Safe Speed Forums

This is a list of some of my pet hates, irritations, and observations in relation to driving/riding in no particular order of importance or frequency.

1. Inappropriate speed for the road conditions. (Well I had to put this first considering the forum that this will be posted on). This includes both too fast and too slow. And the HGV's limited to 40.

2. Missing brake lights. This appears to me to becoming more frequent. Usually only one is missing but I have on recently seen two out of three.

3. Not indicating when turning left. I see a lot of this in urban driving.

4. The Manoeuvre, Signal and then Look cult that seems to have taken over on most of the UK's motorways.

5. Tailgating - already covered extensively elsewhere on these boards.

6. Rear fog lights left on. Some people never seem to turn these off.

7. Cyclists that jump the lights. This is very common in Central London.

8. When I am riding my motor cycle and closing in preparation to overtake the car in front and the driver moves over into the gutter and indicators left. I have to be a mind reader, are they indicating to turn left? In which case they will most likely swerve out right to make the turn. Are they pulling over to stop? Are they making room for me to pass? If the last, OK pull over a bit don't put your tyres in the gutter as you may well damage them and it kicks the rubbish up behind the car. Let me chose the place to overtake. I have a much better idea about the capabilities of my bike and riding ability than they can possibly have.

9. Full beam headlights that are not dipped for approaching traffic. This seems to be more common when I'm on the bike.

10. The scooter boys tribe. I will try to explain. Since the motor scooters have become more popular they seem to have attracted a number of young lads who, de-restrict the engines knock holes in the exhausts, ride around using the throttle as an on off switch. They ignore the Highway Code and seem to think that they are immortal as they take insane risks.

11. Pizza delivery scooters / bikes - time = money = lots of risk = lots of accidents.

12. White van man he is a stereotype but he does exist.


I will leave it at a dozen I'm sure a could come up with 50.

But what are your pet hates?

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tanj There Ain't No Justice

My over-riding one, complementary to your hate of people not dipping headlights for oncoming traffic, is the leader on a single carriageway not putting lights on full to show those wanting to pass the road ahead.

Got a new one today!
Drivers who take the opportunity to que jump when you let emergency services through.

Happened in London yesterday and in Leicester today. You create a gap for a fire engine to get through a traffic jam and some a$$hole decides to try and follow it through.....

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Speed camera policy Kills

Ahh yes. They are called "dippies".

The best solution seems to be to find enough observation that you can pull out, then flick on your mainbeams for a look and pass if clear. If you get your position right - actually in his offside rear 3/4s blind spot - you can also avoid dazzling the dippy.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

So long as we all drive around with a slightly different persepctive on what constitutes good/safe/appropriate driving, there's always something each of us does that will piss soemone else off

This is interesting - I normally show a deliberate chink left and a single flash of the left indicator as a biker moves into an overtaking position. This indicates two important things:

1) I've seen him, and I undertsnd what he's likely to do next.

2) I'm going to allow the biker to pass before I resume overtaking.

One of the big threats to an overtaking motorcyclist is of course the vehicle he's overtaking being completely unaware of his presence and pulling out while he's passing. I rate this sort of communication and co-operation as highly benefical. The vast majory of bikers give a nice little wave after passing.

Would you seriously rather pass a car driver when you can't be sure if he's seen you or not?

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Overtaking a car and wondering whether he has seen you or not is one of my biggest worries on the bike. I'd much sooner he/she acknowledges your presence with a move left and/or indicator - its usually quite obvious what the meaning of the signal is.

Equally obvious is the motive of the small minded pedant who moves right just to try and prevent you from using an overtake opportunity that they could'nt take advantage of in their car They are out their believe me.

I'm one of those truck drivers limited to 40mph.
I will not actively encourage a car driver to overtake me, but will passively.
Let me explain, if I can see there is no safe place to pass me, I will indicate right and move out to near the white line, that is active to say not safe.
However, when I can see it is safe, I will move over to the left to give the car driver as much seeable road as possible and give them the best chance to overtake safely.
I think a lot of truck drivers a doing this as more and more car drivers seem to be taking notice of our actions by not trying to overtake, and when they do overtake, by thaking us by use of indicators or a wave.
Unfortunately, there are some car drivers, that despite obvious attempts to indicate safe/not safe, will still try and overtake, or take all day overtaking us, some need to learn that the accelerator doesn't break if you press down hard.

Some years back I was driving a hire car, a Renault, I was in the middle of an overtake, and the rev limiter cut in, nice, I didn't know one was fitted, cheers renault, nearly got me in trouble.

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Semper in excreta, nur quantitat variat.

One of my pet hates at the moment is, in congested conditions on the motorway, the drivers who will dive into any space that opens up to the left or right of more than about three car lengths.

Obviously they're not looking ahead properly as very often, two hundred yards further along, the lane they have left will be flowing while the lane they have just entered is at a standstill.

This also often causes a chain reaction of braking back down the lane they have entered and overall must significantly add to rush-hour congested.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

SafeSpeed wrote


A single flash of the indicator is OK, and a move to the left is good, though please do not put your wheels in the gutter as that is where the road debris accumulates this can damage your tyres. What annoys me is on the narrow roads where even if they bounce of the kerbs and start to demolish the hedges there is no room to overtake into oncoming traffic. Yet they expect me to try to squeeze through in a risky overtake. Some times they slow down as well.

I do try to give a wave on the way past if the driver has seen me and moved over, to acknowlege the good observation and help.

There are the idiots who try to block you or weave about the lane.

Also I'm not having a go at the HGV's driving at 40 just the stupidity of the law and it's consequences.

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tanj There Ain't No Justice

I've really grown to like bikers over the last few years. I always move over when they want to overtake, and I almost always get a thank-you wave since they're mostly a courteous bunch. I try to move left (never bothered signalling) as the biker begins to overtake the vehicle behind me. If they're able to do that there's a good chance they'll be able to carry on and overtake me as well. If they slot in behind me I take it as meaning they don't want to overtake yet, so I move back and keep an eye out for their signal.

But I can see why ped gets annoyed at someone who drives in the gutter flinging crap up at the biker behind him who's judged it unsafe to overtake right away. Doubly annoying since the driver has the right idea but just hasn't thought it all the way through . Maybe this is something else for a hypothetical future new and improved L test. The first rule they should learn is "do as you would be done by", followed by "this is what it's like for bikers, this is what it's like for HGV drivers" etc.

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Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Einstein

I have to put in a bit of a defence for car drivers here. Bike lights tend to be a little higher off the road and a level beam on a bike hits me right between the eyes. I have often flashed an oncomming bike assuming it is on high beam only to get a blinding reply because it was not. I know this can apply to cars as well but it seems more frequent on bikes.

Another annoyance. People who wait until you're ready to overtake them and then put their foot down. Had this earlier today. Following a slow Clio on a nice straight bit of road, saw a gap coming up in the oncoming traffic, got into a position to overtake just as we met the gap and the bloody pest suddenly accelerated right after my indicator went on. What on earth was the point? Closely related are the drivers who go just slow enough that you want to overtake, but just fast enough to make it a very iffy prospect.

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Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Einstein

Not just rear fog lights but front fog lights too. TURN THEM OFF IT'S NOT FOGGY! Sorry for the out burst.

Noisy exhausts too. Hey Mr Boy Racer would you like my tractor parked out side your house, on a dynometer, under full load for say 12 hours? No didn't think so, shut up then.

Picture the scene. Motorway. Roadworks. Contraflow. Signs saying so and asking you to merge in a mile or so. You do this and grid to a hault. Why? 'cos every tosspot and his dog is shotting down the last meters before the cones start and pushes in. Do you push in in front of me in the supermarket? No? didn't think so, so why do it on the road you git.

Fog lights has to be the main annoyance to me. I know it helps to spot the muppets but still!

Gatsobait described what I call 45mph drivers - those that do 40-50mph everywhere, in 30mph limits in NSL areas, slow enough in NSL areas to really hold you up and frustrate anyone in a hurry, but fast enough to make overtaking more hazardous than necessary.


Lack of indications at junctions, roundabouts.

Those and the general lack of good manners around (not just driving). Seems to be so many who rant and road rage at other people when it is themself in the wrong and others have done no wrong.

Not just brake lights but all lights. I put this one down to the missing trafpol who would in the past have had a friendly chat with the driver.


I really don't see why these are fitted as standard. For the 1 day every few years when theyare needed. In the days when you fitted a rear fog lamp yourself you only did so if you had an idea how and when to use it. Front fog lamps do not bother me providing they are adjusted correctly, some are actually preferable to the headlamps - 4x4s for instance where the main headlamps are so high they cause glare even on dipped beam.



Same here, even for a car driver there is always that hesitation while you decide do they really mean pass or are they turning left, or are they just lost. Especially with HGVs who will need to swing right first. I would much rather you just hold your line and maybe back off a little if you want to help me pass. If you need to indicate left then the person behind probably isnt going to go anyway. The only person who can make the decision to overtake is the person doing the overtake. Yes, you may be able to see over the brow of the hill but I'm not going to take the risk unless I can.

And if you are the person behind who is not going to pass then leave a gap so I can pass you and don't get in a mood just because soemone else actually knows how to use the whole of the road. Overtaking is not illegal (yet ). I never have a problem with people overtaking me providing they are actually driving faster than I am (yes it does happen, sometimes).

I will always allow a bike to pass but I will do nothing more than drop my speed by a few MPH or not accelerate as much or as rapidly as I would otherwise, its almost always all that is required.

As for white van man - give him a little credit he does have a better view of the road than most cars/bikes and usually has a reasonable ammount of performance/handling (on par with an average family car) so what appears to you to be lunacy might not seem so bad from his perspective. Though the fact that they are always under pressure to get more work done than is possible does encourage them to take risks.