On coming traffic flashing at you while overtaking

[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!

[mattybucks]

Originally Posted by 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

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

[Richard Lowe]

Originally Posted by Nick Goodall

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]

Originally Posted by Richard Lowe

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

Don't hold back

[Richard Lowe]

Originally Posted by wacattack

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

[wacattack]

Originally Posted by Richard Lowe

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

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

[i4n]

Originally Posted by Richard Lowe

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]

Originally Posted by i4n

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!

[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 ) & 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?