This morning at 7am i had to drop someone off an hour away… meaning i had a 2 hour round trip..
The weather was dreadful – misty rain, dark gray clouds, windy.. check out the picture above 😉
Anyway, about 10 mins into my 1 hour journey, i got stuck behind a truck. Lovely. I was left with all the spray from it 🙄
The roads were quiet but dangerous and here’s why..
In that sort of weather, early in the morning, about 50% of cars had NO LIGHTS WHATSOEVER on.. it made overtaking virtually impossible.. oncoming silver cars with no lights on could only be visible literally when they’re on top of you..
We were doing about 55-60mph the entire time (60mph limit).. so the speed was ok, it was just the inconvenience of being stuck behind a truck getting sprayed. Anyway, traffic started to tail up a bit behind me so i tried to pull out a bit to get the truck to pull into the hard shoulder as there was no way i’d overtake knowing some clown in an oncoming silver car wouldn’t have their lights on..
The truck didn’t budge so i kept my distance and backed off a bit to ease the spray on my windscreen..
Two cars overtook me and the truck at different stages, there was no way they in hell they could see clearly ahead and certainly no way they could spot oncoming cars with no lights on.. (i couldn’t see silver cars until they were just going past me)..
It bewilders me as to how people will risk everything for the sake of gaining a few seconds/minutes.. the way i view it is that it’s better to be sitting behind a truck for a few minutes, rather than sitting in a wheelchair for the rest of your life or worse..
Shocking driving all round..
- firstly, the truck driver should have had the cop on and decency to pull in to the hard shoulder when i made it clear i wanted to pass and when there was a string of traffic behind him..
- secondly, ALL vehicles should have had dipped headlights on.. (some had sidelights on which are useless – like 2 candles) like i said before about 50% had NO LIGHTS ON at all..
- thirdly, it’s bad enough overtaking one car in those conditions, but over taking 2/3 plus obviously smashing the speed limit in doing so is beggars belief..
I’m not one of those nervous nelly’s behind tractors and trucks who won’t overtake, when i get the chance i overtake.. but there was no way i was risking it today in those conditions, and that’s what it would have been – risking it. Obviously some people have no problem putting their life on the line..
If they only put their own lives on the line I’d honestly be happy to tell them go on, overtake, natural selection never had such a good opportunity to shine before.
I am still a newbie on the road (under 100,000 km combined motorbike and car), but I’ve seen all kinds of shit driving that honestly makes you wanna cry.