Does nobody overtake anymore?

RobAMerc

I've noticed recently while driving when on single carriageways that everybody trundles along in procession behind whatever is doing whatever speed without ever even attempting to overtake.

Worse still is the person who attempts to overtake has to endure people speeding up to close gaps, swerving violently out of the way, slamming on the brakes and almost without fail flashing their lights in disapproval - ( I think its mistaking branded speeding )

Drivers : Overtaking is legal and not dangerous if done properly - what makes it dangerous is if you start behaving in a manor which is totally unpredictable or being too busy being a pious dick that you stop paying attention to what you are doing!

rant over.

_Kaiser_

+1.. I just had a rant about something similar in the Bank Holiday thread

It's true though.. bad enough that there's an increasing amount of dawdlers that aren't capable of driving at a decent speed (when appropriate/safe to do so), but then you have the idiots behind them who just join the convoy, making it harder for someone else to get past the lot of them!

If you're not capable of controlling a car at 100 km/h on a nice wide N-road, you have no business being behind the wheel in my opinion! Equally, if you are unable to overtake said muppet when the opportunity presents itself then you shouldn't be on the road either!!

EDIT: There is an exception to the above - if you're driving a car that doesn't have the ability to get up to speed and complete the overtake in 5/6 seconds, don't bother & don't hinder anyone else who can.
The amount of times I've gone for the overtake to have some clown in a 1L Micra or a Ford Transit decide they're going for it to and pulls in front of me halfway-through (LOOK before you pull out!) and then take so long that an originally clear and safe road then becomes a risky manoeuvre is shocking.

Sids Not

I just thought i was getting stuck behind a funeral a lot.....:rolleyes:

Jumpy

RobAMerc wrote: »

what makes it dangerous is if you start behaving in a manor which is totally unpredictable

HOHO my good man. Those who dont behave in my manor shall be escorted out by the butler. I dont put up with such common behaviour.


Humour aside, its Bank Holiday traffic. Patience is key here. If someone does not want to overtake, then they dont have to.

Duckjob

RobAMerc wrote: »

I've noticed recently while driving when on single carriageways that everybody trundles along in procession behind whatever is doing whatever speed without ever even attempting to overtake.

Worse still is the person who attempts to overtake has to endure people speeding up to close gaps, swerving violently out of the way, slamming on the brakes and almost without fail flashing their lights in disapproval - ( I think its mistaking branded speeding )

Drivers : Overtaking is legal and not dangerous if done properly - what makes it dangerous is if you start behaving in a manor which is totally unpredictable or being too busy being a pious dick that you stop paying attention to what you are doing!

rant over.

+1,000,000

And ironically, the erratic driving that some of these idiots engage in while consumed in their self-righteousness is adding a lot more risk to a situation than a well-judged overtaking maneuvre.

Morons.

_Kaiser_

Jumpy wrote: »

Humour aside, its Bank Holiday traffic. Patience is key here. If someone does not want to overtake, then they dont have to.

No, but nor should they hinder those that do want to overtake either. Incidentially, although the media and the authorities like to make a big deal out of being careful on Bank holidays, it should make NO difference WHAT day it is if you're out on the road. Same rules, responsibilities and consideration (a word lacking in a lot of Irish motorists vocabulary it seems) still apply.

Berty

It all depends on what time of the day and what day you are driving.

Sundays and Bank Holidays bring out drivers who have nowhere to go and all the time to get there.

I personally drive slower and overtake less on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

Im heading out to work now and can nearly guarantee I will be Mr Overtaker.

AugustusMaximus

I personally think its due to the RSA drilling into our heads to slow down.

I'd say there's a nice percentage of people on our roads who won't do the speed limit for this very reason.

Whatever about cars not overtaking others, what really does my nut is when the car who refuses to overtake won't let enough space between themselves and the other car in front of them to allow them to be overtaken. Awful stuff.

Berty

Sometimes I am coming home from work along the N7 and have built up a good pace on the motorway only to come off onto the inferior roads by Mountrath where you cannot overtake.

The traffic mounts up on top of itself and then when you get to a stretch where you can overtake you check the road ahead and realise that there are soooooo many cars to overtake you will only end up leap frogging for the next 20 miles and for what????

I hate the people who flash when I overtake them. Its always the old person who you can clearly see put his foot on the brakes when you are overtaking people of the blind panic of somebody passing him by and then frantically flash's you for overtaking. "Sorry pops buy you are driving too slow and I WILL overtake you and to hell with your pacemaker".

Women do this one: You overtake with loads of space and there is a woman driving towards you. Miles of room left and you are already way back into your lane by the time they get near you and then they flash their headlights. They dont dare look at you though, they just flash their lights hoping to achieve something. What, I will never know?

tbaymusicman

You should try be on a bike people have turned mental and will try ram me off the road if i try over take even when its safe everybody drive's at 60 k now its like f**ken holland or something:(

*Tripper*

The main thing that hinders overtaking more recently, to my eyes anyway, are tailgaters and convoys of tailgaters. If there's a bit of traffic doing 80ish in a 100 it's not just a case of overtaking just one or two cars a time anymore. It's a case of have to go for the full 4/5 maybe more because they are simply to close to each other and give you no room to pull back in for oncoming traffic. These increases the danger of the overtake for both the overtaker and the tailgaters.

shakenbake

One of things I've noticed recently after doing some long country runs is that people will 'convoy out' doing anywhere between 10 - 20k less than the speedlimit (say 100k)

So if you want to overtake quickly and safely I've caught myself doing 140k when I've overtaken a car or two. It terrifies me to bump into plod (or speed camera) having done that speed trying to explain what I was doing, without getting points.

The OP is right though. I think people have been guilted into sticking behind the pedestrian driver. It's frustrating!

Foleyart

What kills me are the number of people who for whatever reason just hate being overtaken by anyone or anything. These are the people who, as you go to overtake them, speed up. Why why why, and then the venomous looks as you pass them by. I've had one in particular lately whom I passed at a reasonable speed, who passed me out again immediately at a ridiculous speed and gave me the two fingers to boot, then turned off to the left on to a by road. Why why why, ? is it because I drive a 4x4?

alias no.9

Maybe I'm just getting old (I'm only 31) but I overtake much less than I used to. There are more motorways now and even though they're sometimes linked up by famine roads, there's often not far to go until you're back on a motorway / dual carriageway or come into the next town. If it's anyway busy at all, you'll just be held up by another sunday driver until you get to the motorway / dual carriageway or if you're coming into a town you'll lose any time gained and more often than not the guy you overtook will turn off down a side street.

voxpop

shakenbake wrote: »

One of things I've noticed recently after doing some long country runs is that people will 'convoy out' doing anywhere between 10 - 20k less than the speedlimit (say 100k)

Thats the main problem - if they want to convoy, then they should at least leave enough of a gap for anyone else to overtake.

alias no.9

voxpop wrote: »

Thats the main problem - if they want to convoy, then they should at least leave enough of a gap for anyone else to overtake.

If it's busy, say a convoy of 10 cars, even if there is a gap, between oncoming traffic, short sight lines, etc... it would be quite some distance before you get past them all.

no1beemerfan

voxpop wrote: »

Thats the main problem - if they want to convoy, then they should at least leave enough of a gap for anyone else to overtake.

Thats what get my goat up....if you don't want to pass out please leave room between you and the next car so someone who can and wants to pass out can do so.
I do pass out and the amount of people who do their damndest (spelling?) to hinder you is unreal. :mad:

voxpop

alias no.9 wrote: »

If it's busy, say a convoy of 10 cars, even if there is a gap, between oncoming traffic, short sight lines, etc... it would be quite some distance before you get past them all.

yeah maybe - at least if there are spaces for overtaking, you have some hope - rather than the despair that comes with knowing you will be stuck behind a line of traffic for the next 2 hours travelling at 70kph

RobAMerc

Jumpy wrote: »

HOHO my good man. Those who dont behave in my manor shall be escorted out by the butler. I dont put up with such common behaviour.

Don't be a tool - its obvious what I mean is people behaving erratically because they are being overtaken I'm not talking about people pulling out of the way or anything just coz I am coming past - I am talking about people not behaving like idiots !

- ie this weekend alone, while overtaking the following happened me.

the car ahead of the one I was overtaking started braking hard for some reason meaning I had to
a) brake hard myself in order to not run into him and get back into the gap or
b)stay out and over take them too

Who was driving dangerously here ?

I also had a guy swerve violently towards the hard shoulder while I was overtaking him ( on a major section of road ). - stupid an unnecessary.

Yesterday a guy coming the opposite direction flashed his lights and waved his fists so hard at a lad who had over taken, he nearly lost control of his own car the dosey prick.

Stevie Dakota

Overtaking is rarely worth the hassle. When I was younger it was aim to overtake anything that was too slow, sometime with scary results. Then when you did stop for food/petrol/whatever those same cars came trundling by mere minutes later.

Now I am wiser and drive a more powerful car, so when I do overtake it is done safely, but more often than not I will chill, the aim to is to arrive calm and alive.

glynf

RobAMerc wrote: »

Don't be a tool - its obvious what I mean is people behaving erratically because they are being overtaken I'm not talking about people pulling out of the way or anything just coz I am coming past - I am talking about people not behaving like idiots !

- ie this weekend alone, while overtaking the following happened me.

the car ahead of the one I was overtaking started braking hard for some reason meaning I had to
a) brake hard myself in order to not run into him and get back into the gap or
b)stay out and over take them too

Who was driving dangerously here ?

I also had a guy swerve violently towards the hard shoulder while I was overtaking him ( on a major section of road ). - stupid an unnecessary.

Yesterday a guy coming the opposite direction flashed his lights and waved his fists so hard at a lad who had over taken, he nearly lost control of his own car the dosey prick.

This carry on has happened to me many times, overtaking someone and they slam on, swerve or wave their fist etc.
The problem I think is that they dont pay any attention to thier mirrors or what is happening behind them, and then when they are overtaken they get a shock and default to dumbass mode. I usualy stick the indicators on for a few seconds at least before overtaking, so there really is no excuse for this.
I was learning to drive, I was told to keep a good eye on what is happening behind as much as what is happening ahead of me on the road..

BrianD3

There have been lots of threads on this before, I remember one thread where posters were attempting to justify speeding up/blocking others from overtaking. For some reason a lot of drivers seem to get territorial about "their" "braking space" in front of their car. Hence getting annoyed if someone overtakes and is now in front of them.

I notice that it is certain makes and models that are likely to be driven by dawdlers and overtaking begrudgers. Almera and Corolla saloons, Accents, Jettas, Avensii. The same eejits who dawdle on N roads also dawdle at junctions, drive at 45 mph everywhere, don't turn on their lights in poor visibility, merge onto motorways at a snails pace etc.

Back to overtaking, I will often pre-emptively overtake cars that are doing the speed limit. Because while Almera man might be driving at the limit on a clear road, if he catches up with a HGV or tractor, chances are he'll dilly-dally around or drive up the arse of the HGV and not overtake. That's how slow moving convoys build up "it's number two that causes the queue" and all that

RobAMerc

BrianD3 wrote: »

There have been lots of threads on this before, I remember one thread where posters were attempting to justify speeding up/blocking others from overtaking. For some reason a lot of drivers seem to get territorial about "their" "braking space" in front of their car. Hence getting annoyed if someone overtakes and is now in front of them.

I notice that it is certain makes and models that are likely to be driven by dawdlers and overtaking begrudgers. Almera and Corolla saloons, Accents, Jettas, Avensii. The same eejits who dawdle on N roads also daw......

That's funny - you just reminded me - I overtook an Almera on the M50 on Saturday - who promptly started beeping at me and flashing he lights - god knows for what reason other than he disliked being overtaken!

cc

It really depends on the type of journey your on too. If there is a slow moving convoy and i'm only 2 or 3 kms from home i'll quite happily join it rather than stressing myself trying to pass multiple cars. But if i'm on a longer journey i'll try and get by when i can.

WillieCocker

Some people just can't stand being overtaken.
They get this "I'm in a queue and there will be no skipping" attitude.

Although i must say, there are plenty of those out there that when they see you coming up behind in a performance car will move over quickly and gladly.
So it's not all bad.

Voodoomelon

Funny this topic comes up, because i've been having the same thoughts about overtaking recently myself.
I remember as a child (10-15 years ago) being driven around by my parents, and friends parents etc and overtaking was very, very common, it used to happen all the time.

If there was car going slow in front of you, you overtook as soon as the road was clear. Now it never happens. People seem to be perfectly content to sit there until the slow car turns off the road.

WillieCocker

Hah Derek Mooney is talking about this very topic.:D

Berty

Im glad so that I drive a stereotypical Audi so am not going to be caught behind the losers of this world dawdling along like every day is a Bank Holiday.

Solitaire

From the roads of Meath, five entire classes of insanely dangerous eejits who justify always carrying a passenger with an RPG7 locked and loaded:

Retakerererers: Respond angrily to overtakes. Not only with lights, horns and hand gestures but also by accelerating (regardless of speed or hazards) and re-taking the overtaker then slowing down again and blocking them (and everyone else!). Can repeatedly behave this way on dual-carriageways and can cause big tailbacks on smaller roads as their speed is always inversely proportional to their ire. Usually drive deceptively quick cool-hatches and saloons or car-vans.

Decoys: Eagle eyes - they watch their rear for overtakers so much they aren't looking where they're going! When they see someone taking a peek down the inside they slow down and indicate as if about to make a turn. This continues until the trailing car pulls back into position behind them at which point they stop indicating and suddenly accelerate (hah, fooled youz!!1!). If they accelerate a lot and the victim is a small-engine car the overtaker often gets gazzumped by an eejit trailing them! Make for an interesting ride home if a Racer or Bhully catches up with the trailing vehicles!

Cockblockers: Eagle eyes. When they see someone taking a peek they veer onto the centre line and increase speed by 20-40kph regardless of their former speed. Drop down to original speed and continue blocking the road as soon as the other car gives up on the overtake. Are very likely to flash and beep like crazy if you do get past. Typically drive cool or lukewarm hatches and saloons, occasinally the odd smaller-engine SUV.

Racers: A nasty Cockblocker variant that tracks their side mirrors and waits for a car to actually begin the overtake. At which point they suddenly accelerate and try to drive the overtaker off the road or (preferably) into the path of an oncoming vehicle! Two distinct types, typically warm- or hot-hatches and saloons who rely on speed and aggression or (even more common) big-engine HGV drivers who rely on bulk and the length of their own vehicle to cause mayhem. Very common on single-carriageways!

Bhullies: Eagle eyes. Drive ~30kph over the limit until they see anything behind them. Once they see something approaching they drop to 10-20kph below the speed limit and are as unsubtle as humanly possible in blocking the road, often mounting the centre line. If someone starts to take a peek they shoot into the centre of the road or even the other side of the road to block the vehicles behind them. Incredibly dangerous and non-discriminatory - will happily hold up entire HGV convoys with an idiot grin on their twisted face. Always male. Sometimes drive big-engine vans but the bulk of this class invariably drive gigantic big-engine SUVs. Not afraid to damage their vehicles and extremely lethal on narrow stretches.

Its not the traffic delays that these twats cause that's the worst problem - in the course of their twattishness they often pose a catastrophic danger to all nearby road users. And I seem to live next to the motherload of these [CENSORED] :mad: