40mph?

[TurboHatchback]

Janesy B said:

a legal overtake is seen by them as you saying 'fk you, you can't drive'.

To be fair I'm often thinking exactly that when blasting past 40mph muppets.

[PorkRind]

I take the flashing as a sign of 'nice overtake mate', because otherwise I'd be left as angry as the OP.

[KurtKlaus]

Toonshorty said:

These are the same people that usually have to make a firm application of the brakes every time they pass an oncoming vehicle in the other direction, or encounter a minor deviation in the direction of the road.

Indeed. Add the fact that they don't use their mirrors and you have a recipe for disaster. Such as swerving towards you while you overtake.

[moffat]

Hoofy said:

Toonshorty said:

These are the same people that usually have to make a firm application of the brakes every time they pass an oncoming vehicle in the other direction, or encounter a minor deviation in the direction of the road.

Don't get me started.

I also laugh at the muppets that slam their brakes on when you overtake them on a nice clear stretch of road... it's like they think they're about to die!

Same idiots are doing 40mph through 30's too...

[Toonshorty]

KurtKlaus said:

Indeed. Add the fact that they don't use their mirrors and you have a recipe for disaster. Such as swerving towards you while you overtake.

Ironically, I was about to write about that as well but didn't bother in the end.

Tried to pass one the other day, no sooner was my bonnet past alongside the rear of this guys car - he randomly starts drifting out into the middle of the road. I had to throw the anchors down otherwise my offside wheels would be pointing in all sorts of funny directions.

Couldn't quite tell whether he was intentionally blocking or not, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and just assume he's an oblivious .

[mikearwas]

moffat said:

I also laugh at the muppets that slam their brakes on when you overtake them on a nice clear stretch of road... it's like they think they're about to die!

Same idiots are doing 40mph through 30's too...

Yes, although this is often quite amusing as they seem to think I haven't judged the gap correctly. By the time I'm alongside them the power is really kicking in and I'm back on the right side of the road miles before the oncoming car arrives. This leaves the idiot who slammed on the brakes with the realisation that they've almost come to a complete stop for no good reason at all.

[Roger Irrelevant]

moffat said:

I also laugh at the muppets that slam their brakes on when you overtake them on a nice clear stretch of road... it's like they think they're about to die!

I've noticed this a few times recently - really really odd - and a bit disconcerting too as you're not sure if something's just ran out in front of them that you haven't seen and they'll start swerving too (though it never has). I can only assume it's just a default setting for some people: if anything at all is happening on the road around you, brake just in case.

[Hoofy]

Roger Irrelevant said:

moffat said:

I also laugh at the muppets that slam their brakes on when you overtake them on a nice clear stretch of road... it's like they think they're about to die!

I've noticed this a few times recently - really really odd - and a bit disconcerting too as you're not sure if something's just ran out in front of them that you haven't seen and they'll start swerving too (though it never has). I can only assume it's just a default setting for some people: if anything at all is happening on the road around you, brake just in case.

Your overtaking them has made them panic hence they brake. When someone overtakes me, I just lift off to reduce the time for the overtake.

[Klippie]

You signal to overtake them and they hit the brakes...WTF.

I totally agree the 40mph cretins are a menace it seems to be rife around here, but what really pishes me off they seem to go about in groups of three or four all stiiing at 40 none of them daring an overtake...fking sheep the lot of them.

[R8VXF]

MANIAC!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TnGjq9mWSI

[Otispunkmeyer]

Oh fk my life don't get me started on this crap.

Where I live, this kind of behavior seems ingrained, to the point that I am now stopping to think; "Am I actually doing something wrong here?"

Every single day without fail, no matter where you go or at what time you WILL get stuck behind someone doing any of the following (and I mean it, even at 2 AM I got stuck behind someone doing these things):

• Driving at 40 or even 30 on a NSL road (the speeds do appear to be coming down as well).
• Doing the above whilst actively placing their car to ward off any opportunist overtakes
• If it is getting into dusk and its a little dark, no matter, the high beams are flicked on and off like a disco. Regardless of the fact you can still see pretty well.
• If its dark then they drive slower still and the full beams are on constantly regardless of on coming.
• constantly braking as on coming cars pass
• braking for any bit of road that isn't arrow straight with 10 miles of visibility.

Its madness. Yesterday I left work and immediately was stuck behind a pick up truck barely cracking 20. On a main NSL road. I was actually behind another car as it seems the truck actually pulled out of the same turning I did a few moments earlier, but he was so slow he hadn't gotten very far down the road and a car doing 60 came flying past in full on anchors mode. Truck man had pulled out without considering the traffic might actually be travelling at the posted limit!!!!

I've also seen people on the A50 moving slower than the HGVs on plenty of occasions. Last monday one doing 40 nearly caused an accident as trucks and cars tried to go round him all at the same time on a dual carriage way. Granted these people should be watching whats going in front of them but I suspect they just weren't prepared for someone travelling 30 mph slower than everyone else!

I don't know why its getting more frequent. If you're that st scared of driving that you can't keep with the flow of traffic. Don't do it. Get a taxi or a bus. If they're doing it to save fuel...(when fuel has been its cheapest for a long time now)... how about not making the journey at all. Save you plenty of fuel then, over the minuscule amount you'll save by driving so slowly.

I WANT TO SLAP THEM ALL!

[Alex_225]

It's the continuation of the 40mph through a 30 that staggers me. Quite clearly paying zero attention to speed limits, just blinkered driving and clearly not

If someone doesn't do more than 40mph on an open stretch of national speed limit, then I'll overtake. If they don't like it, tough s**t! If they flash me, well they're the morons and probably wonder why everyone is a 'maniac'. Should be asking themselves a few questions.

[SuperchargedVR6]

AH33 said:

I cant handle the lights flashing after an overtake, I have to try and find out what their issue is, I cant just leave it.

I like the ones who aren't satisfied with a quick flash after being overtaken. No, these special sorts pursue me as quickly as possible to continue the flashing and gesticulation assault, 3" off my bumper.

They were perfectly happy to dribble around corners and meander along at 40 just prior to the overtake. F'ckin oddballs.

As you say, if you try and stop these people to see what their problem is, they usually speed off with nothing to say. F'ckin oddballs.

[Hackney]

Maybe the people who flash their lights think you have a problem knowing where the rear of your car ends, so they're flashing you to let you know you're fully passed.
After all that's what lorries do on the motorway isn't it?

[AH33]

Frankly, those of us who know how to drive should be allowed to have a ram on the front of our cars

[Otispunkmeyer]

They should all move to Montenegro I reckon. They'd love it there (or perhaps not given the limit changes, yo-yo like, every few 100 yards depending on if there is something at the side of the road).

Montenegro's limits are hilariously slow. I am talking 30-40-50 km/h on roads that are better than what we have. Some will let you get to the heady heights of 70-80 km/h and even 90 or 100 if its a big road.

Granted a lot of the inhabitants pay not one bit of notice and perform some quite amusing over takes. Problem is, they seem to have about a billion policemen hanging around with speed guns.

Oh some of the roads round the water near Kotor do actually have sensible limits. They're not wide enough for 2 cars to pass in some places and on the water side, there is nothing to stop you going for a swim! Strangely though, mountain switch backs which are narrower still and have equal "falling off" protection seem to have no posted limits! (and some natives do then drive however quickly they like! including the tour buses! its quite scary when you have a) a bus bearing down on you and b) no where to get out of his way unless you want to top yourself).

[missingman]

Like many on here I've been driving for well over 30 years. My opinion on things is:

1 - Over the last 10 years, standards of driving have dropped dramatically.
2 - Over that same period, drivers have become more aggresive and considerably less aware of other road users.
3 - Ladies continue to be considerably less predictable when driving than men. Just my opinion, others will disagree for sure.

With this whole "slow driving" thing though I think there's a genuine fear about being caught speeding. People just play things very safe. Having an accident of any kind has also become astonishingly tedious and expensive.

[robinessex]

Last year, a friend of friend game me a ride in his Cobra Kit car. 7ltrs, about a million hp, and +100db sound level! I was hysterical with the reactions of those he arrived behind rather briskly, and then, of course, the near instant overtake at warp factor 10 !!! I think 3 had heart attacks, a couple went off the road !!! A BMW tried to out accelerate us. Fail !!! We stopped for some food for the beast, and got berated by an overtaken nerd who’s also stopped. He started it up, and we couldn’t hear a thing he was saying then !!!

[alangla]

DavidJG said:

AH33 said:

I cant handle the lights flashing after an overtake, I have to try and find out what their issue is, I cant just leave it.

They're just saying thank you for a nicely executed overtake. At least that's what I always assume it means

I must have been doing it wrong all these years. I used to give a single flash as the overtaker cleared my nose as a "clear to move back in" message, similar to what HGVs do on the motorway

[tankplanker]

Roger Irrelevant said:

I've noticed this a few times recently - really really odd - and a bit disconcerting too as you're not sure if something's just ran out in front of them that you haven't seen and they'll start swerving too (though it never has). I can only assume it's just a default setting for some people: if anything at all is happening on the road around you, brake just in case.

I'd rather that sort than the ones who speed up when being overtaken.

Cars seem to have slowed down everywhere except roundabouts, which cars seem to be carrying much more speed on. I blame average speed cameras for the former, 70mph (GPS) on a lot of motorways north of London seems to be "fast" these days and the ever improving modern car.