Tailgate and speed

GAZ237

Dimey wrote: »

I'll rise to your bait = Yes - because it makes other cars drive around you undertaking into the paths of other vehicles. I've seen it happen.

I don't change lanes into the path of another vehicle. I find giving the lane hogger a quick nudge with my bumper will automatically put his left hand indicator on and he will move safely to the inside lane.

Far safer than under taking.

alastairq

sadly, no shed....not in the caravan industry!

If a lorry wishes to pass [ and hasn't got a significant speed differential], I slow a bit, let it pass, then resume my desired speed.

I note, over the years, drivers of all sort of shapes of vehicle, seem reluctant to vary their speed at all on a motorway.

A case of ''I'm sticking to this speed, regardless, and it doesn't matter how long I take to pass a slightly slower vehicle'....'' This is noted as much with cars as any other type.

Personally, when I overtake something, I don't really want to spend too long, alongside them, a mere metre or so apart.

So I will tend to actually speed up when passing, getting well ahead before resuming my 'comfort- speed'...

I also use the gears...especially 4th...if moving over to the right lane to pass....gets me up to a higher speed more quickly [since I don't bother with owning cars over 1.3 litres these days, not worth it]....and allows me much more control via the throttle, over acceleration, and slowing.

Once past, I move left again [if possible..often find I am in fact stuck in an endless queue in the right lane...actually overtaking nothing at all...as are the other thirty-or-so cars in the same lane!!] and resume my comfort-speed.

Of course, exercising effective observations, and anticipation skills on a motorway involves constant work.

Something too many others out driving, seem reluctant to do?

anotherbaldrick

When the motorway is not "stuffed" you often find the traffic is sticking together in bunches. If you get past the bunch you find clear road for a distance where you can cruise at a comfortable speed and no one invading your comfort space. When the situation changes and you find you are in it again speed up a bit and find the next open spot down the road.

Dimey

Lum wrote: »

Lorries are speed limited to 56mph, another wonderful EU law.

If you have lorries catching you up on the motorway, you are driving below 56mph, unless you happen to be on a really steep downhill section, or the lorry was made before limiters were introduced, which I'm fairly sure was some time in the 80s?

I don't understand why you are so hung up on lorry speed limits. All traffic drives at variable speeds on a motorway, according to traffic congestion, weather conditions, safety, road signage, personal choice and legal restrictions; an of course increasing and decreasing speed as you join and exit a motorway.

It doesn't work that the second you get on the motorway you drive at 70mph and stay at that till you leave the motorway. There are plenty of times when traffic will be going slower than 56mph for myriad reasons. Its normal.

smashingyour...

Dimey wrote: »

I don't understand why you are so hung up on lorry speed limits. All traffic drives at variable speeds on a motorway, according to traffic congestion, weather conditions, safety, road signage, personal choice and legal restrictions; an of course increasing and decreasing speed as you join and exit a motorway.

It doesn't work that the second you get on the motorway you drive at 70mph and stay at that till you leave the motorway. There are plenty of times when traffic will be going slower than 56mph for myriad reasons. Its normal.

You use motorway slip roads to build up and decrease your speed.

You shouldn't be joining a motorway at less than the speed lane 1 is travelling at. So no reason to be tailgated there.;)

Prothet_of_Doom

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

That makes you guilty of dangerous driving also.

Any played "Lap the Middle Lane Moron" ?

Overtake in lane 3, move to lane 1, (in a safe manner), slow down, until MLM overtakes you in lane 2.
Move to lane 3 (in a safe manner), Overtake in lane 3, move to lane 1, (in a safe manner), slow down, until MLM overtakes you in lane 2.
Move to lane 3 (in a safe manner), Overtake in lane 3, move to lane 1, (in a safe manner), slow down, until MLM overtakes you in lane 2.
Move to lane 3 (in a safe manner), Overtake in lane 3, move to lane 1, (in a safe manner), slow down, until MLM overtakes you in lane 2.
Move to lane 3 (in a safe manner), Overtake in lane 3, move to lane 1, (in a safe manner), slow down, until MLM overtakes you in lane 2.
Move to lane 3 (in a safe manner),

Repeat until they get the message.


I "heard" the record is 40 miles and 20 laps before MLM realised. :eek:

Prothet_of_Doom

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

As an aggressive driver, your perception of what is safe may be way off the mark. Aggressive drivers do usually take more risks. And they often bully other traffic out of their way (which can also result in a collision). Even emergency vehicle drivers are now taught to not force other drivers to break the law, or put themselves in a dangerous position. And to switch their sirens off and wait, rather than panicking other drivers into doing so.

As this and many other threads show, many people don't even know what is legal, and what isn't.

You are pushing against an open door with me.

I take more risks. Overtaking is a risk, moving lane on the motorway is a risk.

But consider this. Straight road, slow car in front doing 20 mph less than speed limit, no traffic coming the other way, mirrors checked, indicators put on, correct gear selected, foot to floor, overtake completed, move back to lane, select cruising speed and gear, carry on at speed limit. Watch the person overtaken Flash you in anger, becuase he/she thinks you are a dangerous moron, because a) They had no idea of your presence, b) they have no idea of the speed limit, c) the speed you passed them at and the noise from your exhaust woke them up, d) they think overtaking is worse than ...... think of a bad crime and insert ....... e) they have been brain washed f) they need their eyes testing, and g) there was a fatal accident on this stretch of road 4 years ago ... although that was in the dark, the driver was on drugs, and it was icy.. and h) they think we'll all die if we go over 45 mph:rotfl:

Dimey

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

You are pushing against an open door with me.

I take more risks. Overtaking is a risk, moving lane on the motorway is a risk.

But consider this. Straight road, slow car in front doing 20 mph less than speed limit, no traffic coming the other way, mirrors checked, indicators put on, correct gear selected, foot to floor, overtake completed, move back to lane, select cruising speed and gear, carry on at speed limit. Watch the person overtaken Flash you in anger, becuase he/she thinks you are a dangerous moron, because a) They had no idea of your presence, b) they have no idea of the speed limit, c) the speed you passed them at and the noise from your exhaust woke them up, d) they think overtaking is worse than ...... think of a bad crime and insert ....... e) they have been brain washed f) they need their eyes testing, and g) there was a fatal accident on this stretch of road 4 years ago ... although that was in the dark, the driver was on drugs, and it was icy.. and h) they think we'll all die if we go over 45 mph:rotfl:

Maybe the slower driver isn't thinking any of these things. He could have just flashed you because you drove too close to him while overtaking. You don't know what he was thinking.

Competitive drivers seem to narrate a whole scenario in their heads, imagining what others are thinking. They get all riled by themselves.

Yes some drivers may compete with each other but a whole lot don't. They just drive carefully and don't get involved in the type of thinking you describe.

Lum

alastairq wrote: »

I note, over the years, drivers of all sort of shapes of vehicle, seem reluctant to vary their speed at all on a motorway.

A case of ''I'm sticking to this speed, regardless, and it doesn't matter how long I take to pass a slightly slower vehicle'....'' This is noted as much with cars as any other type.

Better get used to this, it's only going to get worse.

Thanks to the growth in average speed cameras, and HADECS cameras which some people think are average speed, combined with the increased availability of cruise control and a lack of understanding of how average speed cameras actually work; you are going to see more and more people doing this.

They will accelerate to whatever they think the speed is, subject to the usual speedo error, or to whatever speed they think they can get away with without prosecution (e.g. 78mph on the GPS since most forces prosecute at 79); then they whack the cruise control on and job done.

I'm guilty of this to some extent. Most motorways have a design speed of around 100-120mph, way above the actual speed limit; for someone like me who drives by feel rather than by-the-numbers this creates a bit of a disconnect in the brain - matching the dial to the number needs the brain to be in a different mode for me - which can be solved by cruise control.

That said I (try to) maintain awareness to realise when it's time to cancel cruise. I'll try to avoid doing the 3 mile overtake, even if it means going a few mph above the limit, in order to reduce the time spent alongside another vehicle and to avoid holding other people up and winding them up. I guess by some people here's standards that makes me a child murderer, but oh well.

The opposite end of the scale is "Right, I'm at the national speed limit, which is 60mph, cruise control on, all I need to do now is sit in the middle lane for the next 270 miles, not drive into the back of anyone and I'll be totally fine, now where did I put my newspaper?"

Lum

Dimey wrote: »

I don't understand why you are so hung up on lorry speed limits. All traffic drives at variable speeds on a motorway, according to traffic congestion, weather conditions, safety, road signage, personal choice and legal restrictions; an of course increasing and decreasing speed as you join and exit a motorway.

It doesn't work that the second you get on the motorway you drive at 70mph and stay at that till you leave the motorway. There are plenty of times when traffic will be going slower than 56mph for myriad reasons. Its normal.

If you're in a queue then things are a bit different. If you are joining or leaving at a speed lower than what lane 1 is doing then your motorway entry/exit technique is wrong. Sliproads are for acceleration and deceleration and then you merge at a speed that at least matches the lane you're moving into.

Admittedly there are a handful of sliproads on our motorways where this is not possible (M50, I'm looking at you, also that one on the M6 by Stoke before they lengthened it) but for the vast majority of them this is what you should be doing.