What did I do wrong? Lessons to learn?
Discussion
Hi guys.
Had a 'moment' on the freeway this morning that I'm sure I could learn something from. Ive only been driving for 4 years so dont at all consider myself to be a truly experienced driver...unfortunately though there is nothing available in Western Australia to change that other than trying to read what I can and trying to analyse my own mistakes as well as those of others.
Anyway...
2 lane freeway with a limit of 100KMH (62MPH).
I am in the right hand lane (lane 2) at an indicated 110KMH. Clear ahead in my lane for approx 800meters.
I am passing a group of slower moving cars in lane 1...I'm not really crawling past them but I'm in no hurry to complete the move either.
Behind me is a large Ute...Toyota Hilux or something similar as an indication of size. He is 4-6 feet from the back of my car...completely normal driving practice in Australia
As we pass a sliproad a vehicle with a loaded trailer on it moves from the sliproad, across the hatch markings before the merge point, through the cars I am passing and in front of me all without indication. Along with the cars in lane 1 I had to stand on the brakes down to around 80KMH.
The ute that was behind me gets seriously close and the driver appears to struggle with maintaining control...he swerved to the centreline before swerving back to the right where he dissapeared from view...I suspect he took to the sand/grass that makes up the central reservations here and was along side me before appearing behind me again...back to the regulation 6 feet away only now with high beams on!
I proceed to carry on past the cars I was overtaking originally. As soon as I got past the cars ute man goes for a big move down the left hand side (legal to overtake either side here) cutting off the other cars, draws along side me to give the finger and yell something before flooring it...and promptly having to slam the brakes on again for traffic ahead which he proceeds to cut and chop his way through....brake, swerve, brake, swerve, brake, swerve.
So is there anything I could have done differently? Any other thoughts and comments are welcome...I'm always willing to have my driving criticised and will answer any questions truthfully.
Had a 'moment' on the freeway this morning that I'm sure I could learn something from. Ive only been driving for 4 years so dont at all consider myself to be a truly experienced driver...unfortunately though there is nothing available in Western Australia to change that other than trying to read what I can and trying to analyse my own mistakes as well as those of others.
Anyway...
2 lane freeway with a limit of 100KMH (62MPH).
I am in the right hand lane (lane 2) at an indicated 110KMH. Clear ahead in my lane for approx 800meters.
I am passing a group of slower moving cars in lane 1...I'm not really crawling past them but I'm in no hurry to complete the move either.
Behind me is a large Ute...Toyota Hilux or something similar as an indication of size. He is 4-6 feet from the back of my car...completely normal driving practice in Australia
As we pass a sliproad a vehicle with a loaded trailer on it moves from the sliproad, across the hatch markings before the merge point, through the cars I am passing and in front of me all without indication. Along with the cars in lane 1 I had to stand on the brakes down to around 80KMH.
The ute that was behind me gets seriously close and the driver appears to struggle with maintaining control...he swerved to the centreline before swerving back to the right where he dissapeared from view...I suspect he took to the sand/grass that makes up the central reservations here and was along side me before appearing behind me again...back to the regulation 6 feet away only now with high beams on!
I proceed to carry on past the cars I was overtaking originally. As soon as I got past the cars ute man goes for a big move down the left hand side (legal to overtake either side here) cutting off the other cars, draws along side me to give the finger and yell something before flooring it...and promptly having to slam the brakes on again for traffic ahead which he proceeds to cut and chop his way through....brake, swerve, brake, swerve, brake, swerve.
So is there anything I could have done differently? Any other thoughts and comments are welcome...I'm always willing to have my driving criticised and will answer any questions truthfully.
Ignore the reaction from the cretin in the ute. If he is thick enough to sit on your bumper at 110 kph, or cut through traffic willy-nilly, his opinion on anything else is worthless.
Wrt your own choices, however, if I understand your description rightly, you let yourself get sucked into an unnecessarily dangerous position.
Whenever you're on a main road and approaching an entry slip road, you have to consider the possibility that a vehicle on the slip road can influence and compromise your position.
If you're in the nearside lane, it generally makes sense to offer space to a slip road vehicle when it is possible for you to do so. You would do this either by slowing down, by taking the offside lane, or on the rare occasion by speeding up.
In this case, the vehicles to your left in the nearside lane were in that position themselves. It is a good bet that any or all of them will be looking to come into your offside lane in order to accomodate the slip road vehicle, so you should treat them as if they themselves were on a slip road, as it were. Give them space to come into your lane. It sounds as if you were not thinking about that, and instead were expecting them to hold station as you cruised past them in the offside lane.
Furthermore, you were letting yourself get boxed in. On your right was the central reservation - no space there to escape. On your left was a string of cars - little space there, and it is changing shape all the time. That leaves you with front and back. By "allowing" the ape in the ute to take away your back space, your only free space was ahead of you. This is by far the least good free space, both because accelerations take longer than other moves, and because that free space can be closed by any of the cars that you are overtaking.
I don't know that one should have anticipated that the utter f
kwit with the trailer would do what he did. (Although if you see someone flout the hatched markings as he did, that should put you on alert that the driver is a jackass capable of further stupidity, plus vehicles with trailers require a wider berth because they can be difficult to control, and often are being pulled by drivers with little towing experience.) Because you had let yourself get sucked into a position with poor options however, the fact that the trailer fkwit did something totally moronic made you very vulnerable.
It is easy to get caught out, overtaking a string of traffic and getting "stuck" in the offside lane. Then a ute tries to drive up your ass, and what do you do?
First, even though you could not see the slip road vehicle early enough, or perhaps not even see the slip road, almost always the entry slip road will have been preceded by an exit slip road and large signs. Once you see them, it's near certain that there will be an entry slip just up the road, so at that point avoid getting hung out to dry in the offside lane - don't wait until you can see the entry slip.
If there is a one-celled creature tailgating you, just ease off the throttle. That will give you more opportunities to pull into the nearside lane and let him past. Even if those opportunities do not develop soon enough, the fact that you've taken maybe 30 kph off you speed will help if it all goes pear-shaped and there is a coming together.
SPACE, SPACE, SPACE: managing the space around you has a great deal to do with road safety. If you are not comfortable with the space that you have, or the space you may be going into, create a better space by slowing down or changing lanes.
It was good that you raised the question as you did. Many persons would not be open-minded or secure enough to do so.
Cheers.
Wrt your own choices, however, if I understand your description rightly, you let yourself get sucked into an unnecessarily dangerous position.
Whenever you're on a main road and approaching an entry slip road, you have to consider the possibility that a vehicle on the slip road can influence and compromise your position.
If you're in the nearside lane, it generally makes sense to offer space to a slip road vehicle when it is possible for you to do so. You would do this either by slowing down, by taking the offside lane, or on the rare occasion by speeding up.
In this case, the vehicles to your left in the nearside lane were in that position themselves. It is a good bet that any or all of them will be looking to come into your offside lane in order to accomodate the slip road vehicle, so you should treat them as if they themselves were on a slip road, as it were. Give them space to come into your lane. It sounds as if you were not thinking about that, and instead were expecting them to hold station as you cruised past them in the offside lane.
Furthermore, you were letting yourself get boxed in. On your right was the central reservation - no space there to escape. On your left was a string of cars - little space there, and it is changing shape all the time. That leaves you with front and back. By "allowing" the ape in the ute to take away your back space, your only free space was ahead of you. This is by far the least good free space, both because accelerations take longer than other moves, and because that free space can be closed by any of the cars that you are overtaking.
I don't know that one should have anticipated that the utter f
kwit with the trailer would do what he did. (Although if you see someone flout the hatched markings as he did, that should put you on alert that the driver is a jackass capable of further stupidity, plus vehicles with trailers require a wider berth because they can be difficult to control, and often are being pulled by drivers with little towing experience.) Because you had let yourself get sucked into a position with poor options however, the fact that the trailer fkwit did something totally moronic made you very vulnerable.It is easy to get caught out, overtaking a string of traffic and getting "stuck" in the offside lane. Then a ute tries to drive up your ass, and what do you do?
First, even though you could not see the slip road vehicle early enough, or perhaps not even see the slip road, almost always the entry slip road will have been preceded by an exit slip road and large signs. Once you see them, it's near certain that there will be an entry slip just up the road, so at that point avoid getting hung out to dry in the offside lane - don't wait until you can see the entry slip.
If there is a one-celled creature tailgating you, just ease off the throttle. That will give you more opportunities to pull into the nearside lane and let him past. Even if those opportunities do not develop soon enough, the fact that you've taken maybe 30 kph off you speed will help if it all goes pear-shaped and there is a coming together.
SPACE, SPACE, SPACE: managing the space around you has a great deal to do with road safety. If you are not comfortable with the space that you have, or the space you may be going into, create a better space by slowing down or changing lanes.
It was good that you raised the question as you did. Many persons would not be open-minded or secure enough to do so.
Cheers.
flemke said:
Ignore the reaction from the cretin in the ute. If he is thick enough to sit on your bumper at 110 kph, or cut through traffic willy-nilly, his opinion on anything else is worthless.
Wrt your own choices, however, if I understand your description rightly, you let yourself get sucked into an unnecessarily dangerous position.
Whenever you're on a main road and approaching an entry slip road, you have to consider the possibility that a vehicle on the slip road can influence and compromise your position.
If you're in the nearside lane, it generally makes sense to offer space to a slip road vehicle when it is possible for you to do so. You would do this either by slowing down, by taking the offside lane, or on the rare occasion by speeding up.
In this case, the vehicles to your left in the nearside lane were in that position themselves. It is a good bet that any or all of them will be looking to come into your offside lane in order to accomodate the slip road vehicle, so you should treat them as if they themselves were on a slip road, as it were. Give them space to come into your lane. It sounds as if you were not thinking about that, and instead were expecting them to hold station as you cruised past them in the offside lane.
Furthermore, you were letting yourself get boxed in. On your right was the central reservation - no space there to escape. On your left was a string of cars - little space there, and it is changing shape all the time. That leaves you with front and back. By "allowing" the ape in the ute to take away your back space, your only free space was ahead of you. This is by far the least good free space, both because accelerations take longer than other moves, and because that free space can be closed by any of the cars that you are overtaking.
I don't know that one should have anticipated that the utter fkwit with the trailer would do what he did. (Although if you see someone flout the hatched markings as he did, that should put you on alert that the driver is a jackass capable of further stupidity, plus vehicles with trailers require a wider berth because they can be difficult to control, and often are being pulled by drivers with little towing experience.) Because you had let yourself get sucked into a position with poor options however, the fact that the trailer fkwit did something totally moronic made you very vulnerable.
It is easy to get caught out, overtaking a string of traffic and getting "stuck" in the offside lane. Then a ute tries to drive up your ass, and what do you do?
First, even though you could not see the slip road vehicle early enough, or perhaps not even see the slip road, almost always the entry slip road will have been preceded by an exit slip road and large signs. Once you see them, it's near certain that there will be an entry slip just up the road, so at that point avoid getting hung out to dry in the offside lane - don't wait until you can see the entry slip.
If there is a one-celled creature tailgating you, just ease off the throttle. That will give you more opportunities to pull into the nearside lane and let him past. Even if those opportunities do not develop soon enough, the fact that you've taken maybe 30 kph off you speed will help if it all goes pear-shaped and there is a coming together.
SPACE, SPACE, SPACE: managing the space around you has a great deal to do with road safety. If you are not comfortable with the space that you have, or the space you may be going into, create a better space by slowing down or changing lanes.
It was good that you raised the question as you did. Many persons would not be open-minded or secure enough to do so.
Cheers.
Thanks for the reply flemke..much appreciated.Wrt your own choices, however, if I understand your description rightly, you let yourself get sucked into an unnecessarily dangerous position.
Whenever you're on a main road and approaching an entry slip road, you have to consider the possibility that a vehicle on the slip road can influence and compromise your position.
If you're in the nearside lane, it generally makes sense to offer space to a slip road vehicle when it is possible for you to do so. You would do this either by slowing down, by taking the offside lane, or on the rare occasion by speeding up.
In this case, the vehicles to your left in the nearside lane were in that position themselves. It is a good bet that any or all of them will be looking to come into your offside lane in order to accomodate the slip road vehicle, so you should treat them as if they themselves were on a slip road, as it were. Give them space to come into your lane. It sounds as if you were not thinking about that, and instead were expecting them to hold station as you cruised past them in the offside lane.
Furthermore, you were letting yourself get boxed in. On your right was the central reservation - no space there to escape. On your left was a string of cars - little space there, and it is changing shape all the time. That leaves you with front and back. By "allowing" the ape in the ute to take away your back space, your only free space was ahead of you. This is by far the least good free space, both because accelerations take longer than other moves, and because that free space can be closed by any of the cars that you are overtaking.
I don't know that one should have anticipated that the utter f
kwit with the trailer would do what he did. (Although if you see someone flout the hatched markings as he did, that should put you on alert that the driver is a jackass capable of further stupidity, plus vehicles with trailers require a wider berth because they can be difficult to control, and often are being pulled by drivers with little towing experience.) Because you had let yourself get sucked into a position with poor options however, the fact that the trailer fkwit did something totally moronic made you very vulnerable.It is easy to get caught out, overtaking a string of traffic and getting "stuck" in the offside lane. Then a ute tries to drive up your ass, and what do you do?
First, even though you could not see the slip road vehicle early enough, or perhaps not even see the slip road, almost always the entry slip road will have been preceded by an exit slip road and large signs. Once you see them, it's near certain that there will be an entry slip just up the road, so at that point avoid getting hung out to dry in the offside lane - don't wait until you can see the entry slip.
If there is a one-celled creature tailgating you, just ease off the throttle. That will give you more opportunities to pull into the nearside lane and let him past. Even if those opportunities do not develop soon enough, the fact that you've taken maybe 30 kph off you speed will help if it all goes pear-shaped and there is a coming together.
SPACE, SPACE, SPACE: managing the space around you has a great deal to do with road safety. If you are not comfortable with the space that you have, or the space you may be going into, create a better space by slowing down or changing lanes.
It was good that you raised the question as you did. Many persons would not be open-minded or secure enough to do so.
Cheers.
You have understood my description correctly.
Yep I did manage to get well boxed in and thinking about it that wasnt the first time on the this morning's drive it happened...and in fact thinking about it further its probably something I get myself in to daily. Thanks for highlighting that...Lessons learnt
!Replaying the incident...I think I did miss the freeway exit slip road. That is one thing I normally look out for and imediately switch my attention to the entry slip road to see if there are any dawdlers entering and if a lane change is appropriate. Without trying to make excuses the tailgater was being a big distraction.
Jeez replaying the incident again has made me realise just how close I was to getting in a hefty bingle today!! I dont fancy the idea of 3 tonnes of Hilux molesting the back of my car on the move on the freeway!! What is just as scay and frustrating is knowing that ute man probably has no idea why I braked so hard...and no doubt he has been mouthing off all morning about some idiot slamming his brakes on in the middle of the freeway!! Knowing the way people sit in little clusters on the freeway there would have been a few gripped seat covers behind him to.
Driving standards in Australia are pretty average at best and I do find it overwhelming at times, I'm more used to the higher standards of UK drivers. There are times when I try to do the right thing and make space or slow down and other drivers dont know what I am trying to do so just close up on my tail or go for a big overtake when I am slowing down for a hazard. Its very frustrating and as I said...quite overwhelming at times!
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