worst Drivers

ScumLord

I've been in a taxi driven by an African guy, although I'd say he'd been in the country for some time. He seemed like a very good driver they do drive awful slow though.

told the cop that he had just recently retired, cop told him that it didn't matter and fined him €80 & gave him 2 penalty points.

That's good to hear. Nothing gets me angrier than cops getting away with breaking the law.

Linford

helpme wrote:

Im probably going to get a lambasting for this. I drive all over the country and see alot of different types of drivers on the road. But i have to say that the worst drivers i have come across seem to be from The Blackrock, Foxrock, Leopardstown and Deansgrange in dublin.

anyone have their own opinions?

Anyone have thier own experiences?

I live just in between Blackrock and Deansgrange, I drive through Leopardstown to go the gym and through Foxrock to go to my mother's so I reckon I am fairly familiar with the area you mention above.

I find it very hard to believe that an area with a 50kph speed limit, with a fair bit of traffic can have the worst drivers someone as well travelled as you have seen. This certainly is not my experience. I think the drivers down the country are far worse/far more scary and way more dangerous than any of the drivers around me.


I think what we are seeing here is a case of inverted snobbery, just because one or two people who drive Mercs/BMWs/SUVs fail to indicate when they are turning doesn't mean all owners of these cars are the same and all people in this area are the same.

OP would you be so kind as to give a couple of examples. By the way, what has you driving around Blackrock/Deansgrange/Foxrock/Leopardstown?

event

Terry wrote:

Regarding African drivers, I have had the pleasure of being briven by a Nigerian hackney driver twice over the past few weeks.
Not only is he a good driver, he is also a friendly guy.

i have been driven by one twice in last few weeks, was lovely chap, but had to give him directions both times. Thats just bad

Mossy Monk

bad driving isnt exclusive to one area. everywhere has them

Linford wrote:

I think the drivers down the country are far worse/far more scary and way more dangerous than any of the drivers around me.

I think what we are seeing here is a case of inverted snobbery, just because one or two people who drive Mercs/BMWs/SUVs fail to indicate when they are turning doesn't mean all owners of these cars are the same and all people in this area are the same.

OP would you be so kind as to give a couple of examples. By the way, what has you driving around Blackrock/Deansgrange/Foxrock/Leopardstown?

what are your examples of bad driving by those down the country? seems like a case of inverted snobbery to me. and why should op give a reason for why he is driving around that area? :rolleyes:

Ghost Train

I can cope with a lot of the bad driving you get around dublin, but there are a few things which do bug me

on roundabouts, the people who indicate they're turning off and don't turn off, means you can't trust anyone on a roundabout, the one who don't indicate suck too

I don't like the people who try to skip the turn off ques on the motorway and block a whole lane trying to cut back in

on the motorway the people who pull right out into the right hand lane at a much slower speed than your travelling and force you to hit the brakes, people really should speed up or wait till the lane is clear

the people who tailgate, especially when your going along at the speed limit

the slow drivers who don't know how to move into the empty left lane

the people who travel down the wrong side of the road so they can skip ahead of the que of traffic

the drivers who expect you to give way to them for some unknown reason even when you have right of way

Linford

Mossy Monk wrote:

bad driving isnt exclusive to one area. everywhere has them



what are your examples of bad driving by those down the country? seems like a case of inverted snobbery to me. and why should op give a reason for why he is driving around that area? :rolleyes:

In my experience down the country (in particularly North Tipp, Offaly and Clare) a large number of motorist seem to think that you should only overtake on a single white line, headlights should only be on when it is fully dark (something to do with the belief that lights are too see with not to be seen with) and the speed limit is a challenge not a limit.

My reason for asking why he was in those particular areas is that it is a mainly residential area that you would not have to drive through to get to anywhere apart from maybe Dun Laoghaire.

tbh

I come in from Swords to D2 every day, and if I see a van or car coming down the bus lane, odds are that it's a northern reg, or LH plates. I said it as a joke one morning (so you can tell how much fun these car rides are) but it's started to freak me out now - look in the dictionary for "Impotent rage" and there'll be a picture of me gripping a steering wheel. I also hate the "fog lights and one working headlight on full" brigade - just get it fixed ffs!

arybvtcw0eolkf

Terry wrote:

Oh yeah, I was talking to a retired Garda detective earlier today and he told me that things have changed for the cops. He is now a taxi driver. He was pulled for doing a U-turn, told the cop that he had just recently retired, cop told him that it didn't matter and fined him €80 & gave him 2 penalty points. His son in now a cop and no strings were pulled there either.
His daughter and son in law were also caught in the same place twice on the same day (seperate incidents) for speeding and again no strings were pulled.

Don't kid yourself that thats widespread buddy.

To be honest, I'm treating the thread as a bit of fun.

Normally I try not stand in judgement over people's driving habits, we're all guilty of breaking speed limits, turning without indicating and other such minor infractions.

But there are a group of people whom I take extra care around, and they are the people I posted above, and its just experience on the road which has taught me that and nothing else.

redzerdrog

All women and old men:p

mathew

DarkJager wrote:

Sure there are some of those "boy racer" dipsh1ts out there, but they'll eventually end up wrapped around a tree or in 30 pieces across the road.

Or wrapped around someone else... most likely killing them....

Personaly People who stop in yellow boxes annoy me.. The boxes are there for a reason.

And people who use mobile phones. Nearly been hit by them twice, and seen many of them almost break red lights, stoping in yellow boxes or not seeing cyclists/pedestrians.

To add a bit of humour:

Ghost Train

redzerdrog wrote:

All women and old men:p

You'll eventually be one of them, an old man most likely

Terry

mathew wrote:

Or wrapped around someone else... most likely killing them....

Personaly People who stop in yellow boxes annoy me.. The boxes are there for a reason.

And people who use mobile phones. Nearly been hit by them twice, and seen many of them almost break red lights, stoping in yellow boxes or not seeing cyclists/pedestrians.

To add a bit of humour:

Yellow boxes?

I await a post from a Celbridge resident on these yellow boxes.

Worst.Junction.Ever.

Collie D

Eastern Europeans by a mile, they should be made take the test as soon as they arrive. Two examples within an hour of each other

Car with Polish/Latvian reg turns up wrong way of dual carriageway in lane for cars to turn right, luckily nobody in that lane

Another car parked right across a junction from small road onto major road so the driver could look for his fags or whatever it was he was rootoing for and blocking the road

Schlemm

At the SuperValu in the Rise in Mount Merrion one day..............it gets pretty jammers up there and there's parking spaces on either side of a central lane which you drive down. This aul fart in a Merc (would you expect anything less..) is driving down the central lane. There aren't any spaces in the immediate vicinity and he wants to go to the newsagents which is just on his left.

So he stops his car in the middle of the lane, gets out and goes into the shop. Now I should mention that there's a massive queue of traffic behind him who can't pass his car on either side, and he's blocking a bunch of parking spaces.

However, the day was saved by an aul Granny, who's trying to back out of a space near the aul fart's car. The 'sit low, drive slow' technique paid off as she ploughed into yer man's Merc just as he was coming out of the shop! He was waving at all the enraged drivers behind his Merc to apologise and his face fell about a foot when he saw yer one!

Also, SUV's in the city. Pure selfishness if you ask me.

People in the fast lane going slowly and tailgaiting...annoying and dangerous!

Seeing kids on bikes trying to go to school in the morning traffic or on foot,while all the farts going off to work are nearly killing them by driving too close and ploughing through red lights.:mad: :mad: :mad: This has to be the worst...if it was your kid on the road you'd drive a hell of a lot better I tell ya. The irony of it is that all the blonde Mammies in their SUV's are driving them for 'their own safety'...but if they mowed down someone else's kid on a bike or on foot they'd be a gonner. It'd be bad enough to be hit by a car, but being hit by an SUV would prob be a lot worse, esp. for head injuries.

Stark

Women with kids: "I can multitask!"
Mercedes drivers: "Taxi!"
BMW drivers: "With brakes this good, 160kph in a residential area is perfectly safe"
Audi drivers: "I can afford the insurance claims"
Punto drivers: "It's my first time!"
Micra drivers: why, oh dear god, why
Teenage drivers: "deadly buzz"
Middle age drivers: "I own the road"
Old drivers: the cap on the head is a metaphor for a cap on their speed. If the car goes over 50kph, the brakes will activate.
Irish drivers: "I got my license in an amnesty"
Eastern European drivers: "They all drive on the wrong side of the road over here"
Nigerian drivers: "Where am I? What the hell is this thing?"
Northern Irish drivers: "Get the points, 'cause we sure aren't getting any".
People with mobiles: "I need it for my all important successful job that doesn't pay me enough to afford Bluetooth".

Did I get everyone?

nesf

Every day I look out from our apartment and count the dozens of cars who drive the wrong way up the one way street outside. The only thing worse are the ones who do it and fail to stop at the junction at the top of it. I'm shocked that in 7 months of living here that I haven't seen a single accident there.

It's true lunacy and extremely dangerous.


Oh, and the other thing is funerals. Yes funeral parlours are not know for providing much parking but would it kill you to park a minutes walk away instead of illegally parking and blocking vision at a junction/double parking and walking away/parking across an entrance blocking it completely? I swear you could make a fortune as a clamper close to some of the funeral parlours near here.

RoundyMooney

Stark wrote:

Women with kids: "I can multitask!"
etc...
Did I get everyone?

Damn right Stark, great post.

nesf

nesf wrote:

Every day I look out from our apartment and count the dozens of cars who drive the wrong way up the one way street outside. The only thing worse are the ones who do it and fail to stop at the junction at the top of it. I'm shocked that in 7 months of living here that I haven't seen a single accident there.

It's true lunacy and extremely dangerous.
.

probably something to do with this

Lorax

[Edit] Jus like those ppl in SUV's ays are talking about, my dad drives 1 for work and I think most pl who drive them are for work, yea u see the odd woman with 1 but the majority are work vehicles, why would u fork over €1,000/year in tax, petrol, etc

nesf

Deleted User wrote:

probably something to do with this

No it used to be badly marked but the council recently (well 2 months ago) remarked it. There is now the standard solid line followed by a broken line across the road on the quay end and arrows painted the length of it indicating the flow of traffic. It has had little effect.

Schlemm

Lorax wrote:

[Edit] Jus like those ppl in SUV's ays are talking about, my dad drives 1 for work and I think most pl who drive them are for work, yea u see the odd woman with 1 but the majority are work vehicles, why would u fork over €1,000/year in tax, petrol, etc

Cos the nouveaux riche have too much money for their own good. Simple as that. The amount of them clogging up the roads in Dublin is unbelievable!

arybvtcw0eolkf

Schlemm wrote:

Cos the nouveaux riche have too much money for their own good. Simple as that. The amount of them clogging up the roads in Dublin is unbelievable!

Ah now come on!.

Although I don't see the sense in buying one unless its for work. I drive 'em for work too, I'm in the Defence forces so we'd use them alot.

But other than that, they're slow, heavy on juice, expensive on parts, labour and tyres and most are not particularly comfortable!.

MontgomeryClift

If you're not a farmer or a big game hunter then you must be a tasteless ignoramus to drive an SUV/Pigmobile.

Capt'n Midnight

beanyb wrote:

I think the criticising of learner drivers is a bit unfair. Everyone had to learn at some point. People forget that they were just as useless when they started to drive! And the L plates are there to warn you of the poor driving, so it's not like it should be a shock!

In other countries Learners never drive unaccompanied and can pass the with less than 40 hours on the road. They don't clog up the road.

If a learner is in a Driving instructors car, or if there are two people in the car and it looks like some instruction going on then they get the benefit of the doubt even if means I'm driving at 20mph for a junction or two.
Drives on their own and L plates are proclaiming to the world they consider themselves able to drive. And I have no special consideration for them.

People who dont indicate on roundabouts drive me insane. Very nearly had a crash on a roundabout yesterday because of some idiot not indicating. Not fun.

I loose a minute a day because I've to slow down/wait until I see which way someone turns - I don't believe indicators.

SUV does it. I drive a small car, so when they're behind me their lights are always directly in line with my rearview mirror and totally blind me.

Would mirrors work ? must look into something for people who don't dip their lights either.

Taxi's using hazards
Has anyone mentioned "white van man" yet ?

mathew

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

must look into something for people who don't dip their lights either.

There's also people who don't seem to understand fog lights :mad:. They're for use in heavy fog... nothing else. They're nearly as blinding as full beam headlights.
And the people who have them on also tend to be poorish drivers. If you dont know when to use fog lights you shouldn't get a car with them in the first place.

galah

Mairt wrote:

Ah now come on!.

Although I don't see the sense in buying one unless its for work. I drive 'em for work too, I'm in the Defence forces so we'd use them alot.

You're obviously not living anywhere near a school...I have four schools in my neighbourhood - and believe me, those mummies do NOT use their SUVs for work. They just 'need' it to ferry their fat lazy kids to and from school, so that the little ones are safe. Until they get mowed down by another idiot mummy in an SUV...