Accelerating whilst being overtaken

[Rubber-Ducky]

Okay fellow PHers - what's a chap to do in the following situation:

Driving through a local village. 30 mph limit, regular community speed watch, occasional camera van (although neither there on this occasion). I'm sticking rigidly to the limit. White van comes barrelling up behind me and is forced to slow down to match my speed. He drives in close formation with my rear bumper for a few hundred yards. As we get to the end of the limit and I start to accelerate, he pulls out to overtake. The road ahead is clear. My car has a significant performance advantage...

My options were:

1. Accelerate as normal and let him sort it out.
2. Ease off the loud pedal and let him past. Accept being stuck behind him for the fun, derestricted, twisty bits up ahead.
3. Let him past then immediately re-overtake. As already mentioned, road ahead perfectly clear.
4. Floor it and leave him for dust.

This happened to me today - what should I have done? What view might plod have taken of any of the above courses of action.

[Rubber-Ducky]

Johnnytheboy said:

...unless this is a single village in a featureless plain of NSL, no doubt he'd end up tailgating you through the next village.

It pretty much is, hence the regular community speed watch and occasional camera van.

[Rubber-Ducky]

Marvtec said:

When you say 'derestricted' do you mean NSL or Autobahn? I strongly suspect its the first but that you have no intention of sticking to the limit on that part of the road?

NSL. It's a C road with some nice twisty bits that can be enjoyed at speeds which won't land you in court.

[Rubber-Ducky]

MagicalTrevor said:

Highway Code - Rule 168
...Speeding up or driving unpredictably while someone is overtaking you is dangerous...

This was the essence of my dilemma. I had already started accelerating when he pulled out. The predictable course of action when going from a 30 limit to NSL is to speed up. Had I eased off the loud pedal then that would differ from my normal behaviour in his absence: to begin accelerating then stop doing so could be viewed us unpredictable.

Had he pulled back in at the same time then he would have hit me.

I'm reassured by the fact that all four options in the poll have double-digit support, and no one option has a majority.

[Rubber-Ducky]

Thank you to all who voted or posted - some good points raised. Interesting that there was no clear right or wrong answer from the poll.

I'm off to bed in a minute, so in case anyone actually cares what the outcome was, I went for option 4, but maybe not for the reasons you'd expect.

I'd like to be clear that at no stage was white van man overlapping with me, so he could have pulled back in at any point. If I'd stopped accelerating at the same time then we would have collided. This excluded options 2 and 3 for me. I figured that option 1 would likely lead to us accelerating in formation with him stuck on the wrong side of the road in my 5 o' clock - not an especially desirable situation. This kind of narrowed it down for me - I figured the best course of action was to remove myself from the situation by putting some distance between us, which I did with my right foot.

He pulled back in behind me, flashed his headlights and made a universally recognised hand gesture that indicated a level of disapproval on his part. Two corners later there was a healthy gap between us...

[Rubber-Ducky]

brrapp said:

...some prat who's happy to dawdle along until someone tries to pass him in an 'inferior' vehicle at which point he'll 'floor it' to save face.

If this is your interpretation of my actions then I am afraid you are mistaken. I would never do such a thing.

If, however, you are making a generalised statement then, yes, I agree with you.

[Rubber-Ducky]

WJNB said:

I suppose a simple yet superior mantra & one I try very hard to adhere to is:
NEVER EVER GET DRAWN INTO COMPETING WITH OTHER DRIVERS. You will find that Plod fully endorses this.

But remember this is because I have NEVER felt the need to prove anything to anybody about anything - I nice place to be I assure you.

This doesn't make sense to me. If, as you state, you have NEVER felt the need to prove anything to anybody then adhering to your simple mantra should be effortless for you. I can't understand why you have to "try very hard"...

[Rubber-Ducky]

Skyrat said:

If he's already pulled out and you're aware of it then the sensible thing to do is let him past. Of course, you could be a dick and floor it.

Chances are he's going to tailgate you again once you both reach the limit, so let the ahole past and get on with your day

Maybe I was insufficiently clear in my original post - apologies if so. I had already started accelerating (as you do when leaving a 30 limit to NSL) when WVM pulled out. This is a situation where I'm not convinced that he Highway Code provides an obvious, safe answer as to what you should do. It says that, "Speeding up or driving unpredictably while someone is overtaking you is dangerous." However, if you're already speeding up when someone pulls out to overtake you (as was the case with me) then you're kind of damned if you do and damned if you don't: to suddenly stop accelerating when to do so is the normal course of action could be viewed as unpredictable.

If the overtaker is already overlapping with the overtakee then, yes, it's I'd agree that the overtakee should stop accelerating in order to expedite the completion of the overtake. However, that was not the case for me. If I had stopped accelerating and WVM had aborted his overtake and pulled back in at the same time then we would likely have collided.

The satisfaction of having complied with the Highway Code is unlikely to last long when you're eating hospital food...

[Rubber-Ducky]

Johnnytheboy said:

Part of the problem IMO is that the speed-limit-obeying but rapidly accelerating driver is quite a recent phenomenon.

Until not many years ago, a driver that rigidly obeyed a 30 limit was vanishingly unlikely to accelerate hard on leaving it.

So a lot of drivers will not be prepared for this style of driving.

I'll be honest, if I encounter someone doing this I assume they are trying to make a point.

A valid point. I'm not, by any means, a speed limit pedant. I endeavour to stick to limits in built up areas, but as long as I'm below the +10%+2 prosecution threshold then I don't get excited.

This particular village, however, clearly has a vociferous group of anti-speeding residents. As well as the previously mentioned community speed watch, there are also a multitude of "Kill your speed" and "Police operate in this area"* signs attached to lampposts in the village. I travel through the village twice a day on my commute and really don't want to give the residents any ammunition to demand additional traffic calming measures. Hence, I stick rigidly to the limit. It's certainly not to make a point against other drivers.

If I choose to exceed a speed limit (or indeed break any law), it is on the understanding that I might get prosecuted for doing so. If I'm going to get 3 points on my licence, then I'd rather do so having a good hoon in the countryside than doing 37mph through a built up area. Knowing what the crossover point from FPN to court appearance also allows me to make an informed decision about the potential consequences of my actions. All hypothetically speaking, of course.

• Are there areas in which the police do not operate..?

[Rubber-Ducky]

Don said:

...I've seen more than one drive directly into the speed trap doing 45-50 in a thirty just before they leave it. That's ban territory. I'm not making that mistake...

Really? I thought up to 49mph in a 30 limit was a FPN with 3 points. 50+ and you're off to court, but not necessarily looking at a ban.

Edited by Rubber-Ducky on Sunday 4th December 13:12

[Rubber-Ducky]

ashleyman said:

Rubber-Ducky said:

Don said:

...I've seen more than one drive directly into the speed trap doing 45-50 in a thirty just before they leave it. That's ban territory. I'm not making that mistake...

Really? I thought up to 49mph in a 30 limit was a FPN with 3 points. 50+ and you're off to court, but not necessarily looking at a ban.

Edited by Rubber-Ducky on Sunday 4th December 13:12

498 is the very top end. 49 is court.

Taken from the CPS website:

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has issued speed enforcement policy guidance, which suggests that enforcement will normally occur when a driver exceeds the speed limit by a particular margin. This is normally 10 per cent over the speed limit plus 2 mph. It also sets guidelines for when it would not be appropriate to issue a fixed penalty notice but to issue a summons instead (see below). Note that these are guidelines and that a police officer has discretion to act outside of them providing he acts fairly, consistently and proportionately.

Speed limit: 20 mph
ACPO charging threshold: 24 mph
Summons: 35 mph

Speed limit: 30 mph
ACPO charging threshold: 35 mph
Summons: 50 mph

Speed limit: 40 mph
ACPO charging threshold: 46 mph
Summons: 66 mph

Speed limit: 50 mph
ACPO charging threshold: 57 mph
Summons: 76 mph

Speed limit: 60 mph
ACPO charging threshold: 68 mph
Summons: 86 mph

Speed limit: 70 mph
ACPO charging threshold: 79 mph
Summons: 96 mph