Approaching an increase in speed limit
Discussion
Approaching an increase in speed limit earlier (30-50) as I left a village I was unsure of how to proceed and so I have come to ask advice based on the experience and training that resides in this section of the forum.
I had a car fairly close behind me for ~1 mile and I had been following another vehicle (travelling at speed limit, 2 sec gap) with nothing else in front of it. As we approached the end of the village the vehicle behind me closed up, uncomfortably close. I am local to the area and knew the speed limit increased significantly along with the nature of the road (more open, better sight lines, more rural), but I was unsure how to react to it. My options as I saw them:
1. Speed up before the sign - knowing that I would (for 100-200 yards be speeding but to fairly little apparent consequence as there are much better sight lines at this point)
2. Back right off and allow the car behind to overtake as was my interpretation of their intentions (I wanted to make progress a little further along the road and didn't fancy being held up by them if they just wanted to travel faster through the village though).
I chose option 1 just as the vehicle following me pulled out for an overtake, and the vehicle following close behind it closed on me. I backed off to allow space for what was a fairly borderline overtake, but this significantly shortened the following distance from the car behind to me. It turned out later that the vehicle that overtook wasn't looking to make faster progress, just didn't fancy doing 30 through the village. As a result I chose a different route to take as I didn't want to be overtaking them.
I feel I did the right thing as I couldn't have accelerated much prior as there is a junction etc. however the timing was awkward. As someone who is frequently tailgated through villages/towns through my following of speed limits in built up areas I find it difficult to draw more of an educated choice here.
Would anyone care to share advice/experience/ and tell me where/if I'm going wrong?
I had a car fairly close behind me for ~1 mile and I had been following another vehicle (travelling at speed limit, 2 sec gap) with nothing else in front of it. As we approached the end of the village the vehicle behind me closed up, uncomfortably close. I am local to the area and knew the speed limit increased significantly along with the nature of the road (more open, better sight lines, more rural), but I was unsure how to react to it. My options as I saw them:
1. Speed up before the sign - knowing that I would (for 100-200 yards be speeding but to fairly little apparent consequence as there are much better sight lines at this point)
2. Back right off and allow the car behind to overtake as was my interpretation of their intentions (I wanted to make progress a little further along the road and didn't fancy being held up by them if they just wanted to travel faster through the village though).
I chose option 1 just as the vehicle following me pulled out for an overtake, and the vehicle following close behind it closed on me. I backed off to allow space for what was a fairly borderline overtake, but this significantly shortened the following distance from the car behind to me. It turned out later that the vehicle that overtook wasn't looking to make faster progress, just didn't fancy doing 30 through the village. As a result I chose a different route to take as I didn't want to be overtaking them.
I feel I did the right thing as I couldn't have accelerated much prior as there is a junction etc. however the timing was awkward. As someone who is frequently tailgated through villages/towns through my following of speed limits in built up areas I find it difficult to draw more of an educated choice here.
Would anyone care to share advice/experience/ and tell me where/if I'm going wrong?
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