Send it to the police and move on. I was happily 10mph over the speed limit today overtaking on the Runcorn Bridge when a BMW got right up behind me flashing his headlights. Tapped the brakes and ingnored them. They cut a few car up then joined the queue like the rest of us. You can’t educate sacks of offal so why bother trying. I do notice that in a works transit people give you more room as I’d have happily rammed them if it came to it. When I drive the Mrs’s car, a Fiesta, I get a lot more tail gating for daring to stick to 30mph in the city. It’s modern life sadly. Hurray for moving out the city in a few weeks say I.

a BMW got right up behind me flashing his headlights

theres an idiot on the road putting other road users in danger

Tapped the brakes

now theres two idiots in the road.

How has this improved the situation?

now theres two idiots in the road.

There’re lots more than two……

My wife phoned me the other day as I was driving on the motorway to warn me that she had heard on the radio that there was some idiot driving the wrong way down the carriageway.

“It’s not just one” I said… “There are thousands of them”

To make it obvious I was slowing as had overtaken and was going to manoeuvre.

Really?

After an overtake you can simply pull back in.

Unless your overtake was absurdly lairy and you’re diving for a gap.

Yup, yup, everyone is taught; mirror, brake check the car behind you, signal, manouver.

Or was it observation signal manouver position speed look, i cant remember.

Yep, definitley the second one.

Some people seem to see ‘P’ and ‘L’ plates as some sort of additional provocation to their fragile ego

It shocked me on the weekend when I took my son for a drive with the L plates on. Van driver right up his arse on a back road – my lad is confident enough not to be crawling along, so no reason for it. I gesture through the back window (not rude, just ‘drop back’), th eprick doesn’t slow, so I say, let’s pull over and let him pass. Indicate, slow, pull over by a gate. Vantwat is STILL BEHIND US! I turn and wave him past, he does the “what the ****” gesture! So we sit there, until eventually this utter utter moron goes round us and drives off. Incredible.

Anyway, anticipating the youtube link to wrightyson’s event footage…

TJ & duncancallum ^^^ have it.

Were Ant and Dec there?

EDIT: DOH! I should have read all the other replies before rushing to post my take on the post 🙁

There was an interesting piece on the BBC last night about people in the NW who get friends or relatives to sit their theory and practical driving tests for them. Judging by the sheer incompetence of some drivers I suspect it’s much more commmon than anybody thinks. I also think there are some drivers who treat the highway as a giant real-life game of Grand Theft Auto.

Will the police do anything?

Thing is, someone like that will almost certainly have previous. In isolation they might not be arsed, but if your report is one of several they might well be more inclined to pursue it.

Haha your are Lewis Hamilton and I must carry on with work. I’m just amazed I’m not dead. Mind you there was a huge pile up behind me today for some reason. Oh well…

If footage as described fell into the hands of my friends along the corridor in the RPU office they’d be on it like a tramp on chips. If it fell into the hands of one of the run-off-their-feet guys downstairs, they would be less delighted but would be pleased give it to a traffic cop. The moral of the story is, get it to a traffic cop, they love doing dangerous drivers for genuine dangerous driving. It’s their bag (,baby).

Haha your are Lewis Hamilton and I must carry on with work

No, that’s you! 🙂

and gave the dude the finger

I think you need to learn not to do this first. I know it’s tempting, and the guy probably deserves worse, but sometimes you just gotta let them go. Also, people like him are often looking for a reaction; it’s almost like they want you to give them the merchant-banker signal etc. and it pisses them off just a little bit more when you just completely ignore them.

Anyone who deliberately obstructs another driver, for what ever reason is an idiot. And if you do this, then you are just making the situation worse. At some point, things come to a head, and it ends up with people being hurt, often, completely innocent people who were not involved in the situation. So, grow up, and just get out of the way in the most sensible way. Yes they other driver might be “mad” or “be a lunatic” yes, they might be breaking the speed limit, yes they might be “Pushing in” but in all those cases, take the moral high ground and let them get on with what they are doing, well away from you!

It’s really simple, just drive in a way that brings you into the least conflict with other drivers.

Overtaking a truck and a car comes flying up behind you? Just accelerate for a couple of seconds, move left, and let them on their way. Problem gone, no conflict

In a queue of traffic, someone comes flying up the outside and tries to push in? Back off for 2 secs and let them in. Problem gone, no conflict

Everyone makes mistakes, every one is someday in a hurry, or driving inappropriately or inconsiderately. If you don’t like that, join the police and become a traffic cop, otherwise, just let them get on with it!

when a BMW got right up behind me flashing his headlights

I had this in the summer. So close behind I couldn’t see his headlights at 70mph. When I let him past and gave him a rude signal I was pulled over as they were unmarkerd rozzers.

They told me they were writing me up for ‘disorderly conduct’ for the rude signal.

I took a picture of both the driver and his mate and said I would have to make a formal complaint for dangerous driving.

They backtracked somewhat.

Police won’t do anything, dashcam or not. They don’t care.

^^ I’d have asked why were they in such a hurry as to require that sort of driving yet still had the time to pull you over?

(I probably wouldn’t, but hey, it’s the Internet.)

Cougar

Subscriber

^^ I’d have asked why were they in such a hurry as to require that sort of driving yet still had the time to pull you over?

Also known as failing the attitude test.

Hang on hang on… there was a bloke? A bloke… driving a Mini..? A BMW Mini? That’s a bit far fetched isn’t it?!

Overtaking a truck and a car comes flying up behind you? Just accelerate for a couple of seconds, move left, and let them on their way. Problem gone, no conflict

Er , No.

HTHs.

I’d have asked why were they in such a hurry as to require that sort of driving yet still had the time to pull you over?

I did say that if they wanted to hoon around at 90mph and intimidate people out of their way, they could always put their blue lights on.

Otherwise you are an onanist, hence the gesture.

Er , No.

HTHs.

Er, yes. Either that or slow down behind the truck and let the Mini past first. If you do get stuck mid overtake because your car lacks power or has a black box give them a little wave of apology as you pull back in.

Even a relatively hot mini is not getting from 70 to 90 (for example) in between your mirror check and manoeuvre, it should be obvious it is coming up on you.

Yes, your underpowered heap of shit was stopping him from making progress, OP.

🙂

Furthermore, it is clear from his measured and considerate response after the event that he was a reasonable chap just trying to get home in time for tea.

I’m blind TJ…..

Contacted the haulier yet?

So to clarify what I said above, from the intial desrciption:

Dick move 1: OP pulls out in front of the Mini
Dick move 2: Minnie Driver tailgates and flashes at OP
Dick move 3: OP gives Minnie the finger
Dick move 4: MD tries to get OP into a 70mph crash

All in violation of rule 1 of life, all in violation of some part of the highway code. Only #4 is potentially fatal, and (I’d hope) something the police will care about – with both the OP and Lorry dashcam as evidence.

All set off by dick move 1 – something we’ve probably all done before (I know I have) and had it done to us.

I’m blind TJ…..

🤣 Well played.

Er, yes. Either that or slow down behind the truck and let the Mini past first. If you do get stuck mid overtake because your car lacks power or has a black box give them a little wave of apology as you pull back in.

Erm… No, HTHs.

Right, I’ve found the clip and saved it, it’s a bit shit at the moment as I’ve watched it only on the dashcam screen, my computer doesn’t seem to want to acknowledge the memory card. Cant see the reg in the mini. Looks like it’s a parcelforce lorry so I’m sure they will have cameras. However it doesn’t look as scary as I remember, need some big screen action, I’m sure we were about to enter his boot, however flashy brake lights were fully present.

Yeah, the footage always looks miles away because of the wide angle lenses, but if it shows him pull in front of you and smash his brakes on that shouldn’t matter. However, if you can’t see the registration, then there’s not a lot for the police to go on. Hopefully it’ll be visible on your computer.

wait till you upload it.
Even my ultra shit chinese dash cam looked like a pinhole camera on replay via the screen
17″ laptop in full svga graphics mode turned into something like a scene from Ronin
( in my imagination thats my commute the reality= Driving Miss Daisy )

However it doesn’t look as scary as I remember

Doesn’t matter, nobody should use their vehicle as a weapon…

No-one.

I for one am glad you are all safe and it hasn’t put any one of your passenger off from travelling by car.

Not everyone is an arsehole.

I for one am glad you are all safe and it hasn’t put any one of your passenger off from travelling by car.

Cheers for that. 👍

Main thing for me was how good 145k miles 10 year old audi brakes were even though we were 5 up in the car.

Just checked the coop black box dashboard, it really **** up my braking and accelerating score 😂

something like a scene from Ronin

I do think there are some driver’s who use this as theory and practical test reference material.

I’m with maxtorque on this, life is too short to get involved with dickheads.
Let them past, move over, slow down/speed up as necessary to get them to **** away from you.

I’m with maxtorque on this, life is too short to get involved with dickheads.

I agree wholeheartedly with this.

slow down/speed up as necessary

But not this.

Just for clarity, i meant speeding up to pass a truck so i could get back over to the left as quickly as I safely could.
If i was already doing 70 there would be no need to do this.
I wouldn’t crawl past a truck at 58mph.

Just for clarity, i meant speeding up to pass a truck so i could get back over to the left as quickly as I safely could.
If i was already doing 70 there would be no need to do this.
I wouldn’t crawl past a truck at 58mph.

Now you have clarified, I agree. I’d never be “pushed” above the speed limit, though, without a very good reason.

But slowing slightly makes sense in order to increase the gap ahead.

if someone tailgates me ( and asssuming nothing else in the traffic would make the maneuver more dangerous) I simply slow down until they get the message. so obviously not doing this while overtaking but otherwise? Just take your foot off the throttle

ust for clarity, i meant speeding up to pass a truck so i could get back over to the left as quickly as I safely could.
If i was already doing 70 there would be no need to do this.
I wouldn’t crawl past a truck at 58mph.

Now you have clarified, I agree. I’d never be “pushed” above the speed limit, though, without a very good reason.

Now that I agree with. Now we have some clarity.

From what was posted, it read like anyone overtaking should just not bother or suffer the consequences of having some lunatic up your bumper trying to suck the exhaust fumes as some sort of weird perversion.

IMO, and this is always subjective right, is drive defensively to limit the exposure to other moving traffic on the road. Always leave enough space around you to manoeuvre safely and with control and should the opportunity present itself to overtake then do so but pull back in in a safe controlled manner. If you are being bullied by some lunatic to pull back in, or being tailgated, continue at your speed and keep space between you and the vehicle you are overtaking. If the lunatic behind you gets all uppity, take the reg number and report it to the police.

For some reason people think the police don’t do anything about driving incidents, IME thats not true. Should they have reason to investigate the incident then they will act, if they’ve had multiple reports of the same driver then action is taken.

You have as much right to drive on the roads as anyone else, if you act like a bully or use your vehicle as a weapon then you will suffer the consequences.

IME, considering I must do about 14k a year, the standard of driving on the roads is better than it was back in the early 2000’s.. I suspect the reasons are more cameras, dash cameras, people reporting incidents and more education focused on the Young learning to drive.. and by and large that filters through the system..

Dicks will always be dicks though, so always be aware of your surroundings whilst driving.

I simply slow down until they get the message

If they don’t already know, they won’t understand. But I do sometimes slow down gently if tailgated, simply because my ability to stop in a hurry is compromised by them being less than an a thinking time gap behind me. But they won’t realise that.