Aggressive Drivers

erhaps it is because there are more cars competing for the same space, or because the modern world has more time pressure than ever, but it does seem that aggressive drivers (and road rage) are on the increase. The stereotype of an aggressive driver certainly used to be the young male, in his twenties, and in a perpetual hurry. Sadly, these days it is just as likely to be a female.

I am certain that some drivers do not realise that their driving “technique” is aggressive. In Norwich, a lot of the girls I worked with used the outside lane at a particular traffic light, charging forward when the lights turned green only to turn left around a hundred yards up from the traffic lights, and pull in to the office driveway. This was usually to the detriment of the poor, unfortunate character(s) they were alongside.

But sadly, aggressive driving does have its more serious problems other than an interoffice memo about respecting your “colleagues.” Country dwellers find the driving in cities to have a definite aggressive tilt, but this is expected and helps the flow of traffic. The aggressive behaviour I’m talking about is the dangerously optimistic overtaking attempts, the use of the incorrect lane to further your own progress (/ahem/ see here), and of being obstinate and uncooperative.

I’m sure that there are a few reasons for this behaviour, and whilst I’m no psychologist, I’d figure that the pressure of a faster moving world, more traffic competing for the same (or less) space, more speed limits, more speed cameras (not that these bother me) and, finally, our cars giving us a greater feeling of protection. Who was it that stated that the safer the cars (or our perception of the car), the more dangerous the driver gets.

Some aggressive drivers are perhaps doing it because of the badge on their car. This Mercedes ML-class driver could perhaps use that as an excuse for this dangerous overtake manoeuvre.

Volkswagen Golfs

This is the bit of the web site where I can vent my spleen at the pompous, badge-obsessed Volkswagen Golf drivers, who believe that their small hatchback is the better of all other small hatchbacks.

There. That’s better.

Now this might offend some people.

But the sad fact of life is that too many middle aged ladies buy a VW Golf, usually in silver, and usually the 1·6 model, and then drive it as though they own the road.

One very good example occurred during the John O’Groats to Lands End Trip 2003. On the M5, on the return trip, a middle aged woman in a vomit-green Golf TDI flashed at one of our kolleagues because he had dared pull out in front of her to overtake a slower vehicle. The flashing was particularly aggressive, considering there was a large distance between Ka and Golf (at least, at the start of the episode). Once the Ka had moved out of the way, I had moved out to overtake another vehicle, and got the same flashing and tailgating. Unfortunately, my disposition at that moment was such that I did not immediately yield to the lady, and another kolleague pulled out to overtake the same vehicle that I was going past. To cut a long story short, after explaining the merits of the Ford Ka in immutable style, we noticed that in the back of this Golf was a loose toddler. The lady braked hard enough to send the toddler from the rear seat into the front passenger footwell whilst presumably trying to warn us off. At this point, we decided that she was clearly mad enough to damage our Kas, and let her accelerate away.

The other type of Golf driver has a sporty Golf. It have the GTI badge on the back, or perhaps GTDI, or maybe a V5 or V6 decal. It doesn’t matter. They bought it because it’s a Golf “hot hatch.” They didn’t bother trying the Focus, heh.

In recent months, I’ve reached the conclusion that a certain cachet of Golf GTI drivers are reasonably “car aware.” The reason why they tailgate the Ford Ka is because they’ve noticed that it isn’t rolling as much as theirs in reasonably tight corners, so therefore they must “show the Ford how it’s done.” Or something.