Yawn. It may be true for all I know but it's just more PR-fuelled lazy journalism. The Independent should be ashamed. If it wants motoring journalists,
why not employ professionals rather than getting kids to re-write carp press releases?
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"BMW owners were regarded as the worst drivers, a poll by used-car website Compucars.co.uk showed."
Looks like a well written piece to me...
"Drivers of Ford cars were seen as the next-worst motorists"
Hang on! :-)
Last edited by: Focus on Sun 16 May 10 at 16:18
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Nah, both nonsense. It's retired old duffers in cheap Japanese cars that are the worst....
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>> Nah, both nonsense. It's retired old duffers in cheap Japanese cars that are the worst....
>>
You missed the "us" out between "It's" and "retired." :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 16 May 10 at 16:24
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No, although I might have usefully included a "those" at that point.
:-)
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I've been driving since 1986 and in my opinion the main difference in driving has been a decline in politeness and consideration for others - not indicating at roundabouts and junctions, not thanking other drivers for giving way, etc.
However, for the first ten years since passing my test I was only a very occasional driver, as I did not have acccess to a car very often, so I may be incorrect. What do drivers who have been driving for longer than me think? Have standards dropped? Are drivers on the whole less polite, more aggressive, and more selfish?
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>> What do drivers who have been driving for longer than me think?
>> Have standards dropped? Are drivers on the whole less polite, more aggressive, and more selfish?
>>
Yes, yes, yes, and yes. And it gets worse the further South you go (from Scotland).
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 16 May 10 at 16:36
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>>It's retired old duffers in cheap Japanese cars that are the worst....
The cheek of the fella! My car wasn't cheap...
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>> >>It's retired old duffers in cheap Japanese cars that are the worst....
>>
>>
>> The cheek of the fella! My car wasn't cheap...
>>
He can't be refering to me, my car is Korean, er, Slovakian, er, German. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 16 May 10 at 16:48
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>> He knows who he is !
>
who?
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How did you know my car was cheap? ;-)
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>> Yes, yes, yes, and yes. And it gets worse the further South you go (from
>> Scotland).
>>
I'll 'second' that.
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It's semi retired old duffers in not so cheap Japanese but made in South Africa pick ups that are noted for their professional driving and gentlemanly conduct...it says in this survey recently just conducted.
The Celtic influence does make a big difference.
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Don't you Celtic me, I come from London, but have skill. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 16 May 10 at 16:51
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>> Don't you Celtic me, I come from London, but have skill. :-)
Get out of it, you have been up there so long you are now classed as a sweaty.
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Not as daft as it sounds. We have a dedicated news website for the town, which includes shots of vehicles involved in accidents.
If a BMW isn't involved, there are gasps of amazement from posters.
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I agree 100% re Scotland but I'd also say that once you get south of Birmingham it gets a bit better again. The South East is very busy and you can't afford to dither but it sort of works. It's the bit from the Midlands to Kendal where you get the mean spirited chips on both shoulders drivers in the main.
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>>It's the bit from the Midlands to Kendal where you get the mean spirited chips on both shoulders drivers in the main. >>
I trust you are not including me in that statement.....?
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It's the bit from the Midlands
>> to Kendal where you get the mean spirited chips on both shoulders drivers in the
>> main.
Agreed the other Hadrians the one to the East of Brum keeps them away from Northants too where gentlemen still open doors and doff their titfers for their ladies....i know you meant to add that but it must have slipped your mind.
^^^Don't you Celtic me, I come from London, but have skill. :-)^^^
You'll be a naturalised Scot by now Navy and no bad thing either, like Northants Irish contingent (well some of us) a bit of old fashioned manners eased by that slow burning fuse called the Scottish temper.
..;)
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>> You'll be a naturalised Scot by now Navy and no bad thing either, like Northants
>> Irish contingent (well some of us)
you dont come from rushden do you? with huge obscene animals heads on massive gateposts to hid your caravan behind?
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>> Have standards dropped? Are drivers on the whole less polite, more aggressive, and more selfish?
yes, yes and yes. In my 36 years driving experience
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>>Are drivers on the whole less polite, more aggressive, and more selfish?
I think that is the case. In my 61 years riding m/cycles and driving wide range of cars and trucks. I am also sure that this is a regional thing as in the West Midlands till 1998 I found very little difference in driving standards as compared to patterns within the Greater London area.
When I retired and moved to the West Country the aggression and impolite attitudes were almost non-existant. I rarely visit the capital city nowadays but I do find as soon as I cross over the M25 I revert to my Birmingham bulldozer attitudes. It is a Jekyll and Hyde thing.
Happy Motoring Phil I
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yes, yes and yes. In my 36 years driv
Their rudeness and aggression hardly matter. What matters is their lethal incompetence.
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>> ...in my opinion the main difference in driving has
>> been a decline in politeness and consideration for others.
>>
You could swap society for driving in that sentence.
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In my brief career as a taxi driver, I found Jaguar drivers had the worst manners. Long after I had changed careers, a police driving tester told me that taxi drivers were the worst.
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OK to be serious for once...... re the regional differences.
As some will know I have spent far too much of my life so far driving all over the UK and Ireland and elsewhere.
Standards have indeed worsened in general but there is a marked difference between some regions. As has been said the Scots are by far the most courteous and indeed, perhaps by default the best able to cope with climate variations. The "middle" part of Britain for some inexplicable reason seems to have a higher level of aggression and poor standards. Tailgating much more prevalent for example. Examples of "road rage" can be seen much more often.
The South East is very busy but provided one drives positively and signals clearly it tends to be OK.
Within all of the above there is a further variation between rural areas, cities and small towns. The city drivers again perhaps by default tend to be reasonably competent. Conversely, the drivers from very rural locations are usually pretty handy too. It's the small towns where you have to be extra careful.
Last edited by: Humph D'bout on Sun 16 May 10 at 17:40
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At the risk of misquoting him a few years ago I asked honestjohn his recommendation fir a good value car. At the time he said the Ford Mondeo, particularly because it not only is it a good car but excellent value second hand. The reasoning? The Mondeo was a very popular fleet car for sales people at the time, but they had started to demand more prestigious marks like BMWs. Basically a good supply of well-serviced Fords.
If this is the case does it mean that it is the young upwardly mobile sales types that are actually the poor drivers? Maybe the drive to succeed in the job gets behind the wheel.
Last edited by: car4play on Mon 17 May 10 at 10:22
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I suspect that the majority of company car drivers don't give a toss for the well being of the car so are less likely to be concerned about the odd bump than a car owner. My BiLaw drove his company car up from London in wet conditions, when I pointed out that he had two bald tyres and the other two were illegal, his response was "Oh thanks, I thought the car was sliding on roundabouts, is there a Kwikfit around, they do our tyres". The cost to him was nil, so why the delay? Company car syndrome.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 16 May 10 at 18:39
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BMW X5 and Range Rover Sport drivers
These tend to be some of the most aggressive drivers on the roads around here (south east), and seem to like playing the game 'lets see how fast I can empty the fuel tank'.
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I think it depends on the culture of the company too a bit though. The first firm I went to work for had an old school boss. Woe betide anyone issued with a company car if he saw it even slightly dirty. If he'd spotted a bald tyre or a missed service you would have been sacked. In winter you more or less had to clean the car every night inside and out. Same with clothing. A dark suit at all times, white or blue shirt and a "sober" tie, only silk ties allowed. Clean, good quality shoes in good condition, a decent watch, a quality pen to use when on business and a smart leather briefcase please. He'd even randomly check oil, water and screenwash levels. No one dared to step out of line. Well of course he and his like are a breed from the past but most of those standards stick with you for life. I often joke about my car being scruffy but in fact most of the time it's pretty much in good shape. Can't help it. Too deeply ingrained in the mindset now.
In recent decades I've not been a suit wearer, more often than not to be found in jeans in fact but my car.....that's usually immaculate when I'm working.
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>> I suspect that the majority of company car drivers don't give a toss for the
>> well being of the car so are less likely to be concerned about the odd
>> bump than a car owner.
Whilst I see you've used the term 'the majority' please don't tar all company car drivers with this brush... I treat my company car as if it were my own.
It is clean (inside and out) because I spend a lot of time in it and don't like sitting in a pig-sty. I change the tyres as soon as I'm allowed (at 2mm, if it were my own I'd probably change at 3mm tbh), I check the oil and never miss a service (in fact I am dismayed that my 330d doesn't want its first service until 23k miles, if it were my own I wouldn't use variable servicing).
Hopefully this fastidiousness extends to my driving style too, I have nothing to prove and everything to live for - I know how potent my, er... engine is, so don't feel the need to prove it.
I see anything from discourteous driving through to complete idiocy on a daily basis and BMWs are no worse than many other makes, similarly the age and sex of the driver appear to be irrelevant too.
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Most companies will throw the book at you if your company car isnt up to scratch. The leasing company will fine you, and your company will have your guts for garters.
being employed is sufficient to ensure you look after company assets or keeping down costs these days,
Anyway, a bald tyre means points, points mean loss of job,
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I suppose that now the "management" can be held responsible for their drivers actions a few drivers have been leant on.
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>>The Independent should be ashamed. If it wants motoring journalists,
why not employ professionals rather than getting kids to re-write carp press releases<<
I must agree with Monsieur Hannon on that one, perhaps The Independent is trying to bring their daily circulation figures up to that of The Sun.
Re: the OP ... When we lived in Tenerife, I would regularly drive up to Montana Blanca up at Teide to get away from the two legged Rottweiler,
And even up there, with no other cars for miles and kilometres - some Youngblood in his Seat Ibiza would be up my rear and then overtaking me on the other side of the road like a bat out of hell.
I sent The Independent article to my mate in Plymouth as he drives a red Volva and his wife drives a BMW,
and he sed ~
" Mo en I are kind and considerate, we even stop after we've run someone down"!
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Let's face it - in carp surveys like this people say the first thing that comes into their heads, and in this case it's probably motivated by envy. Every driver of a company Mundano or that Vauxhall with the funny name secretly wishes they were Mr Kidney Grille.
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>> Every driver of a company Mundano or that Vauxhall with the funny name secretly wishes they were Mr Kidney Grille.
While that is almost certainly true of some of them, there will be others who have taken the time to figure out that on a user chooser deal you get a heck of a lot more car for your company car budget by choosing a mainstream brand than an allegedly premium one.
For someone allowed to spend, lets say, £25k that's going to put them in one fine Ford but only a mid spec BMW.
The irony here of course is that Mondeos are anything but mundane in reality.
Depends what floats people's boats in the end I suppose.
Anyway, I digress as usual !
:-)
Last edited by: Humph D'bout on Mon 17 May 10 at 09:08
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It's possible that the people who took part in the poll had a particular reason for taking part (perhaps they had just been inconvenienced by a BMW or whatever) and hence weren't an unbiased cross-section of drivers. The type of person who revels in complaining about things or in taking part in such polls can often result in a skewed conclusion being reached.
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I can categorically state - without fear of contradiction - that anyone I see driving is a worse driver than I am.
There. That's a fact. End of discussion :-)
(And I drive a cheap Japanese car. Yah boo sucks.)
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Most cars i see being driven in an aggressive manner are BMWs (and now quite a few audis) I can fully understand the outcome of this survey.
This was a row on the other site, and someone said prove it...
so about 6 months back I did a mini survey and in two days and four hundred miles I counted the following of what I considered to be over aggressive driving ( and my boundry is quite lax being fairly "forward" myself )
BMW 3 series 6
BMW X5 5
BMW 5 series 1
Audi A4 3
Audi A6 2
Ford Focus RS 2
There were no audi Q7s around but I know they are mostly driven appalingly by people who only deserve to be stuffed in the hole of the leaking oil well.
So there you have it. Its true.
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White Astra vans. Different league of bad driving. Almost an art form.
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Certainly if you see a car being driven aggessively in this part of the world it almost always seems to be an Audi...
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BMW drivers are generally still quite bad. Also not very courteous.
It's still not uncommon to get a look of disbelief if you flash someone out of a junction in the BM and that look doesn't happen when i drive other brand cars.
It's even more one sided too. Drive a BMW and you wont be tailgated very often at all. Switch to a wee VW and some folks want to come in the back for a look out the front.
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switch to a Kia and every one tailgate you.
Maybe its a badge thing !
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Maybe the drivers are all suckered by this 'Ultimate driving machine' guff and get a sense of superiority over their fellow motorists ;-)
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I agree Snakey, so many car adverts also seem to put weight into their car having an 'agressive stance' or something similar.
If you buy a car and you think it looks agressive, chances are you'll drive it in a similar way.
It's simple phschy...phsych..., pysic..., brain stuff really.
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You're all right. But I still want an M5 and Humph I'm sure would allow an X5 on his rive !
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I have recently started thinking that a 5-series estate might be a jolly good idea.
I also played golf for the first time recently.
Should I be concerned?
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Yes -the 5 is easy to understand - wouldn't bother with that stick an ball nonsense...
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>> Should I be concerned?
Only if you have started liking loudly patterned, brightly coloured pullovers too....and slacks.
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I turned down an X5 from my employer. BIK from Hades. That's why I've got a Qashqai instead.
Nice motors though granted.
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>>If you buy a car and you think it looks agressive, chances are you'll drive it in a similar way.<<
Very true! in some cases ... I've owned some moderately rapid conveyances in my time,
but with my Toyota Supra I just couldn't drive 'sensibly in any way, shape or form,
I always had to drive that car like I was at Brands Hatch and James Hunt was on my tail.
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BMW owners are 'the worst drivers' - Mike Hannon
