Driving standards

[Guest]

I've never driven any large heavy vehicle, so no idea of the truth of the above.

 

Depends on how badly designed the bus station is. Some bus drivers have to do funky manoeuvring too.

[coachmann]

Bullying through gaps and situations is common when the cars involved are perceived by their numpty owners as more powerful or bigger than yours. I couldn't care less. Your vehicle is part of your body and your moves are easily anticipated. Testosterone and stupidity are facts of life and yes, I was young once and can think back to the horror moves I made in totally inadequate cars that made me look a right a$$. It is escapades that make one realise faster than anything else that a car can be a coffin when driven with the wrong mindset.  

[PhilJ W]

A fellow club member recently retired, after many years of driving and manoeuvring cement mixers. In his opinion, the worst drivers of large heavy vehicles are bus drivers, because they only ever go forward!

 

I've never driven any large heavy vehicle, so no idea of the truth of the above.

 

In our local bus station (Basildon) the stops are arranged sawtooth fashion, this means that they all have to reverse out. What surprises me that at busy times they manage to do so without any accidents or incidents.

Edited August 8, 2016 by PhilJ W

[PhilJ W]

Depends on how badly designed the bus station is. Some bus drivers have to do funky manoeuvring too.

[coachmann]

A fellow club member recently retired, after many years of driving and manoeuvring cement mixers. In his opinion, the worst drivers of large heavy vehicles are bus drivers, because they only ever go forward!

 

I've never driven any large heavy vehicle, so no idea of the truth of the above.

I can't speak for today's bus drivers, but the ones I taught for a private operator had to reverse into a side road from four different places before taking their PSV test so that they felt the bus fitted them like a glove. I only had one failure and he was a heavy goods driver who failed to see that carrying passengers is a different ball game.

Edited August 8, 2016 by coachmann

[cheesysmith]

On the point of bus drivers being reluctant to reverse. Reversing is something done only rarely and usually only at specific places. The long overhangs involved make it difficult, especially if not experienced at it, and in nine times out of ten it is easier for the other person to reverse. Also, the companies are looking at the insurance side, with the rising number of claims against them. One thing our company state is no reversing without a banks person to watch, and a banks person being someone you judge suitable. The problem is finding someone you judge suitable when on your own in the middle of nowhere.

 

As to the insurance side, I once had to brake sharply to avoid a taxi who manoeuvred in front of me without any warning, and a woman fell off her seat, and I'm sure she was on the phone to the no win no fee claim company before she hit the floor. It took me a while to get her details because she was so busy on the phone to them, all she wanted was me to say it was my fault. Strange she was the only person so affected when she was about mid 30s and I had a bus full of pensioners. I took 4 hours of my time to sort it out, including reporting it to the police station afterwards. The police station didn't seem interested as no one was injured at the time, even though me and the company knew that she was going to try and make a claim and say she was injured at a later date.

 

It has got to the point where if you are involved in a incident that instead of trying to avoid the other vehicle when they do something stupid, it is better to hit them. That way, when you do have the inevitable passenger injury claim, at least you have the other persons who is at fault insurance details.

[Kickstart]

<reads manual>

 

For first 625 miles

• Avoid full throttle starts
• Do not change the oil
• Do not tow a trailer

But I like changing the oil!

 

Apparently many cars are filled with a specific oil from new for running in. Possibly a particular rubbish oil

 

All the best

 

Katy

[Jol Wilkinson]

Apparently many cars are filled with a specific oil from new for running in. Possibly a particular rubbish oil

 

All the best

 

Katy

It might be a special formulation to take care of initial running conditions but is very unlikely to be a poor quality oil, given the usual mileage before a first service nowadays.

[ParkeNd]

Apparently many cars are filled with a specific oil from new for running in. Possibly a particular rubbish oil

 

All the best

 

Katy

My new car is filled with synthetic 5W-50W oil at just under £20 per litre - and it lasts for two years or 18500 miles. Obviously a special kind of rubbish!! Edited August 9, 2016 by ParkeNd

[kevinlms]

It might be a special formulation to take care of initial running conditions but is very unlikely to be a poor quality oil, given the usual mileage before a first service nowadays.

A few years ago, I was waiting for my work car to be serviced. A couple of guys were talking about someone who was trying to get a price for his car to be serviced. The problem was, it was 10 years old & had never been serviced, with the original factory supplied oil, still in it! This had turned to jelly & he only drove it on short trips because he didn't trust it.

Just think how the spark plugs would have rusted in & all sorts of problems, no one would have come across before.

[Horsetan]

Meanwhile, at Springbridge Road multi-storey just now, I chanced upon this little tableau:

 

 

 

No sign of the drivers involved in this one.

 

I know people are desperate for parking spaces nowadays, but surely not this desperate?

[kevinlms]

Meanwhile, at Springbridge Road multi-storey just now, I chanced upon this little tableau:

 

IMG_20160811_150421_1470924529409_1470926252538.jpg

 

IMG_20160811_150234_1470924499659_1470926274558.jpg

 

No sign of the drivers involved in this one.

 

I know people are desperate for parking spaces nowadays, but surely not this desperate?

Don't you love it. All the room in the world, yet!

[Baby Deltic]

Meanwhile, at Springbridge Road multi-storey just now, I chanced upon this little tableau:

IMG_20160811_150421_1470924529409_1470926252538.jpg

IMG_20160811_150234_1470924499659_1470926274558.jpg

No sign of the drivers involved in this one.

I know people are desperate for parking spaces nowadays, but surely not this desperate?

The mind boggles!

[Horsetan]

The mind boggles!

It was just bizarre!

[Jol Wilkinson]

Could be the Vauxhall is one of the models with a manual handbrake and the drivers brain failed to engage it. Walked away and left it to do its own thing.

[bbishop]

It was just bizarre!

It would have been courteous of you, to have blanked out my registration plate.

 

Bill

[jonny777]

Bullying through gaps and situations is common when the cars involved are perceived by their numpty owners as more powerful or bigger than yours. I couldn't care less. Your vehicle is part of your body and your moves are easily anticipated. Testosterone and stupidity are facts of life and yes, I was young once and can think back to the horror moves I made in totally inadequate cars that made me look a right a$$. It is escapades that make one realise faster than anything else that a car can be a coffin when driven with the wrong mindset.  

 

Being a tight old geezer, I make a lot of use of my free bus pass, especially when visiting my daughter who is a 'two half hour bus journeys' away compared to a 25 minute car drive but half an hour trying to find a place to park.

 

I tend to sit upstairs on double-deckers because there is much more to see from up there. I have seen plenty of the "I will not give way" attitudes from short-tempered car drivers, even when faced with a large bus coming in the opposite direction. One irate woman driver was gesticulating wildly in here Ford Fiesta for the bus to reverse, even though it had a couple of vehicles behind it. She even kept edging forwards in short bursts as if to say "If you wont volunteer to allow me through, I will force you to reverse". This might just work with a Reliant Robin in the opposite direction, but a double decker bus? Idiot.

 

In the end she had to give in or the street would have become grid-locked for hours, but there were lots of shouting out of her window as the bus finally squeezed by. Mind you, the delivery van parked on double yellows which was the cause of the bottle-neck was probably more to blame; although the driver of that vehicle was probably keeping well out of sight.

[newbryford]

. Mind you, the delivery van parked on double yellows which was the cause of the bottle-neck was probably more to blame; although the driver of that vehicle was probably keeping well out of sight.

 

As long as the van had it's hazard lights on, then surely that's OK?

 

  :no:      

 

Hazard lights are not an excuse for  bad/cr*p/arrogant/selfish/ignorant (delete as appropriate) parking.

 

It annoys me when delivery vehicles are parked OK, but they automatically put their hazard lights on and when approaching from behind, the left one is obscured so it looks like they're indicating to pull out.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[coachmann]

Back in the mists of time I was walking along a typical expressway (narrow lane) up in the Welsh mountains when I came across three smartly dressed 40-something women in a car that was trying out a manoeuvre that would lead the car to facing in the opposite direction. Amid all the giggling one suggested I give them a hand, so I donned my shining armour and jumped in the car. They eventually sped off well happy with the male sex after I had done a 3-point turn for them.

Edited August 12, 2016 by coachmann

[Horsetan]

Could be the Vauxhall is one of the models with a manual handbrake and the drivers brain failed to engage it. Walked away and left it to do its own thing.

 

You'd think so, but the car park surface at Springbridge Road is level (except for the ramps between floors), so there's no opportunity for a roll-away and I can't see how the car would generate its own momentum.

[Guest]

You'd think so, but the car park surface at Springbridge Road is level (except for the ramps between floors), so there's no opportunity for a roll-away and I can't see how the car would generate its own momentum.

Are they disabled spaces? There's some sort of marking visible.

 

Blue badge rage?

[Horsetan]

Are they disabled spaces? There's some sort of marking visible.

 

Blue badge rage?

 

The ground floor spaces along the left as you drive in are for disabled (red) and mother-and-brats (blue).

[geoffers]

Norwich station last Friday - collecting a friend who is producing my lads next music album and we were watching a young lady reverse out of one of the parking slots in the station car park. We reckoned she would reverse into the lamp-post behind her. She did and blithely drove away with a big dent in her bumper. Wonder what she thought when she saw it later?

[Horsetan]

... Wonder what she thought when she saw it later?

If she failed to notice a lamppost, I hardly think she'll notice a dent in a bumper.

[Baby Deltic]

If she failed to notice a lamppost, I hardly think she'll notice a dent in a bumper.

Mrs Magoo, you silly old woman you!