Can you give an example of this kind of behaviour ?
that should just read ‘ignorant drivers’ or even better, ‘ignorant people’. where they’re from has nothing to do with anything.
+1 there are plenty who got their licence in the UK too.
Some very good points on here.
I don’t tend to ride/drive in London all that much, and haven’t been up there for ages, but one thing that I’m very concerned about at the moment, is the general condition of the roads.
I spend most of my time around the roads of West Surrey and then commute into Rayners Lane every day, and quite frankly, the roads are a disgrace. Plenty of pot holes big enough to clean you out on a wet, dark night. And why oh why are man-hole covers finished with a metal top! Surely they could spray them with a rubber coating or something!
There’s a left hander in Guildford that leads on to the A3 heading south, and slap bang in the middle of the bend, there’s a giant metal, double man-hole cover that pretty much covers the whole of the lane. Fortunately I know it’s there (having spun my car on it when I was 17!), so know to avoid it now. But the way the road is, it’s really hard to see.
Another point that someone brought up, was people who pay someone else to take their test. This is actually quite common (my step dad’s a driving test examiner), the other thing he always talks about is the statutory mini-cab tests that now have to be done. He say’s the driving standard of the mini-cabbers that turn up is shocking, most wouldn’t pass the driving test!
What about people who gob out of the window or throw out their fag butts just as you are filtering past?
I knew I’d be opening a can of worms with this one…
Please don’t get the wrong end of the stick here. As I’ve said before I welcome all peoples into London no matter where they are from, this is NOT a prejudiced attack on anyone who isn’t from the UK, I don’t want to be associated with the Nationalist scum that cause the trouble for people for no reason.
I am not referring to the genuine, law abiding drivers that come from all over the world to London. I’m talking about the dodgy road users who do not do their research and don’t have any interest in trying to use the roads properly, don’t think about other road users, or just plain don’t know what they’re doing.
If one of us got knocked off by a driver doing some sort of stupid driving, and then you asked them for their details, and then they handed over a Russian driving licence written in the cyrillic alphabet, they could quite easily give you a dodgy name, bum phone number, made up address, or say they’re not a resident, say it’s not their car but it belongs to a friend and their native insurance policy should cover them to drive, then what are you going to do? Okay you might think you’d better call the police, at which point they might start to intimidate you, or just get in their car and drive off.
Please be very careful when you read this.
Do NOT jump to conclusions, but I agree, that the standards expected of British people (no matter what race colour or creed) are not known, understood or even believed to be “the norm” in different countries.
So there is DEFINITE basis for not trusting “foreign drivers” because they are not trained the way we were, and don’t believe or don’t think they should follow the rules of this country as that is not how they were raised.
HOWEVER, that is not THEIR fault. Britain doesn’t rule everywhere any more.
THAT IS OUR FAULT FOR NOT STRICTLTY ENFORCING OUR RULES IN OUR HOME, NOR TAKING THEM SERIOUSLY ENOUGH OURSELVES
And why is that… well its mostly because we are greedy self-obsessed individuals, who want to live in a community but very often don’t want to or don’t believe we have to CONTRIBUTE to that community. Bikers are very community minded I have found, but the norm is self self self… we dont pay enough tax for the community we think we deserve. We don’t support our community based organisations, instead, we buy shares and support the businesses that strip those organisations for profit. See the police, the NHS, the teachers, the Unions.
WE HAVE MADE A GREEDY SELFISH CULTURE, and the foreign driver are taking advantage…
So before the race card is shown, stop and ask yourself if you are perfect in every way and support our community and our culture and the values it stands for and the standards we allegedly set ourselves… or do you too take advantage occassionally and probably could contribute a little more to the community around you than you do at present.
Glass houses and stones anyone?
You right Conrad B, I maybe over reacted as I’m one of foreigner drivers. Driving for 20+ years and don’t motorcycle test in UK so I’m well aware of highway code. Statistically the amount of lets call it “ignorant” drivers/riders is the same for locals or foreigners, but when you looking for the size of the community locals will be 10-20% foreigners 70-80%.
I believe it is not down to your training of those drivers it is down to enforcement of the rules. If none is stopped and fine for jumping red lights, not using indicators, not maintaining vehicle to keep it roadworthy than people become ignorant to these laws and rules. I have not seen any car stopped after he did not indicate, furthermore I have seen police cars which not indicate. If the policy actually do their “enforcement” job then something might change. I don’t believe that additional test for mini-cab drivers do much difference.
There should not be a straight swap licence from any abroad one to UK for many reasons. One could be: “I appreciate one get licence abroad like myself and may drive here but in case of accident loots of drivers wont be able to communicate with other party involved or with the police.”
And finally the fine should be related to one incomes.
but bikes are all perfect ???..:unsure: