Probably not the right place to post this but i’ve been a driver for over 35 years , a whipper snapper compared with many on here but i learnt from like many on here my dad. Driving standards have reached new lows now and it’s not just car drivers. This morning i was following one of our motors on the M62 and there were 2 artics entering from the entry slip. We both moved into the middle lane so they could get on
Run of the mill stuff . We pass the first , the second a container driver was in a Renault , i could see his digital speedo he was doing 52mph i was at 55mph . The driver in front passed him then when im 3/4 past him he put his foot down . I was indicating to pull in because i needed to get off at the next exit. His full beam and airhorns came on and he sat there so i couldnt get across. I couldn’t imagine this happening when i started driving but the standards now are dreadful
ramone:
Probably not the right place to post this but i’ve been a driver for over 35 years , a whipper snapper compared with many on here but i learnt from like many on here my dad. Driving standards have reached new lows now and it’s not just car drivers. This morning i was following one of our motors on the M62 and there were 2 artics entering from the entry slip. We both moved into the middle lane so they could get on
Run of the mill stuff . We pass the first , the second a container driver was in a Renault , i could see his digital speedo he was doing 52mph i was at 55mph . The driver in front passed him then when im 3/4 past him he put his foot down . I was indicating to pull in because i needed to get off at the next exit. His full beam and airhorns came on and he sat there so i couldnt get across. I couldn’t imagine this happening when i started driving but the standards now are dreadful
Box monkey enough said end of story 
ramone:
Probably not the right place to post this but i’ve been a driver for over 35 years , a whipper snapper compared with many on here but i learnt from like many on here my dad. Driving standards have reached new lows now and it’s not just car drivers. This morning i was following one of our motors on the M62 and there were 2 artics entering from the entry slip. We both moved into the middle lane so they could get on
Run of the mill stuff . We pass the first , the second a container driver was in a Renault , i could see his digital speedo he was doing 52mph i was at 55mph . The driver in front passed him then when im 3/4 past him he put his foot down . I was indicating to pull in because i needed to get off at the next exit. His full beam and airhorns came on and he sat there so i couldnt get across. I couldn’t imagine this happening when i started driving but the standards now are dreadful
I think most of us who have been driving for any time (53 years in my case) have seen a shocking drop in driving standards, particularly over the last 15 years or so; and since the pandemic it’s plummeted. We now have third-world driving as the norm. I’ve driven in ‘3rd-world’ countries so I recognise crap driving when I see it! Nobody indicates, everone pushes in, drives up kerbs, parks on pavements, overtakes on zebra crossings, speeds in high streets. I now adopt the same defensive driving mindset that I used only to reserve for places like Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Turkey, Saudi etc; and on my own little provincial home-counties patch, FFS!
What are the causes though.? I suggest overcrowding (particularly in the SE), massive increase in drug-driving, dumbed-down driving instruction for car drivers, emergency-trained LGV drivers, Covid-related self-entitlement attitudes among car drivers, the ever-increasing ‘me-me’ culture; the presence of well over a million unqualified / insured / licenced / taxed drivers / cars; and dare I say, a massive influx of overseas qualified drivers whose culture doesn’t include courtesy as a test pass requirement.
Well i think you covered it all there Robert , but i now dread going to work every day. Road planners and smart motorway operators must take some of the blame .Why oh why do road planners design roads where 2 lanes merge into 1 when all you get is road rage. Bradford is probably 1 of the worst cities in england to drive in . Then the M62 with constantly changing speed limits for no reason whatsoever. How did we cope before smart motorways or not having the “vital” knowledge the dcpc provides. There is more training than ever now to get a driving licence and then a hgv licence yet the standards of driving are horrendous. I try to keep a rule in my head that whatever lane i’m in i’m in the wrong 1 the other fella is right , then i can’t go wrong , i wish i could retire at 55
Is it just driving standards that have got worse over the years?
I look at modern Britain and wonder where the society i grew up in in the 50s and 60s has gone. Our education system is lowering standards and producing people who so often cannot spell or use grammar correctly. I see and hear this on web sites such as the BBC and the TV daily. Our health service is struggling and not all due to Covid. We keep hearing of our police officers committing horrid crimes regularly whilst youngsters are getting stabbed and often killed (again today, in a school!). And top that off with all the political shenanigans that either amuse or shock us almost daily.
This unfortunately is not a definitive list of our woes.
What went wrong?
ERF-NGC-European:
ramone:
Probably not the right place to post this but i’ve been a driver for over 35 years , a whipper snapper compared with many on here but i learnt from like many on here my dad. Driving standards have reached new lows now and it’s not just car drivers. This morning i was following one of our motors on the M62 and there were 2 artics entering from the entry slip. We both moved into the middle lane so they could get on
Run of the mill stuff . We pass the first , the second a container driver was in a Renault , i could see his digital speedo he was doing 52mph i was at 55mph . The driver in front passed him then when im 3/4 past him he put his foot down . I was indicating to pull in because i needed to get off at the next exit. His full beam and airhorns came on and he sat there so i couldnt get across. I couldn’t imagine this happening when i started driving but the standards now are dreadfulI think most of us who have been driving for any time (53 years in my case) have seen a shocking drop in driving standards, particularly over the last 15 years or so; and since the pandemic it’s plummeted. We now have third-world driving as the norm. I’ve driven in ‘3rd-world’ countries so I recognise crap driving when I see it! Nobody indicates, everone pushes in, drives up kerbs, parks on pavements, overtakes on zebra crossings, speeds in high streets. I now adopt the same defensive driving mindset that I used only to reserve for places like Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Turkey, Saudi etc; and on my own little provincial home-counties patch, FFS!
What are the causes though.? I suggest overcrowding (particularly in the SE), massive increase in drug-driving, dumbed-down driving instruction for car drivers, emergency-trained LGV drivers, Covid-related self-entitlement attitudes among car drivers, the ever-increasing ‘me-me’ culture; the presence of well over a million unqualified / insured / licenced / taxed drivers / cars; and dare I say, a massive influx of overseas qualified drivers whose culture doesn’t include courtesy as a test pass requirement.
Nail on the head!
And I reckon that things will get even worse under the forthcoming Highway Code (and traffic law) changes, giving pedestrians and cyclists precedence over motorists in many situations.
I’ve been driving for 51 years, seen the same decline in standards and now drive with the notion that “every other driver on the road is out to kill me”, an attitude that I developed many years ago on pushbikes and later on motorbikes. Must have worked, I’m still here, no thanks to the many that have nearly hit me over the years.
Dipster:
Is it just driving standards that have got worse over the years?I look at modern Britain and wonder where the society i grew up in in the 50s and 60s has gone. Our education system is lowering standards and producing people who so often cannot spell or use grammar correctly. I see and hear this on web sites such as the BBC and the TV daily. Our health service is struggling and not all due to Covid. We keep hearing of our police officers committing horrid crimes regularly whilst youngsters are getting stabbed and often killed (again today, in a school!). And top that off with all the political shenanigans that either amuse or shock us almost daily.
This unfortunately is not a definitive list of our woes.
What went wrong?
Grammar eh, two new words for the Oxford dictionary could be fer & ter often uttered by the PM & others, as for smart motorways well they are not so smart as it seems to me that the new culture on these is to just drive in the second lane just in case someone has broken down in the first lane which used to be the hard shoulder which was relevantly safe to stop in when one had an emergency. We have had two years now of Smarting the M27 near me and now they need another three years to retrospectively put in emergency layby’s and have ceased plans to extend these works, goodness knows what it is costing the tax payers but it must be horrendous, hope I have not misspelt ought or Dipster will be marking me down, cheers Buzzer.
Buzzer:
Dipster:
Is it just driving standards that have got worse over the years?I look at modern Britain and wonder where the society i grew up in in the 50s and 60s has gone. Our education system is lowering standards and producing people who so often cannot spell or use grammar correctly. I see and hear this on web sites such as the BBC and the TV daily. Our health service is struggling and not all due to Covid. We keep hearing of our police officers committing horrid crimes regularly whilst youngsters are getting stabbed and often killed (again today, in a school!). And top that off with all the political shenanigans that either amuse or shock us almost daily.
This unfortunately is not a definitive list of our woes.
What went wrong?
Grammar eh, two new words for the Oxford dictionary could be fer & ter often uttered by the PM & others, as for smart motorways well they are not so smart as it seems to me that the new culture on these is to just drive in the second lane just in case someone has broken down in the first lane which used to be the hard shoulder which was relevantly safe to stop in when one had an emergency. We have had two years now of Smarting the M27 near me and now they need another three years to retrospectively put in emergency layby’s and have ceased plans to extend these works, goodness knows what it is costing the tax payers but it must be horrendous, hope I have not misspelt ought or Dipster will be marking me down, cheers Buzzer.
Buzzer, yes, good point ter make. Where will it all end?
About three years ago I was on the A38 between gate 28 of the M1 and the A61 junction headed south and spotted an artic coming down the curved slip road at a fair rate of knots from the Somercotes/Cotes Park road. No way could I move over as there were vehicles alongside me so I kept my speed and heard his brakes lock up as I passed the junction. Next minute he is right on my rear doors flashing his lights and blowing the horn, then he overtook and pulled in so close that I had to brake sharply. Frightened my Mrs, there was no need for it and the speed he came down the adjoining slip road at told me that he had no intention of braking and expected me or everyone else to slow to let him, I was of the understanding that I had the right of way? Yes, if I could I would have moved over for him or any wagon but it just wasn’t possible. 
Pete.
windrush:
About three years ago I was on the A38 between gate 28 of the M1 and the A61 junction headed south and spotted an artic coming down the curved slip road at a fair rate of knots from the Somercotes/Cotes Park road. No way could I move over as there were vehicles alongside me so I kept my speed and heard his brakes lock up as I passed the junction. Next minute he is right on my rear doors flashing his lights and blowing the horn, then he overtook and pulled in so close that I had to brake sharply. Frightened my Mrs, there was no need for it and the speed he came down the adjoining slip road at told me that he had no intention of braking and expected me or everyone else to slow to let him, I was of the understanding that I had the right of way? Yes, if I could I would have moved over for him or any wagon but it just wasn’t possible.Pete.
At the end of the day it’s a give way like any other junction, it’s the vehicle merging responsibility to adjust their speed to merge safely. I.e. he should have assessed the situation, saw that you couldn’t move over, reduced his speed and tucked in behind you, I’m sure that everyone of has experienced this exact thing. As with every profession we have more than our fair share of cowboys.
windrush:
About three years ago I was on the A38 between gate 28 of the M1 and the A61 junction headed south and spotted an artic coming down the curved slip road at a fair rate of knots from the Somercotes/Cotes Park road. No way could I move over as there were vehicles alongside me so I kept my speed and heard his brakes lock up as I passed the junction. Next minute he is right on my rear doors flashing his lights and blowing the horn, then he overtook and pulled in so close that I had to brake sharply. Frightened my Mrs, there was no need for it and the speed he came down the adjoining slip road at told me that he had no intention of braking and expected me or everyone else to slow to let him, I was of the understanding that I had the right of way? Yes, if I could I would have moved over for him or any wagon but it just wasn’t possible.Pete.
That’s common practice on the A1 between the M62 and the upgraded A1m at Doncaster , slip roads and filling stations are always a challenge , it’s just pure ignorance. Smart motorways are anything but smart or is it the people in the control centres who operate them
The slightest problem and the speed limit drops. Recently on the M62 in a 4 lane section 2 lanes on the overhead gantry were limited to 50mph and a lane either side was 40 mph. Who are the operators and what are they injecting. The reasons for the restrictions vary from debris , report of pedestrians, report of animals , report of accident to the best of all 50mph for air quality ffs. If they drop the speed limit to 50mph they create bunching and stop start traffic which causes more pollution than driving at a constant speed . It baffles me which to be fair isn’t hard to do
I unfortunately perfectly agree with most of your comments. It’s exactly the same here, in France, and I do not feel sorry for having given up working.
Nowadays, one needs a year-lond training to drive a truck, and drivers’ behaviours never were so bad! Youngsters start with a brand new artic when we had to do with an old truck at their age, and they just think they can do anything they want once they’re behind the wheel! Not to mention Eastern-European driving…
I am a frequent driver from UK to Spain and in my opinion is now the least safe country to drive.The country is overcrowded and manners in society at large are a thing of the past.Why are so many Brits angry all the time? I find driving in France much more leisurely.
Gidders:
I am a frequent driver from UK to Spain and in my opinion is now the least safe country to drive.The country is overcrowded and manners in society at large are a thing of the past.Why are so many Brits angry all the time? I find driving in France much more leisurely.
Try driving in Portugal. Bliss.
Dipster:
Try driving in Portugal. Bliss.
Walking ain’t bad there either - they all stop at zebra crossings too 
whisperingsmith:
Dipster:
Try driving in Portugal. Bliss.Walking ain’t bad there either - they all stop at zebra crossings too
Indeed they do. And the sun shines a lot!