The biggest wind-up is traffic regulation itself – red lights making you stop when you could go, cameras zapping you for driving within reason but outside the irrelevant limit, bus lanes halving road capacity … but drivers can be a wind-up too.
Some of my gripes:
1. Failing to use the inside lane. Judging by the number of drivers who still think the inside lane is a no-go area, Joe Average has forgotten the police now have powers to fine middle-lane hoggers (more accurately, blockers). If you’re not overtaking, get into the inside lane! Overtaking should be done in seconds. If you’re taking minutes or months to do it, you’ve no business bogarting valuable road space. Scrapping speed limits is a cure for the bad habit. It ensures lane courtesy. Another is education. Car licences should not be issued without the candidate spending hours in virtual if not actual reality learning about stopping distances, driving in fog, cycling, riding, truck driving, etc.
2. People turning right who block following traffic from going straight on or turning left. Positioning yourself in the middle of the road to allow other traffic to continue to flow is one of the first things you learn in cycling proficiency. Why isn’t it part of the driving test?
3. People who drive on their brakes. If you use your eyes and head, most of the time you can anticipate in advance, and take your foot off the accelerator to slow down instead of brake.
