Tailgaiting on the Motorway

[Patrick Bateman]

vournikas said:

I agree with all of that. If I'm in L3 and in the act of overtaking and it's clear in front of me, I'll floor the throttle for a second or two to complete the pass more quickly if it looks like I'm holding up someone behind me.

Christ almighty, it's not a hardship - really - just to gas it up to 90-odd for a few seconds is it?

You don't expect people to go up to those speeds though do you?

If I'm taking it easy at 60/65 and have to overtake I will speed up to 70 odd if someone is catching up behind.

The way I see it is no-one can reasonably complain if the car they're waiting on is already doing the speed limit and as passing the slower traffic.

[vournikas]

Patrick Bateman said:

vournikas said:

I agree with all of that. If I'm in L3 and in the act of overtaking and it's clear in front of me, I'll floor the throttle for a second or two to complete the pass more quickly if it looks like I'm holding up someone behind me.

Christ almighty, it's not a hardship - really - just to gas it up to 90-odd for a few seconds is it?

You don't expect people to go up to those speeds though do you?

If I'm taking it easy at 60/65 and have to overtake I will speed up to 70 odd if someone is catching up behind.

The way I see it is no-one can reasonably complain if the car they're waiting on is already doing the speed limit and as passing the slower traffic.

For the benefit of other readers on this thread, I was - believe it or not - agreeing with PB's initial post.

[gizlaroc]

Re the topic. I think if all speed cameras were switched to give points for anyone sitting closer than 3 seconds behind the car in front no one would really moan about them being money making machines, I think we would all agree it is fair and we would see far less accidents.


People who pull out in front of you knowing full well they are going to make the approaching car slow down are simply in the wrong. If you can't judge the speed of other cars on the road then you really shouldn't be on the road.
I always just wait for the car to go passed, or make sure I can put my foot down to over take and get back in again before the approaching car arrives.


I bet these same people don't move over, slow down a bit or speed up a bit to let people join the motorway because "Legally I have the right of way".


12 Miles I sat on the A14 behind someone doing 65mph on Thursday, yeah in theory he was over taking, but he was overtaking cars some 300m up the road who were doing around 60mph themselves anyway, so even though the gap looked small it was taking over 2 minutes for him to get passed the next car.
In the end I had to flash him, as I went passed I just raised my hand to say thanks as I went passed, he went from giving my the V sign and calling me a "Stupid F'ing ' to sort smiling and waving his hand as to say 'no problem' when he suddenly realised I was saying thanks.

As I went passed him I pulled into the inside lane and he moved back out to the overtaking lane again! So just a complete moron.

[8potdave]

I very rarely get tailgated because I overtake and get out of the way. You normally find the longer someone is hogging a lane, the driver behind gets naturally closer to try and move them on (not that it works). What really annoys me is when people tailgate and you are in a line of cars going nowhere! There needs to be a complete re-education of how to use motorways, it's getting really silly out there.

[Sump]

DoubleD said:

Sump said:

Are you someone I've annoyed in the past?

Its obvious that your not just attention seeking.

Relax and go back to your quarters Dan.

[DonkeyApple]

Sump said:

This is exactly why we need lane 1 and 2 to be for any driver and lane 3 to be turned into a VIP type lane at a charge of something like £10k P/A. This way you just won't have any of the usual trolls going into lane 3. They can do their 65 mph BS stuff in lane 1 and 2.

We really need to start having VIP lanes or something in this country, it's unreasonable that a 1.2L Clio with 60 BHP can be allowed to join a lane which is shared with someone running 5.0L and 450bhp.

We do have VIP lanes already. They are painted red.

[Riktoid]

Smiler. said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Riktoid said:

Overtakers who dawdle really boil my piss.

Why should I have to adjust my speed etc because Johnny fkwit pulls out on me to overtake at 2mph faster than the overtakee?

And before anyone starts, I'm in the overtaking lane anticipating to overtake two cars.

Idiot.

This post sums up exactly what's wrong with drivers attitude today. If I'm doing 65, and I encounter a lorry doing 56 in L1, and a car overtaking in L2 doing 60, I go into L3 doing 65 to get past them both. Then back into L2 & L1. If that causes anyone a problem, because they're in a rush, then they should have left home earlier!

Totally agree on all points.


That poor mentality seamlessly transfers to those who consider nothing & no one other than themselves when speeding through residential areas, usually in conjunction with "speed limits are nothing more than an arbitrary number on a stick".

Not for the less than able who have no alternative than to be a pedestrian they aren't.

Jesus tittyfking Christ.

[Ali_T]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Lots of people just don't get it. They thing the outside lane is a "fast" lane. I'm often in the outside lane doing 65, overtaking someone in the middle lane doing 60 who in turn is passing a lorry doing 56. Nothing wrong with that. Then you get people coming up behind and flashing. Can they not see that you are overtaking. Bloody tw@s.

Why are you determined to overtake with a 5 mph speed differential when you could complete the maneuver in half the time at 70 mph and still keep your Tufty Club Law Abiding Citizen badge?

Seems like bloody minded, egotistical stupidity to me. You seem to want to wind people up so you can point out that you're within your rights when the truth is, whether you're being well within the law or not. you're just being annoying.

You should try that in Italy, Spain or Belgium. You won't last long, though.

Edited by Ali_T on Sunday 14th February 23:55

[DonkeyApple]

Ali_T said:

You should try that in Italy, Spain or Belgium. You won't last long, though.

Edited by Ali_T on Sunday 14th February 23:53

As countries go, I think you've chosen the three worst examples remotely possible.

[Ali_T]

DonkeyApple said:

As countries go, I think you've chosen the three worst examples remotely possible.

Yup. They do love an "I'm well within my rights" British driver over there...

[DoubleD]

You will be past a car pretty quickly at 5mph(try walking as fast as you can from one end of your car to the other if your not sure).

[ToothbrushMan]

8potdave said:

I very rarely get tailgated because I overtake and get out of the way. You normally find the longer someone is hogging a lane, the driver behind gets naturally closer to try and move them on (not that it works). What really annoys me is when people tailgate and you are in a line of cars going nowhere! There needs to be a complete re-education of how to use motorways, it's getting really silly out there.

it suits me if these lemmings want to just sit bumper to bumper risking life and limb in lane 3 doing 70 sometimes less.
i feel very smug just sticking to my usual 65 cruise up lane 1 wafting past them all unhindered bar the occasional lane 2 overtake of an HGV. im sure i can sense half of them looking across at me and thinking "tosser". bks. im not the dick whose eyeballs pop out on stalks when the car at head of the lane 3 cavalcade brakes and from lane 1 you can see each set of brake lights come on...dink....dink...dink and all these bonnets squatting down cos theyre all so fecking close to each other so they slam on and no doubt release a little poo.

[SpeedMattersNot]

Ali_T said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Lots of people just don't get it. They thing the outside lane is a "fast" lane. I'm often in the outside lane doing 65, overtaking someone in the middle lane doing 60 who in turn is passing a lorry doing 56. Nothing wrong with that. Then you get people coming up behind and flashing. Can they not see that you are overtaking. Bloody tw@s.

Why are you determined to overtake with a 5 mph speed differential when you could complete the maneuver in half the time at 70 mph and still keep your Tufty Club Law Abiding Citizen badge?

Seems like bloody minded, egotistical stupidity to me. You seem to want to wind people up so you can point out that you're within your rights when the truth is, whether you're being well within the law or not. you're just being annoying.

You should try that in Italy, Spain or Belgium. You won't last long, though.

I mostly do this as I think changing speeds on the motorway leads to additional risk. For what it's worth, I think Britain has safer roads than Italy, Spain and Belgium. So why would you say that? Do you think it's good to have dangerous roads?

This inconveniencing is a two way street though. I think some people are reluctant to dive back into L2 to allow the tailgater in L3, because a) the tailgater may not complete their pass before the car now in L2 approaches the back of the car it was catching or b) because the following stream of tailgaters may not let the car now in L3 back in to execute a further pass.

Do you not see a problem here?

This isn't like pulling out on someone who is doing 40mph on a single carriageway, then proceeding to do 25mph. This is a motorway where we all, hopefully, get a chance to carry out our overtaking safely.

This is often not helped by people fluctuating their speed. Again, it could be must be in front of the Jazz syndrome but it's common for me to be keeping it at 70mph in L1, approaching a car doing 65mph in L2, move over two lanes to pass only for them to wake up and floor it up to 70mph + In the mean time, mr flashy lights behind me thinks it is my fault for holding him up. Now I either have to speed, or drop back to allow mr flashy lights through...only to have the L2 guy doze off again a couple of miles later.

[ToothbrushMan]

not defending the action but some drivers might go for the overtake whilst your still occupying L1 and L2 as you move back in possibly to maintain momentum. ive been in the position before in a lower powered vehicle where the car in front pulls back in but has then floored it along lane 1 with me trailing in the outer lane pedalling like mad. its like some people clock slower cars and will not want them to overtake so i can understand some drivers wanting to keep the speed up but its still no excuse i suppose.

drivers are just so competitive these days. thats how it feels to me anyway.

i dont think tailgating is half as bad as it used to be in 90s.

[Ali_T]

SpeedMattersNot said:

I mostly do this as I think changing speeds on the motorway leads to additional risk.

Eh? Speeding up 5mph creates additional risk? Are you being serious or just trolling?!

I'm not defending tailgaters as they piss me off as much as anyone else, but people who effectively block L3 through sheer bloody mindedness and refuse to even travel at the posted limit are every bit as bad.

Edited by Ali_T on Monday 15th February 07:49

[Pete317]

DoubleD said:

You will be past a car pretty quickly at 5mph(try walking as fast as you can from one end of your car to the other if your not sure).

You haven't included the at least 60 metres required in order to leave a decent gap before and after the overtake

[Pete317]

SpeedMattersNot said:

I mostly do this as I think changing speeds on the motorway leads to additional risk.

What makes you think that?

SpeedMattersNot said:

This inconveniencing is a two way street though. I think some people are reluctant to dive back into L2 to allow the tailgater in L3, because a) the tailgater may not complete their pass before the car now in L2 approaches the back of the car it was catching or b) because the following stream of tailgaters may not let the car now in L3 back in to execute a further pass.

For much the same reason that people are reluctant to let someone into L3 ahead of them, because they're likely to dawdle along and not move back for a very long time.

People driving too slowly are far more disruptive to the traffic flow than those who drive too fast, as they force everyone behind them down to their speed - which creates bunching, and reduces dynamic room to manoeuvre.

[xRIEx]

Ali_T said:

Seems like bloody minded, egotistical stupidity to me. You seem to want to wind people up so you can point out that you're within your rights when the truth is, whether you're being well within the law or not. you're just being annoying.

This is one of those people who will let a door close in your face because "there's no law against it" rather than being polite and hold it for you.

Personally, I try to drive to be out of people's way; the further I am away from fkwits the better. I'll also hold doors open for anyone walking a short distance behind me (or towards the door from the other direction, for that matter).

[VolvoT5]

w1ntermut3 said:

We all tailgate people when they are driving slower than we want to. Otherwise, they would have no indication that you want to drive faster. You can flash, but some people find that more offensive than a few seconds of tailgating. You could even go for an undertake if they're travelling below NSL.

No, no we don't. I make a conscious effort not to tailgate people going slower than I would like. First of all it is dangerous and more importantly (IMO) it actually makes it harder to overtake them if you are sat up their arse as the view of the road ahead isn't as good.

Also there are plenty of crash for cash and general moronic wkers who will think nothing of stamping on the brakes in the scenario you describe. I'm not risking my NCB for the sake of shaving 60 seconds off my journey.

[xRIEx]

Pete317 said:

DoubleD said:

You will be past a car pretty quickly at 5mph(try walking as fast as you can from one end of your car to the other if your not sure).

You haven't included the at least 60 metres required in order to leave a decent gap before and after the overtake

He's also made the mistake forgetting that a moving car is "longer" than a stationary one: a car travelling at 60mph will cover 53.6m in 2 seconds, so from nose of your car and tail of theirs, to tail of your car against nose of theirs could be 61-62m (assuming a 4m-ish length of each car). That's 69mph even before taking into the gap that you rightly mentioned.

Let's see if I can work this out:
Car travelling at 60mph, with two second gap before and after - 53.6m x 2 + 8 (two 2s gaps plus length of both cars) = 114.2m.
That is the full safe distance a proper law-abiding driver will need to overtake. This distance is extended by the time it travels depending on speed differential.

• *I'm going to have to graph this out, I'll edit the rest in later***

OK, here it is.



At first I only went out to 20s, being unusually optimistic for me - but only the 80mph car had passed the dawdler (just after 12s). Then I dragged the figures out to 40s and still our 65mph grey-haired, seat-forward-hunched-over-steering-wheel, eyes-resolutely-welded-forwards, think-of-the-children/think-of-the-mpg driver still hadn't managed to get passed (the 70mph driver getting passed at just before 25s). Only at 50s does he finally reach a safe distance and pull back over to the left.

Unless, of course, during that time he's reached another 60mph dawdler.

So going 5mph faster and still being within the speed limit cuts the overtake time in half.

Last edit: Damn, just noticed I put the starting distance at 110m, it should have been 114m. 80mph overtake barely changes, the 70mph is at just over 25s and the 65mph is just after 51s.

Edited by xRIEx on Monday 15th February 08:52