Traffic light Grand Prix nonsense

[watchnut]

I teach driving for a living, when I do "overtaking" and "Dual carriageways" with my learners there is a brilliant bit of D/C that is about 1.5 miles long with a roundabout at both ends along with one slip road exit/entrance. So they get practice getting on and off slip roads and roundabouts The traffic is generally light, so ideal for them to gain experience at "getting on with it"

I encourage them to use the limited power of my Mini 1.6 diesel, teaching them in a "controlled" environment how to use the power of the gears...especially 3rd which in the Mini is good from about 20-65 MPG

I have such a hoot, when coming off the roundabout (into lane 1) telling the learner to plant their right foot in the carpet, at first they are not sure, then feel the power come in, and want to change up, with me slapping their hand away from the stick and then at about 60-65 change straight into 6th...and settle down at 70 and then exit at next exit

The amount of cars that come onto the roundabout behind us, slotting into lane 2 (to over take the "slow learner") and falling back as we take off is funny to behold, many will, once we are hundred + metres ahead move back to lane 1, but many others then try to accelerate (slowly) and take ages to get past us, getting well over 70 in order to do so, then as many cut in too early my learner is lifting off....and the buggers .... some of them brake....to about 60 odd...what for?????

I teach my learners once they are confident, to accelerate harshly so they can do so with me in a car that is likely to have more power than their first car, loaded with fat mates and the speed of a striking slug. They are all encouraged to "get on with it" when traffic/road surface/weather/good vis/limit point dictate safe to do so. They are in my view better prepared for post test driving. I do a D/C lesson between Junc 1 M27/A34 to Bournemouth and back, we don't get to overtake many cars as just about all speed, but, there must be something about being overtaken by a learner car that often results in a the same car overtaking us (speeding to do so) and then pulling back in again and slowing down.

So "op" should enjoy the rants of the lane 2 know alls knowing he is doing nothing wrong (I'm inclined to loan him my old V70, which if hoofed belches out a cloud of smoke for anything following to suck in....but that would be childish, and of course I would never do that, especially if i was being tail gated

[Pica-Pica]

Toltec said:

Falconer said:

I've noticed that in several towns, the lights are timed so that if you do more than 30 between them, you just have to wait anyway, so why hurry?

Sounds good, around here if you don't speed you get caught by the next light.

On the A75, the village of Springholm (Scotland) has a speed detector that puts a red traffic light on about 70 metres or so ahead if you exceed 30mph. The sole purpose of the red light is to stop the traffic when speeding, there is no junction etc. It is very effective at keeping the speed down.

[donkmeister]

It is a bizarre sort of driver who does what the OP says, but they are out there. What really surprises me is the minority of bikers who filter to the front at lights and don't get on with it when the lights change. A few times I've accelerated from lights at a normal rate and found I'm pacing or even outpacing the bike. I'm talking about proper motorbikes too, not mopeds and scooters.
Even a 125cc turn n burn will get to 60 in about 8 or 9 seconds so the problem is definitely with the rider not the machine.

[STe_rsv4]

donkmeister said:

It is a bizarre sort of driver who does what the OP says, but they are out there. What really surprises me is the minority of bikers who filter to the front at lights and don't get on with it when the lights change. A few times I've accelerated from lights at a normal rate and found I'm pacing or even outpacing the bike. I'm talking about proper motorbikes too, not mopeds and scooters.
Even a 125cc turn n burn will get to 60 in about 8 or 9 seconds so the problem is definitely with the rider not the machine.

A lot of the time it's not about "being the fastest" away from the lights, it's just common filtering to the front to reduce the amount of traffic in front. I do this often on the bike. Not everyone wants to do GP starts at every set of lights. I don't mess about when pulling away but at the same time I don't give it WOT at each set as
A) it gets tiring
B) you look like a bit of a plum