Why are people so angry now?

Never thought about it that way tbh. The old “■■■■■■ in a flash car” green-eyed monster coming out. 

 

I had a driver come that close to my rear (car) last week it was unbelievable. All I was doing was overtaking two trucks on a dual carriageway, i was doing 70mph. There was no way I was going to brake on him so I actually increased my speed to put distance between him and my rear bumper, he kept up with me. Once past the trucks I indicated to move over he then spead past me and moved over and brake checked me, now that was frightening and I had to brake hard now with two trucks looming in my rear view mirror. This continued until I was nearing a turn off, not the one i wanted but I took it anyway, he carried straight on.

My dash cam bracket had broken the week before but I wished I had it on when this idiot was performing. My wife has a picture from her phone of his plate, sadly it wouldn’t mean jot if presented to plod. Luckily  for him all his car stuff tax/MOT/insurance are up to date so no recourse their.

It actually put me off driving for a few days and I  get nervous when a driver gets up close to my rear, wondering what maniac sits behind the wheel. 

I certainly agree that folk do seem to be getting increasingly impatient / angry behind the wheel, which is never a good combination.  Two recent incidents which I can remember:-

  1. I was driving down the 40mph dual carriageway near to where I live & signalled left in good time to turn on to my estate.  As I was slowing progressively before the junction I spotted a very elderly lady on the footpath, travelling in the same direction as me & quite probably about to cross the road into which I intended to turn hence I had to slow down a bit more than normal - which I did gradually.  Shortly before I was going to turn, she stepped out without looking & began to slowly cross the road I wanted to turn into, so I had no option other than to stop on the dual carriageway as she made her way across - this wasn’t sudden braking or anything like that because I’d anticipated this happening.  I then got a gobful from the driver of a white van who was following me, repeated by the driver of a lorry behind that vehicle… the gist of which seemed to be along the lines of what did I think I was doing, stopping on the main road (though it wasn’t expressed as politely as that!).  Of course, the Highway Code states that you should give way to pedestrians crossing a road into which you’re intending to turn - & notwithstanding that my only other option besides stopping would have been to knock her down.

  2. Followed a SUV off a roundabout, onto a single carriageway road.  The SUV driver suddenly slammed his brakes on & veered to the kerb side of the road & stopped - I was a safe distance behind so I braked then approached with care & decided to pass with a wide berth as there was no oncoming traffic.  As I was just about to pass, he suddenly indicated right & pulled across the road at a right angle, straight in front of me, to do a U-Turn.  I hooted & was forced to stop sharply; the vehicle behind me skidded & almost went straight into the back of me.  His reaction was to start to get out of his SUV - which was now slewed across the road at right angles to the traffic - & give me a torrent of abuse, I just responded by telling him that he’d almost caused an accident.  By now there was a queue of about 5 cars behind me, all stationary & watching this idiot - at which point a woman in his passenger seat pulled him back inside, he then turned right across the path of a vehicle approaching towards us - which had to stop - & returned back in the direction from which he’d come while hurling abuse at me through his window.

 

 

 

 

There have always been bad drivers; there have always been impatient drivers; there have always been sluggish drivers; there have always been angry drivers.

The trouble is, that as the roads in our tiny, overcrowded island get more and more congested, with more and more traffic, we are simply meeting more of them on a more regular basis !

It’s human nature for people to get upset when, to use motoring analogies, somebody cuts us up, or performs a dangerous manoever in front of us and puts our health (or even our lives) at risk.

The other thing is that as our country becomes more cosmopolitan in nature, and drivers from other countries, where customs, or road-using habits are different, then you get differing attitudes as to what is acceptable or proper behaviour behind the wheel (or handlebars for that matter).

Now here’s a question:-  Does a person coming to live here from another country, who already has a driving licence (if they even exist !) from his or her native country, have to pass a driving test in the UK before he or she is allowed on our roads ?  

However, I digress - my apologies.  To return to my original point, I think it is inevitable that we will encounter more and more of this behaviour in the future - it is simply a mixture of overcrowded roads and human nature ! 

 

Or, as the former editor, Mr Dacre, once said…

“Every day, something for the haters…”.

 

Being hooted at is an everyday piece of relatively minor driving twattery.

The OP had a choice. He could have ignored it.

He chose to give the ■■■■ a V sign.

His choice.

 

 

Correct, it was my choice but after being deliberately tailgated and then not just a quick short blast but a good 5-second blast of the horn followed by a then over-aggressively overtake it was more of a spur of the moment V sign with an air of a nonchalant whatever rather than a full on expletive laden tirade. For the gentleman (loose term) to then screech (literally) to a halt, reverse back at speed and hurl a tsunami of abuse to me and my other half for my supposedly heinous display of driving was really not called for. 

As someone aptly put in an earlier post they could have just shrugged their shoulders and if they were in that much of a hurry just carried on. But they didn’t and looking back it was almost as if this other gent (loose term) made his actions in a deliberate manner to provoke a reaction so they could then let loose. There was certainly no need in the first instance for the tailgating (plenty of space to pass) and in the second instance the prolonged blast of the horn (i’m aware you’re there, that’s why i indicated and slowed down) when they could have quite easily passed and we could have all carried on our merry way without the hindrance and foul language. 

So yes maybe my nonchalant flicking of the V sign was an incorrect action but the following actions by the other party didn’t need to be so aggressive and over-the-top. 

Maybe i need to go on a anger management course?  Or repent all my sins…

I’m also assuming here good sir that you have never risen your voice in anger at another motorist? I know i have but not to the point where i’ve felt the need to pull up on them and let loose with verbal diarrhea in their direction. As for the Daily Fail, no hate here just contempt and derision. 

 

I just let them go, with the certainty that sooner (most likely) or later they will meet up with another of the same mind, and hopefully mutually eliminate each other.  It might even be a blessing for their families…

We have two bits of 30mph dual carriageway, one a main road with several relevant gaps in the central reservation, one a short piece at right angles to the main road.  Recently in the last week while walking I’ve seen a blue Fiesta going the wrong way on both of them, the first time at night on the short piece nobody around but me, but the second time on the main road at midday there were three cars needing to take avoiding action who he attacked with blaring horn, and I was so stunned I didn’t have time to think to get out a camera.  I think the second time was just to save him driving left fifty metres to a gap to U-turn back to the eventual turning right a hundred metres past where he had the confrontation.

I now always use the dashcam, especially around here!

 

Depends on the country. There are some countries where it is possible to transfer the licence to a GB licence. EU legislation means it is illegal for Northern Ireland to demand GB licence holders to turn in their GB licences for a NI licence (and then find they have great difficulties getting it back). Within the EU. The UK was slow to sign up to the International Convention on Driving (which allows for instance points to be added to overseas licences, because of Northern Ireland; the UK has two licensing authorities, which operate differently. Points could not be added to a GB licence in NI and vice versa, and there was the nonsense at one stage for banned GB drivers to continue driving in NI.

 

The DVLA’s own data shows that drivers are most likely to be white, English, 49 years old, and male.

 

Its possible that the technological changes that many moan about, such as ISA, might defuse tensions.

In answer to your question - I’ve come to the conclusion that there are a lot of very stupid people about, and generally the more stupid they are the angrier they are.

I try not to respond to these people any more - they don’t ever react well, not even to a cheery wave (in fact that makes them even angrier).

 

Agreed! 

 

Yes I agree too.

In my post above about the tailgater the reason I turned off the dual carriageway early (no big deal it’s just as easy that way) is that driver was being a danger to other road users not just me and I didn’t want anyone to think I am joining in and antagonising him. No doubt he would have picked on someone else futher along who wasn’t doing 100mph and getting out of his way fast enough, the badge on the rear suggested it was a high powered vehicle.

And of course my wife always asks me, how do you keep your calm whilst driving with all these idiots, it’s just I’ve seen it all before and tbh I’ve learned to just try and ignore the plonkers on the road now that irritate me.

 

I think some people do it just because they can.  What other motivation could these two car thieves in the Audi have?

Nutters

Skull

I always remember this…

Old fart in a Jag doing 30mph in a 60mph zone. No chance of me passing so I sit back at a safe distance until I could safely overtake. Got the chance so I overtook him, as I passed him he had his window down and started to shout and scream and wave his fist…why???

The only thing I can relate to his driving manner, it was a Sunday. or his wife was nagging him to get an MX-5

You’re sitting on the fence again Scottishfiver, I wish you would tell us what you really think.

My 4-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter has been having meltdowns recently when she can’t get her own way.

She’s an intelligent child (of course) so I wondered if she would respond to an appeal to reason.  When she was calm I explained that getting angry always made her unhappy (“sad” as she calls it) and suggested she should try not to do it;  that she would be happier if she could just think about something nice and keep calm.

Nobody is more amazed than I am that it seems to have worked. I actually thought it was probably just an impulse that a small child couldn’t control.  She still argues the toss but I haven’t seen a full meltdown since.

If a four-year-old can learn this, why can’t more of us adults work it out for ourselves?

 

[quote=Raymond Harper]

I think many of them are still hungover or on drugs!  German cars owners, “the entitled ones”, seem the worst.

 A little unfair, I own a Mercedes, Audi and my beloved mx-5, don’t tar all German car owners with the same brush. I blame Brexit!

My 8 year old granddaughter has started to attend football matches with me, the other two grandkids go too. Her first match we are stood next to a guy who has a go at the ref at every opportunity and he gets louder and louder as the game goes on. She being a right little madam turns to us and says “that man there needs some anger management lessons” he heard what she said and kept a low profile for the rest of the match. I didn’t know whether to move along a little or just pretend she didn’t say it.

[quote=PHILC1]

Wouldn’t dream of it. Couldn’t tar so many with the same brush. Would need way more than one brush and rollers or spraying would be a more practical option.

Delighted to see the BMW 420d at the top of the list. Brother in law drives one and he’s an ex-police advanced driver. Bl**dy good one too. Hasn’t stopped me winding him up about the report though.