People driving more aggressively/faster locally compared to motorways?

Agreed on the motorways thing (excluding the M25).

But my local roads seem to have more dithering, way-too-slow drivers in the last year or two.

And no, that doesn't mean I'm the bell end. I'm just pottering around within the speed limit in my van.

I suspect the motorway speed thing is mostly down to cameras. Lots more now, especially on the managed sections.

Agree on the shift in behaviours with motorway driving. I often pootle at 65-68 now and am always surprised at how rarely you get overtaken. More speed cameras I guess, especially the average speed type? And on local roads I live on a 20mph one and in my less happy days shout and shake my fist like some deranged fool at the cars passing at 40mph+. I live in hope that someone will screech to a halt and engage in a spirited conversation, that escalates to them throwing a punch and then getting into trouble. I realise that this is entirely foolish on many levels but thanks for the opportunity to share.

I have noticed over the last week or so some seriously aggressive driving around sheffield. Lots of tailgating, aggresive lane changes and speeding.
Seems like the worse the weather the more aggressive the driving is.

Yep in recent years 80mph seems to be the maximum on the motorway and I noticed on the M1  I was the fastest at 70mph for a lot of my journey today. <br />Unfortunately speed limit observation seems to have overshadowed stuff like paying attention, indicating and patience.<br /><br /><br />

I assumed that the shift in motorway driving was because everyone was too busy on their phones to drive fast.

Motorway speeds have settled right down. Same on big A roads like the A82 over Glencoe and the A537 Cat & Fiddle where average speed cameras have largely removed the "enthusiastic driving" nobbers although it hasn't cured the brain-dead ****s who think it's OK to close pass.

Local roads though are as lawless as ever. Shit parking, pavement driving/parking, speeding, RLJ... There's a junction near mine where there'll be at least 2 cars go through on red every single time. One of my closest ever "near miss" was cycling that road, the light went amber, I braked and the car behind missed me by mm as it sped through. I don't stop there now. Lights changing as I approach = head down and go for it cos the cars behind will be doing the same.

As spotted on the other thread where I've been having a whinge, one of my biggest gripes with Sheffield is the driving standards. The roads are smashed to bits, the actual layout is a nightmare with dead ends and one way streets everywhere, every single residential street looks like a carpark with cars parked end to end in every direction.

All this is bad enough but it's made so much worse by people's insistence on driving like utter frothing bell ends. My theory is that people spent so long stationary that every time they spot a bit of empty tarmac they absolutely bury the throttle in excitement.

I live in a 20 zone but people regularly dip off the main road to avoid the traffic lights and go blazing up the hill flat out. This is with parked cars on both sides and barely enough room to drive up the middle. The other day I saw a standoff between 2 massive SUV's, both of which were incapable of reversing up the street.

Utter cockstains everywhere.

Non-existent traffic Police on any roads other than motorways thanks to the Tories, plus smart motorways/speed cameras on gantries.

The last few years the amount of cars going through red lights has increased significantly.

I got beeped last night in the pissing rain because I was allowing some oncoming cars to drive round one stalled 5 series while the other cars in front of me were all queuing at the flooded section that had an MX5 stuck in the middle of it.

Basically the prick behind was too impatient to realise that shoving on through wouldn't halp a thing and letting some cars get through would clear the road ahead so we could all make some progress.

I also live in a 20 area with cameras and a few speed bumps to try and calm the bellends down. I regularly get tailgated while sticking to the local limit, normally by fancier cars with less ground clearance that heave on the brakes when they realise there's a speed bump, and then accelerate back up to sit in my boot.

I think I'd be ok with quitting driving TBH, certainly doing it less. Unfortunately I am not in a position to simply stop driving (yet).

People behave like this because of various factors (stress, pressure the way driving is promoted in the media) but mostly because they seldom see any challenge or consequences as a result of shitty aggressive driving so they just carry on having learned that it's socially acceptable...

Motorway driving does seem to be slower on average.  At the other end of the scale it feels as though the  widespread use of 20 mph limits means that drivers are letting off a bit of frustration when they get to the edge of town.

Really noticeable how awful driving standards are when the schools are out. Normally it's just packed into the hour of school run either end of the day. I'm not pointing the finger at teachers being poor drivers, but if the cap fits!

The thing that really boils my urine is how people think it's acceptable to floor it around supermarket car parks. A poor woman was killed in the local Tesco by a van. Often think they should put posters up of the aftermath of that and it might make people pause for thought.

I commute from a semi rural 20mph area via a mix of roads to another 20 mph area.
I've been doing the same route for many years and have also perceived a change.

I'm in Wales and subject to the recent 20mph restrictions which I generally agree with. There's a few local drivers who definitely don't and it's not at all unusual to have a bunch of cars behind me on the early part of the journey veering sideways trying to overtake. Although it's an A road it's pretty congested with a lot of double parking restricting the carriageway to a single lane for one particular stretch of about a mile. One particular twit in a white Focus is always SO keen to pass. There is only one stretch of road wide enough and with good enough visibility but it was really isn't a good place because it's by the very busy filling station. Fiestalad has a shot if he can though.

As for the M4, if it's dark and raining I take the alternative, the current roadworks make it too stressful for me to be bothered with. Adds maybe 5 mins to my journey but I'm spared the half-wits jostling for position through the contraflow at J48.

Often think they should put posters up of the aftermath of that and it might make people pause for thought.

I doubt the selfish knob heads would even notice them....

The tailgating happens a lot more than the excessive speed incidents locally in my view. You’d think people would be embarrassed if the car in front pulled over only to then pull back out behind them again (at a safe distance!) or at least trigger a thought as to “what just happened there?”, who knows, maybe it does

While I see more and more folk sticking(ish) to the 20mph in our locality, there seems to be a hardcore who refuse or who know better.
A year back I was unfortunate enough to bother answering a local knuckle dragger who was claiming that over 30mph was perfectly safe, as when was the last time anyone was run over on that road? (and other silly arguments). He, and a few others, genuinely though that the 20mph zone was unnecessary, unfair on drivers and would make our town much worse.
You cannot argue with stupid and you won't change everyone's selfish attitude.

I now happily sit at 20mph and ignore tailgaiters.

Motorways are fine - apart from anywhere south of Manchester...

I think there's something in this. Standards of driving particularly around residential estates and the like, that now seem to get treated like A roads, are piss poor. Yet the majority of people seem to be happy to trundle along at 60mph on motorways. 

I got beeped last night in the pissing rain because I was allowing some oncoming cars to drive round one stalled 5 series while the other cars in front of me were all queuing at the flooded section that had an MX5 stuck in the middle of it.

I was overtaken last week while I stopped behind a bus to give way to oncoming traffic. Van behind passed, giving me a filthy look whilst simultaneously being angrily flashed at by aforementioned oncoming traffic. 

Central South.  The stupid is strong in all areas with excesses of high speed, aggression, dithering. Oh and mobile use it's like Bluetooth was never invented.  

The lane discipline on the M27 is something to behold. I'd say it's currently worse than the M25, which I would generally rate as the worst for people ignoring the two empty lanes to their left.  There is a section of 50mph over the Hamble River currently that if you slow down for (I do) you're taking your bodywork/life in your hands. 

The only proper solution is a lot more Roads Police. 

I did chuckle the other day when Mr lashed up Merc with illegal plates was peeling the illegal tints off his front windows under the watchful eye of a traffic officer.  🙂

Not sure if it is cost of fuel, more EVs on the road trying to extend range, or other factors I haven’t thought of?

EVs are generally going the fastest. If they dont need the range for their particular journey they seem happy to gun it as they will just fill up at home regardless. Of course you see the occasional hypermiler who must be doing a long journey but mostly they are motoring along in lane 3.

My guess is the proliferation of adaptive cruise control in higher end vehicles at least.

 more dithering, way-too-slow drivers in the last year or two.

Oh my god, this has really been noticeable - Dribbling across junctions oblivious to the queue of cars behind them trying also to get through the lights - "Pretend you live in a city and you have to share the roads with other people..." and breathe...But yeah also the red light jumping is at epidemic levels. I got beeped at for the terrible crime of slowing to stop for an amber light turning to red...

Driving in general in the UK is so stressful now. Especially greater London, heaven forbid you make a mistake and end up in the wrong lane because the moment you put that indicator on, there will not be a room for a fag paper between the bumpers of the cars in the lane you need to merge into.

I've seen cases where entire junctions have become deadlocked because some pencil-dicked simpleton was so desperate to prevent somebody getting ahead of them that they positioned their car such that NOBODY could then get through the junction. Genius.

I was on holiday in Italy last year and it really surprised me to learn that driving in Rome was (much much) less stressful than driving in the UK. Sure, everybody thinks they are Ricardo Patrese, but everybody just gets on with it.

No-body sticks to the 20 zone where I live, not near work (Manchester). At home, the 20 is actually governed by speed bumps, but the number of folk scraping the lower bumpers/splitters it's crazy. I can only assume it's a leased car. Wide road near work, 20 zone due to school/college. Not so bad on bike as there is  bit of a cycle lane and it's a wide road, but nobbers everywhere.

Driven a lot in Wales, and I'm fairly used to it with tailgaters - just leave them to it.

Everyone single person in the country needs to retake their driving test IMO!

Everyone feeling the pressure of modern living and declining public standards - yeah I feel it.

I think its greater than just driving though.

I think I’d be ok with quitting driving TBH, certainly doing it less

+1

the more I drive the less I like it--and I passed my test in 1986!

so many obnoxious drivers about, whether it's supermarket car-parks, 20mph zones, or motorways, just so many vehicles on the roads today I guess...

one thing I cannot understand is folk blasting up to red lights and then slamming on the brakes, instead of slowing down in anticipation of the lights turning green, saves fuel and brake wear.

back in the day, when I had a Mini 850, the brakes were so rubbish it was best to avoid using them, so slowing down using the gears, or just decelerating using the throttle.

now with yer fancy motors with their better braking systems it seems to encourage 'driving on the brakes', but I'm too set in my ways to change now.

I think a reason for this is that the mouthbreathers caning along local roads don't actually have jobs, or anything useful to do, so they're not actually that likely to use motorways. They probably never drive outside a 5 mile radius of their house.

They probably never drive outside a 5 mile radius of their house.

Yep - vast majority of journeys are sub 5 miles. Where this really shows is Easter / Christmas etc when these people Use A Motorway for the first time in months and oh dear God. Utterly clueless, lost, screaming kids in the back, trying to listen to the satnav.
And then the next stage where they're fumbling around local roads to get to the relatives... 🙄

I got sworn at in a car park outside Halfords in Newport recently by a pleasant lady in a nice velour tracksuit with lots of make up in a brand new Range Rover vogue. She told me (and my 9 yr old daughter in the car that “if I can’t ****ing drive it I should ****ing sell it butt”

I pointed out to her that I was trying to drive round a corner, was in my lane, had 4 cars behind me and wasn’t able to reverse as a result. I pointed out in a cheery way that it was the case that she was on the straight, her car was straddling the white line in the middle of both lanes and she had no cars behind her and had space to reverse into. She flicked a finger at me, her daughter who was about 12 and equally caked up with make up leant over her mum from the passenger seat and told me to “**** off butt”. 

my daughter who is 9 couldn’t believe it. In the end she did reverse as she had to as there was no way forward, the cars behind me were still stuck and she was obviously very keen to get into b&m.

Can't go fast round our way - the cratered roads stop any form of making progress!! 🙂

Tailgate me in a 20mph zone and you'll find yourself gradually slowing to walking pace.

 Easter / Christmas etc when these people Use A Motorway

Driving down south and back at Xmas, there were way fewer lorries on the road - but everyone was still in lane 2, out of habit I suppose?

It wasn't even that busy, so it wasn't like they were gonna get boxed in. Gets tiresome repeatedly going lane 1 - lane 3 to overtake the ones doing 60.

Some absolute nobends round this way. Had some bloke tailgating and flashing because I wasn't overtaking the bloke in front and leaving enough room (it wasn't safe to do so.)

Obviously eased off to increase the distance, just to make sure. 🙂

Seems ^anecdotally^(I'm sure there's ample data to back it up) speed cameras on motorways are working. Great.
Quite obvious next step is to average speedcamera (not unsightly at all) every major road in residential places
This won't deal with the aggression/hard acceleration issue though. That needs to be dealt with through legislation perhaps black boxes for everyone? I'd back that. And eventually will disappear altogether by removing the steering wheel and pedals from all cars.

Driving in general in the UK is so stressful now. Especially greater London, heaven forbid you make a mistake and end up in the wrong lane because the moment you put that indicator on, there will not be a room for a fag paper between the bumpers of the cars in the lane you need to merge into.

Not sure about this actually! I drive through 'london' a few times a month and generally everyone knows that the layout (constantly 2lane>1lane-buslane) is crap and people are quite happy to let people merge if they indicate. But you must act instantly - or they'll close the gap. Also you need to 'london drive' as in european-style driving, where you need to just 'do' rather than 'ask to do' - again, noone really cares or gets annoyed if you 'shoulder your way in' because it's just how to drive in the city. It's (genuinely) almost never out of aggression. Whereas absolutely, that would definitely be aggressive/s*** driving in any other city/town. But London it's just 'the flow'.

Tailgate me in a 20mph zone and you’ll find yourself gradually slowing to walking pace.

One bell-end doesn't mean you have to be one too. Just drive as you would normally.

I'd agree with pretty much everything in this thread but would add that lane discipline seems to be getting worse too.
Every time I have to undertake a long journey I see more and more sat in the middle lane completely unaware of their surroundings and the issue they are causing.
Add to that I have seen some amazingly stupid drivers weaving in and out of heavy traffic, undertaking, cutting people up and generally being dangerous AF.  They re unlikely to be speeding due to the traffic but ****ing hell it's terrifying.
Suspect the former is linked to the latter.

Tailgate me in a 20mph zone and you’ll find yourself gradually slowing to walking pace.

Had some bloke tailgating and flashing because I wasn’t overtaking the bloke in front and leaving enough room (it wasn’t safe to do so.)

Obviously eased off to increase the distance, just to make sure.

I do this as well, or rather drive exactly and calmly at the speed limit. There must be some drivers who think that everyone else in the world drives incredibly slowly because every time they hammer up to inch from the tailgate the car in front slows right down. No wonder they are impatient. 😀

I always stick to the twenty and thirty limits too, and the closer someone gets to my rear bumper the further below the limit I drop. The car in front of them is pretty much the only thing which can enforce speed limits, they aren't getting passed.

Amazes me how many just disappear out of sight behind me when we get to the NSL bits too, they are the '40mph absolutely everywhere' group

One bell-end doesn’t mean you have to be one too. Just drive as you would normally.

I'm not being a bell-end, it's for my own safety. If someone is going to drive stupidly close they need to go stupidly slowly in order to avoid a collision if I have to brake suddenly.

When we moved up to sunny Chesterfield circa 18 years ago we noticed the standard of driving was generally awful compared to where we used to live in the SE. Back in the SE people would cut you up but they knew they were doing it as they looked right at you. In Chesterfield people just seemed completely incompetent. Cutting you up, pulling out in front of you with no apparent knowledge that we existsed, almost like we had an invisibility cloak on.

I don’t know if it’s got better or we’ve just got used to it. But loads of pot-holes here now, meaning people are having to take random evasive manoeuvres.

A82 reminds me of driving southbound on it a few years back as the sun was setting. We got stuck behind a logging lorry, but were quite happy going along at 50 mph viewing the scenery. Left a gap in front of us so people who wanted to overtake could. The highlight was some guy in an Alfa overtaking us at warp speed and trying to do the same to the lorry as it went over one of the little bridges forcing it to move to the centre of the road. Pretty sure the Alfa driver had brown trousers after that 😂.

Type of "bridge" in question.

Motorways have definitely slowed. I think the proliferation of 50 limits and average speed cameras 2005-2015 whilst they upgraded lots to smart motorways killed off a lot of it, then smart motorways themselves. You only need a few people sticking to the limits anyway to hold up the "fast" drivers and it's calmer for everyone.

Locally I don't know, when I used to work all over the UK I'd notice different things in different areas. Birmingham had a massive issue with "car meets" blocking roads, Manchester it seemed like red lights were genuinely an optional instruction for everyone. London is OK, apart from a more concentrated percentage of genuinely bad drivers, and information overload for everyone else meaning mistakes get made.

yer fancy motors with their better braking systems it seems to encourage ‘driving on the brakes’

Remember EVs will be automatically triggering the brake lights if they are regenerating. I basically never use the brakes in mine but the brakes lights come on as it goes into regeneration mode.

In Chesterfield people just seemed completely incompetent. Cutting you up, pulling out in front of you with no apparent knowledge that we existsed, almost like we had an invisibility cloak on.

Chesterfield is an absolute traffic sewer with an appalling road layout. What bellend thought that building a triple carriageway with multiple large roundabouts through the centre of town was a good idea I will never understand.

Speaking of EVs, it annoys me when you’re stuck behind a driver of one doing 10mph less than the limit (I know, it’s a limit not a target), you reach a set of lights where there are two lanes, you pull up in the right hand lane only for them to floor it when they go green so you have no chance of overtaking, then they carry on at speed limit -10mph holding up everyone behind.

Must depend where you live. I find the driving around Glasgow to be generally OK. Having said that most of my local driving hours are probably when I'm working. Outside peak hours and in no hurry.

Even on the bike I have only had one recent incident where a swerve and brake was required to avoid the van than pulled out on me on a roundabout.

you reach a set of lights where there are two lanes, you pull up in the right hand lane only for them to floor it when they go green

they’re not flooring it, welcome to the serene world of peak torque available at 0 rpm in silence 😂

Understand how frustrating it is though, reminds me of cycle commuting in Brighton when I’d keep catching up with a slow cyclist only for them to continue through the next set of red lights 😠

I am envious and do want an EV, my problem isn’t the car, it’s the driver 🙂

It's not everyone or every driver, but some of the particular stuff I have seen on the roads over the last 12 months does seem a bit more unhinged than before, like the max level of crazy has gone up higher. I'm of the mindset that it's general life stress, pouring out through a steering wheel.

you reach a set of lights where there are two lanes, you pull up in the right hand lane only for them to floor it when they go green so you have no chance of overtaking

There's an instructional series of videos out there to help you with this situation, i think Vin Diesel is in them? 😆

In Chesterfield people just seemed completely incompetent.

That's just Chezzie folk in general! 🤣🤣🤣

My current pet peeve is the ones who think that when they’re turning right out of a minor road into a major road, give way line is in the middle of the major road.

You’re a bully, and no, I’m not letting you out.

Definitely seen that motorway speeds are slower. I think thats down to volume and cameras being everywhere.

Would be interesting to see if that has in any way equated to decreased deaths

I live in one of the few parts where you can still drive a car fairly quickly and safely - long may it remain that way

Amazes me how many just disappear out of sight behind me when we get to the NSL bits too, they are the ’40mph absolutely everywhere’ group

Yep its those type of drivers that worry me. Dangerously fast in slow areas, and dangerously slow in fast areas. Clearly not paying any attention to anything going on around them. But of course they will have a dash cam as its everyone else's fault that nearly crash every time they drive

"Gets tiresome repeatedly going lane 1 – lane 3 to overtake the ones doing 60"

I don't bother, I simply carry on driving at the same speed in lane 1 and pass them on their left.  The amount of progress that can be made, especially on the M25, is amazing.

Maybe because of more use of satnavs in cars - you can see your ETA and the fact that driving like a knob doesn't make an awful lot of difference to it, but just means more risks, more stress and more fuel costs.

Easter / Christmas etc when these people Use A Motorway

Oh god, pulling out onto the M6 from the M42 over Christmas behind the stereotypical Honda Jazz. It was one of the 'double' slip roads where the left hand slip becomes a new lane 1 to make a 4 lane motorway and the right hand slip joins the motorway a few hundred metres sooner into what is currently lane 1.  Jazz is in front of me in the right slip, doing about 35mph. Doesn't even indicate but trundles out into lane 2. I've left a big gap to try to get up to speed so I can go lane 1 to (empty) 2 straight away and leave the Jazz to deal with the HGV bearing down on us at 56mph.

I'm closing on the Jazz, indicate and move to lane 2 when it flashes the indicator once, wobbles towards lane 2, then back to lane 1, then back out to lane 2 in front of me. On the brakes as the HGV passes us on the left.

We pass the other slip road and so there's a new lane 1 meaning we're in lane 3 of 4 doing 35mph in the dark, with two empty lanes to our left. I managed to get into a gap pretty quickly and left them to it.

Not so much on the speeding down here, being in the crowded south there's rarely the space to get up to any speed. But RLJers - amber's the new green, and the first two seconds of red is the new amber. As someone else said, when you stop on amber expect to be abused, and occasionally overtaken so they can go through the red on the wrong side.

On motorways it's absolutely lane hogging that's the new menace. By doing so (officially at least, can't condone Mister-P's behaviour) you cut the overtaking space down from 2 lanes to 1 and can create a mile of queue in no time. Well done you utter ****wits.

Speed on motorways - I had to be travelling around the Oxford / Banbury / South Brum part of the M25 regularly towards end of last year and in the evenings it's like the Nurburgring with predominantly german cars all hammering past at 120. Stereotyping but a particular type of driver as well.

I’m just pottering around within the speed limit in my van.

People driving at the speed limit on the country lanes round here are going too fast for the conditions - single lane roads with passing places, blind corners, cyclists, pedestrians, wildlife. County council van drivers are the worst IME.

I do this as well, or rather drive exactly and calmly at the speed limit. There must be some drivers who think that everyone else in the world drives incredibly slowly because every time they hammer up to inch from the tailgate the car in front slows right down.

If there is a car up my jacksy, I have to increase the distance to the car in front because he has given himself no chance of stopping if I have to slam on. They haven't got any thinking time, let along braking time, although can't imagine there is much going on in the brain stem of the driver behind.

Round my way every 20mph is for the most part ignored. Ditto 30mph, and the 40mphs are effectively treated as motorways speed-wise. Add in the sheer volume of folks ignoring traffic lights on red; pedestrians waiting at zebra crossings; and the ones who pay no attention at roundabouts etc it's getting quite dicey. I'd also say I've seen an increase in blatant mobile use too - not even bothering to try and hide it. On the recent regular trips to Glasgow, however, once away from Newcastle and then off the A69 (that's another story altogether) the motorways have been generally serene. Last trip I let ACC do the work and it was one of the more pleasant longer distance drives I've had.

Oxford / Banbury / South Brum part of the M25

Are you thinking of the M40, because that is like the autobahn!

Personally speed isn't something i notice being a huge issue around my way, bar a few idiots now and again, i tend to worry more about the folk who seem to not be able to see very well, this week a few pulling out of side streets making me brake, following an old guy yesterday he stopped and waited at every mini roundabout when you could see they were clear a long way back, slowing down for green lights and so on, was painful and slow, but this is the usual nightmare around here, there definitely needs to be more testing when people get older and less able, as well as testing and monitoring for those who shouldn't be on the road through drink/drugs/lack of a license!

I think there has been a devaluation of speed limits, or boy who cries wolf. At least in semi rural and out suburban areas.

There are many places where 40-> 30 and 50->40 etc, but in a over use in a over zealous manor by which I mean an entire road is dropped rather than the busy / dangerous section or the 30 been extended well outside a village resulting in sense of "empty road works" scenario where there are long stretches of excess speed limits and people consider the entire stretch to over limited. Hence devalued.
I always notice when driving in Germany and France the limits change a lot more and seem more appropriate with jumps from 30kph back up to 40 or 70 then back down to 40kph etc where as in the UK the entire long road will be set at a low speed limit. As stated originally this is more of a edge of two and semi rural roads

I don’t bother, I simply carry on driving at the same speed in lane 1 and pass them on their left.

Me too & unless you are changing lanes to undertake or just not allowing drivers enough time to pull back in after their overtake, you're very unlikely to get done or create more danger than going lane 1,2,3,2,1 instead.

You’re a bully, and no, I’m not letting you out.

Or maybe, as I find every single morning as I try to pull out of my street, the person on the minor road is sick of not being able to pull out because no-one lets them despite trundling past in a queue at walking speed. Just back off and let the person out, you'll make their day and feel good you've done someone a favour.

I don’t bother, I simply carry on driving at the same speed in lane 1 and pass them on their left.

Me too & unless you are changing lanes to undertake or just not allowing drivers enough time to pull back in after their overtake, you’re very unlikely to get done or create more danger than going lane 1,2,3,2,1 instead

Just stay in lane 3, then you don't have to weave in and out. It's much less stressful.

This seems to be regional.  Every time I go to the North of England I am shocked by the level of bell-endery on show by drivers.

Every time I go to the North of England

Can confirm as stated above

Are you thinking of the M40, because that is like the autobahn!

Doh! Yes, M40.

Or maybe, as I find every single morning as I try to pull out of my street, the person on the minor road is sick of not being able to pull out because no-one lets them despite trundling past in a queue at walking speed. Just back off and let the person out, you’ll make their day and feel good you’ve done someone a favour.

+1

Are you thinking of the M40, because that is like the autobahn!

That and the drag racing between the roundabouts of the A43 Silverstone way, I think it warms people up for a bit of flat out on the M40 towards London.

Ok so most motorway speeds have dropped.

Motorway speed limits have dropped and I think there is less speeding going on in general than there used to be when we were younger. Also less drink driving - it’s far less socially acceptable than it was. Also using mobile phones in cars is reducing - as I see when driving. 

maybe we are just getting a bunch of gumpy old gits noticing other people’s driving habits.

One thing I’ve really noticed is in London / burbs on traffic junctions without cameras is the number of drivers going through reds. Super dangerous especially if you are a cyclist.

I dunno, Did an 80 mile round trip, 98% motorway today (M62) and whilst I didn't witness any 'aggro' driving, I did see 5 or 6 examples of complete bellendry.

So only circa 2 hours driving...Mostly being in the wrong lane for the speed you are going ie not overtaking/crawling past at +1mph, not matching speed joining the motorway, people pulling in too soon forcing me to brake after thier overtake...

Motorway driving really should be a mandatory part of the driving test.

A470 up in North Wales, dark, wet, rainy, I thought I was driving for the A Team with the rear wheel slides in the van!

A lot of young folk have black boxes now which can temper their enthusiasm a bit.

I hope black boxes don’t become mandatory, just another case of paint by numbers. An amount of acceleration or turning G force on an empty road gets scored poorly, driving through a primary school at kicking out time at 22 while looking at your phone gets scored well.
I would like to see mandatory dash cams including a camera looking at the driver.
being watched in that way might cause many people to shape up.

Also using mobile phones in cars is reducing – as I see when driving.

Not from what I see. Cycle down the outside of a queue of traffic and keep an eye on the drivers, it'll easily be 25% checking phones. It's easier to see at this time of year too, dark outside and the tell tale glow of a phone from their right hand, sometimes they'll try and hide it down by their knee.

Maybe less use when actually driving 🤷🏻‍♂️
But certainly it's still endemic behaviour for a few seconds at every set of lights or in slow moving traffic.

On motorways it’s absolutely lane hogging that’s the new menace. By doing so (officially at least, can’t condone Mister-P’s behaviour) you cut the overtaking space down from 2 lanes to 1 and can create a mile of queue in no time.

Depends on the circs but it might be okay... Highway Code Rule 268

Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.

Bellends are gonna bellend

What I hate is the school run when folk use our street as a timetrial on the way to dropping their kids at the school gate. Usually mums, usually German SUV, usually on their phones,  usually cutting blind  corners

Speed bumps in our estate make no difference, I slow to 10mph over them, most folk don't seem to see them. Usually mums, usually German SUV, usually on their phones,  usually cutting blind  corner.

The more "rural" the motorway the better, IME. The more frequently a motorway passes city junctions the worse it becomes
Stats-wise the Dept of Transport doesn't hold so-called smart motorway collision data, National Highways keep that, but proper motorways have always been relatively safe; until there is a collision and then it involves many more vehicles

I often pootle at 65-68 now and am always surprised at how rarely you get overtaken

I always set the cruise to 70MPH for motorways and dual carriageways where a lower limit has not been posted and I’m always surprised at the number of drivers pootling along in the middle or 3rd lane at 65-68MPH who I then overtake. Usually only to find them accelerating to 70MPH or faster when they realise they’ve been pootling along absentmindedly. 😏

Local roads though are like something out of mad max. Kind of. Always surprised at the number of folks I see overtaking in 20MPH zones and roaring down the road. Usually to stop at the next set of lights and have folks catch up with them.

I’m a stickler for 20MPH and 30MPH limits and find a calming joy in having aggressive, speeding, drivers weaving about a metre from the bumper looking to overtake.

In manchester it also seems that traffic light colours are considered guidance rather than mandatory.

Pleasantly though I see a lot more of drivers yielding on turns to pedestrians.

Motorways are fine – apart from anywhere south of Manchester…

It's a continuum where the closer you get to London the greater the incidence of maniacs and the less patient people are, but to be fair, it's pretty much always been that way, at least this century. There are magnetic death rays generated by the magnetic mass of vehicles circumnavigating the M25 that fry people's brains over time. The M60 has a similar impact, but lower traffic volume mean it's less pronounced. 

I would like to see mandatory dash cams including a camera looking at the driver.
being watched in that way might cause many people to shape up.

I don’t think so. You can take your compulsory surveillance and forget it.

Having said that, our current car came with all round cameras and in a recent software update started to use the cabin camera to identify inattentive driving. it seems 5 such ‘pay attention Dave’ events remove the autopilot features for a period!

Drove hours down through Wales on New Years Day, heavy rain, mostly A roads interspersed with small towns. Notable how fast people wanted to go regardless.

I was doing about 55 on the A roads which felt safe given the conditions, branches and water everywhere. Had one motorbiker overtake and show frustration. No wonder they get killed so often. Then near Shrewsbury one of those 'wide A roads that isn't a dual carriageway but people use as one' had loads flying past at 70.