Moan Thread, You have been warned!

How about driving at 80+ mph in the rain/mist in their "fog" coloured car with no lights on? Great idea eh?

H

And yet there are many annoyances perpetrated by apparently non-agressive drivers, such as:

1) Travelling in the higher speed lane (left lane in US) below the speed limit

2) making turns without signalling

3) driving slow because the driver wants to talk on the (cell) phone

4) coming to a stop light and leaving 1.5 car lengths between the driver's car and the car in front of the driver's car

5) accelerating slowly to save gas

6) not noticing that the light has changed from 'stop' to 'go'

7) stopping frequently on narrow streets with cars parked on one side and traffic comming from the opposite direction while driving an effing big SUV.

Regards.

Phil

Then there is passive-aggressive driving as described above.

Driving is about proceeding as quickly as it is safe to do so. Unnecessarily slow driving is selfish and suuggests either laziness or incompetence - possibly through drink or concentration being on something else.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Toy:
Unnecessarily slow driving is selfish .

But who is to determine what is unecessarily slow? Many older drivers are aware of their own limited abilities in terms of reaction times and therefore drive below the maximum speed allowed for a given stretch of road. This is lawful and responsible.

quote:

Originally posted by Phil Barry:
And yet there are many annoyances perpetrated by apparently non-agressive drivers, such as:

5) accelerating slowly to save gas

Phil

..which is a fairly rational thing to do on a number of levels.

quote:

5) accelerating slowly to save gas

This is a wrong asumption. Brisk acceleration in a high gear is the best way to save fuel when accelerating. This is a fact.

JohanR

A few more to try stay calm about, even though they are all to common.

Drivers who use their front (and rear) fog lights when it's not foggy and visibility is good.

Drivers who think that they never need to stop (or even slow down) approaching a roundabout when your going around one, and as a result need to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting you.

Drivers that react very slowly (if they can safely of course) to Police Cars / Fire Engines / Ambulances to get out of the way.

Drivers who clearly are not looking at road sign information.

Non-Petrol buying drivers who park inconsiderately at filling stations.

Non-disabled people parking in disabled spaces.

People without kids parking in the slightly wider kiddy parking bays. Selfish T*ssers.

Fundamentally, much of the above issues do come down to selfishness.

Fanny cages (or very small cars) straddling two spaces.

The middle lane driving thing really gets me

Traveled back from Wales on Monday night and the number of cars in the middle lane when there are no other cars within a mile of them is just beyond me.

Are people afraid of the left lane? Or changing lane or....what the hell is it!

quote:

Originally posted by JohanR:

quote:

5) accelerating slowly to save gas

This is a wrong asumption. Brisk acceleration in a high gear is the best way to save fuel when accelerating. This is a fact.

JohanR

"Brisk acceleration in a high gear..." That is bollocks.

I think he meant that to go quickly up through the gears saves fuel (which it does)

quote:

People without kids parking in the slightly wider kiddy parking bays. Selfish T*ssers.

They didn't have these when our kids were younger so we take advantage of them now.

or response 2

quote:

People without kids parking in the slightly wider kiddy parking bays. Selfish T*ssers.

We didn't have these when our kids were small. We managed without,so can you.

quote:

Are people afraid of the left lane? Or changing lane or....what the hell is it!

It's laziness, like a lot of slow driving.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Toy:

quote:

Are people afraid of the left lane? Or changing lane or....what the hell is it!

It's laziness, like a lot of slow driving.

If I had the choice I'd rather have someone drive safely if it means a little slower.

I think there are lazy drivers but that's more about the attention they give the road than the speed they drive.

I must live in a "fast" area!

quote:

Originally posted by Phil Barry:

4) coming to a stop light and leaving 1.5 car lengths between the driver's car and the car in front of the driver's car

Just as a curiosity why would you consider that annoying? I tend to do that for several reasons that (to me) make sense:

• I'm stopped so what difference does it actually make?
  
• If an emergency vehicle needs to get through I have some room to move
  
• I can get a kind of "rolling start" when pulling away vs "Mr six inches from my bumper".
  
• I can pull out past the car in front if he stalls/dithers etc.
  

My two personal pet hates tend to be drivers who brake for no reason, and by that I mean the ones who can drive along a perfectly free/clear road and every few hundred yards they seem to feel the need to check the brake pedal is still there.

Also I don't get why people leave parking tickets on their windows often covering a square foot of it - I keep thinking there must be a reason other than laziness.

quote:

People without kids parking in the slightly wider kiddy parking bays. Selfish T*ssers.

People who take kids shopping! What's that about? They should have their own compulsory parking at the farthest point of the car park, then they may think of leaving the brats at home.

quote:

People who take kids shopping! What's that about? They should have their own compulsory parking at the farthest point of the car park, then they may think of leaving the brats at home.

Not always an option I'm afraid and of course some are less brat like than others. And I'm with Jasper who once asked the question "Why do people take their kids to Tesco to smack 'em?".

Of course I could also mention those irritating, obnoxious old gits who should keep out of the way when they can only think about themselves and feel unable to cope with the presence of other people, whether young or old. Perhaps because senility is taking hold it makes them naturally pre-disposed to thinking of others as some kind of evil presence to be hidden away so as not to impinge on their own sensibilities. Just an opinion.

I travel around 50 thousand miles a year so I see all kinds of things as you can imagine, the thing that winds me up is people who hog the middle lane for no reason.

I do remember a few years ago I was the passenger with my dad in a breakdown vehicle (he was driving), we were doing 30mph in a 30 zone, the guy behind in his swanky mercedes was accelerating up our arse, attmepting to make us travel faster, he did this for quite a while. My dad was getting really pissed off so he decided to slam on for no reason, this chap ended up going right into the back of us, making a really bad mess of his front end - we both pulled over, I couldnt help but laugh. great moment

quote:

We didn't have these when our kids were small. We managed without,so can you.

Aye and you probably didn't have the EEC regulated side bolstered child seats that are imposssible to lever your kids out of through the typical 6 inch gap afforded by a regular bay.

However I do feel that larger 4x4s and vans should have their own part of the car park as it's impossible to see round them when you're trying to back out of your own spot.

quote:

quote:
5) accelerating slowly to save gas



This is a wrong asumption. Brisk acceleration in a high gear is the best way to save fuel when accelerating. This is a fact.

JohanR

Total, absolute, utter, bollocks, (and that's the polite version).......

.........or else Mrs D's little Merc is going back to get its on-board computer sorted......

Its about 10 miles each-way from Thatcham to Theale along the A4, so that was 2 x 20-mile test-runs. Done once with brisk acceleration and once with gentle acceleration. There are four roundabouts, so plenty of reason for brisk acceleration, and a 30/40 mph speed limit in Thatcham and a 30 mph speed limit in Woolhampton (with speed cameras), so again plenty of excuse for brisk acceleration when leaving the built-up areas. Elsewhere its 60 mph and between 19:15 and 20:15 tonight was lightly traffiked so I wasn't influenced by other vehicles. Her car is a C220-cdi-Avangarde and its pretty nippy, but not a sports car. (its a sodding diesel for Chr**t's sake)

First run with brisk acceleration whenever possible - 57mpg
Second run always with gentle acceleration - 64mpg

Just as important, is that if I drive so as to avoid the need for using the brakes, I can get 72mpg out of her.

Cheers

Don

Don,

'Brisk acceleration in a high gear is the best way to save fuel when accelerating..' does Johan simply mean 'Brisk acceleration in a high gear is better than brisk acceleration in a low gear'? This is maybe the point JohanR was trying to make and could save petrol providing the high gears were not selected too early.

I dont see that his comment is so clearly this or that - its rather vague and therefore not worth getting upset over. Perhaps he will clarify what he means.

Acad

quote:

Originally posted by Don Atkinson:
First run with brisk acceleration whenever possible - 57mpg
Second run always with gentle acceleration - 64mpg

One run was obviously wind assisted.

Acad,

I hadn't appreciated how upset I had become over this point, until I realised I had spent about £3 on diesel doing these two runs...........You're probably right, not worth getting upset.

Mrs D noticed as soon as she got the car that brisk acceleration = high fuel consumption and she started accelerating more gently.

We noticed last spring, when driving back from Avimore to Glasgow (steady 60 mph speed limit) that we got over 60 mpg, so between Glasgow and Penrith I tried the "avoid using the brakes and drive at 60 mph" technique and nearly touched 70 mpg. Next day, driving to/from Birmingham (Mailbox) and back to Penrith using the same technique, I got 72 mpg and have done this between Newbury and Birmingham a couple of times.

But then, most of the time on long journeys, life seems too short, and we use her C220 more normally, (brisk acceleration, speedlimit + 5mph keep well behind car in front to avoid need to brake etc) and get 60ish or just under..... or we use my petrol S Class and get 25mpg regardless of speed or acceleration.............or we use my Piper Arrow at 10 USgph and 135kt (155mph) and avoid all these problems.......Choices...environmental economist or Bushe's best friend........

Cheers

Don

quote:

One run was obviously wind assisted.

bugger it, the secret is out...

Cheers

Don