Frank exchange of words with black cabbie New Topic Reply to Topic

North-bound, London Bridge, three lanes, I'm in the left hand lane,
he's in the middle.

I'm doing about 20 mph, he ducks into my lane without indicating, I jam
the brakes on and skirt around to his offside.

"Gimme a chance mate, use your indicators!"


"I don't need to indicate"

he said

"I'm going straight on!"


He accelerated off, I set of after him and catch him in traffic by the
B of E. His window's open, I can see he's clocked me, I go up.

"Mate, you swung into my lane"

I said, reasonably.


"Tchuh, this is the problem, you people"

he began, so I became as reasonable as I could with my legs still
shaking.


"Mate, you weren't indicating, your offside brake light's bust too".


"Oh, that's my fault is it? Tell Ken".


All this said in a fairly even-voiced way, he banged on a bit more
about how he was going straight on so didn't need to indicate (?) and
then the traffic moved off.


Blatantly in the wrong and he COULD NOT admit it.

spindrift wrote:
"Gimme a chance mate, use your indicators!"


"I don't need to indicate"

he said

And he's correct. He's wrong to force you to brake, of course - that's bad
observation / bad driving by him - but if he was given a clear lane (yes, I
know he didn't get one, because you were in it), then he doesn't need to
indicate. The rule of the road is to keep left. If a driver is in an
overtaking lane, he should move back to the left hand land when safe.

(When I took my advanced driving test, I was told off by the police class 1
driver in the passenger seat for indicating when moving into a left-hand
lane, and the above was his explanation.)

Pete.

Sorry, I wasn't clear.

He's STATIONARY in a queue at the lights. I'm in the empty left hand
lane, he swerves out dead ahead of me and blocks the lane. Had I hit
him he would have been culpable, indicating or no.

What got me was the preumption of innocence and the attitude, i was
entirely polite.

Wish I'd got his number, at least to report his bust light.

This is a professional driver who doesn't check his mirrors or maintain
his vehicle.

P wrote:
spindrift wrote:
"Gimme a chance mate, use your indicators!"


"I don't need to indicate"

he said

And he's correct. He's wrong to force you to brake, of course -
that's bad observation / bad driving by him - but if he was given a
clear lane (yes, I know he didn't get one, because you were in it),

So he was wrong then!

then he doesn't need to indicate. The rule of the road is to keep
left. If a driver is in an overtaking lane, he should move back to
the left hand land when safe.
(When I took my advanced driving test, I was told off by the police
class 1 driver in the passenger seat for indicating when moving into
a left-hand lane, and the above was his explanation.)

Pete.

What did he specify that you were doing wrong by indicating when you didn't
need to?

"P" writes:

(When I took my advanced driving test, I was told off by the police class 1
driver in the passenger seat for indicating when moving into a left-hand
lane, and the above was his explanation.)

That's odd. I was told by my driving instructor to indicate before every
significant change of direction, and changing lanes (in any
direction) certainly fell into that category.

Roos

spindrift said the following on 03/08/2006 08:45:

All this said in a fairly even-voiced way, he banged on a bit more
about how he was going straight on so didn't need to indicate (?) and
then the traffic moved off.

I won a court case like that (not cycling related). A woman insisted
she didn't need to indicate right on a roundabout because she was going
straight on (actually she was going right) and if people saw her
indicating right they might think she was going right. Despite no
recorded witnesses, the case went 100% in my favour based on her own
description of her driving and what she thought was correct. When she
announced that she was a member of the IAM, the court (all 5 of us!) was
stunned into silence :-)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

P wrote:

And he's correct. He's wrong to force you to brake, of course - that's bad
observation / bad driving by him - but if he was given a clear lane (yes, I
know he didn't get one, because you were in it), then he doesn't need to
indicate. The rule of the road is to keep left. If a driver is in an
overtaking lane, he should move back to the left hand land when safe.

(When I took my advanced driving test, I was told off by the police class 1
driver in the passenger seat for indicating when moving into a left-hand
lane, and the above was his explanation.)

And I would disagree with you and him. If you are changing your course,
then you should signal your intentions. That is the first principle.
Keep left comes secondary to that.

BTW, where is this 'overtaking lane'? If the traffic is stationary in
queues (as it was) then overtaking can be done wherever and lane
changes should be signalled.

There is no harm in signalling left and if that signal will benefit
someone else then one should do so.

...d

P wrote on 03/08/2006 09:00 +0100:

And he's correct. He's wrong to force you to brake, of course - that's bad
observation / bad driving by him - but if he was given a clear lane (yes, I
know he didn't get one, because you were in it), then he doesn't need to
indicate. The rule of the road is to keep left. If a driver is in an
overtaking lane, he should move back to the left hand land when safe.

(When I took my advanced driving test, I was told off by the police class 1
driver in the passenger seat for indicating when moving into a left-hand
lane, and the above was his explanation.)


Can't agree with that. What is the problem with giving a signal? Worst
case is it's no use, best case it might help inform someone of your
intended actions. So there is no downside, only upside giving a median
of positive benefit and therefore worth doing.

Also the Highway Code says:

"Lane discipline

112: If you need to change lane, first use your mirrors and check your
blind spots (the areas you are unable to see in the mirrors) to make
sure you will not force another driver or rider to swerve or slow down.
When it is safe to do so, signal to indicate your intentions to other
road users and when clear move over."


--
Tony

"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
- Leonardo da Vinci

P said the following on 03/08/2006 09:00:

(When I took my advanced driving test, I was told off by the police class 1
driver in the passenger seat for indicating when moving into a left-hand
lane, and the above was his explanation.)

What a load of crap!!! When was this test taken? 23 years ago I was
taught to indicate at *every* change of direction or lane change,
whether left or right. Is your belief the reason why so many people
don't bother indicating when they're pulling back left - because that's
what *they* were taught? This practise is particularly dangerous on
motorways when one car pulls left into the centre lane with no
indication at the same time as an indicating car pulls into the centre
lane from the inside lane - experienced drivers will be aware of this,
but there are many inexperienced or infrequent drivers on motorways.
Another reason for introducing a five-year driving test - keeping people
up-to-date with changes. People are taught to do things differently now
to when I passed. It's when these differences clash that there's a problem!

Incidentally, my earlier post on this thread gives a hint as to the
worth of the advanced driving test.

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

P wrote:
(When I took my advanced driving test, I was told off by the police class 1
driver in the passenger seat for indicating when moving into a left-hand
lane, and the above was his explanation.)

OK, I'm not IAM (spit!), but RoSPA motorcycle trained, but the thing
about not indicating when moving back into the left-hand lane is
qualified by the proviso that you indicating won't help warn another
road user of your upcoming action - in this case it obviously would
have.