Cars in queues

[CheeseDreamsTonight]

This morning, queuing in traffic, moving slowly. The car in front was letting the traffic ahead go around 10 metres before he moved off, then randomly slowed down a few times while closing the gap, so as the person behind him I had zero idea what he was going to do next.

It's so frustrating as you see the cars ahead move off, and release the handbrake ready to go and.... nothing. Wait 10 seconds... he then decides to move. It's like the car equivalent of walking on egg shells. It's quite relaxing plodding along in traffic usually, but this makes it super frustrating.

AIBU to hate it when people don't just move along as the traffic moves along and create their own random agenda?

Oh god I just asked DP and he does this! I have one in the house!

What's the tearing hurry if you are going to stop again in a little while

It's just then anticipation of knowing you are about to move as the traffic infront is and then.... no. Sit for an unspecified amount of time.

I didn't say it was logical. I'm getting nowhere any faster.

If you leave a gap there's more chance you can keep going in first gear for longer rather than stopping and starting. It's less tiring as you're then not on and off the pedals.

It was stand still, handbrake on for a minute or 2, move 5 metres or so. Stop start, not cruising along

He / she was probably on their phone.

They actually were. I saw them in their side mirror

Gappy drivers ☹️
Nowadays I think they are on their phone, can't concentrate for the time the traffic picks up.

I'm with you op. Can't stand it when drivers do this. Just keep moving.

Yep, this drives me mad too - mainly because of the backup of traffic behind the car when it's very busy (people trying to get round roundabouts but can't because the traffic hasn't cleared because of people driving like OP has described).

I'm a gap closer but only cos in traffic i get frustrated and don't want anyone edging in (if its more than one lane)

That being said, I'm driving daily on a bit of M25 where the major roadworks at Junction 10 have been such a pain and people try to cut in last minute rather than queue so now i'm like glue to the car infront of me! I'm usually a very calm driver but people who think they can skip all of a queue and then indicate and hope to just be let in make me think "why is your time more important than mine?!"

Particularly irritating when your dozing allows other cars to change lane in front of you so now I'm further back in the queue.

I had one not paying attention while she was on her phone the other day. My route to work involves a right turn from a side road onto a main road. There is a pedestrian crossing about two car lengths to my left and a keep clear area at my road exit. The traffic is often queuing because of a level crossing about 1/4 mile away, but sometimes trickles along. Generally if someone sees me waiting they will let me out if the traffic is queuing, even if there is space beyond the keep clear, particularly if the pedestrian crossing is on red. In this case the light turned red but the two cars to my left carried on slowly to the stop line. The car to my right had been stationery and I expected that she would let me out. Fortunately I did not rely on that expectation. She clearly was aware from peripheral vision that the cars ahead of her had moved so she set off as well. She clearly had her phone in front of the steering wheel and was looking at that, rather than trafffic ahead, me, or the various school children who cross there or use the pavement on my side. Her passenger was much more aware and gave an apologetic shrug. I don't think she ever noticed I was there.

That being said, I'm driving daily on a bit of M25 where the major roadworks at Junction 10 have been such a pain and people try to cut in last minute rather than queue so now i'm like glue to the car infront of me! I'm usually a very calm driver but people who think they can skip all of a queue and then indicate and hope to just be let in make me think "why is your time more important than mine?!"

This annoys me too but sometimes they just drive into your lane regardless and you have no choice but to let them in. Seen so many road rage incidents because of it.

Some of us find it uncomfortable on the left ankle to be continuously raising and lowering the clutch for a prolonged period of time. If I can do it once every 30 seconds rather than once every 5 seconds whilst making the same progress, I prefer that.

There’s no need for you to be releasing the hand brake ready to go when you see cars in a traffic queue ahead moving. It won’t make the queue move any faster, and makes you more vulnerable if you get shunted from behind.

An exception is if you’re waiting at temporary traffic lights when you want to get on with it before the lights change. Otherwise it’s just self-created stress and impatience. Bad for you, bad for all of us.

So you saw that they were on their phone? If so, you have the answer to their behaviour. It's not unreasonable to be frustrated by drivers breaking the law and risking the safety of other road users.

It causes traffic to back up further than necessary, not allowing cars to get to roads they need to turn into, for example.

..."and people try to cut in last minute rather than queue..."

Do you mean, they merge at the merge point as they are supposed to and the highway code stipulates, rather than much earlier on causing the tailback to be much longer, and interfere with junctions?

You merge at the merge point and merge in turn - you do not hop into the remaining lane the second you see the lane closure warning. Read the highway code again, you're part of the problem.

Oh this is incredibly annoying, particularly when you are in a queue for traffic lights and some twit leaves too much room between themselves and the vehicle in front. If the lights work on sensors, any gap big enough is registered as 'the end of the queue' and the lights change to red instead of staying green for longer.

Unfortunately, the person who was hanging back in case the lights changed has ended up being the unwitting architect of it, and simply reinforces their notion that they were right to hesitate. And you sit there behind them, tutting with annoyance.

Does my bloody head in.

Ah good I am not alone and will now forever call them 'gappy drivers.' This person was on his phone but generally I don't think they are. It's a preferred way of driving for lots of people.

I see the point about it being easier on the ankle etc and not releasing the handbrake until the car infront of me starts moving but it's the weird frustrating anticipation of not quite knowing when the person in front is going to choose to move. At least when we're all just moving with the car in front it's predictable and steady. This is like traffic roulette.

I hate it even more when they inch along, barely moving, to close the gap. I've no idea how far they're going to move so have to follow them, at least every few little moves. I drive a manual so really annoying. Although I don't ever use my handbrake in traffic.

You don't see many people on phones whilst driving here. The fine is aud$1000 (£520) & there are cameras to pick it up everywhere.

No, I think I know this stretch of road that the op is talking about. The left hand lane, which goes on for a long time, is for turning left now at a roundabout on to the M25. The middle lane lane is either for going straight ahead on the A3 or turning right at the roundabout on to the M25. Eventually you turn off to the M25 roundabout and you just have the two lanes at that stage. People use the left hand lane and then try to cut into the right hand lane at the last minute. When you wait where you should be it can easily add an extra 20 minutes to the journey and that's because so many people are cutting in. It's infuriating!

@MermaidMummy06 this person was inching too. Leaving a huge gap then accelerating then inching. It was so unpredictable, I fhink that's what was so bloody annoying.

Handbrake was used as it was a country lane, up and down 3 small hills queuing to get into a town which always bottlenecks at a roundabout.

Well there's a lot of side roads in a 100 meters stretch where you are then

My DH maintains it's a power thing - "you move when I say you move, and not before".