It’ll come as no surprise to my esteemed collegues here that it appears that some motorists have what can only be described as a death wish!
Travelling s/b down the M40 in the dark at around 5pm tonight I noticed a stationary vehicle on sidelights with its hazard warnings going on the n/b carriageway. Nothing unusual there I hear you say, but as I got closer I noticed that it was stationary in lane three! As I passed I saw two people at the rear of the car looking into the boot. I assume they’d picked up a puncture along the way. What really struck me though was that they were both wearing dark clothing, had their backs to the approaching traffic, but more worryingly were both obscuring their rear lights and hazards!
I phoned treble nine and was informed that I was one of a number of callers regarding these two. I was just staggered by the fact that they were clearly oblivious to death hurtling towards them. Not heard any subsequent traffic news about it so I can only guess that they got away with it this time.
It’s for reasons such as this i get annoyed with some here who complain about the driving standards of lemmings such as you describe.
They are statistics waiting to happen, yet some of our flock can’t understand why they don’t display lane discipline road sense etc to the standards of drivers of hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of miles.
It’s a bit odd when you see such things as you describe unfolding, so bizzare that at first glance it doesn’t compute and several double takes later before your mind accepts the lunacy your eyes have just reported
Some people certainly do have a stunning lack of situational awareness. Nice work phoning that in, too many people assume that someone else has done it.
Today I spotted a car and driver down a ditch on the M6, between J13-14. I stopped on the hard shoulder, ran back to him and found he was dazed but otherwise okay - but he’d been down there for half an hour and I was the first person to stop! Cars wouldn’t have been able to see him down there, but lorry drivers could. Some drivers would have watched him crash, and done nothing! I was the first call to the emergency services
A K&N driver stopped just after me too, to give him credit where it’s due.
Wasn’t there a supermarket driver who stopped and helped a child by the roadside a while back, where everyone else had ignored the little one being so out of place?
People seem to be more and more oblivious to the world around them. Your lane 3 calamity pit crew is a perfect example!
People seem to be more and more oblivious to the world around them.
Yeah, not just with drivers either. I liken pedestrians to be a lot like some drivers. Totally oblivious, can’t see passed the end of their nose and don’t care who’s way they get in!
slowlane:
Wasn’t there a supermarket driver who stopped and helped a child by the roadside a while back, where everyone else had ignored the little one being so out of place?
It was wrongly reported as a supermarket driver but was in fact one of my colleagues pulling a Sainsbury’s trailer ( Sainsbury’s were happy to take credit though) his name is Simon Neal and he told me that he actually felt ashamed that one of his first thoughts as he stopped and scooped the toddler up was the possible implications of his actions. Horribly I can unfortunately understand his reservations in today’s society.
jakethesnake: People seem to be more and more oblivious to the world around them.
Yeah, not just with drivers either. I liken pedestrians to be a lot like some drivers. Totally oblivious, can’t see passed the end of their nose and don’t care who’s way they get in!
Selfish runts.
This includes the smartphone zombies who infest our towns and wander into the roads unaware of anything but texts , tweets and other assorted garbage
Not the same particular incident but on the m62 tonight 20 or so vehicles all on hard shoulder with punctures nearly all cars bar one or 2 vans.
All because of a wooden bearer that had been lost from a truck most likely.
I wonder how many of them were not paying enough attention for 20 or more all to hit it and get punctures.
I imagine it was just one after a another hit in a long line as most were all parked up in a queue on the hard shoulder then a bit of a gap then a few more.
How many also possibly saw the signs saying debris and 40mpg yet continued barreling along in their own world.
Juddian:
It’s for reasons such as this i get annoyed with some here who complain about the driving standards of lemmings such as you describe.
They are statistics waiting to happen, yet some of our flock can’t understand why they don’t display lane discipline road sense etc to the standards of drivers of hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of miles.
It’s a bit odd when you see such things as you describe unfolding, so bizzare that at first glance it doesn’t compute and several double takes later before your mind accepts the lunacy your eyes have just reported
I’ve had a pair of headlights approach me on a dual carraigway before. Like you said, because it’s so wrong it takes a moment to realise what is actually happening. My first thought was is it just the one pair!
Early this year I narrowly avoided a father who’d decided to take his two young kids out on a pushbike ride on the Devon Expressway in thick fog. Don’t know if they were on a ride on Dartmoor and had gone a bit wrong but utter lunacy whatever the reason. The kids seemed too young to be cycling any great distance at all.
I always straddle lanes 1 and 2 if I see a breakdown or car with its hazards on. Just last week I did this about half 6ish on the M8 when I saw a car with its hazards on and I was almost on it when I noticed a man, dressed head to toe in black, filling up with fuel. His cap was on the live lane side which was bad enough but what really bamboozled me was that not only did he not think that wearing brighter clothing if he was going to do that might be a good idea, he also didnt seem to think that having a foot actually over the white lane and into the carriageway wasnt a smart move either!
Like you say, having a deathwish is the only explanation
On the M40 s/b last night I saw a car on the hard shoulder, hazards on. But right behind him was a second car, no lights or hazards, which was to some extent blocking the other car’s hazards.
There were at least 2 people milling around on the hard shoulder, no high vis or even light clothing.
Perhaps the car to the rear had a battery or electrical failure. Or maybe he had a death wish too…
