road rage towards Learner

only one way to deal with tailgaters and that is hold your ground, especially if you are a learner, if you can safely hold your speed do so.
do not move in for these ******** it is the only way they will ever learn, is to make them see intimidation doesnt work, and im a person who will normally let anyone past on a main road, i dont see the point in keeping a faster driver behind me (if there is a great big hard shoulder next to me that is.) the faster car then lets himself be the fodder for any traffic corps cars ahead. never hurts for a wee flash of the hazzard lights to say thanks too

for slow drivers, i think its a mix, there is no lower speed limit but you will fail your driving test for failing to make progress
either way i take most of these people as the ones uncomfortable at driving and give them a break.... its the other one or 2 who sit behind him and wont overtake or leave a gap big enough for you to fit in that boil my blood, although i do believe if you start causing a big queue behind you its only manners to pull in

Del2005 wrote: »

Is a tractor or cyclist dangerous?

The majority of these can't exceed 60km/h yet are perfectly legal on N roads. So what's the difference between a car is doing 60km/h and a tractor doing 60km/h on a main road?

the tractor will usually use the hard shoulder.... if there is one

The roads are full of idiots and always will be. All learners should be taught to treat car horns as informational rather than inflammatory. Let the guy go nuts, let him scream and shout. He'll die before you do.
Nobody is going to die, nothing bad will happen if you take an extra couple of seconds to move off.

It can be intimidating, but if you learn to just ignore anyone losing the plot on the roads, you'll find yourself a lot less stressed.

challengemaster wrote: »

For example, I came up behind a learner driver lastnight that was doing 40km/h on a 100km/h stretch of road ...(and it's not an improperly signposted limit either - it's a 100km/h road) pure taking the mickey like. It's that kind of stuff that causes accidents, and anyone beeping was well warrented tbh.

I would have to disagree with this comment, it's people not dealing appropriately with what they encounter on the road that causes accidents.

Learner drivers should start slowly and gradually build confidence and speed. They need to keep at a speed they are comfortable with and able to react to whatever they encounter, just like the rest of us.

If you come up behind someone and have an accident while overtaking them that's not their fault however if they allow themselves to be intimidated into driving too fast for their abilities by tailgaters or whatever and have a shunt then that is their fault.

The only place slow driving is a safety issue is on a motorway where the lower limit is 50 kph, it's up to you to deal with anything else.

It's up to the person driving to decide what is an appropriate speed to drive at as long as it's within the law, not the person behind or anyone else you just have to deal with it.

RustyNut wrote: »

Why do they have to overtake ?

donegal - dublin 220km
@100km/hr - 2hrs 10mins (some speed to average that but with the motorway 2.5hrs is doable)
@40km/hr - 5hrs 30mins

some of us would like to get there before we die of old age

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

Imagine I am behind a car, who is behind a car that is going slowly. It is much more difficult for me to overtake two cars than it is for the car in front to overtake the slow car (due to the extra space required). Often the car who sits behind and refuses to overtake can be just as frustrating as the car going slow.

If you absolutely won't overtake when it is safe to do so, then at least stay a good distance behind them so people who want to overtake can 'leagfrog', but this requires an extra overtaking manoeuvre - it is still safer if people overtake when it is safe to do.

The nail on the head, when its safe to do so off you go and it would be good manners on the people in front to make it as easy as possible to get passed.

bluewolf wrote: »

He said "ridiculously slow speed", not "just under the limit"


People trying to merge onto a 120 section of motorway by doing 50 drive me absolutely mental. How do you expect to safely merge at that speed? The lane isn't there for the scenery!

I never mentioned just under the limit. I said that vehicles have valid reasons for not doing the limit. They could be doing 10km/h or 80km/h it's still the drivers behind job to avoid them.

We are on a learning to drive thread about road rage to slow moving learners on N roads, motorways shouldn't enter into the discussion. But the whole motoring public really need to learn how to drive on motorways, too many threads on this to bother starting a new one.

RustyNut wrote: »

I would have to disagree with this comment, it's people not dealing appropriately with what they encounter on the road that causes accidents.

Learner drivers should start slowly and gradually build confidence and speed. They need to keep at a speed they are comfortable with and able to react to whatever they encounter, just like the rest of us.

If you come up behind someone and have an accident while overtaking them that's not their fault however if they allow themselves to be intimidated into driving too fast for their abilities by tailgaters or whatever and have a shunt then that is their fault.

The only place slow driving is a safety issue is on a motorway where the lower limit is 50 kph, it's up to you to deal with anything else.

It's up to the person driving to decide what is an appropriate speed to drive at as long as it's within the law, not the person behind or anyone else you just have to deal with it.

+1 on everything bar the motorway. It's against the law for a vehicle incapable of doing 50km/h to drive on a motorway, but we have no lower speed limit on any of our roads. So I can legally drive at 5km/h on a motorway if I was stupid enough to want to.

Personally I don't think it does a learner any good if they are brought onto an N road when they aren't confident enough to approach the limit, but then I'm not an ADI so what do I know.

RustyNut wrote: »

So you over take when it's safe to do so and off ya go. Some people might not be in a hurry. Lots of places to overtake between Donegal and Sligo. This however is up to you, the driver in front is not on your timetable. They should of course make it easy for you if they can.

sligo is 40miles longer, people go that way but i think its a bad idea, enniskillen, cavan for me. i was just replying to the point of why people have to overtake.
i dont care how mad the guy makes me i wont move if i cant see a big enough gap. another reason for using my way, far less traffic, i dont care if the sligo road is better, with the traffic and amount who dont pull in it actually takes longer without the distance added on. (and actually after leitrim there are bugger all places to overtake safely between donegal and sligo)

yea point taken,

it's just wrong to be making people feel they should be driving faster than they are comfortable or capable of doing safely.

and thats well put, id never sit close enough to the back of someone to make them feel uncomfortable and the people who do are more of a scourge than the slow drivers