h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The number of *stupid* drivers I see every day on the M90/A9 up here, staggers me. Oh, especially on roundabouts .

And another thing... you know those signs on the back of lorries asking if they're driving well? They only listen to what you tell them when you phone the number, if there's somebody else in the car with you, to act as witness

Doncha just love it when that happens Wait a minute... the Volvo was at the head of a line of cars doing 80mph... on a road where the limit is 60?

What I remember of the 303 is a road which alternates several times between single and dual carriageway. So you get a couple of prats in cars stuck behind a van or a lorry, who just can't wait for the next stretch of dual carriageway so they can get out from behind and carry on doing 80 or 90 as is their right, right?

"you know those signs on the back of lorries asking if they're driving well?"

It's not trucks and vans who need those signs on them, it's every damn car driver on the road

But no one thinks they are the person driving badly! I am currently doing a fair few miles on the motorways and I certainly find white vans and lorries the ones most likely to do dumb stuff.

Lorries particularly irritate me when they decide they are just going to pull into your lane - despite the fact that there is no where for you to go safely - you cant brake hard without the possibility of the twit in the white van behind you driving into your boot, you cant pull out cos the other white van is sat in your mirrors not overtaking you and not leaving you room to pull out.

The other thing that lorries do that irritates me and I think causes a lot problems is sit three abreast doing about 60

Try driving something along the lines of a 3.5 ton for six months and then see if your vies have changed Most van/truck drivers also drive a car, but nowhere near as many car drivers have regularly driven something bigger, and slower, and more in-the-way of impatient car owners.

Gosho, the A303, at least between the Salisbury turn off and the Taunton junction is almost all of full motorway standard, so has a 70mph speed limit. There are only two sections that aren't as far as I can remember.
- the traffic jam through Chicklade is single lane.
- the bit near Taunton is technically single carriage way, but the lane is about 40 feet wide, so is treated as a dual carriageway to all intents and purposes.

I am sure my viewsa would change Gosho but being in a bigger vehicle should not really be an excuse for putting cars in a dangerous situation - ie pulling out into them when there is no where for them to go

Quite so - there's no excuse for bad driving in any circumstances

They must have upgraded several stretches of the 303 since I last drove it - about 10 years ago I think.

The guy who most annoyed me lately was the guy who used a left filter lane to 'undertake' me, and as he went past I noticed he was texting on his mobile phone !

There is a place where you can legitmately undertake someone to avoid traffic congestion

On the western sections of the M25 the junctions are so close together that the first lane of the four is to all intents and purposes the running-in lane for the next junction. Well what you do is get off of the slow moving crawl that is the main three lanes; get on to this running-in lane, bomb along it; drive off at the junction; flip over the roundabout and drive straight back onto the motorway. And repeat

Note - don't try this at junction 12. That's the M3 turn off and you'll find yourself in Hampshire!

What is wrong with ending up in Hampshire?

Isn't that where your mother lives?

Well apart from that!

* wonders if its OK for her to laugh too *

*looks around for Light's Mother*

* panics *

What is she here?

Yes dear, she's come to give you another ironing board

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo













Atleast it would not be another toilet brush!

In defense of lorry drivers etc....

My brother used to be a Coach driver for national express and the Birmingham coach company, and he used to fin car drivers the worst for their what he calls 'stupidity'.

for example a coach needs a lot of room to take a corner at a junction and he used to angle the coach along both lanes to stop cars from coming up and stoping him from being able to turn the corner.

People seem to forget that their are plenty of blind spots on large lorries trucks and coaches. for example on the Coach my brother drove their was a 17 foot blind spot behind the vehicle and on the passanger side of the vehicle if a car was by the front wheel area then it is invisible to the driver as well.

All that being said, my brother thinks hes the king of the road as hes a 'professional driver' and when driving a car he forgets hes not in a coach and tries to push his way through anything. So from my own experience I would say the worst driver are lorrie drivers, coach drivers etc when their behind the wheel off a normal car.

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