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Time for retesting and a new standard for the driving test.
The last few days as a cyclist and pedestrian have shown the poor standard of driving - close passes, overtakes on blind bends, overtakes just before a junction, left hook after an uphill bit, close passes as a pedestrian.
Judging by today's walk on country roads - no footways, some drivers are rabbits in headlights and don't seem to know what to do when they come across a ped. They carry on the same line, don't slow, veer off at the last second. Range rover drivers are the worst. The one today came from behind and despite the supposed off road abilities, the driver failed to use the mud/gravel wide bit to go past us and did not slow enough.
My tests and retests would involve compulsory trips for drivers as a ped where they are subjected to various close passes and compulsory bike trips where they experience the poor standard of driving in the uk.
And there would be a retest of the HC every 3 years.
Eventually, dash cams will be mandatory and random clips will be selected to verify the ability of drivers. Where the standard is below what is required, they would be expected to improve within 3 to 6 months.
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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30 comments
https://twitter.com/thatdanstewart/status/1522168889286791174
"Question to UK followers: do you know what this sign means? I didn't, but thankfully I just received a helpful reminder from Enfield Council -- and it only cost me £65"
The poster had not read the HC for 22 years.
Evel Knievel in the vicinity.
Ironically, Evel Knievel got his name because of his bad driving. He chose his nickname after spending a night in jail in 1956 after being arrested for reckless driving. In the same jail that night was a man named William Knofel, who had the nickname “Awful Knofel”; this led to Knievel being referred to as “Evel Knievel”.
As it's in the UK surely it should be Eddie Kidd.
Exactly.... when I was a kid, I searched out a copy of the highway code because I wanted to know if it really related to Evel Knievel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4suF8aa4Yv4
I'm glad that it seems every single twitter reply so far has beem something against him being a driver apart from one american mentioning it would be better with a line through it. (Who was told that the sign is part of the HC for 50 years.)
There was one remark that if so many don't know it, there is a fault with it. Made me pause, but I don't agree because the basic shape should be known.
Circle with red border, triangle red border, blue square all have distinct meanings.
I learnt most of the HC at junior school.
People are just lazy.
Although no vehicles (of whatver description) is red circle without any slash, when it comes to stating prohibited manouvers, then we use a red circle with a slash. So yes consistency is an issue.
What I would really like to know is where is this sign needed, and why isn't it on most urban streets?
No carnival floats!
I got one of those from Bath when I visited the UK. There was a lot to process (really, driving into Bath at all was probably the wrong decision) and I just didn't notice it.
It is confusing to visiting drivers from the USA that a sign like that doesn't have a slash through it. Here's our sign for no large trucks.
Which I guess explains the Ghostbusters symbol...
Eh? But that's not a large truck. Especially for America.
As someone who lived in Bath for a total of seven or eight years in two stints, I can only concur. It's a horrible place to drive. I don't know if recent attempts to implement a congestion zone have helped.
People making excuses for Stewart in the replies to his little whine have pointed out that the symbolic language of UK road signs is a bit inconsistent: red borders round speed limit signs mean 'don't go faster than this number'; the red border around 'beware of low-flying motorbikes' means 'no motor vehicles' and three signs — no U-turn, no right turn and no left turn — have the bend sinister like your truck sign, denoting, as per Sir Walter Scott, that you're a bastard if you turn left/right/do a U-ey.
Apparently this is all too much for their tiny petrol-fume-addled brains to cope with, even though I just managed to summarise it in a single paragraph. It's almost like people are proud of being incompetent drivers.
When I drove across America. I had to learn all the road rules for several states. Also which states allow turns on red lights and individual stuff like turning your wheels into the kerb if parking on hills in San Fran. I'm guessing I probably breached some without realising it still.
I don't understand- don't these people think it's in their best interests to understand what the signage used on the roads actually means?? And if they see one and think, "I wonder what that is" then that should be a prompt to go way and look these things up.
(Then they wouldn't get a refresher and a bill from the council...).
Graduated driving licences would be a good start, but that idea has been scrapped:
https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/learning-to-drive/graduated-driving-l...
Something like the Driver Skills Scheme (but not just for old people) could be a cost effective way of assessing driving skill:
https://www.hants.gov.uk/transport/roadsafety/drivertraining/driverskills
Perhaps everyone should be made to have one when they renew their driving licence (i.e. every 10 years).
I'd like to see mandatory eye tests every 10 years (at the absolute minimum) too.
A quick refresher on the theory at renewal wouldn't be too much to ask, would it.
At least it would mean rereading the HC and noticing the updates.
Speaking as someone who got 48 out of 50, doing a mock test a while back, and never driven.
One of the two was about using your horn to make a driver reversing out of a drive, aware of you...
That would at least be every 10 years with the photo id ones.
More war on the motorist to add to your first post.
Hadn't thought of that. Assuming they were in something bigger than a Ka what about singing the first line of one of Sir Mixalot's popular ditties as loud as you can while pointing at the boot of their car? Was that the right answer?
Thanks, not come across those 2 before.
"Good news for new drivers" — an idea that might stop them killing themselves and others has been scrapped.
Motoring organisations are death cults.
The AA (and Edmund King in particular) seem a lot better than the RAC. But yeah, not sure how anyone can say it is good news. It reminds me of the headlines you see in the red tops 'Drivers could be £x00(0) for <blah>' where '<blah>' is either something that could get someone killed or something that is not illegal at all*
* latest example was how people could be fined for not running their AC at all times - because not running the AC == car being poorly ventilated, which increases CO2 levels in the cabin and can cause drowsiness. 1. AC isn't the only way to ventilate a vehicle. 2. Before you start feeling the effects of drowsiness due to solely the poor ventilation, your windscreen will probably fog up. 3. If you do happen to feel drop off at the wheel, a fine is the least of your worries.
Low bar, seeing as the RAC is essentially the ABD with royal approval.
I dimly recall at least one post-WW2 UK government deciding to ignore their advice on transport issues as they were blindingly obvious loons. Nothing's changed.
Hey, this lot thought it would be a way for hard working family to save a bit of money in this cost of living crisis to lessen the requirement to or an MOT to every 2 years...
The MOT "savings" is £55 once every two years if movesd. So it would only potentially be costly if the MOT failed. And if it failed the car is not roadworthy anyway.
However most people also do a Service of the car at the same time. So if they skip the one, they skip the other so the wear and tear get worse and more chance of a mechanical failure and extra costs.
Still as with the energy
rebateloan that you have to pay back next year, even if you were living elsewhere and didn't get one this year, it looks like they are looking after us on paper, and that is what they can brag about. That and that the PM gets flustered if he sees a lady in a dress opposite him.Weirdly, when Angela did PMQs because Kier had COVID, twice, the dispatch boxes would be in the way of her legs, and he really couldn't handle her. He has figured out ways to get around the forensic and precise former DPP, but strong women...
Tiny savings on MOT cost, maintaining the vehicle is the real expence, and that should not stop. Especially if the vehicle stops being roadworthy.
Isn't his ways just to lie, go blah blah blah not listening, or promote stupid conspiracy theories about Jimmy Saville, something even some of his own people resigned over.
It has often been said that we slavishly follow the USA in most things. That certainly has a ring of truth about it when you consider that, with millions of citizens to choose from, both nations have leaders and opposition leaders of such disappointing quality.
Perhaps it's time for a benevolent, cycling dictatorship.
You certainly don't want a non-benevolent cycling dictatorship.