People who accelerate to block overtake

[Red 5]

Overtaking is just seen as an aggressive manoeuvre in the UK. Only lunatics engage in such activity after all!

I once had an off duty policeman (with three police passengers) try to stop me overtaking.
NSL at 40mph. I caught them up and they almost matched my speed by the time I was moving back in to the nearside.
I only knew they were police, due to the fact there was a furious call made to my home the next day by said policeman!

My Mum gets cross when she’s overtaken. They’re always ‘Idiots not from around here and don’t know the road’ She straight lines all roundabouts and junctions, drives with only one hand on the wheel and causes all sorts of dramas and hold ups in town by not looking where she’s going.
She thinks I’m strange, as I might sometimes drive fast, but then abide by 30mph limits in rural villages.

[silverfoxcc]

Skellum said:

This is now a 30 limit.
Sheep behind a fence on one side, and everybody on the other side is pre-deceased, so quite unlikely to jump out in front of you.
https://www.google.com/maps/@58.2075098,-6.3598822...

Not wishing to split hairs but surely pre deceased means they are still living and are liable to jump out in front of you ...lol

[dvenman]

Scobblelotcher said:

I don't think I have fully understood how the highway code interacts with the law. I know the highway code isn't a legal document.

My understanding is the highway code isn't law but in some cases is backed up by a traffic law. I've always understood that any highway code rule that states 'Must' or 'Must not' is directly backed by traffic laws but I'm not sure I have this correct?

Absolutely right. Road Traffic Act 1988 section 38 (. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/secti... ) refers. Basically it's not an offence unless but can be used to establish or negate liability should a crash - hate the word "accident" - happen.

[Scobblelotcher]

dvenman said:

Scobblelotcher said:

I don't think I have fully understood how the highway code interacts with the law. I know the highway code isn't a legal document.

My understanding is the highway code isn't law but in some cases is backed up by a traffic law. I've always understood that any highway code rule that states 'Must' or 'Must not' is directly backed by traffic laws but I'm not sure I have this correct?

Absolutely right. Road Traffic Act 1988 section 38 (. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/secti... ) refers. Basically it's not an offence unless but can be used to establish or negate liability should a crash - hate the word "accident" - happen.

Thanks and also thanks for the link, interesting reading!

[donkmeister]

silverfoxcc said:

Skellum said:

This is now a 30 limit.
Sheep behind a fence on one side, and everybody on the other side is pre-deceased, so quite unlikely to jump out in front of you.
https://www.google.com/maps/@58.2075098,-6.3598822...

Not wishing to split hairs but surely pre deceased means they are still living and are liable to jump out in front of you ...lol

I was wondering, but I think pre-deceased is correct. We use it as both a verb and a noun "the deceased deceased due to disease. Decease ceased when the deceased had deceased." Simple.
If something is already cooked when you buy it, it's pre-cooked, if it's washed it's pre-washed.
So I'd suggest pre-deceased would be a suitable description to emphasise that the deceased are already deceased when you encountered them.
Can I therefore suggest antedeceased as the term for people you encounter who have not yet shuffled off this mortal coil?

[MutiMuti]

Mr Miata said:

Unless it’s some kind of optical illusion, I see this all the time on the motorway… with my cruise control set at 70ish mph (not high enough to get a NIP) I’m blatantly catching somebody up and will collide into the back of them if I don’t change lanes. Then as soon as I’m level with them, they magically match my speed. But once I accelerate even more, they revert back to doing 60 mph on the motorway. What’s going on???

I asked an ex traffic officer what I should do in this situation because it had happend to me, while at the same time two other cars had caught up with me and were tailgating. His advice was that I should ease off slowly till there was sufficient room to pull in back behind the car. I thought this was both unrealistic and dangerous. Then after some thought he said it would be O.K. to accellerate sufficiently to pull ahead of the car and move in as although I was exceeding the speed limit I was entitled to do so to extricate myslef from a dangerous situation.

In real life, if you have the power to do so, you just increase speed until you can get past and resist the temptation to raise a finger at the driver you've just overtaken. What's irritating is that nine times out of ten as soon as you've overtaken they disappear in your mirror as they slow down to their original speed. I get it quite often and wonder if it's because I drive a small inconspicuous fairly old car, but, it has a lot under the bonnet.

[carreauchompeur]

Generally the safest option would be to tuck back in.

Getting into a pissing contest whilst on the offside is a recipe for disaster, it gets hard to judge closing speeds as you increase yours and then you’re hung out to dry.

I find this as one of the pitfalls of response driving on single carriageways, if you’re not careful and the passed cars aren’t moderating their speed you easily end up over-committed which becomes very scary very quick!

[5s Alive]

carreauchompeur said:

I find this as one of the pitfalls of response driving on single carriageways, if you’re not careful and the passed cars aren’t moderating their speed you easily end up over-committed which becomes very scary very quick!

Under rather unusual circumstances I have accelerated a fair bit over the NSL limit to permit an overtake on (if IRC) the A303 some distance from Stonehenge in 2015 while on holiday down there during the Goodwood FOS.

There had been a serious police incident reported on radio although we never did find out what had occurred. Police vehicles were zapping about all morning including through fields of stubble adjacent to the road.

Several hours later returning to our cottage along a very long straight I spotted fast approaching headlights and blue lights in the rear view mirror. We were at 60 and they were closing at very high speed as we also approached a line of 5 cars coming the other way at a similar speed to us. I could see that we would pass the other 5 before the blue lights were on us only for the lead car to slow right down ensuring we would all meet at the same point. A burst up to 80-ish cleared the other cars shortly before a black X5 and a white BMW estate shot by quicker than I've ever seen police vehicles travel on a public road. Mrs 5 was convinced there would be a NIP in the post shortly.

It didn't feel like I could have acted differently at the time.

[carreauchompeur]

^^^ a bit of positivity and forward thinking is ALWAYS appreciated so don’t worry about that!

[5s Alive]

carreauchompeur said:

^^^ a bit of positivity and forward thinking is ALWAYS appreciated so don’t worry about that!

Good to know, I had thought as much but began to doubt myself as Mrs 5 kept bringing it up for the rest of the holiday.

[MutiMuti]

My father used to call this the 'British Disease' beause he maintained from many years driving on the continent that it was a rare thing over there but relatively common here. If I'm in the performance car, I can usually pass without even being aware if they've put their foot down or not, but, I've had silly moments where there is ample time to overtake and suddenly the car I'm overtaking floors it. And of course there's the opposite - you overtake to an acceptable gap between two cars and the second car brakes madly anticipating you're going to overtake him/her also when you're not, and in the process closes your gap.

[Peter3442]

[quote=MutiMuti]My father used to call this the 'British Disease' beause he maintained from many years driving on the continent that it was a rare thing over there but relatively common here. If I'm in the performance car, I can usually pass without even being aware if they've put their foot down or not, but, I've had silly moments where there is ample time to overtake and suddenly the car I'm overtaking floors it. And of course there's the opposite - you overtake to an acceptable gap between two cars and the second car brakes madly anticipating you're going to overtake him/her also when you're not, and in the process closes your gap.[/quote

There are certainly two countries in Europe that are as bad or worse. I've lived in one and just over the border from another.

[aturnick54]

I was behind what I believe to be an inexperienced learner the other day in a residential area doing 10mph in a 30mph. Went to overtake when the road was clear to pass, and they sped up of course.

No idea why, panic maybe? Surely the instructor should be paying attention to other road users trying to overtake and stop the learner from accelerating as is advised in the HWC

[anonymous-user]

I’ve been in a situation like this where someone blocked me by swerving out as I went past. They argued there was a pothole on the road they were avoiding. Dash cam footage sorted that one out. As did quick response from police who happened to be nearby. That was 30 on a NSL road. Deeply frustrating. Clear conditions. No rat runs or hidden junctions to the side. When I got up to 30 he would speed up then slow down. Stupidity has no expiration date.

[carreauchompeur]

The weirdest blocking trait I see at the moment is people getting grumpy with me using L2 of the motorway on slip.

Utterly bizarre. I wouldn’t do it if there was a solid lane of traffic, but if it saves me joining the motorway at 43mph then I’m all for it.

Literally no way I’ll get in their way, obstruct or endanger them but these utter badgers still like to block it.

[MutiMuti]

O.K. confession time. Many many years ago I had this experience with a car driving very erratically. Speeding up where there was an overtake, slowing down to less than 30 where there was not, very slow where there were double white lines but a possible overtake because of the slow speed. This went on for about five miles. Eventuall I managed an overtake but in my eagerness to get past, just clipped the end of double white lines by about a yard. The car immediately pursued me flashing its lights and overtook me in a thirty limit. I saw it was being driven by a police officer who was indicating that I should stop, which I did. The officer was a Chief Inspector in uniform who cautioned me for overtaking on double white lines. When he said I would be prosecuted I replied with two words 'No doubt'. So I was prosecuted, and in the Chief Inspector's statement to the court he lied about what I'd said, attributing to me a whole sentence of verbal insolence. I was pretty disgusted by this – a senior police officer lying and behaving in that manner in order to get a minor traffic conviction?

When I told my fishing companion who was the local Bobby, he laughed like a drain and said that was the Chief Inspector's 'speciality' - driving in that manner trying to gaod people into overtaing on double whites. “He does it all the time”, he said.

Later I learned that as the Chief Inspector was driving his own car, his insurance did not cover him for police pursuit driving or using it to stop other road users so he himself was actually guilty of the far more serious offence of driving without insurance the moment he chased after me.

A year later, recognising the car, I overtook the Chief Inspector and saw he had a Sergeant with him. In the mirror I watched him gesticulating to the Sergeant no doubt telling of what had previously transpired. The weather was atrocious with heavy rain. I accellerated away into a series of sharp bends and the Chief Inspector followed. I took the first bend in third, on the limit, controlling the understeer (front wheel drive car) as the Chief Inspector chased and caught up with me by exceeding the speed limit as followed me in to the bend. I watched in my mirror too see him lose control of his car spinning backwards on the wrong side of the road. I didn't see where it ended up as it disappeared from sight. I carried on without stopping.

The next time I went fishing with my local bobby friend I asked him if the Chief Inspector had been involved in any accidents. He said yes, his car had been a write off. Details were not known as Traffic had dealt with it and were sworn to secrecy, but the rumour was he'd crashed backwards into a wall. I told my friend what had happened and he said “Well, he's an absolute bd with all of us, serves him right.”

Now this happened in the irresponsibility of my youth, and, it's debatable whether or not I caused that RTC, after all the manner in which the Chif Inspector drove was entirely his responsibility, and, he was not driving in accordance with his insurance so he was breaking the law. Also, I did not plan what happened, I actually did not expect him to be so stupid. I merely thought to annoy him by driving away from him through the bends faster than I knew he would be able to follow. But, I am acutely aware that if there had been a car coming the other way, an innocent person or persons could have been seriously injured or killed. Feel free to castigate me.

[mickyh7]

MutiMuti said:

O.K. confession time. Many many years ago I had this experience with a car driving very erratically. Speeding up where there was an overtake, slowing down to less than 30 where there was not, very slow where there were double white lines but a possible overtake because of the slow speed. This went on for about five miles. Eventuall I managed an overtake but in my eagerness to get past, just clipped the end of double white lines by about a yard. The car immediately pursued me flashing its lights and overtook me in a thirty limit. I saw it was being driven by a police officer who was indicating that I should stop, which I did. The officer was a Chief Inspector in uniform who cautioned me for overtaking on double white lines. When he said I would be prosecuted I replied with two words 'No doubt'. So I was prosecuted, and in the Chief Inspector's statement to the court he lied about what I'd said, attributing to me a whole sentence of verbal insolence. I was pretty disgusted by this – a senior police officer lying and behaving in that manner in order to get a minor traffic conviction?

When I told my fishing companion who was the local Bobby, he laughed like a drain and said that was the Chief Inspector's 'speciality' - driving in that manner trying to gaod people into overtaing on double whites. “He does it all the time”, he said.

Later I learned that as the Chief Inspector was driving his own car, his insurance did not cover him for police pursuit driving or using it to stop other road users so he himself was actually guilty of the far more serious offence of driving without insurance the moment he chased after me.

A year later, recognising the car, I overtook the Chief Inspector and saw he had a Sergeant with him. In the mirror I watched him gesticulating to the Sergeant no doubt telling of what had previously transpired. The weather was atrocious with heavy rain. I accellerated away into a series of sharp bends and the Chief Inspector followed. I took the first bend in third, on the limit, controlling the understeer (front wheel drive car) as the Chief Inspector chased and caught up with me by exceeding the speed limit as followed me in to the bend. I watched in my mirror too see him lose control of his car spinning backwards on the wrong side of the road. I didn't see where it ended up as it disappeared from sight. I carried on without stopping.

The next time I went fishing with my local bobby friend I asked him if the Chief Inspector had been involved in any accidents. He said yes, his car had been a write off. Details were not known as Traffic had dealt with it and were sworn to secrecy, but the rumour was he'd crashed backwards into a wall. I told my friend what had happened and he said “Well, he's an absolute bd with all of us, serves him right.”

Now this happened in the irresponsibility of my youth, and, it's debatable whether or not I caused that RTC, after all the manner in which the Chif Inspector drove was entirely his responsibility, and, he was not driving in accordance with his insurance so he was breaking the law. Also, I did not plan what happened, I actually did not expect him to be so stupid. I merely thought to annoy him by driving away from him through the bends faster than I knew he would be able to follow. But, I am acutely aware that if there had been a car coming the other way, an innocent person or persons could have been seriously injured or killed. Feel free to castigate me.

I'd rather buy you a Pint.

[SlimJim16v]

mickyh7 said:

I'd rather buy you a Pint.

Same here

[al78]

Veryoldbear said:

I live in Occupied North Berkshire, the natural home of the 40mph driver. What is it with 40mph? Is there some basic thing in the psyche that seems to consider that 40mph is the right speed for all eventualities?

They are endemic in Sussex and Surrey. I reckon they have bombs installed in their car which will detonate when the speedometer reaches 40 mph, rather like the film Speed, at least some of them seem to drive like that is the case.