Road rage

[yegnold]

Is it one of those situations where if a police patrol vehicle saw it happen, they would use their discretion and "turn a blind eye" to the speed involved (and perhaps prosecute/pull over the **** who's causing the problem)?

I think a similar problem is people going over red lights to let the emergency services through. Get caught by a red light camera, you have no grounds for appeal, but if you do it in front of a police officer on the way to an emergency, they will very rarely, if ever, prosecute you for doing it.

[KenONeill]

Is it one of those situations where if a police patrol vehicle saw it happen, they would use their discretion and "turn a blind eye" to the speed involved (and perhaps prosecute/pull over the **** who's causing the problem)?

I think a similar problem is people going over red lights to let the emergency services through. Get caught by a red light camera, you have no grounds for appeal, but if you do it in front of a police officer on the way to an emergency, they will very rarely, if ever, prosecute you for doing it.

Indeed. I have pulled slowly through a red to let a Police car through, and received a wave of thanks from the near-sider.

[Emily-Elizabeth]

At the end of the day a perfectly OK maneuver to you can be someone else's huge injustice. I am not saying that there was anything wrong with your overtaking - just that there was something wrong with it from the agressive ar5e hole behind you. I got cut up something shocking at a roundabout today, which I just took to be the norm when driving on the outskirts on London. Helpfully my passenger leaned over and beeped the horn a great deal at the driver

I don't really want to be the one to point it out, but he might have been unhappy to have been over taken by a Skoda, bless him. It is his arrogance, not yours honey.

[KenONeill]

At the end of the day a perfectly OK maneuver to you can be someone else's huge injustice. I am not saying that there was anything wrong with your overtaking - just that there was something wrong with it from the agressive ar5e hole behind you. I got cut up something shocking at a roundabout today, which I just took to be the norm when driving on the outskirts on London. Helpfully my passenger leaned over and beeped the horn a great deal at the driver

I don't really want to be the one to point it out, but he might have been unhappy to have been over taken by a Skoda, bless him. It is his arrogance, not yours honey.

I'd have thumped my passenger one for that. It's not their job to decide when to sound the horn if I'm driving!

[auroan]

I'd have thumped my passenger one for that. It's not their job to decide when to sound the horn if I'm driving!

Seconded... infact I have a couple of times..... sorry Dad, but you were warned

[Emily-Elizabeth]

Nah, he's alright. I was being a bit of a girlie wuss at this roundabout. I have had to do it a couple of times and I absolutely hate it! Cars just change lane when ever they feel like it, often without indicating or other stuff like looking in their mirrors.

[yegnold]

I get annoyed by people cutting me up but never follow up my anger/frustration with signs, horn soundings or unnecessary overtaking manouevres - What's the point? It's already happened, and they know better than anyone else that they made a mistake.

In fact the first (perhaps second) time I've used my horn in 45,000 miles of motoring was last week when a HGV started to roll backwards and didn't spot me.

[KenONeill]

I get annoyed by people cutting me up but never follow up my anger/frustration with signs, horn soundings or unnecessary overtaking manouevres - What's the point? It's already happened, and they know better than anyone else that they made a mistake.

In fact the first (perhaps second) time I've used my horn in 45,000 miles of motoring was last week when a HGV started to roll backwards and didn't spot me.

I see where you're coming from. I probably do use the horn in some of these situations, but it calms me down and makes sure I don't do something actively stupid, probably getting a 3rd party sucked in too.

[joenitro]

Unfortunately yes. An overtake still needs to be under the speed limit.

Is that really the case? I always thought (old wives tale?) that it was legal to increase your speed within reason, to complete an overtake safely?

I'm not questioning you per se, but what if I wanted to overtake someone on a NSL road, who was doing, for arguments sake 59mph? Assuming all conditions and visibility are excellent and no oncoming taffic, if I speed up to about 75mph to overtake (similar train of thought to Jason here;)) and then slow down as quickly as possible to 60mph again, would I be 'given a telling off' by plod:confused:

Just wondering, that's all:)

[joenitro]

I have to admit, if it were me and there was as little oncoming traffic as stated, I would have tried to take the whole lot, regardless of how much over NSL I was going.

I'm with you 100% on that one Jase:thumbup:

Of course, every situation is different though:D:D

[joenitro]

Ive found that when said w4nkers try to close up a gap a little twitch of the steering wheel showing that you mean bussiness, often makes them pull back. if not , the sticker on my van saying "this is a works van and i dontcare if i run in to you" makes them move!!

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: Oh my God!! So, if you were overtaking someone who possibly might not have noticed you overtaking them (it can happen, believe me!!) if they are just accelerating slightly, you would basically SWERVE aggressively in towards them:eek: :confused::finger:

I've heard of asserting yourself on the road and all that, but that is something else!!

[sms]

Police have to show you its them with lights, but if you think the unmarked car is not what you think it is you can opt to follow him to the nearest police station. Something we have to do at work because of the risk of hijacking the load.

I had a nob like this the other night didnt like me coming up behind him on the dual carraigeway, got past him and he started flashing his main beam at me so i slowed down to 60 he slowed down and carried on flashing and was then causing the vehicles behind him to overtake him cos he was being a ****** flashing me for no apparent reason but was to scared to get close. just ignore them mate they not worth it.

[MAPGO]

I had a little "experience" on the road yesterday - a first for me.

There was a queue of 3 to 4 cars ahead of me, travelling southbound on the A49. Those of you that know the road (the Herefordshire/Shropshire part of the A49) probably know that there are plenty of safe overtaking spots (though some are littered with speed cameras). I overtook the first car no problem, and then filtered in between him and the car in front (There was plenty of room to do so)

I went to do the same thing to the next car when we came to the next overtaking place. It was a 2.0TDI Audi A3. There was plenty of room between him and the next car (I guess 4 to 6 seconds a the speed they were travelling) Whilst making the manoeuvre, the driver decided it would be a sensible idea to speed up and to close the gap between him and the car in front, meaning that I would have had to pass him and the Mercedes in front of him in one manoeuvre. I didn't want to do this, as there was very little space between the Merc and the car in front of that. So I stayed up the side, indicated left to signal that I wanted to get in between the Audi and the Merc. He very, very reluctantly and very slowly decided that it may be the safest option to let me back in between, but seemed significantly angered by the fact that he had been overtaken, and started doing all of the common hand signals at me.

At this point, I thought (and still admit) that there is a possibility that my overtaking manoeuvre could have been interpreted as flawed, somehow dangerous or inappropriate - despite me not thinking so at the time. On review, I don't think so either - but it was me driving, so I'm unlikely to see the problems with my driving. I could probably have made it past the next couple of cars as well, but this would have involved speeding up to in the region of 95 or 100mph (the overtaking was all done within the legal limit, due to the presence of speed cameras) - and risking lives. The point of this thread isn't to debate if or if not I was incorrect to overtake, though.

The point of the thread is to discuss what happened next. We were approaching a blind corner, and he decided that he wanted to be in front of me, so overtook me again and went between me and the Merc. (Please note, I left him plenty of space to get back in, otherwise I could have assisted someone's death.)

Every time we then went past a layby he started pointing in to the layby and indicating left, signalling that he wanted me to get in to the layby and talk to him/argue with him. Just a couple of questions...

a) If he was a traffic officer, he'd have had the "follow me" lights in the back, or at least some kind of police signal, right?

If not, he was just going to assault me verbally or physically - so was I correct to just ignore his taunts, maintain a safe distance behind him and continue on my way?

Having only been driving for 18 months or so, this is the first time that anything of this nature has happened to me, and to be entirely honest it was a little frightening - the possibility that someone was so angered by me passing them (when I was legally entitled to do so), that they were trying to provoke some kind of confrontation, is somewhat worrying.

Had a very similar instance a couple of weeks ago, guy followed me for about 4 miles lights flashing, horn, hand and mouth gestures I let him follow me all the way to the local cop shop. Strange he seemed to lose interest when I pulled into the station car park (no I'm not a cop but the manoveur was quite effective) :rofl:

[oilburninnut]

i've been a profesional driver for nearly 14 years,in that time i have been threatoned,abused and gesticulated at,and with only a couple of exceptions ,ignoring it has been the best option,i am quite hot headed so give out a gesture or two myself,who doesn't,the thing is you can allways find fault in peoples driving,trick is to let it slide and deal with it just like you did,under this sort of provocation,i don't know weather i would have been so controlled.

[ScoobyChris]

Is that really the case? I always thought (old wives tale?) that it was legal to increase your speed within reason, to complete an overtake safely?

The speed limit is the speed limit. If you have to exceed it to complete an overtake then the overtake is not on! The big problem with overtaking a line of traffic using "excessive" speed is that your approach speed to said vehicles is much higher and reduces your chance of avoiding them if they decide to pull out on you. Minimising time exposed to danger is one thing but in a lot of cases people put themselves in more danger by reducing their margins, imho.

Chris

[The Ors]

I can understand his anger. He was leaving a good space for braking and someone ducked into it.

I leave space for braking; if some one overtakes me I drop back a little so that there is still space for braking. It's just common courtesy.

Of course, these things are hard to judge unless you actually witness the event.

My main problem with overtaking manoeuvres like the one described is worrying whether someone else in the line is about to attempt the same as me as I'm passing them/pulling out. Unless it's really easy & I've been following for a while (& so have a 'feel' for the others in the queue) I tend to chicken out & just wait in the queue.

[3td]

Had 2 anti-skoda experiences last weekend . I try not to accelarate / brake needlessly , just keep a nice steady speed based on road conditions , a reasonably handling car and only having 80bhp ( ideally 55-60 on B roads ) only really overtaking if someone in front is dithering . passed one such ditherer in an Omega estate last sunday only for him to immediately ( and unsafely ) pass me and spend the next 20 miles doing 70 on straights and 30 on bends . once he had gone similar experience with a Freelander . I do not lower myself to the challenge of trying to prove who is the biggest idiot , just set my trip computer to instant mpg and chuckle to myself at what it costs them in fuel and brake wear to avoid the embarrasment of being passed by a diesel Roomster !

[dstev2000]

I wouldn't worry about Mr. Audi, eventually he will 'offer out' the wrong person and end up in A&E having his face reassembled. Same for all these 'Rambo' types who think they can rule the road with their fists.

I've had no end of encounters that could have turned nasty in different circumstances, ignore them and carry on, they soon go off the boil.

It's very hard not to see red and I know all about that, I've been out of the car in the middle of a road shouting and screaming at someone, running down a road after a cyclist threatening all sorts - what does it achieve? feck all apart from looking like a bit of a *****.

I can't be arsed with all that these days

[rigsby]

Are you the type that drives up someones a£se overstakes stupidly close/fast and cuts back into a space that doesn't exist causing the person being overtaken to slam all on ?

No im a supprisingly courteous driver and my van wont do more than 70, but when numnuts think that they are clever by putting their foot down as i try to get past, i just let them know i will not be phazed. In 21 years of driving ive never had an accident or got any points on my licence so i cant be that bad

[KenONeill]

The speed limit is the speed limit. If you have to exceed it to complete an overtake then the overtake is not on! The big problem with overtaking a line of traffic using "excessive" speed is that your approach speed to said vehicles is much higher and reduces your chance of avoiding them if they decide to pull out on you. Minimising time exposed to danger is one thing but in a lot of cases people put themselves in more danger by reducing their margins, imho.

Chris

I'm sorry but claims that "exceeding an arbitrary set speed" is intrinsically "dangerous" are just plain specious, unless that speed happens, by co-incidence, to be the 85th percentile speed that drivers would use in the absense of any speed limit.

[ScoobyChris]

No need to apologise, Ken My point referred to Jason's post (maybe a quote would have made that clearer) where his Roadcraft training taught him to "definitely rather use WOT and accomplish a "safe" fast overtake at possibly very illegal speeds, than traffic hop".

My point was that I did not agree with the use of "safe" in that context. By overtaking a row of cars at possibly very illegal speeds, you are limiting choices of escape routes should one of the middle cars decide to pull out on you and therefore you're actually *increasing* the risk of the manouevre not reducing it. On a single car or possibly 2 cars, it's less of an issue, but where there is a row of cars I will treat them as a series of overtakes (sitting on the offside of the road parallel to the gaps in the cars).

Chris

[KenONeill]

Ok Chris. I'd actually head for a middle way between what the 2 of you seem to mean than I think. I'll wind up and hold a useful speed differential, but not one that exceeds my ability to react to react to a car actively ahead of me pulling out. The situation of the next one ahead of you pulling out once you've started accelerating I find nasty whether you're hopping or trying for a chain at once.

Case in point of what I was saying about 85th percentile rule on a road I know well. There are several stretchs of the A82 where the ruling limit is 60, but over a 10 mile stretch the 85%ile speed varies between 40 and 80!