It finally happened

[aww999]

Driving into work this morning on A-road. I overtake a slow moving lorry (he was doing about 40mph) and the numpty coming the other way flashes his lights, and waves his finger at me in a "you naughty boy you shouldn't be doing that" style.

The thing is, he flashed his lights the moment I pulled out to overtake, before he could make any judgement of how fast I was gonna accelerate or how long it would take me to complete the maneuvre; I didn't even bother dropping a gear or getting into the turbocharged funzone because I had so much time to get past this lorry; after I'd pulled back into my lane, I had enough time to flash my lights AND make a few appropriate gestures before he passed me from the opposite direction.

I took ten seconds to overtake something, and came within a nailbiting 15 seconds of crashing (with plenty of spare acceleration if it were needed), and somehow this was construed as an incredibly dangerous act by the FCUKING NUMPTY in the white estate car. What a prick. I can see why you boys get so wound up about this now that it's happened to me. Perhaps if someone does it again I'll hang around in their lane until the very last second, just to sh1t them up a bit . . .

[jj_work]

Or maybe he had taken his test and was a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists - and (as Road Craft suggests) was just making you aware (as the sound of the horn or flash or the headlights - as per the highway code - is to make someone aware) of his/her presence. Obviously it all depends on the situation, but I may have done the same - but only a single simple flash though.

I must admit that if I ever come over behind someone very quickly, I will always flash the headlights when I have pulled out, so they are aware of my overtaking manoeuvre. Admit that I do get some hand gesture's back sometimes, doesn't bother me - at least they've seen me..!!

[raceboy]

If I took everyone up on their invitation for a coffee I'd never get home from work at night

>> Edited by raceboy on Monday 14th October 12:38

[M@H]

[torqemada]

I must admit that if I ever come over behind someone very quickly, I will always flash the headlights when I have pulled out, so they are aware of my overtaking manoeuvre.

Let the piss take begin!

[aww999]

There was no reason for me not to be aware of his presence though (and what was the finger waving all about?!?!) as we were on a nice straight of road with no obstacles to visibility. I came round the corner behind the lorry, knowing there was a straight there, saw this car coming towards me and thought "He's far enough away that I can pull out, accelerate, and tuck back in without getting anywhere near him or breaking a sweat" and performed a calm controlled maneuvre (how DO you spell manueouevre btw?) which was only spoilt by him spitting the dummy for no apparent reason!

I think what annoyed me most was how successfully he managed to wind me up, normally I just shrug off stuff like that but this guy really pissed me off.

[madcop]

If the opposing driver had time to flash his lights, there wasn't a problem

>> Edited by madcop on Monday 14th October 12:46

[apache]

I don't know how or why it started but overtaking has been singled out as the newest most socially unacceptable thing next peadophilia, I have even heard of cars with bumper stickers proclaiming 'overtakers, see you at the undertakers' I think if I ever met one of these mentally challenged inbred f**kwits I'd lose the plot completely

[griff2be]

somehow this was construed as an incredibly dangerous act by the FCUKING NUMPTY in the white estate car. What a prick. I can see why you boys get so wound up about this now that it's happened to me. Perhaps if someone does it again I'll hang around in their lane until the very last second, just to sh1t them up a bit . . .

Perhaps you should just relax a little. The other driver didn't like your manouvere but does it really matter? Safe in your opinion, not in his. All he did was flash his lights - give him a friendly wave and get on with your life!

Your alternative course of action, which I assume is not serious, will only serve to reinforce the other driver's view that your overtaking is dangerous, which it will be if you do what you suggest.

[Deester]

For me this is a fairly normal gesture from other drivers. I used to drive a LOT in the west coast of Scotland. Always stuck behind some truck / caravan /slow tourist overtaking slow traffic was common. As soon as I pull out I would have people flashing lights at me from a distance, being in my M5 at the time I could pass the slow moving traffic like a bullet.

I swear that some drivers even increased their speed to try and prove their point.

Its a dangerous world out there!!!

Deester...

[aww999]

Apache - in the same way that anyone going slower than you is a numpty, anyone who is going faster is a maniac . . . On my average 35 mile trip into work, all single carriageway A-roads, I overtake 10-30 numpties a day who choose to travel at 50mph or less. I choose to travel at about 60-80 depending on which exact bit of road I'm on, and also get overtaken quite often myself. Guess that makes me a numptiac or summat.

Griff - you're absolutely right of course, like I said I normally let these losers get on with it, I just got particularly enraged by this one. I guess spending all weekend watching the snooker left me awash with adrenaline or something?

[CarZee]

I've said it before and I'll no doubt say it again: If you don't get flashed or coffeebeaned at least once, it's been a wasted journey.

Upsetting the terminally de-clued is a part of my motoring raison d'etre...

[mondeoman]

Nice manoeuvre (spell checked!! rofl)!!!

Keep up the good work and keep our highways flowing!! Overtake as many of these twats as you can and show em how quickly we could be travelling, safely, if they just concentrated and got on with the job in hand.

They are a bunch of sanctimonious no-brains and deserve to have their licences taken away. Had one tailgat me last nite through a couple of villages (about 2 miles of 30 limit) - I'd blatted past about a mile before, dropped back to just over 30 and up he comes......... right up me arse - he must've been doing 50 still as he came up behind me. And he must've close to 60 yo as well - sad ol git. Bet he thought he was a safe driver n all. I just sat there n smiled - never saw him again once we got to NSL ....

[griff2be]

mondeoman said: Nice manoeuvre (spell checked!! rofl)!!!

yeah, fair enough. I had most of the right letters, and some of them were even in the right order!

[cajun]

Shortly after getting my Chim 450 I took a day's lesson from a seasoned old pro. We did some track stuff, some skidpan stuff and then out onto the open road.

I rather liked his frequently flashed gesture of wave / thumbs up / wave in quick succession which meant "Thanks, you are a courteous and skillfull driver" or "I'm humouring you, you utter prick" depending on the context.

How supremely sarcastic, unruffled and generally old-pro like of him then.

Beats my line of: glad I met you, because I meet one cnut every week and its nice to have it out the way...

[VictorMeldrew]

This happens a lot when you have a car which accelarates rather than gathers speed. The majority of road users have NO IDEA how quickly you can pass something. Try the same thing in the car the numpty was driving and you will quickly appreciate why they get wound up.

I'm waiting for the day that overtaking is deemed unsafe and banned completely. I'm pretty sure that more and more of the countryside is getting solid whites as it is.

[ariel]

The friendly wave in return is my favourite too. Usually winds them up and not me. That, to me, is the most important point.

[CarZee]

VictorMeldrew said: I'm waiting for the day that overtaking is deemed unsafe and banned completely. I'm pretty sure that more and more of the countryside is getting solid whites as it is.

A frightening thought, but an inevitable outcome of the Orwellian nightmare we're living in.

As it happens, there are a couple of long journeys that I do regularly and I swear that each time, I find myself on a section of road thinking.. there are double whites here.. I over took 3 cars on this stretch last month.. WTF??

And there are sections which have always had double white lines and yet have been perfectly safe roads on which to overtake (I'm still here aren't I? ).

I've come to the conclusion that it's part of our collective national (if not human) neurosis which requires something to worry about. People really have got it easy today compared to all of human history. But the instinct to seek out that which is a threat to you and guard against it hasn't subsided.

I think it's fair to say that humanity has advanced an awful long way when one of our national concerns is the paltry number of people who die on the roads.. equally, It's testament to the immense arrogance of some to think that inevitable outcomes can be reduced to zero and never again would a life be lost on the roads. And of course it's through the stupidity of others that such assertions become accepted.

The only solution is to start wiping people out. If they want Orwellian - I'll fcuking give it to them

[nonegreen]

VictorMeldrew said: The majority of road users have NO IDEA

Nuff said

[mondeoman]

I just slip them the bird - not my problem they lack a complete understanding of basic physics and chemistry and have the hand/eye co-ordination of a one-eyed thwombling gimp.

Foot on throttle transfers linear motion to angular rotation of fuel regulator and/or throttle, which allows more fuel/air into cylinders. Compression and ignition takes place, additional energy is released and harnessed by the crankshaft and transferred to increased rotational speed of the drivetrain, hence increasing the rate of travel. More throttle = more acceleration. By selecting an appropriate gear ratio, the rate of acceleration can be increased, allowing you to GET PAST the twat in front who has no brain capacity to think for himself/herself. And the nob coming towards you with minimal brain capacity for processing data that his eyes are passing to him cannot understand how a 1 mile gap can possibly be sufficient for you to get past a car doing 40 when you are doing 80+ .....

Knobs, idiots, numpties. Round em all up and take away their licenses.