derek wrote:

Far more people are just plain incompetant. For instance I notice that
people who dither, or hesitate when the traffic moves off do not
hesitate to drive through the red light if there hesitation has caused
them to miss the green phase of the lights. It's the 5 or 6 cars
behind them that get disadvantaged. I suppose they have to do this if
they hesitate and dither everytime the car has to start moving or
they'd never get anywhere.

Can I add to those the people who drive up to a roundabout, stop and then
look to see if anything is coming. If only they'd look as they're
approaching then they'd be able to make better progress by not having to
stop and then set off again.

I know several women who will drive round and round supermarket car
parks until they find a pair of spaces "nose to tail" (Or worse, find
a parking space that has free spaces *all around it*) . so they can
drive in and through, so they don't have to reverse either in or out.
Don't tell me they're competant to be on the road

That's not just limited to a few women though, there's a multi storey car
park not too far from here that has 3 bays between each pillar and you can
guarantee that the first people to park will always go for the middle bay
and drive in forwards. To me it's easier to back in to one next to the
pillars as there's less chance of anyone knocking doors into you and you get
an easier drive out of the space because you're facing the right way.

The number of people who mis-manage joining a motorway amazes me. I
frequently encounter people reversing back down the on - ramp because
they've taken the wrong one. Instead of joining the motorway and
coming off at the next exit and rejoining in the opposite direction.

Don't see any of that round here (Lincolnshire) because we don't have any
motorways (I lie a little there, there is some about 60m away), which raises
another question, how are we supposed to learn how to use them? I didn't
even get out of a 30mph limit on my driving test never mind getting onto
anything like a busy dual carriageway or the like. It's laughable really
when the powers that be decide that the current driving test is capable of
determining whether a person is safe to be on the roads or not.

--
James...
http://www.jameshart.co.uk/