Overtaking...is it worth it?

[CHARLIEDONTSURF]

All the impatient drivers infuriated at the two oiks breaking the law, just desperate to get past so they could commit an offence?

There is some irony in the behaviour there, somewhere!

[The Thong]

Peoples over estimation of the capabilities of the car and their driving skills usually cause some interesting sights on the road. I overtake quite a bit but ONLY WHEN ITS SAFE TO DO SO.... Some of the stunts people pull is nothing short of stupid

TT

[Dirty Rooster]

I agree with your points but this ;

Originally Posted by XCeed

When I overtake (and I only do when it's safe and worthwhile, trust me!) I find that time and again the car ahead speeds up, drifts across the centre line and then gives me the full beam right on my arse. WTF?

Never happened in my whole life,
what are you doing?

[volvorocks]

Originally Posted by XCeed

One way or another, the overtaking manoeuvre seems to cause more trouble than it's worth. Or is it just me?

I am generally happy to follow the car in front if it is driving at a reasonable consistent speed.

The keyword though is 'consistent' as there is nothing more infuriating on a single lane road with say a 60 limit following a driver that alternates between 40 and 60 mile after mile, speeding up and slowing down for no apparent reason. I am not sure why people cannot keep to a steady speed, so I will overtake and settle in at a nice steady say 58mph or whatever the road allows. I tend to overtake not to gain ground, more so for a more relaxing driving experience.

Regards

[XCeed]

Originally Posted by Dirty Rooster

I agree with your points but this ;

Never happened in my whole life,
what are you doing?

Yes, you are entitled to ask. I question my own actions all the time. All I can say is that I am a very safety conscious driver and never take risks in any manoeuvre. I would hardly come on here complaining about reckless overtaking if I was reckless myself. But you can make your judgment and I'm not offended.
I think that in the days before dual carriageways and motorways (yes, I have been driving a long time!) motorists overtook regularly as a matter of course. No problem.
These days, many drivers just don't know how to overtake on single-carriageways. And if someone has the nerve to overtake them, they take it personally and maybe consider it queue jumping.
Such drivers are entitled to react if the overtake is reckless, but I am talking about safe, appropriate and properly calculated manoeuvres.

[jmurray01]

In the majority of cases you only cut around 5 minutes at most from your journey due to further unavoidable delays, but sometimes it is worth it just to see the reaction from the driver of a 2015 BMW when the 16 year old Volvo estate shoots past.

[green van man]

It's the comfort breakers I find irritating, on the brakes and down to 35 mph for every bend. Point and squirt driving, nothing smooth and no rhythm wich stops you driving in a smooth steady manner yourself. When on the A40 where there is 3 safe overtaking places, oncoming traffic allowing, in 25 miles its nothing to see 15 cars playing follow my leader behind the nervous soul who needs the comfort.

Paul.

[Dirty Rooster]

I feel (maybe false?) that I hardly ever overtake, and certainly not someone who is doing more than 55mph,
but the ones who really mess up my following are those who slow down down hills and speed up during a climb.
My brain is shouting "petrol!" at them.
Those I have to overtake and get away from their opposite-to-sensible-ness.

Also the 90-year-old suicide maniacs round here.

Probably the OP's location has a lot to do with his experiences.

[kwk]

Originally Posted by docjd

Obviously no traffic cops to apply appropriate sanctions

No traffic police any more, they are now roads policing officers. This means that they have no specialist training because nobody can afford to train them (except some driver training and watching some of the TV programmes, that is debatable), so they just do what they used to do as beat officers but in a bigger car.

[tickedon]

I used to regularly drive from Glasgow to Isle of Skye (lots of family there), but sadly only get to make the trip a couple of years now. It's only 240 miles or so door to door for me, so on a good day you can do it in 4.5 hours, on a bad day it'll take up 7 hours.

There are no dual carriageways a few miles past Glasgow, so if you want to get past someone or something you need to overtake and have no cars coming the other way. The problem is that people will go at 30-40mph where the road has a few corners (it's perfectly safe to go at a 50-60mph pace on most of those stretches), and then floor it when the roads straighten out. This causes a huge amount of frustration for everyone behind who would like to do a steady pace rather than the constant speed up / slow down, because it makes it difficult / impossible to overtake unless you fancy pushing 80-90mph to get past them (as they inevitably decide to plant their foot on the accelerator and not let you past).

As I've driven the road quite often, you learn where you can overtake - e.g. where are the bits where you can see the road far enough ahead to pull off a manoeuvre safely - and I'll happily do that. If someone is going along at 50mph, I can happily and smoothly overtake at 60mph but yet still often get flashed etc. - I don't quite understand why, some people just don't seem to like being overtaken!

As to whether it's worth it, yes - I've quite often overtaken someone, stopped somewhere for some food / petrol / rest stop, and then pulled back out onto the road behind them a good 15-30 minutes later. Inevitably, if you do overtake, and then become stuck behind a caravan or tractor or whatever, if you are at the front of the queue you are much more likely to be able to get past. There is nothing worse than arriving behind a caravan with a dozen cars between the caravan and you who aren't overtaking - as you know you are not going to be getting anywhere fast.

I would also say that over the past ten years, there does seem to have been a slow decline in the number of people willing to overtake. In some respects though, the growth in smaller cars (and smaller engines) is probably responsible - my mum drove a ~70bhp Fiesta, then a 115bhp Focus, and often borrows the 150bhp Passat. She would not overtake very much (other than tractors) in the Fiesta, would overtake some of the idiot drivers who can't do a steady pace in the Focus, and will plant her foot onto the accelerator when in the Passat. Ultimately though, that's simple physics - more power means you have more possibilities to overtake when a smaller engine wouldn't manage.