What happend to the Overtake?

[cazzer]

I was driving to work this mornin in the Landy when it appears (I haven't gone under to look yet) that one of the steering bushes collapsed (at least).
It was like driving on ice with the odd random direction change thrown in for sts and giggles.

I turned it round and nursed it 5 miles home at 20mph. Did anyone overtake? No.

Even through the wide open, see for miles, 50mph, used to be 4 lanes but is now two, best overtaking opportunity section of road.

No, they all sat behind me and followed me like lemmings at 20mph.

What happened to drivers in this country?

[Cyder]

You want to try the A507 around Shefford/Henlow in the mornings, two lane stretch of road and you often find yourself four abrest!

And you don't tend to get the militant types on there, people who are being overtaken keep left and allow the overtakers to get on their merry way.

[300bhp/ton]

cazzer said:

I was driving to work this mornin in the Landy when it appears (I haven't gone under to look yet) that one of the steering bushes collapsed (at least).
It was like driving on ice with the odd random direction change thrown in for sts and giggles.

I turned it round and nursed it 5 miles home at 20mph. Did anyone overtake? No.

Even through the wide open, see for miles, 50mph, used to be 4 lanes but is now two, best overtaking opportunity section of road.

No, they all sat behind me and followed me like lemmings at 20mph.

What happened to drivers in this country?

Can't have been any Audi's behind you then.

[kambites]

Problem is, once you've got about three muppets behind you who wont overtake but aren't leaving a sensible gap, it's a lot harder for anyone behind them to get past. That's why the highway code says you should pull over and let the queue behind you past.

[suffolk009]

We've all had it though - you do a perfectly reasonable overtake - clear view, straight road, warm sunny day, nothing coming, etc etc. And then you get flashed by the irate slower driver.

Oooh, I feel better for that.

[anonymous-user]

Seems that people are going slower and slower on most roads including motorways. Possibly in the hope it will save fuel? There seems to be an increasing amount of drivers who will ONLY use the middle lane. So when you pull out from lane one they sit on your bumper until you have overtaken and moved back over - very irritating. Why not maintain a constant speed and move to lane three?

I guess a lot of people are scared of overtaking on single carriageways - no idea why though. I suppose you do get the idiots coming the other way flashing and gesticulating furiously even though they are miles away.

[cazzer]

kambites said:

Problem is, once you've got about three muppets behind you who wont overtake but aren't leaving a sensible gap, it's a lot harder for anyone behind them to get past. That's why the highway code says you should pull over and let the queue behind you past.

Yes but the highway code isn't taking into account my wheel may have fallen off

If it wasn't a road with plenty of good overtaking places (especially a car doing 20mph), then I would have.

[LooneyTunes]

A lot of the time you're sadly reliant on the first 1 or 2 cars behind the slow vehicle being prepared to overtake... otherwise every other driver seems glued to the bumper of the car in front - with the lack of places to merge back in leaving other drivers further back, who do want to overtake, with no option of passing in stages.

There's one road round here that I drive regularly, with a few places where one can safely get past others, but the scowls one gets from other drivers suggests that a large percentage of drivers think that overtaking is aggressive/unnecessary in some way. You can almost hear the tutting of "they won't get there any sooner" as you cruise past.

[kambites]

cazzer said:

Yes but the highway code isn't taking into account my wheel may have fallen off

If it wasn't a road with plenty of good overtaking places (especially a car doing 20mph), then I would have.

One could argue that the possibility that you only have three wheels left, would be a better reason to pull over stop.

[cazzer]

kambites said:

One could argue that the possibility that you only have three wheels left, would be a better reason to pull over stop.

It's a 17 year old Landy. 4 wheels are for girls.

[GreatGranny]

Worse is the ones who refuse to overtake a much slower vehicle and then close the gap to the vehicle in front. They then flash their lights and give the wker sign. A17 Holdingham R/bout to Newark is classic for this especially when an HGV is doing the legal limit of 40mph.

[300bhp/ton]

kambites said:

cazzer said:

Yes but the highway code isn't taking into account my wheel may have fallen off

If it wasn't a road with plenty of good overtaking places (especially a car doing 20mph), then I would have.

One could argue that the possibility that you only have three wheels left, would be a better reason to pull over stop.

Or at least pull over and have a look to see how safe/unsafe it was to proceed

[cazzer]

300bhp/ton said:

Or at least pull over and have a look to see how safe/unsafe it was to proceed

I did. I didn't think the bit about me pulling over in a small car park, swinging off all the bits of the suspension I could get hold of. Checking there wasn't undue free play in the wheels etc. added much to the point of the thread.

Which was overtaking.

[Mo D]

kambites said:

Problem is, once you've got about three muppets behind you who wont overtake but aren't leaving a sensible gap, it's a lot harder for anyone behind them to get past. That's why the highway code says you should pull over and let the queue behind you past.

Spot on. I nearly had a head on crash (which would have been mostly my fault admittedly) because a muppet was doing 45-50mph behind another very slow car (I think an old 4x4 Mitsubishi) on the A47 heading to Leicester, leaving very little space for a faster car behind to overtake. So I pulled out to overtake both cars, I looked ahead and it was a clear path, but after overtaking one car another car appeared in the opposite direction and I had to move in to the (very small gap) between the two cars.

Que me getting flashed from the elderly gentleman behind me. I apologised but at the same time I was thinking why tail gate the car in front if you have no intention of overtaking? I then overtook the second car easily. But it is extremely frustrating, especially when people rarely stick to the NSL but get irate when you do safely overtake (not on this occasion I admit).

[soda]

I love the Irish approach, quick flash of the lights if needed to alert the driver in front. He squeezes over, oncoming traffic squeezes over and you can drive straight down the centre of the white lines. No hassle and no road ragers, everyone on their way.

Sadly up here it seems to be the case that overtaking many people results in a mobile disco in the mirror as they furiously flash their lights. Despite the fact that it's a 2 mile straight and no other cars on the road, not forgetting the car that appears 1 mile in the distance and flashes the lights because you are on the opposite side of the road

[cheadle hulme]

Considering the driving skills of 95% of the population, I'm probably rather glad they don't overtake on single carriageway roads in case I'm coming the other way.

[OMNIO]

I googled that A507 and theres several roads in Norfolk I know of that are similar. I've been wondering whats the legal standing of a car keeping far left and the faster traffic using the middle to pass?

I know its common place in most Eastern European countries to use 'the 3rd lane' but is it frowned upon here? It make sence to me as the road is easily 2 cars wide and it means you dont need to go all the way over to the other side of the road.

As long as it doesnt get like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G3MDjORgY0

[renrut]

I'm surprised I don't see it more often as there's a nice stretch of NSL on the way to work but you often get lorries trundling down it at 40-50. Visibility is pretty good and you can overtake in a fairly underpowered car easily with loads of time to spare - I've done it in an automatic fiesta yet people still just glue themselves to the back of the lorry and trundle on.

Occasionally you'll get a Muppet who thinks its still a 30 an trundles along and the queue rapidly builds up behind them with no one brave enough to overtake.

Only seen 5 overtakes since I've been driving that road and 2 of them were people following me round.

I suspect its people not knowing how fast their car can accelerate if pushed but also knowing what sort of distance they need to leave free to get round a car.

[Unpowerfulybuilt]

As an IAM Advanced Driver, I frequently seize the opportunity to swoop swiftly and efficiently on my prey if they are going significantly slower. However, even if the road ahead is clear, occasionally it is still not safe to overtake due to the horizon being restricted because of a bend in the road.

[groovylee]

Cyder said:

You want to try the A507 around Shefford/Henlow in the mornings, two lane stretch of road and you often find yourself four abrest!

And you don't tend to get the militant types on there, people who are being overtaken keep left and allow the overtakers to get on their merry way.

This i have done that more than once. people just seem to instantly grow some common sense when they are on that road. shame the same can't be said on the stretch between baldock and buntingford - home of the 40mph brigade