I had a horrible experience yesterday... I was driving from yellow arch rehearsal studios to macdonalds and admittedly I don't know my way round there and I got a bit confused...

I pulled out from one road onto the main road that feeds onto the A61 (dont know the names sorry) which was clear...then out of nowhere this car zoomed up behind me and the driver started honking his horn at me and waving his fist... If I cut him up it was only because he was speeding... I put my hand up to apologise because he really startled me...

He then continued to follow me, accelerating really close to the back of my car and honking his horn and swearing at me...at this point i started to feel afraid so indicated to move over... he drew up alongside me, wound is window down and hurled the most horrific amount of abuse at me...and continued to do so at every red light until thankfully he managed to cut someone else up and zoom off...

All this with what looked like a 2 year old little girl in the back...

Why do people do this?

I told you to take that Sheffield Wednesday sticker out of your rear window.

Seriously though, although you might have been in the wrong - not that I'm suggesting you were - I'm afraid there's no accounting for a r s e h o l e s like this guy.

You should have taken his number and reported the dick to the police.

Because they're moronic idiots that have nothing better to do than cause distress and upset for people who are only trying to find their way around the maze that is Sheffield's road network.

I've been in a situation where a guy drinking a can of beer (!! yes, beer) was driving dangerously close to my car, and driving at the side of me in two lane traffic trying to run me off the road. It's frightening and above all else it's nasty. Luckily I pulled into a nearby road as I flagged a police car down. The drunken idiot returned to see where I had pulled up! Needless to say he got done for drink driving.

There will always be impatient idiots on the road who consider shouting unneccessarily at other drivers as a power trip.

To be honest - I may well have been in the wrong, I don't know the roads very well - but the lane was clear when i pulled in to it... My friend who was with me couldn't believe the stuff he was shouting at me... proper nasty stuff, didn't feel right all afternoon...

some people just have no empathy. We all make mistakes sometimes, I've pulled out infront of people by accident, so if someone does it to me I generally accept it.

I did get a bit p*ssed of on Sun on my way home as someone forced me to do an emergency stop on a roundabout because they drove onto it looking the wrong way at high speed.
I hit my horn as well and got what looked like a wave of the hand. I would quite happily have punched the guy at that point as if i'd been 10 feet further forward he would have hit me whilst going at least 40 mph.

It doesn`t matter if you were in the wrong. No one deserves to be treated like that. I love it when i pull out and some idiot races up to the back of my car and tries to push me to go faster. This just makes me drive that little bit slower. I love to see them flash there lights and shake there fists at me. It once happened when i was going to pick the wife up from work. This guy in a van followed me right into the car park of the place i was going. He got out and started threatening me. It was then that i noticed he`d got a little girl in the seat next to him. After i pointed out that he was on cctv he hurled some more abuse and drove off. Really funny :loopy:

Originally posted by absynthfairy
To be honest - I may well have been in the wrong, I don't know the roads very well - but the lane was clear when i pulled in to it... My friend who was with me couldn't believe the stuff he was shouting at me... proper nasty stuff, didn't feel right all afternoon...
I feel really, really sorry for you, driving through town is stressful enough without idiots like this bloke making life more difficult. You should have got his number and reported him to the police. Even if the police don't do anything this time the incident will be recorded and he will be become "known" to them.

If people accept and recognise their mistakes then i usually forgive and forget straight away. The drivers who are blissfully unaware that they have caused me to do emergency stop, or swerve... they are the ones i will go up to next to them at traffic lights and politely tell them they nearly killed me.

Agressive behaviour is bang out of order though.

It must be something in the air because I've had more than a month's worth of truly terrible drivers on the road in just (this) one day! One after another.

Has there been an advert on the radio? 'Crap drivers - now is the day to get out there and show just how poor your driving is'.

At this rate, for today at least, avoid Crookes, Walkley, Crosspool, Hallam, Fulwood, Ranmoor, Broomhill, Western Bank and University Roundabout.

I get this on a regular basis when coming from Penistone Rd at the roundabout opposite the flats. I want to turn right then left up the road by the lawnmower shop,people coming from Hillsborough fast on the inside lane.Very often there are pedestrians crossing who haven't looked so I am stuck in the middle of the road.It is a bad road layout as that inside lane is a straight cross as it is only a small roundabout,but I am always wrong and get allsorts of dirty looks and gestures.Same thing coming the other way I indicate left but people behind seem to think I am going straight on.

im surprisingly a very tolerant driver, very rarely loose my temper even with "idiot" drivers.
if you have the time to hit the horn or wave a fist you had time to slow down so what is the problem.
people make mistakes.

Sorry to hear about your upset ,would he(THE IDIOT) have
done the same if you had been a male driver (i think not).they are nothing but bullies.:mad:

looby_hitch, you were lucky to find a copper. When I witness people driving outrageously there unfortunately is never a copper to see it.

Originally posted by willman
im surprisingly a very tolerant driver, very rarely loose my temper even with "idiot" drivers.
if you have the time to hit the horn or wave a fist you had time to slow down so what is the problem.
people make mistakes.

i'm lucky, I can press the break and the horn at the same time. Although in the case I mentioned above I hit the horn after my emergency stop as he was still looking the other way.

There is nothing wrong witrh letting people know they have made mistakes, althuogh your scenario Absynthfairy is a differnt matter entirely. I get wound up when someone pulls in front of me or veers into my lane forcing me to brake hard, generally as they dont know what they have done wrong.

Mostly i'll peep my horn once or falsh the lights and leave it at that. The guy mentioned is a nasty piece of work using his car as a weapon.

Assume that every road-user is an idiot (and remember that you've no doubt made mistakes too) and you'll only be pleasantly surprised when it's proved otherwise and on the occassions when you're correct in your assumption, then you'll be expecting the unexpected... hopefully! ;)

I find that road-courtesy, despite the steady increase of vehicles, is overall, improving. Seldom do other road-users, including pedestrians, fail to acknowledge 'thanks' when I give way to them, to allow them to cross a busy road, pull out into the traffic-stream, etc. If someone does cut me up, cause me to swerve, brake sharply or otherwise take avoiding action, rather than blast the horn or flash my lights at them, I hang well back and treat them with great caution... It isn't up to me to teach them the error of their ways but I do take the hint and give them a wide berth.

So far I've only been in one collision, when I first started driving... Though maybe that was my fault because I assumed that it was perfectly safe to drive through a green traffic-light... and that no-one would be stupid enough to come through on red... Wrong! ... I've never done it since without checking! ... Being in the right and driving according to the Highway Code isn't always enough!

Obviously, as in the case the OP recounts, there are some very aggressive drivers on the road but in my experience, they're a small minority, being the exception, rather than the rule.

the horn is there to be used. If someone starts to do something dangerous, use it, they may well stop the maneuvour, which might save your life one day.

Originally posted by Cyclone
the horn is there to be used. If someone starts to do something dangerous, use it, they may well stop the maneuvour, which might save your life one day.
You evidently miss my point... Agreed, in the circumstances that you describe, it may be used legitimately as it's a warning instrument. It's not intended to be used to tell someone off after the event though, as people have described it being used on here...

Originally posted by Bic0
You evidently miss my point... Agreed, in the circumstances that you describe, it may be used legitimately as it's a warning instrument. It's not intended to be used to tell someone off after the event though, as people have described it being used on here...

Maybe we are just interpreting people's posts differently. You blow the horn as something dangerous is done, or as soon as you can safely do it. I didn't think than anyone had suggested using it say 20 seconds later to express displeasure. Hanging well back comes after swerving, breaking and blowing your horn. (Well, for me anyway).

Using the horn after taking evasive action can only be to express displeasure, surely?

Using it to avoid having to take such action, in other words as a warning, is considerably more sensible to my way of thinking... In addition to it being its' intended purpose...

N.B. You get one last reply to me before this develops into a one-to-one argument... So make the most of it! ;)

BTW, Congrats on the new (nearer) job! Travelling 40 miles a day to work! What was the original job? A Manchester Traffic-Warden? :D

20 miles each way is a very short commute, much shorter than the average across the country.

The job as in what I do is almost identical, java developer. The difference is that I won't be a consultant and so won't have to travel.

I don't think we disagree very much on this horn thing, just slightly in the details. Personally if I make a mistake and cause someone else to have to avoid me, then i'd rather they used there horn if not immediately, as soon as possible. That way i'll realise I screwed up and I can make sure I don't do it again. If they just avoid me and then sit quiet, I may not even notice that I did it.

I'd tell him my 4-iron is wanting to meet him!










(only kidding!!)

Urgh - a pet hate of mine is the bumper pushers who sneak right up behind you. Infuriating. I have to slow down. Slow. Right. Down.

I don't see why people don't just chill on the roads a bit.

As for improper use of the horn. It's there to warn other road users of your presence. Not to chastise them.

As for the opening post, the bloke who did that shouldn't be allowed on the roads, regardless of who was in the right or wrong. He's clearly not mature enough to be allowed to drive.

NM

Originally posted by absynthfairy


Why do people do this?

At the risk of causing offence, it is because they have very small genitals and need to compensate in other ways.

I was in a taxi this morning, pootling down the bus lane (as they are entitled to do, so I found out the other day), and some midget todgered fool driving a BMW suddenly swerved out, hit the brakes, put his warning lights on, and casually did up his tie while talking on his mobile (probably about the latest model of Swedish pump waiting at home for him). This was at the juntion of Winter Street (Road?) coming on to the roundabout at the top of Hanover Way.

Oh, how I swore. As did the taxi driver. And my girlfriend.

Originally posted by Nicholarse
[B

As for improper use of the horn. It's there to warn other road users of your presence. Not to chastise them.


NM [/B]

Another proper use of the Horn is to let you know your Taxi as arrived ;) LOL

Seriously though I dislike the tail gators too, regardless of what happens if they hit you, they are at fault has far as the Law is concerned, yep they are annoying :rant:

Originally posted by absynthfairy
I had a horrible experience yesterday... I was driving from yellow arch rehearsal studios to macdonalds and admittedly I don't know my way round there and I got a bit confused...

I pulled out from one road onto the main road that feeds onto the A61 (dont know the names sorry) which was clear...then out of nowhere this car zoomed up behind me and the driver started honking his horn at me and waving his fist... If I cut him up it was only because he was speeding... I put my hand up to apologise because he really startled me...

He then continued to follow me, accelerating really close to the back of my car and honking his horn and swearing at me...at this point i started to feel afraid so indicated to move over... he drew up alongside me, wound is window down and hurled the most horrific amount of abuse at me...and continued to do so at every red light until thankfully he managed to cut someone else up and zoom off...

All this with what looked like a 2 year old little girl in the back...

Why do people do this?

Its the old syndrome of feeling invincible inside a comfort Zone of your Car. A particular incident once happend to me (as i've stated before I am an excellent driver :0) but this particular day after dropping a customer off, there was traffic coming towards me and traffic building up behind me as they couldn't get around me. So instead of causing this blockade I just pulled off!

Unfortunately this infuriated the guy behind me, who was already obviously infuriated because I was either a Taxi driver or because I pulled up to dop off a customer. Anyways he began blasting his horn at me, driving up my ar*e and giving hand signal obscenities to me.

Eventually I came in contact with a Red light, I couldn't go anywere and this guy was still going ballistic behind me, so after pulling up, I got out of my car (now i'm no agressive nutcase) and just went up to this guys car and said "Whats your problem mate" (I will admit I was quite nervous and my adrenalin was pumping), he just answered "errrrr.... No Problem.....yeah I haven't got no problem.....why?". I just replied "Okey dokey!" got back in my car and drove off when the light turned to green, as I looked in my mirror I saw that this guy just hung about, that was the last I saw of him.

The problem is that there's too many ar*eholes on the road, we all make mistakes from time to time (even i've managed the odd one :thumbsup: ), what needs to happen is for agressive drivers to be banned.

i've had worse. i was coming to within 30ft of a junction, on a road narrowed by cars parked on both sides. there were no places i could tuck in when a big van barged into the road from the main road and came head on at speed into me.

i stood my ground as the only place to tuck in was just on the corner of the junction where he'd turned in. if i had to tuck in i would have to reverse about 40feet back.

as i gestured (politely) they should reverse so i could pass which would've took seconds and we'd have both been on our way they nudged further and further up to me until there must have been only 9 inches between us nose to nose.

then the passenger man (for want of a better word) got out of the van slammed the door in such a overdone way it was theatrical, and marched up to my car door. i knew he was going to come to my car and try to open the door and probably take my keys out of the ignition and then trash my sports car.

i quickly pressed the central locking and as he pulled on the handle his hand just slipped off it because of the design he couldn't even grip it as hard as he would've expected and this made him stumble backwards.

by then i decided enough is enough, i'd made him look stupid now, but i had 2 small children in the back with me to take care of, so i reversed as they were a bit frightened but relieved aswelll that the man didn't get in our car. as i tucked into the space 40ft back they drove off at high speed past me. i didn't get a chance to shout at them to tell them they had just scared two 4 year olds. they should be ashamed - you know who you are !! :mad: :rant:

these people are dispicable low-lifes in my opinion. no mistakes were made they were just bullies out to play road rage. ofcourse never a cop around to see when you want one. :|

Originally posted by Bic0
Using the horn after taking evasive action can only be to express displeasure, surely?

May I state an event that happened to me - collecting a printer in manchester I'm forced not only to do an emergency stop but also take evasive action (thank god the car in the other lane wasn't closer) as a woman came out of a junction after looking in my direction - she moves so far out of her road it would just about have enough space for a push bike - if he breathed in.

In under 2 seconds I braked - realised - swerved - realised to warn (though I must admit some grey matter must have realised in her own mind as she had stopped) and honked the horn.

She decided to reverse into traffic BEHIND her I noticed after checking my rear view after leaving madam idiot behind...