Have a tailgater what for

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milesgiles

Original Poster:

462 posts

30 months

Monday 1st April
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I was pootling happily in the slow lane at 60 idiot starts flashing me. Took my foot off the gas ended up going less than thirty he still didn’t overtake

Bizarre. Eventually he exited left and I made a point of getting back up to 60 quick smart

milesgiles

Original Poster:

462 posts

30 months

Monday 1st April
quotequote all
Forester1965 said:
If you're on a 60mph/NSL speed limit dual carriageway and decide to reduce your speed to <30mph, you're being more dangerous to the traffic around you than the tailgater.

Reduce your speed (but not too much), carefully anticipate the road ahead and avoid sharp changes in speed or direction.

It's possible the tailgater didn't want to overtake you because they knew they were leaving to the nearside soon.
I can’t see why he should be flashing anyone doing 60 in the lh lane. Does he get arsey with hgvs as well?


milesgiles

Original Poster:

462 posts

30 months

Tuesday 2nd April
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LunarOne said:
If you think you were doing 60 then you were probably doing 56mph in which case you would have been severely annoying all kinds of traffic including cars and LGVs. But now is the time you are going to tell us that you were doing 60mph according to your GPS. But anyone who thinks lane 1 is called the "slow lane" is unlikely to have compared their speedometer with a GPS device.

No sympathy whatsoever.
Sainsburys vans are limited to 55 and I’m sure they aren’t the only ones

What’s your point?

milesgiles

Original Poster:

462 posts

30 months

Tuesday 2nd April
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Byker28i said:
Did op have his lights on right. The number of cars I see with no rear lights because they've turned them onto driving lights only. Dash still lights up but they've no rear lights
No it was daylight

milesgiles

Original Poster:

462 posts

30 months

Tuesday 2nd April
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Nothing wrong with my car and was daylight

However I won’t do it again. Next time I’m coming to a dead stop

milesgiles

Original Poster:

462 posts

30 months

Wednesday 3rd April
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E-bmw said:
This one is certainly not in the "safest & most sensible" option list.

He was in the left lane of a dual carriageway/motorway (70mph road) with traffic doing 60/70 behind/to the right of the OP doing "less than 30".

That is a massive & really dangerous speed differential for those around him.

On top of that, if other traffic in other lanes is doing 60/70 the acceleration & lane change required to overtake him would be VERY fraught with danger, and most certainly not giving more "opportunities for them to overtake".

So all the OP did was to put many people in potential harms way, which is all rather stupid.
You’d better van all hgvs from motorways then

milesgiles

Original Poster:

462 posts

30 months

Wednesday 3rd April
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E-bmw said:
Never seen an HGV doing under 30 on a motorway unless in a queue.

They aren't that STUPID!
Seen some mobile homes moved on lorries on the a1 this week. 30mph at most

milesgiles

Original Poster:

462 posts

30 months

Thursday 4th April
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Super Sonic said:
Assuming they had an escort with flashing orange beacons etc.
Fine I’ll put my hazards on next time

milesgiles

Original Poster:

462 posts

30 months

Thursday 4th April
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Mr Miata said:
You can solve tailgaters by… letting them go past, for example stopping in a layby. Then you wouldn’t see him ever again.

It amazes me how many people’s ego stops them from doing this, like Gandalf shouting “you shall not pass”.

My (least) favourite was a tractor doing less than 30 mph along the A17 with miles of traffic held up behind him, literally. He knows he’s going slow, when he’s caused the route guidance on Google Maps to change colour, the algorithm thinking there’s a traffic jam. I started playing a game of count how many laybys we’ve gone past that he could have used. Or a game of “I wonder if he see the long line of traffic in his wing mirror and gets the hint?”

Edited by Mr Miata on Thursday 4th April 09:41
I was on the very quiet 4 lane section at Peterborough

milesgiles

Original Poster:

462 posts

30 months

Thursday 4th April
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Sticks. said:
OP slowed down to let him by, which was wrong apparently, and tailgater was soon to turn off in this case.

People are, by and large, allowed to go as slowly as they like. Frustrating, but get used to it. It's never an excuse for tailgating or any other form of aggressive driving. The cause of the problem is not what someone is doing but the reaction to it.
If I go slower he could have overtaken me quicker.

Second time this has happened btw. The other time it was on the m11 near Cambridge and I did the same thing. Perhaps it was the same nitwit

milesgiles

Original Poster:

462 posts

30 months

Friday 5th April
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sospan said:
Agree.
The decision to overtake or not is on the following driver. Not the one in front assuming the follower should overtake. In the OP case the “tailgater” left at an upcoming exit so decided he wouldn’t overtake and have to pull back in close to the exit ( cutting up the car in front). His error was getting too close to the car in front instead of slowing earlier to maintain a gap.
Don’t become a “road captain” trying to influence others. If on a motorway maintain your steady speed.
Exceptions? Hmmmmm maybe to give an emergency vehicle on blues/twos pass easier IF (big IF) road conditions and traffic make this safe. Not a necessity though. Often not a good option.
There was no car in front road was very quiet. He was a good two miles from the exit he ended up taking. No reason for him at all to not overtake virtually nothing in any lane

milesgiles

Original Poster:

462 posts

30 months

Saturday 6th April
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E-bmw said:
Just one reason.

The idiot in front acting stupidly & potentially doing something even more stupid.

AKA keep the idiot in front where you can see him better.
Sense made, none

I was driving completely normally UNTIL he came up behind me flashing his lights at me

milesgiles

Original Poster:

462 posts

30 months

Sunday 7th April
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blueg33 said:
Is it the same op?
No that guy was an idiot