[Closed] The simple pleasure of annoying **** heads!

You are teh awesomzs.

Well to be fair you were obeying the rules he wasn't, what else could you have done, you didn't succumb to emergency braking (I might have done), short of stopping to let him pass (and why should you) you couldn't do anything. Ok accelerating on the dual carriageway was provocative but (I assume) not unsafe.

The end of the A56 at Rawtenstall is my section for annoying people. It's downhill dual carriage and the speed limit drops to 50 (used to be 70). Most people filter off to left hand slip to stay on the 56 (nuts road layout), I stay in the outside lane to avoid the crush turning off, as the speed limit approaches I ease off and brake a little. This really upsets the nut jobs who've decided to race down and try and cut in to the left at the last minute. Really annoys them, but it's poor road layout, there's been more accidents since the speed limit was reduced. What are you supposed to do though, most people happily fly through the 50 signs at 70 and don't slow until they hit the new roundabout (built to access a new retail park that never opened, in the midle of what was previously a 70 mph dual carriageway, one fatality and numerous accidents there now).

His stress related heart attack will have been brought a little closer.

I laughed.

We are not all like that artist. I applaud your speed limit skills but abhor your stereotyping of van drivers 😉

In those cases I like to slow down gradually. 29...28...27...26...25...
Brilliant when they are too close to be able to pull out and overtake you anyway and they need to slow down too.

...that's when you accelerate back to 30

wrightyson - I drive a white 4x4 pick-up. Who am I to stereotype? 😉

It's one of my simple pleasures too. We may need a support group.

I assume you're one of my favourite people who do 38 in a 40 zone and slow down to 20 for a speed camera.

I find that when someone is needlessly tailgating me drifting slightly towards the edge of the carriageway throws up such a satisfying cloud of grit / pebbles / bits of old tyre that the offending person very rapidly pulls back. Obviously, this only happens if I need to avoid a last minute obstacle in my own lane and if someone happens to be so close behind that they're caught in the crossfire, it's a tragedy...

This is what cruise control is for, setting it at 29mph (hey 30 is the LIMIT) and relaxing 🙂

[makes mental note of miss daisy type in derbyshire area driving white 4x4 pickup]

i must admit, i dont generally speed.
but if someone is 6" away from the back of the car i will be 1mph under the limit.
not all WVM do it.

i borrowed a vito at the weekend that has an adjustable speed limiter. it is actually quite a useful device - you can set it in 5mph steps. you just stick it to the speed limit and then concentrate on where you are going instead of worrying about if you are speeding or not. as a balance to the op, i took great pleasure in holding up car drivers who seemed to be in a hurry...

TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR - Member
I drive a white 4x4 pick-up.

I find that pick-up drivers are one the worst offenders for the whole tailgating/impatient/swerving across the centre line to give a peek of headlight thing.... 😉 Normally silver or black ones though, with one of those hard-top back things and some property management branding down the side (and a badge that says Warrior or Titan for added GGRRRRRR).
Not sure if it's the commanding driving position or whether it's 'cos they mainly seem to be tax-dodging would-be Audi drivers....?

Good effort though, I'd have done the same.

[i]2.5litres of turbocharged diesel engine roared into life[/i]

#strangest

there's a lot to be said for small victories like this. well done.

Knobs deliberately annoying knobs. 🙄

Cause and effect.

The sensible thing would be to just get out of the way - you'll probably learn that when you grow up. Not that I'm condoning the van driver's behaviour - just that life is far to short for that short of thing.

Watch out kids, Dad has just arrived.

It's like driving my vw California. It's quite quick but most car drivers seem to need to try and pass it no matter what. Coming back from biking last weekend I had a guy try and overtake me even though I was 20k over the speed limit. What he couldn't see but I could was the cop car in the distance.

I apply the trick (said above) of slowing down, gradually decreasing 30..28..25...20.......... until almost a crawl, by which time they really do get the point you are trying to make. This action, for me, has never produced anything more than a blast of the horn from the driver behind.

The sensible thing is to proceed at the correct speed, not be bullied off the carriageway or into breaking the speed limit just to please some tit in a van/Audi/pickup?

Enjoy winding up d-heads, you want to teach.

[i]The sensible thing would be to just get out of the way[/i]

You know this was possible?

The sensible thing is to proceed at the correct speed, not be bullied off the carriageway or into breaking the speed limit just to please some tit in a van/Audi/pickup?

It's more sensible to avoid risking an accident or road-rage incident. It's easy enough to let someone by in these circumstances, without needing to speed if that's a problem for you.

You know this was possible?

What - no possible passing place in 10 to 15 minutes of driving at 5am?

I find frequent washer wipe use which wets their windscreen too quite amusing

I apply the trick (said above) of slowing down, gradually decreasing 30..28..25...20..........

Amateur. I'd have waited until he was along side me before clearing off into the distance.

Let them get a taste of victory before you pull the rug 😀

For all you know it was Keanu Reeves with a bomb connected to a speed sensor. I'm sure people thought very similarly about his driving without understanding what was going on before they saw the documentary afterwards. 😉

I had to pause coming round the Elephant and Castle this morning as the cyclist just to my right failed to clip in and wobbled. Anyway, this gave all the traffic coming from the right time to catch up with the peloton as we crossed over two lanes to get to the approach to the underground station, including one car which came up behind me and leaned on the horn.

So I did what I usually do - slowed right down to a leasurely pace and, when he went angrily past on my left, smiled and presented him with the digit...

You do know it's 33 in a 30 zone and 44 in a 40 don't you? And that most speedometers are set 2mph slower, so you probably could have been doing 35 and 46 respectively?

Just saying.

^^^
Fail.

LOL, good on you. I do this all the time.

It's more sensible to avoid risking an accident or road-rage incident. It's easy enough to let someone by in these circumstances, without needing to speed if that's a problem for you.

B******S. Why should anyone yield to someone breaking the law?

It could be 25 in a 30, TBH, if the OP is that way inclined. Doesn't have to be 30, 33, 35 or whatever else people think might be unenforceable by the cameras.

Watch out kids, Dad has just arrived.

To be honest there is some truth in that! My kids are 22 and 18 and I've tried to teach them that, even if you're in the right as far as traffic law is concerned, it's better to drive defensively and avoid accidents as far as you can. There are lots of times when driving according to the traffic laws isn't the same thing as driving safely!

B******S. Why should anyone yield to someone breaking the law?

I just don't think taking the moral high ground is enough to risk an un-neccessary accident.

At least the original poster acknowledges he was being a tit.

B******S. Why should anyone yield to someone breaking the law?

so are you one of the self-appointed vigilantes who drives in the overtaking lane parallel with the car inside at exactly 1 mph under the limit and refuses to either speed up and complete the overtake or get the **** out of the way?
[/audi mode]

You do know it's 33 in a 30 zone and 44 in a 40 don't you? And that most speedometers are set 2mph slower, so you probably could have been doing 35 and 46 respectively?

If someone was tailgating me I'd probably slow down and when they could overtake i'd give them a cheery wave, not sure I'd pull over but I wouldn't try to prevent them passing me. A woman once very nearly left hooked me turning into her drive, her excuse was WVM tailgating her, WVM was endangering her so she endangered me, nice!

About the closest to the OP I get is doing 50 passed someone doing 49 with a queue of potential speeders behind me on the local 50mph DC. Legitimate, safe overtake inside the speedlimit so don't flash/beep at me. Obviously I pull back into left lane after overtake.

His attitude to helping you on your way will depend if your Audi is 1cm off his bumper, I guess.

I was once tailgated by a Boots lorry on the M62 near Leeds in the roadworks, I sat at 50 all the way through it and he got that close I could only see part of the grille in the rear view mirror.

In any car that would be fairly worrying but when you are in a Samrt for 2 with your daughter in the passenger side it's terrifying.

He was flashing and honking all the time to make me go faster and break the speed limit.

Little did the **** know that all of his antics were being captured on HD camera mounted to the front and rear screens which were promptly forwarded to his employers after advising them of his appalling driving standards.

Revenge is sweet. 😀

What a poor thread

So many road users rejoicing in them driving without consideration for others and admitting to driving purely to annoy other road users.

Well if that wont make the roads a better place for us all then really what will?

I celebrate you driving like a **** as it will make everythign better...if only more of us would drive like ****s then it would be perfect out there

Remember [s]be safe [/s] annoy as many folk as you can today and rejoice in your self righteousness.

He was tooting and flashing to let you know how stupid you were for buying a Smart car and taking it on the motorway. Given you were doing 50 he was probably aware it couldn't go faster!

Remember [s]be safe [/s]annoy as many folk as you can today and rejoice in your self righteousness.

[img] [/img]

From the highway code: "You should not allow yourself to become agitated or involved if someone is behaving badly on the road. This will only make the situation worse."

Remember be safe annoy as many folk as you can today and rejoice in your self righteousness.

😆

Irons n stuff

But who is doing the annoying? The guy driving along on the speed limit or the one on his back bumper?

He was tooting and flashing to let you know how stupid you were for buying a Smart car and taking it on the motorway. Given you were doing 50 he was probably aware it couldn't go faster!

I resent that accusation. I was driving the wifes daily driver and it's a great little car. It WILL do more than 50 mph all day long if I wanted to be an idiot and break speed limits all the time. Granted the car is no full out performance item but it does its job day in and day out with hardly any running costs to mention.

I ask you this..... Have you ever driven a smart? If not i suggest you try one and see for yourself.

Next you'll be having a go at me for mentioning one of the other cars i own... a 1965 Mini Cooper S..... cause it's too dinky and only got two doorsand a sub 1L engine.

I ask you this..... Have you ever driven a smart? If not i suggest you try one and see for yourself.

I have driven one - it was awful. The Mini on the other hand - had a 1L one of those myself and it was fun to drive, despite being slow.

[i]"You should not allow yourself to become agitated or involved if someone is behaving badly on the road. This will only make the situation worse."[/i]

Sounds like the OP was driving perfectly to the guidance then.

[i]So many road users rejoicing in them driving without consideration for others and admitting to driving purely to annoy other road users.[/i]

See this is where you are WRONG. It's[b] them[/b] who are driving purely to annoy. Why should they get away with it?

a sub 1L engine.

Mini drivers are the worst for tailgating and generally being obstructive:

Fair point steve, granted the stock handling is cack but stick some proper wheels off the Brabus edition on it and decent rubber and it'll stick to the corners like an angry cat on a shagpile carpet.

The Mini still turns heads and always will as it's an iconic car that most of us grew up with (well those over a certain age anyways).

Sorry for the rant but that day was very scary for my daughter and she was in floods of tears as her daddy nearly died in a car accident the year before by some prat tailgating me like that. I was forced off a motorway at speed by a BMW, down an embankment and ended up rolling the car several times before coming to rest on the side (roof) against a very large tree.

Why should they get away with it?

BTW what's the official directive if someone is tailgating and flashing/beeping you and there's nowhere to pull over? eg left hand lane of motorway?

brake checking obviously is daft, tapping brakes just so they light up maybe but probably seen as aggressive/escalation? Slowing down is possibly the only safe option (TBF none of them are safe but someone else has already put you in a risky situation)

Sorry for the rant but that day was very scary for my daughter and she was in floods of tears as her daddy nearly died in a car accident the year before by some prat tailgating me like that. I was forced off a motorway at speed by a BMW, down an embankment and ended up rolling the car several times before coming to rest on the side (roof) against a very large tree.

It's actually things like that which put me off really small cars like a Smart - if I'm in an accident like that I'd rather have a bit more metal around me!

I know a few people with Smart cars and they never seem to have a sense of humour about the things, so I always like to have a little dig!

That particular day though I was driving a Honda FRV with plenty of metal, in the Smart i would have probably missed everything down the hill and floated down the stream at the bottom LOL.

Drop me your address and I'll send you a bigger spade.

so are you one of the self-appointed vigilantes who drives in the overtaking lane parallel with the car inside at exactly 1 mph under the limit and refuses to either speed up and complete the overtake or get the **** out of the way?

See what you have done there is taken 1+1 and come up with 7.2.

If everyone pulled over to di**heads who were driving above the speedlimit and driving dangerously then do you think they would

a) Stop doing it
b) Do it more

If you are pulling over to the side of the road or indeed speeding up above the speed limit then this is in fact MORE dangerous and you should really reflect on your driving style.

Sounds like the OP was driving perfectly to the guidance then.

See this is where you are WRONG. It's them who are driving purely to annoy. Why should they get away with it?

Personally if a 7.5 t truck drove inches off my rear I would let it pas/pull over/not get stressed [ not be tempted to press my brake like the OP].
I dont think responding to poor driving with poor driving helps

I realise debating with drivers is pointless

you are all the awezomes* 😛

* This is the problem yes the other person is wrong but I fail to see how you driving poorly helps the situation for what is a multi user shared space. You dont make the roads better by also driving like a ****

When cars get close to me me and my mates like to string our cycles out across the whole road lane and stop them overtaking us...the way they get furious and beep their horns as they cannot overtake is hilarious to watch

See i could do this, and brag about it on the internet, but it wont make the roads a better place

It's actually things like that which put me off really small cars like a Smart - if I'm in an accident like that I'd rather have a bit more metal around me!

I seem to remember Smart cars are surprisingly tough. But lacking in crumple zones.

Just look what you did here artist!
All we need now is a reverse flounce from smurf matt and all would be good!

😀

but I don't think driving at the limit with someone tailgating you is a very good idea.

Did you really mean to say this?

I seem to remember Smart cars are surprisingly tough. But lacking in crumple zones.

Having studied physics I'm pretty convinced that a decent big car is safer than a decent small car. It doesn't come out as much in the NCAP tests, given they're against a fixed barrier.

If you're in primary (because you need to be), and a driver sits an inch off your rear wheel, do you

a) maintain primary 'cos it is the safest position?
b) get into the gutter pronto?

Getting hassled because you're driving/riding sensibly and then choosing to carry on driving/riding sensibly isn't poor practice, really.

Booting it at the end is pretty irrelevant, TBH, he observed speed limits all the way, and simply removed himself from the situation. All he did was deny van man a chance to pull alongside and wave his little fist, hence the impotent flashing.

It'd have been safer to avoid 15 minutes of tailgating, even if it meant sucking in your pride and letting the idiot in the van past.

All that leads to is van men with even more engorged egos lording it over emasculated types like you and I. We can't live in a world like that. 🙂

martinhutch - +1

It's actually things like that which put me off really small cars like a Smart - if I'm in an accident like that I'd rather have a bit more metal around me!

All that leads to is van men with even more engorged egos lording it over emasculated types like you and I.

Doubt it'd have been a problem for me for two reasons:
1) I'd still be in my bed at 5am
2) I doubt I'd have been sticking strictly to the speed limit at 5am on the A6
3) Even if I did let him past in the 30/40 limit I'd have certainly passed him again on the dual carriageway!

Wrong or right, I wouldn't move off the road, or pull over if someone did this to me. Perhaps if someone is driving that close to you, the safest option is to do nothing unexpected and continue at a steady (legal) speed. Trying to pull over/brake/get off the road is more likely to cause an accident in my opinion.

Smart cars are one big steel roll cage, everything is contained inside it.

So crumple zones are a bad thing then?

Sorry for the rant but that day was very scary for my daughter and she was in floods of tears as her daddy nearly died in a car accident the year before by some prat tailgating me like that. I was forced off a motorway at speed by a BMW, down an embankment and ended up rolling the car several times before coming to rest on the side (roof) against a very large tree

I'm interested to know what the BMW driver did that made you leave the motorway (other than tailgate).

PS. Glad you didn't die.

If it was the M62, probably this:

[img] [/img]

Too much there for me to bother reading.

[i]They shouldn't but we aren't the police.[/i]
Not talking about arresting them - just letting them know they've been annoying.

Getting hassled because you're driving/riding sensibly and then choosing to carry on driving/riding sensibly isn't poor practice, really

PS He was enjoying it so much he shared it with the world and called the the thread the pleasure of annoying etc. Not what i would call good practice tbh

I'm interested to know what the BMW driver did that made you leave the motorway (other than tailgate).

PS. Glad you didn't die.

He ended up trying to pass while he was too close and tapping the rear corner of the car very hard which forced me in to a spin. The road was very wet with lots of standing water which didn't help matters.

Thank god i'm still here though.

To be lying in a hospital bed with your 5 year old in floods of tears is not a nice place to be at.

I guess that's where the problems come from on the roads: We're all different.

He probably posted it because it's Friday and, as you know, a good Friday driving argument thread enlivens the entire internet, even entertaining non-drivers like yourself.

from advanced-driving.co.uk

The easiest thing to do is remove ourselves from the problem. Aim to change lanes on the motorway or dual carriageway, but only when it is safe to do so. Clearly indicate your intention to pull over. That way you can let the tailgater get past you, even if he or she is driving too fast for the conditions and/or breaking the speed limit.

Don’t be tempted to impose the speed limit on somebody who is clearly hell bent on breaking it. And if you choose not to let the tailgater past, there is a danger that he will try to “undertake” you, posing an additional risk for other road users.

We are often asked what can you do if you’re being tailgated in a 30mph zone on a single carriageway?

Pulling over here may not be practical either. But do not be intimidated into speeding up just because somebody is right on your back bumper. Instead, create an additional stopping distance between you and the vehicle in front so that you when you do brake, you can do so smoothly. Think of yourself as adding a little “buffer” zone for the tailgater, whether he appreciates it or not. When the time comes to brake, you can do so gently, giving a clear signal of your intention via your stop lights. The more time your stop lights are on, the more time the tailgater has to register that and pull back.