Speeding up to let others past
Discussion
Crusoe said:
Glad I have never been in an emergency and come up behind you. The driver may have been trying to get to the hospital before his wife gave birth or passed away etc. we just don't know the circumstances.
This is true. But I'd say there's a far higher chance that the other driver was a tit.Ali_T said:
Crusoe said:
Glad I have never been in an emergency and come up behind you. The driver may have been trying to get to the hospital before his wife gave birth or passed away etc. we just don't know the circumstances.
This is true. But I'd say there's a far higher chance that the other driver was a tit.Quhet said:
Because my girlfriend is currently in North Yorkshire and I live in the Midlands, I've been doing a fair bit of driving lately to see her.
More often than not, I use cruise control and set it to a sat-nav indicated 75mph. I try as hard as possible to maintain consistent speed by generally being aware of my surroundings and I resent (rightly or wrongly
) having to increase or decrease my speed. On a couple of occasions knobheads have come haring up behind me whilst I'm overtaking and become annoyed that I'm not seemingly doing more to get the overtaking done with and pull in to let them past. Obviously going quicker than those I'm overtaking, I can't pull in but similarly I could accelerate and go a bit quicker.
I wouldn't pull out to overtake if it wasn't safe and if I felt that I'd be holding someone up but if I'm say doing 5mph faster than a line of cars in the middle lane, it could take me a couple of minutes to finish overtaking by which time there may be a line of white S-Line Audi Tdi's behind me frustrated that they're not going 90+.
Am I being unreasonable?
Yes. I hate dithering mincers. If you're overtaking, overtake already. Don't just sit there crawling past a few mph faster because you're either too lazy or unwilling to press the accelerator pedal. The outside lane should be kept clear for faster moving traffic. Yes, believe it or not, some people want to drive faster than you. Deal with it. Would you sit there mincing around if a traffic cop was behind you, desperate to apprehend a crim?More often than not, I use cruise control and set it to a sat-nav indicated 75mph. I try as hard as possible to maintain consistent speed by generally being aware of my surroundings and I resent (rightly or wrongly
) having to increase or decrease my speed. On a couple of occasions knobheads have come haring up behind me whilst I'm overtaking and become annoyed that I'm not seemingly doing more to get the overtaking done with and pull in to let them past. Obviously going quicker than those I'm overtaking, I can't pull in but similarly I could accelerate and go a bit quicker.I wouldn't pull out to overtake if it wasn't safe and if I felt that I'd be holding someone up but if I'm say doing 5mph faster than a line of cars in the middle lane, it could take me a couple of minutes to finish overtaking by which time there may be a line of white S-Line Audi Tdi's behind me frustrated that they're not going 90+.
Am I being unreasonable?
Cruise control is a complete waste of time on UK roads except in the dead of the night and average speed cam zones. I tried it during the daytime on a Saturday on a trip from Manchester to N Wales - the M56 being the perfect kind of straight and level motorway for a nice relaxing cruise. Nope.. Unless you set it at a glacial speed like 50 where everything will overtake you and you'll never need to move from lane 1 then it's more hassle than it's worth. At any speed between 60-80 you'll be constantly having to adjust your speed down to wait for a gap to pull out due to some ditherer in front, or you have to increase your speed to finally get past the cretin in lane 2 who has suddenly woken up, seen you overtaking and increased their own speed to match 
. It is incredibly frustrating trying to drive like that and after you've been re-overtaken umpteen times by those you've already overtaken who seemingly cannot drive at a constant speed, it quickly gets switched off and I go back to driving on the pedal. I usually cruise along (on the pedal) at .9 leptons if conditions allow as it generally means you don't get caught up with all the 50-80 brigade in lanes 1/2 and you rarely have to worry about anything behind you.
Like others in this thread, I do also get frustrated by those that pull out in lane 3 and take a light year to complete the overtake because they can't be arsed pressing the loud pedal a bit, but it's just something you have to deal with on our congested roads. Personally I always feel a bit twitchy having someone close behind me clearly wanting past and I like to get out of their way to let them go asap, even if I'm already driving at well above the limit. It's not my job to police to their speed unlike a lot of drivers seem to do.
. It is incredibly frustrating trying to drive like that and after you've been re-overtaken umpteen times by those you've already overtaken who seemingly cannot drive at a constant speed, it quickly gets switched off and I go back to driving on the pedal. I usually cruise along (on the pedal) at .9 leptons if conditions allow as it generally means you don't get caught up with all the 50-80 brigade in lanes 1/2 and you rarely have to worry about anything behind you.Like others in this thread, I do also get frustrated by those that pull out in lane 3 and take a light year to complete the overtake because they can't be arsed pressing the loud pedal a bit, but it's just something you have to deal with on our congested roads. Personally I always feel a bit twitchy having someone close behind me clearly wanting past and I like to get out of their way to let them go asap, even if I'm already driving at well above the limit. It's not my job to police to their speed unlike a lot of drivers seem to do.
FiF said:
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.
Nobody is trying to police people. The numerous assertions about holding up people who are responding to emergencies is just pathetic.
As always the numerous posters who openly admit to driving at illegal speeds are completely oblivious in their self righteousness that by their illegal driving they are actually holding up people who don't wish to exceed permitted limit and wish to be sure that they themselves are not holding up a party who wishes to drive faster.
All that jazz said:
Cruise control is a complete waste of time on UK roads except in the dead of the night and average speed cam zones. I tried it during the daytime on a Saturday on a trip from Manchester to N Wales - the M56 being the perfect kind of straight and level motorway for a nice relaxing cruise. Nope.. Unless you set it at a glacial speed like 50 where everything will overtake you and you'll never need to move from lane 1 then it's more hassle than it's worth. At any speed between 60-80 you'll be constantly having to adjust your speed down to wait for a gap to pull out due to some ditherer in front, or you have to increase your speed to finally get past the cretin in lane 2 who has suddenly woken up, seen you overtaking and increased their own speed to match . It is incredibly frustrating trying to drive like that and after you've been re-overtaken umpteen times by those you've already overtaken who seemingly cannot drive at a constant speed, it quickly gets switched off and I go back to driving on the pedal. I usually cruise along (on the pedal) at .9 leptons if conditions allow as it generally means you don't get caught up with all the 50-80 brigade in lanes 1/2 and you rarely have to worry about anything behind you.
Like others in this thread, I do also get frustrated by those that pull out in lane 3 and take a light year to complete the overtake because they can't be arsed pressing the loud pedal a bit, but it's just something you have to deal with on our congested roads. Personally I always feel a bit twitchy having someone close behind me clearly wanting past and I like to get out of their way to let them go asap, even if I'm already driving at well above the limit. It's not my job to police to their speed unlike a lot of drivers seem to do.
I would disagree - I regularly drive from just North of Swindon to near Newcastle - mainly M5 and M6. It is incredibly frustrating trying to drive like that and after you've been re-overtaken umpteen times by those you've already overtaken who seemingly cannot drive at a constant speed, it quickly gets switched off and I go back to driving on the pedal. I usually cruise along (on the pedal) at .9 leptons if conditions allow as it generally means you don't get caught up with all the 50-80 brigade in lanes 1/2 and you rarely have to worry about anything behind you.Like others in this thread, I do also get frustrated by those that pull out in lane 3 and take a light year to complete the overtake because they can't be arsed pressing the loud pedal a bit, but it's just something you have to deal with on our congested roads. Personally I always feel a bit twitchy having someone close behind me clearly wanting past and I like to get out of their way to let them go asap, even if I'm already driving at well above the limit. It's not my job to police to their speed unlike a lot of drivers seem to do.
I will usually set the cruise control for the journey, the variable speed cameras where the two motorways join and a few areas of road works with average speed cameras are the only times I have to change the core speed (it would be useful to have two speed settings so you could switch between them!) otherwise it stays on until Carlisle...
It does require far more observation / planning - you can't cruise up behind someone and pop out - you need to plan it, move out in plenty of time etc - all part of smooth driving anyway... some occasional moments when you need a little more power, so you accelerate / pass / let the cruise control take you back to the speed you were at... if you are finding speeds too choppy to use cruise control - it might be that you are leaving the decisions on moving too late... you should rarely need to use brakes on a motorway anyway...
Have to agree with the above. Clearly there are times when cc is not that helpful but plenty of times when it's quite possible to be of use. My UK record for use without intervention was setting it leaving the services just south of Glasgow on the M74, not touched until M5 j3. Never since repeated, average speed 69.9 mph.
DJP said:
Having read the last 4 pages, I now know why driving is such a PITA these days.
There are just so many d
heads... 
+1, my god, people are so arsey! The op raises a fair q, one I was thinking about myself recently when doing a 200 mile trip home from Nottingham, also using the cruise control. personally I click my speed up a notch to get the over-taking job done ASAP, but some people really do need to learn that they do not own the over-taking lanes and do not have a divine right to keep at a constant 85-90 MPH. Exactly WHAT IS the point of all this aggressive tailgating? You're only going to P*** off the guy in the front who may then deliberately take ages moving over. There are just so many d
heads... Everyone just needs to take a chill pill!
I have used CC in the past and can see how it is useful in the wide open spaces.
But it is clear that it distorts people's driving in traffic. Traffic requires that you are constantly monitoring and reacting to other vehicles. Taking speed off the list of adjustments open to you makes you a bit of a nuisance.
But it is clear that it distorts people's driving in traffic. Traffic requires that you are constantly monitoring and reacting to other vehicles. Taking speed off the list of adjustments open to you makes you a bit of a nuisance.
I don't think the OP can win in this situation by staying where he is. If it's just one lunatic wanting to do 3000mph, there's no harm in just nipping out of his way and letting him get on with life.
If there's hundreds of them, you're probably going too slowly. Either way, changing your behaviour to accommodate others (as others should change their behaviour to accommodate you, for example by behaving sensibly at merge-in-turn junctions) is the right thing to do.
It doesn't matter why others want to go faster than you, the plain fact is that they do. You've no right nor reason to prevent that.
The delicious irony is that a number of posters on this thread are banging on about "self important Audi-istas", all the while wholeheartedly endorsing holding up these people, which is just about the most self-important attitude that I can imagine.
It's not a race, by moving over you haven't "lost", you're not less well endowed, nor do you earn less or have a less pretty wife. Just get out of people's way. Please.
If there's hundreds of them, you're probably going too slowly. Either way, changing your behaviour to accommodate others (as others should change their behaviour to accommodate you, for example by behaving sensibly at merge-in-turn junctions) is the right thing to do.
It doesn't matter why others want to go faster than you, the plain fact is that they do. You've no right nor reason to prevent that.
The delicious irony is that a number of posters on this thread are banging on about "self important Audi-istas", all the while wholeheartedly endorsing holding up these people, which is just about the most self-important attitude that I can imagine.
It's not a race, by moving over you haven't "lost", you're not less well endowed, nor do you earn less or have a less pretty wife. Just get out of people's way. Please.
ferrariF50lover said:
I don't think the OP can win in this situation by staying where he is. If it's just one lunatic wanting to do 3000mph, there's no harm in just nipping out of his way and letting him get on with life.
If there's hundreds of them, you're probably going too slowly. Either way, changing your behaviour to accommodate others (as others should change their behaviour to accommodate you, for example by behaving sensibly at merge-in-turn junctions) is the right thing to do.
It doesn't matter why others want to go faster than you, the plain fact is that they do. You've no right nor reason to prevent that.
The delicious irony is that a number of posters on this thread are banging on about "self important Audi-istas", all the while wholeheartedly endorsing holding up these people, which is just about the most self-important attitude that I can imagine.
It's not a race, by moving over you haven't "lost", you're not less well endowed, nor do you earn less or have a less pretty wife. Just get out of people's way. Please.
I don't think there's anyone here that wouldn't move out of the way, the discussion is about when you're overtaking someone/a line of cars in L2 and as long as you have prepared for the maneuver correctly should you have to speed up into licence losing territory to complete the overtake quicker because the person behind you doesn't mind risking their licence.If there's hundreds of them, you're probably going too slowly. Either way, changing your behaviour to accommodate others (as others should change their behaviour to accommodate you, for example by behaving sensibly at merge-in-turn junctions) is the right thing to do.
It doesn't matter why others want to go faster than you, the plain fact is that they do. You've no right nor reason to prevent that.
The delicious irony is that a number of posters on this thread are banging on about "self important Audi-istas", all the while wholeheartedly endorsing holding up these people, which is just about the most self-important attitude that I can imagine.
It's not a race, by moving over you haven't "lost", you're not less well endowed, nor do you earn less or have a less pretty wife. Just get out of people's way. Please.
If there's some cars doing say 60 in L1, a queue of cars doing 65-70 in L2 and you have checked it's safe to do so why should you increase your speed from 80-85 all the way up to 90-100 because someone has come steaming up behind you at well over a ton?
It's not the same as the people who think that their driving licence is a warrant card to police the speed limit and will happily sit in L3 doing 70mph to overtake someone in L2 doing 69mph.
swisstoni said:
I have used CC in the past and can see how it is useful in the wide open spaces.
But it is clear that it distorts people's driving in traffic. Traffic requires that you are constantly monitoring and reacting to other vehicles. Taking speed off the list of adjustments open to you makes you a bit of a nuisance.
But it is clear that it distorts people's driving in traffic. Traffic requires that you are constantly monitoring and reacting to other vehicles. Taking speed off the list of adjustments open to you makes you a bit of a nuisance.
andy-xr said:
Some cock knocker on Friday last week decided that I was the one slowing him up on his drive to nowhereville up the M6, despite the stream of cars infront of me and the cars I and everyone else was overtaking he tried dipping between lanes 3 and 2, indicating right, holding his hands up in some kind of disbelief that I woldnt move out of his way.
I would, except there were a load of cars on my inside that he nearly took out.
Once there was space I pulled over, he hared up behind the next car, right indicator on. I dont like that type of driving. Left late and in a rush? Not my problem, I'm still trying to get where I'm going (home after 17 hours flying as it happened)
My view is, as long as you're overtaking and it's reasonable to stay out, anyone who belts up behind and pulls aggressive moves gets ignored unless they have a blue light and sirens
People like this become target fixated and will accelerate to any silly speed to get past what's in front of them. Once there's no one in front to harass they'll back off, lapse into a daydream and often fall back to a lower speed than those they've just tailgated out of the way are cruising at. Then they'll be the hold up.I would, except there were a load of cars on my inside that he nearly took out.
Once there was space I pulled over, he hared up behind the next car, right indicator on. I dont like that type of driving. Left late and in a rush? Not my problem, I'm still trying to get where I'm going (home after 17 hours flying as it happened)
My view is, as long as you're overtaking and it's reasonable to stay out, anyone who belts up behind and pulls aggressive moves gets ignored unless they have a blue light and sirens
Crusoe said:
The driver may have been trying to get to the hospital before his wife gave birth or passed away etc.
If she is pregnant, then it's best to call an ambulance, the staff - they are sometimes called medics for quite a good reason - will deliver the baby on the way to hospital.If your wife is going to die, then I am very sorry about that, but there is no point killing someone else just trying to save ten seconds.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff