Speeding whilst overtaking

[Guybrush]

vsonix said:

p1esk said:

....but I know what you mean about people who are forever touching the brakes at the mere sight of a bend, even when they are already driving quite slowly.

The worst thing about being behind someone like this is the constant uneccesary bright red lights shining in your face. Not only is red stressful in general but there's an element of 'cry wolf' syndrome involved. Now when I'm pootling along at the speed limit or under it, I'm usually doing low revs in fourth or fifth, I use the right gear for a corner, make my braking adjustment if necessary just before entering then roll through. I use them sparingly and only when I have to. But when you have Nervous Norman in front who brakes when he sees a car coming in the opposite lane, brakes on the approach to a corner, keeps trail braking through the corner, brakes again when he sees a pothole - you get so used to seeing the red lights that if he genuinely does have to make an emergency stop, they cease to have meaning, because they're never NOT lit! Yet all of a sudden on the straight stretch with broken lines they're up to NSL, or speeding up as you go to pass. For the good of my sanity I'd rather get past these stress inducing erratic types.

Exactly!

[Gavia]

Guybrush said:

vsonix said:

p1esk said:

....but I know what you mean about people who are forever touching the brakes at the mere sight of a bend, even when they are already driving quite slowly.

The worst thing about being behind someone like this is the constant uneccesary bright red lights shining in your face. Not only is red stressful in general but there's an element of 'cry wolf' syndrome involved. Now when I'm pootling along at the speed limit or under it, I'm usually doing low revs in fourth or fifth, I use the right gear for a corner, make my braking adjustment if necessary just before entering then roll through. I use them sparingly and only when I have to. But when you have Nervous Norman in front who brakes when he sees a car coming in the opposite lane, brakes on the approach to a corner, keeps trail braking through the corner, brakes again when he sees a pothole - you get so used to seeing the red lights that if he genuinely does have to make an emergency stop, they cease to have meaning, because they're never NOT lit! Yet all of a sudden on the straight stretch with broken lines they're up to NSL, or speeding up as you go to pass. For the good of my sanity I'd rather get past these stress inducing erratic types.

Exactly!

I think we’d all agree that getting past them is the correct move. However, it doesn’t make it legal from a purely speeding perspective. It’s extremely unlikely that plod would be too upset unless the speeds got silly and they’d probably try to pull both of you for a discussion. If a mobile or fixed camera then you’d probably be buggered though.

[WJNB]

BertBert said:

Missed one:
Q:Did you enjoy overtaking?
A:Yes I fking well did

Have to admit I can see that point of view.
When I owned a VERY fast sportscar with a VERY loud exhaust I enjoyed scaring the pants of slow dumbos, almost taking their door handles off as I blasted past. Best bit was if the driver had his window open & had no idea I was coming past. Sadly I never blew anybody into a ditch.
Now I have grown up a bit, learnt patience & realised our poxy roads are so crowded I might as well join the slow dumbos.

[giantdefy]

WJNB said:

Have to admit I can see that point of view.
When I owned a VERY fast sportscar with a VERY loud exhaust I enjoyed scaring the pants of slow dumbos, almost taking their door handles off as I blasted past. Best bit was if the driver had his window open & had no idea I was coming past. Sadly I never blew anybody into a ditch.
Now I have grown up a bit, learnt patience & realised our poxy roads are so crowded I might as well join the slow dumbos.

And full of tts who do very fast, very loud and unnecessarily close overtakes who seem intent on pushing you into the ditch

[vsonix]

Gavia said:

I think we’d all agree that getting past them is the correct move. However, it doesn’t make it legal from a purely speeding perspective. It’s extremely unlikely that plod would be too upset unless the speeds got silly and they’d probably try to pull both of you for a discussion. If a mobile or fixed camera then you’d probably be buggered though.

Well, sometimes in the real world, common sense trumps following the law to the letter.
It'll be an annoying day if I ever were to get reprimanded for passing such a person for the good of sanity, safety and stress-free motoring but I'd also like to think I'd be picking a moment for the overtake that wouldn't land me in hot water anyway.

[Kewy]

blueg33 said:

I got 3 points and a £60m fine in August from a policeman for speeding whilst overtaking. I was caught by a laser and pulled over by an un-marked car. They wouldnt take the "I was overtaking" as a defence.

That is one seriously hefty fine.

[The Dangerous Elk]

geek_in_the_pink said:

Shaw Tarse said:

My driving instructor told me it was OK to break the speed limit if it could made the overtake safer.
I'm sure this would stand up in a court of law

Your driving instructor was obviously a driver !

ftfu

[julian64]

I will admit to common sense going out the window sometimes. I always speed in an overtake. less time in danger etc etc.

Out in my TVR and in the middle of an overtake I noticed a batternburg van parked on the same side of the road next to a hedge. The sensible thing to do would have been to continue the overtake and almost certainly get points.

What I did was to emergency brake on the opposite side of the road three quarters of the way through an overtake. It caused the guy I was overtaking to also emergency brake. I assume it was me and not the van he spotted as his attention seemed to be mainly on me.

I don't believe you get any leeway for an overtake and therefore I would still abandon an overtake if I saw a camera or a police car. This is despite the fact it was a daft manoeuvre on the road and the guys gesticulating at me after was somewhat deserved.

[BertBert]

julian64 said:

I will admit to common sense going out the window sometimes. I always speed in an overtake. less time in danger etc etc.

Out in my TVR and in the middle of an overtake I noticed a batternburg van parked on the same side of the road next to a hedge. The sensible thing to do would have been to continue the overtake and almost certainly get points.

What I did was to emergency brake on the opposite side of the road three quarters of the way through an overtake. It caused the guy I was overtaking to also emergency brake. I assume it was me and not the van he spotted as his attention seemed to be mainly on me.

I don't believe you get any leeway for an overtake and therefore I would still abandon an overtake if I saw a camera or a police car. This is despite the fact it was a daft manoeuvre on the road and the guys gesticulating at me after was somewhat deserved.

Is that somehow a good thing? Looks pretty stupid to me.
Bert

[JM]

julian64 said:

I will admit to common sense going out the window sometimes. I always speed in an overtake. less time in danger etc etc.

Out in my TVR and in the middle of an overtake I noticed a batternburg van parked on the same side of the road next to a hedge. The sensible thing to do would have been to continue the overtake and almost certainly get points.

What I did was to emergency brake on the opposite side of the road three quarters of the way through an overtake. It caused the guy I was overtaking to also emergency brake. I assume it was me and not the van he spotted as his attention seemed to be mainly on me.

I don't believe you get any leeway for an overtake and therefore I would still abandon an overtake if I saw a camera or a police car. This is despite the fact it was a daft manoeuvre on the road and the guys gesticulating at me after was somewhat deserved.

Seems a strange over-reaction, unless you were well over the speed limit.
What speed were you going before attempting the overtake?

[Gavia]

vsonix said:

Gavia said:

I think we’d all agree that getting past them is the correct move. However, it doesn’t make it legal from a purely speeding perspective. It’s extremely unlikely that plod would be too upset unless the speeds got silly and they’d probably try to pull both of you for a discussion. If a mobile or fixed camera then you’d probably be buggered though.

Well, sometimes in the real world, common sense trumps following the law to the letter.
It'll be an annoying day if I ever were to get reprimanded for passing such a person for the good of sanity, safety and stress-free motoring but I'd also like to think I'd be picking a moment for the overtake that wouldn't land me in hot water anyway.

Did you bother reading my post?

Edited by Gavia on Tuesday 24th July 10:49

[julian64]

JM said:

julian64 said:

I will admit to common sense going out the window sometimes. I always speed in an overtake. less time in danger etc etc.

Out in my TVR and in the middle of an overtake I noticed a batternburg van parked on the same side of the road next to a hedge. The sensible thing to do would have been to continue the overtake and almost certainly get points.

What I did was to emergency brake on the opposite side of the road three quarters of the way through an overtake. It caused the guy I was overtaking to also emergency brake. I assume it was me and not the van he spotted as his attention seemed to be mainly on me.

I don't believe you get any leeway for an overtake and therefore I would still abandon an overtake if I saw a camera or a police car. This is despite the fact it was a daft manoeuvre on the road and the guys gesticulating at me after was somewhat deserved.

Seems a strange over-reaction, unless you were well over the speed limit.
What speed were you going before attempting the overtake?

I would have though the answer would be slightly more than the car in front but not high enough to make me unable to stay within the speed limit when passing a camera.

[-Dash-]

julian64 said:

I don't believe you get any leeway for an overtake and therefore I would still abandon an overtake if I saw a camera or a police car. This is despite the fact it was a daft manoeuvre on the road and the guys gesticulating at me after was somewhat deserved.

This. I always slam on the anchors when I see a "safety camera" pointing at me. Is it unsafe to do this? Probably. Hopefully whatever ploughs into the back of me has low enough mass not to cause me serious injury. Car will be repaired or replaced, non-fault accident after all: "I thought I saw a deer about to dart across the road".

No way I'm knowingly going to walk into a fine/points/increased insurance if I can avoid it.

And none of the above even requires I'm speeding, but with silly 20mph limits, and poor signage everywhere, I'm not going to risk thinking I've got the correct limit. Drop your speed, assess the conditions, drive carefully on looking at only your speedo.

"OMG, you should know the limit already", I know that's the theory, but I'm more interested in driving safely than playing number-wang with arbitrary numbers.

Other top tips for avoiding speeding cameras, especially on motorways and the like where most people speed, is: to drive unreasonably and arguably dangerously close to the car in front, to avoid that laser from catching you unaware. Unless it's proper cops, it's only speed they care about so you won't get done for driving too close.

And at the end of it all, remember that "safety" cameras drive good and safe behaviour on the roads.

<ignites touchpaper>

[vsonix]

Gavia said:

vsonix said:

Gavia said:

I think we’d all agree that getting past them is the correct move. However, it doesn’t make it legal from a purely speeding perspective. It’s extremely unlikely that plod would be too upset unless the speeds got silly and they’d probably try to pull both of you for a discussion. If a mobile or fixed camera then you’d probably be buggered though.

Well, sometimes in the real world, common sense trumps following the law to the letter.
It'll be an annoying day if I ever were to get reprimanded for passing such a person for the good of sanity, safety and stress-free motoring but I'd also like to think I'd be picking a moment for the overtake that wouldn't land me in hot water anyway.

Did you bother reading my post?

Edited by Gavia on Tuesday 24th July 10:49

I think it might have been your post that caused me to fall asleep on the sofa

[Graveworm]

-Dash- said:

This. I always slam on the anchors when I see a "safety camera" pointing at me. Is it unsafe to do this? Probably. Hopefully whatever ploughs into the back of me has low enough mass not to cause me serious injury. Car will be repaired or replaced, non-fault accident after all: "I thought I saw a deer about to dart across the road".

No way I'm knowingly going to walk into a fine/points/increased insurance if I can avoid it.

And none of the above even requires I'm speeding, but with silly 20mph limits, and poor signage everywhere, I'm not going to risk thinking I've got the correct limit. Drop your speed, assess the conditions, drive carefully on looking at only your speedo.

"OMG, you should know the limit already", I know that's the theory, but I'm more interested in driving safely than playing number-wang with arbitrary numbers.

Other top tips for avoiding speeding cameras, especially on motorways and the like where most people speed, is: to drive unreasonably and arguably dangerously close to the car in front, to avoid that laser from catching you unaware. Unless it's proper cops, it's only speed they care about so you won't get done for driving too close.

And at the end of it all, remember that "safety" cameras drive good and safe behaviour on the roads.

<ignites touchpaper>

I am assuming this is a wind up.. But in case it isn't .. You anchor up knowing the dangers in case you are speeding. Then say you are going to lie about why. You are happy to risk potentially fatal consequences for you, and everyone else concerned. You will go on to put up with all the other hassle of an accident (Even non fault) to avoid the trivial hassle of knowing the speed limit and how fast you are driving? Technology these days does all this for you, in most cars and can be easily added to those that don't.

Edited by Graveworm on Friday 27th July 17:12

[ghe13rte]

-Dash- said:

julian64 said:

I don't believe you get any leeway for an overtake and therefore I would still abandon an overtake if I saw a camera or a police car. This is despite the fact it was a daft manoeuvre on the road and the guys gesticulating at me after was somewhat deserved.

This. I always slam on the anchors when I see a "safety camera" pointing at me. Is it unsafe to do this? Probably. Hopefully whatever ploughs into the back of me has low enough mass not to cause me serious injury. Car will be repaired or replaced, non-fault accident after all: "I thought I saw a deer about to dart across the road".

No way I'm knowingly going to walk into a fine/points/increased insurance if I can avoid it.

And none of the above even requires I'm speeding, but with silly 20mph limits, and poor signage everywhere, I'm not going to risk thinking I've got the correct limit. Drop your speed, assess the conditions, drive carefully on looking at only your speedo.

"OMG, you should know the limit already", I know that's the theory, but I'm more interested in driving safely than playing number-wang with arbitrary numbers.

Other top tips for avoiding speeding cameras, especially on motorways and the like where most people speed, is: to drive unreasonably and arguably dangerously close to the car in front, to avoid that laser from catching you unaware. Unless it's proper cops, it's only speed they care about so you won't get done for driving too close.

And at the end of it all, remember that "safety" cameras drive good and safe behaviour on the roads.

<ignites touchpaper>

You should hand in your licence at the earliest opportunity to prevent danger to other road users.

Post it to:
Drivers Customer Services
Correspondence Team
DVLA
Swansea
SA6 7JL

[Davidonly]

-Dash- said:

julian64 said:

I don't believe you get any leeway for an overtake and therefore I would still abandon an overtake if I saw a camera or a police car. This is despite the fact it was a daft manoeuvre on the road and the guys gesticulating at me after was somewhat deserved.

This. I always slam on the anchors when I see a "safety camera" pointing at me. Is it unsafe to do this? Probably. Hopefully whatever ploughs into the back of me has low enough mass not to cause me serious injury. Car will be repaired or replaced, non-fault accident after all: "I thought I saw a deer about to dart across the road".

No way I'm knowingly going to walk into a fine/points/increased insurance if I can avoid it.

And none of the above even requires I'm speeding, but with silly 20mph limits, and poor signage everywhere, I'm not going to risk thinking I've got the correct limit. Drop your speed, assess the conditions, drive carefully on looking at only your speedo.

"OMG, you should know the limit already", I know that's the theory, but I'm more interested in driving safely than playing number-wang with arbitrary numbers.

Other top tips for avoiding speeding cameras, especially on motorways and the like where most people speed, is: to drive unreasonably and arguably dangerously close to the car in front, to avoid that laser from catching you unaware. Unless it's proper cops, it's only speed they care about so you won't get done for driving too close.

And at the end of it all, remember that "safety" cameras drive good and safe behaviour on the roads.

<ignites touchpaper>

While the tone of the post is extreme I believe many people do brake when they see either fixed or mobile scams - with little reference to approach speed. I myself have done it instinctively (zero points FYI). There is data to suggest this increases accidents near such locations too.

They are a distraction. This is getting worse as 'knowing' the limit is now much more difficult as they are set with little regard to any science eg 85% rule etc. The system is certainly not interested in 'safety' anymore if it ever was.

[JNW1]

Davidonly said:

The system is certainly not interested in 'safety' anymore if it ever was.

Not convinced it ever was but I'm sure the authorities will just come-up with another excuse for slowing people down. Reduced emissions seems to be the latest flavour of the month so that will no doubt become the new "justification" for lowering speed limits and then enforcing them more widely through the increased use of technology....

[OverSteery]

WJNB said:

Have to admit I can see that point of view.
When I owned a VERY fast sportscar with a VERY loud exhaust I enjoyed scaring the pants of slow dumbos, almost taking their door handles off as I blasted past. Best bit was if the driver had his window open & had no idea I was coming past. Sadly I never blew anybody into a ditch.
Now I have grown up a bit, learnt patience & realised our poxy roads are so crowded I might as well join the slow dumbos.

Yes, I'm glad you have grown up a BIT and no long enjoy frightening people who are just getting with their lives. how SAD that you didn't cause an accident and never "blew anybody into a ditch".

Some people drive for transport not fun, and some really aren't very good - its probably just as well they go slowly. If I had to chose which type of driver to ban fro the ROADS, it you be people who drive with discourtesy to others.

[JNW1]

OverSteery said:

Some people drive for transport not fun, and some really aren't very good

And I reckon the two groups are often one of the same; when people have no interest in something they're often not very good at it and driving is no exception.

IMO people of the mindset "my car's purely a method of getting from A to B" should have stayed on public transport; the roads would be much quieter and the vast majority of poor drivers would be sat on buses or trains instead of in cars. Sadly, though, the "cars are for everyone" genie has been out of the bottle for many years and there's no putting it back in now; net result is those who do take an interest in driving are dumbed-down to the (low) level of those who don't.....