I had the misfortune of having to do a long journey last week, almost all on motorways (funeral, before anyone has a go).

I tend to stick cruise control on when on the motorway, so I was really comfortable I was doing a steady speed at the motorway limit or thereabouts.

However, the number of times I had people overtake me, only to pull in and then slow down to below 70 was staggering.

I get overtaking slower vehicles – no problem. If you want to go faster, fine – that’s what the overtaking lanes are for. But why, having just overtaken, do you then slow down to a speed slower than that of the vehicle you’ve just gone past? It happened so many times I lost count, including on a couple of occasions actual brake lights being applied despite there being nothing in front of them.

In addition, the ‘drive 0.25mph faster than the car in front so I’m almost constantly hovering in their blind spot and not really overtaking’ crew out in full force as well.

I don’t get it.

Must get in front mentality

it’s not easy to drive at a constant speed. cruise control highlights this.

Must get in front mentality

Combined with no cruise control.

In addition, the ‘drive 0.25mph faster than the car in front so I’m almost constantly hovering in their blind spot and not really overtaking’ crew out in full force as well.

They have cruise control, and are thinking you are the frustration…

*must not say it… resist, resist…*

They probably had the draft power up, which then ran out once they were in front. They can’t keep up teh wattage, so fall back into the pack.

DrP

(has zwift gotten to me..possibly..)

Because people are halfwits unfortunately. As a driver of lorries its infuriating when drivers just have to be in front just because, then decide the speed limit for even large vehicles is too much for them.
If you can’t at least sit near the speed limit, get off the road

Irritating isn’t it. Same as the mid-lane cruisers on near empty motorways.

I also get annoyed with those who drive through the countryside on 60mph limit roads at about 45mph and then carry on through the little villages at 45mph or worse still, as you go to over take on the faster roads suddenly speed up making the overtake unsafe and then when you pull in behind then they drop back to 45mph.

People who can park on the side of the road right on a corner or even at a junction because they have their hazards on and are only going to be a minute as they are just dropping stuff off for a friend. Park 20 yards down the road where it is safe and then walk.

Yeah it’s annoying, another cruise control bugbear is also when approaching then overtaking a slow car, probably 1/4 will speed up when you’re alongside and either match your speed, or shoot off into the distance at warp speed.

the wife will be all over the place speed wise on the motorway/duals (drives me potty).

I also get annoyed with those who drive through the countryside on 60mph limit roads at about 45mph and then carry on through the little villages at 45mph or worse still, as you go to over take on the faster roads suddenly speed up making the overtake unsafe and then when you pull in behind then they drop back to 45mph.

This. All over the Highlands.

Made worse if they are in a rental campervan which slows at every nice new view and a GoPro gets stuck out the window…

They have cruise control, and are thinking you are the frustration…

How so? If overtaking I just go past – if that means temporarily going more than 70 to clear the slower can then I do, dropping back to previous speed (but not slower than them!!) once the manoeuvre is complete.

I used to find mid sixties a good speed, most car drivers are going at least a bit quicker so all you have to worry about is overtaking lorries and the occassional slow car. Anywhere around 70 was just too frustrating for the above reasons.

That said, I had a Golf with adaptive cruise for a bit, and that was a godsend. 🙂

probably 1/4 will speed up when you’re alongside and either match your speed, or shoot off into the distance at warp speed

Yes, this also featured. One in particular was an old dear who, each time we caught up and moved to overtake, would lump her foot down, shoot off, and then slow right down again. Happened about 5 – 6 times with no other obvious factor (such as cars in front etc) on one stretch of road.

DRS

If you’re been overtaken, you’re going too slow.

Worst I’ve had was towing a caravan along a winding country behind an old guy doing 35mph and a massive queue built up behind me – I can well imagine they were thinking it was the caravan holding them up. Came to a short section of dual carriageway at a couple of junctions so I accelerated to 60 and overtook him. He then sped up, overtook me, cut me up just as the dual carriageway ended and slowed back to 35mph! Felt like I wanted to rip his throat out!! It was years ago but still makes me seethe

j4mie
DRS

That explains it! Thanks!

The two groups that I try to avoid 1. The “40 everywhere” crowd. Ignore the actual speed limits on A roads, just go 40 at everything 2. Middle lane on an otherwise empty M-way, I play a game where I try to circle them as many times as I can, overtake in lane 3 pull all the way over to lane 1, invariably they’ll overtake (they’re always doing a little bit over 70) and start all over again. Record is 3 complete circles around one in a journey past the lakes in the M6

Combined with no cruise control.

I think some of them do have cruise control but don’t actually understand how it works!

it’s not easy to drive at a constant speed. cruise control highlights this.

^^Yup, you are on cruise and they don’t realise how much their speed is changing.

The worst have to be the cruisers that refuse to change speed and take 10 minutes to overtake another vehicle (probably also on cruise control) that is 2 mph slower than them.

As a driver of lorries its infuriating when drivers just have to be in front just because

I can see that this would be annoying for you, but it’s sometimes not nice sitting behind a huge lorry for a long time – sometimes you can’t see anything but the lorry. Doesn’t excuse slowing down once they’ve overtaken of course.

If you’re been overtaken, you’re going too slow.

Makes as much sense to say “If you’re overtaking you’re going too fast”.

Most memorable was on the M1 going south. Very late at night, not much on the road at all. Cruise control on, I hadn’t needed to touch it for miles, was doing a fraction under 70.

Overtook a car doing 55-ish. No worries.
Then he came past me at 80.
Then I overtook him as he was doing about 50.
This went on for miles – I never touched the cruise control or gas pedal throughout any of it but his speed was between 45 – 85 in random steps.

The “40 everywhere” crowd. Ignore the actual speed limits on A roads, just go 40 at everything

The other end of the spectrum from that, the people who do between 2 – 5mph lower than the speed limit everywhere. 35 in a 40 zone. Reaching the 30 zone at the end, they stand the car on it’s nose then rev back up to 28. Coming to the 50 zone at the end of that, he car squats down dramatically as it races off then there’s a short period of BRAKE! / GAS! / BRAKE! to get it to 46. Next 30 zone, it’s once again emergency stop territory to bring it back below 30. These people fondly imagine that they’re very safe, law-abiding drivers. But if you’re cycling in a 30 zone at (say) 26mph (slight downhill for example), they will attempt to pass you at 28mph.
Must Get In Front meets Must Not Exceed Speed Limit.

I don’t see anything wrong with the middle lane on an empty motorway as long as you pull over if someone is flying up behind you…

lane one is often thrashed by lorries, potholes appear overnight.

I hate the idiots who speed in lane one and weave across all three lanes constantly overtaking vehicles too closely singnaling after they have started to manouver etc..as if they are trying to demonstrate what great keep left disipline they have, tosspots

I’ve also found the inverse. Happily driving along with cruise control on, overtake a slower car and pull in beyond them, still at a constant speed.
So many will decide that there is now a car infront that they must overtake they will speed up. They dont often slow down again though, just disappear off into the distance at the higher speed…

Overtook a car doing 55-ish. No worries.
Then he came past me at 80.
Then I overtook him as he was doing about 50.
This went on for miles – I never touched the cruise control or gas pedal throughout any of it but his speed was between 45 – 85 in random steps.

Exactly this happened to me also. Northbound on the M6, I had cruise set at an (actual rather than indicated) 70mph. A silver German family saloon came past me, pulled in front, then lifted off. So I pulled out, overtook him, pulled in. Rinse and repeat. We ended up circling each other like a bloody pulsar from like Preston to Westmoorland (Tebay) services, my speed didn’t change 1mph throughout. Bloody weird.

Setting the Cruise to a slightly higher speed usually solves this.

I find that the vast majority of people can’t reliably hold 70mph or chose not to at certain times. Setting it at 76/77 means that your remove a lot of the variability in speed. Most of the time, it’s you doing the overtaking.

Exactly this happened to me also. Northbound on the M6, I had cruise set at an (actual rather than indicated) 70mph. A silver German family saloon came past me, pulled in front, then lifted off. So I pulled out, overtook him, pulled in. Rinse and repeat. We ended up circling each other like a bloody pulsar from like Preston to Westmoorland (Tebay) services, my speed didn’t change 1mph throughout. Bloody weird.

Yes, this is exactly what I’m talking about. I just don’t get it.

Sitting behind a lorry in the current weather means you’ll drain a full washer bottle very quickly.

I try not to worry about this sort of thing

As a driver of lorries its infuriating when drivers just have to be in front just because, then decide the speed limit for even large vehicles is too much for them.

As a driver of cars it’s infuriating when lorries decide they just have to be in front of another lorry on a dual carriageway, so go to overtake and block the whole road while they do their 0.5 mph faster overtake, just to sit in front of the lorry they just overtook.

Some people just don’t have enough commitment to speeding properly and are conflicted about slowing back down again to let full committed speeders behind them past. They start at 75mph then a faster car comes up behind so they speed up a bit, and before they know it they’re doing 85mph when all they wanted to do was pootle along at 72mph (their preffered speed). Sometimes they misjudge the speed of the car they decide to pull in front of. Don’t let it worry you.

I think a lot of it is because many motorists aren’t that aware of what they’re doing. They might speed up whilst concentrating but then slowly lose speed as they lose concentration, rinse and repeat.

There’s also the people who slow down to overtake. In middle/left they’re going at your speed or even a bit higher, so you wouldn’t choose to overtake them, then when they pull into the outside lane they slow down by 10mph. You’d be going quite a bit faster than them on average so would like to overtake but could only do so by going like the clappers. On a moderately busy motorway this can go on for miles.

I try not to worry about this sort of thing

Best solution I’ve found!

On lorries, having driven a lot of underpowered things with heavy loads a long time ago, I have more sympathy with the lorry driver who wants to overtake the lorry in front than the car driver who’s cross about this little inconvenience. He’s as much right to get his overtake done at 60mph as I have at 70 and he’ll pull back in as quick as is safe and sensible, which is more than can be said for most cars.

I also get annoyed with those who drive through the countryside on 60mph limit roads at about 45mph and then carry on through the little villages at 45mph or worse still, as you go to over take on the faster roads suddenly speed up making the overtake unsafe and then when you pull in behind then they drop back to 45mph.

This, but drivers doing 25-30mph on country roads where you can safely travel at about 40mph but it’s impossible to overtake – however there are plenty of places they could pull over to let the vehicles behind them pass.

IME some drivers in Scotland will do the courteous thing, but it’s very rare south of the border.

Setting it at 76/77 means that your remove a lot of the variability in speed

I used to employ this tactic when I had cruise control, new car has Adaptive Cruise Control so slows down instead of ploughing into the back of these people and I am less bothered by it to an extent.

Ogmios people, Ogmios.

As a driver of cars it’s infuriating when lorries decide they just have to be in front of another lorry on a dual carriageway, so go to overtake and block the whole road while they do their 0.5 mph faster overtake, just to sit in front of the lorry they just overtook.

It’s all down to pressures in the industry. A lot of companies set very ambitious route schedules so the drivers have to go everywhere on the limiter to have any hope of keeping to it. Over the course of a 10hr day on long trips all the time saved by making those slow overtakes can add up to 20-30 minutes, especially if you manage to ‘save’ 1 minute with a ling overtake and arrive at your destination to unload 30 seconds before another lorry and not have to wait for a bay to become free. Add in that some lorries are limited to 56 and others to 50 or 52, depending on the company, and you have lots of factors that encourage ‘elephant racing’ all the time.

Whatever you may encounter on the roads is never a good idea to let it swing your mood about, it won’t help your driving.

Its also good practice to remember you have no clue what is going on with the vehicle or driver/passengers in question. You may have even missed something that they have not.

Just be patient folk and drive like the fabulous people you are when on your bike.

This is the most annoying thing about getting a car with cruise control. Never really noticed it much or bothered much before.

Worst is vans coming tailgating then storming past down hills at 80mph only to slow to 60mph up the next hill as they have no power for their heavy load.

Car drivers I think its the catch up mentality, i.e. when someone is ahead they are a target to catch, once caught and passed there is no target so they slow, also agin they don’t adapt their throttle input to the changing gradient.

Adaptive cruise control makes all this much much less annoying.