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MG MG Y Type - It's getting dangerous out there.

Yesterday, Monday the 8th Oct, I drove over to Bury St-Edmunds in Suffolk. I had to drive along the A14 between Cambridge and Bury. I have seen this road often appear on our local news as being a bit congested, and having lots of accidents. It was about 11am, and I ran at 50mph on the two-lane dual-carriageway. It seems a very straight road, but very busy.

I had three occassions to fear for my life. All were by vehicles approaching from behind, all travelling at speeds well over the 70mph limit. As I drive on such roads with 50% of my veiwing through the rear-veiw-mirror, I saw what was coming and was able to aviod them.

Remember, this road has a very bad name, but drivers still seem to go flat out on it. There was a huge number of very large artics on it, but none gave me any problems.

The first idiot was white-van-man doing about 80mph, suddenly realising I was only doing 50mph, so he swerved around me, cutting up vehicles in the outer lane. I could see his face, he was NOT looking ahead, but down between his knees, ( reading a ma or book??)

The next was a large van, about 3.5 ton, ( small lorry,) he did the very same thing, but came up so close behind me I was about to abort onto the verge to get out of his way.

The worst was a sivler Mercedes estate car, being driven by a dwaf. I watched him come up fast behind me. The outer lane was busy, and first he tried to cut up a blue Corsa who sounded its horn, and the Merc only just sweved back in my lane in time to not ram the Corsa into the Armco crash barrier between the carriageways. He then sweved back to overtake me, having applied his brakes as I saw rubber smoke pouring out from his wheels, ( I guess he was doing over 90.) He shot past me slotted between the Corsa and a van behind it, with about four feet between his front and back and those vehicles.
I only travelled about 18 miles on that A14, but I came home via Haverhill and Royston, nice old country roads.

That evening I saw on the Look East News that two lorries had collided and a car had been crushed between them on the east-bound A14, about an hour after I had left it.

AVOID the A14 at all costs, if you want to live.

NC.
Neil Cairns

Forgot to mention that I saw lots of little 'gardens' on the verges, where people had been killed and relatives had put flowers there.
Neil Cairns

must have been a load of people killed outside our local florists - there's hundreds of flowers there
Isaac

It is just 15 minutes from my last above, and the News says yet another three lorries have crashed, closing the A14 for 3 hours; and then two more crashed on the diversion....

NC.
Neil Cairns

Like I stated Britain has the most dangerous drivers. There was an experiment where a number of rats were placed in a fixed size cage. As the numbers were increased so their behaviour changed from tolerating each other to all out war. It could be that is what is happening to us.
Neil - please take care we don't want to lose a good serviceable scribe.
Bryan

Neil,
I saw you yesterday on the A507 between the A6 and Flitwick, I flashed you coming the other way in my MG ZTT. I noticed you from a distance before I realised it was a Y Type because you had a very large white artic in your boot that looked dangerously close even from a 1/4 mile away.
Glad you got home safely, but it's not just because you were driving an older car. I've driven to Durham today and the road there and back was full of idiots making life dangerous; whatever car you drive.
Peter
P S Sharp

Guys - if you think speed is the cause of accidents then I am not surprised. Whenever I visit UK and drive on the M3 or M4 I observe vehicles in the inside lane are doing the max permitted 70mph, in the middle lane 80 and in the outer 90. If this is the unpunishable norm then these speeds obviously flow onto the A and B roads and 'bingo' someone is going to fast for the conditions they suddenly find themselves in. Driver education is the best long term answer in any country. R
Rob

This is a common problem for all of us on the roads these days - it happens a lot to me which is why if I am using the YB I avoid the worst times of day and certain roads. I have also fitted an extra brake light and two 5 inch reflective warning triangles to the bumper!. Pretty much all of society is affected by this attitude which is manifested in driving standards or lack of them. Also watch out for aggresive foreign drivers. Don't bother asking the police to do anything they are too politically correct - preferring to arrest you for trying to defend normal family values or your home.I struggle to recognise which country I am in these days. No wonder so many are leaving the UK.
D MULLEN

Sorry to see that Neil has had a few near misses with his Y, I drive mine almost on a daily basis and things can get a bit hairry at times. I am irritating to other drivers as i stick to 30mph in 30 speedlimits. however I am helpful in that I pullover so cars can excellerate past just before speed cameras! The biggest problem is that sometimes I cannot get into first and pull away from traffic lights quickenough. There is loss of speed asa you go up into second and you can seethe van bebind having to slow down about 6" from the rear bumper
Ian Hopkins

Neil and the rest of you are spot on. In March this year I was minding my own business in the outside lane of the M40 doing around 70 and with sufficient space between me and the car in front. The driver 4 cars ahead stopped in the outside lane - yes STOPPED - to avoid a mammal crossing the road. She (the driver) then pressed on oblivious to all that was happenning.
I stopped behind the car in front with about a foot to spare (so obviously not far enough behind), congratulated myself for a milli-second before some prat then hit me with such force that the car was bounced in the middle land. He was then hit by the 6th vehicle! All of them except my citroen were company vehicles.Remarkably no-one was hurt and no artics were involved. My car was a write off and I had to buy a replacement vehicle.

Fast forward to yesterday 30th October and driving along the M1 in the outside lane around lunchtime. All the traffic was moving fast, the two inner lanes were full of commercials. I was allowing at least 2 chevron distance between myself and the car in front. What happens next is some hatch back driver comes within a metre of my rear end. I couldnt go any faster as the speed was being goverened by the 7 or 8 cars in front of me. I touched my brakes the guy had to slow down then shot off into a gap in the inside lane. Did he get anywhere - well no because as I turned off for the M45 - he was stuck behind so much trafffic!

I know that when I drive my TA that if you use your horn around sharp bends or before crossing a canal bridge other users cannot understand it. I mean isn't your horn there to vent your frustration on other drivers .. or have I got in wrong somewhere!

All the best
Jerry
J P BIRKBECK

This thread was discussed between 09/10/2007 and 31/10/2007

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