Advanced Driving confuses normal motorists!!
Discussion
Let me tell you a little story:
This morning, on my usual commute to work, which is about 20 miles of mostly National Limit B road between villages (which are all 30mph), i caught a queue of 4 cars, doing approx 40-45mph. As the section i caught them up at is straight an well sighted, i had been half offside (straddling white line) for probably 500m or more on my approach, and hence could see the road was clear ahead, and an overtake was on. However, i could also see the car immediately behind the slow "follow my leader" car would probably also be looking for an overtake. Predictably, he was far too close to the lead car and had very poor visibility as a result. Hence, i didn't go "Blasting past" as i expected him to pull out in front of me. Sure enough, he pulls out (using the classic rush up behind the obsticle, swerve out whilst flooring it, and hope" overtaking technique) but i could simply back off a little and let him go. He completed his overtake, and continued to accelerate to around 85mph, which on this bit of road is a pace i would classify as a "making progress" but not mad kind of speed. So, not wishing to go much faster, i simply far followed (probably 50 to 75m behind) for a bit.
So far, so good.
However, the road narrows slightly, and dips down into a sweeping left had bend, which is still a bend you can negogiate in excess of the national limit, but one that has a T junction in the bend. Here, it is critical to ensure both that the junction is empty (no one about to pull out onto the main road) AND that no one is turning off the main road onto the smaller road and so will be braking to a much lower speed that the natural speed of the bend. As we approach this bend / junction, the car ahead has caught a Van and is probably less than 5m behind them (hence has NO visibility of anything), so i hang back, (probably still about 75m behind) and as i can see there are no on-coming traffic (the elevation of the road makes this possible) i move pretty much full offside to give me full visibility of the bend/junction and what the Van is possibly about to do. At this point i see the guy in the car ahead drop his drivers window and start to gesticulate out the window. Needless to say, his distraction("waving" at me) and his close follow of the Van results in him having to brake late and hard as the Van suddenly brakes and indicates to turn off the main road (totally predictably tbh), i stay full offside, and can now see around the corner that the road is clear on the other side. At this point, the car ahead is down to around 30ph, i am carrying a leastt 20 mph more (having started way back, and positioned for visibility / not caught up in the van turning off) so as we crest the next small rise in the road, and with a clear road ahead, i perform an overtake, which due to our differential speed and the performance of my car is over and done before you can say "coming through".....
Job done i think.
Unfortunately, unknown to me, there are temporary traffic lights in the next village, so said irate man catches back up, tailgates me (horrendously close, think <1 foot behind i estimate), waving and gesticulating some more.
when we stop for the lights (me leaving a massive gap ahead, due to his tailgating and obvious angry/ careless driving) i do what i generally never do, and get out to ask him what the problem is.
And the problem was "I was on the wrong side of the road, like dangerous maniac, into a blind corner"
Of course, you can't reason with people in these situations, so i simply asked him not to tailgate me please, and got into me car and drove off when the lights changed.
So, there you go, positioning your car so you can actually see stuff, leaving large gaps in front, and driving at a constant speed without having to brake or cause other drivers obstruction are now classed as "dangerous and maniacal" by normal drivers.
Oh, the irony.....
This morning, on my usual commute to work, which is about 20 miles of mostly National Limit B road between villages (which are all 30mph), i caught a queue of 4 cars, doing approx 40-45mph. As the section i caught them up at is straight an well sighted, i had been half offside (straddling white line) for probably 500m or more on my approach, and hence could see the road was clear ahead, and an overtake was on. However, i could also see the car immediately behind the slow "follow my leader" car would probably also be looking for an overtake. Predictably, he was far too close to the lead car and had very poor visibility as a result. Hence, i didn't go "Blasting past" as i expected him to pull out in front of me. Sure enough, he pulls out (using the classic rush up behind the obsticle, swerve out whilst flooring it, and hope" overtaking technique) but i could simply back off a little and let him go. He completed his overtake, and continued to accelerate to around 85mph, which on this bit of road is a pace i would classify as a "making progress" but not mad kind of speed. So, not wishing to go much faster, i simply far followed (probably 50 to 75m behind) for a bit.
So far, so good.
However, the road narrows slightly, and dips down into a sweeping left had bend, which is still a bend you can negogiate in excess of the national limit, but one that has a T junction in the bend. Here, it is critical to ensure both that the junction is empty (no one about to pull out onto the main road) AND that no one is turning off the main road onto the smaller road and so will be braking to a much lower speed that the natural speed of the bend. As we approach this bend / junction, the car ahead has caught a Van and is probably less than 5m behind them (hence has NO visibility of anything), so i hang back, (probably still about 75m behind) and as i can see there are no on-coming traffic (the elevation of the road makes this possible) i move pretty much full offside to give me full visibility of the bend/junction and what the Van is possibly about to do. At this point i see the guy in the car ahead drop his drivers window and start to gesticulate out the window. Needless to say, his distraction("waving" at me) and his close follow of the Van results in him having to brake late and hard as the Van suddenly brakes and indicates to turn off the main road (totally predictably tbh), i stay full offside, and can now see around the corner that the road is clear on the other side. At this point, the car ahead is down to around 30ph, i am carrying a leastt 20 mph more (having started way back, and positioned for visibility / not caught up in the van turning off) so as we crest the next small rise in the road, and with a clear road ahead, i perform an overtake, which due to our differential speed and the performance of my car is over and done before you can say "coming through".....
Job done i think.
Unfortunately, unknown to me, there are temporary traffic lights in the next village, so said irate man catches back up, tailgates me (horrendously close, think <1 foot behind i estimate), waving and gesticulating some more.
when we stop for the lights (me leaving a massive gap ahead, due to his tailgating and obvious angry/ careless driving) i do what i generally never do, and get out to ask him what the problem is.
And the problem was "I was on the wrong side of the road, like dangerous maniac, into a blind corner"
Of course, you can't reason with people in these situations, so i simply asked him not to tailgate me please, and got into me car and drove off when the lights changed.
So, there you go, positioning your car so you can actually see stuff, leaving large gaps in front, and driving at a constant speed without having to brake or cause other drivers obstruction are now classed as "dangerous and maniacal" by normal drivers.
Oh, the irony.....
To be fair, if id know they was an additional extra set of temporary lights just up the road i would have just sat behind them. However, if you take that view, you'd never take any overtake, and would just become one of the blind sheep.........
As it was, the overtake was so handed to me on a plate i couldn't refuse it. A combination of improper and proper positioning resulted in the perfect overtake being set up, and i didn't really even need to accelerate to pass him (i did of course).
My gripe, is not actually with the other driver, who unless they had been specifically taught some more suitable advanced skills is simply ignorant that there is another, better, method for driving their car. It's more that these days, people are more likely to expend effort to admonish or insult, rather than simply pay attention to the basic task of driving...........
As it was, the overtake was so handed to me on a plate i couldn't refuse it. A combination of improper and proper positioning resulted in the perfect overtake being set up, and i didn't really even need to accelerate to pass him (i did of course).
My gripe, is not actually with the other driver, who unless they had been specifically taught some more suitable advanced skills is simply ignorant that there is another, better, method for driving their car. It's more that these days, people are more likely to expend effort to admonish or insult, rather than simply pay attention to the basic task of driving...........
Isn't part of advanced driving considering the impact of your actions on other road users? If you can't see why the way you were positioning your car could seem aggressive and/or confusing to other drivers then maybe you need to build that into your planning.
Also, we're all normal motorists.
Also, we're all normal motorists.
AER said:
I see where you made a mistake.
Getting out and talking to other road users is a big one. It can easily be seen as threatening no matter how its done, even if it's not intended to be. There is a non-zero risk of being stabbed or mutilated with a chainsaw and put piecemeal into a roadside rubbish bin at this point. Not recommended under any circumstances.
I totally agree, but i had checked the guy out behind, who looked normal and not too ranty/shouty. I also had a queue of other cars in front and behind, so lots of witnesses, and i made sure he couldn't get out of his door, just in case.Getting out and talking to other road users is a big one. It can easily be seen as threatening no matter how its done, even if it's not intended to be. There is a non-zero risk of being stabbed or mutilated with a chainsaw and put piecemeal into a roadside rubbish bin at this point. Not recommended under any circumstances.
I also asked him politely to please not tail gate me, allowed him to tell his story, and we ended up agreeing to disagree and shook hands.
charltjr said:
Isn't part of advanced driving considering the impact of your actions on other road users? If you can't see why the way you were positioning your car could seem aggressive and/or confusing to other drivers then maybe you need to build that into your planning.
Also, we're all normal motorists.
Again i agree, but i'm not going to put myself at more risk just to please other less well educated motorists.Also, we're all normal motorists.
If it's safer to move offside for me, then i'm going to do just that even if it makes another clueless motorist angry.
NOTE: he had no valid reason to be angry, other than he felt, in his opinion, like i shouldn't be driving in the fashion i was driving. I didn't tailgate him, i passed him quickly, cleanly and safely. I think tbh, his ego was probably annoyed that someone had "caught him up and overtaken him" because he thought he was going pretty quickly (which he wasn't). It's the old "i'm driving as fast as i can, therefore how can it be safe for someone to go any faster" syndrome.
Unfortunately, because everyone drives a car, they think they are good at it. Take another activity, running. I can run down the street, but i can't run a 4min mile. However, it is clearly possible too run a 4min/mile, and most people, when jogging down the street, if overtaken by a faster runner, wouldn't shout angrily at them as they ran past.
hornetrider said:
Given that the other driver was maintaining circa 85mph in an NSL, did you choose to overtake as that wasn't enough for you? It's a fairly full on strategy to overtake someone who is travelling at those speeds given the reason he has slowed down is because the vehicle he is following has slowed to exit the main road. Did you not foresee how your actions could be perceived? And what would happen when he returned to his previous speed?
Perhaps i should have been a bit clearer or described it better.The angry guy ahead only did 85 when down the straight bit of the road after he overtook the first slow car. At that as i said, i was more than happy to far follow him. However after that, because his observation was poor(and he was busy getting distracted) he was down to low speed, which mean't a pass was very easy and there for the taking. Sure i could have just followed him along the road all the way, but considering i was clearly on average going faster than he was (as i had caught him up) i don't see why i should then have to just follow him or someone like him, on the off chance they might get miffed when being overtaken! If that were the case, i'd just plod along at 40mph, just following everyone else like the rest of the sheep on that road everyday.
And the reason he was slowed down is because he didn't leave himself enough room, for observation or maneuver, whereas my road positioning mean't i could see the Van was going to turn off, so i moderated my speed early, and hence had a clear run around the bend after the van had turned off, unlike angry man, who, being right up the vans chuff only had time to nail the brakes when the van put his indicator on and "suddenly" braked.
hornetrider said:
I put it to you, sir, that you were trying to show him how good you were.
good at what? causing offense!?? ;-)Seriously, the one thing i HAVE learn as i get older is to never judge anyone else too soon. When i see another driver making progress i'll do all i can to make their drive safer and smoother. Had the guy ahead continued down the road at 85mph, which incidentally is very easy to do in a modern car (and a LOT more in fact) driving safely, smoothly and with good anticipation, i'd have sat back and enjoyed watching them do just that!
pim said:
His 85 mile a hr driving so safely might have cost him 100 quid and three points.
Only in conjunction with a complete failure of observation! (ie, failing to spot the police car, camera van or fixed camera etc, which, lets be honest, generally aren't exactly "well hidden" now are they.........)Gassing Station | Advanced Driving | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff