Rise of the slow driving early morning commuter

[NotAllThere]

Current gig means I'm up and off to train station early. Seen it a few times now and always different people (I think).

I don't bomb around when I drive but if I'm up at the crack I like to get where I'm going (especially if I've got a train to catch!). Up until about 7am near me there's hardly any traffic on the roads.

A few times now though I've been stuck behind people doing 25mph, rolling up to junctions slowly, stopping for ages etc. Generally, driving very slowly and cautiously. Not the same person there seem to be loads of them.

All I can think is there are people out there who can't cope with driving in rush hour so get up early when theres no traffic so they can toddle on to work at their own pace?

You should have left the house earlier, instead of spending two minutes failing to diagnose your PC wasn't properly plugged in.

[bobspud]

Current gig means I'm up and off to train station early. Seen it a few times now and always different people (I think).

I don't bomb around when I drive but if I'm up at the crack I like to get where I'm going (especially if I've got a train to catch!). Up until about 7am near me there's hardly any traffic on the roads.

A few times now though I've been stuck behind people doing 25mph, rolling up to junctions slowly, stopping for ages etc. Generally, driving very slowly and cautiously. Not the same person there seem to be loads of them.

All I can think is there are people out there who can't cope with driving in rush hour so get up early when theres no traffic so they can toddle on to work at their own pace?

This concerns me as well. its obviously fuel price related because when I moved to the countryside in 2001 the roads were much faster. Now its common to find people trying to hyper mile their way around to save a few quid. The M4 has definitely reduced in the average speeds by at least 20mph. The other side of that is having seen deer pop out of hedges randomly or other road users jump lights or be forced into stupid overtaking manoeuvres over the years I too have increased my caution in certain parts of my journey.

I slow down to well under speed limit if I am being hideously tailgated - eg 2" from bumper when I'm being held up by slow vehicles ahead, already travelling at (perhaps a bit officer) over the limit, tailgated by some twot who had plenty of chance to overtake if they wanted but didn't.

Why? A friend of my wive's family was kicked to death in a road rage incident in the early 90's He was a big strapping Rugby playing father of two and the guys that he crossed dragged him out of his car with a child in the back and kicked the crap out of him. It destroyed the family and the four guys involved did not even serve a prison term.

For drivers of normal cars, overtaking has become a far more dangerous sport of late. There seems to be a new breed of selfish stupid moron that dawdle about looking quite aimless until anyone has the audacity to try to overtake them. At this point they try like mad to speed up and scare the crap out of the car that is now on the wrong side of the road. I have seen it done to a few cars of late and had some loser try it on our V8 Land Rover. It was quite pathetic at the time because despite them trying I had still made up the 300 yards or so that I needed to manoeuvre safely.

It seems trolls are not just for the internet.

[bobspud]

They aren't.

Agreed or maybe the thought is no one will want to reverse out of their drive or cross the road. Or that those area's will have children in.

[DirtyDog]

I slow down to well under speed limit if I am being hideously tailgated - eg 2" from bumper when I'm being held up by slow vehicles ahead, already travelling at (perhaps a bit officer) over the limit, tailgated by some twot who had plenty of chance to overtake if they wanted but didn't.

Why?

Because that is what the Institute of Advanced Motorists and RoSPA recommend you do.

[vwdan]

I have seen it done to a few cars of late and had some loser try it on our V8 Land Rover. It was quite pathetic at the time because despite them trying I had still made up the 300 yards or so that I needed to manoeuvre safely.

People try and do it when I'm on the motorbike too, like they're ever going to beat a sub 4 second 0 - 60 time. I had a guy in an Audi try and block me in while I was filtering through heavy traffic on the motorway, I dropped back, he dropped back to stay alongside me and then I gave him a quick wave before I was off. People are very strange.

Personally, I take overtaking very seriously and rarely even attempt it in a car.

[vwdan]

Because that is what the Institute of Advanced Motorists and RoSPA recommend you do.

No, they recommend you increase your distance between whatever is in front of you so that you have an increased stopping distance. This may be accomplished by slowing down, but they do not advocate slowing "to well under speed limit" just because someone is close behind you.

Not that I disagree with the strategy, tailgater's are nobs of the highest order.

[Mich the Tester]

...a guy in an Audi...

Enough said. Avoid them.

[BoredBloke]

There really are some ******* out there when it comes to driving - On the monday before Christmas I nearly ended up in an accident. I was in the outside lane doing 'fast'. I check my rear view mirror regularly, looking for plod, but from out of nowhere a big Audi was up the @rse of my car - he was so close that I couldn't actually see his lights in my rear view as they were too close to my boot. I passed the car that was on my left and pulled in to let him past. When he went past me I pulled back into the fast lane and flashed my lights at him. This made him stamp hard on his brakes - I was doing about 80 and had to brake to 20 to avoid hitting him. He then did it again once we got up to 80. This time I ducked into the middle lane and he then tried to pull into the middle lane into my car.

[DirtyDog]

No, they recommend you increase your distance between whatever is in front of you so that you have an increased stopping distance. This may be accomplished by slowing down, but they do not advocate slowing "to well under speed limit" just because someone is close behind you.

Not that I disagree with the strategy, tailgater's are nobs of the highest order.

I wonder when they changed the advice. That's certainly the advice the IAM gave me when I did my course, but that was some years back.

[BoredBloke]

People try and do it when I'm on the motorbike too, like they're ever going to beat a sub 4 second 0 - 60 time. I had a guy in an Audi try and block me in while I was filtering through heavy traffic on the motorway, I dropped back, he dropped back to stay alongside me and then I gave him a quick wave before I was off. People are very strange.

Personally, I take overtaking very seriously and rarely even attempt it in a car.

Last night I saw some pillock do something similar - on a stretch of road there is 3 lanes - the outside 2 merge into 1. Generally people tend to alternate things. This knob came flying up in lane 2 and the started beeping and flashing his lights at the car that was pulling in. As the car pulling in was next to a central reservation, I fail to see where he expected this car to go to.