To me, to you. Up a bit, down a bit. Is this the latest driving craze.

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

brucemillar

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 18, 2010
Messages
8,661
Location
Next Door to Alice - 25 'kin years now
Car
C55 AMG Wagon - W124 300te 4matic Wagon - BMW 4.8is X5 E53 - SWB Pajero 3.5 V6 24v
Hmmm

So I am driving along on the inside lane of an "empty" dual carriageway. My speed is set on cruise or controlled by my foot. My speed is steady and I am not lifting & accelerating (this is important).

I can see in the distance ahead of me another road user also in the inside lane and I am overhauling them at a reasonable speed. In my mirrors I see another car that is making no progress on me. Now as I start to get to a point where somebody needs to make a maneuver to pass each other. The car that is at the rear, starts to accelerate. Just a perceptible movement, enough for you to barely notice that they are indeed barely gaining on you. So you think, slow down and allow them to pass us both. No they slow down, just a tiny bit, but enough to start a queue. So you speed up. You guessed it, they start to speed up. Not enough to pass, but enough to close the gap.

This can continue for some time. So that nobody is making any headway or progress on the car at the head of the queue and you are stuck unable to move in or out or pass.

Why do people do this?
 
Hmmm

So I am driving along on the inside lane of an "empty" dual carriageway. My speed is set on cruise or controlled by my foot. My speed is steady and I am not lifting & accelerating (this is important).

I can see in the distance ahead of me another road user also in the inside lane and I am overhauling them at a reasonable speed. In my mirrors I see another car that is making no progress on me. Now as I start to get to a point where somebody needs to make a maneuver to pass each other. The car that is at the rear, starts to accelerate. Just a perceptible movement, enough for you to barely notice that they are indeed barely gaining on you. So you think, slow down and allow them to pass us both. No they slow down, just a tiny bit, but enough to start a queue. So you speed up. You guessed it, they start to speed up. Not enough to pass, but enough to close the gap.

This can continue for some time. So that nobody is making any headway or progress on the car at the head of the queue and you are stuck unable to move in or out or pass.

Why do people do this?
Because they can Bruce, gave up trying to understand the human race some time ago and decided to make sure I always have a car powerful enough to kick down head for the gap...

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
 
Because the world is full of muppets, and many have driving licences. I usually accelerate and pull out if I think one is going to do something like that, rather than wait to see what the other driver will do.
 
So, slow down so they slow down...then pop the throttle and overtake the car in front. Don't let it annoy you.
 
Hmmm

So I am driving along on the inside lane of an "empty" dual carriageway. My speed is set on cruise or controlled by my foot. My speed is steady and I am not lifting & accelerating (this is important).

I can see in the distance ahead of me another road user also in the inside lane and I am overhauling them at a reasonable speed. In my mirrors I see another car that is making no progress on me. Now as I start to get to a point where somebody needs to make a maneuver to pass each other. The car that is at the rear, starts to accelerate. Just a perceptible movement, enough for you to barely notice that they are indeed barely gaining on you. So you think, slow down and allow them to pass us both. No they slow down, just a tiny bit, but enough to start a queue. So you speed up. You guessed it, they start to speed up. Not enough to pass, but enough to close the gap.

This can continue for some time. So that nobody is making any headway or progress on the car at the head of the queue and you are stuck unable to move in or out or pass.

Why do people do this?

Cos you were probably in the AMG or the BMW ?
 
It's the same when overtaking someone on a dual carriageway or motorway, why when I am slowly catching up to the car in front do I start to slowly overtake and the car in front speeds up!
 
It's the same when overtaking someone on a dual carriageway or motorway, why when I am slowly catching up to the car in front do I start to slowly overtake and the car in front speeds up!
Yeah I get this all the time. You either have to boot it (and potentially break the speed limit) to get past or slow down and drop in behind. Then the wazzock will slow down again. Inexplicable!
 
The other common variation is that the car you're overhauling speeds up as you approach and/or pull out to overtake. Usually they only speed up a bit, you pull back in behind them ... only to find that a minute later they slow down again and the whole thing repeats. So then I accelerate past, drop back into cruise control at my original speed, and they appear to 'give up' and are soon left far behind. Happens to me all the time, particularly on quiet motorways (very early in the morning, at weekends). There's nowt so queer as folk, as my grandad used to say :)
 
It amazes me the number of drivers who cannot maintain a (fairly) constant speed on a relatively clear motorway or dual carriageway, and instead - presumably subconsciously - simply match their speed to other vehicles around them regardless of the road ahead of them being clear.

It's not unique to the UK, either. A couple of years ago on an Italian Autostrada I experienced exactly the same thing. Must be another manifestation of the herding mentality that means I can park in an empty car park and on return to my car to find that the only other car in the car park has parked next to mine and opened their door onto it :mad:
 
Hmmm

So I am driving along on the inside lane of an "empty" dual carriageway. My speed is set on cruise or controlled by my foot. My speed is steady and I am not lifting & accelerating (this is important).

I can see in the distance ahead of me another road user also in the inside lane and I am overhauling them at a reasonable speed. In my mirrors I see another car that is making no progress on me. Now as I start to get to a point where somebody needs to make a maneuver to pass each other. The car that is at the rear, starts to accelerate. Just a perceptible movement, enough for you to barely notice that they are indeed barely gaining on you. So you think, slow down and allow them to pass us both. No they slow down, just a tiny bit, but enough to start a queue. So you speed up. You guessed it, they start to speed up. Not enough to pass, but enough to close the gap.

This can continue for some time. So that nobody is making any headway or progress on the car at the head of the queue and you are stuck unable to move in or out or pass.

Why do people do this?

It happens to me all the time no matter the lane but same principle. I have put it down to a complete and utter lack of awareness of speed of cars around them and their inability to anticipate the moves of other drivers. Ie ‘oh that car may want to move out to over take the slower vehicle’. To these drivers, its them and them alone on the roads and lanes.
 
In the case of the O/P could this behaviour not be explained by adaptive Cruise control?
 
This morning, I joined the M2 and could not get past the "innocent" party in front of me. This was due to a White Discovery & Driver that just would not go past me. I would guess that this was over five miles on an otherwise empty dual carriageway. It is insane and every time I made any move to either increase or decrease my speed the car behind would match me and sit just in my "rear quarter". They must be aware that they are constantly having to adjust their speed and on a long downhill straight stretch of empty dual carriageway (as you head East past the Farthing Corner Services).

I am with the "herding mentality" thinking here. These will be same people who happily sit in the RH Lane, until they want to come off, then chop across the chevrons in a cloud of dirt and dust. The reason for their hasty exit being clear when they follow you into the nearest car (until now) empty Car Park before cramming their car about a human hair's width away from your door, ignoring the vast wilderness of empty tundra Car Parking Spaces with Tumbleweed blowing around.

The other trait is to sit in their car in an otherwise full up Car Park and look solemnly at the passers by as they try and park. Then at the moment that somebody else manages to successfully park next to them (Oh joy) they start the engine up and drive off leaving a gap that the QEII would have fitted into. Somehow they see this as far more helpful than moving when you arrive and allowing good easy parking access.

I want to discuss, the litter dropping fraternity who frequent fast food car parks. Their sole purpose in life is to deposit a vast tonnage of 'Maccy D' wrappers and Milk Shake Cartons just outside their door sill overhang. Filthy disgusting creatures that they are, often accompanied by people who are made out of quadruple sized pillows, that make cellulite look like fun. They roll up spend their entire weeks benefit dosh on a single sitting of Industrial Sized dead Cow, before just chucking the detritus out the window with a "look at me Son" this is how it's done. One day I will teach you how to do it properly and cover the entire Car Park in our discarded litter.
 
I know what Bruce means,you are catching up a car and you see a car coming in the middle or outside lane that is going a bit faster than you,you gauge that the car should pass you before you need to get past the slower car and than just when you need that car to go past it slows down which means you have to slow down or ram the guy in front,I must admit now I expect most drivers to do this now so I assert myself on the situation and speed up and pass and let the other car driver do what he wants behind me.
I suppose we all tend to think that other drivers are as good as you,when many are uncomfortable driving,many just do not like driving and also lots have developed all manner of strange practices on the road,one has already been described that is the follower,they blindly follow the car/truck in front,maybe they are scared to overtake,or they do want to overtake say a truck/s and attempt to do so then having got to the rear wheels of the truck slow and match the speed of the truck,one very crazy and dangerous situation.
We also have drivers who are mesmerized by flashing yellow lights on mobile cranes or mobile homes carried on a truck,this is results in traffic slowing to look at the lights ,I have never been able to understand that perversion.
 
I want to discuss, the litter dropping fraternity who frequent fast food car parks. Their sole purpose in life is to deposit a vast tonnage of 'Maccy D' wrappers and Milk Shake Cartons just outside their door sill overhang. Filthy disgusting creatures that they are, often accompanied by people who are made out of quadruple sized pillows, that make cellulite look like fun. They roll up spend their entire weeks benefit dosh on a single sitting of Industrial Sized dead Cow, before just chucking the detritus out the window with a "look at me Son" this is how it's done. One day I will teach you how to do it properly and cover the entire Car Park in our discarded litter.

I came across one of those in the McDonalds near my work ; I was sitting in my car having lunch when the moron opposite opened the drivers door of his van and tossed all his rubbish underneath the van - there was a bin not 10 feet away , and not as if it was raining or anything ...

Anyway , as he drove off , I dialled the number clearly
sign written on the side of the van , and asked to speak to the manager ; the person on the other end replied that he was the owner , so I related what I had just seen and commented that it didn't reflect very well on his company . To my surprise the gentleman agreed with me and said to leave the matter with him .

About 10 minutes later , chummy returned and picked up his rubbish , all the time looking daggers round the car park trying to figure who had d
obbed him in ; as it was the place was busy and it could've been any one of several people .

I found that both
funny and satisfying .
 
I came across one of those in the McDonalds near my work ; I was sitting in my car having lunch when the moron opposite opened the drivers door of his van and tossed all his rubbish underneath the van - there was a bin not 10 feet away , and not as if it was raining or anything ...

Anyway , as he drove off , I dialled the number clearly
sign written on the side of the van , and asked to speak to the manager ; the person on the other end replied that he was the owner , so I related what I had just seen and commented that it didn't reflect very well on his company . To my surprise the gentleman agreed with me and said to leave the matter with him .

About 10 minutes later , chummy returned and picked up his rubbish , all the time looking daggers round the car park trying to figure who had d
obbed him in ; as it was the place was busy and it could've been any one of several people .

I found that both
funny and satisfying .
He must have known it was you due to the ear to ear grin!

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
 
  • Like
Reactions: 219
He must have known it was you due to the ear to ear grin!

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
That and I was parked right opposite where he was ...
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom