To drive at the speed limit, despite what the bloke right up behind me wants?

[tearinghairout]

I often do a 20-mile trip on B-roads & through villages where the speed limits are 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60mph in various places. On two stretches there are speed cameras, and a few months back I got a warning letter for doing over 30 in a 30mph limit - don't know by how much, but I was lucky not to get a fine.

So I stick to the speed limits, even though IMO some are a bit daft - the 20mph is only relevant at school pick-up & drop-off really - but it's not for me to decide the law.

So why are there always cars - always BIG cars - right up my exhaust pipe trying to chivvy me up? It's SO stressful, why not just relax & go with the flow?

I stop and let them overtake. No point winding people up by playing games, makes it more dangerous imo. Some drivers can be very intimidating - my dad can sometimes be like this!

Touching your brakes is dangerous. If someone is that close they are bothering me, I flick my lights on and off - they still think I'm braking because of the lights.

Limiters are also dangerous because there ARE times where you need the extra speed to overtake and get back safely. Not as many times as people speeding though!

And baiting people isn't a good idea - having upset someone once, by not letting them pull out in front of me, the car decided to follow me, even to the extent of driving the car round a roundabout several times. In the end I held up my mobile and made out I was going to phone for help, and he drove off.

Daisypetal both the things you have just mentioned are really bloody dangerous.

There is nothing wrong with soemone overtaking you - it isn't a personal attack. If they want to go faster move over to the left and give them space to pass. I live in the 'country' and there are a lot of fast roads around here but with a lot of people who don't want to do the speed limit. I drive to the left hand side of the road ensuring space for people to overtake when they need/want to and expect people to do the same for me, it's just courteous. By driving erratically you are deliberately winding someone up which will make them want to get past you (rather than drive behind an idiot playing stupid games)and by speeding up when they do is just asking for someone to get killed.

I get this a LOT as I'm learning to drive so have to do the speed limit (although sometimes my speed does creep up ). I always wonder why they are trying to harass a learner - surely they know that I have to stay within the limits?

My driving instructor pointed out if I speed, I'll get the ticket, not here. And it would be really embarrassing to get three points on a provisional!

Some drivers are annoying though, come on u have the ones that think its ok to pull out when ur doin 30mph + u are bloody close, they pull out + proceed to drive at 20mph, and they wonder why my dp does go up the arse + overtake whilst giving them a piece of his mind.But these idiotic ppl look at him as if he is deranged.I was always told u cant drive 2 slow anyway.So remember this if u have just pulled out on someone cos u r obviously not in a rush if ur driving at 20,so waiting a few more seconds to pull out wont kill ya.Van drivers r particularly bad at this.I have also seen drivers touch there breaks in the fast lane of the mway,which is bloody dangerous,if ppl wanna go a tad faster in that lane its up 2 them,so if u r 1 of those dont u think u would b more suited 2 the other lanes, + especially slow rubbish cars + vans in that lane trying 2 keep up,its annoying,if u gonna go slow dont go in the fast lane.

I'd think he was a tad deranged too if he was tailgating,regardless of the other's driver's behaviour.

Tailgating is an incredibly stupid thing to do,and the only excuse for it is if the car in front has attached an incredibly powerful magnet to it's rear bumper. If that isn't the case then back off.

I live in the country and get fed up of people doing this. the main reason I get fed up of it is that it's bloody dangerous. A few months ago dh and I went round a corner to find some idiot had basically stopped in the middle of the road. dh had to slam his brakes on. dh was driving sensibly (not slowy. but sensibly) and has quick reactions - so didn't hit the stopped car - however the driver behind us, and the one behind her were going a combination of too fast and too close - hence 3 car pile up. no one hurt, thankfully, but the middle car written off, and a grand+ damage to ours and the other one. and in this case - although the cars were going too fast/too close - they weren't even close to the kind of tailgating that you sometimes get. having been in this 3-car pile up I know that many tailgaters, if there were a stopped car/tractor/cow/child suddenly stepping out would not be able to avoid a serious accident . I seem to recall stopping distances being pretty fundamental to learning to drive and many of these idiots think they're exempt.

If I get one I drive as normal, but as soon as there's space for them to overtake I gently slow so that they can get past.

thunderduck said what I meant - but much quicker!

I always get pissed off by people driving below or just at the speed limit on roads where they could perfectly easily pull over. IMO it's selfish not to pull over when someone's clearly in a hurry.

I often drive through country lanes and people will pull out of other lanes just ahead of me even when they can see me coming, drive at 20 miles an hour (there is no limit on our lanes other than nat. limit) and sit in the middle of the road not letting anyone get past and there's a line of infuriated drivers backed up behind them who are likely to take unnessary risks to get past.

If pple insist on driving like grannies, at least they should have the courtesy to pull over and let everyone else get on.

don't see whay you should pull over if you're driving just at the speed limit.

That should be If the car in front has an incredibly powerful magnet attached to it's rear bumper'

It's not so much the driving at the speed limit that gets to me, it's the driving at 20 on a road with a 60 limit which is most of the lanes around here (altho' even I wouldn't drive at over 40 along them)

i deliberately drive slower if someone is right up my backside. it gets on my nerves when people can't obey the speed limit. it's there for a reason!

I have to say I deliberately try to avoid days out if they involve travelling on country roads. They just scare me so much.

I've seen so much suicidal overtaking I just can't relax at all until we're safely in a town or on a motorway.

I sit there flinching and it drives DP mad!

I just don't get it with british drivers and speeding. But they think they're not only entitled to do it, but also entitled to harrass others who won't do it.

I'd rather stay home.

Hey everyone i think rivens a gotta be a policewoman/man, because y b obsessed with the law so much, its not up to u to enforce it, i bet u have broken the law b4 no matter how minor (eating/drinking at wheel, mobile in hand, even fine for something stupid) how do u know someone isnt in a rush cos they r trying to get to a dying relative, or some1 is in the car about to give birth, ur not to know y they r rushing, so think b4 u try making the roads even more dangerous by tapping the breaks. And i said a piece of his mind, when did i say he was aggresive, i didnt.

RIVEN, just as a courtesy, in the same way that if you were dawdling along at the top of an escalator it would be good manners to move to one side to let others pass.

Last time I looked it wasn't dangerous and illegal to want to get straight onto an escalator.

It's not about courtesy, allowing others to speed. If they want to speed then it's their problem, not up to others to go out of their way to allow them past.

mumblechum - you seem to have missed the point of this thread. Op and the other posters are talking about being harrassed by tailgaters who want you to speed up when you are driving at the speed limit.

It has nothing to do with getting stuck behind people driving at 20 in a 60 limit.

tiredmum - your dp is a knob.

Section 168 is fairly clear here, I think.

Hecate I saw very similar to your fantasy once! Was waslking to work down the high street one Sunday morning when a boy racer tore down the high street doing about 70 (seriously!).

Then got stopped by the policeman who'd spotted him from the other end of the High Street.

Was very funny