Other drivers are overtaking me every time I drive...

Del2005 · 02-07-2011 09:22PM

crashvictim wrote: »

It was drizzling and raining since the morning. Yes I do blame the learner driver, apparently the girl was meant to pull in to do a three point turn, unfortunately for me she forgot to indicate and forgot to pull in, and stopped in the middle of a straight road. Yes the onus is on the driver behind to anticipate and stop in time, however it was a totally unexpected stop. People can say what they want about this stuff happening as well from full license drivers but at least they have passed a competency test to be on the road in the first place.

Still totally your fault and the fact that you can't see that is the worst part.

You weren't driving for the conditions, would it still have been her fault if someone had ran in front of her?

That's why you need to leave at least a 4 second gap in the rain, for the unexpected.

The_Conductor · 02-07-2011 09:39PM

I'm one of the older posters here- I've had a full licence for 20 years, no penalty points and a full no-claims bonus on my driving licence.

If I'm out driving and happen to be behind a learner driver (or indeed any driver who appears to be driving erratically), I will try to remove myself from the situation when its safe to do so (no stupid overtaking on hills, blind corners or dangerous strips of road).

From my personal experience I find learner drivers liable to stop suddenly without obvious cause or warning- however other drivers- many who might have been driving for decades- can do the most appallingly stupid things that no-one in their right mind would contemplate (and I'm not just referring to high speed tailgating- which is a particular bugbear of mine- given the amount of motorway driving I do- its amazing the number of people who are happy to stay 3 foot off your rear bumper despite the overtaking lane being free).

When I was learning to drive- I elected to do the advanced test- primarily as a means of getting reasonable insurance- but its really useful, and I genuinely think that many of the aspects of the course should be incorporated into the regular test- including but not exclusively the modules on defensive driving.

Also- if we're going to be having harsh winters for the forseeable future- as meteorologists are predicting- a few hours for folks on skid courses would be a wise investment too.......

Ps- if you're consistently driving at 80kmph in a 100kmph without any mitigating factors (e.g. heavy rain, poor visibility or other)- you probably are failing to make sufficient progress......... On the continent its normal to have minimum as well as maximum speeds for each lane on a dual carriageway- so for example a given road might have a 100kmph limit- however the minimum speed for an inner lane would be 50 and outer lane 80- minimum....... I've had colleagues pulled over and fined for driving at 80kmph because they were uncomfortable driving on the right hand side of the road and were deemed to be making insufficient progress......

Marks Motoring · 03-07-2011 05:15PM

crashvictim wrote: »

It was drizzling and raining since the morning. Yes I do blame the learner driver, apparently the girl was meant to pull in to do a three point turn, unfortunately for me she forgot to indicate and forgot to pull in, and stopped in the middle of a straight road. Yes the onus is on the driver behind to anticipate and stop in time, however it was a totally unexpected stop. People can say what they want about this stuff happening as well from full license drivers but at least they have passed a competency test to be on the road in the first place.

If a child ran out in front of the car in front and you rearend them, would you still blame them? You were to close and should be more careful following a learner..........

crashvictim · 04-07-2011 03:58PM

Marks Motoring wrote: »

If a child ran out in front of the car in front and you rearend them, would you still blame them? You were to close and should be more careful following a learner..........

I didnt rear end anyone for a start. The learner driver stopped in a hazardous manner in bad road conditions. Learner drivers are for the most part bad and dangerous drivers, they panic and do crazy stuff so to this day if I see a learner driver ahead of me and if I cant pass it out I will keep well back from it.

careca11 · 04-07-2011 04:17PM

JJGallagher wrote: »

Anyone else have this happening. I'm doing bang on the speed limit and still every single car overtakes me and sometimes on the outskirts of town where the speed limit is still 60km I have had vans twice in the last 2 days drive right up on my back bumper which was very intimidating but I don't want to break the speed limit and knowing my luck get caught.

My instructor says speed limits are just that, not targets and makes me go 80 in 100 zones but out with my aul fella I'm doing bang on the speed limits and it still doesn't please people.

I feel like when I get the full license I'll have no choice but to break the speed limits because everyone is going faster than me. All this over taking makes me feel like I'm an awful obstruction and must be doing something wrong..... It's just a mental block I'm having a hard time with. When I see these big Audis roaring past my 1 litre I lose all confidence in my abilities

I never put L plates up when learning , but yes driving at the speed limit is not enough for some people , one van driver pissed me off so much one morning going to work , I just slowed right down to about 30kph ...........................that really got under his skin , eventually when the oncoming traffic cleared , he yelled out the window while passing me called me everything under the sun ...........................I bust out laughing at him (<SNIP>) ,
no one driver has any more priority over any other driver ..................don't let them intimidiate you ( and FFS stick to the speed limit)

Yawns · 04-07-2011 05:08PM

crashvictim wrote: »

to this day if I see a learner driver ahead of me and if I cant pass it out I will keep well back from it.

Awful shame you had to have a near miss to learn this. Where you a learner at any stage or one of these born fully licenced drivers?

Learner drivers are for the most part bad and dangerous drivers, they panic and do crazy stuff

Remove the learner part and you have most drivers in Ireland tbh be they learners or not. Maybe you're still under the illusion that a piece of paper makes you better on the roads. I agree learners can be bad, but what are you expecting from them tbh?

Perhaps we should have separate roads for learners so godly drivers like yourself don't have to deal with them. But then who would you blame for your mistakes I wonder.

Get over it, everyone has to start somewhere. If it takes something stupid like your post for you to cop on to the fact a learner may be learning to drive then it's not the learner I'd be blaming.

leahyl · 05-07-2011 09:10AM

spurious wrote: »

Seeing L plates on a car ahead makes some mentally challenged drivers even worse.
It's nothing to do with how you're driving.

They HAVE to get ahead of you - if they don't, I think their bits shrivel up - something bad anyway.

It's not just L plates though - I used to think this when I was learning but once I got my licence I quickly realised that they STILL overtake you no matter what! I think it could be more to do with the kind of car you drive. For instance I drive a Yaris and sometimes I could be actually doing 5km over the speed limit (like say 55 in a 50 zone) and you still get idiots absolutely belting it past you!!! It's so annoying! I think they think "oh look at that little yaris they couldnt possibly be doing the speed limit" - Eh, actually I'm doing over it dumbass!!!

But of course if you drive a big tank then no one overtakes you:rolleyes:

The_Conductor · 05-07-2011 10:10AM

leahyl wrote: »

But of course if you drive a big tank then no one overtakes you:rolleyes:

Lol- I've a Volvo estate and the women on reception where I work give out yards to me all the time that I drive too slow- and they're the ones in the Yaris S and Mini Cooper.......

Stark · 05-07-2011 10:12AM

leahyl wrote: »

But of course if you drive a big tank then no one overtakes you:rolleyes:

People in big cars get overtaken too.

When will people understand, it's not personal.

Optimus Caesar · 05-07-2011 10:47AM

This is an interesting thread.

It's not our responsibility to police the roads. That's what An Garda Síochána are for.
If someone is that desperate to get past you, let them go and be thankful that they are no longer behind you (probably taking your focus off what is ahead of you).

Also, every single driver on the road is capable of making mistakes whether they are learners or have been driving decades. The advantage experience brings is that you are less likely to panic when you do make a mistake.

I'm driving 10 years and having gone through the learner process 10 years ago I don't think that Ireland's methods of learning inexperienced drivers is adequate but thats another thread

Stay focused, stay safe and don't worry about what other road users are doing. You have no control over that.

ztoical · 05-07-2011 11:12AM

Stark wrote: »

People in big cars get overtaken too.

When will people understand, it's not personal.

People in big cars don't get tailgated or overtaken nearly as often as smaller cars. When I learned to drive I had a well loved Micra and was forever tailgated, flashed at and overtaken. I assumed at first I must be doing something wrong but my instructor and everyone who drove with me when I was learning said I was doing fine so I figured once the L plates came down it would be different. Nope lack of L plates made no difference. Motorways were a nightmare of flashing and tailgating. I had to report a lorry once that drove right up my ass in pouring rain, flashing all it's lights at me.

Then I switched from the Micra to my dads Land Rover and holy cow what a difference. I've never been tailgated or flashed when driving that, the difference compared to driving the Micra was really insane. I hate having to drive a small car now on major roads as it's back to the stupid tailgating.

leahyl · 05-07-2011 11:14AM

Stark wrote: »

People in big cars get overtaken too.

When will people understand, it's not personal.

Ok I know this probably happens too but I have never noticed it really - it always seems to be smaller cars. It's usually when you take off from traffic lights and you don't build up speed fast enough (due to smaller engine!) - they get impatient and just have to overtake you! It just annoys me that's all!:mad::o

Redonblonde · 05-07-2011 11:40AM

I'm learning to drive, in a Golf, and few weeks ago whilst practising in Skibb, some knob overtook me, on a blind corner, of course there was a car coming towards us too, who had to brake like crazy not to hit him or me! very lucky that nothing happened. I was going a bit slower than 80, but only by 10 kmph, but that road is narrow, and the bend is pretty sharp, and I wasn't familiar with it, was hardly going to bomb round it anyway.

leahyl · 05-07-2011 12:02PM

Redonblonde wrote: »

I'm learning to drive, in a Golf, and few weeks ago whilst practising in Skibb, some knob overtook me, on a blind corner, of course there was a car coming towards us too, who had to brake like crazy not to hit him or me! very lucky that nothing happened. I was going a bit slower than 80, but only by 10 kmph, but that road is narrow, and the bend is pretty sharp, and I wasn't familiar with it, was hardly going to bomb round it anyway.

I think 80kmph is way too fast for some of those country roads. Like I know you don't have to do 80 but you can. Some of those roads are unbelievably narrow and have bad surfaces

Latatian · 21-08-2011 02:35AM

Saw an 80kph road earlier which had grass growing in the middle of it. There wasn't enough room for 2 cars either, if you met someone you had to stop and reverse.

kirving · 22-08-2011 08:17PM

crashvictim wrote: »

I was at what I thought was a safe distance back and it was a good straight road 50km speed limit, then the car in front stopped very suddenly I of course braked and tried to advoid the car in front, I managed to advoid the car in front but not the post box at the side of the road.

Joining up to make generalisations about, and criticize people who are trying to learn is a tad harsh. Anyone could have stopped suddenly, you can't say all learners behave the same way. Fact is, you were too close to the car in front, and you didn't anticipate that a learner may indeed make a poor decision. That's your fault.

Drive at a speed that will allow you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear.

Now I know most people don't follw the above advice, and it is difficult to do, but you can't come back and say the learner was totally in the wrong when you didn't follow the advice yourself.

ThunderZtorm · 23-08-2011 09:34AM

I'm currently a learner, and I experience often that cars overtake me. I drive to work with my flatmate, going on the N3 from Phoenix Park to Blanchardstown, sticking to the 80 speed limit - it does indeed seem like everybody's overtaking me all the time.

I don't mind though, what everybody else does is none of my business, I'll just keeping driving at the speed limit and generally drive safely and intelligently. You won't see me going 60 at an 80 road either, I know how annoying that is after driving home from Cavan behind an Englishman who consistently went 70 on a 100 road this sunday.

I see those scary stories about learner drivers and the treatment of them, and I don't know if I'm just a very good learner driver, or if the stories are exceptions - I've never been honked at, even when stalling, nobody's yelled at me (yet), and I generally feel like a pretty normal member of the traffic..

One thing tho, anyone know the spot on the N3 between Blanchardstown and Phoenix Park where you have the short steep hill/bridge thing with a 30km/h speed limit? What the heck's up with that - that's one spot where it's completely impossible to drive legally, I mean, I go about 70 in 5th gear when I reach the spot, and with an old car like mine, it's going to need that momentum to get over safely without obstructing traffic.

looksee · 23-08-2011 10:00AM

ThunderZtorm wrote: »

I'm currently a learner, and I experience often that cars overtake me. I drive to work with my flatmate, going on the N3 from Phoenix Park to Blanchardstown, sticking to the 80 speed limit - it does indeed seem like everybody's overtaking me all the time.

I don't mind though, what everybody else does is none of my business, I'll just keeping driving at the speed limit and generally drive safely and intelligently. You won't see me going 60 at an 80 road either, I know how annoying that is after driving home from Cavan behind an Englishman who consistently went 70 on a 100 road this sunday.

I see those scary stories about learner drivers and the treatment of them, and I don't know if I'm just a very good learner driver, or if the stories are exceptions - I've never been honked at, even when stalling, nobody's yelled at me (yet), and I generally feel like a pretty normal member of the traffic..

One thing tho, anyone know the spot on the N3 between Blanchardstown and Phoenix Park where you have the short steep hill/bridge thing with a 30km/h speed limit? What the heck's up with that - that's one spot where it's completely impossible to drive legally, I mean, I go about 70 in 5th gear when I reach the spot, and with an old car like mine, it's going to need that momentum to get over safely without obstructing traffic.

Have you done any hill starts yet? We have a lovely junction in Waterford where you get to do a hill start, deal with a blind t junction and traffic lights all at the same time. And in Tramore, several hills where you have to take a corner or a roundabout while on a steep hill. You shouldn't have to have a run at a hill to cope with it.

ThunderZtorm · 23-08-2011 09:42PM

looksee wrote: »

Have you done any hill starts yet? We have a lovely junction in Waterford where you get to do a hill start, deal with a blind t junction and traffic lights all at the same time. And in Tramore, several hills where you have to take a corner or a roundabout while on a steep hill. You shouldn't have to have a run at a hill to cope with it.

Well, it's not so much getting up the hill, it's more, all the way to the hill, the speed limit's 80, then 60, and then exactly at the beginning of the very steep, and very short, climb, the limit turns to 30, and that I don't understand. Right after the climb, which is like 100-200m, limit's back to 60 again.

So in other words, before the climb, you'd need to crawl down to 30km/h, crawl up the hill in third I'd say, and then speed up right after you're done. To me, that makes no sense, and I do notice that absolutely nobody does it. Not a single person.

Other drivers are overtaking me every time I drive...

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