I Am Mad.............

Busman747 · 21-01-2007, 22:19

As hell!!!!

I was returning from the NEC, Birmingham tonight, driving a 25 seat minibus that is SLoooow! On board were passengers from a local company.

Driving up the M61 towards Chorley, ahead of me was a car in the inside lane and another in the centre lane. As I drew nearer, I noticed that the windows were open on the "outer" car and that the occupants (later found out it was two young males and two females, all aged around 16 - 18) were throwing insults and jestures to the other car which was decreasing his/her speed to under 40mph. The other car was matching the speed and between them caused a "rolling road block."

After a couple of miles, I got fed up of travelling at less than 40mph so overtook in the outer lane (my bus needs a calender to time 0 - 60mph ) The teenagers suddenly found another vehicle to prey on, ME!

As my speed increased to 60 mph, they matched my speed and prevented me from returning to the nearside or middle lane. I tried decreasing my speed to 30 mph but he stayed with me. Cars behind remained where they were rather than overtaking on the inside lane..............This went on for over two miles until (after warning my passengers of my intentions)I slammed on my brakes and pulled in behind the idiot. If he had touched his brakes at that moment, I would have hit him as I was only a a foot or so from his bumper when I made this manouver. I then went into the slow lane..........and he settled down in the middle lane next to me WHERE ARE THE MOTORWAY COPS WHEN YOU NEED THEM!!

I peeled off at J8 (Chorley) as I had a drop-off there, The original car that was getting hassle also turned off.........but the mad driver also swerved onto the slip-road. He then made the mistake of assuming that I was going round the next roundabout to return to the motorway and got level with me as I shot off to the left towards the town centre. He latched on to the first car which WAS going back to the motorway.....poor s*d!

There are two things that disturb me greatly:

Firstly that I fail to comprehend the mentality of this driver, is both he and his passengers suicidal?

The second thing worries me more! When I was on the outside lane and he would not allow me to return to another lane, I felt an almost overwhelming urge to crush his car with my vehicle which weighs almost 5 tonne.............. It was only the fact that I had passengers on board that stopped me...I think

I don't suffer from "road rage," In my job and the mileage that I do, I cannot afford to .................but I came close tonight!

Don't remember the make, but the reg is: "P762 (UorV)EH" Just in case it happens to be the son or neighbour of an accyweb member

jedimaster · 21-01-2007, 22:26

i feel for you uncle geoffrey
as you well know we have had this sort of thing many times in our job

(but i think what stopped you from driving over him was the impending worry that the gaffer tape holding the bus together may not have been strong enough to withstand the impact) only kidding lol

but seriously these idiots the minute they see a bus they instantly seem to prey on it i believe it's the embarrassment of being overtaken by one!

shillelagh · 21-01-2007, 22:29

Then you wonder why there are so many car accidents with teenagers as drivers!!!!

shakermaker · 21-01-2007, 22:38

This is why I'd be a crap coach driver.
I'd have knocked them off the road!
Well done for keeping your head Busman.

junetta · 21-01-2007, 22:47

You put me in mind of an incident that happened to us back in the late eighties. I´d had a bit of a windfall and treated myself to a Toyota MR2. A lovely car, white with black leather seats and a T-Bar. I didn´t keep her long because I was jeered at, called a posh bitch and had to watch some folk throwing empty bottles at her. I named her Jennifer and still have her spare key after all these years!

Anyway, ´im indoors was driving up the M5 one day when the driver of a Ford Cortina decided to shove us off the road. I´ve never been so scared. He was going from lane to lane, alternately cutting us up or almost touching the back bumper. Thankfully, Brian is a good driver and decided to put his foot down and try to drive us out of it. My screaming didn´t help!

The last we saw of him was when his engine burnt out and he ended up in the hard shoulder. Justice!

WillowTheWhisp · 21-01-2007, 22:51

A similar thing happened to me once at that Langho roundabout where the idiots in the other car wouldn't let me leave the roundabout and kept cutting up the side of me and forcing me back round. Stupid. One day they'll come a cropper.

cherokee · 22-01-2007, 01:01

well i think road rage would have set in for me busman ..my pet hate on the road are lunatics ......good on ya for keeping a cool head on

Ianto.W. · 22-01-2007, 01:27

When these sort of incidents occur, don't you wish you were driving an old 'banger' belonging to your least favourite relative.

Neal · 22-01-2007, 02:19

Report it to the Police, www.lancashire.police.uk

chav1 · 22-01-2007, 02:40

hindsight is a wonderfull thing but next tiem ask a passanger to ring the police and give the car details and location to the police and they will probably respond especialy as his irratic driving is endangering lives

you can still report it to the police , do you know what make ,model the car was because from teh reg you have given the will be able to track him and also you have a full bus of witnesses

entwisi · 22-01-2007, 07:52

Yep, my thoughts exactly chav, one of the passengers could have rung the police when you were behind them to report the agro they were giving the other car.

However I also have to ask why you considered overtaking in a vehicle that you admit is not fast enough to do it safely. There was a pretty good chance that these idiots would do exactly what they did.

WillowTheWhisp · 22-01-2007, 08:03

I actually did report such an incident to the police once - and the car in question was right there next to us when we were talking to the police, at a set of traffic lights just before Blackpool prom. This idiot had tried to force two cars (us and a Nissan Micra) off the road and we had dozens of witnesses as we were waiting to go through the lights. What did the nice policeman do? He walked up to the offending driver and told him to behave himself and not do it again!

jedimaster · 23-01-2007, 05:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by entwisi

Yep, my thoughts exactly chav, one of the passengers could have rung the police when you were behind them to report the agro they were giving the other car.

However I also have to ask why you considered overtaking in a vehicle that you admit is not fast enough to do it safely. There was a pretty good chance that these idiots would do exactly what they did.

at the speeds stated the vehicle was plenty fast enough.
wee have this sort of thing happen all the time!
we come up behind something tootling along the m/way and as soon as we get out to overtake it something seems to trigger a reaction which makes the driver suddenly speed up. (even when driving a coach that will do 70 mph)

i call it the oooohhh i can't be beaten by a bus syndrome!
especiallly rife among young drivers.

and another thing that annoys me is these damned artic drivers who see you coming up to overtake them then pull out at 55mph to overtake the artic in front (right at the bottom of a hill) then spend the next 5 miles racing the waggon alongside and getting nowhere

entwisi · 23-01-2007, 07:26

I disagree, Busman clearly states that the 0-60 time is measured in calendars rather than seconds and as based on the evidence presented, young kids being prats in a car, bus not capable of accelerating at any real rate, chance of overtaking = nil. It was a non starter before he indicated.

He got fed up and took a gamble, something I think even he will admit was wrong if viewed in the cold light of day. It may have been frustrating being stuck behind them doing 40 but there was no chance they were going to let him pass without incident.

As for wagons 'racing' at 0.0000005mph difference...... Particularly down the M66 before its 3 lanes

There should be a law that if a wagon gets alongside the one on the inside has to slow down to let it in within 1/4 mile.

WillowTheWhisp · 23-01-2007, 08:12

The kids were decreasing their speed at the time. They were not focussed on the bus they were focussed on another car. Was the bus supposed to continue to decrease speed and force other traffic also to travel at a snails pace? If people are going slower than you and then slow down further isn't it common sense to overtake them? They were doing nowhere near 60mph at the time so the bus wasn't being pushed to its limit. Some people would be the first to complain if the motorway slowed to a halt because some stupid bus driver wouldn't overtake teenage prats in a car.

Note that he would have successfully overtaken them (so obviously the bus was capable of it) had it not been for their mentality of playing racing cars, at which point he decreased speed in order to pull in behind them and they decreased speed in an attempt to prevent him from doing so.

When an idiot decides to play silly beggars with other vehicles on the motorway there is rarely anything that the chosen vicitim can do which will prevent the aggressor continuing to harrass them until they get bored and find another victim to play with.