One single thing that makes you think "knob" Vol 2
Discussion
I made the mistake of going out on sunday...
- middle lane hogger's abound
- C4 piccaso that couldn't decide to slow down and slot in a gap, or speed up and get into the left lane for your junction, in the end forced their way through a tiny gap between other cars all the while not maintaining speed in the outside lane.
- New range rover driver who kept speeding up because he didn't like that my wife's Punto overtaking his small country sized SUV
- Ford focus saloon which lurched left then right into my lane to get into the sainsbury turn off on the right... you sir are an utter knob and you deserved the lights and horn you got for driving like a spastic.
Normal 30 limit, long straight road, no parked cars. Two cyclists bimbling along near the kerb, close together in line, not fast.
Car in front of me approaches cyclists, slows down, pulls out to overtake them.
Car in the distance is coming the other way, just a dot.
Overtaker gets level with the cyclists, slows down further. Matches their speed and drives alongside them on the opposite side of the road with exaggerated care. Perhaps he thought they were horses.
Dot in the distance is now slightly bigger but overtaker can't decide whether to undergo brutal acceleration to 30 in order to complete the overtake, or maybe hesitate some more.
I look at watch and yawn, is the overtaker going to make up his/her mind so I can get past them too?
Overtaker finally speeds up just enough to get past the lead cyclist, then slows down again to match their speed - still no opportunity for me to pass since no gap.
Finally we all reach a narrower, twisty bit of road, the dot was the lead car of a continuous line of traffic coming the other way, and the overtaker shoots off into the distance.
Car in front of me approaches cyclists, slows down, pulls out to overtake them.
Car in the distance is coming the other way, just a dot.
Overtaker gets level with the cyclists, slows down further. Matches their speed and drives alongside them on the opposite side of the road with exaggerated care. Perhaps he thought they were horses.
Dot in the distance is now slightly bigger but overtaker can't decide whether to undergo brutal acceleration to 30 in order to complete the overtake, or maybe hesitate some more.
I look at watch and yawn, is the overtaker going to make up his/her mind so I can get past them too?
Overtaker finally speeds up just enough to get past the lead cyclist, then slows down again to match their speed - still no opportunity for me to pass since no gap.
Finally we all reach a narrower, twisty bit of road, the dot was the lead car of a continuous line of traffic coming the other way, and the overtaker shoots off into the distance.
Couple from me:
Driving home on Friday I came up behind some sort of Chevrolet small car thing. We got to a set of lights on red, my spidey senses were already tingling so I gave a good gap. The lights go green. No movement from him for ages, so I just pipped the horn. Not an aggressive beeeeep but a little pip just to wake him up. He sets off, weaving all over the road and sticking to 40 (in an NSL). After a couple of miles he speeds up to about 50/55. At any corner he slowed right down. All the while, I could see him looking over towards his mate's lap and weaving, presumably looking at his phone.
When we got to the roundabout to go into Warminster, he took the right hand lane, so I assumed he was going right, and I took the left to go straight on. He then blasted his horn at me and cut up the right lane and went straight on. I'm probably a bit of a knob myself because I blasted back as he cut across. I left room, but I was just so irritated with his driving and his attitude.
On the A358 from Taunton last night I was held up by a ridiculously low Mk2 golf "rat look" with stretched tyres, huge negative rear camber, and a roofrack full of s
te. Because of his lowered rock hard suspension, he was finding bumps where there were none and could not go faster than 50 mph! As we got to the A303 roundabout, he seemed to be having problems as he and his be-raybanned mate kept looking out of the window and listening to something. He then turned left onto the A303 without indicating.
Driving home on Friday I came up behind some sort of Chevrolet small car thing. We got to a set of lights on red, my spidey senses were already tingling so I gave a good gap. The lights go green. No movement from him for ages, so I just pipped the horn. Not an aggressive beeeeep but a little pip just to wake him up. He sets off, weaving all over the road and sticking to 40 (in an NSL). After a couple of miles he speeds up to about 50/55. At any corner he slowed right down. All the while, I could see him looking over towards his mate's lap and weaving, presumably looking at his phone.
When we got to the roundabout to go into Warminster, he took the right hand lane, so I assumed he was going right, and I took the left to go straight on. He then blasted his horn at me and cut up the right lane and went straight on. I'm probably a bit of a knob myself because I blasted back as he cut across. I left room, but I was just so irritated with his driving and his attitude.
On the A358 from Taunton last night I was held up by a ridiculously low Mk2 golf "rat look" with stretched tyres, huge negative rear camber, and a roofrack full of s
te. Because of his lowered rock hard suspension, he was finding bumps where there were none and could not go faster than 50 mph! As we got to the A303 roundabout, he seemed to be having problems as he and his be-raybanned mate kept looking out of the window and listening to something. He then turned left onto the A303 without indicating.There's a perfectly straight piece of road a couple of miles from where we live and it seems to attract knobs. It's NSL and a about a mile long but regularly get stuck behind people doing 40.
Driving along it on Saturday in my Shogun doing 60 and fast approaching someone in a little red puddlejumper. No overtaking opportunities presented themselves so I eased off the throttle and coasted up behind it and while doing so briefly glanced at my stereo to change the track.
When I looked back, the tit had hit his brakes for no reason causing me to get uncomfortably close to him so I hit the anchors and there was no harm done. But he kept flashing his brake lights at me and getting slower causing me to get closer to him. Short stopping or reversing there wasn't much I could do as there was traffic coming the other way so couldn't overtake. I shrugged in the hope he'd see me then he sped up going into a 30 zone at about 45 then veered across the road to park on the other side of the road gesticulating at me as I passed.
I really didn't get what the problem was.
Driving along it on Saturday in my Shogun doing 60 and fast approaching someone in a little red puddlejumper. No overtaking opportunities presented themselves so I eased off the throttle and coasted up behind it and while doing so briefly glanced at my stereo to change the track.
When I looked back, the tit had hit his brakes for no reason causing me to get uncomfortably close to him so I hit the anchors and there was no harm done. But he kept flashing his brake lights at me and getting slower causing me to get closer to him. Short stopping or reversing there wasn't much I could do as there was traffic coming the other way so couldn't overtake. I shrugged in the hope he'd see me then he sped up going into a 30 zone at about 45 then veered across the road to park on the other side of the road gesticulating at me as I passed.
I really didn't get what the problem was.
JagXJR said:
Probably has such a sad life needs to get a buzz from upsetting other motorists (possibly coupled with a size problem with his equipment?)!
I resisted getting out to have a word because my Son was with me. I mean I wasn't going to hit him or anything, I was strangely unperturbed, I just wondered what was going through his mind.Actually, seeing your user name reminded me of an incident about 18 months ago on the same piece of road driving my 'XJR' while setting myself up to overtake a taxi with a lorry in front of it trundling along about 40 when the taxi pulled out on me then dithered about getting past which left me behind the truck.
I did approach him and when I pulled him up about it and suggested he try using the relfective things on the side of his taxi he said he saw me coming but pulled out anyway. I mean WTF?!?!?
Big Rod said:
JagXJR said:
Probably has such a sad life needs to get a buzz from upsetting other motorists (possibly coupled with a size problem with his equipment?)!
I resisted getting out to have a word because my Son was with me. I mean I wasn't going to hit him or anything, I was strangely unperturbed, I just wondered what was going through his mind.Actually, seeing your user name reminded me of an incident about 18 months ago on the same piece of road driving my 'XJR' while setting myself up to overtake a taxi with a lorry in front of it trundling along about 40 when the taxi pulled out on me then dithered about getting past which left me behind the truck.
I did approach him and when I pulled him up about it and suggested he try using the relfective things on the side of his taxi he said he saw me coming but pulled out anyway. I mean WTF?!?!?
Big Rod said:
Halmyre said:
It's a not uncommon tactic - a car is following a lorry so closely that the driver can't see to overtake, but knows that if the car behind pulls out to overtake then it must be safe, so pulls the stunt you've just described.
Really? People do that?It's as much to do with lack of awareness as it is with lack of skill. They follow the truck too closely, so they kill their ability to see any opportunity to pass. Then, when you see the overtake and go for it, they realise "oh, here's a chance" and blindly lurch over into the opposing lane, usually in too high a gear to make light of it, and use up all of your planned overtake zone. If you are forced to tuck back in behind the truck due to the idiot ahead, you can almost guarantee that the very next thing to happen will be that an aggressive tailgater will arrive behind you, trying to force you to close right up to the truck.
So many times I've been tempted to 'fake' an overtake to tempt the asshat out from behind the lorry, but that wouldn't be fair to risk the safety of the innocent driver coming the other way. Tempting, though
The worst ones are those you've followed for several miles, where they've appeared to be happy to 'sit in' behind the slower vehicle despite ample opportunities to pass. So you presume they've no intention of passing, yet as soon as you press home an overtake, they get all uppity and suddenly absolutely have to pass the truck themselves.
Grrrr!
yellowjack said:
The worst ones are those you've followed for several miles, where they've appeared to be happy to 'sit in' behind the slower vehicle despite ample opportunities to pass. So you presume they've no intention of passing, yet as soon as you press home an overtake, they get all uppity and suddenly absolutely have to pass the truck themselves.
Grrrr!
Grrrr!
yellowjack said:
Yup, they really do.
It's as much to do with lack of awareness as it is with lack of skill. They follow the truck too closely, so they kill their ability to see any opportunity to pass. Then, when you see the overtake and go for it, they realise "oh, here's a chance" and blindly lurch over into the opposing lane, usually in too high a gear to make light of it, and use up all of your planned overtake zone. If you are forced to tuck back in behind the truck due to the idiot ahead, you can almost guarantee that the very next thing to happen will be that an aggressive tailgater will arrive behind you, trying to force you to close right up to the truck.
So many times I've been tempted to 'fake' an overtake to tempt the asshat out from behind the lorry, but that wouldn't be fair to risk the safety of the innocent driver coming the other way. Tempting, though
The worst ones are those you've followed for several miles, where they've appeared to be happy to 'sit in' behind the slower vehicle despite ample opportunities to pass. So you presume they've no intention of passing, yet as soon as you press home an overtake, they get all uppity and suddenly absolutely have to pass the truck themselves.
Grrrr!
Actually, in the situation with the Jag', I was approaching from a good few hundred yards back on the other side of the road, affording myself the best visibility and had my foot down. The taxi 'driver' decided when I was about three car lengths behind that it'd be a good idea to pull out even though he'd seen the car with it's nose in the air approaching at speed. It's as much to do with lack of awareness as it is with lack of skill. They follow the truck too closely, so they kill their ability to see any opportunity to pass. Then, when you see the overtake and go for it, they realise "oh, here's a chance" and blindly lurch over into the opposing lane, usually in too high a gear to make light of it, and use up all of your planned overtake zone. If you are forced to tuck back in behind the truck due to the idiot ahead, you can almost guarantee that the very next thing to happen will be that an aggressive tailgater will arrive behind you, trying to force you to close right up to the truck.
So many times I've been tempted to 'fake' an overtake to tempt the asshat out from behind the lorry, but that wouldn't be fair to risk the safety of the innocent driver coming the other way. Tempting, though
The worst ones are those you've followed for several miles, where they've appeared to be happy to 'sit in' behind the slower vehicle despite ample opportunities to pass. So you presume they've no intention of passing, yet as soon as you press home an overtake, they get all uppity and suddenly absolutely have to pass the truck themselves.
Grrrr!
Big Rod said:
There's a perfectly straight piece of road a couple of miles from where we live and it seems to attract knobs. It's NSL and a about a mile long but regularly get stuck behind people doing 40.
Driving along it on Saturday in my Shogun doing 60 and fast approaching someone in a little red puddlejumper. No overtaking opportunities presented themselves so I eased off the throttle and coasted up behind it and while doing so briefly glanced at my stereo to change the track.
When I looked back, the tit had hit his brakes for no reason causing me to get uncomfortably close to him so I hit the anchors and there was no harm done. But he kept flashing his brake lights at me and getting slower causing me to get closer to him. Short stopping or reversing there wasn't much I could do as there was traffic coming the other way so couldn't overtake. I shrugged in the hope he'd see me then he sped up going into a 30 zone at about 45 then veered across the road to park on the other side of the road gesticulating at me as I passed.
I really didn't get what the problem was.
I get that too.Driving along it on Saturday in my Shogun doing 60 and fast approaching someone in a little red puddlejumper. No overtaking opportunities presented themselves so I eased off the throttle and coasted up behind it and while doing so briefly glanced at my stereo to change the track.
When I looked back, the tit had hit his brakes for no reason causing me to get uncomfortably close to him so I hit the anchors and there was no harm done. But he kept flashing his brake lights at me and getting slower causing me to get closer to him. Short stopping or reversing there wasn't much I could do as there was traffic coming the other way so couldn't overtake. I shrugged in the hope he'd see me then he sped up going into a 30 zone at about 45 then veered across the road to park on the other side of the road gesticulating at me as I passed.
I really didn't get what the problem was.
Theres a stretch about a mile long, NSL, but people ALWAYS sit at 35-45 mph on it.
I followed someone who did the same, kept braking and slowing up. Followed them through a 30 zone, they got away a bit over some roundabouts, back into at 40 zone and fly up behind them doing 30. Suddenly he gets irate at me and starts brake testing me and waving his arms about!
I have no idea what his issue was. I wasnt tailgating or being aggressive, just kept catching him because he couldnt get anywhere near the speed limits!
Big Rod said:
There's a perfectly straight piece of road a couple of miles from where we live and it seems to attract knobs. It's NSL and a about a mile long but regularly get stuck behind people doing 40.
Driving along it on Saturday in my Shogun doing 60 and fast approaching someone in a little red puddlejumper. No overtaking opportunities presented themselves so I eased off the throttle and coasted up behind it and while doing so briefly glanced at my stereo to change the track.
When I looked back, the tit had hit his brakes for no reason causing me to get uncomfortably close to him so I hit the anchors and there was no harm done. But he kept flashing his brake lights at me and getting slower causing me to get closer to him. Short stopping or reversing there wasn't much I could do as there was traffic coming the other way so couldn't overtake. I shrugged in the hope he'd see me then he sped up going into a 30 zone at about 45 then veered across the road to park on the other side of the road gesticulating at me as I passed.
I really didn't get what the problem was.
I genuinely think some people get a bit scared and/or intimidated when they see a large vehicle approaching them, no matter how safe a distance you slow down behind, and act the tDriving along it on Saturday in my Shogun doing 60 and fast approaching someone in a little red puddlejumper. No overtaking opportunities presented themselves so I eased off the throttle and coasted up behind it and while doing so briefly glanced at my stereo to change the track.
When I looked back, the tit had hit his brakes for no reason causing me to get uncomfortably close to him so I hit the anchors and there was no harm done. But he kept flashing his brake lights at me and getting slower causing me to get closer to him. Short stopping or reversing there wasn't much I could do as there was traffic coming the other way so couldn't overtake. I shrugged in the hope he'd see me then he sped up going into a 30 zone at about 45 then veered across the road to park on the other side of the road gesticulating at me as I passed.
I really didn't get what the problem was.
t as a result.I have seen it often my Landcruiser.
Made a rare trip to Kent on Friday and encountered an M25 problem: the 55 mph Muppet in lane three of four.
Now I admit I was tired but it was late evening going up and coming back, the road was surprisingly quiet and all I wanted to do was sit quietly in lane one at around 60 mph and stay out of everyone's way. But four times I had to move from lane one to lane four and back again to pass people who were so oblivious to their surroundings I doubted they actually had a pulse. Mile after mile in the same lane, usually lane three, with absolutely no awareness whatsoever. What is wrong with these people ?
Now I admit I was tired but it was late evening going up and coming back, the road was surprisingly quiet and all I wanted to do was sit quietly in lane one at around 60 mph and stay out of everyone's way. But four times I had to move from lane one to lane four and back again to pass people who were so oblivious to their surroundings I doubted they actually had a pulse. Mile after mile in the same lane, usually lane three, with absolutely no awareness whatsoever. What is wrong with these people ?
cologne2792 said:
Made a rare trip to Kent on Friday and encountered an M25 problem: the 55 mph Muppet in lane three of four.
Now I admit I was tired but it was late evening going up and coming back, the road was surprisingly quiet and all I wanted to do was sit quietly in lane one at around 60 mph and stay out of everyone's way. But four times I had to move from lane one to lane four and back again to pass people who were so oblivious to their surroundings I doubted they actually had a pulse. Mile after mile in the same lane, usually lane three, with absolutely no awareness whatsoever. What is wrong with these people ?
My father, a retired traffic copper is an advocate of roadside executions. I think he's fairly serious actually. A few middle lane hoggers hanging from the gantries would soon put an end to the epidemic he reckons.Now I admit I was tired but it was late evening going up and coming back, the road was surprisingly quiet and all I wanted to do was sit quietly in lane one at around 60 mph and stay out of everyone's way. But four times I had to move from lane one to lane four and back again to pass people who were so oblivious to their surroundings I doubted they actually had a pulse. Mile after mile in the same lane, usually lane three, with absolutely no awareness whatsoever. What is wrong with these people ?
In all seriousness there are just a lot of self centred people out there. It's not occurred to them that they are causing an inconvenience and they most likely wouldn't care if they knew because they're comfortable where they are sat in lane 2/3/4
cologne2792 said:
Made a rare trip to Kent on Friday and encountered an M25 problem: the 55 mph Muppet in lane three of four.
Now I admit I was tired but it was late evening going up and coming back, the road was surprisingly quiet and all I wanted to do was sit quietly in lane one at around 60 mph and stay out of everyone's way. But four times I had to move from lane one to lane four and back again to pass people who were so oblivious to their surroundings I doubted they actually had a pulse. Mile after mile in the same lane, usually lane three, with absolutely no awareness whatsoever. What is wrong with these people ?
Should have just stopped in L1 at 60mph, wouldn't have causing anyone any bother nor breaking any law. Going from L1 to L4 is more dangerous then sticking in L1 imo, in this situation.Now I admit I was tired but it was late evening going up and coming back, the road was surprisingly quiet and all I wanted to do was sit quietly in lane one at around 60 mph and stay out of everyone's way. But four times I had to move from lane one to lane four and back again to pass people who were so oblivious to their surroundings I doubted they actually had a pulse. Mile after mile in the same lane, usually lane three, with absolutely no awareness whatsoever. What is wrong with these people ?
Big Rod said:
Halmyre said:
It's a not uncommon tactic - a car is following a lorry so closely that the driver can't see to overtake, but knows that if the car behind pulls out to overtake then it must be safe, so pulls the stunt you've just described.
Really? People do that?zedx19 said:
Should have just stopped in L1 at 60mph, wouldn't have causing anyone any bother nor breaking any law. Going from L1 to L4 is more dangerous then sticking in L1 imo, in this situation.
not breaking any specific law (undertaking requires a deliberate move to do so) - however you COULD be pulled for due care - "what if the driver suddenly decides to return to lane 1, not expecting you to be there?".RIDICULOUS argument, I know. Sadly I'm speaking from experience.
To the top class knob that tailgaited me and swerved all over the road for 2 miles on a single carridgeway whilst I was behind a car doing the limit, who then decided to try and race me when we pulled away from a set of traffic lights when it opened up to a dual carridgeway. Yes, your 1.0 may sound "sick" but you drive like a knob, and if I could've been bothered, I would've burned you, but I have more important things to worry about.
P.S I hope you liked that lorry that ended up infront of you 500yrds later.
P.S I hope you liked that lorry that ended up infront of you 500yrds later.
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