Any tips for these two awkward DC/Mway situations?

[yellowjack]

Johnnytheboy said:

RobM77 said:

I've often chatted about this with my wife; we wondered if being overtaken wakes people up from their daze and makes them doubt their speed.

On long journeys things can get silly - we drove to Devon last year and passed someone just near Swindon on the M4 - we had the cruise on 70 and they were doing about 65 I'd guess. They sped up and passed us a short while after, but then slowed again and ten minutes later we caught them and passed them. We continued this for about an hour, until they got quite nasty about the whole thing: flashing turned to hooting, which turned to middle finger out of the window etc. We were easily recognisable because we had our SUP boards on the roof. It's a good example of how easy it is to attract road rage in the UK... I can't remember what happened in the end - I think after the abuse started we decided to stop for a toilet break at the services!

It's surprising how annoyed non-cruise vehicles get when drivers of cruise vehicles do this.

I annoyed someone in a car (that almost certainly had it but switched off) by swapping places with them about four times on the little stretch of the A31 over the New Forest. The last time I passed them I got some hand gesturing, but their speed was oscillating by 15-20 mph, so it was hard NOT to annoy them.

Had this last night on the southbound M40 with a scruffy old Luton Transit.

I have an electronic limiter which I rather prefer over cruise. This dope was hogging lane 2, I was catching him, slowly but surely, in lane 1. When I got close enough, I moved out behind him, put my foot hard down to disengage the limiter, which was set at 70mph (indicated). Then I moved out, hit 80mph briefly, made some space and moved back to lane 2 ahead of him, then back into lane 1. No tooting, no light flashing, no tailgating, nor any cutting in too early. Anyway, as I lift off the accelerator the limiter re-establishes itself once we've got back down to 70mph. Almost immediately he comes barreling past at c85mph, still in lane 2. No problem, as I'm entirely happy at my selected 70mph.

The trouble is, he'd invariably slow down again, and we'd repeat this procedure another three times. At which point he began slowing in lane 2. It became apparent that he was trying to box me in beside him, as there was a tail of traffic behind him in lane 2. It was either that, or put in a lane 1 overtake, which I really wasn't very keen on. My wife even told me off for "playing games" with him. I assured her I wasn't and proved to her that it was him who's speed was varying between 60mph and 85mph in order to get alongside me. Well, my normally relaxed and painfully polite wife said to me, when we got a chance to use lane 3 to pass him yet again, "FFS put some space between us, if he's going to act the fool all bloody night".

So I put my foot down and left him behind sufficient that he was no longer tempted to piss about with us. This was in Warwickshire. Just as we were leaving the M40 at Wycombe, on the slip up to the A404, who should come steaming past in lane two? Yup, the very same scruffy blue transit.

[7db]

Scruffy blue transit coming down to RAF HQ from Warks? Probably the SAS. You had a lucky escape there... ;-)


I thought of this thread myself the other day as I joined M40E @ J1 behind a slow-mover. It's a tricky slip with two lanes which taper into one as they join, tempting quicker drivers to go up the inside and then run out of space rapidly as the outside lane mergers focus on and accommodate heavies on the main road. I watched a faster vehicle take the chevrons to join and cross into L2 very rapidly about 100 yards behind me, arriving with me just as I was looking to use L2 to overtake the slow joiner as it cleared from established traffic (A predictable move for a car joining behind a slower vehicle and indicating right). It was potentially horrible, but all under control as I'd seen him coming and L3 was clear.

However this completely reinforces the message for me that you really really don't need to be overtaking on a slip road. You're about to join a highly disciplined multi-lane road with full grade separation. A place where overtaking is a doddle. Why create conflict in the one place where other people can and do regularly screw up and require you to accommodate them. It's not worth it.