- Worst and funniest driving experiences
- As revealed by Select Car Leasing readers
- New driving laws also suggested
- You all really hate motorway middle lane hoggers!
Frozen screenwash in a snow storm, learner driver near misses and comical sat-nav sheep path woes - these are some of your most hair-raising driving experiences.
Last week, via our amazing weekly News Mailer, we asked readers to share their worst-ever run-ins on UK roads.
We were inundated with responses (thank you to everyone who took the time to write in) and today we’re sharing some of the scariest - and funniest - we received.
We’ve anonymised them to spare any blushes, but many of them are all-too relatable!
And congratulations to reader Hollie Mistry, who won a £100 Amazon voucher for submitting the best entry:
Powys Postcode Pandemonium
“It was summer 2021, and I was on a solo road trip through Wales, feeling like a cross between a National Geographic explorer and a Top Gear host. I’d rented a tiny Fiat 500 that looked more like a toy than a car, but I figured it would be perfect for the winding country roads. Somewhere outside of Brecon, I punched in the postcode for a scenic waterfall hike into my sat nav. That’s when the chaos began. The sat nav, in its infinite wisdom, decided to take me on the ‘fastest route’, which apparently meant the narrowest, most questionable sheep path in all of Powys. I turned onto what I thought was a road, but was in fact a glorified footpath between stone walls, with barely enough room for the car mirrors. I had to fold them in just to keep going…”
(Editor’s note: I had precisely the same experience near Halifax, West Yorks, having been diverted off the M62 because of a crash. Saying ‘good morning’ to two perplexed horse riders was embarrassing to say the least)
Tractor Trauma
“I was driving my tractor down the road to change the corn trailer when a car drove into the back of the trailer. The impact was so incredible it took the axle off. My trailer lifted the tractor off the road onto one wheel and I went into the side of the road and hit a road sign. I smashed both my knees but were only badly bruised. The guy who hit me… had substantial injuries. The car he was driving as you can imagine was a total right off. Totally destroyed.”
Snowstorm Scares
“My worst ever driving experience, I was driving from Ramsgate in Kent to Birmingham, around 06.30 in January1986, to a refurbishment project. I was driving my little white XR3I (a now-classic sporty Ford Escort), driving on the M6 in a snowstorm, windscreen washers frozen, struggling to see through the windscreen. There was only one lane barely open, when a convoy of lorries decided to overtake by driving in the outside lanes throwing snow and ice into the open lane and my car. To this day I have never been so frightened.”
“Driving from Edinburgh to Stow for work on a snowy day, I came to a bend and kept going straight. Head on crash with blood on both thighs from my elbows digging in. A scary moment.”
Glovebox Gaffe
“Driving south on Blackburn Road in Bathgate not long after I passed my driving test, I leaned over to the left to get something out the glove compartment and in doing so my left hand turned the steering wheel to the left. The car mounted the pavement and I just managed to steer it back onto the road before it struck a lamp post. Luckily no pedestrians were on that part of the pavement. Very lucky as who knows what the outcome to me would have been if the car had struck the lamp post. It was many years ago, probably in the early 70’s. That incident is to this day still fresh in my mind.”
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We also asked you which driving laws you’d like to change or to see implemented.
Here were some of your thoughts - and a LOT of you wanted to specifically target the dreaded middle-lane hoggers!
“I would improve the driving test - and especially for motorway driving. It is ridiculous today that every single person you see seems to think driving in the middle lane or fast lane and not moving over to the slow lane is acceptable.”
“A ban on unnecessary middle-lane driving on motorways.”
“Fine middle lane hoggers!”
“Stricter enforcement of headlight rules, ie penalties for non-working or misaligned headlights.”
“Make it law that newly qualified drivers are not allowed to have passengers under the age of 25 in the car until they have been driving for 2 years. This is to stop young people showing off and causing accidents to themselves, their friends and other users of the road.”
“Drink limit to come down from 35 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath to 25. Ban for 3 years and make sure insurance companies charge such a high price they (offenders) are unable to afford it.”
** You can write to us at any time to share your stories. Just email mediaenquiry@selectcarleasing.co.uk.
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