I write after completing another journey across Glasgow and back where I again had to put up with crazy driving incidents from other drivers who are either too impatient or just plain unsafe in their driving or dont know the highway code.
Let me tell you of the incidents just in one journey of a total of around an hour and a half today.
OK so I set off and driving out of my town of Milngavie into the country on a road called Auchenhowie Road. I was following three cars ahead of me. In fact I had noticed someone was driving too close behind me two traffic lights back - you end up having to check this driver is not going to slam into the back of you instead of paying full attention to the road. Anyway we leave the 30mph zone and are travelling at the prevailing traffic speed which was roughly 40 to 50 mph and perfectly typical speed for that road when suddenly the driver from behind in his souped up car overtakes at a ridiculous speed and making a ridiculous noise. I put my radio off and lost track of what I had been listening to on what had up til then been quite a relaxed journey. He then overtakes the next person and then overtakes two cars in a row and this is on a bend. No way was he able to see if there definitely wasnt someone coming his way especially on the last of the two cars when he was very close to the bend. This is also past the exit to Rangers football training ground Murray Park and there were people gathered there at the exit. There is also at least one or two side roads to consider that come out onto that road. He appeared not to need to consider these things. I have his number and I will possibly contact the police tomorrow to report it and see if anyone else has reported the driver on this occasion.
Anyway onwards ... the number of people who appear to be driving without paying full attention has in the last two weeks become frighteningly high. I hate to say so as a woman but it does appear that almost every woman who stops behind my car appears to be on a mobile phone texting .... please its so dangerous. This included on my return journey a silver VW Beetle driver who was paying little attention ... Now if you have ever given yourself a huge fright when you have maybe just had a fleeting moment of inattention then think again - why on earth would you do anything that is going to distract you ?
Now the next things I had to encounter were aggressive and fast driving that was quite pointless as there were just lanes and lanes of queued traffic on the M8 or M77 ... what is the point ? In fact yesterday I felt a guy in a large Volvo seriously nearly crashed his car into the one in front just due to aggressive driving.
Now my final driving fault I see all the time is that of people who signal AS they are doing the thing- and not BEFORE ! I got an awful fright when someone changed lanes right in front of me and only signalled really after the maneouvre had been made - that is not the point of a signal - its a signal of intention ! Mind you some people dont signal at all - but really the only useful one is a signal before the maneouvre.
Now then I encountered a Glasgow Taxi - a Skoda I think - he was driving a bit crazy through the Clyde Tunnel - he came out of the give way in front of me into the traffic through the tunnel - then moved into outside lane, then half way through the tunnel he crossed back over the double white lines (Highway Code = do not cross !!) and ended up in front of me again ! He then veered left up the exit road to Clydebank/Victoria Park South as he came out of the Tunnel - again no signal !! Now this is someone who is driving around with their taxi license plate number fully on display - he is a "professional driver" ! yet doesnt think rules apply to him. I dont take taxis any more since I felt we had an extremely unsafe journey locally from a taxi driver who had never even driven the car he was in before - is that even legal ? I suspect not !! That wasnt a Glasgow Taxi though but an East Dunbartonshire one I think !
OK so that's my main quibbles - please folk - relax and stay safe when driving - no distractions - use your signals - and think of other road users.
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