one of the small roundabouts - you have a 50% change of getting hit.

letting people out is so rare too. happens more up North. Happens more if you do it yourself - what goes around... comes around.

[algenon_iii]

We should have a two stage practical driving test, first stage on normal roads and people get P plates or something allowing them on normal roads, second stage - after professionally supervised lessons (I guess there should be a minimum number of hours) a 45-60min motorway test. Yeah an hour would be tough but a good reflection of a typical motorway journey.

This'd let people build-up driving experience before venturing out on the motorway. It's daft letting some muppet in his nova straight out onto the motorway 5min after passing his test.

[Tahrey1043]

Sorry to dissappoint you but you are not being singled out for special treatment at all - I think that the stds of driving in this country are awfull and getting worse by the day......

I know man, I know... its just goddamn annoying you know, gets to you sometimes (may I be a figurehead for everyone? ... though i know it's been said 1000 times before). I had to pass a test and pay a lot of money to earn this privelege.... makes me wonder if they did

Deadcat - luckily, i'm not going quite so far, and I'm also a snob... I travel on the Lichfield-Redditch X-City line mind you it still goes through Gravelly Hill, Aston, Duddeston, 5 Ways... hide the i-pods (done it a fair few times before for various reasons. main technique is keep a low profile)
I haven't come across Colin, but I have had a run in with his b***h sister who fined me a tenner... after I went to find her and get a £1.50 ticket... this not being good enough as I "should have bought it at the station"... despite me still being out of breath from running to catch the last stupid train for the next half hour because I found out too late that all the timetables were to cock because of the weather (not well publicised ). So much for customer service. Arses.

And haysey - the worst of it is, I'm not normally doing it in the rush hour. The particular journey that spurred the post was at 6.45pm, and mostly headed against the flow of traffic til i reached the country roads where it was quieter. The two before it (at 9.15pm) weren't much better

For the pulling out thing, I blame badly placed / sequenced traffic lights. My current "main" route has a point where by the way the main road goes, you have to go round a tight left bend, wait for bloody ages at a set of lights that appear sequenced on a three phase pattern (two-way traffic on one axis, then just one side of the square, then the final side) so that you can turn right.... or, you can nip right immediately after turning left, spend 30 seconds on a back road, and nip out about as far past the lights as you were before them. Luckily hardly anyone seems to know about this one, and traffic opposing you going right is always light.....

Compared to trying to go suburban and cross country in the early/mid evening, I find rush hour traffic quite relaxing there's far more normal people about then to dilute the madness, and you can kick back and relax making the same progress as someone going mental - when its quieter, the freaks come out.

[jrw]

I've got one thing to say. It's around Birmingham and it's swarming with unlicensed, uninsured, unregistered Asylum Seekers. Two of my mates have been hit by them and one of them was 3rd Party and has had to fork out of his own pocket. The police don't care cos they can't track it cos the car ain't registered. It makes me so mad

Anyway got my IAM test on Sunday so i'll be a better driver than the lot of you (unless you already got it! ) so wish me luck.

Another thing while I was on my lesson the other day was PC plod parked apposing traffic (not mean to do) with his headlights on (illegal) gassing away on his mobile with the engine running (illegal). That is the state this country is in