What have people got against motorists?

[SpookyFrank]

Properly shouted at a driver for the first time in ages today. I was waiting behind him at a red light on a steepish hill, and when the light turn green he stalled his car and let it roll backwards a good ten feet, almost far enough to crush me against the car behind. Once he finally remembered that his car had brakes he stopped and just sat there flapping about and making no apparent effort to get his shit together and drive on.

'Learn to drive' was the best thing I could think of to shout at him as I went past.

 

[Winot]

But I do pay car tax - Mummy's Gone a Cycle

 

[BigTom]

I've been laughing hard at drivers around me for the last couple of days due to events at my local park and streets which are always heavily parked up anyway, drivers have been gridlocking themselves left right and centre, they are in such a rush to move forward they don't look and see that they are about to block traffic in the other direction and no-one came move anywhere ... except me on my bike
The double parking doesn't help either!
trololololol

 

[Orang Utan]

More proof of the turpitude of motorists:
Driver killed OAP cyclist then pretended to be innocent bystander

 

[bubblesmcgrath]

I developed really horrible depression and anxiety last year. If i didnt travel by car, i didnt travel, because I couldn't handle being around strangers well enough for public transport. Without my car I'd almost certainly have lost my job and any traces of social life.

It's just one example, but im a passionate driver. I'm about as un-petrolhead as it's possible to be, but I'd give up lots in life if i could keep having a car. It's my freedom and independence.

Can totally relate to this....
((Spanglechick))

 

[bemused]

More proof of the turpitude of motorists:
Driver killed OAP cyclist then pretended to be innocent bystander

How do these people think they won't be found?

 

[Winot]

Interesting stat from TFL about London road space. Disproportionate space given to journeys by private motor vehicles and taxis. Buses etc. short-changed.

 

[maomao]

Woman dies after being run over four times in south London

A woman has died after being run over and then hit by three more vehicles in a suspected multiple hit and run in south London, police said.

The woman, who is believed to be in her late 20s or early 30s, was struck by a lorry as she crossed the road at a pedestrian crossing in Tulse Hill just after 6.45am on Monday.

Police believe she was then struck by another lorry and two cars. None of the drivers stopped.

 

[twentythreedom]

Fucking hell, what is wrong with people

 

[Slo-mo]

I'm not sure this is quite the same thing. Most motorists, even the most selfish and entitled of them, don't deliberately use their car as a weapon to attack others.

 

[IC3D]

Saw a driver struggling on ice in their (I'm not going to gender them) enormous SUV Merc. 4wd not engaged (((Muswell Hill)))

 

[editor]

My pet hate: large queue of pedestrians waiting to cross the road while a stream of single occupant cars motor by.

 

[SaskiaJayne]

Saw a driver struggling on ice in their (I'm not going to gender them) enormous SUV Merc. 4wd not engaged (((Muswell Hill)))

SUVs with wide summer tyres are pretty useless in slippery conditions. The car you mention may not even have had four wheel drive. The cheaper versions of big tough looking SUVs are often 2wd. 4wd is extra cost option.

 

[Slo-mo]

SUVs with wide summer tyres are pretty useless in slippery conditions. The car you mention may not even have had four wheel drive. The cheaper versions of big tough looking SUVs are often 2wd. 4wd is extra cost option.

Which makes them pretty pointless. You might as well get an MPV or estate car.

 

[Slo-mo]

My pet hate: large queue of pedestrians waiting to cross the road while a stream of single occupant cars motor by.

I agree. I'm not sure what the solution is, though, apart from more zebra crossings.

 

[Saul Goodman]

My pet hate: large queue of pedestrians waiting to cross the road while a stream of single occupant cars motor by.

I wholeheartedly agree.
Just imagine how much easier and safer life would be if those pedestrians were occupying all those empty seats.

 

[editor]

I agree. I'm not sure what the solution is, though, apart from more zebra crossings.

Penalise single occupant car drivers?

 

[editor]

I wholeheartedly agree.
Just imagine how much easier and safer life would be if those pedestrians were occupying all those empty seats.

We want fewer people using cars, not more.

 

[Slo-mo]

Penalise single occupant car drivers?

Unworkable without serious big brother technology. Be very careful what you wish for.

 

[Saul Goodman]

We want fewer people using cars, not more.

I disagree. We want more people in the cars that are being used.

 

[editor]

I disagree. We want more people in the cars that are being used.

Nope. We need fewer cars, full stop. The roads are already over congested and creating unacceptable levels of pollution.

 

[Slo-mo]

Nope. We need fewer cars, full stop. The roads are already over congested and creating unacceptable levels of pollution.

The pollution issue is being addressed. Far, far too slowly, but it is being addressed.

I'm typing this on the bus, by the way.

 

[Slo-mo]

Can totally relate to this....

Yep, me too....

 

[editor]

Unworkable without serious big brother technology. Be very careful what you wish for.

They've already started:

Lessons from the fast lane: does this study prove car-pooling works?

 

[editor]

The pollution issue is being addressed. Far, far too slowly, but it is being addressed.

Oh is it? So can we all sit back and relax then?

Oh, wait, no. It's actually getting worse.

38,000 people a year die early because of diesel emissions testing failures

The truth of air pollution was just revealed. And it is horrifying

This year, air pollution levels in Brixton Road breached legal annual levels for NO2 pollution in the first few days of January. Readings taken in Brixton Road found levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), linked to nearly 5,900 early deaths a year, repeatedly breached the EU limit. [source]

Report: Lambeth is the second worst borough in London for air pollution

 

[DotCommunist]

Penalise single occupant car drivers?

 

[editor]

Damn straight! Get Adolf out of your car, FFS.

 

[DotCommunist]

Unworkable without serious big brother technology. Be very careful what you wish for.

once electric self driving technology comes of age the insurance companies will simply price 70% of people out of the owner driving game, they'll have to make do with track days. I expect to see hitherto unheard champions of anti-capitalism spitting blood about the evils of capitalist insurance companies then. I'm sure they'll still try to spin it as a lefty war on the motorist somehow tho...

 

[Slo-mo]

Oh is it? So can we all sit back and relax then?

I did say "far far too slowly" in fairness.

Want to do something? Try this for starters Have your say on changes to the Ultra Low Emission Zone and Low Emission Zone - Transport for London - Citizen Space

It's about extending the ULEZ emissions zone beyond just Central London right out to the south circular - i.e. to include Brixton. If I was you that would be the mast I'd be nailing my colours to.

Report: Lambeth is the second worst borough in London for air pollution

Meantime it'll be interesting to see if Lambeth does even *slightly* better this coming year? As the very worst offenders- the pre 2010 diesels-slowly, oh so slowly, work their way through the system and get fewer in number?

But this isn't just a London issue. The city where I work (and commute to on public transport) has some of the worst air quality outside the capital, and the car age profile is older than London, so the older diesels will linger longer.

Not that the cleanest car in the world will help congestion, but they will be less unpleasant to be around.

 

[SpookyFrank]

My pet hate: large queue of pedestrians waiting to cross the road while a stream of single occupant cars motor by.

The other day a car was stopped at a t junction, unable to pull out because someone else was turning in. I crossed the road in front of this car, but as soon as the other car was out of the way he started driving on. Even though I was right in front of him, not a metre from his front bumper. The fact that he considered himself entitled to drive on apparently trumped the fact that you're not allowed to run people over.

I did what I normally do in these situations which is to stop walking and stare directly at the driver until they fucking sort their ideas out and stop, in the hopes that this will encourage them to fucking wait next time someone is right in front of their car, but matey boy just keeps driving. He was clearly quite happy to just knock me down and go about his day.

Some people might say I had no right to walk in front of the car but this was a stretch of road where there's a T junction maybe every thirty yards, and you have to pass at least ten to walk quarter of a mile. If I had to wait at every junction, for cars that weren't even going anywhere but might decide to at some point, that would double my journey time. It's busy around there, you have to cross when you've got a chance. I fail to see why getting in a big metal box, making a lot of noise and spitting out toxic fumes suddenly makes you more important than other people, why others without noisy, ugly, poison-boxes have to give way to you in almost every situation. It comes down to violence at the end of the day, to the implicit threat of coming off far worse in any confrontation. That's the real source of a motorist's right to have pedestrians wait for them.