Our local small roads are not only very quiet, but they are also in remarkably good shape.
The average width of a rural road is 3 metres, or less. My own small car (The Compact Royce) measures 1 Metre 60 cms wide. It doesn't take much calculation to see that two passing cars (a reasonably rare occurrence) would each need to head for the grassy verge in order to avoid contact. Something I always do.
However, there's one breed of car owner who never does. You've guessed it; 4 by 4 owners!
The very cars that have no problem driving across fields, are the very ones who always refuse to budge.
They're usually either big Japanese or German 'todger replacements', owned by 5 ft 2 inch local farmers. These are not used as farm work-horses, but as ordinary everyday cars; not replacements for the Land Rover Defender as seen on every UK farm, but as shopping cars for Madame.
For some reason it's always these that refuse to move onto the verge when required, and it drives me bloody nuts.
And, yes, I do shout at them.
The only place I sometimes shout is my car, and I have good reasons sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI'm much the same. The arrogance of some drivers amazes me.
DeleteIt's the same here and I sometimes surprise myself with my language towards them - under my breath, of course.
ReplyDeleteLet it out, I say!
DeleteRoad rage!
ReplyDeleteThat's my middle name, when I encounter unyielding 4 by 4's.
DeleteThis must be a mind-set that the 4 x 4 owners acquire, they also have the habit of taking the DAP / childrens slots in the superstore car parks.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the new vehicles are provided with a manual explaining the best way to annoy other road users?
I think they must, they mostly behave the same way.
DeleteWe often notice that the bigger the car the shorter the driver. When you're behind them you can't even see a person's head in the driving seat. Sometimes I wonder how they see over the steering wheel.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, same here, arrogant Jeep drivers rarely give way. Husband will play chicken with them and yell so they hear ....he hopes. I head for the
rubbishy verge
My right hand side tyres are permanently caked in mud; proof, I suppose, of my always hitting the verge.
DeleteHere the farmers give way when necessary, the city dwellers/one time city dwellers in their SUVs and 4x4s do not. They do not know their own width and drive a foot out into the road. The travellers
ReplyDelete(one time called gipsies) in their transits will knock you off the road at great speed and never give way. The Eastern Europeans forget they are not at home and drive on the wrong side. Country roads are very frightening around here.
Farmers on tractors are always courteous. I suspect it's the wives who are mostly to blame. They are forced to drive big 4 by 4's when they would far rather be in a small Renault 4L.
DeleteAround here they are the vehicles of the norm. It is not the farmers who have them, it is everybody else. They are a status symbol, still.
DeleteFunnily enough the locals in Somerset are quite nice. Every once in a while someone tries to kill you when overtaking a bicycle, talking on a phone or just not looking where they are going. We do not have too many travellers down here, thank goodness, they go out of their way to make themselves disliked.
ReplyDeleteI've just come back from my nearest village (to see Doc') and I didn't see another car. It's very quiet here, but I suppose that's part of the problem. No-one ever expects to meet another car!
DeleteOh, don't get me started on 4x4 drivers. The mums who drove 'Chelsea taxis' to school were 'princesses' who were SO much more important than everyone else and, yes, had the attitude of 'GET OUT OF MY WAY'.
ReplyDeleteIt happens everywhere, and the attitude precedes them.
DeleteI encounter these type of drivers on a daily basis commuting to work. They think they own the road and expect everyone to move out of their way. I wonder if their idiotic behavior continues outside of their vehicle? Somehow I believe it does. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't meet them too often, thank goodness, but when I do my blood boils!
Delete4x4s and big SUVs are the most popular cars in the US and most of the major car companies are doing away with the sedans and compact models because they no longer sell. To stay in business, you have to give them a product that they want. I drive a small Subaru and I have to admit that I hate when parked in a shopping area and two of those hugh vehicles pull in next to me and it is dicy to back out when I leave. It is what it is though and I don’t have any animosity to them. All my children own one.
ReplyDeleteI tend to find myself parked between monsters these days too. Just last Monday a big 4 by 4 parked so close to my car that I had to get in through the passenger door. Idiot!
DeleteI have to say that, on the whole, drivers here on Lewis are very considerate and our single track roads are quite busy. One gets the occasional person who cannot reverse into the passing place they have just driven past but generally speaking people give way and wave to each other as they do so.
ReplyDeleteHere we are very wooded, and woodland often comes right up to the roadside. There are still a few 'wavers' around.
DeleteI speak calmly and politely. "Aren't you just the fucker, then!" or "Aren't you just the dumb ass?" Yelling only irritates my throat, and generally my windows are closed. My township roads are scarcely wider than those you use. Basically, I guess I can't be bothered to be bothered, except to leave a verbal record to disturb the air for a second or two.
ReplyDeleteActually I think our roads are narrower than I stated. Surely, a bit of 'mouth' is good for the soul; it certainly makes me feel like a superior driver.
DeleteThe word scourge summarises the rant I have in my head about them.
ReplyDeleteMachine gun?
DeleteToo unsporting. .22 rifle.
DeleteWe've just bought a secondhand 4x4 to replace our old 4x4 heap, we've called him 'Phillip' as he looks the same (no, he's not actually THAT one!)Got him from London, 4 years old and only 26000 miles on the clock, one lady driver. What a shock to end up in Norfolk now and have to do country roads, mud and fields instead of the Waitrose and school run! But Phillip will always give way to cars on a narrow lane ...isn't that what 4x4s are for, to be able to mount grass verges with ease and give way to smaller vehicles? That's what we've always done in ours...as well as drive through mud and fields etc, Phillip will be a Norfolk native in no time at all!
ReplyDelete