Driving Psychology

Jono8

Jono8

Jono8

Caporegime
Joined
20 May 2007
Posts
41,054
Location
Surrey
Just had the most irritating encounter with another driver tonight and it has made me think about the possible psychology behind it.

I'm on a dual carriageway with a 40mph limit, cruising in the right hand lane. I come up behind a fellow who is doing about 30mph, maybe a smidge more in the right land, with nothing on the left hand lane. Not wanting to undertake him, i gave him a polite flash to let him know i was there, in the hope he would realise he is on a dual carriageway with a 40mph limit but going 30 in the right hand lane.


Instead, said fellow puts his brakes on and tries to brake test me...slightly puzzled as to why he was doing this, i figured he was an idiot, undertook him and went on my merry way ( with him flashing his lights on/off in a crazed rage at me)....only now, this fellow has suddenly found some speed and is keeping up with me for the rest of the time that i was on the road.

Now what on earth is the reasoning behind this, It's not like he could have thought the speed limit was 30, because it is signposted at 40 with those flashy led warning signs almost everywhere down the road and he was going that speed for a while.

This is not the first time this has happened but it annoys the hell out of me. Basically someone is going slow, you overtake them, they then decide to not go slow anymore and keep up with you. WHY!?

P.S. In case you are thinking that it was because it is at night and he thought i was the fuzz, it isnt because the road is lit the whole way.
 
You clearly insulted his manhood by wanting to go faster.

I get a similar thing over here, except on single carriageways that are NSL. People crawl along at 40, and whilst or after overtaking I've had people pull out in the road to stop my overtake, I've had people speed up as I've overtaken, I've had people flash at me, and people speed up and get up my arse several times where I've overtaken but haven't gunned it off. In fact, a few times I've had people overtake me later on in ridiculous places - like through a red light, or in a residential 30.

But on the dual carriage way thing, I had an incident with a woman a while ago where she was sat in the outside lane of a dual carriage way - I did something similar except I indicate to the right, which is far more polite and less aggressive IMO. She ignored it, so I undertook. At the end of the dual carriage way, I moved back in to the outside lane as someone was on the inside indicating left, she moved over to the inside lane and then proceeded to try and cut me up at the lane merge the other side of the roundabout.
 
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MikeHiow said:
You clearly insulted his manhood by wanting to go faster.

I get a similar thing over here, except on single carriageways that are NSL. People crawl along at 40, and whilst or after overtaking I've had people pull out in the road to stop my overtake, I've had people speed up as I've overtaken, I've had people flash at me, and people speed up and get up my arse several times where I've overtaken but haven't gunned it off. In fact, a few times I've had people overtake me later on in ridiculous places - like through a red light, or in a residential 30.

But on the dual carriage way thing, I had an incident with a woman a while ago where she was sat in the outside lane of a dual carriage way - I did something similar except I indicate to the right, which is far more polite and less aggressive IMO. She ignored it, so I undertook. At the end of the dual carriage way, I moved back in to the outside lane as someone was on the inside indicating left, she moved over to the inside lane and then proceeded to try and cut me up at the lane merge the other side of the roundabout.
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You are right, indicating probably would have been a better option but I still don't understand why they were so stubborn as to stay in the right land crawling along.

I just think that if you are going to do that, how can you get annoyed at people that want to go faster? Or suddenly change your mind and decide that you do want to go faster than a snails pace.

Another one that gets me is the very steep hill i drive up on my way home from work. It branches into two lanes up the hill and then merges into one at the top, obviously to help traffic flow better so faster vehicles can overtake anything going up it really slowly (Lorries,trucks e.t.c.). Every week there will be someone who will be literally going up it at walking pace but will stay in the right hand lane or even worse, straddle both lanes to stop anyone getting past them!
 
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Had this occur lots of times - my solution (not the best or correct) is to simply undertake if they are not going to move over. Don't tailgate or act aggressively, simply establish that they won't drop lanes and then you go and undertake.

Avoid eye contact or anything confrontational as there are some right fricking idiots out there behind wheels.
 
This happened to me the other day. A van driver sat in the right hand lane in a dual carriage way. Eventually I decided to undertake him (and the biker behind me also followed) and I deliberately cut right in front of him not leaving much space as I was in a foul mood and then floored it. The guy went mental and started horning/flashing.

These pricks should learn how to drive.
 
scott212 said:
This happened to me the other day. A van driver sat in the right hand lane in a dual carriage way. Eventually I decided to undertake him (and the biker behind me also followed) and I deliberately cut right in front of him not leaving much space as I was in a foul mood and then floored it. The guy went mental and started horning/flashing.

These pricks should learn how to drive.
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Quite.
 
Wait a few seconds (10-20 secs say) without flashing to see if they move over by their own accord. If not, undertaking is fair game.

It's important to hover behind for a bit in case there's any traffic cops about. If you just come bowling up behind and make a smooth undertake you'll be defenseless.

Flashing is just about the worst thing to do in that situation BTW :p
 
Had this on my daily commute once, black new shape Mondeo on the dual carrigeway doing 60 on the outside lane, I'm behind him, old ladies in Micras going past on my left.. I flash a few times but he doesn't seem to get it, even starts braking while going uphill. Huge queue behind me.

So I wait for a gap on the left, get past him and go back to the right lane rather sharply, and then he beeps at me! Get to a roundabout and he's still behind me, this black guy doing strange signs with his hands. God it was infuriating.
 
scott212 said:
These pricks should learn how to drive.
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This tbh, there are some TERRIBLE drivers out there.

Then again, I have been overtaking at well over the speed limit before and gotten flashed. Now THAT annoys me and you will feel my anger if that is the case.

Meh, driving does make me angry, lol :p
 
scott212 said:
This happened to me the other day. A van driver sat in the right hand lane in a dual carriage way. Eventually I decided to undertake him (and the biker behind me also followed) and I deliberately cut right in front of him not leaving much space as I was in a foul mood and then floored it. The guy went mental and started horning/flashing.

These pricks should learn how to drive.
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maybe he should learn from you? or maybe not.
 
Actually, it is much worse when someone does 30mph in a 60 zone (on a very clear, straight road). There is a stretch of road between Bath and Bristol where people do this all the time.
 
I've never seen the point in flashing at slow-moving cars ahead: the small number of times it encourages them to move over are vastly outnumbered by the times it encourages them to stay put, and even slow down. Stay behind, keep calm, pass when you can. Even if it's some idiot in an M3 convertible hogging the right-hand lane, speeding up and slowing down at random, and more interested in turning to talk to his passenger than watching what he was doing. Yep, I've been on the A14 again...


M
 
I agree with those that say it's best not to flash lights. It's not good practice and just symbolises aggression.
 
Last time I checked, I didn't live and drive every day in Turkey, so the habits of Turkish drivers are somewhat irrelevant really.
 
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