On coming traffic flashing at you while overtaking

[Big G]

It seems over the weekend and this morning whenever I overtake someone the on coming traffic have to flash Their lights at me even though I'm back on my side of the road a good few seconds before we pass

If buses travelled the same speed as me I would gladly follow them everywhere taking full advantage of my reduced drag and greater fuel economy, but the don't so require to be overtaken.

I just dont see the need to be flashed at. I can see you're coming towards me, but since I'm now level with the car I'm overtaking I'm hardly going to abort and brake hard...

Rant over :)

[James]

Yeah, people who are responsible about road safety can be such dickheads.

[Shaun 'TheSheep' Atkinson]

Possibly try waiting until there isn't oncoming traffic!

[Stu]

On a similar subject why do many drivers ignore the 'USE BOTH LANES' sign on approch to roadworks?

http://www.drdriving.org/images/both-lanes.jpg

They jump into one lane as soon as signs warn of the upcoming bottleneck.

The same drivers also ignore the instruction to 'MERGE IN TURN', in fact they often are obstructive of drivers trying to follow the instruction by driving very close to the car in front of them.

http://www.gl1800.org.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Merge-in-Turn.jpg

It's not hard and everyone gets there faster.

[DCM]

I will admit, if I know roadworks are coming up, I will merge in with time to spare, but the one who comes tearing up the outside and expect you to let them in.....

[Richard Lowe]

If anyone coming the other way flashes me I just blind em' with Xenon's + full beam :lol:

[David Church]

I like the subject on use both lanes.
Why do people feel the need to move over when there is still space in the lane?
Why do people try and block you from using the lane? I'm not saying come speeding along, how about at a slow pace? Is this ok?

Ok here's a situation, your at the supermarket, there is 2 till's open, 1 till with loads of people, 1 till with a few people, what till would you go to?
Shall we all go to the till that has loads of people? Nope, so why should we all move to a lane where there's loads of people if there is still room in the other lane???

[simoncrabb]

I've forgotten what overtaking is...

[Stu]

If all drivers followed the signs and used both lanes there would be no cars bombing up the outside as it would be full of cars.

[MRD]

Only thing I overtake is cyclists, but then at the next set of lights they come back past and try to take my wing mirror off. When I'm on my bike I always wait in the que, not try and get to the front to hold everyone up again :lol:

[Big G]

Possibly try waiting until there isn't oncoming traffic!

Obviously they aren't oncoming when I start to overtake. They appear halfway past and then start flashing even though I'm nearly back on my side of the road.

I wouldn't start to overtake if I could see them unless they were a long way away.

[mdb_75]

I love it when the car I've just overtaken flashes their lights at me once I've pulled back in! They're normally donig 40 in a 60 though.........

[ashleyb4]

People driving on the white line aka the middle one preventing overtaking pee's me off! Just move over you have intension of overtaking so just toe the line!!!! Let us who wish to overtake go!

Ash

[telboy]

I'm getting fed up of nearly hitting old drivers that are trundling along at 25 in a 60 zone, and when you come round the bend at 55/60, they're going so slow that they might as well be stood still!:thumbdown:

Saw an advert earlier on saying that old people make less insurance claim than anyone else....thats because they 'cause' other people to have accidents by not being aware of their surroundings and speed limits etc.

Also the people that are paying so little attention to the road that they have to do emergency stops whenever they see a speed camera....even though they're doing 28 in a 30 limit. They're just so busy doing something else that they don't even realise what speed they're actually doing!:confused::thumbdown:
:mad:

[SlowOne]

I'm getting fed up of nearly hitting old drivers that are trundling along at 25 in a 60 zone, and when you come round the bend at 55/60, they're going so slow that they might as well be stood still!:thumbdown:

Saw an advert earlier on saying that old people make less insurance claim than anyone else....thats because they 'cause' other people to have accidents by not being aware of their surroundings and speed limits etc.

Also the people that are paying so little attention to the road that they have to do emergency stops whenever they see a speed camera....even though they're doing 28 in a 30 limit. They're just so busy doing something else that they don't even realise what speed they're actually doing!:confused::thumbdown:
:mad:The clue to their low premiums is in your first paragraph!! If you drive faster than you can see your stopping distance is clear, how is that their fault? Me, I get really pissed off by people who only manage 55/60 in the 60 zones when I want to do 80+... :p

The speed camera thing just makes me laugh, I totally agree. They see the camera, and the adrenaline goes straight to the brake pedal!! :D The problem with speed cameras is that they make everyone concentrate on their speedos, and not the road. Since they came in, prosecutions for 'bad' driving have dropped, and minor injuries have risen. Reduced deaths on the road has more to do with car design than speed cameras.

However, bad news!! Speed cameras will be turned back on again as Oxfordshire police have discovered that if you are told to take the speed awareness course they run, they get the money. If you pay a fine, the Government gets the money. So, they are turning their cameras back on and giving out course attendances, which you have to pay for.

I don't care if people flash me at any time. If I have caused them to alter course or brake, then I've screwed up my manouvre and driven badly. If I haven't, then I've just messed with their heads a bit!

[Battle_axe]

back on to flashing cars it happens to me every morning on my way to work there is only so long you can endure the 40mph that a lorry is doing in a 60 and you have to overtake people comming the other way just seem to think even when you are miles of hitting them that you dont belong on there side of the road all i can say to do is give them a bit back xenons and the fogs the full doubble barrel :thumbsup:

[Nick Goodall]

If you're just making it back on to your side a few seconds before you pass, i would guess that the person flashing you has had to stab their brakes on as they see you coming towards them, so although you're making it back in how do you know you've not caused mad panic and them to slam the brakes on to avoid smashing into you head on????

You say they're not there as you over take but then appear as you're nearly past - that means pure and simple you're over taking blind!! You need to be waiting until you can see a long stretch (as in a stretch long enough for you to pass and get back in way before a car is coming)!

I hate people that risk others lives over-taking..... I don't think you realise the impact of hitting a car head on - even at 30 it's literally like stopping dead at 60mph so think about that before you kill someone.

[bodgit]

Get a motorbike. Overtake anything anytime you want :thumbsup:

[wacattack]

If you're just making it back on to your side a few seconds before you pass, i would guess that the person flashing you has had to stab their brakes on as they see you coming towards them, so although you're making it back in how do you know you've not caused mad panic and them to slam the brakes on to avoid smashing into you head on????

You say they're not there as you over take but then appear as you're nearly past - that means pure and simple you're over taking blind!! You need to be waiting until you can see a long stretch (as in a stretch long enough for you to pass and get back in way before a car is coming)!

I hate people that risk others lives over-taking..... I don't think you realise the impact of hitting a car head on - even at 30 it's literally like stopping dead at 60mph so think about that before you kill someone.

Exactly what I was thinking when reading this thread

[slow bob]

I am currently doing my driving lessons so have had a total of 10 hours on the road and i have already had to stamp hard on the breaks 6 times due to poor overtaking from oncoming traffic .. 3 times on blind corners in 30mph residential areas 2 times on the road going past slough rc club bridge entrance national speed limit road and 2 other times ..

i am all for overtaking but do it safe please

also dont even attempt an overtake if your car is s**T like a 1.2 you wont make it in time :p :p:p

[chris brown]

Try being the driving instructor.
You'll end up pulling your hair out. Not at the students who are learning but at all the idiots on the road every minute of every day!:mad:

[mattybucks]

I am currently doing my driving lessons so have had a total of 10 hours on the road and i have already had to stamp hard on the breaks 6 times due to poor overtaking :p :p:p

It's a shame you adopt the same driving style with you losi Bob!!!

[Richard Lowe]

even at 30 it's literally like stopping dead at 60mph
it's a bit counter-intuitive but 30mph head on is the same impact as hitting a wall at 30, Newton's laws and all that :)

[wacattack]

it's a bit counter-intuitive but 30mph head on is the same impact as hitting a wall at 30, Newton's laws and all that :)

Kind of true Rich. A car has crumple zones designed to absorb the energy whereas a wall doees not. The kinetic energy (1/2mv^2) is therefore far greater in a car doing 100mpg than 2 cars doing 30mph in opposite directons.

However the original point still holds true, its bloody stupid and would probably end in a nasty way (and probably more so for the innocent guy driving towards you in the opposite direction as he is likely to be going slower than the guy overtaking)

[NeilRalph77]

Screaming liberals make me sick get off the road and go hug a tree, I personally like to flash the finger at the light flasher's. and on the motorbike issue to all car drivers open your eye's!!!!!!!!!!!!! even when your riding safe it's your fault your just pigeon holed as a biker.

[MRD]

Screaming liberals make me sick get off the road and go hug a tree, I personally like to flash the finger at the light flasher's. and on the motorbike issue to all car drivers open your eye's!!!!!!!!!!!!! even when your riding safe it's your fault your just pigeon holed as a biker.

:lol: Don't hold back

[Richard Lowe]

a car doing 100mpg
Wow he must be going slowly!

Do you really want to get into a physics discussion with me again Wayne, we both know what happened last time :p

[wacattack]

Wow he must be going slowly!

Do you really want to get into a physics discussion with me again Wayne, we both know what happened last time :p

You got lucky once, very lucky. Normal service has now been resumed :D

[i4n]

it's a bit counter-intuitive but 30mph head on is the same impact as hitting a wall at 30, Newton's laws and all that :)

Mythbusters proved this :-) They did two cars into each other at 50MPH and then a car into a wall at 100MPH and the resulting damage was significantly more (the car was flat after hitting the wall!).

[Stu]

Mythbusters proved this :-)

Newton would have laughed his tits off at that program.

He sussed it out in 1679 (see 'Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica'), them jeb-ends still didn't get in 300+ years later.

[Jedi Master]

If you take the risk, you pay the price if it goes wrong;either via an insurance claim, via your life, or your conscience for the lives you took.

When I was younger I drove like a maniac! Double the speed limit? Yes, sometime triple. I eventually got 'lucky' and was caught speeding and banned. On the week that I lost my licence, I had to listen to someone tell me that; in the last two hours, their eldest son had been killed by a speeding motorist. The realisation that someone like 'me' had caused this tradegy, hit me like a train!

The whole world is in such a rush to get everywhere!!

Leave home earlier!
Drive slower, it's no big deal!
If you want to be a racer; go to a track day!
Let other drivers through; does it really matter that they're passing you?
Be the bigger person; grow up!
Don't put yourself, or others at risk!
If someone has road rage; pity them, don't make it worse!
I don't care how fast you think your car is; there is always someone faster! (and more stupid!)

If you don't 'get it', go sit in a cancer ward, or your local casualty waiting room on a saturday night!

There's enough 'bad' stuff in the world that is beyond our control, but this isn't one of them!

:thumbdown:

[Stu]

If you have a powerful car and can overtake safely there is no problem, that's different to being reckless and risking life in oncoming traffic.

We have all seen kids in 1000cc Corsa's (or Panda's :wub) & grown-ups in Scooby's/Evo's going nuts, it's just part of being on the road, and a risk we all knowingly take when we get behind the wheel.

[RogerM]

I know G' quite well and he drives sensibly but the problem is around our way if your within 20mph of the speed limit then your seen to be going too fast by the flat capped white rover driving reaper cheaters that trundle around the country lanes waiting for death.

You want to try living in the Cotswolds / Gloucestershire / Herefordshire with the high hedge rows and barely double lane back roads that seem to always be the "A" something. There are very few oppertunities to pass and when you get one you have to use it really, it's that simple.

I think the general standard of driving is much lower than when I started driving in the early 90s, particularly lane discipline and speed judgements.
I'm all for people driving sensibily, especially around built up areas where there are likely to be people / animals randomly appearing. I do get VERY frustrated by those who seem to scared to drive at the speed limtis on open conutry roads ... for me it's simple ... if your too scared or not confident to drive in accordence with the speed limits and road conditions FIND ANOTHER MEANS OF TRANSPORT.

I think it is all part of the general dumbing down of our lives thanks to the nanny state mentallity which has helped reduce peoples ability to assess risk.

Rant over...

[bodgit]

Its not all about the speed limits anymore its about people driving slower to save fuel. I,ve seen loads of big V6 V8,s stuck at 55-60 on the motorways.

[s22jgs]

I work in IT for the Highways Agency, so anything you want to know, fire away.

overtaking, thats down to peoples own judgement.

Speed limits, this is a stupid argument about people not driving as fast as they "should" be. Speed limits are exactly what they say, LIMITS. this does not mean that if you are in a 60 you have to drive at 60. In fact, unless there is also a minimum speed limit sign (the blue and white ones) then you are well within your right to do 10MPH if you so feel like it.

As a driver of another car it is your responsibility to be looking far enough ahead and driving sensibly yourself to notice that there is a slow moving car approaching. You should be making adjustments to your driving and planning a safe way round them. Not rushing up behind, nearly tapping the bumper.

Being in IT for the HA, i have seen, and regularly still do see, both still and video footage of minor and major road accidents. Ive seen everything from a small dent, a broken arm and a small scratch, right through to decaptitated drivers after going into backs of lorries, burnt bodies in car fires, and motorcyclist cut into 200 peices and spread over the carriage way by the central res.

I used to drive like a t*at. But sinse seeing all this i stick to limits. Infact i generally drive below the limit.

How many times have you got all hot and bothered, overtaken someone, only for them to pull up behind or next to you at the next set of lights.

Its just not worth it. Slow down, and if you are unable to think about someone elses life you might ruin, then think of yours. Do you really want to end your life because you couldnt arrive somewhere 15 seconds later?