Driving me nuts!

Ok, I've been driving since I passed my test first time on my 18th Birthday... that was over 9 years ago.

Ok, I'm not a "vet", but I'm no newbie.

In the last 9 years, driving has gone from freedom and a pleasent experience to sheer frustration and annoyance.

I only live 3.9 miles from where I work, and I've got a Tesco Extra store 1.6 miles from my house. Therefore I can do a awful lot of extremely short journeys, however nowadays you only have to be on the road for 2 minutes before you come across your first idiot.

Now, I am really trying to keep a cool head these days, finding if I let something really make me angry I'll suffer from ulcers, therefore I had to increase my fuse before going nuclear, however it's not easy when faced with the likes of these people (note, not an exhaustive list!):

Older, quite often female drivers who see nothing wrong with driving while just being able to see over the wheel, or in some cases they look THROUGH the wheel. How can they drive with due care and attention at that height? The seats ARE adjustable and you can use a cushion just like you do at home!

Boy/Girl racers, who treat house estates as race tracks, you're the ones driving dangerously and likely to kill someone, you're the ones the Police should be after, not fining someone for doing 35 in a 30 limit, snapped by a camera RIGHT after a roundabout on a mostly deserted industrial estate!

Slowpokes, in Horley (small town right beside Gatwick Airport), there is a particular set of traffic lights right by a bridge over the railway. Many of us turn right and go over the railway to get to the rest of Horley... the traffic light sequence for those turning right is approx. 10 seconds. While I realise there's a good chance some are not local to the area.. however at rush hour you'd expect them to be familiar with the route seeing as it is rush hour, most are travelling a standard route they often take. Surely this would be common knowledge by now to not fart around and get a move on, less only the first 3 vehicles get a go.

This can be said for a number of traffic lights, the "I'm alright Jack" mentality is as soon as you (the car at the front) are past the lights, foot comes off the accelerator and switch to dawdling mode. Oh what I would give to be able to fire a rocket launcher at the one in front at this point, and drive through the blaze left, just like in the movies.

Mandy/Mark no-manners, even if the obstruction in on the other person's side, I prefer to acknowledge them with a thank you, it's just the polite thing to do. Given the number of (mostly) white van men and woman drivers who plough through, regardless of the Highway code (yes there is the " didn't see you, now I'm commited argument, however that doesn't stop you pulling in at the next chance! Unless of course the person coming the other way is the berk and puts their foot down, not giving you the chance to get in, that also happens). We're ALL trying to get somewhere, well maybe not the "Oldies drivers", they do seem to be on the road aimlessly heading for nowhere in particular.

School run, which nowadays is a warzone or rough terrain exercise. Ok, if you have a tribe of offspring, the weekly shop may require something with more room than a Corsa, but really, these huge 4x4's are just rediculous, especially when the driver (typically female), believe it to be a close relative of a Army Tank, which gives them ownership of the road and everyone else must get out of their way. It's undeniably a far nicer journey to work, when the brats are off school, sadly this usually means the streets are far less safer, oh well you can't have it all, can you?

Road-side parking, even those with garages, park on the road... with no consideration if they're parking outside YOUR house, on YOUR side of the road, bad enough they don't keep the othe side clear for your driveway. I pray there's a small fire down the street, nothing serious, just enough to have a Fire Engine belt through and plough all the parked cars our the way, that'll make them think twice about leaving their cars there. Especially with NO consideration for anyone to actually be able to drive past them down the road... it IS a road afterall, not a car park!

Signals... every car has them (well, saying that, it looks like some car manufacturers are trying to phase them out, making them smaller and smaller, or sticking them in weird locations other drivers can't see them!), yet s few people use them... or what really aggrivates me, is the mindset of using the indicator RIGHT AS THEY'RE turning, almost as if for them to be able to turn the wheel fully, they must activate the indicator to be able to do it. That is NOT the reason for indicators, you're to use them BEFORE your manouver to alert other motorists and pedestrians. It's Mirror, Signal, Manouver NOT Signal+Manouver simultaneously!

On a similiar note, unless they're teaching something different, when approaching a roundabout you signal left on the approach if you're taking the first exit, you signal right if you're taking an exit which would cause you to go round the motorway by 90 degrees, i.e. if you're not going straight over/across the roundabout and by that I don't mean literally (though some idiots seem to do it, judging by the tire marks on the smaller roundabouts). Which, by the way, is extremely idiotic if it's a multi-lane roundabout (even just two lanes) and you're in the left lane, and then turn right/take the right-hand exit (whether there is a straight on exit or not). You are in the wrong lane and cutting people up, stop doing it!

There's a mini-ish roundabout near my house, I signal right and take the right-hand exit to go home, but many in front and behind, signal right and go straight across, what idiots! A pedistrian could see your signal, begin to walk across the road and be ploughed down by you!

Worst still, we can't rely on the authorties to be a good example, if it's not Police racing to clock off and smacking into a 4x4, it's the number of ambulances I've seen "sneak up" on motorists, waiting until they're behind you to activate their siren to scare the heck out of you, nearly causing an accident themselves. They should have it on PERMANENTLY when in an emergency situation, Ambulance, Police, Fire Engines, not turning it off and the on at the most stupid time. Yes they have flashing lights, but the roads are getting so glogged up with cars (driving and parked) that's not always enough. It's becoming a game of waldo when you do faintly hear something, and goodness help you if you're about to join a major roundabout, it could be coming from anywhere and going anywhere else!

Worst still are the movie-loving police men/woman with the "hair dryer" speed camera, these should be banned, there's no reason for them with the fixed camera and mobile camera vans, and the officers should certainly be trained, not to pull them out like a weapon. If a kid pulls out a toy gun, they shoot him on the spot, how do they think the public feels when they see an officer pull out and point what looks like a weapon at them, especially if they rest it ontop of their parked vehicle for stability, surely that's not necessary to tag a vehicle, but it is if you want to shoot the driver, that's how it's perceived by the member of the public in the car.

Yes, I am referring to an incident I experienced, no it was not me he was after, but the Ferrari rocketing up beside me in the fast lane, who looked like he was going to fly by, but then didn't, instead staying a little ways behind me.

They don't make the roads safer, they make them more dangerous, people slamming on the brake, warning each other, rubbernecking etc.

We're in Autumn, and Winter will soon be upon us, the season for daily accidents, motorway collisions, back road ditch car upending and icing spinouts/telephone pole wraparounds.... if any proof is needed we as a race are heading for our own extinction by stupidity, it's the quality of driving, especially in the winter.

How do these people past their driving tests?