Speeding up to let others past
Discussion
both reasonable and unreasonable 
driving to suit cruise control is unlikely to be good driving - cruise control has its place, but to expect others to adapt so that you can sit at a constant speed is not the correct use. If you move out to pass others then you are overtaking, while we might feel that it is a cruising lane, it is in theory no different to overtaking on a country lane (other than , hopefully, no oncoming traffic) - it is still an overtaking move, you should aim to do it neatly and in a timely manner and with as little affect on others as possible, if your cruise control is set just above the speed of the car in front and you allow it to take you past very slowly, then that is bad driving - speed up, pass, drop back to your previous speed, you will still be ahead of the other car - most cruise control systems are designed with this in mind, temporary aceleration and then easing off will simply take you back to your previously set speed...
on the other hand, the driver being aggressive behind you is also driving badly and you shouldn't be speeding up / be feeling presured simply because of that driver, in fact you need to adapt your driving to suit the higher risk of a tailgating driver, this might even mean slowing down the overtake to maintain greater space between you and any car in front...
so do the overtake to inconvenience as few others as possible - and then there is no need to change it due to someone else's agression
driving to suit cruise control is unlikely to be good driving - cruise control has its place, but to expect others to adapt so that you can sit at a constant speed is not the correct use. If you move out to pass others then you are overtaking, while we might feel that it is a cruising lane, it is in theory no different to overtaking on a country lane (other than , hopefully, no oncoming traffic) - it is still an overtaking move, you should aim to do it neatly and in a timely manner and with as little affect on others as possible, if your cruise control is set just above the speed of the car in front and you allow it to take you past very slowly, then that is bad driving - speed up, pass, drop back to your previous speed, you will still be ahead of the other car - most cruise control systems are designed with this in mind, temporary aceleration and then easing off will simply take you back to your previously set speed...
on the other hand, the driver being aggressive behind you is also driving badly and you shouldn't be speeding up / be feeling presured simply because of that driver, in fact you need to adapt your driving to suit the higher risk of a tailgating driver, this might even mean slowing down the overtake to maintain greater space between you and any car in front...
so do the overtake to inconvenience as few others as possible - and then there is no need to change it due to someone else's agression
Robb F said:
daddy cool said:
I find that when some asshat comes tearing up behind me and sits an inch from my back bumper, i coincidentally notice i need to clean my windscreen. Again, and again, and again...
Must be a real drag for them having to move their wiper stalk 15mm downwards every now and then... 
I generally pull in if there's a gap between the cars I'm overtaking if someone speeds up behind me. It bugs me when others don't do the same, if it's just me behind you and there's a gap just pull in, no time lost at all and your not loosing "your place" in the traffic. I'm always happy to pull in if there's a space and someone behind is faster. If there's no gap and the speed differential is 5-10mph minimum then complete your overtake and move back, the real bad drivers are the ones that assume now they've overtaken everything there's no need to move back to a slower lane and can trundle along in their fiestas/saxos holding everyone up.
What's your reasoning for not speeding up a little? Your not one of those people who sees someone faster coming and decides if you don't pull out to overtake now you might have to touch the brakes and then slot in behind them are you?
What's your reasoning for not speeding up a little? Your not one of those people who sees someone faster coming and decides if you don't pull out to overtake now you might have to touch the brakes and then slot in behind them are you?
Robb F said:
Must be a real drag for them having to move their wiper stalk 15mm downwards every now and then...
Looked like it was a real shag for the bloke in a VW van last time I did that. He was forced to put his mobile phone down to do it. Then it turned out he didn't have much wiper fluid. 
Cruise control was designed for long empty stretches of roads in the US, not the outside lane of the M1. This country is constantly busy (unless you're driving at 2AM on a Sunday ). Completing overtaking sooner helps solve the situation as does a little bit of patience from the person in the car behind. We can all do that little bit to help each other out on the roads...
PS - I'm not saying you should put pedal to the metal to get an overtake done, just a little bit more throttle.
). Completing overtaking sooner helps solve the situation as does a little bit of patience from the person in the car behind. We can all do that little bit to help each other out on the roads...PS - I'm not saying you should put pedal to the metal to get an overtake done, just a little bit more throttle.
Edited by Swanny87 on Wednesday 27th May 12:06
One thing to be clear about, lane three is THE OVERTAKING LANE, its not meant to be used as a lane to cruise along in. So pull out, overtake then get back in the centre or inner lane.
It amazes me that in Europe you make better progress on a dual carriageway, due to better lane discipline than you make on a three lane motorway in UK.
It amazes me that in Europe you make better progress on a dual carriageway, due to better lane discipline than you make on a three lane motorway in UK.
Swanny87 said:
Cruise control was designed for long empty stretches of roads in the US, not the outside lane of the M1...
Exactly. And as Akirk suggested earlier, if you're overtaking, you're not cruising and you should be aiming to complete the manoeuvre smartly and get back over to the left, where you can cruise all you like. Assuming the lane you're in is clear ahead, you have room to speed up and get out of the way. And if the vehicle to your left is going so fast that overtaking it requires a speed you're not comfortable with, question whether you should be overtaking it at all. Rangeroverover said:
One thing to be clear about, lane three is THE OVERTAKING LANE, its not meant to be used as a lane to cruise along in. So pull out, overtake then get back in the centre or inner lane.
It amazes me that in Europe you make better progress on a dual carriageway, due to better lane discipline than you make on a three lane motorway in UK.
I suggest you might want to read the highway code. It's not an overtaking lane, it's just a lane which you can use for overtaking if required. There's a difference.It amazes me that in Europe you make better progress on a dual carriageway, due to better lane discipline than you make on a three lane motorway in UK.
I think a lot of the problems are caused by numpties who call it the 'fast lane' and assume anyone going below their self defined idea of 'fast' is the problem and not themselves.
Interesting points all, thanks for your input.
To make it clear, I'm not just bimbling along in the outside lane at 70 and not moving in. Only a couple of cases where I've been mid overtake and a car has come steaming up behind me desperate to get past.
I blame those knobbers who speed up as soon as they see you pulling to overtake....
At 75mph, I'm normally the one in the inside lane that everyone is flying past
To make it clear, I'm not just bimbling along in the outside lane at 70 and not moving in. Only a couple of cases where I've been mid overtake and a car has come steaming up behind me desperate to get past.
I blame those knobbers who speed up as soon as they see you pulling to overtake....
At 75mph, I'm normally the one in the inside lane that everyone is flying past
If I'm overtaking on the motorway and I'm going maybe 80 and I have some t
t behind me up close then I might even just let off a bit - 9 times out of 10 there are cars ahead of me going no faster so they aren't going to get anywhere and driving inches from my bumper really really fking pisses me off!!!
t behind me up close then I might even just let off a bit - 9 times out of 10 there are cars ahead of me going no faster so they aren't going to get anywhere and driving inches from my bumper really really fking pisses me off!!!Doodlebug87 said:
Disregarding the speed limit put in place on our roads, in my view it is just as knobbish to hold up the outside lane as it is to tailgate. If there is a line of traffic then obviously there is nothing anybody else can do, however logic dictates that this line of traffic is more than likely being caused by whoever is at the front of the line either not overtaking properly or simply failing to be observant to their surroundings ie. the person dawdling past at 5 mph faster than the middle lane.... If you are the person at the front of said line, then it is every bit as self important to hold everybody else up as it is to hang off of somebody's rear bumper. One is more dangerous than the other, but both are discourteous in equal measure.
Perfect example - last night on the A303 I was being followed by a BMW, both making good progress in outside lane. When overtaking a line of traffic in the inside lane, a woman in a Colt pulled out behind me, dangerously close to the BMW behind, and proceeded to overtake the rest of the queue at a rate of about 1 metre every minute. I checked my mirrors several times and each time I checked, the line of cars behind her was both growing in size and getting further and further away from me. In her eyes, the BMW was probably being arrogant because he wanted to get past quicker than she did. In everybody else's eyes, she was the chump holding everybody up just because she felt she could overtake at whatever speed differential she deemed fit.
What this guy said Perfect example - last night on the A303 I was being followed by a BMW, both making good progress in outside lane. When overtaking a line of traffic in the inside lane, a woman in a Colt pulled out behind me, dangerously close to the BMW behind, and proceeded to overtake the rest of the queue at a rate of about 1 metre every minute. I checked my mirrors several times and each time I checked, the line of cars behind her was both growing in size and getting further and further away from me. In her eyes, the BMW was probably being arrogant because he wanted to get past quicker than she did. In everybody else's eyes, she was the chump holding everybody up just because she felt she could overtake at whatever speed differential she deemed fit.
OP you're being unreasonable.
It's people with that kind of attitude (sitting on cruise when overtaking) who clog up the motorways.
On the M25 it's always:
L1 - Lorries
L2 - MLMs sitting at 65-70
L3 - MLMs sitting at 70-75, slowly overtaking people in L2
L4 - Generally carnage and lots of brake lights
People do need to get to places in a rush sometimes and if they get caught speeding then it's their own fault. I hate the self-righteous folk (not saying that's you OP) who don't let people past because "they shouldn't be breaking the speed limit anyway".
It's people with that kind of attitude (sitting on cruise when overtaking) who clog up the motorways.
On the M25 it's always:
L1 - Lorries
L2 - MLMs sitting at 65-70
L3 - MLMs sitting at 70-75, slowly overtaking people in L2
L4 - Generally carnage and lots of brake lights
People do need to get to places in a rush sometimes and if they get caught speeding then it's their own fault. I hate the self-righteous folk (not saying that's you OP) who don't let people past because "they shouldn't be breaking the speed limit anyway".
Try it when your car has a 70mph speed limiter fitted. Come up behind someone dawdling along at 65, pull out and then someone comes up behind sitting on my bumper trying to get to me to faster. the cars got a massive sticker on the back!
Even worse when they overtake and then slow down. These days I don't even bother using lane 3 to overtake, people seem to have a complex that when you Go past them they must speed up, and im stuck at 70, then they get caught up behind Somthing in lane 1 and look at me like its my fault they can't drive consistently
Even worse when they overtake and then slow down. These days I don't even bother using lane 3 to overtake, people seem to have a complex that when you Go past them they must speed up, and im stuck at 70, then they get caught up behind Somthing in lane 1 and look at me like its my fault they can't drive consistently
Robb F said:
daddy cool said:
I find that when some asshat comes tearing up behind me and sits an inch from my back bumper, i coincidentally notice i need to clean my windscreen. Again, and again, and again...
Must be a real drag for them having to move their wiper stalk 15mm downwards every now and then... kiseca said:
I speed up when overtaking. I don't crawl past with a 5mph difference. If I am doing 70 and I come up behind someone doing 68, I just slow down to 68. If they then slow down I might overtake.
Pretty much this ^^ is the only correct answer on this thread so far.Show some restraint people.
jamieduff1981 said:
I'd venture that this is vanishingly rare and that the perceived issue is far more likely to be misjudging the speed of the approaching car.
Really? He's on cruise, don't forget so his speed is not varying. Target car starts off small (far away) gets big (close) he pulls out, car stops changing in size. They sped up.I used to see it all the time when I drove a 2CV. I used the accelerator-pedal-mashed-into-the-firewall technique instead of cruise control but the affect was the same.
I think it's a personal space thing - getting big (ish) in someone mirrors and then sitting on one of their shoulders (figuratively) as you start to overtake makes people a little tense and they squeeze unknowingly on the accelerator.
In the 2CV I'd try to get a little drafting speedup behind them before pulling out to compensate for the pedal squeezing.
Quhet said:
I guess it's give and take.
I've got no problem with people going quickly on the motorway, but people don't have a right to flout the limit and go much quicker than everyone else, bullying people who are slower than them out of the way.
It's simple really, you're a hypocrite. You seem to think you can slow everybody else down, but they can't speed you up.I've got no problem with people going quickly on the motorway, but people don't have a right to flout the limit and go much quicker than everyone else, bullying people who are slower than them out of the way.
The bully isn't always behind.
rallycross said:
I always move out the way if someone is catching me quickly takes 3 seconds to move in and move back out why wouldn't you move out the way?
Because there is nowhere to move to due to being in the outer lane to pass a car in the centre one. 
Only options are to brake to move back in or accelerate further to move back in.
The car coming up behind was clearly far enough back so he wasn't pulling out in front of them and at the same time that car has the ability to lift off a shade but instead chooses to ignore what is infront of him and charge up behind to try and bully the person back in.
I think as others have said, if the cars snail racing then you have a right to be miffed but there is nothing logical to be gained by rushing up behind it. And if it's clearly passing then there isn't anything to be gained by not just waiting until it has gone passed and moved back in.
I have to say I don't really get the drivers who scream up behind others and deliberately create a more dangerous situation than is needed. I have always assumed that they were low IQ sorts who were either to simple to work out some very basic speed/time/distance stuff or have mental health or rage issues. I don't see anything logical or positive from driving like that.
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