Motorway stragglers. What do you do ?

GreeBo

Gophur wrote: »

Who said anything about being in an overtaking lane if there is space on the inside lane? I didn't.

I did. I pointed out that even if you are not "done" overtaking you should move in if there is space and you are holding others up.
You then went on to say

Gophur wrote:

If you are exceeding the speed limit you have no right to expect anyone to make way for you, unless you are legitimately driving an emergency vehicles.

Which to my mind says "I dont care whats going on behind me if Im doing the speed limit...so there".

Gophur wrote: »

But then you couldn't find something to say without some added conjecture, eh?

djimi

GreeBo wrote: »

I'm not saying you need to wedge yourself into moving traffic...but too often Im stuck behind someone who is going for "just one more car" even if that car is 1-200m ahead.

Its equally not hard for "you" to pull in for 10s to let them pass (assuming its safe for you to pull in). The speed limit doesnt come into it...its not up to you to control someone elses speed...unless you wear a blue uniform and a badge to work.

If someone is waiting to pass a car 200m ahead then they are not overtaking; they are hogging the overtaking lane, and that is a different issue entirely.

You said "just because you are overtaking it doesnt give you the right to hold up other cars" to which my answer is if I am overtaking (ie actually in the act over passing a car or group of cars) then I dont care if you are Jesus Christ himself, if youre not driving an ambulance/fire engine/cop car you are going to wait until I have passed the cars I am passing before I am going to pull in. If there is a gap of 200m then I will pull in to let you past; if there is not then you will wait, end of story.

I only mention the speed limit to illustrate that I am driving at a reasonable speed, ie, not going 60kmph to overtake a car doing 40kmph on a 100kmph stretch of road.

bigSuzi12

djimi wrote: »

To be fair, if Im overtaking and doing the speed limit anything short of an ambulance coming up behind me can wait until Im done overtaking. Its not that hard to have patience for what, 40 seconds, until I pass the car or cars Im looking to pass. No way would I wedge myself in between the cars Im overtaking just so some prat who cant wait a few seconds can fly by me.

People who think like this are pathetic, narrow minded, self-righteous little josworths.........get on with your sad little life and stop holding mine up.....:mad:

Max Power1

bigSuzi12 wrote: »

People who think like this are pathetic, narrow minded, self-righteous little josworths.........get on with your sad little life and stop holding mine up.....:mad:

If your life is so important, perhaps you should save some stress on your heart, chill out, calm down, wait the 30 seconds for the driver correctly utilizing the overtaking lane to overtake within the limit, and then speed off!

(hopefully straight into a speed camera )

metzengerstein

was coming home from cork the weekend ,great new road car in fron overtook so did we gf was driving ,the car that overtook was going under the limit and wasnt going passed the car in th left lane,so she gave them a flash,and with that a smoke butt came out the window at us and a middle finger or two ,after about 20 mins there where a few cars behind us now all frustrated aswell ,so they moved at last and when we went by two horrible aulwans driving gave us the finger again,got a nice pic of there car hmmmmmm to report them or not ,

Anan1

bigSuzi12 wrote: »

People who think like this are pathetic, narrow minded, self-righteous little josworths.........get on with your sad little life and stop holding mine up.....:mad:

Two posts and already you're starting with the personal abuse? Read the charter. Next time it'll be a ban.

cpoh1

djimi wrote: »

If someone is waiting to pass a car 200m ahead then they are not overtaking; they are hogging the overtaking lane, and that is a different issue entirely.

You said "just because you are overtaking it doesnt give you the right to hold up other cars" to which my answer is if I am overtaking (ie actually in the act over passing a car or group of cars) then I dont care if you are Jesus Christ himself, if youre not driving an ambulance/fire engine/cop car you are going to wait until I have passed the cars I am passing before I am going to pull in. If there is a gap of 200m then I will pull in to let you past; if there is not then you will wait, end of story.

I only mention the speed limit to illustrate that I am driving at a reasonable speed, ie, not going 60kmph to overtake a car doing 40kmph on a 100kmph stretch of road.

Don’t take a car looking to get past you so personally. Its such an Irish thing to get worked up over. This is the very thing that would not be tolerated on the continent (or anywhere else for that matter). Try sticking to your speed limit as you overtake a bunch of cars in Italy with people looking to travel at a brisker pace and you wont be long geetting out of their way.

Its nothing personal against you in particular its just something thats sadly rife in this country and not prevalent in other countries. If there's a 50m gap available and it looks like the car behind would make better pace if you werent in their way then just pull over for them. It takes 2 seconds and makes life easier for anyone. Speed limits dont come into, its common custosy.

Remember one mans fast is another mans slow, think of that next time you are stuck behind someone at 70kph on the motorway and they have the same attitude as you.

Anan1

cpoh1 wrote: »

Don’t take a car looking to get past you so personally. Its such an Irish thing to get worked up over. This is the very thing that would not be tolerated on the continent (or anywhere else for that matter). Try sticking to your speed limit as you overtake a bunch of cars in Italy with people looking to travel at a brisker pace and you wont be long geetting out of their way.

Its nothing personal against you in particular its just something thats sadly rife in this country and not prevalent in other countries. If there's a 50m gap available and it looks like the car behind would make better pace if you werent in their way then just pull over for them. It takes 2 seconds and makes life easier for anyone. Speed limits dont come into, its common custosy.

Remember one mans fast is another mans slow, think of that next time you are stuck behind someone at 70kph on the motorway and they have the same attitude as you.

It seems to me that the only difference between your points is the size of the gap required?

cyclopath2001

cpoh1 wrote: »

If there's a 50m gap available and it looks like the car behind would make better pace if you werent in their way then just pull over for them. It takes 2 seconds and makes life easier for anyone. Speed limits dont come into, its common custosy..

At 120kph, 50 metres would be covered in 1.5 seconds? Seems to me that there is little inconvenience for the car following to wait for you to complete your manouvre. Causing you the inconvenience of moving in is, as we know, being illegal overtaking.

As regards 'courtesy', does this mean that you would never park on a road? This tends to slow down traffic, especially if it forces cyclists out into what's left of the driving lane after you've occupied a large part of ir with your immobile car.

-Chris-

cyclopath2001 wrote: »

At 120kph, 50 metres would be covered in 1.5 seconds? Seems to me that there is little inconvenience for the car following to wait for you to complete your manouvre. Causing you the inconvenience of moving in is, as we know, being illegal overtaking.

I don't know if anyone had their measuring tape with them when they researched the post. I think the point still stands.

cyclopath2001 wrote: »

As regards 'courtesy', does this mean that you would never park on a road? This tends to slow down traffic, especially if it forces cyclists out into what's left of the driving lane after you've occupied a large part of ir with your immobile car.

As regards courtesy, do they hold the door open for ladies or wave thanks to people who let them out into traffic?
It's a thread about overtaking, not parking.

Anan1

cyclopath2001 wrote: »

At 120kph, 50 metres would be covered in 1.5 seconds?

Honestly, are you trying to wind people up? Or has it genuinely not occurred to you that the gap is moving too?

testarossa40

cyclopath2001 wrote: »

... especially if it forces cyclists out into what's left of the driving lane after you've occupied a large part of ir with your immobile car.

Must have missed it when when cycling & parking on motorways was decriminalised? The thread topic is "Motorway stragglers. What do you do ?".

Others have corrected you on the actual physics of motorway driving so I don't have to.

testarossa40

paddyland wrote: »

You might think you are waving the letter of the law in your hand, but you are wrong to think that policing the letter of the law by holding everyone else back is anything good.

Even on a three lane motorway, where there is a lot of traffic strung across the three lanes, it is vital that that traffic breaks up and spreads out along the road, letting the road 'breathe' and allowing manoeuvring room for everyone. That is vital.

If lanes one and two are clogged, and you doggedly hold 'the speed limit' in the third lane with a queue of traffic behind you, not necessarily nose to tail, but all in a solid line, while a mile of empty road lies ahead of you, then you are contributing primarily to a very dangerous situation. Somewhere further back behind you, people are boxed in their lanes, desperately waiting for a chance to move in or out, and people are entering the motorway into dense traffic, forcing others to brake unnecessarily, or even jam on in some cases.

It is not good enough to ignorantly state that everyone should obey the speed limit, and stick behind you. There may not be the space, and the road must breathe, giving space for other people to manoeuvre should they need to do so.

By moving in, and letting others pass, the traffic breaks up, space and visibility materialises, and the road becomes much safer for everyone. Of course the idiot doing 160k in heavy traffic should not do so, but that is not your concern. Deliberately bunching up a road with dozens of tightly packed cars where there is ample room for them to spread out IS your concern, if you are the cause of the traffic bunch.

Don't be the cause of traffic bunching. Either move, or let others move, and take a broader view of things.

Brilliant explanation paddyland - thank you. Wish the AA, NRA, RSA, and one or two on this thread would read, learn, and appreciate...

padma

i just wonder would we be better off as a nation getting rid of the left hand rule on motorways altogether in order that people could use whatever lane they like? having to use both mirrors would prob encourage middle lane hoggers to keep left.

djimi

cpoh1 wrote: »

Don’t take a car looking to get past you so personally. Its such an Irish thing to get worked up over. This is the very thing that would not be tolerated on the continent (or anywhere else for that matter). Try sticking to your speed limit as you overtake a bunch of cars in Italy with people looking to travel at a brisker pace and you wont be long geetting out of their way.

Its nothing personal against you in particular its just something thats sadly rife in this country and not prevalent in other countries. If there's a 50m gap available and it looks like the car behind would make better pace if you werent in their way then just pull over for them. It takes 2 seconds and makes life easier for anyone. Speed limits dont come into, its common custosy.

Remember one mans fast is another mans slow, think of that next time you are stuck behind someone at 70kph on the motorway and they have the same attitude as you.

Im in Ireland; I dont really give a toss how they drive in Italy or Germany or any other country for that matter. Italy is the most obnoxious country Ive ever been to with regards how they drive; if youre using it as a benchmark as to how people should behave on the road then I recommend you seriously reconsider your thoughts on driving.

As I said above, if there is a safe gap for me to pull into between cars that Im overtaking then Ill pull into it, but only if its a safe gap. Im not going to slow down (because lets not forget Im travelling faster than the cars Im overtaking so I would have to slow down to match their speed), pull into a small gap, then pull back out again all in the space of 10 seconds or so, just so some prat doesnt have to wait 30 seconds for me to complete my overtaking manouever. And thats all were talking about here - 30 seconds or so. Im not talking about holding up traffic for miles, Im not talking about driving in the overtaking lane for an extended period of time; Im talking about the length of time it takes to complete an overtaking mavouever of a car or small group of cars. Its not asking a lot.

The overtaking lane is not designed to allow drivers to travel at a steady 140 or whatever, its not called a fast lane despite what some people choose to believe, so if they happen to meet someone who is overtaking another car, even if that person is travelling slower than them, its up to them to back off.

_Kaiser_

GreeBo wrote: »

Just because you are overtaking it doesnt give you the right to hold up other cars. If there is someone moving faster than you you should pull in and then back out once they have passed.
In Italy, Germany and most of Europe you would get cars up your ass if not nudging you for driving they way you describe.

I was stuck behind an idiot on monday night who was "overtaking" for 5 minutes on the N11 at 95kph while we all queued up behind him. I indicated...nothing...flashed nothing...flashed again and he then put on his rear fogs...
There were lots of places where he could have pulled in to let us pass along the way..but no danger from this genius.

Just to respond to this one...

As it happens the traffic on the inside lane (as well as moving at around 60 km/h) was also pretty tightly packed thus I had no way to move back in, even if I'd wanted to - which I didn't

I was overtaking in the correct lane at the posted 80 km/h limit (possibly a few km over as I drive at the limit when safe/appropriate to do so), and unlike a lot of others, DO move back in when I've finished the move.

But I'll be damned if I'll allow myself to be "bullied" off the road by some gimp (cop or not!) who is doing way over the limit in conditions like that.

Anan1

djimi wrote: »

As I said above, if there is a safe gap for me to pull into between cars that Im overtaking then Ill pull into it, but only if its a safe gap. Im not going to slow down (because lets not forget Im travelling faster than the cars Im overtaking so I would have to slow down to match their speed)

That sounds fair enough. If the gap is big enough for me to pull in, allow the other car past, and then pull back out without slowing then i'll do it. In other words, if it's big enough for me to be undertaken in.;)

djimi wrote: »

The overtaking lane is not designed to allow drivers to travel at a steady 140 or whatever, its not called a fast lane despite what some people choose to believe, so if they happen to meet someone who is overtaking another car, even if that person is travelling slower than them, its up to them to back off.

Well, to wait. Provided, as above, that the driver is overtaking and not between overtakes.

GreeBo

Anan1 wrote: »

That sounds fair enough. If the gap is big enough for me to pull in, allow the other car past, and then pull back out without slowing then i'll do it. In other words, if it's big enough for me to be undertaken in.;)

Well, to wait. Provided, as above, that the driver is overtaking and not between overtakes.

The problem is not someone overtaking slowly (though the +1kph overtakers should be shot) its someone staying in the lane while they are between overtakes. We know why they do it, because they are afraid they wont get back out again...but the only reason they wont get back out is if someone ahead is doing the exact same thing and causing traffic in the overtaking lane to bunch up. It should never bunch up in this lane if traffic is running properly. (Gridlock is obviously a special case, but still, the far lane should be free)