Bad Driving

If you are a new drive or a more confident drive, you will always experience lousy driving habits that can potentially cause a hazard to your journey. Here we discuss the UK’s most annoying driving habits.

What are the UK’s most annoying driving habits?

There are a few driving habits in the UK that you will notice a lot; many can cause irritation to other drivers and incidents that could have easily been avoided.

Middle lane hogging

If you have ever driven in Europe, you will notice everyone pulls over to the slower lane once they have overtaken a driver. However, in the UK we are not a custom to this, you will often experience what many people like to call a middle lane hogger. There have been many police pledges to have people hogging the middle lane prosecuted however nothing has really changed, and people still do it. You should never have to undertake a driver on the motorway, and it is actually illegal to do so.

During busy periods often drivers hogging the middle lane can cause congestion making traffic worse. Drivers should always return to the left-hand lane as soon as they have overtaken and should be in the left-hand lane when the road is clear ahead. One of the main reasons for people hogging the middle lane is because this is not part of their test to achieve their UK driving licence. Here at Scruff N Scratch we always recommend if you haven’t already take a driveJohnson’s pass plus as it will give you the relevant training on how to use the motorway properly and keep yourself and other road users safe at all times.

Middle Lane

Blocking zip mergers

A zip merger is when there may be a lane closure on a motorway or dual carriageway and rather than the driver indicating early to get into the lane open they indicate right where the lane closure is.

You may think you are morally doing the right thing by blocking them from getting into the lane, but you are actually wrong. Zip merging can reduce the risk of accident and have been proven to prevent the build-up of congestion and allow for a constant flow of traffic.

Braking at speed cameras

Most speed camera in the UK is now done on your average speed rather than the speed you were travelling at the time you passed the camera. Therefore braking for a speed camera is completely unnecessary, and you are most likely already to have been caught by the camera. If you are a serial camera braker, you should think about the safety of other road users. As you are most likely putting them in danger and can cause serious damage to someone’s vehicle.

Driving below the speed limit

Driving below the signed speed limit is actually extremely dangerous, while many people that do drive slower believe they are making the roads safer. If you are driving slow, you should look in your review mirror as there is bound to be a build up of traffic behind you.

The reason driving slowly is dangerous is it encourages impatient drivers to overtake you. It might not be safe to do so, and they could potentially put themselves and you in danger. If you are caught by the police, you can also be given a fine and points on your licence.

Let people turn right over your lane

We have all been in a similar situation whereby your waiting to turn right on a busy road but no one will let you through, so you end up holding up a significant amount of traffic behind you.

It can be both frustrating and time-consuming having to wait for long period of time. In some cases, it can be extremely dangerous as drivers take a chance on a small space which can result in car scratch repair in Aylesbury as you can accidentally clip another car as you go across the road. Therefore next time someone is waiting to turn right allow them to cross your lane.

Driving through amber lights

Amber traffic lights are there for you to slow down not to speed up to try and make the light. Often people think that the amber warning light is okay to drive through however there have been a number of accidents caused by people shooting across the lights. This isn’t just other vehicles; pedestrians can also be at risk of being hit by a car as many traffic lights cover crossings.

Amber Light

Indicate correctly

One of the most frustrating things that drivers do in the UK is not indicating correctly. When turning right, you should always indicate as this can often be the blind spot in your vehicle. However many people forget to turn their indicator left when turning left or coming off a roundabout.

Not knowing what lane to be in

We admit if you are not used to a specific road it can be confusing to know which lane to be in to go in a certain direction. If you do find yourself in this predicament, you should always follow the lane even if it takes you in the completely wrong direction as it is the safe thing to do. Many drivers cut others up badly when they are in the wrong lane; we have witnessed drivers bring in the right-hand lane trying to turn left and will cut a driver up trying to go straight on.

In your driving test, you have always been taught if you take the wrong turning or go in the wrong direction to carry on until it is safe to turn around or follow signs to your destination.

Don’t be the driver that takes part in bad driving habits; you are not only putting yourself at risk but also other road users.

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