To think people who overtake are idiots?

[sallyhansen32]

So this morning I was out early.
I was on a road with a 30 mph limit..there's a speed camera next to a school.
I'm new to driving so didn't want to go crazy so I dropped down to 25mph till I passed through it.
A van overtook me and stuck his fingers up.
Was I going to slow?
If I was then fair enough ..but it's not like I was going through under 20.

Like I said earlier ignore negative people we’ve all been that new hesitant driver at some point in our lives and nobody has the right to act like that maybe u would of been a hero if u had said u was doing 40 in a 30 zone who knows as I can’t understand the nastiness towards u 😘

I think he was pissed off for you speeding up as he overtook you. You clearly said you put your foot down within seconds of slowing to 25 and he would not have completed his manoeuvre by then. This would explain why he was sat beside you doing the same speed for a couple of seconds and may be why he flicked the bird.

It is dangerous to speed up when being overtaken. You risk causing an accident. I said this in a previous post.

Of course he shouldn’t have flicked his fingers at you. However, you are still naively assuming he was 100% totally in the wrong.

Are you going to acknowledge your part in this situation?

Are you going to modify your driving so that you do not speed up when being overtaken?

@sallyhansen32 agreed completely. I passed 9 years ago and will never ever forget a really aggressive driver behind me shouting and giving hand gestures when I went through a 30 speed camera at 25. Again very aggressive driving up next to me and shouting it's 30 not 25 as I turned off the road. As a consequence I try to be patient with learner and new drives cos that really shook me up at the time!

You need to build a thicker skin OP. You met an impatient driver who swore - he won't be the first and he most certainly isn't going to the worst.

And one day you'll get annoyed and impatient by someone braking for no reason or someone driving slowly - you might not swear at them but I think everyone on here has felt immensely frustrated at being stuck behind a slow or incompetent driver.

For example, driving home last night on a country road. Speed limit is NSL but on that particular stretch 40 is more realistic due to sharp corners and blind bends. I was driving along about 35-40mph and came up behind someone driving at 15mph, slowing almost to a stop (5mph) for the corners. Luckily he had the sense to pull in but his driving was downright dangerous. There were no hazards on the road either. If the police had passed him I have no doubt he'd have been pulled for dangerous driving.

No, I meant the entitlement of expecting me to slow to a stop in a layby so you can break the speed limit. I am more than happy to pull over if I want to proceed slowly, but not if I want to drive at a speed approaching the limit and someone wants to break the law.

If someone is intent on driving like a dick, I'd rather they weren't right behind me!

LakieLady

That's your prerogative, of course. Whether or not to move over for another driver when I am approaching the limit is mine.

OP you have said that you “dropped down” when you saw the camera and then sped up once you were past it so you have slammed on the brakes and also sped up when someone was trying to overtake. Both very dangerous and examples of bad driving. You have to accept you are a very inexperienced driver and therefore making errors. Perhaps it was wrong to swear but Christ in the heat of the moment when faced with a dangerous situation what do you expect?! You need to accept responsibility and go out and get more experience.

I never sped up until he was in front of me ...
I was trying to see what he was doing and if he was overtaking me why he wasn't doing it..

Please stop trying to twist what happened to suit your notion of what "silly new drivers would do"

Because clearly in the majority's head if a driver has been passed longer then he couldn't possibly be in the wrong.

1- I never slammed on the breaks
2.it wasn't a dangerous situation..he was the one who appeared and come up fast,didn't even drive behind me,he drove to the side of me for a few seconds then got in front.
Please read what actually happened rather than your account of things

OP you have said that you “dropped down” when you saw the camera and then sped up once you were past it so you have slammed on the brakes and also sped up when someone was trying to overtake

Do you think the only way of slowing down is to slam on the brakes?

People are listening to you but you still braked unexpectedly for no reason. That's not good driving. You're new and of course you're going to make mistakes but braking for no reason when you're already under the speed limit isn't a sensible thing to do and it will wind people up.

Nobody is saying the man should have sworn or that he was correct in being aggressive but he is allowed to be frustrated by your actions and he wasn't wrong to overtake you.

I understand it outside a school, but don't fall into the trap of thinking more generally that driving slowly enough that the flow of traffic starts overtaking you is safe and responsible. Technically the police can pull you for this (less likely outside a school in a 30 obviously, but it would not be good general practice) and it has happened where it is resulting in lots of overtaking.

I'm glad you didn't speed up while someone was overtaking, because that (especially in a built up area), is really just dangerous.

A good thing to do when driving is to minimize the disruption you cause - you should definitely avoid forcing, encouraging or prolonging lane changes unnecessarily for other road users because this is when a lot of accidents happen.

but you still braked unexpectedly for no reason.

Except she didn’t break at all, just came off the accelerator.

Brake.

Oh no are you still doing this, op?

Okay, but it still has the same effect - slowing for no reason!

Are you going to modify your driving so that you do not speed up when being overtaken

I would have thought it depends. I won't deliberately speed up to stop someone overtaking me, but if I have already decided to speed up for whatever reason, and someone is too impatient to wait and starts overtaking me anyway, well tough. They should wait, not me.

Do you think the only way of slowing down is to slam on the brakes

This. In most cases you just need to take your foot off the gas (unless you are coming to a complete stop). If you see a camera you may take your foot off the gas for a minute as you go past it and then put your foot back on the gas once past. Nobody should be trying to overtake in that situation.

Can we please stop having a go at the OP here. The van driver was at fault. Nobody should be overtaking in a 30 limit especially next to a school unless you're overtaking a tractor or bike.

Either you stayed at 25 for more than a couple of seconds or you sped up as he was overtaking you as a manoeuvre takes more than a couple of seconds. You can’t have it both ways. That’s not possible.

I’m not trying to twist anything. Your story doesn’t make sense anymore.

runningkeester
If a car is parallel to yours when you decide to speed up, that is extremely dangerous. If they have just edged out or are about to start their manoeuvre and can pull back in, fine.

Would you not agree?

Okay, but it still has the same effect - slowing for no reason!

She briefly slowed on approaching a speed camera. If you can’t cope with that without getting “wound up” TBH you shouldn’t be on the road yourself

I have 2 sons learning to drive at the moment. I hope they don’t encounter some of the posters on this thread. Mind you, one already has on his second ever lesson (in a branded driving instructor’s car with prominent signage.)

These two things make me worry about you driving.
Have you thought about taking the pass plus course? It’s really good for confidence boosting :)

But she was already going under 30 so there was no need for her to slow down even more.

I never said it would have bothered me but it is an example of poor awareness. If you're going under the limit and there's a camera, then the safe and sensible thing to do is carry on exactly as you are.

Drivers slowing unnecessarily is dangerous and not a smart thing to do.

Nobody should be overtaking in a 30 because the driver in front temporarily slowed to 25. It's not just a school area, it is a residential area and going faster 'just because you can' is shocking driving. And for people to suggest otherwise to a new driver is disgusting. I'm embarrassed for some people on here.

25 in a 30 is completely reasonable. It's a maximum, not a rule.

Overtaking would need breaking the speed limit, so yes that was stupid of them and dangerous.

Don't feel pressured to drive dangerously because others do.

I once had a fool in a van speed past me in the dark on a blind corner, swerving around me. I was driving at the speed limit, on it exactly, not slower or faster.

When I asked why he said "Em, well, why were you driving so slowly?"

I said, the limit on that road between x and y is 40, prior it's 30 due to x, later it will change to 60, but that's another 14 miles from here.

So, as the speed limit is 40 and it is not raining, I am an experienced driver and I am familiar with the roads, I was driving at 40. I assume the van swerving past me on the blind bend in the dark was doing more than the limit and clearly driving dangerously, did you mean to pull him over? I left room for you to pass as it was clearly dangerous and of course I, although apparently not the guy in the van who you were directly behind, knew you were behind him since x as I use my mirrors. would you like to check anything else?

I don't recommend talking to a police officer like that, but the dangerous speeding swerving in the dark guy was insane and should have been stopped! So I made my point and got an apology rather than arrested.

Sorry, lost sentence in there... after the crazy driver swerved past me, the police car behind pulled me over! That's when I asked why.