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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be annoyed at cars flashing to overtake?

302 replies

moutonfou · 04/06/2017 19:09

I was on a dual-carriage way, traffic in the inside lane going about 65mph, me in the outside lane overtaking several cars steadily at about 70mph (okay, maybe it was a couple over that...). And then someone comes up behind me at 80+mph and starts flashing me, presumably to get in so he can continue to speed.

AIBU to think the overtaking lane is for overtaking and as long as I'm doing that, I've every right to be there? And that there's no god-given right to travel at 80mph even if that's your thing?

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 06/06/2017 00:25

My dad is obsessed with the accuracy of speedometers as well, I find it a very strange obsession, really who cares? Ten MPH is really not going to make any difference to how fast you get somewhere. FWIW he has had to do a speed awareness course so he's clearly not as aware of his own speed as he thinks he is. Funnily enough he doesn't seem to know what the indicators are for either!

honeyroar · 06/06/2017 00:50

Limited good for you. Although I don't know why it matters whether you're a woman and my husband isn't, you just think the same. Would you have made that comment about having thought of it despite being a woman if I'd have said that my mum had said it??

DianneDionne · 06/06/2017 01:17

This thread in a real eye opener; so many idiots on the road, I'm a nervous driver and I always tend to blame myself for this. This thread has shown me it's actually not my anxiety I need to worry about.

I can't believe so many posters feel it's ok to flash lights to get other drivers to move out of the way, or that an excuse for this is that they think others speedometers are not calibrated properly. How about, instead of finding excuses, you just sit the fuck back and let the person in front of you drive. You go into the back of someone and it's your fucking fault, fuck off with your fucking excuses about lane hogging and being forced to undertake.

Utter dick heads.

Figaro2017 · 06/06/2017 01:29

I'd be pleased if someone flashed me in the outside lane. It would mean my old jalopy had got up enough of a head of steam to actually overtake something.

NonStopDisco · 06/06/2017 01:38

How are you supposed to pull back in when there's a convoy of lorries in the left hand lane? A1 seems to consist of lorries and nervous drivers doing 56mph in the left hand lane, and then audis and bmws in the right hand lane thinking it's Silverstone.
And I'm not doing over 70mph there, there's always been police vans etc parked up or on the bridges.

NightWanderer · 06/06/2017 03:13

Reckless, aggressive, in a hurry driving causes far more accidents than inexperienced drivers.

www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/road-safety/8702111/How-do-accidents-happen.html

Increasinglymiddleaged · 06/06/2017 06:41

I don't think the ambulance service would have appreciated a request for an ambulance for someone (me) who was perfectly fit and well but who wanted to get someone quickly to support his family.

But like it or not you have no right to get there quicker than anyone else because of family emergency. Driving recklessly whatever the situation is wrong. Most of us I'm sure can recount awful tales of having to drive to hospitals because of someone close to us, when my mother died I had to drive for 5 hours to get there, it didn't entitle me to drive any differently to usual. Otherwise your family emergency may turn into someone called elses.

And if you really are an 'advanced' driver they need to reconsider the test because it clearly isn't delivering what's needed. It reminds me a couple of years ago of a traffic policeman I know moaning about no one knowing how to drive on ice.... Guess who drove up the back of someone the next day.....?

ShotsFired · 06/06/2017 07:02

@Orlantina You are obsessed with speedometers. I think it's reasonable to go with the speed shown on the speedometer rather than increase it by 10% because that's what you think the real speed is.

I think Tittys point is that there are a lot of people who seem to think that it is their job to police the roads and enforce speed limits according to their own (likely inaccurate) speedo, instead of minding their own business.

PoorYorick · 06/06/2017 07:08

How are you supposed to pull back in when there's a convoy of lorries in the left hand lane?

You don't! If the left hand lane is full, then of course you stay put until it's safe to pull in (if it's full of lorries you're probably overtaking them). And you can expect a moron to tailgate you and flash, but that's their problem. Just make sure you've got a safe stopping distance from the car in front in case they ram you. Or in case the car ahead has to stop suddenly.

when my mother died I had to drive for 5 hours to get there, it didn't entitle me to drive any differently to usual. Otherwise your family emergency may turn into someone called elses.

Exactly. It's an appalling attitude.

Increasinglymiddleaged · 06/06/2017 07:31

How are you supposed to pull back in when there's a convoy of lorries in the left hand lane?

Well doh.... the tailgating twat has the right to the right-hand lane. So squeeze in between the lorries to let him past. Some people are so important they deserve the road to themselves. In any case if you were really intent on overtaking you wouldn't have left that gap between you and the car in front so move out of the way Hmm

Increasinglymiddleaged · 06/06/2017 07:34

Interestingly enough I suspect many of the people on this thread trilling about you should never be in the right hand lane unless you are overtaking are the same people who expect a clear run off the slip road and are incapable of merging, and give evils to anyone daring to be in the inside lane. But that's a different thread.

Casschops · 06/06/2017 07:55

The speed limit is 70mph and although people do go faster it's the limit for a reason. If someone flashes me I wave and stick rigidly to the limit until I've finished my manoeuvre. Im a good driver and will not be bullied because some twonk can't wait a few seconds.

PoorYorick · 06/06/2017 08:40

If people are merging into the left hand lane, it's not clear and of course you can move over until it is.

Increasinglymiddleaged · 06/06/2017 08:44

If people are merging into the left hand lane, it's not clear and of course you can move over until it is.

But the onus is on the people entering the motorway to merge not everyone already on the road to get out of the way. Some people seem to think otherwise.

TittyGolightly · 06/06/2017 09:01

I think Tittys point is that there are a lot of people who seem to think that it is their job to police the roads and enforce speed limits according to their own (likely inaccurate) speedo, instead of minding their own business.*

Precisely.

Orlantina · 06/06/2017 09:13

titty

Can I just say I hope that you do get caught speeding and get points because you seem obsessed with speedometers?

And that people like you are taken off the road.

Remind me - what's the safe gap at 70mph?

Orlantina · 06/06/2017 09:14

Oh - and safety on the road is EVERYONE'S BUSINESS.

sexymuthafunker · 06/06/2017 09:17

It's called tailgating & it's illegal and dangerous. REALLY fucks me off Angry
I find flashing my hazards back at them stops them doing it it makes them back off sometimes. Arseholes.

emwithme · 06/06/2017 09:23

This was my facebook post on arrival at work the other day:

"Dear Man-In-An-Audi, up my arse on the motorway. Where the fluffing fluff did you want me to go? I was going as fast as the queue of cars in front of me, and marginally faster than the queue of overtaking lorries to the left of me. You flashing your lights as if it was fucking Christmas did nothing, other than make me realise I was a leeeetle close to the car in front.

Sorry, not sorry."

I drive a Toyota Aygo. I only get this attitude when I'm driving my teeny white marshmallow on wheels. I DO NOT get it when I'm driving DH's black 4x4 - even though I am driving in exactly the same style, at the same speed. Far more people attempt to cut me up when I'm in the Aygo than the big car, far more people tailgate me and flash me (and I'm doing slightly over the speed limit so it's not as if I'm slow). I am aware that my speedo under-reads by about 6% (within legal tolerances but different from the GPS and a handheld unit that I borrowed once) so account for that.

My commute to work used to be along a wide, single lane (each direction) A road rather than the motorway. The speed limit would go 50 - 40 - 30 - 40 - 30 - 40 - 50 etc as we went into and out of villages. The number of people who thought it was OK to just blindly drive at 40 no matter what the limit was, or the road conditions, was ridiculous.

TittyGolightly · 06/06/2017 09:31

Thanks orlantina.

Given I've been driving for almost 25 years, have advanced and racing licences, average 30k miles a year and never had a speeding or parking ticket or any sort of accident I think I'm doing okay. Thanks. Smile

Stopping distance depends on so many things. In my non-race prepped car it's about half what the Highway Code advises. In the race prepped one it's about a quarter of it.

Orlantina · 06/06/2017 09:37

Given I've been driving for almost 25 years, have advanced and racing licences, average 30k miles a year and never had a speeding or parking ticket or any sort of accident I think I'm doing okay

It just takes 1 incident though. Even in your super prepped racing car.

Still, who cares about other people on the road. As long as YOU can get somewhere, it doesn't matter if you drive up their tail flashing away, does it?

TittyGolightly · 06/06/2017 09:40

I flash only as a last resort, only when there's no reason for them to be in the way. I'm not necessarily speeding - these are all assumptions you're making.

Instasista · 06/06/2017 09:50

There is no situation which require flashing as a "last resort". Where do people learn these things? It's just being a massive wanker

whatsthecomingoverthehill · 06/06/2017 09:50

"I think Tittys point is that there are a lot of people who seem to think that it is their job to police the roads and enforce speed limits according to their own (likely inaccurate) speedo, instead of minding their own business."

And I find that the people most likely to complain that people should be minding their own business are also most likely to be driving so far over the speed limit that they're just taking the piss. They're also more likely to drive in the outer lane, irrespective of whether they're overtaking (unless they want to make a point by pulling sharply in front of someone). What's really fun is when two of these twats come up against each other, apart from y'know, the danger that they're putting everyone else in when they're tailgating each other at 90mph.

Orlantina · 06/06/2017 09:52

I flash only as a last resort, only when there's no reason for them to be in the way

If I was doing 70 mph and I was overtaking lorries and I was going to continue at 70 mph to get past more lorries, would you flash me to get past because your super speedo thinks I am doing less than 70 so you would like me to get into that gap between the lorries so you can go even though my speedo says I am doing 70?

And what distance would you be behind me with your super prepped brakes? 10m? 5 m?

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