As in at 13.45 today, while in a queue of 4 vehicles on a very narrow country road within 500m of the bypass, I was overtaken by a Citroen C4.
The reason? I was driving into the low bright sun and had left a good clear gap between myself and the Discovery in front.
This in the sure & certain knowledge that when we all reached the bypass in a few seconds, I would have to wait for the other three vehicles to get out onto the main road.
Did he intend to overtake all of us?
Did he not even realize there were other vehicles in front of me?
I do dispair.
|
Not saying this is the case, but the driver may have thought 'Ah, a mimser, I'll nip past in case he takes ages getting out of the junction..'
I sometimes overtake simply to avert being stuck behind a mimser when a 'difficult' traffic
condition is on the horizon - not for the (small) immediate distance gain, but for the possible wait behind a timid/nervous driver at a junction/merge whatever.
Or the C4 may just be a numpty as you suggest!
|
|
|
I agree diesel dogg, some drivers are just so impatient they are not fully aware of there surroundings & are a danger to themselves & others. I was overtaken in a traffic queue the other day on a steep hill. I was the distance of one cars lengh so i could just keep rolling in first to save the clutch, and a van jumped round me! when i tooted i just got the good old two fingers! what is the world comming too?
I also detest those that come right up behind me in a traffic queue! why ? cause if some one goes into the back of them they sure are going to come into me as well! there are certainly plenty of numptys about!
|
I also detest those that come right up behind me in a traffic queue!
Happens to me all the time - they stop as close as they can to the rear of my car. I don't understand people who do this. Really makes driving a lot more stressful when I have to keep worrying about what the person behind is doing all the time.
|
injection doc
My take on it exactly!
thank you,
M
|
|
I agree with woodbines, a short, but safe overtake may be part of an overall plan to make progress.
Edited by Old Navy on 17/12/2009 at 15:27
|
Who said it was safe?
I guarentee iffen I had been the plod in an unmarked car
He woulda been well done.
|
May I refer you to woobine's first sentence?
"Not saying this is the case, but........ "...."mimser".....
Edited by Old Navy on 17/12/2009 at 15:38
|
Well then, you see,
he absolutly should NOT have overtaken at all,
since the road was so narrow, & iffen he had percieved me to be a "mimser"
he should have taken into account the likelyhood of me taking a "dwamle" over the middle of the road, & thus causing him to run out of room & into the hedge
I would add you see ( as I blush) that I had no idea he was there, at all, until he appeared alongside.
Equally, he HAD to know that, as there no eye contact established.
so therefore it was a risky undertaking, which he got away with, just.
cheers
M
|
> he absolutly should NOT have overtaken at all since the road was so narrow & ...
> he should have taken into account the likelyhood of me taking a "dwamle" over the
> middle of the road
I quite often overtake people on single-carriageway roads, without expecting people to swerve out and hit my car. I overtake on dual carriageways and motorways too, without expecting people to drift around across the lane markings.
|
|
|
|
Happens to me all the time - they stop as close as they can to the rear of my car.
My father in law does that deliberately - that is, he gets very close to the car in front in a queue. When I questioned him he said it was because if the car in front rolls back into him it has no time to gain momentum and damage is minimised.
My own personal feeling is that it's better to allow a bigger gap, so the driver in front has time to realise he is rolling backwards and hopefully stop before impact, but there we are. I've only ever known it happen once anyway.
Anyway, it might therefore be that that is what he was taught, so perhaps it's a generational thing, like the double de-clutching he still does. (He's nearly 80 now.)
|
My father in law does that deliberately - that is he gets very close to the car in front in a queue. When I questioned him he said it was because if the car in front rolls back into him it has no time to gain momentum and damage is minimised.
I got told by the Police driver on a course I was on the exact opposite, they said to do two things, firstly leave enough of a gap in front of you that if you saw someone charging up behind you that you could actually move to one side or the other and get out of the way so he'd hit the car on front of you! And secondly have the wheels pointing slightly in the direction of your escape route and keep checking your mirror...
As for the OP, without actauuly seeing what happenned I wouldn't like to say whether either party was right or wrong, though DD says he couldn't see behind him (car only became visible when alongside) but the other guy (I would hope) had checked his mirrors before starting to overtake, so it sounds like he could... or he didn't check and is a numpty as said before!!
Edited by b308 on 17/12/2009 at 16:43
|
I got told by the Police driver on a course I was on the exact opposite......
Me too, I was taught "tarmac and tyres" or stop so that you can see the road behind the rear tyres of the car in front, and / or leave room to drive around the car in front. It also stops you being shunted into the car in front in low speed bumps.
Edited by Old Navy on 17/12/2009 at 16:54
|
|
|
|
Sorry Fotherthing whotsnot
but this wee road is only really wide enough for one HGV, meeting another car is a tight squueze, therefore there was very very little room at any time.
If I am overtaking in these circumstances I have found it prudent to establish that the driver in front is aware I am there AND for overtaking.
jat
M
|
If I am overtaking in these circumstances I have found it prudent to establish that the driver in front is aware I am there AND for overtaking.
How?
All the ways of doing that, horn, flashing lights, etc, are more likely to wind the person up these days?
|
All the ways of doing that horn flashing lights etc are more likely to wind the person up these days?
My thoughts too.
You can't win these days, because a lot of people think you shouldn't overtake, when it's a perfectly acceptable, lawful activity and one that it doesn't hurt to keep your skills honed (along with a lot of other elements of driving).
Without knowing the road it's difficult to say how futile it was....but sometimes i'd consider it, if the dual carriageway ahead it not that long and those in front of me are intent on 'mimser overtakes' i.e. take forever to overtake one vehicle, despite a queue of people behind that would really like to do the lot, but will run out of time
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I think there are two debates going on here. I'm with Woodbine, I will overtake if there is a sensible and safe opportunity even though there may be no obvious, immediate advantage. I will do this in response to observing that a driver goes excessively slowly on some sections of road and I don't want to get bogged down behind them at the next "it's barely a bend why have you practically stopped?" section.
As for "I quite often overtake people on single-carriageway roads, without expecting people to swerve out and hit my car", while I agree that this is a reasonable expectation it is not unusual to see a slow moving car cut a bend ahead of you. Where you may have decided to overtake. If I see poor driving the "anything can happen" alert goes on.
To get back to the OP, sounds like you were overtaken by an idiot. I'm still looking for rocket launchers in Halfords, it's not too late for Christmas.
JH
|
|
75% of drivers overtake whenever they can. They don't need a reason.
|
|
|
I think there are two debates going on here. I'm with Woodbine I will overtake if there is a sensible and safe opportunity even though there may be no obvious immediate advantage. I will do this in response to observing that a driver goes excessively slowly on some sections of road and I don't want to get bogged down behind them
I agree with that, because I will sometimes overtake on the principle of "I would rather have you behind me than in front of me because you won't annoy me so much and I will stay calm"
|
>>75% of drivers overtake whenever they can
From what I've seen on A roads raound here its nearer the opposite - only 25% even try to overtake, many the time I've had to "hop" to make any progress...
Sid, thats often my thinking as well... only trouble is if you get one who objects to it and then proceeds to stick to your bumper, usually with their headlights on full beam... BMW drivers, for instance, take great offence at being overtaken by a Roomster... Don't know why... ;-)
Edited by b308 on 18/12/2009 at 11:52
|
|
|
|
|
