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Driving in Shetland


Outdoor69
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I can't believe no one has mentioned that half the people in Shetland don't seem to have any idea how to use a roundabout!! Most folk going straight ahead are indicating right - INDICATE OFF THE ROUNDABOUT!!!! Really does my head in, and its dangerous! Left for left, right for right, it couldn't be more simple!!! Grrrr!

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  • 5 months later...
  • 1 month later...

I am sorry to say that the driving standards on the road to Brae are as bad as ever. I had a very scary moment today - caused by some fool trying to overtake when it was just not practicable. I have only recently celebrated my 50th year, and would very much like to see my 60th, so drivers..please, accept that the roads are twisty and slow, allow time for your journey, and don't try dangerous overtaking manoeuvres ( this is really aimed at new arrivals to the Isles, most locals are courteous drivers ).

I would like to make it plain that I was driving at the speed limit most of the time, only slowing down for bends, so was not pootling along admiring the view. Rant over :)

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I am sorry to say that the driving standards on the road to Brae are as bad as ever. I had a very scary moment today - caused by some fool trying to overtake when it was just not practicable. I have only recently celebrated my 50th year, and would very much like to see my 60th, so drivers..please, accept that the roads are twisty and slow, allow time for your journey, and don't try dangerous overtaking manoeuvres ( this is really aimed at new arrivals to the Isles, most locals are courteous drivers ).

I would like to make it plain that I was driving at the speed limit most of the time, only slowing down for bends, so was not pootling along admiring the view. Rant over :)

Worst driving I saw in 20 years commuting up and down the kames was a local who should've known better - she was a local doctors wife...she passed us in a leisurely overtaking maneuvere on the outside of a blind bend. I was lucky enough never to witness an accident, but did come upon the aftermath of a number of fatal accidents in that time - pretty sobering.

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I too got a Dash Cam a while ago. The intention was to exonerate myself in the event of an incident / accident with video evidence, not to gather evidence of bad driving practice.

However, every so often I am gobsmacked enough by what I've witnessed that I remove the SD card and copy a video clip to my computer, in a folder named 'Crap Drivers'.

The clips are are in HD so you can easily read number plates, but quite massive in data size making them difficult to share on social media etc. However, YouTube doesn't seem to care how large your files are, so...

I think all of us who have dash cams should upload crap driving snippets to YouTube and post the link to the clip on this forum page.

 

Voila!            http://youtu.be/qbkrSyMYaxI 

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Why should she know better just because she's "local" and a "doctors wife"

 

I think he means she should have known better because she was a local, i.e. knows the road and where it was unsafe to overtake,

 

She should have known better because she has supposedly passed her driving test. Therefore, she should have the sense not to overtake on a blind corner - local or otherwise.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I would like to say on the whole how excellent I find the driving standards up here, especially when I am on my bike.  People usually give me loads of room.  OK I would admit that there is the odd prat that seems to get far too close, but the handlebar mounted camera should sort that out when I "name and shame them" on YouTube.  Thanks to all of the drivers that give me plenty of room.

 

Of course there are amusing situations like the Co-op roundabout where three drivers turn up at the same time and all look at each other for a few minutes before one summons up the wit to go.  The 3 Stooges are bound to meet at some time on an island this small.  Why not arrive at the roundabout intending to go?  Yes, standards of indicating is crap here, but then it is everywhere.  It seems to be worse the more expensive the car.  Shetland has its own parking rules.  Double yellow lines evidently mean no parking on the road here, but it's OK to drive up onto the pavement, the safe haven for pedestrians.  Of course where standards need to be raised, we really need the input of Plod, but traffic is obviously beneath them.

 

Priorities, priorities, them doughnuts won't eat themselves you know :rofl:

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  • 1 month later...

Last night's commute home included...

 

https://youtu.be/iEQo6s7lX5s

 

Showing this video to work colleagues, and they all think I should pass it to the police. To quote one workmate "If you don't and this guy does the same tomorrow and kills someone you will regret not telling the police". He may have a point, this was insane driving. But I will still have to think about it - was never my intention to use dash-cam 'like a policeman'.

However, evidence is all there - 15 seconds in you can clearly read the number plate, 45 seconds in the dangerous driving begins.

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