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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To hate those drivers that try and make you speed!!

125 replies

lisad123 · 18/04/2007 18:56

I was driving to a meeting today, mostly motor way or national speed limit but do pass though a few little villages at 40 and 30 MPH limits. I always try and do right speed as always remember that ad where little girl is broken against tree saying "hit me at 40 theres an 80% chance I'll die, hit me at 30 and theres a 80% chance I'll live", ooo makes me shiver!

Well some silly cow in a golf was right up my backside, waving her hands, and swearing at me for doing speed limit, making gestures as if to say "what the hell you doing"! Grr does anyone else have this problem or am i weird for not wanting to kill some kids on my way to places??

OP posts:

IcingOnTheCake · 20/04/2007 12:01

I hate it when your trying to join a motorway and you get drivers who don't pull out into the middle lane to let you on, they just crawl along at 70mph in the inside lane even though they can see you wanna join the carraigeway.

Blondilocks · 21/04/2007 14:10

"Blondilocks, better to hit trees I think as they are going 0 mph, where as if you hit someone at 40 and they are going 70, you combine the speeds, so actually have a collision of 110 mph."

Thats what I thought too... although could the resulting collision be blamed on you? Although technically you would've been forced off the road? It is scary though.

nappyaddict · 21/04/2007 14:16

the other day we were driving along through a little country village - the speed limit was 30mph so we drive at this speed. we soon had a long line of cars behind us and the one directly behind was getting very agitated and kept flashing his lights and beeping his horn. he finally overtook and stuck his fingers up at us. its the speed limit for ffs!

Purpleparrot · 21/04/2007 14:26

I hate it when people drive right on my backside, especially when I have DS in the car. I get a little panicky as I never know whether I should spped up, slow down or try to get out of the way - I haven't been driving that long. DS always says to toot the horn at them but I never do in case I annoy them more. I particularly hate it when they have a clear road to over take on and don't, still sitting on your back end and then suddenly swerve out without signalling on a dodgy stretch of road.

And those drivers who choose to go slow... their choice, not going to complain... but the prats speed up when you go to over take so you don't and sit behind them again and they slow right down again!

Roundabouts... those drivers who are so anxious to get 'there' faster that they go around the roundabout even when their exit is blocked and end up sitting in the middle of it so that you can't go anywhere either... all they do is make everyone else's journey that much slower instead of theirs faster!

I went round a roundabout the other week but then had to stop because of a lollypop man letting school children cross. A taxi had obviously gone round as fast as possible to fit in the most miniscule of gaps and had to slam on his breaks or he would have gone into the back of me... the git tooted at me for a good 10 seconds!! What did he want me to do? mow down a bunch of children just so he didn't have to break. He then drove right on my backside right up to the next roundabout. I was so annoyed but nervous at the same time.

Marls001 · 21/04/2007 22:11

Wow. This is such a pet hate of mine.

Here in Arkansas (and in Houston too where I'm from) it was young men AND young women driving huge pickup trucks like the Dodge Ram or Ford F150. I drive a tiny car with a 6-month old & a 3-year-old in the back so I am always HUGELY annoyed (and a bit scared) by tailgaters whose vehicles are so much bigger!! When my infant is facing their huge front grille!!

What I always do is just wait & they'll pass in other lane. But sometimes can be quite a while - much too long for me to feel comfortable.

ANY ideas on some kind of bumper sticker that "says it all" would be greatly appreciated.
Ideas???

(Can't use "offmyass" b/c "ass" ... would've used it before I became a mom, though. )

chocolattegirl · 21/04/2007 22:53

Playing Devil's Advocate here I have to admit this afternoon on the a13 in Essex there was someone in the middle lane peramubulating along at 40mph who really ought to have pulled over into the left hand lane where they could - people were undertaking them in their bids to get past. At one stage there were more cars in the right hand lane than there were in the other two lanes and they were nose to tail! On an otherwise almost empty road. I could see an accident waiting to happen especially with the people who decided to undertake. Luckily nothing had happened by the time I turned off.

xenabelly · 21/04/2007 23:09

I hate tailgaters too but like a few people on here, never rise to other road ragers cos they're not worth crashing for.

A few people have mentioned slow drivers bug them too, my dad is a really slow driver, is ridiculous the speeds he drives at - you could walk quicker. We are always telling him to 'go a bit quicker' and he's always saying 'better to be slow than sorry'...

Anyway one day he was driving on a duel carriageway and the police pulled him over. He was really nervous ('never been pulled over in 56yr of driving') and policeman said 'excuse me sir , is there something wrong with your car' and my dad says 'no' and policeman said 'well, can you drive a bit quicker please you're holding everyone up' !! lol!!

We've been laughing for years at that one - pulled over for driving too slow!!

chocolattegirl · 21/04/2007 23:15

Fat chance of that with my Dad - he's more likely to be pulled over for going too fast but he only does that on motorways so it's not quite as bad. He'd never do it around built-up areas or around schools/parks - I think my mum would divorce him if he did.

He is actually very safety-conscious and had belts fitted in his cars years before they were compulsory by law. I was virtually grounded once for stupidly running behind his van once when he was parking it (I was showing off).

BandofMothers · 22/04/2007 08:30

Xenabelly, there are actually minimum speed limits on motorways too tho, cos it can be just as dangerous to drive too slowly.

And M001, How about something like "See my babies in the window, TRY not to kill them!!"

might make them think.[sadistic]

chocolattegirl · 22/04/2007 10:55

BoM - isn't it something like 40mph minimum speed on a motorway which is why mopeds and push bikes are obviously banned from using them?

Marls001 · 22/04/2007 20:05

Ha! BOM, Looove it. Will say

"Babies in back seat.
Try not to kill them."

Perfect. Thanks.

BandofMothers · 23/04/2007 08:10

Yes something like 40mph. I can't see why anyone would WANT to ride a bike on one but yeah.
Moo1

mrsclarkson · 23/04/2007 20:09

sorry but people who drive too slow are just as dangerous as those who drive too fast.
i don't speed in built up areas but when the limit is 60 and you're tootling along at 40 don't be surprised if you get someone hugging your bumper ffs

Marls001 · 24/04/2007 18:22

I agree with your statement.

However.

I think all of us on here are going the speed limit or - in my case - 5 to 10 miles per hour over it - when these idiots are on our tails.

Speed limit on US freeways is - I'll convert it for you - 113 km per hour. Most everyone including myself goes up to 126 km/hour - but police will write tickets for any more than that.

The idiots I'm talking about want to go 160 km/hour. You're not one of those, are you?

Marls001 · 24/04/2007 18:30

LOL.

Easy to tell that tailgating's my pet hate

Sorry MrsC!

Kevlarhead · 24/04/2007 21:55

"Playing Devil's Advocate here I have to admit this afternoon on the a13 in Essex there was someone in the middle lane peramubulating along at 40mph who really ought to have pulled over into the left hand lane where they could - people were undertaking them in their bids to get past. At one stage there were more cars in the right hand lane than there were in the other two lanes and they were nose to tail!"

I hate this, and it always seems to be 4x4 drivers as well. They'll potter along in the middle land at 62mph. I'll go to overtake them. I'll pull alongside, and accelerate... and accelerate... and suddenly they're pulling away! "God, there's a pleb in a Skoda overtaking us! Step on it!" They'll do 65 when it suits them, but try and get past and they'll smoothly go up to 80-85 if it stops you getting past them. Tossers.

mrnice · 24/04/2007 22:09

stop driving slow then it won`t happen

BandofMothers · 25/04/2007 09:44

Are you trying to be funny mrnice, or trying to start a fight???

evenhope · 25/04/2007 10:21

"I hate it when your trying to join a motorway and you get drivers who don't pull out into the middle lane to let you on, they just crawl along at 70mph in the inside lane even though they can see you wanna join the carraigeway"

Actually it isn't up to the driver on the motorway to pull over, although they should if possible. It is up to the person joining the road to adjust their speed to fit in behind or in front of the traffic already there. We have a dual carriageway locally where people joining just look straight ahead and expect you to get out of their way but there is invariably someone in the outside lane so your only choice is to brake hard to accommodate them.

I get really sick of drivers who crawl along the motorway slip road at 40mph, go right to the end of the slip and then pull straight into the middle lane, still doing 40mph. As you try to overtake (having almost crashed into them) then they speed up. Sadly it seems to be mostly women who do this.

Marls001 · 25/04/2007 13:46

If you're calling "slow" the actual speed limit, thern you're wrong. Dead wrong. Pun intended.

Pls read below.

Most of us being tailgated ARE going as fast as the law allows ALREADY. The people trying to make us "speed up" are IDIOTS who want to go much faster than they should be going.

OK?

Marls001 · 25/04/2007 13:51

Evenhope, 70mph isn't "crawling" by any means IMHO.

I like to go 80 mph on a 70 mph road, personally (). But I would NEVER pull up far enough to cause my car to crash into the one in front of me should that car need to stop suddenly.

Give everyone some room and eventually I can pass to the right (in US).

Bottom line: I'll get there. Is it worth trying to race everyone else on the freeway in order to do that?

Marls001 · 25/04/2007 13:52

But yes, if someone's 20 mph under the speed limit then that's dangerous too.

BandofMothers · 25/04/2007 13:54

M001, I agree, no it's not worth it. Don't see what the big rush is. Can't reasonably endanger my girls just to get somewhere a few mins quicker.

evenhope · 26/04/2007 17:04

Maris, the quote in the first part of my Wed 10:21 post is from Icingonthecake further down. (Friday at 12:01)

MY crawling referred to someone doing 40mph which is not an acceptable speed on a mway but very common where I live (and everyone else is doing 95mph so doubly dangerous)

Marls001 · 26/04/2007 21:56

Got it. Sorry I misread.

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