I hate driving in the UK

I feel the pain of those living in the south of the UK and trying to enjoy a nice drive. I've just driven around London for 4 days and it was shocking. Between the bikes, L plate mopeds and the 20 mph limit I wondered what's the point of even bothering buying a nice car in London?

I'm lucky to live in Yorkshire and really don't see many of the issues ranted about here when I'm out and about on the Jag which is everyday for about 2 hours a day on A and B roads.

I'm in the Scottish Highlands at the moment and the driving here and around the area is excellent too.
 
I must have been quite lucky the few times I've driven around in the UK because I didn't encounter that many lousy drivers then. I have to say though that London is one of the most uninspiring cities I've driven in. I like nice late night city drives. For instance when I rented a Mustang in California I set off a few hours in the late evening for a nice drive around San Francisco to get a bit of a Bullitt vibe which was brilliant. A couple of years ago I rented a nice XE Portfolio in central London for a daytrip out to Oxfordshire and intended to have a late night Jag drive around London but never bothered after I realised what driving in London was like.

If you want a breather from the rubbish drivers go to Germany. The Germans are by no means perfect drivers but IMHO probably the best and most predictive drivers in the world which is very obvious when comparing to other European countries. I think we partially can thank the Autobahn with its derestricted parts, a respect of rules and some kind of common ambition to all get ahead as efficiently as possible for that. I often drive in Germany and there's always such a contrast to drive in for instance the Scandinavian countries after crossing Germany. Most of them seem to get that it's all a matter of staying focused and attentive to your surroundings, getting ahead as quickly as possible and staying the F out of the way otherwise.

The Germans joke about that yellow number plates are good warning signs and I guess there's something to it. :D The worst and most dangerous culprits on the Autobahn are usually Dutch, Danish and Swedish tourists. They're taught to consider speeds beyond 120 km/h as insane and just don't seem to realise that they can get hit by 2 tonnes doing more than twice their own speed when they're doing 100 km/h on a deristricted Autobahn and swerve out to the fast lane to eventually overtake a lorry they see 1 km ahead. :roll:
 
stefan9107 said:
Basically, the shopping trolley is what determines whether a person is a good or bad member of society.... unless it's one where you get your pound coin back... then it's just a test of how close you live to Scotland.
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In some towns the £1 to buy a trolley to take home, is seen as a better option than paying £3 for a bag for life. 🤣
 
Just to add: people who don't indicate left to exit roundabouts! They'll happily indicate right all the way round (how can you turn right on a roundabout - you're just following the road!) and then turn off, often still indicating right. Thus anyone waiting to enter the roundabout at that exit/entrance has to wait needlessly. Very inconsiderate.
 
scm said:
Just to add: people who don't indicate left to exit roundabouts! They'll happily indicate right all the way round (how can you turn right on a roundabout - you're just following the road!) and then turn off, often still indicating right. Thus anyone waiting to enter the roundabout at that exit/entrance has to wait needlessly. Very inconsiderate.
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[moreranting]On the subject of that, people who are going straight on, eg. exit 2 of three possible, start by indicating right?! Seems to be popular with those who started driving in the days of black & white, along with straight-lining it even though there are two lanes around the thing?! A27 Fishbourne is popular for that

If people indicated at roundabouts imagine how much quicker traffic would flow, and the time saved not having to stop because some inbred hillbilly twatbox is too lazy to use their finger to move a plastic lever?!

Then we have phantom traffic jams/clumps of traffic slowing down for no apparent reason other than some chump decided to brake to slow down rather than ease off the throttle pedal, thus causing a ripple felt miles back. Normal habitat is a dual carriageway or motorway because they're far too close to the vehicle in front

And temporary traffic lights. Drivers giving the light a wide berth of around a metre even though (a) it's not moving and (b) unlikely to move yet they'll happily pass a bike rider/cyclist (I'm one of the latter) with a few millimetres of room?
[/moreranting]
 
So far a lot of talk about idiot drivers... but I'm also going to throw in some idiot road design also.

The specifics will apply to local people more, but the general idea applies to all...

1. Traffic lights on roundabouts. Okay, sometimes it is necessary and on BIG roundabouts like major junctions around motorways it works fine. But little ones like the Fontwell roundabout or the new Shoreham airport one... disaster. All it does is create this long bottleneck of congestion that lasts for the next 3 miles before it spaces out again and flows properly.
2. Poor road markings. I'm looking at you A27 Arundel/Ford roundabout. The right hand lane eastbound is for FORD ONLY! I understand the confusion if you aren't from the area because you might not know road names and where places are. The right hand lane in this instance would normally be to continue along the A27, but the road markings clearly state A27 is the left hand lane and thus all the way around the roundabout, and the right hand lane is for Ford. It would help if the arrow for the Ford direction actually pointed to the right and it would also help if they put up a proper damn sign well before the roundabout explaining what lane to be in... but noooooo. We have to leave it confusing as hell so all the tourists end up in the wrong lane and have to cut everyone up at the exit and block the roundabout.
3. These new roundabouts where they make it three lanes around the roundabout even though it is clearly not wide enough to go 3 aside around it. Not to mention the fact that it is completely pointless to make it three lanes as it goes down to one lane immediately after the roundabout anyway. Looking at you A259/Fitzalan Road.
 
Road markings - I wish there were more signs on posts showing which lane to use at junctions. The road paint is often obscured by traffic. Oh, and how many people actually stop at stop signs! There's one near me where some people whizz straight through, we do see the odd prang as a result. Not exclusively but more often than not young/middle aged women.
 
Some people drive like they’re trying their hardest to generously donate their organs. There’s a huge difference between making progress safely enjoying a powerful car, and driving like a div.
 
Mini Roundabouts - there is a particularly badly designed one locally, as you approach intending to turn right (so you are going slow) the view of the road to the right is obstructed by a tall building so you can only see about 5 yards of the road before you cross the white line and are on the roundabout. Cars coming from your right at speed who are going straight on only look to their right and go - at which point they sound their horn because they find you turning right in front of them and think you have pulled out in front of them when actually you were already on the roundabout well before they crossed the line and you couldn't see them approaching at speed because of the restricted view

Ive had arguments with people insisting they are in the right despite the fact that they have gone through a give way sign (says give way - not just give way to the right) and how can I give way to you when I am already on the roundabout in front of you!

Yes normally if you could see cars approaching at speed from your right you would wait even if you could be on the roundabout before them but this is not possible because of the restricted view.
 
scm said:
Just to add: people who don't indicate left to exit roundabouts! They'll happily indicate right all the way round (how can you turn right on a roundabout - you're just following the road!) and then turn off, often still indicating right. Thus anyone waiting to enter the roundabout at that exit/entrance has to wait needlessly. Very inconsiderate.
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As I was returning to work yesterday afternoon I was going straight over a roundabout and some idiot in an Audi A5 came speeding down and almost clipped my back end then had the absolute audacity to hoot at me!!

Serious expletives erupted from my mouth as you can probably imagine🤣🤣🤣
 
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