I just need someone to tell me to calm down and ignore it.

Great weekend away seeing friends, tootling up the M1 in outside lane when some a******e comes barreling up behind me, actually thought he wasn’t even going to stop, I can’t get into the inside lane(s) as the guy there has decided he now wants to speed up.

So now I got a guy literally 3 feet behind me and we’re doing just over the speed limit. Missus says he was actually flashing me but I couldn’t see as he was literally so close I couldn’t see his headlights. Anyone braking if front or a guy deciding he wanted into the outside lane and we’d all been wiped off the motorway.

Actually had a nightmare about it last night. Still feeling stressed about it today and I know I shouldn’t and everybody is still alive and no baby robins died but I thnk its shot my nerves. Even giving him the internation symbol for inconsiderate driving hasn’t meant closure.

Sorry, just needed to unload slightly.

Calm down, just ignore it…………………Let me know if that worked, never does for me

So that was you in the way was it??? 😉 Didn’t you know it’s Audi’s, BM’s and Focus ST’s in the outside lane only??

I had cause to run on the road yesterday. I’m never too happy running into oncoming traffic but there’s no option sometimes.

A woman aimed for me missing me by centimetres, she blasted her horn clearly very angry. There was no oncoming traffic for her just a total dick move. What if she had hit me?

I’d like to have remonstrated with her but in hindsight I was so angry probably best not.

People are dicks. Most are not, that’s about the best I’ve got.

Just remind yourself you can’t control other folks
Tw*ts will be tw*ts

Leave a bigger gap to the gar Infront.

The lowering of the speed means the consequences are lowered

Idiot asshat behind gets more irate but has no way to do anything about it.

Don’t stress about what you can’t change, but do think about what you can change, and do something positive (even if you think it’s pointless, do something).

Assuming you didn’t get the registration, make, colour, etc when the car eventually came past, think now about how you’ll react if it happens again. Talk to your missus about it; if she’s in the car, you’ll ask her to write that info down – just talking it through will stick in your mind and you’ll do it next time. Think about a dashcam – a front facing one would have captured the details and would be evidence for the police, a rear facing one, even better evidence.

He wasn’t flashing you with blue lights, was he?

Honestly in that situation I’d accelerate fairly swiftly to get past the car inside so I could move over and get out his way – yeah you might break the speed limit for 15 seconds but rather that than have a nutter driver a few feet from your bumper. 85mph for a few seconds on the M1 isn’t going kill any kittens.

There’s always going to be someone in more of a rush than you, let them get on with it.

Tootling up the outside lane doesn’t inspire correct motorway driving tbh.

If you were indeed tootling with nothing on the inside until somebody decided to undertake the tootling slow coach in the outside lane, then unfortunately you do need to read up on motorway driving.

Flip side is however, if by tootling you mean 70 and nicely overtaking slower cars, then fair enough.

Either way, Mr Flashy in a rush man needs to chill. No point you getting wound up tbh, happens every few seconds no doubt, somewhere on the motorway network.

Cock driver had clearly seen you but taken it upon themselves to act in an intimidating manner. In all likelihood far less dangerous than the actions of those on the motorway who weren’t paying attention. Still twatish behaviour but probably not massively dangerous other than the plausible scenario of the offended (you plus all the others on the receiving end) responding with a brake-check or similar idiotic actions.

Unfortunately part and parcel of everyday driving. Personally I just slow down and drop back so you have some additional braking distance from the car in front then indicate and pull back into the left lane.

Makes it clear what your trying to do, plus pissed off the tailgater more. Bonus points.

Let them f off in front at the first opportunity, safer in front where you can see them!

Although I had a truck leaning on me the other day, having already clocked it trying to bully it’s way through a couple of other cars behind me. Wife wanted me to let it in front but having already lit the brake lights without slowing, decided he was probably pretty stressed and didn’t fancy having him stop and block me in a risky position on a busy A road. Strangely there was another truck ahead so it’s not as if he could have gone any faster without me sandwiched between them…

^^^^jeffl has it

I wouldn’t have thought the old bill would drive that close up your arse, so it’s 99.9% going to be a bell end behind you. Just lay off the go pedal then pull over and let them pass , or for more shits and giggles match the speed of the vehicle on the left for a few miles

With my medical background it sounds like you have other worries and stresses going on and this incident was the icing on the cake.

Either that or give up your license if you can’t handle the pace on the fast lane with the big boys…

Perhaps you shouldn’t have been on the outside lane…

*all said in jest.

Never a bad thing to try and learn from those scenarios. I concur that whilst it’s shit to be bullied out of the way, the safest thing is to let them bugger off and be dangerous further up the road. My choice is normally to speed up my overtake, but I think I prefer the jeffl method.

Just think how shit his life must be if he behaves like that.

Slow down and leave extra room is the official correct way and best if there’s not any room in front, but given the amount of idiots and road rage incidents on the road, if there’s room free in front can I’ll do what I can to NOT antagonise the driver behind by giving the vinegar hand symbol, or slowing down – get out the way as soon as you can.

Also, maybe check your mirrors a bit more often, it’s not too hard to see a car approaching at speed, it might be an unmarked police car with no blue and twos – and your pootling along at the indicated speed limit would actually be more like 65mph – which might make the 80mph indicated (75 actual) seem rather brisk if they’ve just ‘appeared’ in your mirrors.

You’ll be fine here…you’re amongst GODS.

It sounds like a once a day meeting with your quotient of pillocks for the day on our roads.

It does sound like you’re over thinking things too – only you know how to take your mind off things and move on.

The best way to avoid this is not to tootle in the outside lane.

That or deployable stingers from the rear bumper, like Season 2 Episode 5 of the A Team.

Had a very similar experience on a dual carriageway section of the A9 a few years back, except once we’d completed our overtake and pulled back in he decided that as he was in such a hurry he would try and side swipe us off the road then brake check us a couple of times rather than disappear up the now empty road at his previous 90mph plus. Called the police there and then, gave statements the following day. Following a couple of COVID related postponements he finally got his day in court, several hundred pounds of fines and some points on his licence, and probably a fairly hefty hike on his insurance renewal.
So if it helps, the pricks don’t always get away with it

I would suggest not driving on the continent. Much more likely to happen over there. Especially anywhere near Belgium IME.
(Other stereotypes are available, this is based purely on recent and older personal experience)

If you were indeed tootling with nothing on the inside until somebody decided to undertake

I knew someone would pipe up with this. It’s clear from the OP that he’s overtaking someone who then speeds up as they are alongside. Perfectly legit. Angry man behind however is NOT legit. You haven’t got any moral or legal right to speed, so you can’t get angry about people driving legally.

The best way to avoid this is not to tootle in the outside lane.

No, do the speed limit in whatever lane you need to use. Don’t let aggressive **** bully you out of the way. If you really need to speed, do it when the road is clear for ****’s sake.

I’m in the give it a quick bit of right foot and get out the way, camp. Refusing to budge is just going to enrage an already pumped up twerp to boiling point and make an uncomfortable situation worse.
It’s not a case of letting the bully win, it’s about making the correct decision for your own and your passengers safety.

It’s easier said than done, but just let it go, don’t contribute to angry driving.

Drive progresssivley and just… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0MK7qz13bU

I would suggest not driving on the continent. 

Very much this. Spent two months in Spain earlier this year and it’s completely standard driving. Just carry on with your overtaking ( if your not why be in the overtaking lane ? ) and move over at the first opportunity.

On holiday in Sicily a few years ago…about 10 minutes after I picked hire car up, I’m in the slow (lane 1) lane on a dual carriageway doing the speed limit, no one overtaking. Then some nutter tailgates me like never before. He eventually overtakes. Happens again and again…..

Anyhoo, it transpires I broke 2 rules:

I was doing the speed limit which is a no-no…
I didn’t pull over into the hard shoulder to let them by, as was the expectation…

I settled in after a couple of days, but boy, a very different style over there!

I’ve found driving in Spain (mainland) rather nice and pleasent…?

Faster drivers just get on with it, just don’t get involved?
The speed limits are super slow too, just chill,

“you wont’ get there any faster”.

Those saying that 70 indicated is more like 65 need to check their speedo. Modern cars are more accurate. My Passat is a 2018 model so definitely not brand new and the same model been built since 2015 or something. 70 on the cruise control is 69-70 on GPS.

Those saying that 70 indicated

need to take a drivin course, or hang thier keys yo.

Those saying that 70 indicated is more like 65 need to check their speedo.

No, it’s quite normal to under read 5% or so. The tyres on my van are 6.5% larger than standard and the Speedo is now bang on the GPS speed. All the vehicles I’ve had are like this, although I had Mondeo that over-read up to about 30mph, then started to under read as it got faster.

Have to say I don’t recall being in the outside lane of a motorway for a very long time and my stress levels on journeys are all the better for it, even if my journey times are a few minutes longer.

Sympathise with the OP though as it’s easy to replay situations like this in your mind and think about worse case what ifs.

I just let go of the accelerator pedal and slow down. If I’m in the right hand lane I’ll move over when I can.

They’re I d**k with a very small pen*s in a BMW, Audi, or Range Rover. They’re probably stressing somewhere about speeding fines now.

70mph isn’t tootling.
A few posters have suggested letting the d***head past, this is the best advice.
Once he’s in front, then you can control the gap to maintain a safe distance.
Don’t let it get to you, it’s not personal, drivers like that are d***heads all of the time.
Don’t slow down, or speed up massively, continue driving normally, that’s the safest thing to do.

Flip side is however, if by tootling you mean 70 and nicely overtaking slower cars, then fair enough.

Yeah, bad phrasing, I was probably doing about 75 indicated. Just one of those bad timings when a slight bend means the car on left is going slower but annoyingly just as fast as they’re on inside of a curve in the road.

Spent two months in Spain earlier this year and it’s completely standard driving.

No it’s not. This past month I’ve done Madrid-Granada, Madrid-Alicante, and Madrid-Plasencia, and I can count the number of **** that have come up fast behind and started tailgating on one hand.

Which will be seen as an aggressive move by the twerp behind and make an unfavourable situation worse. Just give it a quick blip on the throttle get out their “way” and let them carry on being an aggressive arse, while you carry on being less stressed (a little sanctimonious) and not at risk of a crash!

No, it’s quite normal to under read 5% or so.

I’m not saying all cars. My car is by no means out of the ordinary. MrsG82’s Seat (also 2018) reads very similar to mine. Just trying to raise awareness not to rely on under reading and to know the offset of the vehicle you are driving.

Those saying that 70 indicated is more like 65 need to check their speedo.

I can speak with some authority on this, as I spent two years and somewhere north of 100,000 miles driving several hundred wildly different vehicles, using a TomTom satnav app on my phone, and it was remarkably consistent that driving at an indicated 82mph equalled 75mph on the satnav.
And to get in before the pearl-clutching comments, I was doing those sort of speeds behind police cars that were actually pulling away from me, on a few occasions. The police don’t give a shit, it helps spread traffic out and prevent bunching.

My EcoSport is actually fairly close to the satnav, maybe a couple of MPH  in it, which might be down to the CrossClimate2’s fitted, because I’m certain that there was a wider difference with the standard Goodyear tyres, but I rarely do motorway driving with a satnav to be entirely certain.