In which Mr Toad attempts to overtake my Vauxhall Corsa with limited success...

 

The other night I was driving home when I heard behind me a beeping of horns and a flashing of lights so intense it could only have come from one of two sources – the police or Mr Toad.  The lights not being blue I presumed that it was Mr Toad from "Wind in the Willows".  

I was correct in this assumption.

As I reached the top of the hill it seemed Mr Toad was directly behind me.  I knew this for a certainty because he kept tooting and flashing even though I was stationary at traffic lights.  When the lights went green I proceeded across the cross roads and he tried to pass me.  There was however no room to pass me so I positioned myself so as to make this even more difficult and started to drive more slowly

  When aggressive drivers toot and flash me it is one of my hobbies to drive overly carefully like an old age pensioner.  Indeed, should I ever be able to afford a flashing sports car it would be my intention to drive my Aston Martin DB5 deliberately slowly – at the exact speed limit and no higher – everywhere just to annoy such drivers.

Having traversed the crossroads and some bends in the road where it would be impossible to pass anyone the trickle of traffic jammed bumper to bumper cars finally reached a stretch of straight road where he attempted to overtake me.  However, I was keeping a two second gap from the car in front so this was impossible to achieve without cutting in.  So he cut in.  So I dropped back in order to stop from driving up the back of him.  He seemed to have succeeded in the manoeuvre when he suddenly pulled out to the right hand lane again and stopped.  I had also stopped to avoid collision.  But why had he stopped?

He got out his car and walked over to my window in the delusion that I was going to wind it down and exchange pleasantries with him but I have long ago tired of collecting pieces of people’s minds that are empty so I let him get right up to the car window and, gauging that I had enough space to get around his stationary motor on the inside, pulled off again.  The cars behind followed me and this put three cars between his and mine.

He followed me through two sets of traffic lights – I stuck to the main road – and at the third got out, came up to the window again and accused me of driving into the back of him.  However, no sooner had he got these words out his mouth than the lights had turned green again and … now I had put even more cars between myself and him.  He lost me.  Brainpower beats horsepower.

Driving back the other way another day it occurred to me that the straight section of road was punctuated by traffic islands and what might have happened is that he had decided to abort his overtake last minute for fear of hitting one of these traffic islands.

Anyway, cogitating on whether I had done the right thing I found myself over at the “Honest John” website – a spin off of the Daily Telegraph – from whence it might seem that some of these thought patterns originate  …

 

This afternoon I was driving along a straight road with a national speed limit, behind 3 or 4 cars doing about 35mph. There was a large gap ahead, so I decided to overtake the rear car, as I was nearly past the car (about 2/3 of my car was in front) I noticed that the cars in front were accelerating, and so was the car behind. I carried on, and gradually realised that I could not pull in as he was preventing me, and that I was soon approaching a blind bend and it was about to get extremely dangerous. I slowed, and pulled in behind him. On that day luck was on my side, as just before I pulled back in I was on the wrong side of the road, and dangerously close to a blind bend. IMO someone could have been killed.

 

The main problem for me was that his behaviour was totally unexpected. I wasted seconds trying in vein to clear his car, and then more seconds gradually realising that he was basically racing me, and that I was in considerable danger

A few miles down the road, the traffic had come to a stop. I got out, approached his car, his window was partly down, and I said "could I have a word with you". He wound the window down further. I said "Did you see me overtaking you?" He said "Yes". I said "Did you try to prevent me pulling back in". He said "Yes". I said "By preventing me pulling in, you endangered me and other road users". He said "I don't care you shouldn't have overtaken me". I then said "You are a complete halfwit" a couple of times, except the word was not exactly halfwit, and walked away. I don't really understand the mentality. He was young, and a risk taker judging by the driving I witnessed a few miles later on.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Genuine Responses:

It's a British thing, we like to wait in line but a road isn't a queue at the post office and overtaking isn't queue jumping.

**

As it happens I had a similar experience myself the other day. There were 3 cars behind a slow moving van. Having waited a short while to make sure none of them were intending on overtaking I indicated and moved out. As I was about to come alongside a Polo which was the 2nd car in the queue it pulled out with no indication. Luckily I generally drive expecting people to do daft things, and had already observed his body language and expected it. It meant that I had to slow down though, and meant that I now couldn't be sure of overtaking the remaining vehicles in the space I could see to be clear, so I looked to turn back into the line of traffic, to find that the car I had just overtaken was accelerating as hard as he could to try to block me on the wrong side of the road.

Truly homicidal behaviour. Luckily he was driving a Citroen Saxo while I was driving an Alfa GTA, so a small amount of pressure on the accelerator and I was able to move in with no danger.

I didn't even bother registering my feelings on his behaviour, there's no helping some people.

**

It seems to be automatic behaviour from some people,to prevent others from overtaking. It is dangerous, rude and unnecessary. If someone wants to overtake, why not let them, why not help them, let them get on with it, why would you want to hold them up.

Maybe it's their own lack of confidence and/or lack of ability coming out, which manifests itself as jealousy and spitefulness. Can't think of any other reason.

**

I simply love it when people on here get so morally high-handed about situations where they can visualise the situation however they wish. The OP was trying to overtake. Now, it doesn't matter if he was doing it with his eyes shut on a blind bend, the Highway code is unequivocal:

"144: Being overtaken. If a driver is trying to overtake you, maintain a steady course and speed, slowing down if necessary to let the vehicle pass. Never obstruct drivers who wish to pass. Speeding up or driving unpredictably while someone is overtaking you is dangerous. Drop back to maintain a two-second gap if someone overtakes and pulls into the gap in front of you."

 

Note that it doesn't tell you to judge the manoeuvre in any way or to decide whether the driver is safe.

Before you all rant away at what the OP was doing wrong, why not deal with the discrepancy between the Highway code and the overtakees behaviour?

Fantastic cherry picking given that it also says that…

162

Before overtaking you should make sure

    the road is sufficiently clear ahead

    road users are not beginning to overtake you

    there is a suitable gap in front of the road user you plan to overtake.

163

Overtake only when it is safe and legal to do so. You should …

    not get too close to the vehicle you intend to overtake

    move quickly past the vehicle you are overtaking, once you have started to overtake. Allow plenty of room. Move back to the left as soon as you can but do not cut in

    take extra care at night and in poor visibility when it is harder to judge speed and distance

    stay in your lane if traffic is moving slowly in queues. If the queue on your right is moving more slowly than you are, you may pass on the left

The dimwits continue…

It seems to me that Leif did it all by the book. I can't understand the criticism. Well, a lot of the criticism at first was due to the fact people misread the thread and got it in their heads that there was some kind of conspiracy as multiple cars conspired to block him. This is not what he said happened.

The last time I read Roadcraft, I seem to remember it recommending to overtake multiple cars if possible, OR to "work your way up" by overtaking one at a time and slotting in to a gap in front, which is what Leif tried to do, only the driver he was overtaking deliberately narrowed the gap which was there as he started the manoeuvre.

I can't see that he has done anything wrong.

**

People do not like you overtaking them, its an ego thing. Even if they are perfectly content behind the cars infront they dont want anyone overtaking them.

 

The only way is to assume that all drivers are going to do this and accelerate towards the car in front after dropping a gear or two and then pull out so you spend the least amount of time on the other side of the road but it has to be quick and there has to be enough room infront at the time of starting the overtaking manouver. Just drifting out as you accelerate will be seen.

 

The current journey to work I have has many overtaking places but people don't know them. I get some annoying person trying to prevent me overtaking about one or twice a month.

 

Oh ye, and they would rather see you die than let you in. True. Overtaking is dangerious you always need to leave enough room before the next corner or on comming car if you have to break back in to where you came from.

 

Its also an aquired skill to be able to judge distances and aproaching speeds bt a rule of thum is to assume that you are traveling twive as fast as you are so the corner ahead is only half the distance it seems.

 

Sorry drifted off the subject.

 

Etc