It isn't only taxis
 

In another thread someone remarked how taxi drivers seem to do the weirdest things and think it perfectly acceptable. It isn't only taxi drivers.

This afternoon on our way down Willows Lane we wwere amazed to see a car on the opposite side of the road at right angles to the carriageway with the front end on the pavement and back end blocking off his side of the road completely. The driver seemed to be chatting to a friend who eventually got in the car. If there wasn't enough room to park like a normal person was his friend incapable of walking a few yards to a place where there was enough room?

Re: It isn't only taxis
 

when i used to work in ozzy on my way to work EVERY morning their used to be a red BMW parked up at the traffic lights at the bottom of willows lane blockng and holding up traffic for upto 10 mins while the ocupant of the car opened up his shop, he didnt even have the decency to park half on the kerb he just ponked it at the lights as if he was waiting for the lights to change

traffic cops passed by and didnt even book him or have a chat with him about it

will let you guys guess his ethnic origins for yourselves ;)

Re: It isn't only taxis
 

When I first came to Accy and joined the Accyweb, I made a comment about building estates on virgin ground when there were run-down factories in the town centres that were left derelict...........

I got a lot of stick for that and it was probably deserved but I was used to the "southern" way of doing things....... I am going to put my head in a noose again by remarking on the inability of "some"...OK, MOST northerners that just cannot cope with mini roundabouts!!!

In an earlier thread, I mentioned a cop car that approached a mini r/bout at the same time as myself and although he was on my right and had the right of way, he waved me on to pass in front of him..............Almost every day, I am finding myself in a similar situation, drivers that SHOULD go, just stop and flash or wave me to say "go ahead mate" One woman even stopped while actually going round the roundabout to let me in!!!!

I have found out that mini roundabouts were introduced later up north than they were down south but that does not excuse ignorance!

In Hemel Hemstead there is a major roundabout..........and on this roundabout, there are 5 roads and 5 mini roundabouts!! By using the mini's correctly, it is possible to go anti-clockwise round the main roundabout to your selected exit, God 'elp us if Hyndburn ever build one of these...:D

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i guess were just too polite up here :D

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You are probably right chav:rolleyes:

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That isn't as daft a theory as it may sound at first because I've noticed that people up here do seem to let other drivers out of sideroads and things like that. When doing that in southerly regions I've been given some very surprised looks by people and one even wound down the window and said "hey thanks!" :D

But (yes before anybody tells me about it, I know you shouldn't start a sentence with "but" let alone a paragraph!) doing that on a mini roundabout is more than a bit daft and the people who don't seem to uinderstand who has right of way can cause more accidents. The only time it should become a dilemma is when 4 people all approach the mini roundabout at the same time! Everybody is on the right of somebody else and who gives way to whom then?

In defense of northerners I have been frightened to death on roundabouts in Cambridgeshire where people on inside lanes suddenly dart in front of you to leave at the exit you are just about to leave at from the outside lane. Don't these people know which lane they should be in or at least move across behind the car in the correct lane?

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Theres a guy on my street with a similar car stereo. It was murder when the baby was younger as it would wake him up, even though his bedroom is at the back of the house.:mad:

I fail to see the need for such loud music in a flippin car!

Re: It isn't only taxis
 

Thanks for the Memory -- some years ago I was heading for the Kodak Offices and came across that system -- seemed to round and round for ever and have no clear recollection of how came out of it.

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Here is a brief description from a web site...

Everyone passes through Hemel1 sooner or later, and in doing so they invariably come across the Magic Roundabout at the town's hub. Beloved of the locals (who are known as 'Hemeloids' by non-locals), the Magic Roundabout scares the hell out of visitors who are used to traffic being restricted to clockwise travel around roundabouts. Hemeloids will tell you that it is just a really big roundabout which goes both ways, served by half a dozen mini-roundabouts which only go clockwise, and it's really very simple. Everyone else will tell you to use the bypass, or better still to stay on the motorway you were on in the first place.

Fancy giving it a go?

Re: It isn't only taxis
 

i think in general all over the country mini roundabouts are ignored

i have yet to see one without tire treads running across the middle lol

Re: It isn't only taxis
 

Some mini roundabouts are too small to negotiate well, but they shouldn't be a major problem.

BUT - be warned, if you come to London, there are several junctions where cars join, cross, etc, but no-one has right of way - you just have to take your chances. I think it is fair to say that London drivers do take smaller spaces, because that's all there is. I was honked at once by a car about 5 behind me, because I changed lanes in Blackburn, having indicated and checked it was safe. My niece from Cheshire once phoned me in desperation saying that she was on the Finchley Road, and didn't dare drive any further - we had to go and collect her, and I drove her car into town!

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I have to drive into London on a regular basis, and I think that I drive more aggressively than I used to, simply because you will get nowhere in London if you drive defensively.

They're all absolute nutters!

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Any particular reason, or was he doing it out of the goodness of his heart?!

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Possibly to protect the employer, which was a local authority who are big in to the training thing. Since I was classed as an outside/travelling officer, meaning I used my own car on authority business. They brought in the defensive driving course, as part of their H&S policy, duty of care and all that.
The course took the form of classroom excercises at the morning, with groups of 3 going out in the afternoon with a driving instructor, with each of the 3 taking a turn in driving, along with a running commentary from the instructor, "why did you do that etc" At the end we all got a little certificate to say we had passed.