[Richard_pics]

Well a controversial little post, but ill put it out there.

During my past 6 years of cycling on the road i have observed that the worst makes car drivers are in reverse order.

3rd – BMW – 50/50 knob head/arrogance
2nd – Audi – Rude, Impatient, God Complex, General Wanker
1st – Peugeot – Utterly Shite at Driving, Zero road sense/spacial awareness. No road craft or any idea how to act around anything, let alone cyclists.

Sub areas:
Taxi Drivers – Worst “Professional” drivers going.
Courier drivers (mainly white van ones) – I know these guys are on piece pay, but there are other road users.
Police cars – Similar to Audi drivers. (although i know ill need the help of these guys one day – hopefully not soon!)
Anyone driving with a Hat on, or in the vicinity of the vehicle. – My Driving instructor always said to watch out for said “Mad Hatters” and its saved me countless accidents – Not sure why, but the hat seems to suck out driving ability!

So, to wrap it up – Its an angry post. Sorry!

Comment as you will. Agree/Disagree, Argue your point across.

As you were.

Topic

[srchar]

“You OK hun” says the bloke

“You OK hun” says the bloke who posted an epic whinge, asked “agree/disagree” and is now butthurt that he wasn’t posting into an echo chamber?

Not that it matters, but: Golf, plus some track toys.

[Richard_pics]

You ok Hun?
You ok Hun?

Yeah, you’re spot on to all of those things.

What do you drive? An Audi Q7?

[srchar]

I like riding and messing

I like riding and messing with my bikes too. And like driving and messing with my cars, one of which is currently sitting in the garage with its engine and rear suspension next to it and none of which wear badges with four rings or  the colours of the Bavarian flag.

[David9694]

I’m not the OP but, nope – I

I’m not the OP but, nope – I have no aspirational interest in marques of cars. I like riding my bikes and messing with my bikes. At a practical level, I might use car identities to assess likely driver behaviour/ competence, preferably before it happens/affects me.  

I do have a car, but it’s not especially important to me e.g. as part of my identity.  From A to B, is all.  
 
Usually around now a cyclist Audi or BMW driver pops-up and makes his pitch. C’mon, We’re waiting. 
 
An irrelevant common denominator – like being held to be a red light running, pavement riding, pensioner knocking over, Lycra-clad cyclist?  There is a no stereotyping high ground approach one can take, I accept that – but we all need a bit of cheering-up some times.  Eh? Eh? Go on, g’is a grin…

[srchar]

Worst forum posts are?

Worst forum posts are?

– Those where an attempt is made to categorise whole swathes of individuals based on an irrelevant common denominator.

To wrap it up, you’re jealous of BMW and Audi drivers, feel superior to Peugeot drivers, and are scared of the police and builders.

[Anonymous]

Tom_77 wrote:

Generally BMWs are only slightly worse than average. White BMWs are the 2nd worst, beaten only by Grey Lexuses (Lexi?).

Some fascinating stats there. What is it about grey Suzukis and white Daihatsus that make them so different to the other colours?

[David9694]

Marauder, Barbarian, or

Marauder, Barbarian, or Defender even. Look at me, I’m a tarmac Davy Crockett, I’m both Duke boys, a lone wolf sub-urban cowboy, a modern day Mad Max – on my way to Asda and B&M, where I’ll wonder why I find it so difficult to park. I won’t be coming in the store.  Damn – I forgot to hang my arm out of the window for all of thirty seconds there.

Lovely to know that it’s safety first, with these things. More unpleasant and unnecessary (it’s Berkshire, not Utah) than downright dangerous, though?

On the league table, whatever happened to the sedate pipe smoking, leather elbow patches wearing Volvo driver? The one Who did most of the teaching in my senior school? 

[PRSboy]

Problem is, we all become

Problem is, we all become subject to our own confirmation biases. 

No 1 for me are large pick-up trucks with some silly name like Amarok, Ram or Animal.

 

[David9694]

You give me such an easy ride

You give me such an easy ride. 

this echo-chamber is checked regularly by our staff (date/time /initials) 

[Tom_77]

This data is taken from an

This data is taken from an insurance database and shows the percentages of drivers who had an accident in the previous 5 years vs the car the drive. It’s about 10 years old.

Generally BMWs are only slightly worse than average. White BMWs are the 2nd worst, beaten only by Grey Lexuses (Lexi?).

 

[phaeton68]

it isn’t the brand or series

it isn’t the brand or series of car but where it sits in the range and hierarchy. I’m  frequently blasted toward a verge/kerb by M140i drivers or similar, than I am 1 Series  in general.  Narrowing it down… anything lower range (read 1,2,3,4,A,B,C)  and AMG, RS, F or M badged will often fly by closely at high speed which i can only assume is because they have an urgent appointment to burn rubber in a fast food outlet or supermarket car park.  French car drivers are probably distracted by wondering what that noise is and whether they’ll get home without roadside assistance.   And the Korean brands.. often and most scarily driven by people who give you loads of space but don’t change down a gear and chug past slowly as you pray to not witness a head on collision at close quarters.  All in my experience of course – other brands of crap driving are widely available too.  (So says the driver of a ‘proper’ BMW.) 

[Richard_pics]

David9694 wrote:

yes, the wannabe cars are a particular problem – e.g. the littler Discovery model for those who couldn’t afford the one the size of a van. 

Comes down to distinguishing between aggression (“I’ve got things to prove”) and incompetence (”           “) Nope, nothing going on in there at all.

They are both dangerous and annoying in their different ways.  Not sure about your sub-areas, but the hat thing is spot-on – cloth cap, as my father used to say.

Your Peugeot could of course be a lot of different makes – the car is usually 05 or older, nondescript with an air of neglect about it and at least one lamp out.

The vital thing to remember with these drivers – you can test this multiple ways when you’re out and about – is that these are are people who can process one piece of information about the road conditions roughly every three seconds – if you’re cycling, you’re processing several pieces almost continuously to stay alive and upright. “What’s my assessment of the car I can hear coming up behind me? What’s the nose of that car in that side road going to do next? Oh watch out, the car in front has just seen his mate walking on the pavement.” Etc. 

A couple good ways to spot a “Peugeot” by car  – one is to follow them down an A or B road with villages every few miles – variant (a) does 45 mph in all conditions and speed limits; variant (b) drives on his brakes – he comes to a bend or meets another car – he brakes. As you say, these are people who cannot judge speed or distance. 
Look also for the dog roaming loose on the back seat.
Another way is at busy roundabouts and junctions – watch them miss three decent opportunities to move off safely, then they get flustered and then go when they shouldn’t.  
 

 

Preaching to the converted sista! 

[David9694]

yes, the wannabe cars are a

yes, the wannabe cars are a particular problem – e.g. the littler Discovery model for those who couldn’t afford the one the size of a van. 

Comes down to distinguishing between aggression (“I’ve got things to prove”) and incompetence (”           “) Nope, nothing going on in there at all.

They are both dangerous and annoying in their different ways.  Not sure about your sub-areas, but the hat thing is spot-on – cloth cap, as my father used to say.

Your Peugeot could of course be a lot of different makes – the car is usually 05 or older, nondescript with an air of neglect about it and at least one lamp out.

The vital thing to remember with these drivers – you can test this multiple ways when you’re out and about – is that these are are people who can process one piece of information about the road conditions roughly every three seconds – if you’re cycling, you’re processing several pieces almost continuously to stay alive and upright. “What’s my assessment of the car I can hear coming up behind me? What’s the nose of that car in that side road going to do next? Oh watch out, the car in front has just seen his mate walking on the pavement.” Etc. 

A couple good ways to spot a “Peugeot” by car  – one is to follow them down an A or B road with villages every few miles – variant (a) does 45 mph in all conditions and speed limits; variant (b) drives on his brakes – he comes to a bend or meets another car – he brakes. As you say, these are people who cannot judge speed or distance. 
Look also for the dog roaming loose on the back seat.
Another way is at busy roundabouts and junctions – watch them miss three decent opportunities to move off safely, then they get flustered and then go when they shouldn’t.  
 

[Richard_pics]

Sriracha wrote:

Sriracha wrote:

My analysis is that being able to afford only the pretend version of a BMW they have to go that bit harder to prove their formula 1 credentials – kind of a “small man syndrome” for cars. T.

 

I have berated people for not being able to afford a proper car – Like the BMW X3, or Audi Q5. It really winds them up!

[Sriracha]

I think your data lacks
I think your data lacks granularity. I’ve narrowed it down to BMW Series 1 drivers specifically. My analysis is that being able to afford only the pretend version of a BMW they have to go that bit harder to prove their formula 1 credentials – kind of a “small man syndrome” for cars. That, and they tend to be younger than those who can afford a proper BMW.

[Author]

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