Are terrible driving habits on the rise?

Wanderer2010

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

I
[*]Overtaking just to drive into someone's braking distance zone. This one is a beauty because not only are they doing something annoying and dangerous but they're taking direct advantage of other drivers diving correctly. Quite often as well it's utterly pointless as there'll be a long line of cars directly ahead.

This. I absolutely detest people who drive right up to within a few inches of your bonnet, all the while impatiently looking for a chance to overtake you, then they roar past and squeeze right in front of you, forcing you to brake hard. And they gain nothing because a minute down the road they have to stop at a traffic light. That's the thing I never ever understood in all my years driving- these tailgaters. Why?? Why do you do it and then risk life and limb to get 0.5 seconds ahead of me. Fcuking morons.

I sincerely hope anyone who does this makes mincemeat of themselves when they lose control of the car and fly off the road. The word is better off without them.

K.Flyer

What I am seeing a huge increase in is when, for example, a bus pulls in, the cars driving behind it automatically swerve out and around the stopped vehicle and barge straight into the lane with oncoming traffic and expect the oncoming traffic to get out of their way.
Instead of stopping, indicating, and passing the stopped bus, or whatever it is, when there is No oncoming traffic in the opposite lane.

sameoldname

One thing I've found alarming in the past 6 months is the amount of drivers on narrow rural roads who are now driving around blind bends while part of their vehicle is crossed over the white line into the opposite lane. Someone is going to get killed on the road I drive home everyday if it gets much worse.

I think it comes down to people just doing what they see everyone else doing and copying it even if they know it's wrong. Case in point is the new roundabout just beyond Pfizer in Newbridge. Coming from Naas direction to get to Newbridge you need to exit the roundabout at the 3 o'clock position. Nearly everyone is entering onto the roundabout in the left lane to take that exit. In the past month I've only seen 2 drivers use the right hand lane. Now, I know someone's gonna say that the exit at 12 o'clock isn't actually open yet and they would be right, but you're still supposed to be using the right hand lane. Still though, creates a great opportunity to pass a lot of cars!

vandriver

**Not an excuse,just a possible explanation**
About running red lights,the amount of time given to cars getting through a junction,compared to pedestrian green (and sometimes a separate cycle green) seems to be a lot shorter than it used to be.
If the taxi driver (for example) is getting to a customer or has a customer running late ,the temptation when getting to lights just turning red can be quite strong compared to waiting 2 or 3 minutes .
I'm especially thinking of the lights all the way down the canal from Percy Place to Grand Canal St.

gammygils

I drive home from work every night and I have noticed an increase in people not dimming their headlights especially those driving behind me. Most annoying

Also I walk my dog at night and the amount of people that drive through a street lit area with full lights on. Unbelievable. It's not like they can't see me with my hi-vis vest

Mundo7976

road_high wrote: »

Why refuse to do that? Can’t understand this. If safe to do so just pull in a few feet and late them off. They’re very vulnerable road users but generally excellent at driving and maneuvers

A: because youre supposed to drive on the road not the hard shoulder.
B: they pull out from behind the line of traffic in a swerving motion and expect you to move out of the way.

Mundo7976

Jimbob1977 wrote: »

Drivers with earphones in.

How do they expect to hear a car horn or the emergency services?

Majority of them dont use their eyes either!

Cantona's Collars

Jimbob1977 wrote: »

Drivers with earphones in.

How do they expect to hear a car horn or the emergency services?

Ah sure how else will they hear all the funny videos on Facebook otherwise.
I've seen people with massive over ear headphones on while driving,are they dj'ing while driving or something?

Another horrible habit is people cutting corners at junctions,they take a racing line and pretty much on the wrong side of the road then glare at you for having the temerity to be there and forcing them to stay on their own side of the road.

SirChenjin

K.Flyer wrote: »

What I am seeing a huge increase in is when, for example, a bus pulls in, the cars driving behind it automatically swerve out and around the stopped vehicle and barge straight into the lane with oncoming traffic and expect the oncoming traffic to get out of their way.
Instead of stopping, indicating, and passing the stopped bus, or whatever it is, when there is No oncoming traffic in the opposite lane.

Similar to this and I have ranted on here before about it...when cars are parked on one side of the road, while kids are being collected from school*, the idiots who think they can proceed at speed on the wrong side of the road, into oncoming traffic, instead of slowing down, bearing in mind that the obstruction is on THEIR side of the road. We can all get by with a bit of courtesy on all sides.

(*I won't start on school pick up and drop offs traffic behaviour because that deserves a thread in itself).

Breaking red lights, yes, seems to be getting more and more common.
Failing to stop at pedestrian crossings, even when there are pedestrians on the crossing.
And another, failing to take off when a light goes green...I would guess because the phone screen is where their focus is. I'm not talking seconds, I mean those who blatantly have not even noticed the light is green.

I blame quite a lot of the very careless, dangerous habits that are becoming more prevalent, sometimes with tragic outcomes, on phone usage while driving.

alentejo

vandriver wrote:

**Not an excuse,just a possible explanation** About running red lights,the amount of time given to cars getting through a junction,compared to pedestrian green (and sometimes a separate cycle green) seems to be a lot shorter than it used to be. If the taxi driver (for example) is getting to a customer or has a customer running late ,the temptation when getting to lights just turning red can be quite strong compared to waiting 2 or 3 minutes . I'm especially thinking if the light all the way down the canal from Percy Place to Grand Canal St.

I think you might be right on this. As a cyclist and driver, I notice more and more to pass a junction, you need to wait two phases of traffic light sequences. It is worth 2 to 3 minutes to break a light. Not saying this is right btw, simply an observation I have noticed over the past few months.

Stark

65535 wrote: »

Yes, I know it's not being discussed, however.

If you arrive at the first traffic lights at a junction EXACTLY when they change to amber.
By the time you reach the far side of the junction the Red light will already be on
Even though you are proceeding at exactly the speed limit.

If/When that is fixed, then you can prosecute but not before because as it is now it is possible to break the law because of the timing of the amber light.

You're not breaking the law though. The lights control entering the junction, not exiting the junction.

You take advantage of this all the time when turning right. Light green, enter the junction, if you don't get a gap in oncoming traffic, wait for light to turn red, then exit the junction.

Pops_20

I could write a long list of bad driving habits I've seen, but the most infuriating for me of late is people slowing from 100 to 50 kmph to get a look at Douglas shopping centre.
There's nothing to see, so stop being a d**k and endangering other road users around you for no reason.

Cantona's Collars

Cantona's Collars wrote: »

Ah sure how else will they hear all the funny videos on Facebook otherwise.
I've seen people with massive over ear headphones on while driving,are they dj'ing while driving or something?

Nothing illegal about wearing headphones, it’s the original handsfree kit.

It’s also a non-issue. I had the loan of a car recently that had no Bluetooth and I was was doing a few 3 hour drives a a week in it so needed to listen to podcasts, Spotify etc on my headphones along with make/take calls. I used both ear buds and my noise cancelling over ear headphones and it made little difference to what you can hear compared to driving with the radio turned up as horns, sirens etc cut though to your ears much more than you would think.

Total non-issue people searching for stuff to give out about.

2Mad2BeMad

Duckjob wrote: »

The one that really grinds my gears is people not bothering to slow down sufficiently around bends and instead coming around the bend with their wheels well over the line on the opposite side of the road :mad:

Funny enough I'm forever getting beeped when turning the bend that goes into my driveway . My driveway is on a main busy road but it's just after the lights so the driver behind thinks I'm hard breaking when in fact I indicate well in advance and slow down a good bit before my turn so I don't get rear ended.
As soon as I make the turn they beep.
All impatient arseholes everyone's in a rush.

Today I had a moron undertake me in a bus lane only to be stopped at several lights ahead. Why undertake? Funny thing is he's my neighbour I only moved in a few weeks ago and he drives several cars so I didn't cop him. He undertook me to be 1 car ahead and arrive exactly 1 second home before me.

Sexual Chocolate

The lack of indicators on round-abouts is definitely the main one I've noticed in the last while. People do tend to indicate onto them but not when coming off them.

road_high

Sexual Chocolate wrote: »

The lack of indicators on round-abouts is definitely the main one I've noticed in the last while. People do tend to indicate onto them but not when coming off them.

Or indicate the wrong direction. I’m going straight through so I’ll indicate to the right! Clueless!

dsmythy

Sexual Chocolate wrote: »

The lack of indicators on round-abouts is definitely the main one I've noticed in the last while. People do tend to indicate onto them but not when coming off them.

Lazy ones who don't cancel their signal too. Entering a roundabout is like playing the odds these days on who is suddenly coming around minus indicator.

Seth Brundle

The main problem is that people in general have become quite selfish and couldn't give a toss about other road users.

JohnnyFlash

The indicator one is a pet peeve of mine. The clue as to their function is in their name. Women tend to be far worse for not using them than men I’ve noticed.

K.Flyer

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

The indicator one is a pet peeve of mine. The clue as to their function is in their name. Women tend to be far worse for not using them than men I’ve noticed.

about an hour ago, there was a twat in a white audi sitting in the middle of the junction with a Left indicator on not moving.
I gave them a beep to wake them up as the way was clear for them.
Turned out they were turning Right, but indicating left :rolleyes: .. and no, you couldn't tell from their position on the road either.

vicwatson

The annoying one for me is drivers cutting the corner on bends. Lazy bastards won’t drive the bend instead they cut the corner on blind bends. This is definitely on the rise.

bazz26

Lack of lane discipline on roundabouts. Drivers tend to take the shortest/laziest route possible through the roundabout rather than sticking to their designated lane.

Wanderer2010

Something I have noticed in 15 yrs driving myself, which isn't really a bad habit and more an observation, is that men are much more likely to leave you go if you are trying to get on to a busy road or reversing out of a shop. Women in my view more often than not just drive straight past you and don't give you a glance. Men have more nature in them!

TheAnalyst_

no.

um7y1h83ge06nx

vicwatson wrote: »

The annoying one for me is drivers cutting the corner on bends. Lazy bastards won’t drive the bend instead they cut the corner on blind bends. This is definitely on the rise.

That drives me mental. I regularly drive country roads where there is no hard shoulder, nowhere to go if these fcuking idiots don't pull in on time. Only thing you can do is brake.

Alpha_zero

h

_Kaiser_

I could rant all day...

- Dawdlers on the motorway/N-roads/R-roads holding everyone up but refusing to allow others room to overtake safely
- Lack of indicator use. Especially prevalent in Cork for whatever reason. Drives me insane!
- Tailgaters. I don't exactly drive slowly myself, but I have no tolerance for this shyte, but thankfully don't encounter it too often either
- Idiots driving around in poor conditions/darkness with no or minimal lights on
- Idiots on motorways who refuse to dip their lights for oncoming traffic. If you can see my lights, I can see yours!
- Lane-weavers who swap lanes aggressively and dangerously to get all of a car length ahead

To name just a few that I see daily. I freely admit that my patience isn't what it should be as a result. Hard not to get annoyed when you see the same crap day in and out, often by the same cars on a regular commute!

As for the reasons? A lot of drivers haven't done a test/lesson in decades and bad habits set in, or defensive driving to counter the above means less tolerance for muppetry and more stress overall.

Also (and likely to be controversial), there's a huge influx of foreign drivers in the last 10/15 years coming from countries with massively different standards. That can't help either!

Voodoomelon

Something I always noticed in Ireland, ever since I was a little chap, drivers here as a huge majority don't respect pedestrian areas, be it shared road/path space, pedestrian crossings, school areas etc. Every week I see cars flying over pedestrian crossings with someone already crossing, its like drivers don't even recognise them for what they are, merely an inconvenience.

It's like cars have been the dominant force for the last 50+ years in our villages, towns and cities and no one can say otherwise. In other countries, large urbanised city life has been the mainstay for centuries and vehicles come second, people come first.

With our country lanes where the car rules and small towns/villages that almost encourage vehicles down their main thoroughfares, pedestrians are so far down the list that drivers don't even look out for crossings, let alone people. And this is coming from a car guy. Yes you get pedestrians who walk about like zombies, but at the end of the day we're all pedestrians throughout the week and drivers should be far more aware than they currently are.

sligojoek

Tailgaters. I don't hang around and never hold anybody up.

Phones. Last week a prominent county councillor was behind me for 20 minutes in traffic. Every time I looked in my mirror she was "Eyes down". At times I crept 20 feet ahead and she'd be there not realising I was gone. As soon as she'd catch up it was back to to the phone again.
That evening she was on FB announcing that a road had re-opened after a crash. Followed by hashtag #staysafe.

Today driving into Sligo I was reaching the end of an "Overtaking zone". There was a guy in the overtaking lane who was struggling to pass me so I eased off and touched the brakes twice to let him know I was slowing. Meanwhile a Mercedes minibus which was trundling along the hard shoulder decided to pull in front of me at about 50 or 60 Kph, sending my overtaker into what was now the oncoming lane. If there was anything coming against us It would have been carnage. he then drove at 60kph for the next 10 Km. When I drew up beside them at the lights later I discovered it was a load of 70+yr olds on a n outing. The driver had his chin on the steering wheel and tunnel vision.

Wanderer2010

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

Something I have noticed in 15 yrs driving myself, which isn't really a bad habit and more an observation, is that men are much more likely to leave you go if you are trying to get on to a busy road or reversing out of a shop. Women in my view more often than not just drive straight past you and don't give you a glance. Men have more nature in them!

I'm surprised you've not been lynched yet for that comment, but I do actually agree with this. I rarely see a woman letting me out or doing anything nice/polite on the roads.


It also almost always seems to be women in a 'premium brand' car (no matter how old it is or what kinda state it's in) that have some kinda superiority complex/lack of driving ability. It's more often than not them I notice parked in yellow boxes, running lights, tailgating, etc. :rolleyes:




They also form a large part, in my own personal experience, of the "I'll only be a minute" brigade who just abandon their car anywhere.

the_pen_turner

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm surprised you've not been lynched yet for that comment, but I do actually agree with this. I rarely see a woman letting me out or doing anything nice/polite on the roads.


It also almost always seems to be women in a 'premium brand' car (no matter how old it is or what kinda state it's in) that have some kinda superiority complex/lack of driving ability. It's more often than not them I notice parked in yellow boxes, running lights, tailgating, etc. :rolleyes:




They also form a large part, in my own personal experience, of the "I'll only be a minute" brigade who just abandon their car anywhere.

the reason he (presumably) hasnt been lynched is that most people can clearly see that its true. i often make a note of this if im driving a lot around town . it usually plays out to be 75% + being men that let you out usually closer to 90% but never below 75% yet.
the same aplies when your walking. . female drivers raraly inconvenience themselves to let you cross the road.

Isambard

should it surprise you? How often do you hold the door open for a Lady only for her to breeze through and ignore you?

liamog

What really gets my goat is the people who don't use slip roads to accelerate to the main carriageway speeds.

They'll do 50km/h down the slip road I'll pull out around them into lane 2 as soon as the dotted line shows up, when I pull back into lane 1 after safely passing them, they almost always flash you. I like to think its a nod of appreciation for the well executed maneuver.

biko

People coming from College Road and turning right or left at Moneenageisha jump red lights like crazy. It#'s like a joke at this stage.

Zubeneschamali

Blueshoe wrote: »

Irish roads are statistically some of the safest in Europe.

And all of the above have been happening since forever.

Most are rude and annoying, but won't actually cause fatal accidents.

CrankyHaus

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm surprised you've not been lynched yet for that comment, but I do actually agree with this. I rarely see a woman letting me out or doing anything nice/polite on the roads.

I think it's more just an awareness thing than selfishness. IME a lot of women tend to drive with much less attention and awareness of everything than men. I can't help but notice it as a passenger, where they seem shocked when they encounter things I can't avoid spotting from a mile away.


So when people find a woman driver isn't letting them out it's probably because she simply isn't aware of them, or aware that she could let them out at minimal penalty to herself.

bladespin

Yes and No lol

yes; I definitely see all of the above more often.
no; more cars on the roads now - the driving standard is as bad as ie ever was (maybe even just slightly better dare I say that).

All are still a brutal wind up on a wet and miserable Monday morning.

SirChenjin

sligojoek wrote: »

Phones. Last week a prominent county councillor was behind me for 20 minutes in traffic. Every time I looked in my mirror she was "Eyes down". At times I crept 20 feet ahead and she'd be there not realising I was gone. As soon as she'd catch up it was back to to the phone again.
That evening she was on FB announcing that a road had re-opened after a crash. Followed by hashtag #staysafe.

.

I have said similar upthread. I do believe it accounts for quite a lot of the ****e driving that is becoming more prevalent, eyes on the phone screen instead of the windscreen. Big gap in traffic, failure to take off at green lights, bursting across pedestrian crossings while pedestrians are actually crossing - guaranteed the driver is glued to the phone screen.

Driving into own estate recently, van ahead of me, turns in, stops dead, I wait. Goes on another bit, stops dead. By now, I'd reached home and turned in to the drive, but glancing back could see what the issue was - the phone was more important than him actually looking at the road. A lot of small kids play out in the estate. Not safe with the likes of that around though.

I would have been very tempted to post something in response to that councillor's comment to let them know that I had seen their behaviour.

run_Forrest_run

A thing I see on the rise is the speed at which cars come out of a house, school, car park etc and arrive at a junction with a road. Often there is a footpath where the car would have to intersect but they approach it so fast that they would fail to see a pedestrian on the path or even a cyclist on the road they are rushing to join. Cars rarely do a full stop and look left and right before continuing on to the road.

fryup

its those damn entertainment screens that are causing bad driving imo...there too much of a distraction....fiddling around changing apps etc

_Kaiser_

fryup wrote: »

its those damn entertainment screens that are causing bad driving imo...there too much of a distraction....fiddling around changing apps etc

That's a valid point I'd think and particularly the touchscreen aspect that requires more attention/need to look at it. We already know phones are distracting. Why would this be any different or in fact not worse?

How this was approved from a safety point of view is beyond me.

garv123

When did it become optional to go around a roundabout ? Most people going straight through just cut as close to the roundabout as possible and feck the people beside them taking a later exit.

whiterebel

garv123 wrote: »

When did it become optional to go around a roundabout ? Most people going straight through just cut as close to the roundabout as possible and feck the people beside them taking a later exit.

"Cough.....my missus....cough" Guaranteed row when I point it out.

Wanderer2010

the_pen_turner wrote: »

the reason he (presumably) hasnt been lynched is that most people can clearly see that its true. i often make a note of this if im driving a lot around town . it usually plays out to be 75% + being men that let you out usually closer to 90% but never below 75% yet.
the same aplies when your walking. . female drivers raraly inconvenience themselves to let you cross the road.

Men can get a bad name on the roads at times between speed and boy racers but in general, the male drivers I encounter on the road have some compassion in them in that they will let you out or if you manage to get stuck going down a one way road, they aren't as impatient as the women. And im a man as well.

kirving

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm surprised you've not been lynched yet for that comment, but I do actually agree with this. I rarely see a woman letting me out or doing anything nice/polite on the roads.

There's a 2.5km single lane farm road I often drive. At least once per journey I have to stop, or even reverse up to 100m to allow the other car pass.

The vast majority of the time, a man will wave or flash to say thanks. The vast majority of the time, a woman won't do it.

I'm not going to invade people privacy by posting dashcam video, but in my limited experience women tend to be less courteous. I'll have to go back through my last 10 trips on the camera and count the numbers.

Men on the other hand tend to be far more aggressive drivers in general, and in particular tailgating on the motorway. Although strangely enough, the two memorable/worst experiences I've had of tailgaters have been women in SUV's who would have killed me had I slowed down for any reason. Totally unscientific and not representative I know, but that's my experience.


The one thing that drives me nuts is on the motorway, approaching a far off truck in the left lane with cruise control set to 120km/h. Car behind (overtaking lane) is approaching so I don't pull out ahead of them.

Rather than maintaining speed, they slow as they approach the truck, and come alongside me as they go from 130 to 110. Leaving me with no choice but to brake in the left lane. If they kept a consistent speed I could have planned ahead and not had to slow.

whiterebel

Agree with all the OP points. Its pure and utter selfishness. The sense of entitlement that we seem to have got by divine intervention.
Point 3 - but with a twist.....coming up to a slip road - car overtakes, and then slams on to make the turn off. Saving 0.3 of a millisecond over pulling in behind and doing it safely.
Dunkettle roundabout in Cork. Slip road to tunnel has 2 left lanes to go to tunnel, 1 to go straight ahead or Dublin road. Every morning, queues on the right hand lane trying to burst in, because they can't be arsed queueing like everyone else. One Saturday morning, with light traffic a complete w*nk*r pulled right across from the right lane taking off from the lights at the roundabout and missed me by inches. Sorry he didn't, the dashcam would have made interesting viewing.

I have a neighbour who drives into a busy estate with headphones on. According to a Garda, the offence is Driving without due care and attention.
I find the French, in big towns and cities bad drivers. Pleasantly surprised when I drove in Italy a couple of years back. Road manners were impeccable.
I have a terrible confession to make. I agreed with a statement that Conor Faughnan made. There I've said it. A lot of dual carriageways here don't have enough room for all the exits, hence the constant hogging over the overtaking lane. The East Cork Parkway between Midleton and Cork, has the following: Turn off to Carrigtwohill, Turn off to Cobh/Cartrigtwohill, turn off to Little Island all in the space of 5/6km? No excuse on M7/M8, though.

The law was changed a few years ago to allow vehicles to drive on the hard shoulder, when the way ahead is clear, to allow vehicles to overtake. Some people don't know this, and others don't understand the concept of "when the way ahead is clear".

Fan of Netflix

I agree totally with the women thing. Most women won't let you out. If you let them out they are rude and refuse to thank/wave. The worst offenders being women in their 30s/40s/50s who drive in jeeps or oversized expensive cars. Many times with kids on board. Stuck up ones, usually the type who berate retail staff because they can. Those who worked in retail will know the type.

Fan of Netflix

The ones that really need to have manners put them are drivers on phones. Start jailing them. They are more dangerous than drunk drivers and far more widespread. Many aren't even looking at the road.

Dravokivich

I think it just boils down to 1 thing, the attitude of those drivers tends to be someone else will leave me the space. Sure in the multi storey car park in the square, theres people driving the wrong way around it all the time. And most of them tend to be people who work there.

Tazzimus

One I noticed this morning while sitting in traffic on the M4.
If there's so much as a brake light in front of them, people are zipping into the hard shoulder to get to their exit, which could be over 1km away.
And more often than not, some of these will nip back into traffic at the next slip road, as they were just trying to skip the queue a bit.