Safe Speed Forums

I live in Cornwall and do most of my driving on the peninsula. Except for the cities (Exter, Plymouth, and Truro) most drivers around me are courteous and considerate. However, during the holiday season things change as a new breed of driver invades the peninsula. This new breed can be agressive, rude, and the antics they get up to can be downright dangerous. They feature heavily in the news as "so and so from the South East" or "so and so from the Midlands" who was seriously injured in yet another RTC. While their driving style might work where they come from, it doesn't work where I live - where their behaviour is not expected.

In another thread, I noted that the majority of drivers who cut me up seem (from their registration numbers) to come from the South East. This suggests the stereotypical South-Easter is aggressive and rude. However, I suspect that those South-Easters would consider they only "get on with it" and would view the consideration and courtesy shown on the peninsula to be dithering and faffing about. In the same thread another poster suggested that Dorset drivers are ditherers, which lends some support to my theory.

So, what regional stereotypes does the panel have? Are regional stereotypes valid? Do you change your driving style to match the perceived stereotype of a region you're visiting - and how does recognising someone as being in the stereotyped group change your driving style?

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Will

I'm not so sure it's a regional stereotype as the difference between rural and major cities. When I drive in the largest cities (Birmingham , Manchester, London) I find that the driving 'style' is much more assertive and aggressive, and it takes me a while to adapt.
I'm assuming that (some of) those who live and drive those cities find it takes a while to adapt to a more leisurely drive

Yes, I think that's it. I lived and drove in London for the first 18 years of my driving career. Now I live in rural North Scotland (16 years).

But when I visit London or another big city, I change 'mode' in a heartbeat. It's still just as natural to drive in London traffic as it always was. Some part of me finds it more natural, and there's a feeling of 'coming home'.

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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

This is certainly something I have noticed. The areas have fuzzy borders so you can't say that just because you drive into a new county the style changes but here are a few:

Essex - Aggressive but usually considerate.

Suffolk/Norfolk - Slow, but we have silly 30mph limits everywhere.

Yorkshire - Fast regardless of conditions. M62 in the rain is awful.

Sussex - Selfish and aggressive with no concideration for anybody else. I find Sussex one of the most stressful places to drive.

Berkshire - You always get tailgated by a VW Golf no matter what speed you are going. They never overtake even if you keep slowing down so I have no idea why they get so close.

Hampshire - Deliberately obstructive, don't know what indicators are for. Don't get me started on Southampton taxi drivers!

Nonsense dear boy. Appropriate speeds throughout. It's just that the drivers are better.



Ah, you must be talking about the Lancashire bit. I can't vouch for that lot, they are a bit funny over there.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

And accross the Tees( to the north) - some funny practices with primate there , or so Mrs B tells me

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Ahh! You're talking about monkey hangers?

Here in Cumbria we have a good mix of locals, grockles and offcomers.
Locals are used to taking things easy - as long as you can keep up with the sheep you'll be fine.
But the others? Lunatics!! Well except for the rover driving flat capped incompetatnts!

Seriously though, the type of roads you encounter must have as much influence as the drivers. We commute at higher speeds than big cities, without the aid of motorways. A few try and push it too far, and take unnecessary risks with dodgy overtakes, on roads which dont lend themselves to anything other than waiting patiently for a decent (straight) bit of road.

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

Due to work movements, apart from South Cumbria, I've lived in Birmingham, Southend, Southport and now Leyland

Sarfend by far the most aggressive drivers, Southport the slowest (on average!) In my current role I drive around Leyland every day - yesterday I saw a DVLA APNR vehicle parked on the pavement...er isnt it illegal to drive over the pavement

Hippocrites, just like the Lancashire Pratnership....

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That's how Nazi Germany started. They'll be burning books next. (Brian Noble, Wigan coach - updated 20/4/06!!).

Perhaps it has more to do with them being on holiday than a particular driving style.

I regularly go to North Wales, where you find plenty of Mancs and Scousers in the holiday season. At the extreme ends there are two types:

1. The jet-ski / speedboat brigade, desperate to reach their destination so they can chop up children with their propellers. They are often a perfect bloody nuisance on the road.

2. Numpties on a leisurely weekend poodling along everywhere at 35mph enjoying the scenery. They can also be a PBN.

Put the two on the same road, light the blue touch paper...

M62 in the rain is a carpark.

Anyway, we are used to wet roads oop here.

I'll answere this question, after I have fed the whippet, the pidgeons and beaten the missis.

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Why not put on speed limiters we have the technology only idiots break the speed limit

Speaking as somebody who has just moved back to London from Devon via Leeds


Devon -
3 classes of driver, locals just get from A to B. Class I grockles, chavved up Nova 1.0 GTiTurboXRz that the sound system cost so much they cant afford to go to Ibiza. Natural habit the roadside hedge/ditch having just flown round the corner TFF on the wrong side. Class II grockles, retired GP in a rover, natural habitat exactly 40mph, through villages, along the dual carriageway, and especially on those little straight bits of NSL where locals know where to look ahead to judge incoming traffic for an overtake where the grockle immediately moves to the centre line so nobody can block his view (not that he actually knows you are there, he hasnt looked in his mirrors since 1972, its just instinct)

Leeds -
Phsychopathic Suicidal *&^*&^. If an indicator comes on it was a mistake, they were looking for the wiper switch.

London -
Has its own distinct "regional variations" Where I currently live there are an awful lot of Baltic States BMW/VW/Audis with windows blacker than my exhaust and a certainty no traffic offence that does not result in immediate arrest and refusal of bail will never amount to anything, then there are the chelsea tractors, the camden campers, brixton boomers, the list goes on!

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Yes its 4wheel drive, yes it goes where a vectra fears to roll!

I agree on the London variations. Something I've noticed is when approaching London by car is how the standard of motorway driving plummets as you get closer. Join an empty M1 at Chesterfield and it's pretty average; by the time you're within sniffing distance of the M25 you're starting to despair.

Do the stretch of the M1 from Junction 6A to Junction 1 and I can pretty much guarantee you'll encounter the following:

* a minicab sitting in the middle lane at 50mph;

* a Latvian-registered Mercedes M-Class with blacked-out windows undertaking everything at 120mph; and

* two girls smoking reefers in a Vauxhall Corsa with foglights on, which will sit on your tail irrespective of what speed you're doing and which lane you're in.


But not a single traffic cop.

But surely the "safety cameras" detect and prosecute all these things......don't they???

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Save a cow - eat a vegetarian

..

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Q. Are you a stupid fascist with limited reading skills or are you just a retard?

You know what they say:

"You can always tell a Yorkshireman, but you just can't tell him very much".

Ah Yorkshire! - the only place where pig-ignorance passes for character

Bah, you only jealous of our beer.

Nah - I like my bitter bitter not sweet! AND I like a full pint not an inch of head...

And, from still vivid but distant memory, Yorkshire girls are pretty fabulous as well!