On the road.....

[forthbridge]

Following on from 'Guess the model' - who's had any unbelievable/memorable/funny moments on the road?

Two that spring to mind for me: a large three lane roundabout with six exits..... normally I exit at number five - this day I went off on exit three which was just as well - someone in a Vauxhall Meriva was going the wrong way around the roundabout. One of those things you see in peripheral vision first (you're not looking to your right leaving a roundabout) - quite how they manouevred to get wrong way I've no idea - it would've been a strange turn to say the least!

Second, I was behind four or five cars on typical Scottish Borders roads near Kelso. Hedgerows, twisty and lots of hills and dips. All of a sudden, a car overtook at a point in the road where it twisted, and it approached a blind summit (IE dangerous to the point of Lunacy). Now this car went past me, and the car in front which slowed down, causing thee gap to close between myself and it. Overtaking car slows, and I hammer on the brakes to let it in. This all happened in about 5 seconds - so as I recover, I point at the car in front shake my head and generally swear. A little further on, I see the passengers arm moving in an animated way. I also saw a sticker in the rear window 'Scottish Police driving school Tullyallan'! So I'd hurled abuse at the Police!! In retrospect it was not surprising as there's a long straight bit of road near Charterhall airfield, where 60 is the normal going rate. You can sit, look in the mirror and see nothing behind you only to be passed seconds later by the same cars at breathtaking speeds well in excess of 100MPH - but I've often wondered if that particular student got a roasting, or if he was told to 'make the move' - it was certainly an odd one!

[FlyTexas]

Not really unbelievable or funny but definietely memorable. Back in 84 a friend of mine (with connections at the EAA) supplied me with a free ticket (that allowed me access to everything) to the big EAA airshow at Oshkosh Wisconsin. He even managed to get me free accomodations at his sister's dairy farm outside of Oshkosh...all I had to do was get myself from Texas to Wisconsin. So I loaded up my little pickup truck and off I went. It was a long drive but it was a lot of fun.

Brian

[jonesey2k]

Was on the way to work a few months back when I was waiting at a set of traffic lights. Couldn't filter to the front as the gap was a bit tight so I was content to wait when this big Hummer limousine pulls up on my left (dual carriageway) and stops so I'm roughly level with the rear passenger door. The occupants must have seen this leathered up bloke sitting on his motorbike as immediately the window powered down and several stunning and sparsely dressed ladies proceeded to hang out and offer me a wide variety of alcoholic beverages and slurred requests for stonking great wheelies Was tempted but had to politely decline... made my day and couldn't stop laughing for at least half an hour. I should have expected something like that to happen as X-Factor was on live at the Echo arena and we know how the girls react to that...

[DaveB]

Another infuriating moment..

I was out today doing a sedate 85mph (on a road that will remain nameless) with daughter snug on the back when this silver people-carrier came past me at 90+. I noted the quaint 'Baby onboard' notice jangling from it's rear window and wondered once more if having a baby onboard means you 'have' to drive like a tw@t or if it's voluntary

Another observation.. Range Rover drivers seem to have no means of activating their turn indicators

Yet another observation.. The overtaking lane (the outside lane on motorways) seems to be the preserve of little old ladies who are happy to sit there at 69/70mph even when the centre lane is empty

There were a lot more observations but I'll save those for my book

ATB

DaveB

[jonesey2k]

It does amuse me when cruising along at "spirited" mph on a bike that people in cars seem very chuffed when they overtake you even though they are thrashing the daddy-bags out of their engine while you have your throttle open about 10%

[DaveB]

Quite!

ATB

DaveB

[forthbridge]

All this bike talk reminds me of a time I was on the Edinburgh bypass in the outside lane, when a psycho on two wheels appeared out of nowhere and overtook me and the cars in front in the couple of feet between the white line and a concrete wall seperating the carriageways - while flinging up all the grit and cr*p that sits in such areas. Quite what was on his mind......

[DaveB]

I was overtaken (on the inside) by an R1 on the M3 last year who lifted the front wheel and disappeared down the road as soon as he was in front of me. I'm not quite sure what was on his mind either but I was in no mood to have any perceived gauntlett throwing. There was only one word on my mind as I recall.. well, 3 actually.. what a tw@t

ATB

DaveB

[DispatchDragon]

Brian -- Ill see your Texas to Oshkosh and raise you a Flagstaff to Knoxville in one leg - 30 hours driving spelled by my then wife.....in a VW Jetta

The Hairest thing was 250 miles from Oke City - the only other vehicle on I-40 was some crazy trucker - I followed his wheel tracks all the way to OKC

in a blizzard.....But I was young and dumber than I am now.


Leif

[FlyTexas]

Brian -- Ill see your Texas to Oshkosh and raise you a Flagstaff to Knoxville in one leg - 30 hours driving spelled by my then wife.....in a VW Jetta

You win!

Brian