Driving Fail Viewers Edition #41 | The Best Save Ever! 

Doesn’t even acknowledge him lol, did he even see him or was he in a world of his own?

Not remotely bothered, was he? What a bellend....

WTF? What's he doing walking down the road to see if it really is closed? While leaving his motor blocking the oncoming lane? SMH

That was the passenger.

To be fair it was the passenger. Unless it was LDH. They are often victims of bad drivers too. Cannot control them.

Yep, although even worse are those that dawdle on the slip road at 40-50mph and you can see 70mph traffic coming up behind you. The amount of times I've had to floor it onto the carriageway to get out of trouble - one particular junction on the M5 near me is so bad for people doing this.

The minute I see somebody doing this, I instantly move out into the lane to prevent them from doing so. This is especially true when it's busy, when causing a slip road to come to a standstill is dangerous.

@@JulianShagworthy I'm not sure I understand. I'm talking about when you are behind someone coming onto the motorway. I'm not saying I prevent People coming off the sliproad onto the carriageway when I am on the carriageway

@@timprice5 Sorry, my comment was directed at the original issue of people on the main carriageway trying to close down gaps - I never tolerate it. Agree entirely with your comment.

@@JulianShagworthy no worries. My mistake!

Thank you too for sending in!

Not sure its the "right thing" if it doesnt feel safe (I am agreeing with you), indeed even Ashley seems to have changed his stance on this and now seems to recognise that its not always the best thing to do (this was confirmed by the DVSA within weeks of the change to the HC).

@@dwaggys3322 Exactly - there are so few times where it is safe that I don’t think it’s a positive change. I actually think the change causes more confusion. Worst case scenarios: 1. pedestrians who know the rule may expect it and drivers don’t do it 2. a driver may not do it safely and the driver behind may crash into them, putting everyone, including the pedestrians at greater risk.

I'm of a strong opinion that any roundabout that needs this feature (or even ALL roundabouts if we wanted to) should just get zebra crossings. There's a tiny number of roundabouts I've encountered with them and they work perfectly. No issue for pedestrians or driver or for the driver behind the vehicle stopping as everyone knows what's going on. It's very explicit. You can see the zebra crossing and everyone and their dog knows how they work. As a motorcyclist I choose to ignore the current addition to the Highway Code for personal safety. I rather not create a situation myself where it's easier for people to run me over. Plus, it still dangerous for the pedestrian as the car driver behind might choose to overtake me (as I don't occupy as much space on the road and it would likely be very possible to slide in).

​@@kiradotee These situations confuse everybody. It would be more practical to relocate crossings in these locations 50 yards up the road for the safety of pedestrians.

Just carry on as you are. I think it's ludicrous to stop to let people walk across. You are more likely to get hit from behind or someone to overtake you and run them over@! Also by stopping you might be causing problems round the roundabout. I don't think it's ever a hood idea to stop on a roundabout.

99% of the time I would agree, no issues doing that with my car, my brother's however is fairly gutless certainly on uphill merges and sometimes a little help is nice, it's not like a huge adjustment is needed most of the time.

As the driver there, the two lorries were muuuch closer than they appeared on camera. At the time, I'm pretty sure I was cruising at 50 MPH most of the way down the slip road.

The HGV is likely to be doing 55 or so, they never do 50. See it all the time when I slow for a 50 set of roadworks and they just blast past...

fair point. I'm always looking for my gap as soon as I have visibility, and I actually prefer, if allowed, to be going a little faster, because it's easier to drop back a little to get in the gap than to surge ahead.

​@@samal3196 then you should have accelerated to get Infront, or done what you should have behind a give way line and given way

wont be interesting, but not sure where the law is on that

I'm fairly sure you're not allowed to display L plates once you've passed your test. (Except driving school cars, obv.)

@@phillwainewright4221 It could be a new police officer “learning” the ways of the force 😉

@@phillwainewright4221 I believe you can. The guidance states "should not", rather than "must not", so it isn't illegal.

In our force area, we've had success by putting 'P' plates on unmarked police cars :)

Probably didn't see him, even if they watch the video they will probably think they did everything right. Bikers fault for being on the correct side of the road? Looking for somewhere to flytip or somewhere to use as a toilet or did they move the cones and drive through I wonder? Obviously driving safely was low down on the cars priority list.

@@WhiteDieselShed The passenger got back in the car and they drove off down the road I had coem from.

Not cheek, just total and utter incompetence to the point they shouldn’t be on the road!

yep shocking

If it was me, my reverse gear would most likely get jammed and i'd grind my gears to my fate.

@@rufusgreenleaf2466 yep that's exactly how I can imagine I would react!

He was going a bit fast for the conditions and I’m not sure reversing actually made any difference as the van had virtually stopped by then. Good idea though. I think I’d just have braked hard and squeezed as far left as possible. If you look there is a flat muddy area to move over to.

​@@rufusgreenleaf2466 suspect it might have been an auto

While yes, those on the carriageway technically have right of way, with a slip road, if there isn't a gap, vehicles NEED to create one. That's because slip roads end and it's not like you can just stop completely on a slip road and give way without causing danger.

@@lauriethefish2470 As Ashley is often at pains to point out, there's no such thing as 'right of way' on the road. There is 'priority', but even that comes with conditions. I've had cars stop in front of me on slip roads. Quite scary. But I've not been too close, and I've been able to slip past and find my gap.

those on the carriageway have right of way' brigade what is the opposite called then "I need a mile to join a motorway brigade" ? I want to know what the other side should be called, to be devils advocate. bit of fun here if a lorry has to brake from 60 to 30 for that car to join the faster motorway, then the lorry behind will slam on the brake from 60 to 25 most likely and that follows suit all the way back till a break in the traffic or the last car has to brake to 0. stopping is way worse on a motorway then a short slipway. lorry was 100% right to keep going as he has to think about people on the faster road behind him rear ending him or any braking he might do may cause others to slam on the brakes to come down to his speed. alternatively the lorries could of all just go into the middle lane and then everyone can join the motorway easier at whatever speed they wanted 40 or 50mph. but in truth in this video we all can agree there was loads of room for that car, he just wanted a mile long gap to join in remember I just said that to be devils advocate. bit of fun. road driving can never be perfect what in life ever is the videos best advice at @6:50 you should never merge if you are going to cause anyone to slow down, stop, swerve or sear.

I kinda agree, as a truck driver myself. And people don't learn about other vehicles, either. It would be nice if people at least knew that when overtaking a truck, then slowing right after that we need a lot more time, especially if we have a load on board because we might be braking, but the load isn't and still wants to continue, so makes us slow down and stop that much slower.

Lorry drivers suffer from SMIDSY too.

anyone who has taken a motorcycle safety course of any quality at all will have been taught the same thing.

@@pelicanofpunishment6 stopping empty is often worse than stopping full, because you have no weight on the tires.

@@kenbrown2808 Through enough. No weight pushing you but know weight pressing you down and providing some weight to slow you. Sort of a...lose one thing, lose another situation.

Totally this. I also think many motorists are hardwired to only look for motor vehicles and lorries. They don’t seem to be capable of observing cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians.

@@TheGiff7 PSNI posted a great tip about this. On road trips with the family, have a competition to see who can spot the most cyclists or bikers. Then, when they grow up and start driving, they will already be in the habit of scanning for bikers and cyclists.

Agreed - I had a painful altercation with a car bonnet due to this. The driver said I was in her blind spot - hopefully she's since made the leap to move her head to compensate (and also slows down before entering roundabouts). She had the good grace to be very sorry, anyway!

Yeah on a manual it would be quicker to grab a bible than find the reverse.

I dunno, I drive manual and teach automatic. Assuming you know your car, I think slamming it into reverse on a manual is quicker. In an automatic you've got to wait for the car itself to engage the gear.

Well done and keep doing the right thing and ignore the honking idiots

Same happened to me. Car driver behind was in a rush and honked, I jus put my arms up. He did not say anything when we stopped next to each other at the lights, I was waiting for him to, lol.

@@davidsomething4867 I didn’t even react aside look in my rear view mirror. It was the pedestrian who was more cheesed off than I was 😂

Yeah be careful someone doesn’t run in to the back of you cos they aren’t expecting some clown to just come to a full stop in an inappropriate situation. Definitely you.

@@handsoffmycactus2958 Stopping to let a pedestrian cross where the pedestrian has priority is not only required but also a most appropriate situation. The driver who fails to anticipate that the car in front might stop at a pedestrian crossing point to allow a pedestrian to cross in not just a clown but a dangerous clown.

Yeah all they need is a bit more press on the gas and they would have fitted easily in the slightly decently sized gap.

Exactly. I hadn't spotted that he then sped up to get into lane 2, so why couldn't he have sped up on the slip road?!

Yep, I got taken out on a roundabout for that reason. The girl had a quick look at the roundabout, thought it was clear and didn't bother slowing down or moving her head before she entered it - if she had slowed, I'd have emerged from behind her A-pillar. People check for car-sized objects and above, but often forget about the people-sized ones.

Over in the civilised part of Europe, this has been standard practice for decades. It's really not a big deal and us British drivers just need to get over ourselves.

@@larry365 And because It's been a practise for decades the pedestrians and drivers are familiar with the rule, making it safe. When you change a rule and not everyone is onboard things get dangerous.

Other countries manage to do it just fine, motorists need to stop being in such a hurry all the time. Maybe it will come with time, maybe the Govt will be pressured to change it back by lobbying, who knows.

@@sidefack I agree. 3 points for anyone who beeps and £100 fine if you run under pressure lol... There's no fixing this place.

@@Bisonrulz16 I don't think this is a case of motorists being in a hurry, It strikes me as the changes to the rules not being known. If this had happened at a zebra crossing I doubt the 2nd car would've beeped his horn.

He is neo

Totally, many times I have been on the speed limit and a situation arises where I think I'd be better off escaping forwards, I will go as fast as it takes for a short period and then brake back to the speed limit. It's saved me from getting into a mess when passing slip roads and several cars are needing space that isn't there, I give them that space and let them get on with it behind me.

Poor driving from cammer, plenty of room to merge.

Cammer here! The gap in front was a lot smaller in reality due to how dashcams work. At the time, I was doing 50 MPH if memory serves, that's real mph not speedo mph.

@@samal3196 Appreciate your feedback. Obviously I wasn't there so you are in a far better and more qualified position to judge and comment than I am. Kudos also to you for submitting your clip. I wish you safe driving.

Trust is not black and white it’s varying degrees like probability

Wow, thanks!

Seems like it, and he still doesn’t notice the motorcyclist or chooses to ignore him.

No he just gets back in the car and then they drove off.

The driver did not get out but the passenger did.

Yep, white petrol Citroën DS3, I'd checked too. Could be the clip is old and they've changed the car registration recently, but judging by the driving attitude, more likely a (badly) cloned plate.

Thank you. I often set myself a challenge to "find the place" on a Viewers' Driving Fail and I thought this looked like the west end of Haddington, so wasn't too far out. Even though the driver sounded like she might not be from round there.

yes 😄

That would be following too close though.

@@jamesphillips2285 The space was large enough to merge into but the driver was too timid to use it properly, and as such he almost got pit-maneuvered by the lorry.

As the cammer, friendly reminder that the camera makes gaps look a lot bigger than they are! There was not a lot of space in front there either.

@@samal3196 In that regard, the rear camera must have also made the gap look bigger, so the driver was even closer to the lorry. He had plenty of room to speed up slightly and merge safer.

@@bailey125 Rear camera doesn't have the same super wide angle the front cam does, but you're not wrong that the lorry behind WAS super close. In the situation, I had to choose between being way too close to a lorry in front or behind, and I chose behind.

Whereas if they hit a pedestrian walking on the road, they will?

Was a touch late braking/easing off into the corners but to be fair I took a corner a touch faster than I normally would the other day and had a close call with a car in the middle of the road :( though I don't think it would have made much odds what speed I was doing rather than a crawl.

Well here's your chance to remember that and always think of putting it into reverse the moment something like that happens (also always know if there's someone behind you...)

@Flying Bagpipe haha yeah do also remember that you need to stop first rather than slamming into reverse on sight, unless you have some kind of crazy powerful car with 4wd, then maybe you could do that

Big pet peeve of mine. Doesn't matter how much room is in front of you, some people sit on your front quarter and expect you to slow down!?!

But the sat nav told the driver to do it!

@@nickbea3443 Oh yes that does happen. I've had to override mine on several occasions.

it sure looked like that driver was doing the opposite of assessing early.

The cones are big enough and bright enough to see from a distance so there are very few excuses I can think of for not seeing them from far enough away.

It seems for some reason the passenger needed to get there, so the driver was thinking of letting them off there. Although executed in the worst possible way. STILL blocking the oncoming lane after near collision and after the passenger left. 🤯 The driver is on another level for Darwin Award.

Best to take roundabout slow as there might be a pedestrian crossing at the exit junction.

Don't be silly. If the cammer was at risk of being shunted from behind then that means he was going too fast for the conditions. Presumably using your logic you don't stop for pedestrians at Zebra crossings where the rules are exactly the same. Pedestrians have priority at both exit and entrance junctions at roundabouts and you should give way to them just as you would at a Zebra Cross. Pedestrians are increasingly expecting drivers to obey the Highway code and so some may well step out in front of you. if you were to hit such a pedestrian while breaking the law (and once they have a foot on the carriageway then it is the law) then you would be in serious trouble. Do the save and sensible thing: slow down and give way to pedestrians at all pedestrian crossing points.

@@Chambers36TheEnter What change? Pedestrians have always had priority at junctions. The change is that they have made it clearer in the highway code. Makes total sense to me.

@@Chambers36TheEnter Yes that is a change but a pretty minor one as you always had to slow and be prepared to stop in case a pedestrian did step out just before you got there.

This is very often the case, especially when other drivers on the road don’t take the limit seriously, or feel it’s too low and glue themselves to it

Its called AVERAGE for a reason, you can go over for a short burst

@@EffMTee Not legally though

Cammer here! Hit the nail on the head pretty much mate- I was at the 50 limit while going down the slip road up to the gap. The other thing to note is that the space in front looks a lot bigger than it is due to the camera.

But accelerates once they join the main road.

Fully agree. They should instead slam zebra crossings on the roundabouts instead of this rule. Some small number of roundabouts had them before this rule and they work perfectly.

Crossing the road at a roundabout is so complex. Giving way to pedestrians is comparatively simple, it starts with reducing your speed, after that it is much simpler - admittedly multi-lane roundabouts make things much more difficult.

That's one of the things I love about the Aussie dashcam channels - the "colourful" language.

Cameras tend to distort how quick they’re actually going, usually they’ll be going 5 ish mph slower than it looks and everything’s closer than it looks on the camera too

It is incomprehensible how many people drive stupidly quickly on narrow roads, and in my experience, it's often locals who have allowed familiarity to breed contempt.

@@PedroConejo1939 Familiarity is one the the worst enemies of a driver as focus tends to be lower amd speeds faster. Hands up, I got myself familiar on a road I used to drive many years ago and then one day I almost lost the front on my vehicle to a deer. That was enough to change my behaviour immediately as that could’ve easily been a person and fatal…hence my original “I wonder of they are now driving slower” comment as it is usually the scare that changes us

Cam car *easily* stopped in less than half the distance he could see to be clear...that van, not so much... Pace was maybe a little higher than I would go for, but not excessive IMO.

@@nowillnoway The van was downhill on a damp, muddy road. Madness to be travelling as fast as he was, and by doing so, he took away a good 50% of the cammer's braking distance.

Keep a positive frame of mind going forward also Chris. Thanks for your comment 👊

I think with roundabouts it shouldn't be about whether the other driver has seen you. As you shouldn't be impacting them at all. The question is can you join the roundabout with enough space to the other driver without having to slow them down or be startled. If yes - join the roundabout, if not - wait for the opportunity. The more you use the vehicle the more you're jn touch with how quickly you can merge onto a road/roundabout and hence calibrate your decision making using this data.

@@kiradotee knowing if you have been seen can be a life saver with the situation I mean by it: even if you are already on the roundabout and others must give way before driving onto the roundabout, it may be that you have been hidden behind their A-pillar and they see an empty roundabout they can safely drive onto. Here we have lots of roundabouts with cycling paths on the outer perimeter which have priority. They are used to cycle without stopping because cars always brake for them. Since I’m a cyclist too I don’t assume a driver has seen me because that curve I take can line up exactly with their eyes, or they can be distracted by other things. It’s good to read the actions of the car before assuming they will stop. Do you see them brake hard enough? Can you see their eyes? Are they traveling slow enough to brake on time?

I have confirmation from the DVSA that this rule applies on the entrance and exit to roundabouts. But don't forget this rule is "should" so if it's more dangerous to give away, he may have to carry on. ru-vid.com/show-UC_QdDflGx1D8Jh9mvQ7D8uQcommunity?lb=UgkxBd1Vaf8EFkO6Hr55mx7fozf32IVPX_KB

​@@ashley_neal To be honest i think a lot of people would use that "Should" as a bargaining chip to make the excuse "Meh, it's too dangerous to slow down i'll keep going". To a lot of drivers "Shoulds" are just an advisory which is a term that's nearly always ignored.

@@ashley_neal Thanks for re-posting this, I missed it at the time. Reading it did not reassure me - it reads like a fudge. It does not satisfactorily cover why the 7 rules for roundabouts (184-190) are a separate section from the 14 for junctions (170-183). Nor why rule 187 "watch out for and give plenty of room to" a variety of users including "pedestrians who may be crossing the approach and exit roads", is short of the instruction to "give way to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross" in rule 170, if roundabouts should be considered junctions. My impression is that the DVSA has spotted this ambiguity and doesn't know what to do about it; that nobody really intended that rule 170 should apply to roundabouts, but nobody wants to say on record that it doesn't. I tend to agree with a lot of your viewers' reservations about giving way but would add a bit of nuance. At a mini-roundabout in a 20mph town centre, as you demonstrated in Formby last year, giving way to pedestrians is entirely natural to a considerate driver and rule 170 is empowering if anything. To apply rule 170 to roundabouts in non-residential areas with limits at 40 or 50mph, where many drivers will be taking the roundabout itself at 30, the culture shift is of a different order. The roundabout junctions of the Liverpool boulevards we often see you on fall somewhere in between. I suspect your DVSA media officer was conscious of all this and hoped to cover all bases with the call to exercise judgement and assess four criteria: presence of traffic following; speed of approach; body language and visibility of pedestrians and the clarity of their intention to cross or not. Maybe, given the ambiguity of the Highway Code itself, that was the only option, but it would be better to clear up at top level the ambiguity of which rules apply where: the DVSA should not have to rely on dictionary definitions to clarify its own code.

Thank you for your reply. I do feel however and without any clarification in the Highway Code I would have a sticky conversation with my insurance company should I suddenly stop and have someone plough in to the back of me. Confident the opposing insurer would lean on mine under the proviso I’ve stopped suddenly without just cause and thus been partially, or fully to blame for the accident. On the flip side of that, you have over zealous police who will not understand the difference between should and must. Clarification is formally required in my opinion.

It was the passenger who got out, but a profound apology was owed.

It was but i hope he checked his mirror before reversing.

Complete driver. 😂 Definitely have enhanced observations after riding a motorbike. More than cyclists or car drivers. Potentially on par with buses and/or lorries.

Hmmm, judging from many clips on the usual suspect biker channels I have to doubt that. The anticipation and awareness skills of plenty of bikers on them are very much lacking. They are very good in rev bombing though.....

@@ArminGrewe Another Internet University graduate, I see...

@@ArminGrewe I think that's more about the "vocal minority" or in the case of motorcyclists, the "visible minorty". The ones who actually want to live will indeed learn the skills required. If you're watching "biker" channels, I suspect a lot of them are about motorcycles performance/riding or the culture. How many educational motorcycling skill channels do you watch, like Ashley's channel on driving cars? I don't think I've stumbled across any bike channels like that other than for stunts

@@TheBeardedQuack hopefully it's a minority. The channels I'm referring to are the biker "dashcam" channels, so not really racers and the like. Many of the bikers on them are as bad as some of the drivers on the dashcam channels. Essentially riding into danger rather than mitigate it.