On the flip side of people speeding up as you overtake, some total idiots try overtaking as you come off a roundabout - all too often they dont have enough power to out accelerate you safely, so one has to back off reaching your terminal speed to allow the twit past.
THEN they start pootling along slower than the speed you had intended to reach, meaning you then come up to pass them!
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Clearly someone with very low self esteem and confidence, that gets worked up at being legally overtaken.
It is always a difficult one as too whether you speed up and overtake or pull in behind them. My wife always likes to have the idiots in front of her so she can keep an eye on them.
As long as Mrs Bennett does not let it get to her.
Unfortunately there are plenty of plonkers on the road.
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In the early 70's I had a fairly underpowered 105E Anglia. One night leaving Malvern on the way to Worcester (when they still had the "suicide" lane), I attempted to overtake a Triumph Herald . As I got level he opened it up and kept pace, so I dropped back. he then slowed down again. I tried to overtake again and he did the same thing. This happened several times so I eventually pretended I was turning off and he sped off. However I stayed back for a while and at Powick allowed him to go over the brow of the hill, I killed my lights and gave it everything I'd got. On the downhill section I caught up with him without him seeing me and I sailed past before he could react. To say he was mad was understatement.
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Happeneda to me in a landrover on a motorway, except the car speeded up rapidly to more than I was prepared to drive at. So I pulled in and thought to go at my preferred pace. Except the car that was slower then faster, slowed down to mimse in front of me. Same occured again and it was quite obvious that he was not prepared to let a landrover go in ffront of him.
Did eventually get past in traffic I saw in comming in my rear view miror, only for him to go hell for leather to get in front again. However he them drove at a higher pace, and satisfied his small mind that he'd not let the landrover beat him...
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Yes, a firm favourite of the mimsing class...
The other morning, at just after 5am, passed some moron on the way to work.
He was mimsing along at 70 in an 80kmh zone - at that time of day, there is very little traffic
I don't even think he saw me as I went past him... Next thing, he's hammering it past me again... WHY?
On the long long roads across the karoo, the other phenomenon is when you pass some bloke - him in his piddly little 1.3 car, loaded with 4 peiople and a load of luggage, doing 110~ on the flats, and me doing 130ish.
Zap.
Next thing, we hit the hills, and the same guy comes past using gravity, screaming the nads off the engine at 150, then loses it down to 90 up the other side. I pass, next down hill, off he goes again.
WHY? And also, why take a silly chance to overtake when the difference in speed is about 0.005km/h?
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Had this on the Pickering - Whitby road, where it's possible to see over a mile ahead without obstructions.
Driver going at 55, clear road in front of him, I approach, pull out and go, as soon as I'm alongside he looks across, grits teeth and boots it. Luckily I have enough power and road in hand to get past without harsh manoeuvring.
He then proceeds to flash & gesticulate. Why?
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This is absolutely murderous driving. It is not uncommon. Sometimes however it appears to be unconscious - being overtaken reminds someone that they are mimsing inadvertently, and being almost half-witted they start to speed up straight away. In other cases though, perhaps the majority, real harm is intended.
If witnessed by traffic plod and resented by the victim, it is an act that should go straight to court and result in a mandatory driving ban. After all, people get banned under totting up for speeding which is completely harmless.
Edited by Lud on 29/11/2008 at 14:57
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You notice that a lot of drivers do it because they can't keep constant speeds on motorways and when using cruise you'll catch them up and then they'll speed up just enough to mean that you can't get past them without accelerating... very annoying...
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I had that the other way round on my way home last night. I was coming up Butser Hill on the A3 with the cruise set to an indicate 75, and could see someone was coming to overtake me doing 80-85ish. Unfortunately they were in a small car with a piddly engine, and were either maxing out or not prepared to accelerate harder, and couldn't keep momentum up the hill so had to end up tucking in behind me. They were probably thinking that I was being a difficult so-and-so, but I wasn't really...
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Harib, coming out of Cape Town one day, up the N1 on my way to go and "work" at a local football game, and I was running late.
About 15kms along the road, the motorway hits mountains, and if you start a nice climb - I hit the bottom at speed, knowing I'd lose a bit of momentum on the long 2km stretch. Stayed in the fast lane, passing other punters.
But it didn't matter, cos there was NOBODY behind me even looking like they'd catch me.
Think again.
Just near the summit, I hear a HUGE "PAAAAARP.... PAAAARP", look in the rearview, and saw a grill the size of a gravestone, and two lights like dinner plates.
I hastily moved across, and a huge Bentley, circa 1937, came hammering past - wheels about 3 ft tall, old chap in reversed cap and goggles behind the wheel...
I was doing 145 kmh indicated.... Lord knows what he was doing!!!!!
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ive done this before....
the reason was because , i was doing the speed limit...or maybe a little more...and was discusted that some pink fluffy dice wanted to go even faster...when someone overtakes you...single carriageway....its a sign that they arnt happy with what your doing.
i realise that according to the posts above,,,i will be very much in the minority
but , tough...im doing the speed limit,so dont overtake me because of this...i have a very fast car, but still get "told off" by drivers who want to overtake me because i know the limit......
having said that, i wouldnt do it on a motorway....i'll sit at 80mph...if people want to go faster than that...then fair enough
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Edited by Webmaster on 01/12/2008 at 01:18
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storme - my advice is don't try and police others, let them get on with it.
You don't know any of the circumstances why they want to overtake you. It could be a doctor, it could be the police training school car, it could be an unmarked police car on a shout.
Anyone who is doing this just to get past is far better off in front - at least you can keep an eye on them.
Edited by daveyjp on 29/11/2008 at 20:45
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What amazes/annoys me is when im on a motorway in no particular hurry I will set the cruise control at a speed between 60 - 75 depending on how I feel etc.
I obviously keep an even speed but its amazing how many people who overtake you, then you overtake them in a while, and so it continues with same car ( often more than 1 example too but at different spacings).
If I am doing a steady speed then they must be doing some time at around 50 and then some around 90 to be getting overtaken and then back in front. Is it really that difficult to drive at a fairly steady speed?
Regarding the op actual point I often drive quite powerful cars (if in dogeared appearance) and it obviously annoys people in newer and flashier cars because if I overtake them they will nearly always race me (cant be overtaken by an old jalopy can we?). The extra power often surprises them and I will wait my time and then sail past when I feel like it, to get to my chosen speed for the road. So so many times though they have to come back and get in front even though their chosen speed is lower once in front.
Wrong as it is, if this happens I just turn headlights on and sit behind them, appearing to want to overtake them at various points and watch them accelerate away as I happily keep to my Chosen (by them ) speed!
Bring back traffic police please !
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I obviously keep an even speed but its amazing how many people who overtake you then you overtake them in a while and so it continues with same car ( often more than 1 example too but at different spacings). {{snip}}
>>Is it really that difficult to drive at a fairly steady speed?
People are not computers; they have variable moods and energy levels. Why expect them to drive like computers?
So long as they remain alert and continue to read the road properly and observe the Highway Code, what's the problem?
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People are not computers; they have variable moods
How much random variation in speed are you prepared to accept in other drivers, NW? This thread started on the theme of accelerating when being overtaken, irritating on dual carriageways and lethal on ordinary roads; and has moved on to overtaking people and then slowing down and getting in their way, which is merely infuriating and despicable.
Obviously the human foot is not a cruise control, but should be able to imitate one all right, surely? If it really can't, its owner may need medical help.
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How much random variation in speed are you prepared to accept in other drivers NW?
{{snip}}Obviously the human foot is not a cruise control but should be able to imitate one all right surely? If it really can't its owner may need medical help.
It would be better if the computer more accurately imitated a human foot, as adaptive cruise control does.
On a lot of non-mway roads, it's not really an issue, because conditions will usually require fairly frequent changes of speed and CC is less likely to be useable. But on a mway, speeds are steadier but do still fluctuate quite noticeably, depending on conditions; hills, traffic densities etc. That works fine when the other drivers are using their foot, because they just incorporate the speed fluctuations into the right movements they'd be doing anyway .... but CC will maintain the exact same speed uphill and down, so it magnifies all the differences you wouldn't otherwise notice.
That's the minor stuff, but there are more major differences as drivers vary their pace. I'll sometimes do a stretch in the inside lane, get bored or want to to make progress and head out for a while, then settle back to the flow in the middle lane.
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>>> then settle back to the flow in the middle lane.
Are you never tempted just a tiny bit, on those mimser-clogged days, by the flow in the outside or BMW or psychopathic killer lane, NW?
Unless I am driving a very slow car or it is an unusually lunatic bit of motorway, I find I have to nip in and out of it quite a lot as a rule. Still, chacun a son gout (sorry, can't do accents here).
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Are you never tempted just a tiny bit on those mimser-clogged days by the flow in the outside or BMW or psychopathic killer lane NW?
Sometimes, yes, but apart from overtaking crawlers I tend to go there only if the mway is fairly clogged. If it's flowing more freely then the BMW boys are usually doing their 90mph-with-xenon-lamps-ablaze act to prove that they are hard men who can press a pedal towards a carpeted floor, and I don't see much point in getting in their way. I don't want to be part of their problem.
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>> in the outside or BMW or psychopathic killer lane NW? If it's flowing more freely then the BMW boys are usually....
It's not BMW drivers around here, more commonly VWs, Audis, MPVs or sub-Focus sized dross from any manufacturer. Prius drivers seem to have a good eye for the outside lane too, presumably believing that their weekend eco-warrior transports are uber-economical at all speeds.
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How do you know you are at the limit - had your speedo calibrated or using Sat-Nav?
If not you are most probably 2 to 4 mph under the limit.
And as has been said, it is not your job to enforce limits by obstructing other road users.
There are also people out there who may develop sufficient anger to cause you serious damage / GBH, so is it worth the risk?
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There are occasions when I've been driving on cruise then been briefly held up or perhaps slowed from NSL to pass through a village. When the traffic or obstacle clears I flick "resume" at which point someone will usually try to overtake in some little putt putt just as my car is racing toward its preset speed - they'll pootle around somewhere in the blind spot for 30 seconds red-lining in a low gear before giving up and tucking in behind. As far as I'm concerned, it's their problem.
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If you are doing the allowed speed for the road and somebody wants to get past i dont see that you have to slow and make it easy for them; but neither should you accelerate and make it harder.
If they can get by, let them !
And what about those people that pull out at junctions as they see you coming and then just pootle. I dont have a problem with anybody pulling out if they make an attempt to accelerate and get out of the way, or at least try to make progress.
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On the M40 a few weeks back I was following a truck who came upon a car in the first lane and pulled out to overtake, about 5 miles later it finally pulled back into 1st lane. The cardriver decides he/she doesn't like sitting behind a truck so pulls out to over take and speeds off. WHY!!
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this is quite a thing in Poland - it happens quite often, as drivers here are sometimes real morons.... moreover they accelerate while overtaking them - that's even more stupid. I hate this kind of behaviour, but what can you do? Some people just don't understand that not only they count on the road.
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>>The cardriver decides he/she doesn't like sitting behinda truck so pulls out to over take and speeds off. WHY!!
Haven't you answered your own question Carl? The car driver didn't want to wait a further 5 minutes for the wagon to draw away by 3 car lengths. Or were you asking why the wagon driver thought it was worth overtaking a vehicle moving less than 1mph more slowly?
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Now the surprising part to this tale, the driver of the school car was a young woman, hope she doesn't teach her own standards.
I make no comments about that as there are good and bad of both genders.
Little does the young lady know how lucky she was not to have been subject to an swmbo piece of mind, not a woman to be trifled with, from the Eastern Med and once in full flow a formidable force.
I've always had the opinion that anyone who accelerates on an overtaker in normal circumstances (there will always be the odd numpty in either vehicle) should be summarily banned because of action likely to endanger life, quite what goes through their minds is beyond me.
No one expects a driver to travel faster than they want to, but why is their speed the default cruising speed for the road in their own mind, and woe betide anyone who passes.
Sorry to have been so long replying, but i've been all day researching for a new subwoofer for my home sound system, head spinning now helped by large glass of Baileys....;)
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Haven't you answered your own question Carl? The car driver didn't want to wait a further 5 minutes for the wagon to draw away by 3 car lengths. Or were you asking why the wagon driver thought it was worth overtaking a vehicle moving less than 1mph more slowly?
If the car driver didn't want to have a wagon in front, why not speed up slightly. It's fairly easy to spot 44 tonnes of HGV bearing down on you. And...why did the car driver not make the overtake more straightforward by backing off once the HGV was alongside?
Why did the wagon driver overtake a 1mph slower car? Is he meant to slow down for all slower vehicles? If not where is the acceptable speed difference? Can he overtake if the car is 3mph slower, 10 mph?
As the wagon is limited by law and device, would suggest it is easier for us (unlimited) car drivers to either keep out of the way or make the overtake nice and easy.
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As the wagon is limited by law and device would suggest it is easier for us (unlimited) car drivers to either keep out of the way or make the overtake nice and easy.
I quite agree - as far as I am concerned they're both bad drivers - if it's going to take you 5 miles to overtake you shouldn't be doing it, and had I been the car driver I wouldn't have let it happen. I assume the car was on cruise and the driver just being bloody-minded.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 02/12/2008 at 00:12
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When the traffic or obstacle clearsI flick "resume" at which point someone will usually try to overtake in some little putt putt
I find the same happens when exiting motorway roadworks, someone who has obviously kept going at 60-65 mph through the 50 limit in the roadworks trys to overtake all those who obeyed the limit and are now accelerating to 70 (or more).
harib
>>and couldn't keep momentum up the hill so had to end up tucking in behind me.
Done that when I first started driving, in an underpowered car, I wasn't activly trying to overtake, just unwilling to slow down and lose momentum if I could avoid it as accelerating up steep hills was barely possible.
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I had this a few weeks ago. A Boxster S in front of me had been tootling along at the same speed for ages. An overtaking opportunity arose and when I was level with him he floored it. Maybe he has a problem with being overtaked by an Impreza. Got past him safely though, thankfully.
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maybe he thought he was correct doing the national speed limit for that road....then someone comes along and decides not to obey the speed limit and then try to overtake..
as there are no policemen around anymore, he probably thought he was doing his civic duty??...
dunno, maybe its me, i too have a fast car,like you..but i still want to do the speed limit,,,,i may get there as quick as i can, but ultimately, i do try to drive at the max limit of that road...(notice i said max..as 30mph is the max for a 30mph road)
having said that, i believe the speed limits on our roads are crap...
imo 70mph on a dry clear motorway is far too slow
imo 30mph outside any school is far too fast
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