to think that if I'm doing the speed limit people shouldn't be overtaking me because I have a tiny car?

[Wigglewoo]

Ok this is a ranty one.

I drive a fiat - like the inbetweeners car. It has an 899cc engine.

When I'm driving along at 60mph - as I did this morning - I always seem t get some utter twat driving up my bum as close as they can as if they assume I'm not driving fast enough in my little car. And several times this week I've had people approach a roundabout behind me, then use the lane to the right tovertake and pull in front of me when going straight ahead!!!! Totally fucked off with it now...!

When I drive my mums larger car I never have this even when driving the same speeds etc.


Grrrrrrrrrrr!


I wish people wouldn't assume my car can't keep up with the speed limits just ebecause its small! More often than not I end up stuck behind the car that overtook me!

[ToryLovell]

Like lottiegb I've several minis and people always used to need to overtake me even though they were the Cooper so wasn't exactly slow. I now drive an old swede mobile - which to me says grandad car - but rarely get aggressive / dangerous overtaking.

[WowOoo]

I can really notice a difference depending on what car I drive.

But, when i'm in the bigger, more powerful car I have to admit I get the urge to overtake a smaller car in front of me. I don't know why. There must be a bit of boy racer twat inside me. But, I actually drive quite sensibly.

Always amazes me how if I'm in Dh's small, old car I have to wait ages at a certain junction. If i'm in my normal car i get let out quickly.

[Mrskbpw]

Just recently I've noticed a big increase in other drivers' impatience; tailgating because you're driving at the speed limit, pulling up alongside you to turn right at the same time instead of waiting behind, and overtaking buses at bus stops even if that means driving on the wrong side of the road and making all the traffic coming the other way, stop. Don't think it's your car - there are just a lot of cocks out there.

[adeucalione]

Are you sure it's your speed that makes people want to overtake?

I overtake if they are spewing excessive fumes, repeatedly forget to indicate, slow down or speed up for no apparent reason, weave about while changing a CD/talking on the phone, have annoying kids waving out of the back window or have an annoying comedy sign that I am sick of looking at.

[adeucalione]

Or do unpredictable things that could potentially be dangerous.

Or are wimpy about overtaking horses/tractors etc even when safe to do so.

Or slow down because something is approaching from the other direction, on the other side of the road.

Or drive erratically because they are using the rear view mirror to chat to their DC.

Or kindly let loads of horses, buses, tractors out in front of them because they are not rushing but I am.

[Knittingmamma]

It's not just small cars. I drive a Volvo and people hate being behind me, even if I am going the speed limit (and it's a big engine so I get up to speed quickly). Even though I drive the same in DH's car, the people around me drive very differently!

[ShellyBoobs]

The speedo isn't checked at the MOT. Well they might check it works (?) but they can't check how accurate it is.

You can do it yourself though!

What you need is a satnav unit or a phone app satnav. They show the true speed you're going so if you take someone with you, they can check that as you drive along at what you think is 60mph, etc.

[ratspeaker]

Some drivers are < very silly billies>

There is a long road near us, passes 3 schools so is 20mph. I have been over taken on this road several times, not only when I was driving a wee fiat but also in my rather large Ford Transit.
Some people don't think the rules of the road apply to them
They stop in the ASL box, they speed, they overtake, do U turns and shout at ME as I've stopped due to traffic in front and THEY nearly went into the back of me

[hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman]

You've obviously never driven a small car

I drive a small car every day, it's speedo is fairly accurate (about 2 mph out) I tend not to get overtaken at 60mph but on local National Speed limit dual carriageways I do get overtaken of course because there are always those folks that think that those kinds of roads are carte blanche to speed. I also drive our other much bigger car, I still encounter the same dickheads people at 70mph.

DD drove a small car, a Ford KA, a 1.2 so small but nippy it didn't stop her speedo being out by 10% though. KAs are notorious for it.

[idococktailshedoesbeer]

Might be something in this.

Just bought myself a small but deceptively powerful car. Do a lot of motorway driving for work and on one of my first journeys I encountered some wanker in a 4x4. He was going 70 in the middle lane (fine as plodding lorries were in slow lane) so I overtook as I wanted to do 80/85, then pulled back in. I was astonished to see the same car bomb past me seconds later, must have gone up to 90 to do so and then pull in tight in front of me. And then he goes BACK to 70 forcing me to break sharply or overtake again. Thankfully I was coming off at the next junction because I didn't fancy playing his silly and highly dangerous games!

I've never had this when I drive my OH's big BMW... maybe just coincidence...

[Wigglewoo]

Yep idococktails...exactly the same thing happens to me.

And yeah I know some bigger roundabouts have lanes to go straight on that sometimes are on the right... But I'm talking about the normal everyday ones where you stay on the left to go left or straight on and right should be purely for turning right - not to overtake a car you think is going slowly so you come out in front of them when you exit the roundabout.

And I do think there is a general total lack of paitence. Does it really hurt to wait 2 mins for a driver to reach the speed limit? What's wrong with common sense and not making others panic? It makes me stressed having someone tail gate me because I'm not going 2 mph above the speed limit.

I don't take it personally that people overtake me. I know I'm a good driver, I have never had an accident (touch wood) and I frequently drive on motorways etc... Even overtaking slower than speedlimit people myself in my fiat!

But there's no need for anyone to be doing 80mph. It is just plain dangerous.

[SquidgyBiscuits]

Honestly, the safest way to drive is to go with the flow of traffic. If all the other cars are going 65-70 and you aren't, it is safer to overtake you.

Speedo problems are very common, hence why drivers are generally given a 10% buffer ontop of the speed limit.

[NettoSuperstar]

This happens to me too, by men in particular.
I drive a Toyota IQ, and I'm sure people assume it can't go at the correct speed limit because it's tiny

[DamnBamboo]

It's probbably the lack of horsepower that makes people overtake you. Bet it takes you a while to get going doesn't it?

I would overtake you too (if i was in my husbands car), not in mine though, it's got as much get up and go as a drunk sloth when pulling onto a roundabout and it frustrates even me.

[Sabriel]

I generally find that little tiny cars are driven by elderly people or very young girls. They tend to not pull away from junctions without a huge delay and start slowing down (without using brakes so no warning lights) when approaching a green light. My car and DH's car once you've had to brake take ages to get the momentum up again so I don't want to stop if I don't have to.

I don't want to be right up the back of the car in front but I don't want to creep along either. So I overtake where I can (safely) if the car in front is a micra or a fiat or similar so that I can drive at the speed I want with a gap in front.

DH drives a Nissan Note (another old man car) and gets the same. When I drove an MPV I had people do it to me all the time despite not being a creeping-along type of driver. Either they assumed I would be or wanted to be able to see.

[higgle]

I used to drive a 5 series BMW touring and now I drive a fiat Panda. My driving is exacty the same. I'm not a dawdler but I drive sensibly and at the right speed for the conditions, I've taken the IAM test. When I had my BMW everyone gave way for me and I didn't get overtaken much. In the Fiat I seldom get much courtesy, even when I have right of way people pull out in front of me or disregard the road signs and I regularly get agressively overtaken on motorways by people I then have to overtake myself because they slow down after going past me. BMWs and Volvos had a reputation for having aggressive and/or incompetent drivers and I think this is part of the reason, but it still mightily pisses me off

[mercibucket]

I really don't think that's how roundabouts work! If there are 2 lanes then the left is for turning left, the right is for turning right or going straight ahead if you are confident enough to do it (which I don't as my car is very much non -nippy and massive)
It's not, admittedly, there to overtake cars in the left hand lane, but you will either have to be ahead or behind them, and ahead sounds better

[mercibucket]

I really don't think that's how roundabouts work! If there are 2 lanes then the left is for turning left, the right is for turning right or going straight ahead if you are confident enough to do it (which I don't as my car is very much non -nippy and massive)
It's not, admittedly, there to overtake cars in the left hand lane, but you will either have to be ahead or behind them, and ahead sounds better

[maddening]

these people would probably overtake you whatever the size car you drove

[maddening]

no merci, the left would be for turning left or going straight ahead -esp if ahead is at 12 o'clock

[mercibucket]

Sorry, just came on to correct my post, bit distracted then, yes, left is for left or straight ahead for wimps like me, right lane is for straight ahead or right

[mercibucket]

Sorry, just came on to correct my post, bit distracted then, yes, left is for left or straight ahead for wimps like me, right lane is for straight ahead or right

[tittytittyhanghang]

other than on country roads and dual carriageways/motorway, where else can people overtake? If you are referring to the above then YAB a little U. And I dont think it has anything to do with you car being little, probably more to do with the fact that you are doing the speed limit, and some people like to drive a little faster. If its in the town then YANBU. I don't think i have ever overtaken someone in town (by this i mean single lanes in built up areas). As for roundabouts, I thought it common that you could go forward in this lane unless signed otherwise. Meh, thinking about it, I have overtaken someone at a roundabout in the right lane when both lanes were going forward. Nothing matter with that at all.

[Avuncular]

Sorry to join this thread so late but wld like to add my tuppenceworth. I teach in a 2 litre SUV.

Sometimes I'm driving, sometimes it's my learner.

But it's definitely the L-plates that get 'cut up'. Nothing to do with the car, or the driving! We now just treat it as an amusing characteristic of the human race.

But BTW we seem to get more respect from BMWs, Volvos and Jags. ????

[mathanxiety]

Noticing other people's bad /stupid driving is one thing but reading their minds and assigning thoughts and motives to them is another entirely.

Try to relax a bit. It's not a good thing to be so upset while behind the wheel.

If you notice a lot of people overtaking you then you could probably be going a bit faster. Not necessarily 80 but faster than you are going. If you are going significantly slower than the rest of the traffic then you are a hazard no matter what the speed limit is. (I agree with Squidgy)