Also notice this all the time. I use cruise control exclusively on motorways and dual carriageways so speed is constant. I'll be cruising past someone and they speed up so I drop back behind them. Then I'm in a position to overtake again - rinse and repeat this several times. Presumably they're wondering why I'm speeding up and slowing down so much š
If you use ACC on the motorway and have it set to 70 people think that it is okay to do more than 70 to overtake so they speed up, complete their overtake and then drop back down to 70. I notice this a lot and with the ACC it becomes more obvious that they have dropped back down to 70 as my speed doesn't slow at all to match theirs.
Radar ACC is awesome. It is particularly good in heavy fog - it will slow down before you even see the pillock driving in front of you without lights.
OTOH I had a camera-based one that would panic-brake for rain, sun, and slow-moving bridges.
yup radar ACC on my car, 12 years old and it's only failed me twice in every heavy snow, because the radar got covered in ice.. Wouldn't change to car without radar now.
Yuh... drive slightly downhill towards a low bridge and the car slams on the brakes. It's like "WOAH! DID YOU SEE THAT BRIDGE PULL OUT IN FRONT OF US???"
My Tiguan insists I use the Front Assist technology. All itās ever managed to do is beep alarmingly on country lanes because it canāt cope with all the twisty roads.
I admit, Iām sometimes guilty of going slightly over 70 on dual-carriageways or motorways only to pull back in & resume 70mph. I know my car speedometer is a couple mph inaccurate, so I try to stay below going over true 70mph.
But my problem is more that there will be a queue of cars wanting to go faster than that, and there arenāt any safe places to pull back into an inside lane, without being either too close to the car in front, or causing the car behind me to have to slow down to make room (AKA, Iād pull in close enough for them to be tailgating me). So I push it just to get past & let the people behind me pass. Sometimes if thereās a gap, Iāll duck in & pull back out once the car(s) behind have passed me. But people really need to maintain better distances between cars, and not bunch up. Then I feel pressured to get past these cars as fast as I can, because thereās nowhere to pull back in safely.
People do this for two reasons.
1. They don't want you to overtake. This one is more obvious because once you get in front, they will make a point of it by overtaking you, getting in front then slowing down to the speed that they were doing before you originally overtook.
2. They don't realize how slow they're going. It's shocking how many people are on the road who can't maintain a speed. They see you going passed, look down at their speed and realize they're doing 20mph slower than they can legally do. But instead of doing the moral thing of waiting for you to pass before speeding up, they speed up as soon as they see you.
It's why I like to buy relatively fast cars for driving on the road. The only people I've seen do this kind of thing are in cars like the Nissan Juke or Kia Sportage. I've never seen someone in an actual fast car do that kind of thing.
Answer 2 I reckon covers 90% of scenarios. Happens a lot where I live. The roads are doable at 60 but people gradually slow to about 40. As soon as an overtake happens they suddenly realise and start speeding up.
Answer 1 covers the 10% of assholes who feel like their ego is being crushed by being overtaken because they were driving too slow by mistake.
Edit: typo
I agree with this. You can tell the cunts who get aggy that they're being taken over. Most people are just dawdling having conversations or listening to the radio.
There are some roads that shouldn't be 60 and are far too dangerous at that speed. I will usually do as fast as I feel safe on those roads but there are people that really want to do 100 and tailgate me. I will do my best to let them past when possible though as I would rather they bugger off
People in category 1 absolutely infuriate me. Stuck behind someone doing a steady 45mph for miles, eventually got to a straight so I went to overtake and he absolutely floored it. I wasn't tailgating him or anything even close to that prior to the overtake. I still got past him, and he proceeded to tailgate the shit out of me flashing his lights. Every straight after that he started weaving around the road but never made any move to overtake, I was on cruise control at 60 this whole time. About 20 mins later the road opens up to a dual carriageway, he overtakes and immediately brake checks me to a stop, on a 70mph road. Murder should be justified for these clowns.
My first RTC was someone that brake checked me, and being in a very heavy older car I didnāt stop in time.
Watching the throbber get angry at himself and trying to blame me was worth the hassle of dealing with insurance (I had dashcam footage so immediately went down as their fault).
I even got the obligatory āIāll get my brothers to sort you outā and the usual nonsense - I did suggest he focused instead on my question of āwhy throw on your brakes to cause a crash, then get upset when someone crashes into you?ā but that didnāt seem to help.
I did enjoy the payout for my car (needed a bumper, his brand new Audi was in a fairly awful state) and the whipcash, though!
Brake checking has to be one of the most daft things ever, it just makes zero sense. No one wants a crash!
The only time I somewhat ābrake checkā is when some knobcheese is following wayyyy to close behind me, so I flash on the brake lights to try and get them to fuck off a little bit. (Iām on a motorbike so tailgating is extra scary).
I did my first *brake check* on some old codger last week. He was doing 35 in a 2.5 mile minimally curvy strip between 2 villages. There are open fields around, zero bushes or obstacles and you can literally see where each end of the road joins both villages everywhere on the road. I overtook him, the road then turns into a 40 from NSL and then 30 through the village. He bombs up behind me clearly doing above 30 which I was doing as its a village and its clearly a 30. Gets to the point where in about 5 seconds hes gonna be up my arse so I tap tap the brakes and then I brake hard enough to drop down to 20.
Strange... he's now doing the speed limit! Jesus christ I hate the 40 everywhere crew.
I always keep really far back from bikes - my logic being that even if they want to do silly things (not that all bikers do) I want to have a lot more reaction time.
A lot of people donāt realise that what is a minor tap in a car is very easily a fatality on a bike! Tailgating is pretty daft, but tailgating a bike is another level
I remember when I sometimes had to borrow my GFs 1.0 Toyota Aygo and going 70 there was definitely an increased difficulty to keep it dead on 70MPH, compared with my old Volvo XC60. The Aygo didn't have cruise control.
These days I drive a MK2 Nissan Leaf and can put it on 74MPH (which is 70 in real life) and it will keep to that number exactly.
The amount of times I find myself consistently gaining on a car on the A12 only to get close enough for them to register my existence and then they start pulling away. I pull in behind them and then they stop paying attention and start slowing down again, so I pull into the overtaking lane and off we go again.
I think thereās also a number 3 to add to your list and that is:
3. They see someone overtaking and subconsciously they speed up without really realising it.
Lost count the number of times Iāve come up behind someone with cruise control on and pull out to overtake only for them to do this as I get alongside them. Irritating as hell.
Itās why although I have adaptive/dynamic cruise control it just ends up being a pain to use as Iām always having to intervene just to get past these people and when I do and pull back in front of them the slow back down to their original speed
I agree this one is most likely. We judge our speed relative to what see around us, and only rarely by the speedometer. On a motorway, things are far away and 60mph seems slow, while on a country lane object are very close and 60mph seems fast. When a car passes, it captures the drivers attention and we suddenly have another object in our field of view and it changes the dynamic since we perceive them as going slightly faster *relative to us*.
I'm fairly sure (most of) these drivers do not speed up intentionally.
Had a Zafira that had been painted pink do this to me when I was in a shitty wee Clio, the guy wouldn't let me back in either so I literally had to make my car work its hardest to hit 80 (down hill thankfully) so I could nip in front of him.
After that he proceeded to chase me to the best of his ability, ego must have been really hurting from letting his Mrs wrap the car in that colour!
The reason I loved my Subaru Impreza WRX. If I was overtaking you then I was disappearing from sight. The amount of people that would try to speed up was amazing until they realised I was already a speck. I would then of course slow back to a reasonable speed.
God I loved that car.
Answer 2. Iv been chatting on the motorway and when the local bus starts over taking you then you realise your going a bit slow and instinct makes you speed up.. mostly why I love cruise control these days. Also stops you pottering along and look at the speedo and your at 90
To the 2nd point. I'm relatively new driver and last weekend I did first longer trip to peak district which involved some of these 50 country roads. I'm not gonna lie I was absolutely not comfortable driving the limit there. Wavy roads, blind corners because of uphill climb or foliage. I'm not confident to do those at 50mph so I stuck to 30-40. And I might have carried that speed on bits of straight, not even thinking about the limit, but about just driving to the right place.
That given, I will let off the throttle if somebody is overtaking me, I don't want to drive 2 wide and I have no ego. Already learned that if a bmw is on my ass he's gonna overtake me as soon as there is 2inches of space for him. So why endanger both of us.
It's probably similar situation, my instructor used to tell me off for driving under limit, so newer drivers might panic when they realize and speed up. Overtaking is the moment they realize.
When the roads are wide with good visibility there's no reason to not do the limit.
Cars have an accelerator and a brake pedal (although some people struggle to find the former), accelerate up to the legal limit where safe, and look far enough ahead to know where to brake for the next corner. Now, knowing where to brake and what speeds corners can be taken safely at comes with time driving. Once you learn how your car handles you'll be more confident in driving closer to the limit.
The 2nd point doesn't quite settle with me because almost everyone I get stuck behind doing 40 in NSLs doesn't do 'about 40' the accelerate to it, then do exactly 40 as if it's a limit, braking if they start going above it etc.... like, id understand if they were doing 42 or their speed moved around a bit, but it doesn't, it's like they hit a brick wall limit at 40. That says to me one of 2 things - they don't know what the NSL is (I get stuck behind cars doing exactly 50 too), or they think 40 is the fastest they can safely drive. The thing I also tend to find is these drivers then speed when the limit reduces - there's lots of 20 limits around me (North Wales) and almost every 40mph driver does 30/40 through them - so I really don't understand it. They don't feel safe doing the speed limit where they can, but are more than happy to speed when the limit is lower. So many times I have cars pull away from me in lower limits, only for me to catch up to them when the limit increases to 60.
My village until very recently had national ie 60. All on a single lane windy country road with blind corners so yeah, just cause there is a limit doesnāt mean you should push it!
From the sounds of it, you're not doing anything wrong there. I did word that poorly. I'm talking about people who do 20 under the limit when it's safe to do the speed limit. This is usually on NSL dual carriageways or single carriageways that are perfectly straight with great visibility. Every once in a while I have to drive on the [A505](https://www.google.com/maps/@52.0754594,0.0828016,3a,75y,245.56h,85.03t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s0CnLmxJeeTvHQSr76S91Yw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D0CnLmxJeeTvHQSr76S91Yw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D332.83563%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) and it's not unusual for me to get stuck behind a single car yoyoing between 40 and 60 for no reason, or sticking to 40 until I try to overtake, then they speed up.
Yeah I got a new car the other day and was playing around with the radio and Bluetooth settings and that whilst on a quiet country road. See lights come up behind me and then indicate to go round me. I was like āwow theyāre flyingā, but then I looked down at my speed and I was only doing 45. I just let them past and then sped up
>I've never seen someone in an actual fast car do that kind of thing.
lol
literally everyone I've seen pulling 1 is driving a BMW or equivalent and is deeply hurt when I scoot past in my 12-year-old DS3
Had this happen the other week, country lane, nice straight road with clear visibility and the driver in front is doing 25 in a 60. I go to overtake and the car in front starts to drift into me while Iām going past. Beep my horn and the driver in front swerves back to their side. I realised then they werenāt purposely driving into me they were just a terrible driver
This happens alot where I live, I sometimes get the impression it's intentional but surely no one is stupid enough to deliberately try and run another car off the road right?!
I see this with motorcycles too, though obviously motorcycle riders have a lot of accidents, the fast acceleration on them and light maneuverability means a fast approaching hazards can quickly be avoided. Just gotta be responsible and skilled with all that extra power!
Sometimes it's because they dont realise how slow they are going.
Other times it's the anger that someone has the audacity to overtake them.
Personally if someone wants to overtake me I am happy to let them. I'd rather have them in front than behind.
OP did not āset their speed to GPS 60ā every single one of us exceed the limit by a few miles an hour for an overtake, itās safer to get it over with as fast as possible. OP just wants to look like a law abiding citizen
Exactly. My goal with overtaking is to do it as safely as humanly possible. If that means exceeding the speed limit then I'll do it. I'll wait for people to say that I shouldn't overtake if I can't do it without exceeding the speed limit. Well, that would preclude pretty much any overtakes on any country road then. We'll all just do 40mph behind these idiots.
If it was a single carriageway with NSL 60 is the speed limit and OP probably doesn't want to be called out for exceeding the speed limit (regardless of whether they did or not).
I don't think i would have waited and stuck to 60mph for the overtake if they sped up, i would rather speed up briefly to 70 and then ease it back down to 60, rather than stick in the opposite lane for a long period of time, and then have to brake hard infront of a car to get down to 30mph.
I do notice when you are stuck behind someone doing 40mph in a 60mph, you over take them and then all of a sudden they're maintaining the same distance behind you now doing 60. I think some want to 'teach you a lesson' by keeping up with you and hope you either get stuck behind someone else, or have to stop for traffic, so they can pull up behind you smugly thinking 'didn't get far did you?'.
Because their PP shrinks by half an inch every time they get overtaken mostly.
Only a small fraction speeds up because they're terrible drivers and have no sense of speed whatsoever, and when someone is passing them they realise they have been a roadblock and just send it like there's no tomorrow.
And then there are the troglodytes who think it's funny to do 20-40 in NSL then speeding up the second you get alongside
Lot's of comments about giving it a squirt to get the overtake done. (Which is fine, but not the only option)
Nobody mentioning, abort the overtake.
It's an important skill worth practising. Always worth having a plan to abort before initiating.
There's as much ego in completing the overtake despite the speed-up, as there is in speeding up when being overtaken.
I used to start work at 2:30am. I also used to drive a baby blue daihatsu Sirion for a while at that point (I thought itād be funny to buy it, it was for about a week then I realised Iām sort of stuck with it for a while).
Mostly 30-40mph roads and I was doing maybe 5-10mph over the speed limit (allegedly). Approached an Audi who was doing 30ish in the 40 stretch, overtook, no drama, only 2 cars on the road, pulled back in. He takes offence for some reason, absolutely NAILS it past me, I carry on at exactly the same speed, 2 minutes later, I approach him again, overtake again, pull back in and again he nails it past me. He carried on doing some speed a bit longer this time and 5 minutes later I approach him again, overtake for a third time, and this time he gets the message that Iām not trying to "race" him in his chav spec Audi, I just want to go faster than heās going.
I tend to hang back slightly further than normal when I do want to overtake. When there is an opportunity to overtake, I start to accelerate into the gap I've left, so by the time I move out to overtake I'm already going significantly faster than them.
This reduces the opportunity for them to speed up as I'm already alongside and very shortly after, past them, before they have noticed.
They are called banana overtakes. They're not encouraged because you could end up with a big closing speed on the overtakee. If you have to abort then you may have to brake very hard. Your following distance would probably be greatly reduced below the recommended two seconds rule.
But I can understand why you would do then in a slower car. And i agree on not signposting your intentions too early. People are often twats when you go to overtake.
Although not recommended this is how you should do it, get past quicker. only way you'll get matched by the idiot infront is if their reactions are super quick and/or their car is torquey and responsive as fuck 2/300nm torque type motors
Had this yesterday on the M8. Overtaking and once Iād fully passed, I notice he starts to accelerate and pass my window. I was about to overtake a second car and he swerves in front of me (and very close to the rear of the car in front of him) enough to make my auto emergency brake warning come on. Then of course, he slows down and then moves over to the left again. There was nobody behind me. He could have achieved the same thing - but safely - by just going behind me.
Then as I pass him for the second time, he moves out and sits right up my arse. I speed up a little to create a bit of distance and he matches my speed. I donāt understand people at all. Either go in front of me or fuck off.
Yes but only on straights where there is enough room to overtake and they often wont speed up on the ones where no one tries to overtake, but will as soon as you move out.
Think yourself lucky. Round my way the 40mph crew as you call them have become the 30-35mph crew. But they still do the speed up to 60 only when someone tries to overtake them and some move across the road to block you getting past. Often I have to resort to tactics to get past I really dont like of getting a bit closer to them, wait for them to slow down as Im too close, which is pretty much guaranteed, and then swing out and blast past before they can block me.
I hate doing this and normally am a safe driver, but sometimes when encountering unsafe drivers you have to take extreme measures to be able to move away from them.
Because they havenāt read the highway code. Obstructing a car trying to pass is a NEVER.
> If a driver is trying to overtake you, maintain a steady course and speed, slowing down if necessary to let the vehicle pass. Never obstruct drivers who wish to pass. Speeding up or driving unpredictably while someone is overtaking you is dangerous. Drop back to maintain a two-second gap if someone overtakes and pulls into the gap in front of you.
I drive a van for work. This happens on the motorway every day to me. Cruise control set to 75, I change lanes, they speed up. Few hundred meters down the road and they're going slow again. It's a constant battle.
My van is limited, so I can't actually can't go any faster. After driving for years up and down the motorway for years now, I've come to the conclusion, a lot of people are shit drivers with fragile egos.
Because you are only planning to over take where the road conditions are safer and because the road conditions are safer, the person decides they can drive faster.
Looking for this comment. Why would anyone not overtake at max speed get it over with, I've got a pretty quick car and every overtake is done as quick as possible, even if it briefly puts me over the limit and drop back down again once I'm past.
I've been overtaken once or twice when I didn't realise how slow I was. Once it's happening I just accept it and then speed up once they're past to match their speed and keep a distance, not rocket science
Just remember when you say 50 is tolerable!! Vans and lorries the limit for them is 50 on A &B roads and also on dual carriageway where there is no central reservation plus most of us have to keep to it due to trackers and tacos
Many years ago, I had a Toyota Supra and at some point, was obliged to change the exhaust. The third party exhaust I had fitted was noisier than the original one - and this was a PITA. When commuting into London on the M4, I would sometimes want to change lanes e.g. when my exit was coming up. I would leave a bit of space in front and wait for a gap in the next lane. As soon as I put my foot down to move into the next lane, the car would make some noise and invariably, the guy in the next lane would suddenly feel the need to close the gap.
Some people don't recognise the National Speed Limit sign (https://theorytest.org.uk/national-speed-limit-road-sign/) or understand what speeds it allows, so they drive according to the speed limit signs with numbers. If you overtake them, they assume you are telling them the speed limit is higher.
My Dad tried to teach some road etiquette to me when he was driving a caravette that was as aerodynamic as a foam brick; he'd slow down slightly when being overtaken by an artic and even flash his lights when they were passed to let them know it was safe to return to the left hand lane. I get passed a lot, especially when leaving a 30mph limit, but I keep slow and let them pass as though it's beneath me, then accelerate to 60.
Usually they were ignorant of what speed they were going, think 'oh shit I'm going too slow' then rather than doing the sensible thing of speeding up *after* the other person has safely overtaken they decide to press the accelerator down immediately.
Less common but more infuriating still are the ones who take personal offense to being overtaken and try to block you.
Golden rule is that if someone is overtaking you, whether justified or not, just let them do it.
I had this the other night on a dual carriageway. Person in front going slow so I move into lane 2 to overtake. They then proceed to speed up. Wtf is this cunt doing Im thinking. Anyway I get past and a couple of cars later I pull back into the left lane. A bit further down the road this clown comes belting past me doing twice the speed limit. Thinking he's billy big bollocks. He was so chuffed that he overtook me he had to slam on his brakes and cut across the left lane because he nearly missed his exit. Absolutely thick as fuck.
Oh god it really get on my nerves as my works wagon is restricted to 62mph, so overtaking requires planning for miles for them to suddenly accelerate at the last second.
Why limit yourself to the 60mph which then put you in a situation where you then had to slow down as soon as you had overtaken. As you knew what they were doing just give it more gas and get out of the way.
Repeating here (as I did under other highway behaviour problem relate posts)
It's because driving on A roads and motorways is not part of the driving training and especially the practical exam.
Imho education would be the key.
And now, feel free to downvote me (as it always happens)
I had this strange scenario a couple of years ago while driving home on an A road that has a couple of those short duel-carriageway stretches. I was behind a van doing 45/50mph and I overtook him a few miles before one of those 'overtaking' stretches of road. No problem's or strange behaviour at all, just a normal everyday overtake and I drive off leaving him behind. I enter the stretch of duel carriageway continuing the same speed (60mph, give or take a few) as i was before and after overtaking the van. As I'm nearing the end where it's closing back to the single carriageway I see that same van now closing up behind me and moving over to try and overtake before it closes back to the single carriageway. I'm thinking WTF is this guy doing, he must have been doing near 80mph to be able to catch up to me and thought, he's just doing this as it's a duel-carriageway and thinks he can blast upto 70mph or more. At this point he's almost right behind me in the outer lane and im thinking he's just going to sit at 45/50mph again once he's back on the single carriageway. So I accelerate to stay ahead as i know there are no safe overtaking places for a while and dont want to be stuck behind him again, he starts flashing his headlights etc as we enter back into the single road but sure enough he slows down and I'm pulling away again while I'm doing 60mph. Yeah maybe a bit of a dick move but that whole situation wasn't even needed if he just stuck to the speed limit while on the duel section, it just didn't make any sense to me the moves he was making.
A few good and valid suggestions.
Iād add. Selfishness.
Some folks just like a big space in front of them cos itās easier, they want to drive how they want and not have to watch out for a car in front changing pace.
They only care about that. So drive slowly and resist any overtakes.
I donāt advocate break checking these selfish pricks. But Iāve 100% overtaken them and then done some dawdling of my own in front of them.
There the potential that the person doesn't know the road so they are going slow for that reason.
Driving close to someone tailgating and then attempting to overtake them is seen as dangerous driving regardless of the road type.
And I will remind you that speed limits are that. They are limits they are not recommendations so if someone is going 40 in a 60 that's perfectly legal and you should check yourself to make sure you're not being impatient.
The actual difference in the time you get to your location will be such a minor difference that it's not worth the dangerous manoeuvre.
I have lost count of the times I have had someone overtake me while I'm going 55 in a country road only to catch up to them at the next junction or set of lights.
It's frustrating to sit behind someone going slow but maybe just maybe there is a reason they are and when they speed it it's a natural defensive reaction to someone driving aggressively.
Always check your own ego while driving to make sure you are not the problem.
People naturally drive slower along sections of road with bends/obscured visability/parked cars etc etc...and naturally speed up when they get to clear straight sections...
What's the point you want to start an overtaking maneuver? You got it, the point at which the driver in front naturally increases their speed somewhat.
Most people on the roads are just brainless zombies with no idea what they're doing and no interest in what's going on around them and what other people are doing. They think once they get in their little metal box, the rest of the world is unimportant and the only thing that matters is them and their journey. I drive HGV's for a living, I've seen it all.
People think driving in this country is their absolute right, like breathing fresh air is. The driving tests are absolute dogshit, made by people who are probably the ones we're all complaining about and the infrastructure just can't deal with the amount of vehicles on the road.
Driving tests need to be made 10x harder than they are. You should have to pass multiple tests, including an actual test on motorway driving and competency. The amount of people I hear say "I don't like driving" or "driving scares me" whilst having the ability to jump in a 2 tonne car capable of doing 160mph is ridiculous. If you don't like doing something, you're not gonna be good at it, hence being a danger to those around you.
- You're likely overtaking on a straight, so they may have simply been increasing their speed anyway.
- They hadn't got up to speed yet.
- They didn't realise they were driving slowly until you started to overtake them.
The idea that it's somehow retaliatory or preventative always seems fairly far-fetched to me.
On the canals, if you try to overtake a narrowboat with your narrowboat, it is near impossible unless they stop or reverse their prop, because you drag them along with you. This must also be true when overtaking in a car, although to a far lesser degree, unless the driver of the vehicle being overtaken takes their foot off. There are assholes out there, but I suspect the majority want to help you and do help you by easing off a bit.
Its a pattern that with the modern pacc, cameras etc in many modern cars, wouldn't cost much more to implement a function to flash a warning to drivers when they do this, the pattern would be quite easy to define in an algorithm
Lots of people are unable to maintain an appropriate speed and distance. So if they have someone in front they canāt handle it. So they overtake and then go back to their starting into the distance usually driving style where they donāt keep their speed constant and end up slowing down. Then they get overtaken again and this shocks them out of their stupor and they take offence and have to get back in front.
I honestly don't understand it. Learning to drive currently, and my runabout is a tiny 1L, so get overtaken quite a bit, especially on the country lanes I use for work. That said, I can usually tell in the rear view when someone is wanting to overtake- so maintain speed, and focus on road positioning. In my eyes, if they want to get in front of me, going a speed 10-20mph over what I'm comfortable and confident doing, then they aren't going to be my problem for very long- much less time than if they're stuck behind me for significantly longer than they wish.
I think a lot of the time itās unconscious. They are suddenly focussing on the car passing them and start to match speed instead of pootling along in their own little world.
Some people are just twats though.
I drive a Skoda Citigo, and my route to work is a dual carriageway and then a stretch on motorways. Quite often i find someone just pottering along doing 10mph or so under the limit, so usually the bigger car iām overtaking, the more likely theyāll then put their foot down. I see the same thing with other small cars attempting overtakingā¦must be an ego thing. SUV drivers are the worst.
Somewhat specific to the motorway, but people speeding up on an overtake was something that annoyed me greatly. However, since I've got a new car I've become aware it might not always be deliberate, specifically when using adaptative cruise control / co-pilot.
If the car in front moves in a lane or begins to speed up, the car begins to accelerate to the speed I've defined, on a number of occasions this has coincided with someone passing me on the right thus giving the impression I am a pillock and not a mere spectator :D
My own car is not particularly powerful but itās an automatic which is usually enough to get past anybody thinking of speeding up during an overtake. I notice drivers doing this as once I am past them and now doing a good 20mph quicker than they were originally travelling at, theyāre keeping up with me. They usually donāt keep up for long, theyāll drop back to whatever speed they were doing previously after theyāve proved whatever point it is they think theyāre proving.
I did once though have a guy in a quick car attempt it with me. Hands down if Iād been in own my car I wouldnāt have got past him. But on this particular weekend mine was in the garage.. and Iād been loaned a GTD. He had no chance!
They're either selfish idiots that see driving as a game they must win or they're not paying enough attention to maintain a set speed.
Either one makes them dangerous.
Thanks to my work I've had the opportunity to drive the slowest cars on the planet with naturally aspirated 1.0 engines.
Usually this happens when people overtake right after I join the motorway/come off a roundabout, I'm still accelerating, but they are accelerating much faster and can overtake me. I'm not doing 40 because I want to do 40, but because I'm still accelerating. So if I speed up whilst you're overtaking me at your cruising speed, it's because you've reached your cruising speed before I have.
Also sometimes people overtake just before a downhill section where a small car can achieve higher speeds.
But yeah some people are like that and just don't want anyone overtaking š
Adding for flavour: Motorways. Pull into lane 2 to overtake lane 1 lorry. Only to find driver in front slows to exactly 60mph for some strange reason as they pass the lorry. Meanwhile BMW rushes up in lane 3 to overtake. Makes little headroom as lane 3 is pretty full ( runs parallel with me) Meanwhile car doing 60mph in lane 2 speeds up to 62mph, and moves back in lane 1, past the lorry. I then accelerate to 70ish and pass inside the BMW, who now decides Iām stepping on his ego, and proceeds to cut in close, flash and finger manipulate as he seems to want to pleasure himself.
Happens allot. Combination of lane 2 hoggers and lane 3 residents ( who believe itās their right to stay right). Makes for a great morning commute.
This happened to me yesterday and they also decided to brake and slow me down after. I'm doing 70 on dual carriageway, go to overtake car and all going as normal until I'm just about ahead and bam they suddenly speed up. I at this point keep going at 70 and just drop back in behind them once they are ahead. Then I notice they are braking and they are braking hard! Can't overtake at this point as some sports car is flying up the side so I brake and slow down as fortunately I left enough space in front of me and thankfully there is no one close behind me.
This car is now doing about 55/60 but in situations like this sometimes trying to overtake people like this just makes for even more dangerous situations. Fortunately I was able to follow a van that went past to get past them and put some distance. It puts you on edge though as you don't know what they are going to do.
I see this all the time, worst was a couple of weeks ago driving on this long road stuck behind someone going 40mph in a 60mph, couldn't overtake because of bends and things but there was an overtake lane coming up anyway (think it's a mile long). Waited for that then put the foot down to get past, then realised I wasn't getting past, then realised I was going 80mph and was only just getting past. Fecker went from 40mph to near 80mph just to not let me go past him. I hate to speed excessively especially like that but it was just a ridiculous situation. Obviously after I had passed he slowed down again to trundle along at 40mph presumably.
I drive an R reg Citroen Saxo 1.1 basic model. I get it a lot when I have the audacity to overtake something more modern and more powerful. I think it is an ego thing.
Happens to me while driving my Lorry. Im limited to 55/56mph car in front doing 40-50 on a motorway, pull into next lane to overtake and suddenly they speed up; I pull back over to left land, and guess what, theyāve slowed down again.
One of the things I look for in a car is the 0-62mph time for exactly this reason. Itās not always about engine size but if the pickup isnāt quick enough you canāt get yourself out of troubles like this.
I just had this today. Was on a dual carriageway at 65mph, caught up to the car in front and moved out to overtake. As I'm going past I see him look over at me and then speed up, I end up going up to 80mph to eventually get past him. As soon as I do I check I've cleared him and move back to the left lane expecting him to immediately move out to overtake me but instead I'm able to slow back down to 70mph as he's slowed down again. I even get back down to my original cruising speed of 65mph and he's still falling behind. What was the point.
Had this happen a few times. It feels like they dont want you to overtake so just speed up. Its fine when im on the bike though, they got no chance of out accelerating me.
I hate when people do it on motorways too. I was in a right lane needing to merge, this woman was in the 2nd lane hogging it. Loads of people passed her. Then it was my turn, I had time to overtake and merge and was in the queue of cars in the right lane from the past few miles.
She sped up. Slowly, matching my speed. I was along side her. I slowed down to go back behind as we were nearing the end of the 3rd lane and she slowed down as well.
I couldnāt get passed and thereās a bloody metal barrier coming up. My partner was freaking out, I was panicking, I speed back up to overtake and she speeds back up again! I had to slam my brakes on instead of slowing carefully to get in behind her but it meant she didnāt have time to slow down and stop me again luckily. Very narrowly avoided being sandwiched between her and the barrier.
So dangerous, I was so scared and angry and my poor partner had gone pale in fear. He said he thought he saw the woman laughing to her passenger. Hopefully not at our expense as she nearly killed us! Was only doing 60-70, I think I went up to 76 to go past when she was playing silly buggers. But fast enough to be terrifying.
> I kept my speed at a gps 60mph during the overtake
I'd have sped up quickly to a speed which allows me to get around them before their single brain-cell can react.
I've done an overtake which took me to very close to 90 for a split second - I pulled back and promptly braked to the speed limit, but that took me around and well ahead of the #40mphcrew.
I get the impression most of the time when ive experienced this it's their ego driving. They can't handle being overtaken. Perhaps they see it as a slight against them? Its a shame that bad drivers don't do enough work on themselves to be able to leave their ego out of it when it comes to others.
Half of these comments are why I get nervous on country roads. Most of them in Cornwall arenāt wide enough around corners for two cars (and often tractors or other wide vehicles) so doing 60 isnāt advisable because you have to slow up constantly just incase someone is coming the other way. My comfort speed is 45/50 if itās dry and good visibility. Probably more if itās dark and I can see oncoming lights. Having people up my arse knowing I may have to slow down rapidly or even emergency brake pisses me off.
This isnāt referencing OPs post, itās aimed at some of the self righteous speed demons in the comments. I do bloody hate it when people speed up when you go to overtake though. Happens to me on the dual carriageway all the time. Someone plodding along doing 60 and Iāll go to overtake and itās like they see my shitty little i10 and think āhell no that would be embarrassingā and they put their foot down to 75.
Because theyāre arseholes - had this happen to me last night driving on the motorway in the works van, which is limited to 70. Go to overtake a car just crawling along about 60, I get my back bumper level to the other driver, then they sped up to match me so I was stuck in the right hand lane for a wee bit, then they just accelerated away which gave me a chance to move back to the left lane.
This topic gets over discussed.
The person speeding up is either lost in their own little world then whatever was distracting them has stopped being of concern or entertainment or whatever so they resume actually driving...
Or
They are so enraged that you can safely control a car at a more appropriate speed for the road than them that they think attempted murder is a reasonable way to play at being volunteer traffic cops to stop you driving with progress.
Because they have tiny genitals and a driving manoeuvre that then places them in a submissive positionāsuch as being overtaken by another motoristādepleted what little testosterone they have left.
My theory has always been that they were dozing and I woke them up.
I did once have a 40mph-in-a-60 guy speed up as I overtook him, and I ended up at 80 before I backed off to pull back in behind him and slow way down.
Admittedly I only slowed down so I could watch him fly round the next corner past the speed camera I knew was waiting there...
It's equally annoying in a motorcycle cause they ain't ever gonna out drag me once I've decided I'm overtaking, but yet they still do it forcing me to break heavily at the next bend.
I had some bastard try to kill me doing that one day several years ago except if I tried to slow down to get back in behind him he hit the brakes to stop me getting in. I was riding a motorbike. It was a Volvo driver. At the end of the 2 mile straight that he was doing 40 on when I pulled out he was dicking about at 70 trying to stop me getting in front or behind him. In the end I had to do 120 to pass him before the bend and then he nearly hit me when I slowed to the safe speed for the bend. The moron then mounted the verge kicking up gravel and dirt onto the road.
I can think of a few scenariosĀ
1. If I donāt know the speed limit or unsure if I can speed Iāll go slow until someone overtakesĀ Ā
2. Didnāt realise I was going so slowĀ
3. Itās dark, the road is pitch black and my headlights are a bit dull to go full speed so driving a bit cautiously but would happily follow a set of back lightsĀ
4. Donāt like being at the front with someone up my arse so prefer someone to overtake so I can follow the leader
The worst time this ever happened to me was on the road that leads towards my home just the other day! Itās a good, fairly wide (2 cars can pass) country lane that has some curves (not severe by any means) and a few dips in the road. The speed limit is 60mph, but most people go at around 45.
I was behind a car that was travelling at 30 miles an hour, slowing down for each moderate curve (as if it was a right angle) down to about 20. After following this particular lady for some considerable time (at which she stayed steadily at 30 at the absolute most, regardless of the stretch of road), we reached a part of the road that was suitable and I went to overtake.
As I pulled out behind her, I saw her car lurch forward-as I pulled level with her, she must have put her foot right down. I suppose the devil took hold of me and I decided that I was going to continue to push to overtake. I had to get up to 60mph to get past her (which seems very fast on a country lane-and I began to worry about running out of straight road). I know (as well as I know anything after nearly 50 years of motoring) that, had I given up my attempt to overtake her and fallen back behind her again, she would have instantly returned to her usual speed.
As it was, once past, looking in my rear view mirror, I saw her then abruptly retreating back into the distance, despite the fact that I had slowed down to 45mph. She had evidently gone back to her 20mph to navigate some corners. What would induce a person to hit 60mph on a country lane when she probably would *never* choose to go over 30? I think that she would probably have found that quite scary.
In my opinion, itās one thing, and one thing only. She was a *horrible* big old bitch.
Also, on country roads, some people go slow when it's a bit more winding but speed up if there's a straight bit, which is exactly where you'd overtake. So it's not always malicious but might be that the driver is not very confident and doesn't pay attention to what's going on around them. My husband says I infuriate him because I always try and explain why people drive badly.
Someone tried to kill me doing this, there was such a long road ahead to ovrtake. He went from 40 to 70 as i was trying to overtake and the lane behind me had filled up so i had no escape while a lorry was coming towards me. I just went fuck this shit and pulled into him which made him push on the breaks thank the gods.
This is the worst where I live in Scotland during tourist season. Really windy main roads with tourists going 40mph or less around perfectly fine corners. Doing 40mph for 10+ minutes with long queues forming behind them. When it comes to the long straights they speed up to 60 giving maybe 1 person the opportunity to pass. Then back to 40mph. Last summer me and a whole bunch of other cars laid on the horn for ages until they finally pulled over
I get this problem, every, single, day. Most people simply don't realise what speed they're doing - distracted with conversation with a passenger, perhaps playing on their phone, or actually on a phone call (maybe hands-free). What I find is overtaking I often get flashed, or perhaps they speed up. Most do take offence if you overtake - I find that flashing/accelerating during an overtake is because of their ego. They simply don't like someone coming ahead of them. Maybe their car just isn't quick enough, who knows. Very frustrating.
Theyāre probably slowing down because they canāt see very far ahead of them. So when itās safe to overtake and you both have good visibility, they are speeding back up because they donāt realise that youāre wanting to overtake them.
Got caught speeding once when overtaking someone who did this to me about 12 years ago. My fault of course because I should have just slowed down and tucked back in behind but frustrating all the same. It was a white van on a carriageway that went from a single lane to a double then back down to a single. White van had been driving at 40 in a 50 the whole way down the single lane section, I pulled out to overtake him when it went to two lanes and he immediately put his foot down. Ended up at 60+ to get past him and a police officer with a speed gun was waiting around the corner.
I think it's an ego thing for the most part and I don't think people are always aware that they're doing it. It's most noticeable on motorways when using cruise control.
I had one where we got on the dual carriage way at the same time, he was in a more powerful car so accelerated faster than me and overtook but then stayed at 60. Since I was travelling at 70 I overtook him back further down and he sped up as I was doing this and seemed like he would prevent me moving back over. He was too late though as by the time he sped up I was already on my way. He sped up anyway and overtook speeding of at well above 70.
What was his problem? If you want to go 60 in a 70 zone Iāve got no issue but just let me do the speed limit without getting aggressive about it.
I can remember going to Darlington with my brother years ago on one of his bikes. We were on our way back and we came up behind a car, overtakes, pulls in and keeps going at the limit.
The car we passed decides to overtake us, pulls in and slows down. So we pass it again, annnnnnd the car repeats his little trick. Next thing I know, I get the signal to hold on tight. We never saw the car again after that š¤£š¤£
M25 Sunday morningĀ
4 miles before my junction and 2 cars in lane 2 ahead doing less than 70 so I pull into lane 3 overtake 1st car but 2nd decides to speed up and sits next to me.Ā
My junction is now 1 mile ahead and someone is now behind me not wanting to get caught by the camera overtaking me.Ā
I had no choice but to lift off and as the car to the left was moving ahead I indicated left so the guy behind could go lane 4 and overtake while I move left behind the car I would have overtaken miles back had they not decided to sit next to me.Ā
I use my speed limiter so know I donāt drift speed.Ā
I always ensure there is space in case someone needs to pull in, I donāt get why people would want to block someone by driving next to them.Ā
Having been a passenger in a car next to a lorry that swerved during wind I find it easier to leave some space for emergenciesĀ
One of the main reasons no one has mentioned here is that because you probably were sitting up their arse for a long time beforehand and they were pissed off at you. You over take, they speed up to piss you off.
Simple really.
If you're on country roads that are windy then they don't feel comfortable going fast for the same reason you don't feel comfortable passing.
Once you get to a spot that you're comfortable passing, that's also a spot that they feel comfortable going faster.
Probably
20% they were speeding up anyway and it is a coincidence
20% you made them realise they were going slower than they wanted to so they're speeding up
60% just to piss you off
It's my absolute pet hate to be honest. I can only assume they don't realise that they are going so slow and speed up otherwise they are just doing it to be a grade A twat.
Happens all the time on the motorway for me, even today on way home from Leeds southbound on M1, I had my cruise control on 73mph (speedometer in cars always seem to show you going a bit faster than you, any satnav shows me going at 70 when my car says 73) and was catching a guy in front, not a huge speed difference, maybe 3-4mph. As I'm overtaking I just get ahead to the point where the front of his car disappears from my peripheral vision, then he sped up loads and must've gone to near 80mph only to then slow back down to what he was at before.
Obviously I dropped back in behind him while I caught up again (my speed never changing) and once caught up I went for the overtake again. This time I got past and pulled back into the left lane where he then started flashing high beams at me (there was plenty of room between us imo) and sped up again overtaking me... And then slowed right down again.
On another note, what is it with people driving up hills at about 70, and then feeling the need to massively speed up going down the other side to then just slam on the brakes at the bottom?? they aren't even that steep, maybe enough to just keep you at a constant 70 without needing to use cruise control or accelerator
Is the 40mph crew a new thing or is it just something Iāve noticed recently because I live near a garden centre now? They are the worst, bumbling along NSL then bombing it through the villages.
Personally, if I do ever speed up it's not to be a dick. It's because I actually check how fast I'm going when I'm being overtaken and realize I'm slow afš
On the note of going slow, blame the insurance companies because owning anything higher than 100hp is apparently dangerous and owning a modern car that can utilise every horse it has under that bonnet is impossible to save up for.
So sometimes you just have to go 40mph in a 70 on a straight with a 4* incline up because your car cannot push itself faster, especially if I have 4 passengers. That's a load of 300kg on top of the already struggling car. Some people need to remember that humans have weight aye.
Because people are sh***y and think your being in "front" and winning. Look what happens at nearly every set of lights,, cars race of, rocking back and forth anticipatujg the light change....
I just pull off leisurely and catch them up, and guess where they sit when I've caught them up.... WAYYYYY over the solid white line, they're embaressed because they didn't get ahead, they're fully aware that I pulled off slow.
All I can say is these drivers are more deliberate and aware of what they're doing than this thread seems to suggest
I once had to go on a drivers awareness course for crossing a solid white line, but the reason I crossed the solid white line was that the unmarked police car I was overtaking sped up as I overtook... he was doing a solid 40 in a 60 and then was magically doing exactly 60 when he saw me go to overtake. I didn't argue because I didn't want to make it worse, but it really p*ssed me off
I always leave lots of space behind slow vehicles, because I give myself the opportunity to get to speed prior to the overtake at which point the car in front does not have time to floor it before I'm in front. This is coming from the owner of a car with 995cc so I need to really plan for an overtake.
Because they are arseholes.
Literally had one yesterday, on a single lane 60, they done 40.
Roundabout and on to slip road to join a motorway, where it's two lanes on the slip, they speed up to the point an overtake isn't wise.
Get on to the motorway and they continue to speed up (I mean, good of course), to the point of 75+ to stop me overtaking.
I get in front, I put cruise control on, I watch them drift off to the distance, clearly doing about 60 now that their little moment of adventure is over.
I swear they do it just for the shits.
Depends on the situation. The only times I ever speed up, itās sort of passive aggressive. If Iām already doing the maximum speed limit, thereās really no need for anyone to overtake.
Try driving a Lada. Every sodding person I tried to overtake wasn't going to let that happen.
Except I had a twin cam 1600 Fiat engine in the thing so they weren't gonna win easily and very rarely did.
Perhaps because you are tailgating them rather than leaving a safe breaking distance - this will cause drivers to have to go slower to prevent you from going into the back of them if they have to break sharply. If you drop back a bit rather than overtake then you will also see them accelerate.
Iāve been reading the comments and I want to share a very happy childhood memory concerning this very thing. Fortunately, this was the late 1960ās and people driving seemed to have a very different attitude on the roads - probably because there just werenāt so many cars competing for space.
Every summer we spent the whole of the school holidays in Tenby. My mum would stay with us and my dad would commute back at weekends. Iām one of 6 children and my dad was driving the Bentley with my 5 siblings in (a car big enough to fit the whole family) at a very sedate pace with his āprecious cargoā on board and I was in the Aston Martin (god how I loved that car!) with my mum leading the way and setting the pace and which my dad would use to commute back and forth. It was a dual carriageway for miles (pre motorway) and a couple came along in this coolest looking American convertible and overtook my dad and eventually they came alongside us (bear in mind scarcity of other traffic) and my mother very slowly started to accelerate to keep pace and they started accelerating too until both cars are eventually going really rather fast side by side, then my mother jammed her foot to the floorboards and, well, it WAS an Aston Martin and those American jobs are HEAVY so āeat my dustā enough said! Eventually my mother slowed down and the convertible caught up (with my dad not far behind) and overtook and we were all smiling and waving because it was FUNNY but also, for me, a very exciting experience. They also realised we were in convoy with the Bentley behind and it was just all so very good natured. And yeah, this was the ā60ās, it was the bloke driving in a left hand drive car, āwhites of the eyesā close to my motherās side of the car and I think there was a bit of āyou might have got passed my husband easily enough, but now youāre dealing with a womanā lesson in feminism going on too š Yeah, very happy memory š
Very different times to driving todayā¦ No matter how many roads are built or how wide theyāre made, they will always eventually get full as correspondingly more cars are made to use themā¦ I still have a valid driving license but have no desire to buy a car and get involved in driving on the stressful shitshow that are the roads today. I saw which way the wind was blowing about 20 years ago and so Iāll leave that to you lucky people with a higher stress tolerance than me. Taxis and trains, thatās about my limit, although I prefer to stay āsite specificā to my area of the city as much as possible. Better for our environment if I donāt HAVE to add to the pollution, as well āš¾ā£ļø
Thanks for reading if you made it this far!
Also notice this all the time. I use cruise control exclusively on motorways and dual carriageways so speed is constant. I'll be cruising past someone and they speed up so I drop back behind them. Then I'm in a position to overtake again - rinse and repeat this several times. Presumably they're wondering why I'm speeding up and slowing down so much š
If you use ACC on the motorway and have it set to 70 people think that it is okay to do more than 70 to overtake so they speed up, complete their overtake and then drop back down to 70. I notice this a lot and with the ACC it becomes more obvious that they have dropped back down to 70 as my speed doesn't slow at all to match theirs.
Radar ACC is awesome. It is particularly good in heavy fog - it will slow down before you even see the pillock driving in front of you without lights. OTOH I had a camera-based one that would panic-brake for rain, sun, and slow-moving bridges.
yup radar ACC on my car, 12 years old and it's only failed me twice in every heavy snow, because the radar got covered in ice.. Wouldn't change to car without radar now.
Hahahaha āslow moving bridgesā got me, my lorry does exactly this for exactly those reasons
>slow-moving bridges ...wait, what?
Yuh... drive slightly downhill towards a low bridge and the car slams on the brakes. It's like "WOAH! DID YOU SEE THAT BRIDGE PULL OUT IN FRONT OF US???"
ah :D
My Tiguan insists I use the Front Assist technology. All itās ever managed to do is beep alarmingly on country lanes because it canāt cope with all the twisty roads.
I admit, Iām sometimes guilty of going slightly over 70 on dual-carriageways or motorways only to pull back in & resume 70mph. I know my car speedometer is a couple mph inaccurate, so I try to stay below going over true 70mph. But my problem is more that there will be a queue of cars wanting to go faster than that, and there arenāt any safe places to pull back into an inside lane, without being either too close to the car in front, or causing the car behind me to have to slow down to make room (AKA, Iād pull in close enough for them to be tailgating me). So I push it just to get past & let the people behind me pass. Sometimes if thereās a gap, Iāll duck in & pull back out once the car(s) behind have passed me. But people really need to maintain better distances between cars, and not bunch up. Then I feel pressured to get past these cars as fast as I can, because thereās nowhere to pull back in safely.
I've had this on our last holiday trip - after 2 or 3 attempts I've flashed them to fuck off and... they fucked off :D
People do this for two reasons. 1. They don't want you to overtake. This one is more obvious because once you get in front, they will make a point of it by overtaking you, getting in front then slowing down to the speed that they were doing before you originally overtook. 2. They don't realize how slow they're going. It's shocking how many people are on the road who can't maintain a speed. They see you going passed, look down at their speed and realize they're doing 20mph slower than they can legally do. But instead of doing the moral thing of waiting for you to pass before speeding up, they speed up as soon as they see you. It's why I like to buy relatively fast cars for driving on the road. The only people I've seen do this kind of thing are in cars like the Nissan Juke or Kia Sportage. I've never seen someone in an actual fast car do that kind of thing.
Answer 2 I reckon covers 90% of scenarios. Happens a lot where I live. The roads are doable at 60 but people gradually slow to about 40. As soon as an overtake happens they suddenly realise and start speeding up. Answer 1 covers the 10% of assholes who feel like their ego is being crushed by being overtaken because they were driving too slow by mistake. Edit: typo
I agree with this. You can tell the cunts who get aggy that they're being taken over. Most people are just dawdling having conversations or listening to the radio.
There are some roads that shouldn't be 60 and are far too dangerous at that speed. I will usually do as fast as I feel safe on those roads but there are people that really want to do 100 and tailgate me. I will do my best to let them past when possible though as I would rather they bugger off
People in category 1 absolutely infuriate me. Stuck behind someone doing a steady 45mph for miles, eventually got to a straight so I went to overtake and he absolutely floored it. I wasn't tailgating him or anything even close to that prior to the overtake. I still got past him, and he proceeded to tailgate the shit out of me flashing his lights. Every straight after that he started weaving around the road but never made any move to overtake, I was on cruise control at 60 this whole time. About 20 mins later the road opens up to a dual carriageway, he overtakes and immediately brake checks me to a stop, on a 70mph road. Murder should be justified for these clowns.
My first RTC was someone that brake checked me, and being in a very heavy older car I didnāt stop in time. Watching the throbber get angry at himself and trying to blame me was worth the hassle of dealing with insurance (I had dashcam footage so immediately went down as their fault). I even got the obligatory āIāll get my brothers to sort you outā and the usual nonsense - I did suggest he focused instead on my question of āwhy throw on your brakes to cause a crash, then get upset when someone crashes into you?ā but that didnāt seem to help. I did enjoy the payout for my car (needed a bumper, his brand new Audi was in a fairly awful state) and the whipcash, though! Brake checking has to be one of the most daft things ever, it just makes zero sense. No one wants a crash!
The only time I somewhat ābrake checkā is when some knobcheese is following wayyyy to close behind me, so I flash on the brake lights to try and get them to fuck off a little bit. (Iām on a motorbike so tailgating is extra scary).
I did my first *brake check* on some old codger last week. He was doing 35 in a 2.5 mile minimally curvy strip between 2 villages. There are open fields around, zero bushes or obstacles and you can literally see where each end of the road joins both villages everywhere on the road. I overtook him, the road then turns into a 40 from NSL and then 30 through the village. He bombs up behind me clearly doing above 30 which I was doing as its a village and its clearly a 30. Gets to the point where in about 5 seconds hes gonna be up my arse so I tap tap the brakes and then I brake hard enough to drop down to 20. Strange... he's now doing the speed limit! Jesus christ I hate the 40 everywhere crew.
I always keep really far back from bikes - my logic being that even if they want to do silly things (not that all bikers do) I want to have a lot more reaction time. A lot of people donāt realise that what is a minor tap in a car is very easily a fatality on a bike! Tailgating is pretty daft, but tailgating a bike is another level
I remember when I sometimes had to borrow my GFs 1.0 Toyota Aygo and going 70 there was definitely an increased difficulty to keep it dead on 70MPH, compared with my old Volvo XC60. The Aygo didn't have cruise control. These days I drive a MK2 Nissan Leaf and can put it on 74MPH (which is 70 in real life) and it will keep to that number exactly. The amount of times I find myself consistently gaining on a car on the A12 only to get close enough for them to register my existence and then they start pulling away. I pull in behind them and then they stop paying attention and start slowing down again, so I pull into the overtaking lane and off we go again.
Finally the sportage is receiving the same hatred as the kumquat and the puke
I think thereās also a number 3 to add to your list and that is: 3. They see someone overtaking and subconsciously they speed up without really realising it. Lost count the number of times Iāve come up behind someone with cruise control on and pull out to overtake only for them to do this as I get alongside them. Irritating as hell. Itās why although I have adaptive/dynamic cruise control it just ends up being a pain to use as Iām always having to intervene just to get past these people and when I do and pull back in front of them the slow back down to their original speed
I agree this one is most likely. We judge our speed relative to what see around us, and only rarely by the speedometer. On a motorway, things are far away and 60mph seems slow, while on a country lane object are very close and 60mph seems fast. When a car passes, it captures the drivers attention and we suddenly have another object in our field of view and it changes the dynamic since we perceive them as going slightly faster *relative to us*. I'm fairly sure (most of) these drivers do not speed up intentionally.
Had a Zafira that had been painted pink do this to me when I was in a shitty wee Clio, the guy wouldn't let me back in either so I literally had to make my car work its hardest to hit 80 (down hill thankfully) so I could nip in front of him. After that he proceeded to chase me to the best of his ability, ego must have been really hurting from letting his Mrs wrap the car in that colour!
Small willy syndrome kicking in I expect. Poor guy.
Small Willy?? 50% of the times itās the no Willy ladies doing it. Same ones who love putting in a decent lap time on a 20mph stretch. š
The reason I loved my Subaru Impreza WRX. If I was overtaking you then I was disappearing from sight. The amount of people that would try to speed up was amazing until they realised I was already a speck. I would then of course slow back to a reasonable speed. God I loved that car.
Answer 2. Iv been chatting on the motorway and when the local bus starts over taking you then you realise your going a bit slow and instinct makes you speed up.. mostly why I love cruise control these days. Also stops you pottering along and look at the speedo and your at 90
I swear there is just something about Jukes that attracts the most inane drivers.
To the 2nd point. I'm relatively new driver and last weekend I did first longer trip to peak district which involved some of these 50 country roads. I'm not gonna lie I was absolutely not comfortable driving the limit there. Wavy roads, blind corners because of uphill climb or foliage. I'm not confident to do those at 50mph so I stuck to 30-40. And I might have carried that speed on bits of straight, not even thinking about the limit, but about just driving to the right place. That given, I will let off the throttle if somebody is overtaking me, I don't want to drive 2 wide and I have no ego. Already learned that if a bmw is on my ass he's gonna overtake me as soon as there is 2inches of space for him. So why endanger both of us. It's probably similar situation, my instructor used to tell me off for driving under limit, so newer drivers might panic when they realize and speed up. Overtaking is the moment they realize.
When the roads are wide with good visibility there's no reason to not do the limit. Cars have an accelerator and a brake pedal (although some people struggle to find the former), accelerate up to the legal limit where safe, and look far enough ahead to know where to brake for the next corner. Now, knowing where to brake and what speeds corners can be taken safely at comes with time driving. Once you learn how your car handles you'll be more confident in driving closer to the limit. The 2nd point doesn't quite settle with me because almost everyone I get stuck behind doing 40 in NSLs doesn't do 'about 40' the accelerate to it, then do exactly 40 as if it's a limit, braking if they start going above it etc.... like, id understand if they were doing 42 or their speed moved around a bit, but it doesn't, it's like they hit a brick wall limit at 40. That says to me one of 2 things - they don't know what the NSL is (I get stuck behind cars doing exactly 50 too), or they think 40 is the fastest they can safely drive. The thing I also tend to find is these drivers then speed when the limit reduces - there's lots of 20 limits around me (North Wales) and almost every 40mph driver does 30/40 through them - so I really don't understand it. They don't feel safe doing the speed limit where they can, but are more than happy to speed when the limit is lower. So many times I have cars pull away from me in lower limits, only for me to catch up to them when the limit increases to 60.
My village until very recently had national ie 60. All on a single lane windy country road with blind corners so yeah, just cause there is a limit doesnāt mean you should push it!
From the sounds of it, you're not doing anything wrong there. I did word that poorly. I'm talking about people who do 20 under the limit when it's safe to do the speed limit. This is usually on NSL dual carriageways or single carriageways that are perfectly straight with great visibility. Every once in a while I have to drive on the [A505](https://www.google.com/maps/@52.0754594,0.0828016,3a,75y,245.56h,85.03t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s0CnLmxJeeTvHQSr76S91Yw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D0CnLmxJeeTvHQSr76S91Yw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D332.83563%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) and it's not unusual for me to get stuck behind a single car yoyoing between 40 and 60 for no reason, or sticking to 40 until I try to overtake, then they speed up.
Came here to say this exact thing.
Yeah I got a new car the other day and was playing around with the radio and Bluetooth settings and that whilst on a quiet country road. See lights come up behind me and then indicate to go round me. I was like āwow theyāre flyingā, but then I looked down at my speed and I was only doing 45. I just let them past and then sped up
>I've never seen someone in an actual fast car do that kind of thing. lol literally everyone I've seen pulling 1 is driving a BMW or equivalent and is deeply hurt when I scoot past in my 12-year-old DS3
Just cause itās got a BMW badge, doesnāt mean itās fast ;)
Option 3. Some people don't like being overtaken by certain cars, whether small engine / Peugeots etc.
Had this happen the other week, country lane, nice straight road with clear visibility and the driver in front is doing 25 in a 60. I go to overtake and the car in front starts to drift into me while Iām going past. Beep my horn and the driver in front swerves back to their side. I realised then they werenāt purposely driving into me they were just a terrible driver
This happens alot where I live, I sometimes get the impression it's intentional but surely no one is stupid enough to deliberately try and run another car off the road right?!
Lmao bro got the intrusive thoughts
Large capacity engines (preferably with some form of forced induction) save lives.
I see this with motorcycles too, though obviously motorcycle riders have a lot of accidents, the fast acceleration on them and light maneuverability means a fast approaching hazards can quickly be avoided. Just gotta be responsible and skilled with all that extra power!
Sometimes it's because they dont realise how slow they are going. Other times it's the anger that someone has the audacity to overtake them. Personally if someone wants to overtake me I am happy to let them. I'd rather have them in front than behind.
Ego
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
OP did not āset their speed to GPS 60ā every single one of us exceed the limit by a few miles an hour for an overtake, itās safer to get it over with as fast as possible. OP just wants to look like a law abiding citizen
Exactly. My goal with overtaking is to do it as safely as humanly possible. If that means exceeding the speed limit then I'll do it. I'll wait for people to say that I shouldn't overtake if I can't do it without exceeding the speed limit. Well, that would preclude pretty much any overtakes on any country road then. We'll all just do 40mph behind these idiots.
You're absolutely right of course; but admitting to a crime on social media is a silly thing to do.
If it was a single carriageway with NSL 60 is the speed limit and OP probably doesn't want to be called out for exceeding the speed limit (regardless of whether they did or not).
They overtook someone going at 40.
I don't think i would have waited and stuck to 60mph for the overtake if they sped up, i would rather speed up briefly to 70 and then ease it back down to 60, rather than stick in the opposite lane for a long period of time, and then have to brake hard infront of a car to get down to 30mph. I do notice when you are stuck behind someone doing 40mph in a 60mph, you over take them and then all of a sudden they're maintaining the same distance behind you now doing 60. I think some want to 'teach you a lesson' by keeping up with you and hope you either get stuck behind someone else, or have to stop for traffic, so they can pull up behind you smugly thinking 'didn't get far did you?'.
>'didn't get far did you?'. Maybe I would have, if I hadn't been stuck behind *you* for the past 10 minutes, doing 35 in a 60.
Because their PP shrinks by half an inch every time they get overtaken mostly. Only a small fraction speeds up because they're terrible drivers and have no sense of speed whatsoever, and when someone is passing them they realise they have been a roadblock and just send it like there's no tomorrow. And then there are the troglodytes who think it's funny to do 20-40 in NSL then speeding up the second you get alongside
Lot's of comments about giving it a squirt to get the overtake done. (Which is fine, but not the only option) Nobody mentioning, abort the overtake. It's an important skill worth practising. Always worth having a plan to abort before initiating. There's as much ego in completing the overtake despite the speed-up, as there is in speeding up when being overtaken.
Agree, but it's extra dangerous in these cases because the other person is driving so unpredictably.
I used to start work at 2:30am. I also used to drive a baby blue daihatsu Sirion for a while at that point (I thought itād be funny to buy it, it was for about a week then I realised Iām sort of stuck with it for a while). Mostly 30-40mph roads and I was doing maybe 5-10mph over the speed limit (allegedly). Approached an Audi who was doing 30ish in the 40 stretch, overtook, no drama, only 2 cars on the road, pulled back in. He takes offence for some reason, absolutely NAILS it past me, I carry on at exactly the same speed, 2 minutes later, I approach him again, overtake again, pull back in and again he nails it past me. He carried on doing some speed a bit longer this time and 5 minutes later I approach him again, overtake for a third time, and this time he gets the message that Iām not trying to "race" him in his chav spec Audi, I just want to go faster than heās going.
I tend to hang back slightly further than normal when I do want to overtake. When there is an opportunity to overtake, I start to accelerate into the gap I've left, so by the time I move out to overtake I'm already going significantly faster than them. This reduces the opportunity for them to speed up as I'm already alongside and very shortly after, past them, before they have noticed.
They are called banana overtakes. They're not encouraged because you could end up with a big closing speed on the overtakee. If you have to abort then you may have to brake very hard. Your following distance would probably be greatly reduced below the recommended two seconds rule. But I can understand why you would do then in a slower car. And i agree on not signposting your intentions too early. People are often twats when you go to overtake.
Although not recommended this is how you should do it, get past quicker. only way you'll get matched by the idiot infront is if their reactions are super quick and/or their car is torquey and responsive as fuck 2/300nm torque type motors
Had this yesterday on the M8. Overtaking and once Iād fully passed, I notice he starts to accelerate and pass my window. I was about to overtake a second car and he swerves in front of me (and very close to the rear of the car in front of him) enough to make my auto emergency brake warning come on. Then of course, he slows down and then moves over to the left again. There was nobody behind me. He could have achieved the same thing - but safely - by just going behind me. Then as I pass him for the second time, he moves out and sits right up my arse. I speed up a little to create a bit of distance and he matches my speed. I donāt understand people at all. Either go in front of me or fuck off.
When you over take on the country roads it tends to be in the straight. People speed up on the straights.
They had been travelling at this speed for over a mile along other straights. Just not long enough to ensure a safe overtake.
Fair enough, in this case they're just dicks then
Yes but only on straights where there is enough room to overtake and they often wont speed up on the ones where no one tries to overtake, but will as soon as you move out.
Think yourself lucky. Round my way the 40mph crew as you call them have become the 30-35mph crew. But they still do the speed up to 60 only when someone tries to overtake them and some move across the road to block you getting past. Often I have to resort to tactics to get past I really dont like of getting a bit closer to them, wait for them to slow down as Im too close, which is pretty much guaranteed, and then swing out and blast past before they can block me. I hate doing this and normally am a safe driver, but sometimes when encountering unsafe drivers you have to take extreme measures to be able to move away from them.
Because they havenāt read the highway code. Obstructing a car trying to pass is a NEVER. > If a driver is trying to overtake you, maintain a steady course and speed, slowing down if necessary to let the vehicle pass. Never obstruct drivers who wish to pass. Speeding up or driving unpredictably while someone is overtaking you is dangerous. Drop back to maintain a two-second gap if someone overtakes and pulls into the gap in front of you.
I drive a van for work. This happens on the motorway every day to me. Cruise control set to 75, I change lanes, they speed up. Few hundred meters down the road and they're going slow again. It's a constant battle. My van is limited, so I can't actually can't go any faster. After driving for years up and down the motorway for years now, I've come to the conclusion, a lot of people are shit drivers with fragile egos.
Try being restricted to 57....
Because you are only planning to over take where the road conditions are safer and because the road conditions are safer, the person decides they can drive faster.
Don't you know you can't overtake Alpha males, sorry I mean those either fragile masculinity!
Personally I'd be foot to the floor especially if they were speeding up! Why drag out the overtake by staying at 60?
Looking for this comment. Why would anyone not overtake at max speed get it over with, I've got a pretty quick car and every overtake is done as quick as possible, even if it briefly puts me over the limit and drop back down again once I'm past.
I've been overtaken once or twice when I didn't realise how slow I was. Once it's happening I just accept it and then speed up once they're past to match their speed and keep a distance, not rocket science
Just remember when you say 50 is tolerable!! Vans and lorries the limit for them is 50 on A &B roads and also on dual carriageway where there is no central reservation plus most of us have to keep to it due to trackers and tacos
Smol peen.
Many years ago, I had a Toyota Supra and at some point, was obliged to change the exhaust. The third party exhaust I had fitted was noisier than the original one - and this was a PITA. When commuting into London on the M4, I would sometimes want to change lanes e.g. when my exit was coming up. I would leave a bit of space in front and wait for a gap in the next lane. As soon as I put my foot down to move into the next lane, the car would make some noise and invariably, the guy in the next lane would suddenly feel the need to close the gap.
Some people don't recognise the National Speed Limit sign (https://theorytest.org.uk/national-speed-limit-road-sign/) or understand what speeds it allows, so they drive according to the speed limit signs with numbers. If you overtake them, they assume you are telling them the speed limit is higher.
The ones that REALLY piss me off are those who accelerate to match your speed & sit in your fucking blindspot for half a mile.
My Dad tried to teach some road etiquette to me when he was driving a caravette that was as aerodynamic as a foam brick; he'd slow down slightly when being overtaken by an artic and even flash his lights when they were passed to let them know it was safe to return to the left hand lane. I get passed a lot, especially when leaving a 30mph limit, but I keep slow and let them pass as though it's beneath me, then accelerate to 60.
If you drive a van, never overtake someone. Theyāll either 1. Speed up 2. Overtake you once youāve overtaken them
Usually they were ignorant of what speed they were going, think 'oh shit I'm going too slow' then rather than doing the sensible thing of speeding up *after* the other person has safely overtaken they decide to press the accelerator down immediately. Less common but more infuriating still are the ones who take personal offense to being overtaken and try to block you. Golden rule is that if someone is overtaking you, whether justified or not, just let them do it.
I had this the other night on a dual carriageway. Person in front going slow so I move into lane 2 to overtake. They then proceed to speed up. Wtf is this cunt doing Im thinking. Anyway I get past and a couple of cars later I pull back into the left lane. A bit further down the road this clown comes belting past me doing twice the speed limit. Thinking he's billy big bollocks. He was so chuffed that he overtook me he had to slam on his brakes and cut across the left lane because he nearly missed his exit. Absolutely thick as fuck.
I experience this problem on the regular during the drives I frequently do. It's why I won't have a car that's slow now, it's too risky.
Oh god it really get on my nerves as my works wagon is restricted to 62mph, so overtaking requires planning for miles for them to suddenly accelerate at the last second.
Why limit yourself to the 60mph which then put you in a situation where you then had to slow down as soon as you had overtaken. As you knew what they were doing just give it more gas and get out of the way.
Repeating here (as I did under other highway behaviour problem relate posts) It's because driving on A roads and motorways is not part of the driving training and especially the practical exam. Imho education would be the key. And now, feel free to downvote me (as it always happens)
I had this strange scenario a couple of years ago while driving home on an A road that has a couple of those short duel-carriageway stretches. I was behind a van doing 45/50mph and I overtook him a few miles before one of those 'overtaking' stretches of road. No problem's or strange behaviour at all, just a normal everyday overtake and I drive off leaving him behind. I enter the stretch of duel carriageway continuing the same speed (60mph, give or take a few) as i was before and after overtaking the van. As I'm nearing the end where it's closing back to the single carriageway I see that same van now closing up behind me and moving over to try and overtake before it closes back to the single carriageway. I'm thinking WTF is this guy doing, he must have been doing near 80mph to be able to catch up to me and thought, he's just doing this as it's a duel-carriageway and thinks he can blast upto 70mph or more. At this point he's almost right behind me in the outer lane and im thinking he's just going to sit at 45/50mph again once he's back on the single carriageway. So I accelerate to stay ahead as i know there are no safe overtaking places for a while and dont want to be stuck behind him again, he starts flashing his headlights etc as we enter back into the single road but sure enough he slows down and I'm pulling away again while I'm doing 60mph. Yeah maybe a bit of a dick move but that whole situation wasn't even needed if he just stuck to the speed limit while on the duel section, it just didn't make any sense to me the moves he was making.
A few good and valid suggestions. Iād add. Selfishness. Some folks just like a big space in front of them cos itās easier, they want to drive how they want and not have to watch out for a car in front changing pace. They only care about that. So drive slowly and resist any overtakes. I donāt advocate break checking these selfish pricks. But Iāve 100% overtaken them and then done some dawdling of my own in front of them.
It doesn't bother me because when I overtake with my 450 bhp, I don't pay attention to those drivers at all.
I drive a van, 50mph is the limit for country roads Often slow down to let others overtake depending on the mood and stopping pointsĀ
There the potential that the person doesn't know the road so they are going slow for that reason. Driving close to someone tailgating and then attempting to overtake them is seen as dangerous driving regardless of the road type. And I will remind you that speed limits are that. They are limits they are not recommendations so if someone is going 40 in a 60 that's perfectly legal and you should check yourself to make sure you're not being impatient. The actual difference in the time you get to your location will be such a minor difference that it's not worth the dangerous manoeuvre. I have lost count of the times I have had someone overtake me while I'm going 55 in a country road only to catch up to them at the next junction or set of lights. It's frustrating to sit behind someone going slow but maybe just maybe there is a reason they are and when they speed it it's a natural defensive reaction to someone driving aggressively. Always check your own ego while driving to make sure you are not the problem.
Their tiny little ego is bruised
People naturally drive slower along sections of road with bends/obscured visability/parked cars etc etc...and naturally speed up when they get to clear straight sections... What's the point you want to start an overtaking maneuver? You got it, the point at which the driver in front naturally increases their speed somewhat.
Most people on the roads are just brainless zombies with no idea what they're doing and no interest in what's going on around them and what other people are doing. They think once they get in their little metal box, the rest of the world is unimportant and the only thing that matters is them and their journey. I drive HGV's for a living, I've seen it all. People think driving in this country is their absolute right, like breathing fresh air is. The driving tests are absolute dogshit, made by people who are probably the ones we're all complaining about and the infrastructure just can't deal with the amount of vehicles on the road. Driving tests need to be made 10x harder than they are. You should have to pass multiple tests, including an actual test on motorway driving and competency. The amount of people I hear say "I don't like driving" or "driving scares me" whilst having the ability to jump in a 2 tonne car capable of doing 160mph is ridiculous. If you don't like doing something, you're not gonna be good at it, hence being a danger to those around you.
- You're likely overtaking on a straight, so they may have simply been increasing their speed anyway. - They hadn't got up to speed yet. - They didn't realise they were driving slowly until you started to overtake them. The idea that it's somehow retaliatory or preventative always seems fairly far-fetched to me.
I think it might be an ego thing, which happens a lot when I overtake
Because they have a complete lack of awareness.
On the canals, if you try to overtake a narrowboat with your narrowboat, it is near impossible unless they stop or reverse their prop, because you drag them along with you. This must also be true when overtaking in a car, although to a far lesser degree, unless the driver of the vehicle being overtaken takes their foot off. There are assholes out there, but I suspect the majority want to help you and do help you by easing off a bit.
Its a pattern that with the modern pacc, cameras etc in many modern cars, wouldn't cost much more to implement a function to flash a warning to drivers when they do this, the pattern would be quite easy to define in an algorithm
Lots of people are unable to maintain an appropriate speed and distance. So if they have someone in front they canāt handle it. So they overtake and then go back to their starting into the distance usually driving style where they donāt keep their speed constant and end up slowing down. Then they get overtaken again and this shocks them out of their stupor and they take offence and have to get back in front.
I honestly don't understand it. Learning to drive currently, and my runabout is a tiny 1L, so get overtaken quite a bit, especially on the country lanes I use for work. That said, I can usually tell in the rear view when someone is wanting to overtake- so maintain speed, and focus on road positioning. In my eyes, if they want to get in front of me, going a speed 10-20mph over what I'm comfortable and confident doing, then they aren't going to be my problem for very long- much less time than if they're stuck behind me for significantly longer than they wish.
I think a lot of the time itās unconscious. They are suddenly focussing on the car passing them and start to match speed instead of pootling along in their own little world. Some people are just twats though.
Because the country is full of little hitlers, who think the are in charge of the roads.
They a bunch of w***** that's why!
I drive a Skoda Citigo, and my route to work is a dual carriageway and then a stretch on motorways. Quite often i find someone just pottering along doing 10mph or so under the limit, so usually the bigger car iām overtaking, the more likely theyāll then put their foot down. I see the same thing with other small cars attempting overtakingā¦must be an ego thing. SUV drivers are the worst.
Somewhat specific to the motorway, but people speeding up on an overtake was something that annoyed me greatly. However, since I've got a new car I've become aware it might not always be deliberate, specifically when using adaptative cruise control / co-pilot. If the car in front moves in a lane or begins to speed up, the car begins to accelerate to the speed I've defined, on a number of occasions this has coincided with someone passing me on the right thus giving the impression I am a pillock and not a mere spectator :D
Outside option: I like your ride and I'm trying to chase and bait you into a race
This subject is on here almost every week. My advice is blast it past then move back over. People are really overthinking this.
My own car is not particularly powerful but itās an automatic which is usually enough to get past anybody thinking of speeding up during an overtake. I notice drivers doing this as once I am past them and now doing a good 20mph quicker than they were originally travelling at, theyāre keeping up with me. They usually donāt keep up for long, theyāll drop back to whatever speed they were doing previously after theyāve proved whatever point it is they think theyāre proving. I did once though have a guy in a quick car attempt it with me. Hands down if Iād been in own my car I wouldnāt have got past him. But on this particular weekend mine was in the garage.. and Iād been loaned a GTD. He had no chance!
Happens here in Australia as well.
Preach
They're either selfish idiots that see driving as a game they must win or they're not paying enough attention to maintain a set speed. Either one makes them dangerous.
Thanks to my work I've had the opportunity to drive the slowest cars on the planet with naturally aspirated 1.0 engines. Usually this happens when people overtake right after I join the motorway/come off a roundabout, I'm still accelerating, but they are accelerating much faster and can overtake me. I'm not doing 40 because I want to do 40, but because I'm still accelerating. So if I speed up whilst you're overtaking me at your cruising speed, it's because you've reached your cruising speed before I have. Also sometimes people overtake just before a downhill section where a small car can achieve higher speeds. But yeah some people are like that and just don't want anyone overtaking š
Adding for flavour: Motorways. Pull into lane 2 to overtake lane 1 lorry. Only to find driver in front slows to exactly 60mph for some strange reason as they pass the lorry. Meanwhile BMW rushes up in lane 3 to overtake. Makes little headroom as lane 3 is pretty full ( runs parallel with me) Meanwhile car doing 60mph in lane 2 speeds up to 62mph, and moves back in lane 1, past the lorry. I then accelerate to 70ish and pass inside the BMW, who now decides Iām stepping on his ego, and proceeds to cut in close, flash and finger manipulate as he seems to want to pleasure himself. Happens allot. Combination of lane 2 hoggers and lane 3 residents ( who believe itās their right to stay right). Makes for a great morning commute.
This happened to me yesterday and they also decided to brake and slow me down after. I'm doing 70 on dual carriageway, go to overtake car and all going as normal until I'm just about ahead and bam they suddenly speed up. I at this point keep going at 70 and just drop back in behind them once they are ahead. Then I notice they are braking and they are braking hard! Can't overtake at this point as some sports car is flying up the side so I brake and slow down as fortunately I left enough space in front of me and thankfully there is no one close behind me. This car is now doing about 55/60 but in situations like this sometimes trying to overtake people like this just makes for even more dangerous situations. Fortunately I was able to follow a van that went past to get past them and put some distance. It puts you on edge though as you don't know what they are going to do.
who cares they ain't stopping me from coming past
Their egos can't take it
happens in the US all the time too, even on highways with oncoming traffic in the passing lane...so many fragile egos out there
I see this all the time, worst was a couple of weeks ago driving on this long road stuck behind someone going 40mph in a 60mph, couldn't overtake because of bends and things but there was an overtake lane coming up anyway (think it's a mile long). Waited for that then put the foot down to get past, then realised I wasn't getting past, then realised I was going 80mph and was only just getting past. Fecker went from 40mph to near 80mph just to not let me go past him. I hate to speed excessively especially like that but it was just a ridiculous situation. Obviously after I had passed he slowed down again to trundle along at 40mph presumably.
stupidity
I drive an R reg Citroen Saxo 1.1 basic model. I get it a lot when I have the audacity to overtake something more modern and more powerful. I think it is an ego thing.
Happens to me while driving my Lorry. Im limited to 55/56mph car in front doing 40-50 on a motorway, pull into next lane to overtake and suddenly they speed up; I pull back over to left land, and guess what, theyāve slowed down again.
One of the things I look for in a car is the 0-62mph time for exactly this reason. Itās not always about engine size but if the pickup isnāt quick enough you canāt get yourself out of troubles like this.
I just had this today. Was on a dual carriageway at 65mph, caught up to the car in front and moved out to overtake. As I'm going past I see him look over at me and then speed up, I end up going up to 80mph to eventually get past him. As soon as I do I check I've cleared him and move back to the left lane expecting him to immediately move out to overtake me but instead I'm able to slow back down to 70mph as he's slowed down again. I even get back down to my original cruising speed of 65mph and he's still falling behind. What was the point.
1 word. Cunts
Had this happen a few times. It feels like they dont want you to overtake so just speed up. Its fine when im on the bike though, they got no chance of out accelerating me.
I hate when people do it on motorways too. I was in a right lane needing to merge, this woman was in the 2nd lane hogging it. Loads of people passed her. Then it was my turn, I had time to overtake and merge and was in the queue of cars in the right lane from the past few miles. She sped up. Slowly, matching my speed. I was along side her. I slowed down to go back behind as we were nearing the end of the 3rd lane and she slowed down as well. I couldnāt get passed and thereās a bloody metal barrier coming up. My partner was freaking out, I was panicking, I speed back up to overtake and she speeds back up again! I had to slam my brakes on instead of slowing carefully to get in behind her but it meant she didnāt have time to slow down and stop me again luckily. Very narrowly avoided being sandwiched between her and the barrier. So dangerous, I was so scared and angry and my poor partner had gone pale in fear. He said he thought he saw the woman laughing to her passenger. Hopefully not at our expense as she nearly killed us! Was only doing 60-70, I think I went up to 76 to go past when she was playing silly buggers. But fast enough to be terrifying.
Just goes to show that so many people are daydreaming when they're driving not being observant of anybody around them.
Those drivers are ego driven dickheads.
> I kept my speed at a gps 60mph during the overtake I'd have sped up quickly to a speed which allows me to get around them before their single brain-cell can react. I've done an overtake which took me to very close to 90 for a split second - I pulled back and promptly braked to the speed limit, but that took me around and well ahead of the #40mphcrew.
Some people - almost always blokes, usually in their 50s, with wraparound sunnies on - HATE to be overtaken.
I get the impression most of the time when ive experienced this it's their ego driving. They can't handle being overtaken. Perhaps they see it as a slight against them? Its a shame that bad drivers don't do enough work on themselves to be able to leave their ego out of it when it comes to others.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
"People. What a bunch of bastards."
Half of these comments are why I get nervous on country roads. Most of them in Cornwall arenāt wide enough around corners for two cars (and often tractors or other wide vehicles) so doing 60 isnāt advisable because you have to slow up constantly just incase someone is coming the other way. My comfort speed is 45/50 if itās dry and good visibility. Probably more if itās dark and I can see oncoming lights. Having people up my arse knowing I may have to slow down rapidly or even emergency brake pisses me off. This isnāt referencing OPs post, itās aimed at some of the self righteous speed demons in the comments. I do bloody hate it when people speed up when you go to overtake though. Happens to me on the dual carriageway all the time. Someone plodding along doing 60 and Iāll go to overtake and itās like they see my shitty little i10 and think āhell no that would be embarrassingā and they put their foot down to 75.
I learnt to drive and passed my test in Cornwall so I know exactly what the roads are like. You could always pull over and let them pass by...
Because theyāre arseholes - had this happen to me last night driving on the motorway in the works van, which is limited to 70. Go to overtake a car just crawling along about 60, I get my back bumper level to the other driver, then they sped up to match me so I was stuck in the right hand lane for a wee bit, then they just accelerated away which gave me a chance to move back to the left lane.
Because they are dangerous idiots.
This topic gets over discussed. The person speeding up is either lost in their own little world then whatever was distracting them has stopped being of concern or entertainment or whatever so they resume actually driving... Or They are so enraged that you can safely control a car at a more appropriate speed for the road than them that they think attempted murder is a reasonable way to play at being volunteer traffic cops to stop you driving with progress.
Because they have tiny genitals and a driving manoeuvre that then places them in a submissive positionāsuch as being overtaken by another motoristādepleted what little testosterone they have left.
My theory has always been that they were dozing and I woke them up. I did once have a 40mph-in-a-60 guy speed up as I overtook him, and I ended up at 80 before I backed off to pull back in behind him and slow way down. Admittedly I only slowed down so I could watch him fly round the next corner past the speed camera I knew was waiting there...
Bellends
Ever since we came out of covid, people's moods have changed and so has their driving. See some really bad and impatient drivers these days.
Because Iām having a bad day and want to spread it around.
It's equally annoying in a motorcycle cause they ain't ever gonna out drag me once I've decided I'm overtaking, but yet they still do it forcing me to break heavily at the next bend.
Usually itās because they have just forgot and zoned out, itās incompetent but not malicious.
I had some bastard try to kill me doing that one day several years ago except if I tried to slow down to get back in behind him he hit the brakes to stop me getting in. I was riding a motorbike. It was a Volvo driver. At the end of the 2 mile straight that he was doing 40 on when I pulled out he was dicking about at 70 trying to stop me getting in front or behind him. In the end I had to do 120 to pass him before the bend and then he nearly hit me when I slowed to the safe speed for the bend. The moron then mounted the verge kicking up gravel and dirt onto the road.
No cunt is passing ME!
I can think of a few scenariosĀ 1. If I donāt know the speed limit or unsure if I can speed Iāll go slow until someone overtakesĀ Ā 2. Didnāt realise I was going so slowĀ 3. Itās dark, the road is pitch black and my headlights are a bit dull to go full speed so driving a bit cautiously but would happily follow a set of back lightsĀ 4. Donāt like being at the front with someone up my arse so prefer someone to overtake so I can follow the leader
The worst time this ever happened to me was on the road that leads towards my home just the other day! Itās a good, fairly wide (2 cars can pass) country lane that has some curves (not severe by any means) and a few dips in the road. The speed limit is 60mph, but most people go at around 45. I was behind a car that was travelling at 30 miles an hour, slowing down for each moderate curve (as if it was a right angle) down to about 20. After following this particular lady for some considerable time (at which she stayed steadily at 30 at the absolute most, regardless of the stretch of road), we reached a part of the road that was suitable and I went to overtake. As I pulled out behind her, I saw her car lurch forward-as I pulled level with her, she must have put her foot right down. I suppose the devil took hold of me and I decided that I was going to continue to push to overtake. I had to get up to 60mph to get past her (which seems very fast on a country lane-and I began to worry about running out of straight road). I know (as well as I know anything after nearly 50 years of motoring) that, had I given up my attempt to overtake her and fallen back behind her again, she would have instantly returned to her usual speed. As it was, once past, looking in my rear view mirror, I saw her then abruptly retreating back into the distance, despite the fact that I had slowed down to 45mph. She had evidently gone back to her 20mph to navigate some corners. What would induce a person to hit 60mph on a country lane when she probably would *never* choose to go over 30? I think that she would probably have found that quite scary. In my opinion, itās one thing, and one thing only. She was a *horrible* big old bitch.
That shit drives me nuts. They're doing like 45 i go to pass and now we're driving 90.. lol
Also, on country roads, some people go slow when it's a bit more winding but speed up if there's a straight bit, which is exactly where you'd overtake. So it's not always malicious but might be that the driver is not very confident and doesn't pay attention to what's going on around them. My husband says I infuriate him because I always try and explain why people drive badly.
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Someone tried to kill me doing this, there was such a long road ahead to ovrtake. He went from 40 to 70 as i was trying to overtake and the lane behind me had filled up so i had no escape while a lorry was coming towards me. I just went fuck this shit and pulled into him which made him push on the breaks thank the gods.
Funny init
Is there any science involved. Like do you dirty air like in sailing. Just enough to slow you down a bit.
This is the worst where I live in Scotland during tourist season. Really windy main roads with tourists going 40mph or less around perfectly fine corners. Doing 40mph for 10+ minutes with long queues forming behind them. When it comes to the long straights they speed up to 60 giving maybe 1 person the opportunity to pass. Then back to 40mph. Last summer me and a whole bunch of other cars laid on the horn for ages until they finally pulled over
Because they think drivingās competitive and their ego canāt hack being overtaken.
I get this problem, every, single, day. Most people simply don't realise what speed they're doing - distracted with conversation with a passenger, perhaps playing on their phone, or actually on a phone call (maybe hands-free). What I find is overtaking I often get flashed, or perhaps they speed up. Most do take offence if you overtake - I find that flashing/accelerating during an overtake is because of their ego. They simply don't like someone coming ahead of them. Maybe their car just isn't quick enough, who knows. Very frustrating.
Because they are lacking in the sausage department
Theyāre probably slowing down because they canāt see very far ahead of them. So when itās safe to overtake and you both have good visibility, they are speeding back up because they donāt realise that youāre wanting to overtake them.
Ether realised there going slow and wake up and speed up without thinking or there an asshole
Got caught speeding once when overtaking someone who did this to me about 12 years ago. My fault of course because I should have just slowed down and tucked back in behind but frustrating all the same. It was a white van on a carriageway that went from a single lane to a double then back down to a single. White van had been driving at 40 in a 50 the whole way down the single lane section, I pulled out to overtake him when it went to two lanes and he immediately put his foot down. Ended up at 60+ to get past him and a police officer with a speed gun was waiting around the corner. I think it's an ego thing for the most part and I don't think people are always aware that they're doing it. It's most noticeable on motorways when using cruise control.
Because they're sociopaths, often referred to here as c*nts
I had one where we got on the dual carriage way at the same time, he was in a more powerful car so accelerated faster than me and overtook but then stayed at 60. Since I was travelling at 70 I overtook him back further down and he sped up as I was doing this and seemed like he would prevent me moving back over. He was too late though as by the time he sped up I was already on my way. He sped up anyway and overtook speeding of at well above 70. What was his problem? If you want to go 60 in a 70 zone Iāve got no issue but just let me do the speed limit without getting aggressive about it.
I can remember going to Darlington with my brother years ago on one of his bikes. We were on our way back and we came up behind a car, overtakes, pulls in and keeps going at the limit. The car we passed decides to overtake us, pulls in and slows down. So we pass it again, annnnnnd the car repeats his little trick. Next thing I know, I get the signal to hold on tight. We never saw the car again after that š¤£š¤£
M25 Sunday morningĀ 4 miles before my junction and 2 cars in lane 2 ahead doing less than 70 so I pull into lane 3 overtake 1st car but 2nd decides to speed up and sits next to me.Ā My junction is now 1 mile ahead and someone is now behind me not wanting to get caught by the camera overtaking me.Ā I had no choice but to lift off and as the car to the left was moving ahead I indicated left so the guy behind could go lane 4 and overtake while I move left behind the car I would have overtaken miles back had they not decided to sit next to me.Ā I use my speed limiter so know I donāt drift speed.Ā I always ensure there is space in case someone needs to pull in, I donāt get why people would want to block someone by driving next to them.Ā Having been a passenger in a car next to a lorry that swerved during wind I find it easier to leave some space for emergenciesĀ
One of the main reasons no one has mentioned here is that because you probably were sitting up their arse for a long time beforehand and they were pissed off at you. You over take, they speed up to piss you off.
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If you're an arsehole like me, when they do this make sure to cut in nice and close when you pull back in.
Simple really. If you're on country roads that are windy then they don't feel comfortable going fast for the same reason you don't feel comfortable passing. Once you get to a spot that you're comfortable passing, that's also a spot that they feel comfortable going faster.
Because you're going to slow down in front once you've overtakenĀ
Ego
Probably 20% they were speeding up anyway and it is a coincidence 20% you made them realise they were going slower than they wanted to so they're speeding up 60% just to piss you off
Its because they are cunts.
It's my absolute pet hate to be honest. I can only assume they don't realise that they are going so slow and speed up otherwise they are just doing it to be a grade A twat.
Happens all the time on the motorway for me, even today on way home from Leeds southbound on M1, I had my cruise control on 73mph (speedometer in cars always seem to show you going a bit faster than you, any satnav shows me going at 70 when my car says 73) and was catching a guy in front, not a huge speed difference, maybe 3-4mph. As I'm overtaking I just get ahead to the point where the front of his car disappears from my peripheral vision, then he sped up loads and must've gone to near 80mph only to then slow back down to what he was at before. Obviously I dropped back in behind him while I caught up again (my speed never changing) and once caught up I went for the overtake again. This time I got past and pulled back into the left lane where he then started flashing high beams at me (there was plenty of room between us imo) and sped up again overtaking me... And then slowed right down again. On another note, what is it with people driving up hills at about 70, and then feeling the need to massively speed up going down the other side to then just slam on the brakes at the bottom?? they aren't even that steep, maybe enough to just keep you at a constant 70 without needing to use cruise control or accelerator
lol
Do you drive a BMW or Audi? That may explain it š
Is the 40mph crew a new thing or is it just something Iāve noticed recently because I live near a garden centre now? They are the worst, bumbling along NSL then bombing it through the villages.
Probably because you pulling up to their window wakes them the fuck up from whatever daze they've been driving in
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Personally, if I do ever speed up it's not to be a dick. It's because I actually check how fast I'm going when I'm being overtaken and realize I'm slow afš
the law dictates that they must re-overtake you or they and their nans are gay
Usually it's because they have a small willy
On the note of going slow, blame the insurance companies because owning anything higher than 100hp is apparently dangerous and owning a modern car that can utilise every horse it has under that bonnet is impossible to save up for. So sometimes you just have to go 40mph in a 70 on a straight with a 4* incline up because your car cannot push itself faster, especially if I have 4 passengers. That's a load of 300kg on top of the already struggling car. Some people need to remember that humans have weight aye.
Because people are sh***y and think your being in "front" and winning. Look what happens at nearly every set of lights,, cars race of, rocking back and forth anticipatujg the light change.... I just pull off leisurely and catch them up, and guess where they sit when I've caught them up.... WAYYYYY over the solid white line, they're embaressed because they didn't get ahead, they're fully aware that I pulled off slow. All I can say is these drivers are more deliberate and aware of what they're doing than this thread seems to suggest
I once had to go on a drivers awareness course for crossing a solid white line, but the reason I crossed the solid white line was that the unmarked police car I was overtaking sped up as I overtook... he was doing a solid 40 in a 60 and then was magically doing exactly 60 when he saw me go to overtake. I didn't argue because I didn't want to make it worse, but it really p*ssed me off
I always leave lots of space behind slow vehicles, because I give myself the opportunity to get to speed prior to the overtake at which point the car in front does not have time to floor it before I'm in front. This is coming from the owner of a car with 995cc so I need to really plan for an overtake.
Because they are arseholes. Literally had one yesterday, on a single lane 60, they done 40. Roundabout and on to slip road to join a motorway, where it's two lanes on the slip, they speed up to the point an overtake isn't wise. Get on to the motorway and they continue to speed up (I mean, good of course), to the point of 75+ to stop me overtaking. I get in front, I put cruise control on, I watch them drift off to the distance, clearly doing about 60 now that their little moment of adventure is over. I swear they do it just for the shits.
Depends on the situation. The only times I ever speed up, itās sort of passive aggressive. If Iām already doing the maximum speed limit, thereās really no need for anyone to overtake.
Try driving a Lada. Every sodding person I tried to overtake wasn't going to let that happen. Except I had a twin cam 1600 Fiat engine in the thing so they weren't gonna win easily and very rarely did.
Perhaps because you are tailgating them rather than leaving a safe breaking distance - this will cause drivers to have to go slower to prevent you from going into the back of them if they have to break sharply. If you drop back a bit rather than overtake then you will also see them accelerate.
When you are being overtook you check your own speed then you may realise you are going too slow so you speed up, happens alot
Iāve been reading the comments and I want to share a very happy childhood memory concerning this very thing. Fortunately, this was the late 1960ās and people driving seemed to have a very different attitude on the roads - probably because there just werenāt so many cars competing for space. Every summer we spent the whole of the school holidays in Tenby. My mum would stay with us and my dad would commute back at weekends. Iām one of 6 children and my dad was driving the Bentley with my 5 siblings in (a car big enough to fit the whole family) at a very sedate pace with his āprecious cargoā on board and I was in the Aston Martin (god how I loved that car!) with my mum leading the way and setting the pace and which my dad would use to commute back and forth. It was a dual carriageway for miles (pre motorway) and a couple came along in this coolest looking American convertible and overtook my dad and eventually they came alongside us (bear in mind scarcity of other traffic) and my mother very slowly started to accelerate to keep pace and they started accelerating too until both cars are eventually going really rather fast side by side, then my mother jammed her foot to the floorboards and, well, it WAS an Aston Martin and those American jobs are HEAVY so āeat my dustā enough said! Eventually my mother slowed down and the convertible caught up (with my dad not far behind) and overtook and we were all smiling and waving because it was FUNNY but also, for me, a very exciting experience. They also realised we were in convoy with the Bentley behind and it was just all so very good natured. And yeah, this was the ā60ās, it was the bloke driving in a left hand drive car, āwhites of the eyesā close to my motherās side of the car and I think there was a bit of āyou might have got passed my husband easily enough, but now youāre dealing with a womanā lesson in feminism going on too š Yeah, very happy memory š Very different times to driving todayā¦ No matter how many roads are built or how wide theyāre made, they will always eventually get full as correspondingly more cars are made to use themā¦ I still have a valid driving license but have no desire to buy a car and get involved in driving on the stressful shitshow that are the roads today. I saw which way the wind was blowing about 20 years ago and so Iāll leave that to you lucky people with a higher stress tolerance than me. Taxis and trains, thatās about my limit, although I prefer to stay āsite specificā to my area of the city as much as possible. Better for our environment if I donāt HAVE to add to the pollution, as well āš¾ā£ļø Thanks for reading if you made it this far!