Category - Bad Drivers

Tailgating And Middle Lane Hogging Update

04/10/2015

This story was published in June 2013. I’ve updated it because of some recent activity involving the registration number MAF1E.

I only reported this a few days ago, but The Sun is in on the act now. Surprisingly, The Sun story is actually more accurate than all the others. The Sun article carries this graphic, which is quite useful.

The Sun - Road Hogs Graphic

Although it focuses on middle-lane hogs in the text (like everyone else does), the graphic makes it clear that the following examples of careless driving would also be included in the new legislation:

bad lane discipline (which includes middle-lane hogging)
tailgating
not giving way at junctions
wheel-spins and handbrake turns
wrong lane on roundabout
inappropriate speed
overtaking and queue-jumping
ignoring “lane closed” signs

Also, and in spite of what some of the other stories reported or implied, the changes do not specifically apply to motorways. They will apply to all roads.

The term “careless driving” encompasses “driving without due care and attention”. The definition is quite wide, but in a nutshell you’d be guilty of driving without due care and attention if the care and skills you demonstrated in an incident were less than that which could have been expected of a reasonable, prudent, and competent driver.

The media stories give the impression that someone somewhere has specifically decided to crack down on tailgating and lane-hogging (these feature in just about every media survey of peoples’ pet hates). In fact, what they have actually decided is that getting too close to the vehicle in front and poor lane discipline – both of which you could still be prosecuted for even now – will become manageable by FPNs. That’s where the police can slap you with a fine and 3 points by the roadside. Poor lane discipline in particular covers more than just middle-lane hogging.

And it isn’t just those two things that will be included, either. People who drive dangerously through inattention, or just because they’re bad drivers, are also potentially walking a tightrope. Personally, I’ve lost count of the number of people who habitually get into the wrong lane at roundabouts and then – deliberately or otherwise – try to move across while they’re on it. Or those who cannot stay in position and cut across you (that’s an almost guaranteed test fail, and Mafie (reg. no. MAF1E, or MAF 1E) in her big-ass 4×4 on the Ring Road on Sunday should bear this in mind in future – not to mention what constitutes an illegal number plate).

Pulling out of junctions without looking properly is also on the hit list, as is showing off and driving too slowly.

Edit: Worth pointing out that I saw Mafie up to her old tricks again a few days ago (July 2013). She was on Bobbers Mill Road trying to do a U-turn across four lanes of traffic using a junction on the opposite side of the road to where she was. Absolutely no consideration for anyone except herself. She could easily have driven a few hundred metres and turned around safely – and much more quickly. This woman is incapable of driving safely – let alone of safely driving a huge 4×4.

Edit: Someone has recently (October 2015) been searching for “number plates” and “maf1e”. I did a quick check on Google to see what “maf1e” brings up and that registration number appears to be quite mobile. Someone posted a photo of a BMW X6 on a website which is similar to my Hall of Shame, with a badly parked BMW X6 in Southampton. Here it is.

To be honest, I can’t remember what model the 4×4 was in Nottingham, but it could have been an X6.

Then it gets even more curious. Apparently, there is a Rolls Royce Wraith with the registration number MAF 1E. Here’s that, dated 2012.

I’d love to know how this works. You see, as far as I know you can only use a given number plate – like MAF1E – on one specific vehicle. You can transfer it, of course, but not immediately (it takes between 4 days and six weeks, and involves changes to paperwork).

At the moment, assuming that the MAF1E I’ve seen screwing up (twice in 2013) is not the same MAF1E seen in Southampton (in 2011), the Rolls Royce (2012) and the Nottingham MAF1E appear to be driving around with the same plate – at the same time.

It’s possible that the 2011 4×4 sold its plates to the Rolls Royce in 2012, then he subsequently sold them again in 2013. In fact, as I write this, MAF1E is available to buy for about £5,400. Maybe the rich and stupid really do move these things around every few months.

Quad Bike Crash

29/09/2015

DOAADI

Bad Drivers, News

Most people will have heard about the quad bike accident in Yorkshire a couple of days ago. The level of media attention has been accelerated by the revelation that these were four “young people” between the ages of 16 and 20 who were “celebrating the birthday of the youngest victim”.

Much has also been made of the fact that a sports car was involved, and that two men were arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving (they have finally been released on bail). Somewhat less has been made of this:

West Yorkshire Police said the quad bike was unregistered…

“Unregistered” means “no insurance” and “illegal”. And all the other things that such words imply.

I’m on very delicate ground here, but I wonder if I’m really the only one out here who – when I see yet another Instagram photo of a doe-eyed pouting teen who has died – immediately sees through it and thinks “quad bike… unlicensed… fast road… birthday party… four people on it”?

The kind of quad bike I see around this way is usually a rust bucket. It is invariably being driven somewhere like Strelley or Bilborough, sounds like it’s going to explode, and – in absolutely every case – is being driven by someone who (along with his parents) should have been locked away years ago as a precautionary measure, and in a manner which just proves the point. Often, there will be two people on it – that’s the maximum number who can physically fit on the seat (four-seaters have roll bars and are more like dune buggies). Neither will be wearing crash helmets, though both will be wearing parkas or hoodies – and quite possibly some sort of mask in order to hide their features. The people who buy them do so in order to flout the Law, because they have no regard for the Law.

That’s down this way, though. Maybe it’s different up in Leeds.

Essex Parking Wardens

25/09/2015

DOAADI

Bad Drivers, News, Transport

I love this story. It seems that from Monday, teachers and parents outside Essex schools will be able to act as traffic wardens with the power to issue tickets. In what must rank as one of the greatest understatements of all time, a teaching union has warned:

…it could create conflict between staff and some parents.

I’ve mentioned this story before, but when I was working on tech support we dealt with calls from all over the country – sometimes, even from outside the UK. I think I can safely say that callers from Essex were generally the most obnoxious and aggressive of the lot. In one particular case, just after we’d had a new phone system installed which didn’t work too well, I answered one particular call with my usual cheery greeting, only to be answered with a tirade of abuse about how long he’d been waiting (a ridiculous 90 minutes). I explained that I understood his frustration and apologised to him, but I explained we had a new call handling system which had a few teething troubles that were outside the control of the support agents. His response was “don’t give me that”, and he went off again in his crass Ilford accent. I just said: “OK. You can wait another 90 minutes” and hung up.

There’s a pretty good chance this guy – and plenty of others like him – turning up in their Chelsea tractors and parking wherever they damn well like (which is why this is happening in Essex in the first place) will not take that kindly to having their crassness highlighted by others.

Thurrock council has a rose-tinted view of the potential problems:

We have teachers, parents and residents telling us time and again about frighteningly dangerous parking outside schools, but we don’t have the money to have an army of traffic wardens.

There are teachers and head teachers who try to marshal the traffic already and what they’ve said to us is that if they have the authority to issue a ticket, it’s another weapon in their armoury.

I think we will get volunteers because issuing a ticket will be the last resort – it’s about talking and cajoling people to change their behaviour and I would be delighted if we never issue a single ticket.

What planet is this moron from? It’s Essex, with Essex mothers (and fathers) involved. The problem is so widespread that they have teachers, parents, and residents reporting serious parking problems ”time and again”. And he hopes that “talking and cajoling” will avoid the need to issue “a single ticket”? Why doesn’t HE sort it out instead of leaving it to the teachers? It’s his bloody job to handle it.

I wonder if I could get good odds on predicting when the first physical conflict will place?

Only in Manchester

19/09/2015

DOAADI

Assholes, Bad Drivers, News

Police are going to prosecute dozens of drivers who drove the wrong way on the M60 slip road near Sale in Greater Manchester.

On the other hand, ITV reports that they AREN’T being prosecuted.

It’s sufficient to point out that they are all twats, and the fact that it happened in Manchester totally fits in with a police spokesman’s comment:

The laws of the road are there for a reason, which is to protect motorists and people need to realise that they cannot do what they want, when they want.

That last line sums up the problem with our roads today.

Interpreter On Driving Test

18/08/2015

DOAADI

ADI, Bad Drivers, Driving Tests, DVSA

Completely rewritten in August 2015 due to further hits. Original article from 2010, and updated in 2012.

In late 2011 it was announced that there were plans to scrap tests where candidates cannot speak English. From 7 April 2014 this came into effect, and it is now no longer possible to have an interpreter on the Theory Test, nor will there be the provision of voiceovers. Tests will have to be conducted in plain English (or Welsh, or British Sign Language). Interpreters are also no longer allowed on the Practical Test.

I get quite a few hits on the search term “dsa [or dvsa] changes to interpreter” or something similar. I also get quite a few hits from people searching for information about having an interpreter with them on their driving test.

Note that at the time of writing, in Northern Ireland, it IS still possible to use an interpreter, and voiceovers in multiple languages are still provided on the Theory Test. In the UK mainland, you cannot.

My main concern over translated tests has always been the elevated risk of cheating. I know this is a taboo subject, but like it or not those people most likely to want to use an interpreter are frequently the ones most desperate to get a driving licence – whatever it takes. Interpreters tended to come from within their own communities and many of them created lucrative businesses out of it. Unfortunately, for cultural reasons which are even more taboo, fraud and deception easily crept in.

Don’t shoot me (especially that crazy woman from Manchester). I’m just the messenger. Those linguistic options have been removed is for precisely the reasons I have given. The government spokesman said:

It will also help us to reduce the risk of fraud by stopping interpreters from indicating the correct answers to theory test questions.

You wouldn’t believe how often I get people coming to the blog on the search term “how to bribe driving examiner”. Cheating and fraud is only held in check by how much money those assisting in it are prepared to charge for it.

As I’ve mentioned in another article, I once had a Chinese girl who spoke very little English. One time she didn’t see a 30mph limit sign because – as she explained to me herself (and it took a lot of effort to get it out of her with the language problems) – when she panicked she “only saw things only in Chinese!” That’s obviously a major problem, and it would apply to anyone who didn’t speak English – and more so to those whose first language doesn’t use the Western alphabet.

How do I become an official DSA [DVSA] interpreter?

Someone found the blog on that exact term. You can’t be an official DVSA interpreter, because there’s no such thing. There never was.

Know Your Road Signs (Motorcyclists Only)

25/06/2015

DOAADI

ADI, Bad Drivers, Funny

When leaving a village or entering a village how do i know what speed to go on a motorbike?

Someone came to the blog via that exact search term! Is it any wonder the country is in such a mess as far as driver attitudes go?

Diary of an ADI doesn’t even appear in the first 20 pages on Google for that term (that was where I gave up), so you have to admire the tenacity of whoever it was in their quest to find the answer.

In the UK, we have this little booklet, which is known as “The Highway Code”. Somewhere at the back are some pictures of things called “road signs”, and it is the usual custom to affix them to lampposts or other upright structures in order to inform road users of trivial details like imminent hazards and speed limits.

The little booklet is aimed at all road users.

To be honest, I was rather surprised that a motorcyclist should ask this, since most of them treat speed limits as advisory guidance, i.e. the speed to go at if there is a speed camera present.

So, to answer the question: as you enter the village there is most likely a round sign like the one shown above with “30” written on it. The “30” translates to the number “thirty”, and it refers to the number of miles per hour you are not allowed to exceed. If you look at those dials on your handlebars you might notice that one of them also has a “30” on it (it’s right near the bottom, so you may not have noticed it before), and this is your “miles per hour” dial. The little pointy thing that moves when you accelerate or decelerate should be on or below that as you enter the village, and it should not go above at any point.

When you leave the village, the chances are that you will see another sign. This one is harder to understand because it doesn’t have anything written on it, but instead consists of a white circle with a black diagonal stripe. It means that the national speed limit (NSL) applies, and this is “60” (or sixty) miles per hour on single carriageway roads, and “70” (or seventy) miles per hour on dual carriageways. A “dual carriageway” is a big road with a solid barrier between your side and the side where traffic is going the opposite way. Look closely and you will notice the dial on your motorcycle also has a “70” on it. It’s a bit higher than the “30”, but still far enough down from the biggest number that you might have previously overlooked it.

If at any point you don’t know what the speed limit is – after all, it is difficult to spot these things when you are trying not to fall off on a corner – then you should assume it is “30” until you do.

Note also that some signs have “20” (twenty), “40” (forty), or “50” (fifty) on them. These numbers also appear on your motorcycle’s dial somewhere. The speed limit in a village isn’t automatically “30” every time (it could be higher or lower), nor does it necessarily go up to NSL (it could be lower) as you leave the village. This is why those little signs are so useful.

Well, That Showed Everyone What a Prat You Are

20/06/2015

DOAADI

Bad Drivers

I saw something funny today. I was driving incognito – taking my dad’s car home from the garage – and was leaving the Victoria Retail Park in Netherfield. There are four lanes at this junction, and I was in the one marked for Arnold and Carlton.

As the lights changed, a blue Renault Clio (reg. no. YF53 UVU) did the stereotypical boy racer thing and zipped up fast in an inside lane, then cut sharply across into the Arnold/Carlton lane on the bend right in the middle of the junction. This stupid (and illegal) behaviour didn’t get him very far, because even though he sped off at considerably more than the speed limit, jerking his car all over the road, I caught up with him at the first set of lights at the bottom end of Carlton. He sped off again – still ignoring the speed limits and jerking side to side – and I caught up with him again at the top of Arnold Lane and the junction with Plains Road.

I took a glance over and saw that he was an ugly little spud – typical boy racer with thick black hair, closely cropped, and just one eyebrow, with a typical chav girlfriend of similarly bestial appearance sitting alongside. A driving school car pulled up behind them and he said something to his girlfriend. They both looked round and found something amusing. But then the lights changed and he stalled badly, rolled back, then had a job getting moving again.

The last I saw of him, he was speeding off towards Arnold – again, considerably in excess of the speed limit. The driving school car had no such problem moving off on the hill, and I’m sure the instructor would have been happy to give some additional lessons to this cretin, who was obviously in need of them.

I know you shouldn’t laugh at other peoples’ misfortunes, but I have to confess I did choke a little. It amazes me that these people think they’re so good when they obviously aren’t. It amazes me even more that their girlfriends – the ones who will most likely die when the zit-faced driver eventually wraps themselves around a tree – can’t see it, and actually seem impressed by it.

A14 Rubberneckers To Get Points And Fine

29/05/2015

DOAADI

Bad Drivers, News

There was a major crash on the A14 in Cambridgeshire yesterday involving four lorries. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured – though one driver had to be cut free from his cab.

The best part of the story by far is that a police officer on the scene saw drivers using their mobiles to photograph and film the carnage as they drove by. Several were observed to swerve as they lost control. So he noted their registration numbers, and twenty of them will now receive 3 points and a £100 fine through the post. If any of the cases go to court – if the drivers contested the fines, for example – then they could face up to 9 points and a £5,000 fine.

Even the 3 points could take some of them over the limit and into a ban if they already have points on their licences.

Sometimes the Law almost gets it right. Mind you, even if the points take some of them over the limit for a ban, I bet some will avoid losing their licences because “their jobs depend on it”.

Addil Haroon Jailed For 6 Years

29/05/2015

DOAADI

Bad Drivers, News

A contender for the 2015 Darwin Awards, Addil Haroon, 18, had no licence, no insurance, and no car (the Audi he was in was hired in someone else’s name). He had photographed the speedo while he was driving at 140mph the day before he sped through a red traffic light at high speed and ploughed into another Audi. This picture shows what he achieved.

He boasted on social media about his speed:

Leeds to Rochdale in 11 minutes. Catch me.

Beat this Leeds to Rochdale in 11 minutes. I beat the f****** s*** out of that last night. No mercy.

He was seen doing 80mph in a 20mph zone just before the accident, in which he sliced another Audi in two killing Joseph Brown-Lartey, 24, instantly.

Scumbag, Haroon, was jailed for six years and also banned from driving for six years (though knowing British Law, those two probably run concurrently, so when he gets out in four years he’ll only have to wait for two more before he is legally allowed back on the road). Everything that was said in court points to him being a stereotypical prick.

Unfortunately, the wrong man was removed from the gene pool.

Judging from the number of hits this has received in less than 24 hours – and where they are from – it seems Haroon has a lot of friends out there.

Dangerous Van Driver SG57 UCD

09/04/2015

DOAADI

Bad Drivers

Another one that annoys me. I was just finishing a lesson with a pupil and we were turning left on to Bluecoat Street from Huntingdon Street. We’d already had one white van cut us up within the last few metres.

Anyway, we were waiting second in the queue, and as we moved off at the lights this prick in one of those crappy white vans with windows – reg. no. SG57 UCD – just flung himself across in front of us. He then drove off at significant speed in 20mph zones (doing at least 35mph), and since people like this often have more than one skeleton in their closet, maybe the police might want a word with him. It would be nice to think they’d pull him over on a regular basis just to keep him on his toes, but you can only live in hope!