The vast majority of motorists totally ignore many Highway Code directives!

[The PNP]

Bollocks! Candidates fail themselves by not driving to the standard required

You'd have to be clairvoyant, to pass first time with some of them......Like when they tell you to turn left at the next junction, which you duly do. Only to find half a mile down the road, just past a minor junction on the left, a kerbed built-out 6'6" width-restriction blocking our way! In my case when they did that to me, I slowed to a gradual halt and totally puzzled why he'd deliberately sent me down a road with a width-restriction, I spoke to the examiner.

What did he say? Believe it or not (hi Mick!) he said I should have turned off the road we were on, at the minor road we'd just passed on the left. But on a test, you don't turn off and go down a different road unless, the examiner tells you to - or so I thought. No matter how perfect a driver, or comprehensive your knowledge, it's hard to see how anyone wouldn't fall for a trick like that first time around.

[justbecause]

You'd have to be clairvoyant, to pass first time with some of them......Like when they tell you to turn left at the next junction, which you duly do. Only to find half a mile down the road, just past a minor junction on the left, a kerbed built-out 6'6" width-restriction blocking our way! In my case when they did that to me, I slowed to a gradual halt and totally puzzled why he'd deliberately sent me down a road with a width-restriction, I spoke to the examiner.

What did he say? Believe it or not (hi Mick!) he said I should have turned off the road we were on, at the minor road we'd just passed on the left. But on a test, you don't turn off and go down a different road unless, the examiner tells you to - or so I thought. No matter how perfect a driver, or comprehensive your knowledge, it's hard to see how anyone wouldn't fall for a trick like that first time around.

What a load of drivel. If, and it’s a big if, you had turned into a road with a 6’6” width restriction, it would have been advised at the top of the road as you turned into it, so, lack of observation was completely your fault. No Examiner in the world would send driver down a road that he would get stuck on.
i took two HGV tests, in May and August 1974, passed them both, and the Examiner, (same for both tests) couldn’t have been friendlier, and no tricks.

[The PNP]

What a load of drivel. If, and it’s a big if, you had turned into a road with a 6’6” width restriction, it would have been advised at the top of the road as you turned into it, so, lack of observation was completely your fault. No Examiner in the world would send driver down a road that he would get stuck on.
i took two HGV tests, in May and August 1974, passed them both, and the Examiner, (same for both tests) couldn’t have been friendlier, and no tricks.

Nah, no notification as we turned into that road. There was notification half a mile later, adjacent to the minor-road junction a few hundred metres from the actual restriction itself, which btw also had notification on it.....In view of the looming restriction ahead, I thought he'd most likely tell me to turn into that minor road on the left, but he said nothing. So I drove past it, easing off the gas as I did so, because it was obvious we wouldn't get through up ahead.

Had I been driving down there on my own and having seen the looming restriction, obviously I wouldn't have carried on, but this was a test. And as far as I knew, just like on the car test I'd done many years before, you follow the examiners directions to the absolute letter, no matter what unlikely things he tells you to do.

For all I knew, it was his way of springing an unexpectedly long reversing manouvre on candidates. And I wasn't about to blow my chances by making a left-turn without being told to. Sucker or what?

[justbecause]

Nah, no notification as we turned into that road. There was notification half a mile later, adjacent to the minor-road junction a few hundred metres from the actual restriction itself, which btw also had notification on it.....In view of the looming restriction ahead, I thought he'd most likely tell me to turn into that minor road on the left, but he said nothing. So I drove past it, easing off the gas as I did so, because it was obvious we wouldn't get through up ahead.

Had I been driving down there on my own and having seen the looming restriction, obviously I wouldn't have carried on, but this was a test. And as far as I knew, just like on the car test I'd done many years before, you follow the examiners directions to the absolute letter, no matter what unlikely things he tells you to do.

For all I knew, it was his way of springing an unexpectedly long reversing manouvre on candidates. And I wasn't about to blow my chances by making a left-turn without being told to. Sucker or what?

Like I said, complete and utter drivel.

[The PNP]

Like I said, complete and utter drivel.

Duh - you're as bad as Mick, when it comes to disbelieving what you don't want to accept!

Kirkby was somewhere I had hardly ever been to and was unfamiliar with the roads around there. So is it any surprise I was fooled into that situation? I sometimes wonder, how many hundreds of other hopefuls, were caught out by that same underhanded routine. Imagine being the examiner, knowing full well what's coming up - sitting there laughing up your sleeve, wondering what your candidate is going to do!

[justbecause]

Duh - you're as bad as Mick, when it comes to disbelieving what you don't want to accept!

Kirkby was somewhere I had hardly ever been to and was unfamiliar with the roads around there. So is it any surprise I was fooled into that situation? I sometimes wonder, how many hundreds of other hopefuls, were caught out by that same underhanded routine. Imagine being the examiner, knowing full well what's coming up - sitting there laughing up your sleeve, wondering what your candidate is going to do!

But why on Earth would he even want to do such a thing? There again, perhaps like all of us, he took an instant dislike to you.

[The PNP]

But why on Earth would he even want to do such a thing? There again, perhaps like all of us, he took an instant dislike to you.

That is the part that still puzzles me, why?

Possibilities include, but are probably not limited to:

A) To see if a candidate is prone to panicking in tricky situations.

B) To see if he will break the law, i.e by forcing the truck over the built-out kerbing.

C) To see if he will decide to turn off at the side road.

D) Or (conspiracy theory) has been told to 'fail' the candidate.

E) Or just for jollies, because at heart he's a nasty little prankster.

*Problem with (C) turning off at the side road without being told to: He could fail the candidate for leaving the prescribed route. Making the whole thing into a no-win situation.

[Ric]

So back to the highway code. Saw a cyclist today, nothing strange in that, but as we approached the lights he looked behind to see if anything was coming up before putting his hand out to move into the middle of the road, fair play me thought and slowed down ready to stop as the lights were on red, sadly cyclist then went straight through on red causing a car to slam on instead of hitting them, why follow the code then be a plonker and break them. The mind boggles.

[The PNP]

So back to the highway code. Saw a cyclist today, nothing strange in that, but as we approached the lights he looked behind to see if anything was coming up before putting his hand out to move into the middle of the road, fair play me thought and slowed down ready to stop as the lights were on red, sadly cyclist then went straight through on red causing a car to slam on instead of hitting them, why follow the code then be a plonker and break them. The mind boggles.

It's riders like that, who give the rest a bad name....

Not that I'd do it myself, mind. But if you're intending riding through a red light, then treat it the same as a 'give way'. I.e. slow down and check nothing's coming before continuing across. Of course it's illegal and p****s-off motorists. But by ensuring there's nothing likely to hit you, is a far safer method than bowling straight through and hoping for the best!

[Little Londoner]

When turning left at a junction, give way to pedestrians. Just imagine stopping halfway through a right turn to give way to walkers.

yes you're right but some idiot decided it should go in the highway code good job the Boys Brigade don't march on a Sunday any more.

[Alikado]

That is the part that still puzzles me, why?

Possibilities include, but are probably not limited to:

A) To see if a candidate is prone to panicking in tricky situations.

B) To see if he will break the law, i.e by forcing the truck over the built-out kerbing.

C) To see if he will decide to turn off at the side road.

D) Or (conspiracy theory) has been told to 'fail' the candidate.

E) Or just for jollies, because at heart he's a nasty little prankster.

*Problem with (C) turning off at the side road without being told to: He could fail the candidate for leaving the prescribed route. Making the whole thing into a no-win situation.

Probably the correct thing to do would be to stop and ask for instructions, it is probably to check that the driver is observing signs.

[The PNP]

Probably the correct thing to do would be to stop and ask for instructions, it is probably to check that the driver is observing signs.

Agree.....If I'd known what he was up to, I would have. Speaking-up earlier, would have left him with no option but to say where he wanted to go. But as he'd been so consistent in giving timely instructions all the way around the route to that point, I'd no reason to expect any different as this situation approached.

[justbecause]

Probably the correct thing to do would be to stop and ask for instructions, it is probably to check that the driver is observing signs.

I was in the Transport Industry for over forty years and it that time I have overseen dozens and dozens of drivers through the HGV test. Not once in all those years have I ever heard of anything like what the compulsive liar is telling us. Yes, I’ve had drivers who failed the test, and they always come up with some excuse or other, but what he is telling us pure lies. Firstly, before this “imaginary” left turn, there would have been ample signage advising that (a) the road was weight restricted, and (b) that the road was width restricted. IF he had driven into this road, he rightly deserved to fail the test for lack of observation.

[The PNP]

I was in the Transport Industry for over forty years and it that time I have overseen dozens and dozens of drivers through the HGV test. Not once in all those years have I ever heard of anything like what the compulsive liar is telling us. Yes, I’ve had drivers who failed the test, and they always come up with some excuse or other, but what he is telling us pure lies. Firstly, before this “imaginary” left turn, there would have been ample signage advising that (a) the road was weight restricted, and (b) that the road was width restricted. IF he had driven into this road, he rightly deserved to fail the test for lack of observation.

Had it been a cul-de-sac that he told me to enter, then yes of course there would have been signage at its entrance. But since there was a way through further down on the left, the signage was also located further down at that junction.

And no, there wasn't a weight restriction, only what appeared to be a Council estate several hundred metres beyond the constriction. Which presumably is why they didn't want bigger vehicles using it as a shortcut.

[Anon]

I don’t think I’m special in any way, motorists don’t set out to contact, or injure anyone and most will take note of others and take evasive action when possible.

Yes, that's just how it should be...The motorist is the one who is in the lethal machine, not the peds/riders. So onus is on the motorist, to save these situations and avoid an accident.

Among many, this is one of the most ridiculous things you've posted in a long time.

It is the duty of ALL road users, whether that be motorists, cyclists or pedestrians, to keep themselves and all road users safe.

When I'm a pedestrian, which I frequently am, my safety is ultimately MY responsibility and I do not reply on other people solely to keep me safe. If I step out in front of a moving vehicle, and a accident happens, that would be MY fault.

The rule about letting pedestrians cross when turning into a road just makes the roads more dangerous. And that's me talking as a PEDESTRIAN, not as a motorist.