I’d rather have a speeding driver in front of me than behind, if they want to break the law it’s not my job to punish them, it’s my job as a driver to get my passengers home safely. Another great video Ashley I’ve definitely improved as a driver since watching your channel.
@@davecphotographyuk There's nothing more satisfying than being sat in traffic in a vehicle: A nice comfy chair to sit in, heat or cool air on demand, a selection of tunes or radio to listen to, you can even eat snacks if you're sensible about it...
When another driver passes me without due care I always imagine that it's an emergency and they are on their way to hospital. It probably never is but it allows me not to get annoyed. People treat driving as a competitive sport and it's not. It's a waltz! Everyone moving around in a crowded situation and keeping the rhythm so as not to bang into each other. If you ever start to feel frustrated, next time just try humming a waltz. Works for me!! Love your channel, always on the lookout to improve my driving and you defiantly help. Great Job.
@@kenbrown2808 TBH I think we have lost much of that - a point that Ashley makes repeatedly. Personally I think that 2 years of less driving through lockdown, and the weird anthropomorphic identification that some people have with their cars, have much to do with it.. People on bikes get that when they rap on a vehicle that is dangerously close to remind the driver that they are there. It's not uncommon for a driver to launch into a "how dare you touch MY car like that" rant, when if they had been in a safe position on the road the person on the bike would not even be able to reach.
@@mattwardman well, yeah, the sensible people staying home during lockdown let the idiots make their bad habits worse, but drivers in the UK are much more collaborative, still.
@@kenbrown2808 Good reply. I'd put a bit more weight on ordinarily careful and patient drivers getting out of practice. I bought a lovely new car nearly 4 years ago that has only just ticked over 10k miles - that's lockdown. I tend to think of all of us as bad (or in particular, distracted) drivers sometimes. We all make mistakes, not at the same frequency, but we all do it. And it is about working on habits that 'design-out' mistakes, or make them less likely.
I loved your comment about not being judge or jury. We can only change our own driving habits. Others will do as they do. Just drive with safety in mind.
At around 3:47 re "I think they're a little slow getting back to Lane 1". This may very well be the case but one very common issue I find with this type of overtake situation: Drivers all have their own differing opinions as to how early you should pull back in. And it's often this difference of opinion that I feel can lead to the type of situation we see here. I find many drivers pull back in too early, cutting up the vehicle they've just overtaken. (Sidenote: I've ended up with a windscreen chip due to this). If you are one of those drivers that habitually pulls back in to the left very early and you are behind another overtaker who is doing it properly by waiting to be fully clear before pulling back in - this can appear as though the overtaker in front of you is lane hogging. With the kind of result we see in this video. Namely a dive into the left lane to undertake. Whereas waiting a little longer would have likely seen the overtaker in front pull back in and everyone would have continued on their merry way without incident or drama. Unfortunately some drivers are hell bent on making something out of nothing.
When I overtake, I always try and leave 3 cars distance then pull in, in the case of having some impatient sod behind me, I pull in a little quicker to let them proceed and annoy someone else
Once I have passed a vehicle I indicate my intention to move back to lane 1 before undertaking the manouevre. This tells any following vehicle that they will have the opportunity to pass me and allows me time to make sure I am past the vehicle I am overtaking. Even with impatient tailgaters, I have never been undertaken when doing this.
@@chrisrand5185 Yes I do that too re indicate left once past but not quite ready to move left just yet. Good point! However I try to avoid indicating too early and make it appear that I'm "panicking" to move over just because I'm being bullied from behind. I've seen other drivers "panic indicate" in this way...and get even more bullied! I'm convinced some drivers bully in this way just for sheer "fun" to see the car ahead of them panic. I'm honestly more than happy to move left and let a faster car pass me and I won't be a jerk about it but I find this whole aspect of bullying another car over when it's still too early to be a very inconsiderate piece of driving.
My rule is simply to give the car I'm passing the same size gap as I'd like to see in front of me (if I was driving their vehicle) before I pull back in. A simple case of do unto others as you'd have them do unto you. If I've someone impatient looking behind me I'll put on an early signal, both to placate them and to deter them from trying a dumb undertake (an all too common occurrence nowadays).
1:27 in & agree. I hate the ones doing under the limit on motorways/dual carriageways that speed up when you try to pass. I often cruise @ 63mph, and have on occasions slowly approached a car in front, slipped out a lane, clicked up to 65, to have my speed matched, 67, 70, 72, 74, 76, given up, pulled back in, beck to 63, only to catch them again less than a minute later!
I get a bit hacked off when I'm overtaken doing 30 in a 30 limit, but I don't react to it. The overtake that really annoys is when someone comes past because they've seen the nation speed limit signs in the distance, and don't like me keeping to the 30 limit, so they go past long before the 30 limit ends, and then pootle along at 45 until the next 30 limit, when they don't slow down at all. As Ashley says, just let it go. Life's too short to get wound up about it in my book.
Similar, it's cars who overtake heavy vehicles on a hill because there are two lanes. Then go slower than the heavy vehicle was going once the 2nd lane, and hill, end
If you can see the National speed limit sign in the distance you should slowly increase speed before you get to it. It annoys me when you get stuck behind someone doing 30 until they literally cross the National speed limit sign and then accelerate like they’re in an F1 race
@@WarrenF I know: that seems sensible, doesn't it? Sadly it's illegal. The people who annoy you are probably Police or Advanced Motorist trained. We keep to the legal limit right up to the NSL sign, but when we reach the NSL we have already done our Information checks ahead and behind, have positioned the car for safety, have the speed dead on the limit, have selected a gear for good acceleration (usually a downshift of one or two ratios) and are ready to smoothly but quickly accelerate right when we hit the NSL. Look at it this way: we have cleared the roadspace in front of you as quickly as we can legally (and safely). 😀
@@R04drunner1 Illegal but nowt wrong with it. NSL to 30 limits are invariably placed already taking into account many peoples behaviour, and thus by following thr letter of the law you in effect have a double safety factor. This then frustrates the likes of me, who think "ah we've got a rule follower (maybe they will stick to 20mph, etc, maybe they think NSL is 50) & thus it presents an opportunity to overtake as I will be able to accelerate into the faster road while you're still dawdling. So maybe it works out better this way. But personally I'd pay more respect to limits if they were more respectful of common sense and reasonable positioning. ie, at the boundary of a village, not 100m before. This is why I like the freedom of motorbikes, nobody is too bothered if you overtake and you don't worry about the car in front because you can overtake at will. In short it's more relaxing. You get less stressed, and I personally am less likely to get wound up, as I can just get past and get on with my own journey. So there you go.
The one comment I'd like to add to Ashley's attempt to overtake at the traffic lights (5:00) from the other car's perspective is 'Why are you in such a rush to get in front of that car? They aren't exactly going slowly, it's not as though there's an open road beyond where you can make use of any extra speed. You're just wasting petrol / diesel / electricity having to accelerate to get fast enough to make the overtake in the limited space and then brake to not hit the car in front to gain 5 metres of road distance (~the length of a car).'
@@iPro3million yeah, I agree that it's not a reason to block, just that I don't think I'd even have gone for an overtake in that situation. I also feel that the actions that Ashley is doing in this situation are similar to some of the 'must get in front of the learner' actions that I've seen criticised in other videos.
I think the VW driver slowed down and gave Ashley the opportunity to overtake, which he then positioned to look at (and to have a better view forward etc) and then the Golf did the bigger acceleration? Would be nice if Ashley had speed shown on his dashcam or (better!) pedal inputs!
Gonna play devil's advocate and say that if you'd made the overtake at 05:00 then you'd have taken up the other car's safety space and potentially forced them to brake sharply if they didn't see you in time. If I were driving your vehicle in that situation I would only be overtaking if I didn't know the road or made a mistake, otherwise I think the best course of action was to hold back and merge behind instead of trying to complete the overtake, and I could forgive the other driver for trying to prevent you from passing.
Tend to agree with this,. It looked like a single lane road which opens up to 2 lanes for the traffic lights, then back down to one again. You weren't stopped at the lights, there was essentially a single line of traffic making its way forwards as the lights were green. Prudence would be to hang back and just continue in that single file, rather than trying to use the very short-lived two lanes through the junction to effectively push forwards in that line of traffic, no? Being more "forceful" could easily trigger a driver who perceives you as queue-jumping, so better to just sit behind and continue as before - no hassle, no potential aggravation.
Well spotted Dan P. There's a decision to be made. Road space and safety vs road position. As Ashley states 'hell always use all the road space'. I think that the difference lost on Ashley, its highlighted here and he and I have disagreed on similar things before. If I understand Ashley correctly, he seems to believe that by moving into the outer lane at the traffic lights, that he using all the road space? When in fact he's actually moved from a position of safety to within just a few feet of the car in front! The left front wing of Ashley's car and the right rear wing of the car in front have no 'Margin For Error'. This explains most concisely why Ashley and I have disagreed on certain issues concerning his own driving in the past.
@@SeymourScagnetti I didn't think Ashley was trying to overtake at those traffic lights. I think he tried to show that he was facilitating better traffic flow over the junction. Unfortunately as it's been spotted it's backfired.
@@copperfield3629 Very clever! It's no mitigation, but I suspect that Ashley has tried to follow n from his excellent video about using the extra lanes added at traffic light.
Ashley already has, when overtaking make sure its clear, mirror check, life saver check, indicate and go, with the added little flash to make sure they know your intention or to grab there attention, ive been doing this since watching his video so i can feel confident that they are aware of me before overtaking.
If you’re in a 30 mph limit, there’s no need to overtake. The overtakes that do happen are probably from people doing more than the speed limit, so other than motorways or getting past tractors and lorrys, why is there a need for the overtake on single lane? It’s just impatience.
My rule is simple: it's better to have the bad driver in front of you where it is so much easier to avoid entanglements, even if that means pulling over or turning off (once round a roundabout is a good way to increase the gap). At least they would struggle to follow you. They're also feeling some marginal sense of achievement when they've got ahead so are less likely to want to tango. Sadly, it'll all come to a conclusion one day with some other innocent person but it's not within my power to influence that in any way. When you spend your day working with antisocial and criminal behaviour that goes completely unsanctioned, some knob in a Beemer displaying the same immature sense of entitlement is of no consequence. I'm not going to allow them to take up my brain bandwidth by allowing them to occupy my thoughts. As far as I am concerned just being them is punishment enough.
Really clear, eloquent and smooth commentary. Also really do appreciate and agree with your general judgment and assessment of the situations. Especially relating to motorcycles, can only wish all motorists shared your views. Thank you Ashley 👍
5:44 I've always said I want the idiots in front of me, not behind me. With this mindset you both 'win' as they feel victorious for getting in front but you feel like you put them right where you want them. The first one on the motorway is a bit rude and can be a left hook if done incorrectly, but I often think it's the result of poor planning anyway. That said they didn't affect the cammer so I see your point, Ashley.
I think it's more that it's beneath them to be in the left-hand lane unless they absolutely need to be (i.e. at the last second). I doubt it's poor planning. It could be but I'm guessing they are familiar with that junction. I see it all the time. Doesn't affect anything though and as long as they're not causing me problems then let them get on with it!
@@MartinParnham That "beneath them" attitude may well be true, especially if they have the mindset that the left lane is the "slow lane". I didn't write this above, but I had trucks in mind before and I do think it's poor planning when people left hook trucks at exits. It's a misjudgement of how much distance is covered when passing a long vehicle (ie. they only think about the length of the truck). They know their exit is coming in a mile or 1/2 mile and yet still go for an overtake on a truck. The result is predictable.
The Tesla overtaking at 06:38 is on the Chew Road south of Bristol. Although it is 50mph and 20mph further on in each direction, with occasional double white lines and sharp bends, at that point it is a National Speed Limit road with long dashed white lines and fairly straight. The cammer is doing 31mph according to the display.
I don’t think 4:50 was problematic (Ashley’s driving, not the Polo), however is there actually any benefit in moving to the other lane when traffic is relatively light and already flowing well? In this example, no additional traffic would make it through the lights by being in lane 2.
Given the traffic was moving and there was nothing to be gained by "using all the space" (It may have changed circumstance if the lights changed to red, however) it was borderline "must get ahead" behaviour.
Recently drove a few days in Turkey, everyone I told said "Ooh you're brave, would never drive on these roads". It was fine, just drive safely always looking out for other drivers. My best advice would be when someone is right up your backside wanting to overtake (happens a lot, nobody seems to keep to speed limits), find somewhere safe to slow down or even pull over and let them past, wasn't stressful at all. Would be nice if slow drivers here would do that rather than deliberately speed up when being overtaken which happens all too often in my experience.
That’s a personal bug bear. Overtaking people is a normal and legal part of road use. Good drivers plan their overtakes and do it safely. It’s hard to plan for the hitherto slow moving car suddenly igniting rockets and speeding up. That increases the overtaking car’s time in the risky position and makes the roads less safe. My other bug bear, ironically, is the needless overtake. If I’m doing 30 and someone overtakes me, fair enough. I keep at 30 or drop a couples of mph to help. If they then once in front slow to 25 it begs the question of why they bothered (must get in front syndrome). The ideal overtake doesn’t affect the overtaken car before, during or after.
4:57 not seeing much wrong with the silver car. Where were you going if you overtook? Only into his braking zone. "Always drive so as not to cause others to change speed or direction" that's the mantra I was told to follow if I wanted to pass my HGV test.
Love the fact that the first of the bikes in the clip at 7:20 is one of the Blood Bikes! They perform a wonderful service - and are ALL VOLUNTEER! Cheers and be safe from Canada!
Sadly, it's the 'ME ME ME' scenario that we witness every day, everywhere, and yes, it DOES rile you, even though we know it shouldn't. It's simply, frustration and can be extremelly difficult not to show it.
Great video Ashley. One thing my instructor always told me was that you can’t change how other people react to situations on the road, you can only alter your own driving to mitigate the risk and make it safer.
to answer the 5:50 question, yes, i think they feel like they are getting away with it. To me, they will just keep on doing it until one day they either hit someone, or the wrong person wont yield and a nasty road rage incident will occur. Seen it myself on a one-way road. Left lane for left only, right lane for straight and right turn. The amount of cars who go left lane straight and either end up forcing the cars to stop, or carrying on and mounting the pavement is worrying.
The clip at 6:28 I see drivers like this all the time. Drive at 35-40mph everywhere and then start flashing, honking and the other day saw someone speeding up to block a perfectly safe and legal overtake.
I do a lot of motorway driving and the most infuriating habit people have is speeding up when you attempt to overtake them safely and legally. You sometimes even get into an odd situation where you play leapfrog with another car that wants to cruise slower than you, but will go faster than you to overtake you. I travel with the cruise control on at 70mph and am sure to try and maintain a constant speed. Why do so many seem incapable of this? Or am I doing something wrong?
I absolutely LOVE it when people do that to me when I'm sitting either on the limiter or cruise control. I just wanted to overtake and get back over and now I'm stuck here with 2 lanes free on the left of the person that's now matched my speed. The left indicator usually goes on and I move left in my lane to suggest that possibly they might be causing a problem...
5:52 if someone is lost this helps a lot for the nerves for a driver who may have gotten the wrong turning or lane. Keep calm and give space to make sure your safe first, if you get angry, you aren't looking out for yourself.
But still getting lost is not an excuse for incorrect usage of the lane. Id argue that the majority of the time its done on purpose and letting them go and not pulling them up on it is enabling the behaviour. If you can safely prevent them from doing it then you should. I think it should be a 6pt penalty and a fine. Its one of the most annoying things people do on the road.
Hi Ashley, I've just found your videos on youtube and am delighted that at last someone is highlighting bringing sensible driving to the fore. I watched 5 of your videos initially and have to say I wish every driver in the UK (too late for USA and rest of europe) would take the time to watch them. We need to stop competitive driving, unless on the track of course, and make drivers understand they are not the only ones on the road. I'm no angel but following a police driving course in 1980's improved my own driving by 100%. I worked as a sales rep (worst drivers in the world) so has driven hundreds of thousands of miles in the 50 years since I got my license. I enjoy driving quickly, my previous car was a Focus ST with 240 bhp, but experience meant I would only drive fast when the conditions allowed it. Keep up the good work and I wish there was someway your clear and sensible approach could be marketed. Best wishes Del
Your comment saying we are not " judge and jury " is definitely accurate for these scenarios. I believe in intervening in disputes / injustice but getting involved in any of these incidents would make the situation worse and more dangerous for everyone.
Thank you for another excellent video. I have been driving for 35 years but watch your videos to try to improve as I still find myself making many of the mistakes you highlight.
Each of us has our trigger points,. And it's important we get a grip on them. As they can distract our attention. They can also take us out of the calm alert mood (sometimes for the rest of the journey) that is best for driving/cycling/motorcycling.
The older I get the more mellow I am when I'm driving, I'll let most things go, even when someone else makes a mistake then instead of apologizing gives me abuse instead. I basically just call them a wanker and get on with my day. The only thing I do not, nor ever will, tolerate, are queue jumpers. I'm not talking about merge in turners who use all the available lane, I'm talking about 2 lanes of traffic, one lane goes off in one direction and has a queue, the other lane goes somewhere else and is free flowing, and the people who are too important to queue and know exactly what they are doing come down the empty lane then indicate and either jump into a gap or wait for some sap to let them in. I NEVER let them in, I will absolutely hold my ground and fight for my space, I wouldn't let someone push in front of me in a queue in a shop, so what's the difference in a car?
I was bought up that transit size vans speed limit was 60mph on dual carriageways (70 mph on motorways). I used to drive one. Perhaps I need to read up more to see if that's changed
It hasn't, the van was speeding, Any van with a maximum laden weight exceeding 2.0 tonnes'.50mph on single carriageway National Speed Limit, 60mph on dual carriageway and 70mph on a motorway
Your content is so great mate. I am a busdriver in Germany and it's quite literally the same in so many fields. People here aren't behaving much diffrent. I can still learn and improve my driving from your videos.
The main issue with people using the Right/Left Only lane to go straight on is that when you're sitting next to them, you can't see whether or not they are indicating as they should be turning away from you. They also don't necessarily need to indicate as they 'have' to turn anyway. And when it becomes clear that they are not turning, there's often not a lot of scope for giving way depending on the traffic situation. If you both move away and then they try to cut in, there's traffic behind you not expecting you to break/closing the space to stop the person cutting in front of them, there might be oncoming traffic heading straight for the 'should be turning' car, there might be literally no road in front of them so they have to cut in really sharply.
Great analysis on the first clip @Ashley. I would add that the Audi was in a ‘staggered’ road position prior to the overtake. They then used excellent acceleration/throttle sense (no show brake lights having moved into the lane of your cammer). Then maintained a road position where they were not The Meat in the Middle as they waited for the exit. All Advanced Motoring (common sense) practices. Great detective work with the scooter overtake at 1min 30secs!
The clip at 3:44, the center line displays hazard markings so changing lanes is unwise until the hazard lines clear at 4:05. Doesn't excuse the brake-test, but apart from this the cammer has every reason to remain in the outside lane until the centreline markings show the hazard area has ended.
I've had a couple of instances on the motorway where I've overtaken a car doing say 55-60mph, and when I've passed they've suddenly matched my speed. I'm pretty sure they are baiting for someone to overtake in a small car so they can try and have a race. I don't give them what they want, but it's incredibly irritating! Difficult not get raged by it.
Sometimes the driver you are overtaking has been in a trance and lost concentration and not realised their speed has dropped. As you overtake, they wake up, check their speedo and get back on the gas. It’s embarrassment usually, not competition with you.
@@truth.speaker On both occasions the drivers have sped up AND slowed down to block me from moving back into the left hand lane. They're just toying. I looked over the at the last guy and and he looked back and laughed. When I managed to pull back in behind he then sped off at well over 80+. I guess that's how they get their kicks - trying to put my little Yaris in its place! Same section on the A1(M) so maybe the same driver. Just don't see what they point of doing it is?
@@maxmaxwell3787 I agree that may often be the case, but I wouldn't expect someone to then actively block me from moving back into the left lane. Maybe just me, but if I lost concentration, started to speed up and then realised someone was trying to overtake i'd just ease off the gas and let them move over I guess some people really don't like being overtaken - especially by a small car.
Some people are just dozy mate, and it probably isn't good for the soul to assume the worst. When I started driving I regularly only noticed I was driving way too slowly when I saw others racing past me, where I'd then speed up. It wasn't intentional. Just doziness.
@@PedroConejo1939 along with being in too much of a rush, or distractions (e.g. using your phone, kids in the back, etc.). I'd guess that 90%+ are caused by one or a combination of those 3 things, with mechanical failures and medical emergencies a very distant 4th and 5th
04:57 - Sorry Ashley, I feel you are driving like a typical Audi or BMW driver here. There is no particularly good reason for choosing the overtake lane whilst the lights are green unless 1) you want to get ahead of the car in front or 2) you want a clip to make a point in this video.
if someone catches up to me, then I generally let them around when it is safe to do so since I don't expect I'll see them again, afterwards. but here in the states, the common trend is as soon as an opportunity to overtake comes up, it is off to the races, and as soon as the opportunity closes, the brake lights come on. case in point; there is a junction about a mile from the road home with a traffic light, and there is a passing lane at the last quarter mile. the speed limit increases from 50 to 55 just past the junction. the "normal" traffic speed out of the light is to slowly creep up from 30 MPH leaving the light to 45-50 MPH coming into the passing lane, then bang up to 70 MPH for the passing lane, and on the brakes back down to 50 after the passing lane.
the clip with the car and the van at 3:30 is the road i take to work everyday. there are fatal accidents on that road all of the time and i think that it is the competitive nature of some people that casue most of them especially as just past the traffic lights it goes down to a single lane with a merge in turn.
Thanks for this Ashley. There is a stretch of road where the M23 becomes the A23 (all the way into Croydon) - it’s a single carriage road, but there are so many moments where it briefly becomes two lanes (traffic lights, roundabouts) and it gives motorists an opportunity to get a couple of cars ahead. It’s such a frustrating strip of road to drive down as you feel as though you have to be competitive to not be overtaken constantly.
But if you are "overtaken constantly", does it matter? If you weren't, you might save a minute over the whole journey, more likely no more than 30 seconds. 🙂
I've never been bothered by people overtaking me, people not following the rules or doing something dangerous has frustrated me in the past, in some instances enough for me to react i'm ashamed to say. It's something I've worked on letting go in the last few years, with success, because as you it's just not worth it.
At around 1:40 I think the other thing that happened is that on seeing the temporary lights change to red, the cammer thought that the correct place to stop was at the white stop line. Although this would have been correct when the regular crossing lights were in operation, those were covered up and now the temporary lights took over. The cammer missed the temporary sign further back for "When red light shows wait here" likely as Ash said due to focussing on the overtaking motorbike. And since they were so near to that sign when the lights changed, plus the motorbike close behind, I reckon the cammer should have just continued even if they did notice the sign. Also, the issue with stopping at the stop line is that it doesn't give oncoming vehicles much room to swing back over to their side, which was the very reason for the sign further back in the first place.
I've made a similar mistake previously, at a junction that I regularly use. It's normally a 4-way light-controlled junction. On this day, there were temporary traffic lights in place instead - *behind* the regular stop lines. I focused on the stop line, which then of course put me in front of the temporary lights. Crap. Now obviously I should have been paying more attention to the *sign*, but if there's an obvious and visible stop line - and especially if it's a junction you're used to - I think it's a very easy mistake to make. I feel that they should cover up the stop line in some way, and put a new/temporary stop line down at the sign, in scenarios like this.
@@BlazeFirereign I was thinking the same thing re covering up the more permanent stop line until the temporary lights are removed and it reverts to a proper crossing again. Or put the temporary lights where the temporary stop sign is. Not sure if that would have caused issues with trailing cables though?
These videos have helped me, even as a driver of 35 years, to understand that a space is not worth fighting over, particularly when on my motorcycle, I will come off second best in an incident. But as someone who can use transit lane and bus lanes I know that even though I have let the driver have the space initially I will, in the end get past them and reach my destination ahead of them. I do see drivers deliberately moving across to block the gap to prevent filtering and, stick two wheels over into the bus lane as I pass them, if they are so jealous of the motorcyclists ability to make progress why do they themselves not learn to ride?
I've stopped it after the intro to say, the Audi wasn't an issue, for me, only for you to say the same. I don't have an issue with faster vehicles using the space I leave as I am a slower driver and expect faster vehicles to use the space if safe. If someone wants to come past, I will try and increase the gap to give them space and time. Nice video and analysis
Sometimes people in a dedicated turn lane who go straight ahead very fast before the correct lane starts do it because of very poor road markings where a dedicated lane pretty much ambushes even the best driver and they would not have been there had the road markings been good . Theres one near me which I'm very familiar with and recently had extra left turn markings added much earlier probably in recognition of the fact it was causing accidents (guess) or enough locals had complained. Before that you essentially could turn up and find you were in a dedicated left turn lane with pretty much no warning / notice at all.
@@Frost_Saber ah, yes, projection - the fallback accusation of someone who wants to attack someone but has no other reason to. in short: it's not a habit I have, nor is it an urge I feel. and in fact, if I am approaching an exit on a freeway (motorway) I am more likely to slow down and drop behind another vehicle, rather than do a late overtake. because I'm not impatient, have a lack of planning, or lack of care. and I've long since figured out how childish it is to want to win a race against someone who isn't racing.
Often see this on motorways. Overtake a slow moving vehicle only for them to suddenly speed up either to stop you completing the overtake or to re-overtake you soon after, only for them to slow down again. What is it with these people? Are they doing it deliberately in their little fantasy world? Or are they in their little fantasy world and just unaware of everything going on around them and can't keep a consistent speed? If they do it to me a couple of times then I just hang back for a while until something else occupies their tiny minds.
It's often that they don't have a clue that they are doing it/don't have a clue that they shouldn't be doing it! Not helped by the number of vehicles with Active Cruise Control aka the middle lane hoggers friend. Set it at 70, sit in lane 2, lorry pulls out to over take, the car deals with it by slowing/braking as needed, lorry pulls back in, car accelerates itself back to 70 with compete disregard for anyone trying to do the correct thing and pass in lane 3.
Plenty of people don't like being overtaken, but one of the *WORST* culprits are those who drive slower than the speed limit, driving at 40mph on a 50mph road for example, other drivers pull out to overtake and the slower driver speeds up, the overtaking driver can't get past, so they drop back in behind, and the slower driver drops back down to 40mph - *WHY?* I _NEVER_ did understand that "Gandalf" logic, and had several instances of it as a lorry driver *_THEY SHALL NOT PASS_* And I am sure many others could tell a similar story of such stupid petty behaviour over nothing
I'm not convinced that this is always malicious. With a lorry, maybe, as they don't want to sit behind you and selfishly want you to travel at the same speed. However, often I think it's the result of judging speed based on vehicles around them, ie. they speed up to keep up with the overtaking vehicle.
I confess to being guilty of this myself. I'm just a competitive person and sometimes, I'm ashamed to say, this competitive instinct can be too powerful. Only when I'm alone though, never with passengers. Anyhow, I know it's childish, wrong and potentially dangerous and it's something I'm trying hard to correct in my driving. I'm finding your videos very helpful. Thank you.
Many years back now when I was younger and more foolish, I was driving behind a tractor, looking for a chance to overtake, when a small van overtook me and the tractor in one go. The red mist descended. All I could think was that he thought he'd won. A chance came and I overtook the tractor before charging after the van who I then overtook. I then waved at him as if to say you lose and I win. Once it was over and the van turned off, I was actually shaking a bit from the monumentally stupid behaviour. If I'd crashed and killed someone, prison could be waiting for me. All so I could 'win'. I have the odd red mist moment now but nothing like that anymore.
I had a red mist moment when I was a young driver. A car overtook me unexpectedly in a built up area and I accelerated to give chase. Thankfully I had my mum in the front passenger seat who called out my name and I caught myself on. I was shocked and ashamed at how easily I'd slipped into angry mode, so after that I watched out for the warning signs in me, especially when driving alone. As Ashley says, just let them go. Be the better driver.
And that is exactly what they are here for. And me too for that matter. Ashley's videos are a lovely way of softly breaking the news that you are a bad driver. In almost all other driving videos it highlights how idiotic other drivers are. Ashley does a damned fine job of putting us, the idiot, in the humble internal perspective chair. Self reflection is very difficult, especially on the faceless judgmental space that is social media. So I just wanted to say, well done to those that admit to their own faults, so that others may learn from them. And thank you to Ashley to provide us with a safe space to share them!
6:54 is that filtering? I class filtering as moving carefully between slow or stationary traffic. When cars are moving this quickly, it's just an overtake in my book. Look at rule 88, it doesn't seem to fit that description: "Additionally, when filtering in slow-moving traffic, take care and keep your speed low"
After watching Ashley's videos, I remember going slowly because there was traffic ahead and the person behind me started to tailgate me, he then overtook me and started to drive slowly in front of me thinking it would annoy me but I just drove slower to maintain the distance, which made his actions worthless. After nearly 3/4 minutes of this, we both got stuck in the traffic. I think he realised then, it was all pointless and the rage just fazed out. It was the day that changed the whole dynamics of my driving attitude, hopefully forever.
Luckily, I quite often get comments like this about how people have changed, driving mindset after watching my videos. It's comments like these that are the absolute icing on the cake for me. RUclips is quite demanding timewise but knowing that I've been able to make a difference couldn't make me happier. Thank you so much!
5:55 is the main road between Aberdeen and Inverness (I know it far too well). It’s mainly single carriage way and is a nightmare. Cars emerge out of nowhere, frustrated drivers tailgate and I’ve seen many dangerous overtakes
Not sure if I'm imagining this, but when I am on my motorbike I notice some drivers will pull out on a dual carriageway and then run alongside the vehicle they were supposed to be overtaking, occasionally they will reduce their speed further until we end up in the outside lane doing less than the traffic in the inside lane. I assume they are trying to get me to go up the inside. On one occasion I moved into the inside lane and just rode behind them, (behind, not in their blind spot). They then put on their left indicator, kept it on and stayed in the outside lane. This carried on for more than a mile. Mind you I have seen the same thing done to police cars with blue lights on. It's pretty odd behaviour. When I went on a police bikesafe training course they told me off for taking too long to overtake - their view was decide if it is on and then go, don't hang about.
When I get into these situations, I usually tell myself, let it go, if they are the problem, they will probably face karma in the road ahead, sooner they will learn their lessons. Best to ignore, enjoy the ride and drive safely.
The old 'speed up to stop this person over-taking me' is something I encounter a lot - I often wonder if it's because I'm driving a wee 1.2 Corsa I also hate it when people don't overtake me - if you're driving that much faster than me, why stick behind me getting more annoyed when you could simply go around? Especially when I've dropped off in speed to allow you to do that, and even more especially when it's a three lane motorway!?
From overseas: not to mention that denying an overtake increases risk all around. I can't stand it when I get a chance to pass a lorry, it accelerates over the limit just because eff me. This puts me at an even bigger risk - my car is not a hundred-horse powerhouse, so if all comes to the worst, I need to interrupt the overtake and fall back - probably to the dismay of the one following me, closing space up. This would be a sad moment, for I plan my moves carefully, and even then there is an element that is dependent on the other drivers; will they oblige the road rule to aid an overtake (reduce speed, clear space - reduce risk whenever, however, wherever). All because some take it as derogatory - to yield to an overtake, that is.
one thing that has caught me out a few times is that the arrows on the lane priorities are only near the end of the lane to the junction and /or they are obfuscated either by que of cars or worn out, leaving you in a right turn lane wanting to go straight on
Devon Pensioner Syndrome! (I'm one myself ;-) ) I do a lot of my driving on long bypassed ex Trunk roads here, and often trigger people by overtaking them entirely safely and properly. This is usually displayed by lots of headlight flashing and sometimes by them increasing their speed very substantially from the 45 they were doing when I caught up with them while I'm ambling along at below 60! Very strange.
If someone overtakes me, I prefer they do it safely, but I don't prevent it either way. If it's not particularly safe, I'll ease back because there's no way in the world I want to be involved in an accident because someone's being stupid in front of me. There was one I had recently who overtook me, seemingly because I didn't let them come out of a junction in front of me based on how it was done. It was still done safely though but still felt like retribution. I let them go regardless but met them up at a set of traffic lights shortly up ahead anyway so it really saved them absolutely nothing 😅
As always a great video. Though with both a BMW and an Audi in the last video I expected that to go on for hours of overtaking slowing down and the obligatory no signalling. Though I use to drive a BMW X5 as a company car. I didn’t usually get overtaken. People use to drive like they were on their driving test, and suddenly everyone’s indicators worked regardless of their make of vehicle. Though it might have had something to do with the company logo “POLICE” and blue lights 😂. I have to say to be honest the amount on their phones who wouldn’t see the vehicle. Even if it was lit up like a Christmas tree. Great content yet again.
🤣🤣 my ex had a motorcycle, when viewed from front it looked much like a police motorcycle (and his helmet was white at front), it's amazing the number of drivers who would suddenly slow to speed limit and remember what those indicators are for!
LOL. I drive a dark coloured saloon in the Police Roadcraft style. When I have a friend in the car so we are two-up, it's amazing the number of drivers who react as if we're an undercover Police car!
The only frustration I have with being overtaken is when I’m in my van on a dual carriageway or motorway, my van is restricted to 60-61mph (GPS) because I have a trailer on 95% of the time.. Only for the person who overtakes to do under 60mph in front of me instead of behind me. It baffles me because do I resign to 55-56mph or do I risk overtaking for the next 2 miles only for them to decide they don’t want to be overtaken and hold me in the awkward predicament of dropping back after making “some” progress or holding out for the eventuality the drive to drop back to 55mph? I can guarantee if I drop back and pull in behind them, they tend to slow down again. But to what end? I don’t care about being overtaken, I’m slow, heavy, nearly 35ft long and nearly 7 ton but I can still do 60mph comfortably, safely, efficiently but if I’m clearly making progress into my stopping distance I’m going to overtake, as would (and do) any HGV..
I used to be a speed racer back in my own country, quite vocal & aggressive. Lost my licence twice and received around 6 speeding tickets in 5 years. I arrived in the UK 7 years ago and I learned my approach was not good. Been driving here for 7 years, not one incident, speeding or a ticket. Think age & experience plays a massive role, I now am just amused by other drivers such as I was, I slow down, allow them to join and very rarely beep or get upset.
It's been many years since I was a regular motorcyclist, but even now I fully appreciate and know from experience, a mc usually has a far better view of the road than a car driver. What might look like dodgy riding is more often than not perfectly safe for a rider.
I used to be an aggressive driver, took a few risks, treated every drive like the Le Mans 24 heur. Then I went to live and work in Saudi, where the worlds most dangerous drivers ply their trade, where speed cameras are everywhere (its not unusual to see cars with number plates covered up, even ones driven by Police or Soldiers), if you get a speeding fine, it pings on your phone and you cannot leave the Kingdom with any unpaid fines, even for a vacation. ,and if you have an accident, you have to wait for the Police to come and apportion blame, you cant get a car body repaired without a certificate from the Police. And they tend to apportion blame according to who was driving, Saudis least likely to get blamed, following by Westerners, then non saudis. It changed me as a driver, I am less aggressive, drive very defensively (Remember, Undertakers, love overtakers) and am enjoying watching your videos for the extra tips. As we say in Saudi, "Shukran".
10:47 I have to say that is not filtering; it's overtaking if the traffic is moving at speed like that. filtering is actually when the line of traffic is going very slowly which they weren't. I agree that you shouldn't retaliate however.
6:28 we don't know what led to the overtake. It could be just that, a faster moving car making a pass. The Tesla also could have come screaming through the junction and passed the cammer with little care. I agree that it didn't affect the cammer though.
8:20 when I see this sort of situation unfolding behind me, my biggest fear is they are going to collide with me since they are distracted. I would be inclined to get out of their way by either parking, or turning off the road. I'd rather not be a victim of this juvenile and frankly pathetic behaviour.
A good bit of advice my dad once told me, 'Let the idiots get past you, keep them where you can see them easily'. I don't care about being overtaken, I intentionally leave home early enough to get where I'm going with time to spare. That way I'm not going to feel the need to rush and get aggravated.
At 0:10 I’d lay odds that the Audi driver was local, as they knew the second slip lane off the road existed. They were hesistant to check if the car ahead was maintaining speed. In that case they would have needed to slip behind our driver. But see them power on at 0:17 when they could the gap widening. I have seeen much closer calls than this, but it was good to educate the learner.
The clip at 3:50 with the "dueling viewer and silver van" is the A358 east out of Henlade, it's the only section of duel road for 6 miles of a busy M5/A303 connection. You get idiots like this almost every time you are on there, then west bound you get the anti merge in turn police who would rather sit in a mile of congestion than a half mile of congestion.
I drove a 1955 Land Rover for many year so being over taken was pretty common, top speed was about 50mph but 40mph was more comfortable, when ever I could I would pull in tight to the left and wave cars past so they knew what I was doing. No point in having them sit behind for no reason so helping them pass safely is good for all. There is a roundabout near me with a right turn only lane on the approach which is quite commonly used to over take and then go straight ahead, its clearly signed and you can see by the driving it is deliberate overtaking and not accidently being in the wrong lane. I had a new Lotus Elise over take me there once which cut it way to fine when he swerved in to the gap in front of me at the last second and stood on his brakes to avoid the car in front, I had seen him coming but assumed he would slow in the right turn lane and drop in behind, at that point he discovered that his modern disc brakes where way better than my drum brakes (LR brakes weren't considered good when the car was new in the 1950 and by modern standards a pretty bad, the gap was there for a reason). No one was injured but his car was a total right off and he ended up pleading guilty to due care and attention (I believe on the warning it would a dangerous driving charge if it went to court). All I had to do was pick bits of fibreglass off the winch and front bumper.
5:16 why does Ashley come back to people not wanting to be overtaken by a driving school car when earlier in the video someone did exactly the same to a cammer who I presume was not using a driving school car? 5:51, if you let the other driver go there is no road rage, no risk to vehicle or life. You can try and stop them but if one of the drivers does not give way and there is a collision, is it worth it, if you bottle first the other driver may feel mighty proud but not if you just let them go. Not sure this is an accurate video of people not wanting to be overtaken but more not wanting a certain other driver to be in front.
I overtook someone recently who was driving slow and leaving a massive - in my opinion - unreasonable gap, which apparently triggered him! How dare I over take him! I overtook him in a safe area, he went and overtook me to regain his space in a dangerous fashion, he gave me lots of verbal abuse, brake checking, swerving into me etc.. Could see his presumably girl friend cowering in the front seat thinking not again!!
I remember last year on a slip road in the overtaking lane. Had a old guy in his Volvo hatchback in the left decide to put his foot down, for some reason I did too where we both were doing 70. A truck was coming up in front so braked early whilst this fool sped in front of me and started weaving in and out of traffic possibly to get away. Yesterday I had a Nissan leaf in the front of the traffic lights in the right lane put his foot down to get in front of me when I was in the front of the left lane then proceed to do 20 in a 30 zone. Don't know what goes on in people's heads 🤦
In regards to 5:45, I think it depends on the situation. I don't think we should let people get away with doing selfish, stupid and potentially dangerous things but don't get involved to the point where you might put yourself and/or others at risk. People will never learn or get put in their place if they're allowed to get away with everything and will continue doing it.
There will always be a-holes on the road, and nothing you do will stop them or change them, no point trying. However if you drive with care and courtesy you'll get a lot of friendly waves and thanks which makes up for all the bell ends. I used to ride motorbikes a lot in Australia so am hyper aware of their presence, always checking on the motorway for them coming and make it obvious I've moved for them so they know to pass safely. The drop down wave off the bar is always so damn satisfying, and having a generally happy experience with 99% of drivers is far more relaxing than trying to be judge and executioner out on the roads.
Following on from the previous vid on autopilot, this one is reaffirms my yearning for the truly autonomous vehicle. We will sit back and have forty winks or a giggle about what people got up to in the old days.
Not a problem to me if someone wants to get passed, easier to keep an eye on their next trick… but one of those situations was the 2 in 1 lane melarky, town where I work they get grumbles from visitors, I always see near misses. This town has 2 lanes before then the merge is immediately after lights usually the right laners are travelling at twice the speed of everyone else with that “attitude” head and just push in front of normal traffic and so the junction gets snarled up not a flow … if only the minority of people drove with sense like most …. 🙄
1:15. Thank you I was thinking what ever was wrong with that ? The Audi had to either brake to squeeze into a small space behind [and become a space invader] or accelerate slightly to a clear road ahead to come across.
When I have a bike behind wanting to pass I always leave a good gap in front and move over to the left side of the carriageway to make it as easy and safe as poss for them to pass. They nearly always wave in gratitude which makes me feel much better than trying to keep them behind.
I think life is much easier if you just think; people are always just doing the best they can, and alright, they might not always live up to our expectations but that's ok too. We can lower our expectations, increase our acceptance and balance out in the middle. 😂 people get in the wrong lane sometimes. It's not like I've never found myself in the wrong place. Just doing my best at the time.
@5:49 - i'm indifferent to that sort of thing. in my mind, they're trying to upkeep a fragile ego, and it's just not worth contesting. i prefer to let them embarrass themselves and demonstrate their lack of regard for other road users. the road is a shared space, and we all have a destination to get to. i would rather get to where i need to go safely and with the least amount of stress as possible. sometimes choosing not to escalate, or actively deescalating incidents like this are the best option.
Something that I feel doesn’t occur to many people is just because person A is driving at a speed that is appropriate to the road conditions for them and their vehicle, doesn’t mean that is the same appropriate speed for person B or C, and getting overtaken isn’t going to make any of those people any lesser a person. It’s been very wet today, and speeds naturally drop, but some people will have tyres, driver aids, and/or drivetrains more suited for the conditions, for me that’s fine if they want to go faster than me. Hell if they’re being dangerously fast then I would prefer them to be past me and nowhere near me. Also quick question, I drive a lot of country roads with lots of cyclists, if the driver behind overtakes and there’s the possibility they have failed to see the cyclist, what is your opinion of blocking that overtake to protect the cyclist? I currently try to do nothing and give the person behind the space to safely pull back in after passing me.
The only triggering I do now when I've been overtaken, is triggering myself if I didn't see it coming. It means my observations weren't up to scratch and I wasn't at full concentration. Give myself a mental telling off!
At 3:27 I wasn't sure if the Golf was "parking in" or pulling over to "have a discussion". Either way it would have made the Golf's desire to be one car ahead by cutting off the cammer so utterly pointless. And if they were indeed pulling in to park, do you really want to hack off another driver when you know you're going to be stopping in front of a house moments later? That's just inviting further trouble.
At 8:30, one German car driver against another. Who'd have thought! And the way those two were carrying on, you'd think there was some kind of prize at the end...but there never is in these situations. All I can say to both drivers is "Chill".
Ashley forgot something, the van on the dual carriageway was speeding aswell, would anyone like to remind themselves what is the speed limit for a van on a dual carriageway as I do see it on a dally basis and the amount of people I know that get the speed limit for vans wrong
So, I had a situation when on a motorway, passing a very long line of lorries all driving pretty close together. I passed the sign showing my exit was next in a mile or so, so started looking to try and move back to the left hand lane. Slowed to the speed of the lorries and indicated to show I wished to move in the left hand lane, but absolutely none of them remotely interested in letting me have a safe space to move across into. Slowed down even more, annoying the vehicles behind me, at least one lorry passed me on the left hand side and I finally ended up with a gap just about big enough to move into behind a lorry that had undertaken. Having negotiated my way into that lane I gently slowed to open up a slightly safer gap between me and that lorry in front. Cue the lorry behind using his horn then accelerating up till he was about 3ft behind me. (Still travelling at about 55mph at this point.) Not satisfied with that he then pulled into the middle lane, started overtaking me, and as his cab wheels drew level with me he just pulled back across into the left lane forcing me onto the hard shoulder to avoid a collision. Honestly fail to see what particularly I should have done differently except maybe miss my turning completely and have to go another 15 miles up the motorway before turning around.
3:38 I thought I recognised where that dual carriageway was used. Used to live in the town where it was used it quite a lot when I lived there quite funny seeing it in a video😆
I’d rather have a speeding driver in front of me than behind, if they want to break the law it’s not my job to punish them, it’s my job as a driver to get my passengers home safely. Another great video Ashley I’ve definitely improved as a driver since watching your channel.
Great minds think alike 👍
Well said and I totally agree, same as the motorbikes, I would rather have them in front of me than behind me
absolutely this, they are just going to tailgate anyway so id rather them out my way!
Yep, me too. I often utter to myself 'off you go & have your accident well away from me!'.
This.....you want them in front...way in front, so that you can see them. Not up your tail.
Thats the unwritten rule of motorcycling. I get to filter past you in traffic, you get laugh at me when its starts raining 🤣🤣
True 🤣
@@davecphotographyuk There's nothing more satisfying than being sat in traffic in a vehicle: A nice comfy chair to sit in, heat or cool air on demand, a selection of tunes or radio to listen to, you can even eat snacks if you're sensible about it...
@@EightPawsProductionsHD Hahahaha, no.
@@EightPawsProductionsHD but you could do all of that at home, where you would've been 20 minutes ago in a bike...
@@B_-.- I’m home 20 minutes later, but not cold, wet and dressed like a Power Ranger (©Clarkson😂)
When another driver passes me without due care I always imagine that it's an emergency and they are on their way to hospital. It probably never is but it allows me not to get annoyed. People treat driving as a competitive sport and it's not. It's a waltz! Everyone moving around in a crowded situation and keeping the rhythm so as not to bang into each other. If you ever start to feel frustrated, next time just try humming a waltz. Works for me!! Love your channel, always on the lookout to improve my driving and you defiantly help. Great Job.
and just a reminder that my biggest culture shock on visiting the UK was how UK residents treat driving as a collaboration instead of a competition.
@@kenbrown2808 TBH I think we have lost much of that - a point that Ashley makes repeatedly.
Personally I think that 2 years of less driving through lockdown, and the weird anthropomorphic identification that some people have with their cars, have much to do with it..
People on bikes get that when they rap on a vehicle that is dangerously close to remind the driver that they are there. It's not uncommon for a driver to launch into a "how dare you touch MY car like that" rant, when if they had been in a safe position on the road the person on the bike would not even be able to reach.
@@mattwardman well, yeah, the sensible people staying home during lockdown let the idiots make their bad habits worse, but drivers in the UK are much more collaborative, still.
@@kenbrown2808 Good reply.
I'd put a bit more weight on ordinarily careful and patient drivers getting out of practice. I bought a lovely new car nearly 4 years ago that has only just ticked over 10k miles - that's lockdown.
I tend to think of all of us as bad (or in particular, distracted) drivers sometimes. We all make mistakes, not at the same frequency, but we all do it.
And it is about working on habits that 'design-out' mistakes, or make them less likely.
@@mattwardman lucky you. I count as an essential worker, so I've been averaging over 250 miles a week.
I loved your comment about not being judge or jury. We can only change our own driving habits. Others will do as they do. Just drive with safety in mind.
Agree! Sooner or later, road-users who habitually flaunt the road-rules will eventually experience the consequences!
Makes no sense, everything people do in these videos is being judged.
At around 3:47 re "I think they're a little slow getting back to Lane 1". This may very well be the case but one very common issue I find with this type of overtake situation: Drivers all have their own differing opinions as to how early you should pull back in. And it's often this difference of opinion that I feel can lead to the type of situation we see here. I find many drivers pull back in too early, cutting up the vehicle they've just overtaken. (Sidenote: I've ended up with a windscreen chip due to this). If you are one of those drivers that habitually pulls back in to the left very early and you are behind another overtaker who is doing it properly by waiting to be fully clear before pulling back in - this can appear as though the overtaker in front of you is lane hogging. With the kind of result we see in this video. Namely a dive into the left lane to undertake. Whereas waiting a little longer would have likely seen the overtaker in front pull back in and everyone would have continued on their merry way without incident or drama. Unfortunately some drivers are hell bent on making something out of nothing.
When I overtake, I always try and leave 3 cars distance then pull in, in the case of having some impatient sod behind me, I pull in a little quicker to let them proceed and annoy someone else
@@robertleem5643 A 3 car gap at 70mph??
Once I have passed a vehicle I indicate my intention to move back to lane 1 before undertaking the manouevre. This tells any following vehicle that they will have the opportunity to pass me and allows me time to make sure I am past the vehicle I am overtaking. Even with impatient tailgaters, I have never been undertaken when doing this.
@@chrisrand5185 Yes I do that too re indicate left once past but not quite ready to move left just yet. Good point! However I try to avoid indicating too early and make it appear that I'm "panicking" to move over just because I'm being bullied from behind. I've seen other drivers "panic indicate" in this way...and get even more bullied! I'm convinced some drivers bully in this way just for sheer "fun" to see the car ahead of them panic. I'm honestly more than happy to move left and let a faster car pass me and I won't be a jerk about it but I find this whole aspect of bullying another car over when it's still too early to be a very inconsiderate piece of driving.
My rule is simply to give the car I'm passing the same size gap as I'd like to see in front of me (if I was driving their vehicle) before I pull back in. A simple case of do unto others as you'd have them do unto you. If I've someone impatient looking behind me I'll put on an early signal, both to placate them and to deter them from trying a dumb undertake (an all too common occurrence nowadays).
1:27 in & agree. I hate the ones doing under the limit on motorways/dual carriageways that speed up when you try to pass. I often cruise @ 63mph, and have on occasions slowly approached a car in front, slipped out a lane, clicked up to 65, to have my speed matched, 67, 70, 72, 74, 76, given up, pulled back in, beck to 63, only to catch them again less than a minute later!
Cue another 30 minutes of that nonsense where you just want a nice easy drive but they keep subconsciously blocking you and everyone else!
I get a bit hacked off when I'm overtaken doing 30 in a 30 limit, but I don't react to it.
The overtake that really annoys is when someone comes past because they've seen the nation speed limit signs in the distance, and don't like me keeping to the 30 limit, so they go past long before the 30 limit ends, and then pootle along at 45 until the next 30 limit, when they don't slow down at all.
As Ashley says, just let it go. Life's too short to get wound up about it in my book.
Similar, it's cars who overtake heavy vehicles on a hill because there are two lanes. Then go slower than the heavy vehicle was going once the 2nd lane, and hill, end
Totally agree. Have seen it happen too many times, now I actively look for it in my mirrors when I see a NSL coming up.
If you can see the National speed limit sign in the distance you should slowly increase speed before you get to it. It annoys me when you get stuck behind someone doing 30 until they literally cross the National speed limit sign and then accelerate like they’re in an F1 race
@@WarrenF I know: that seems sensible, doesn't it?
Sadly it's illegal.
The people who annoy you are probably Police or Advanced Motorist trained. We keep to the legal limit right up to the NSL sign, but when we reach the NSL we have already done our Information checks ahead and behind, have positioned the car for safety, have the speed dead on the limit, have selected a gear for good acceleration (usually a downshift of one or two ratios) and are ready to smoothly but quickly accelerate right when we hit the NSL.
Look at it this way: we have cleared the roadspace in front of you as quickly as we can legally (and safely). 😀
@@R04drunner1 Illegal but nowt wrong with it. NSL to 30 limits are invariably placed already taking into account many peoples behaviour, and thus by following thr letter of the law you in effect have a double safety factor. This then frustrates the likes of me, who think "ah we've got a rule follower (maybe they will stick to 20mph, etc, maybe they think NSL is 50) & thus it presents an opportunity to overtake as I will be able to accelerate into the faster road while you're still dawdling. So maybe it works out better this way. But personally I'd pay more respect to limits if they were more respectful of common sense and reasonable positioning. ie, at the boundary of a village, not 100m before. This is why I like the freedom of motorbikes, nobody is too bothered if you overtake and you don't worry about the car in front because you can overtake at will. In short it's more relaxing. You get less stressed, and I personally am less likely to get wound up, as I can just get past and get on with my own journey. So there you go.
The one comment I'd like to add to Ashley's attempt to overtake at the traffic lights (5:00) from the other car's perspective is 'Why are you in such a rush to get in front of that car? They aren't exactly going slowly, it's not as though there's an open road beyond where you can make use of any extra speed. You're just wasting petrol / diesel / electricity having to accelerate to get fast enough to make the overtake in the limited space and then brake to not hit the car in front to gain 5 metres of road distance (~the length of a car).'
That’s not a reason to block the overtake
@@iPro3million yeah, I agree that it's not a reason to block, just that I don't think I'd even have gone for an overtake in that situation. I also feel that the actions that Ashley is doing in this situation are similar to some of the 'must get in front of the learner' actions that I've seen criticised in other videos.
Agree. Ashley was being a bit of a dick there. Like all of us, he's not a perfect driver.
I think the VW driver slowed down and gave Ashley the opportunity to overtake, which he then positioned to look at (and to have a better view forward etc) and then the Golf did the bigger acceleration? Would be nice if Ashley had speed shown on his dashcam or (better!) pedal inputs!
Gonna play devil's advocate and say that if you'd made the overtake at 05:00 then you'd have taken up the other car's safety space and potentially forced them to brake sharply if they didn't see you in time. If I were driving your vehicle in that situation I would only be overtaking if I didn't know the road or made a mistake, otherwise I think the best course of action was to hold back and merge behind instead of trying to complete the overtake, and I could forgive the other driver for trying to prevent you from passing.
Just say it how it is. It was a stupid attempt at an overtake.
Tend to agree with this,. It looked like a single lane road which opens up to 2 lanes for the traffic lights, then back down to one again. You weren't stopped at the lights, there was essentially a single line of traffic making its way forwards as the lights were green. Prudence would be to hang back and just continue in that single file, rather than trying to use the very short-lived two lanes through the junction to effectively push forwards in that line of traffic, no? Being more "forceful" could easily trigger a driver who perceives you as queue-jumping, so better to just sit behind and continue as before - no hassle, no potential aggravation.
Well spotted Dan P. There's a decision to be made. Road space and safety vs road position. As Ashley states 'hell always use all the road space'. I think that the difference lost on Ashley, its highlighted here and he and I have disagreed on similar things before. If I understand Ashley correctly, he seems to believe that by moving into the outer lane at the traffic lights, that he using all the road space? When in fact he's actually moved from a position of safety to within just a few feet of the car in front! The left front wing of Ashley's car and the right rear wing of the car in front have no 'Margin For Error'.
This explains most concisely why Ashley and I have disagreed on certain issues concerning his own driving in the past.
@@SeymourScagnetti I didn't think Ashley was trying to overtake at those traffic lights. I think he tried to show that he was facilitating better traffic flow over the junction. Unfortunately as it's been spotted it's backfired.
@@copperfield3629 Very clever!
It's no mitigation, but I suspect that Ashley has tried to follow n from his excellent video about using the extra lanes added at traffic light.
The overtake is a dying art, and this curates the fear or animosity against them. I'd like to see you do a series on effective and safe overtakes.
Ashley already has, when overtaking make sure its clear, mirror check, life saver check, indicate and go, with the added little flash to make sure they know your intention or to grab there attention, ive been doing this since watching his video so i can feel confident that they are aware of me before overtaking.
Yes but also, people DON'T LIKE when you are overtaking THEM - they actually SPEED UP!
@@JohnM... If that happens I just ease of and drop back behind them, and not tailgate them.
On the roads I most frequently use, I'm either on a dual carriageway or roads where overtaking just isn't really permissible.
If you’re in a 30 mph limit, there’s no need to overtake. The overtakes that do happen are probably from people doing more than the speed limit, so other than motorways or getting past tractors and lorrys, why is there a need for the overtake on single lane? It’s just impatience.
My rule is simple: it's better to have the bad driver in front of you where it is so much easier to avoid entanglements, even if that means pulling over or turning off (once round a roundabout is a good way to increase the gap). At least they would struggle to follow you. They're also feeling some marginal sense of achievement when they've got ahead so are less likely to want to tango. Sadly, it'll all come to a conclusion one day with some other innocent person but it's not within my power to influence that in any way. When you spend your day working with antisocial and criminal behaviour that goes completely unsanctioned, some knob in a Beemer displaying the same immature sense of entitlement is of no consequence. I'm not going to allow them to take up my brain bandwidth by allowing them to occupy my thoughts. As far as I am concerned just being them is punishment enough.
A recommendation Ogmios.
True let them ruin someone else's day
@@highdownmartin Definitely the Ogmios way, but not nearly as watchable.
Nah I'd rather have the stupid driver far behind me. If they're in front I'm driving into whatever mess they're causing.
@@fbarnea if they’re behind you you could end up in that stupid mess. If they’re gone, you may catch up with it and you’ll be able to stop.
Really clear, eloquent and smooth commentary. Also really do appreciate and agree with your general judgment and assessment of the situations. Especially relating to motorcycles, can only wish all motorists shared your views. Thank you Ashley 👍
5:44 I've always said I want the idiots in front of me, not behind me. With this mindset you both 'win' as they feel victorious for getting in front but you feel like you put them right where you want them.
The first one on the motorway is a bit rude and can be a left hook if done incorrectly, but I often think it's the result of poor planning anyway. That said they didn't affect the cammer so I see your point, Ashley.
I think it's more that it's beneath them to be in the left-hand lane unless they absolutely need to be (i.e. at the last second). I doubt it's poor planning. It could be but I'm guessing they are familiar with that junction. I see it all the time. Doesn't affect anything though and as long as they're not causing me problems then let them get on with it!
@@MartinParnham That "beneath them" attitude may well be true, especially if they have the mindset that the left lane is the "slow lane".
I didn't write this above, but I had trucks in mind before and I do think it's poor planning when people left hook trucks at exits. It's a misjudgement of how much distance is covered when passing a long vehicle (ie. they only think about the length of the truck). They know their exit is coming in a mile or 1/2 mile and yet still go for an overtake on a truck. The result is predictable.
The Tesla overtaking at 06:38 is on the Chew Road south of Bristol. Although it is 50mph and 20mph further on in each direction, with occasional double white lines and sharp bends, at that point it is a National Speed Limit road with long dashed white lines and fairly straight. The cammer is doing 31mph according to the display.
I don’t think 4:50 was problematic (Ashley’s driving, not the Polo), however is there actually any benefit in moving to the other lane when traffic is relatively light and already flowing well? In this example, no additional traffic would make it through the lights by being in lane 2.
Given the traffic was moving and there was nothing to be gained by "using all the space" (It may have changed circumstance if the lights changed to red, however) it was borderline "must get ahead" behaviour.
Recently drove a few days in Turkey, everyone I told said "Ooh you're brave, would never drive on these roads". It was fine, just drive safely always looking out for other drivers. My best advice would be when someone is right up your backside wanting to overtake (happens a lot, nobody seems to keep to speed limits), find somewhere safe to slow down or even pull over and let them past, wasn't stressful at all. Would be nice if slow drivers here would do that rather than deliberately speed up when being overtaken which happens all too often in my experience.
That’s a personal bug bear. Overtaking people is a normal and legal part of road use. Good drivers plan their overtakes and do it safely. It’s hard to plan for the hitherto slow moving car suddenly igniting rockets and speeding up. That increases the overtaking car’s time in the risky position and makes the roads less safe.
My other bug bear, ironically, is the needless overtake. If I’m doing 30 and someone overtakes me, fair enough. I keep at 30 or drop a couples of mph to help. If they then once in front slow to 25 it begs the question of why they bothered (must get in front syndrome). The ideal overtake doesn’t affect the overtaken car before, during or after.
4:57 not seeing much wrong with the silver car. Where were you going if you overtook? Only into his braking zone.
"Always drive so as not to cause others to change speed or direction" that's the mantra I was told to follow if I wanted to pass my HGV test.
Love the fact that the first of the bikes in the clip at 7:20 is one of the Blood Bikes! They perform a wonderful service - and are ALL VOLUNTEER! Cheers and be safe from Canada!
Sadly, it's the 'ME ME ME' scenario that we witness every day, everywhere, and yes, it DOES rile you, even though we know it shouldn't. It's simply, frustration and can be extremelly difficult not to show it.
Great video Ashley. One thing my instructor always told me was that you can’t change how other people react to situations on the road, you can only alter your own driving to mitigate the risk and make it safer.
to answer the 5:50 question, yes, i think they feel like they are getting away with it. To me, they will just keep on doing it until one day they either hit someone, or the wrong person wont yield and a nasty road rage incident will occur. Seen it myself on a one-way road. Left lane for left only, right lane for straight and right turn. The amount of cars who go left lane straight and either end up forcing the cars to stop, or carrying on and mounting the pavement is worrying.
The clip at 6:28 I see drivers like this all the time. Drive at 35-40mph everywhere and then start flashing, honking and the other day saw someone speeding up to block a perfectly safe and legal overtake.
I do a lot of motorway driving and the most infuriating habit people have is speeding up when you attempt to overtake them safely and legally. You sometimes even get into an odd situation where you play leapfrog with another car that wants to cruise slower than you, but will go faster than you to overtake you. I travel with the cruise control on at 70mph and am sure to try and maintain a constant speed. Why do so many seem incapable of this? Or am I doing something wrong?
Some folk are unable to keep a constant speed, even on flat roads. Cruise control just makes it far more obvious!
I absolutely LOVE it when people do that to me when I'm sitting either on the limiter or cruise control. I just wanted to overtake and get back over and now I'm stuck here with 2 lanes free on the left of the person that's now matched my speed. The left indicator usually goes on and I move left in my lane to suggest that possibly they might be causing a problem...
5:52 if someone is lost this helps a lot for the nerves for a driver who may have gotten the wrong turning or lane. Keep calm and give space to make sure your safe first, if you get angry, you aren't looking out for yourself.
But still getting lost is not an excuse for incorrect usage of the lane. Id argue that the majority of the time its done on purpose and letting them go and not pulling them up on it is enabling the behaviour. If you can safely prevent them from doing it then you should. I think it should be a 6pt penalty and a fine. Its one of the most annoying things people do on the road.
I guess you've never been lost on a roundabout before and never gotten flustered...
@@rebeccaconlon9743 you carry out with the mistake and reroute.
Hi Ashley, I've just found your videos on youtube and am delighted that at last someone is highlighting bringing sensible driving to the fore. I watched 5 of your videos initially and have to say I wish every driver in the UK (too late for USA and rest of europe) would take the time to watch them. We need to stop competitive driving, unless on the track of course, and make drivers understand they are not the only ones on the road. I'm no angel but following a police driving course in 1980's improved my own driving by 100%. I worked as a sales rep (worst drivers in the world) so has driven hundreds of thousands of miles in the 50 years since I got my license. I enjoy driving quickly, my previous car was a Focus ST with 240 bhp, but experience meant I would only drive fast when the conditions allowed it. Keep up the good work and I wish there was someway your clear and sensible approach could be marketed. Best wishes Del
Your comment saying we are not " judge and jury " is definitely accurate for these scenarios. I believe in intervening in disputes / injustice but getting involved in any of these incidents would make the situation worse and more dangerous for everyone.
Thank you for another excellent video. I have been driving for 35 years but watch your videos to try to improve as I still find myself making many of the mistakes you highlight.
Each of us has our trigger points,. And it's important we get a grip on them. As they can distract our attention. They can also take us out of the calm alert mood (sometimes for the rest of the journey) that is best for driving/cycling/motorcycling.
I see myself in some of these situations, it’s hard to re-educate myself. It’s not easy to let things go sometimes.
The older I get the more mellow I am when I'm driving, I'll let most things go, even when someone else makes a mistake then instead of apologizing gives me abuse instead. I basically just call them a wanker and get on with my day. The only thing I do not, nor ever will, tolerate, are queue jumpers. I'm not talking about merge in turners who use all the available lane, I'm talking about 2 lanes of traffic, one lane goes off in one direction and has a queue, the other lane goes somewhere else and is free flowing, and the people who are too important to queue and know exactly what they are doing come down the empty lane then indicate and either jump into a gap or wait for some sap to let them in. I NEVER let them in, I will absolutely hold my ground and fight for my space, I wouldn't let someone push in front of me in a queue in a shop, so what's the difference in a car?
I was bought up that transit size vans speed limit was 60mph on dual carriageways (70 mph on motorways). I used to drive one. Perhaps I need to read up more to see if that's changed
It hasn't!
It hasn't, the van was speeding, Any van with a maximum laden weight exceeding 2.0 tonnes'.50mph on single carriageway National Speed Limit, 60mph on dual carriageway and 70mph on a motorway
@@CDB8939 that's what I thought, thank you
@CDB8939 nominate this for most ignored law in the uk
Your content is so great mate. I am a busdriver in Germany and it's quite literally the same in so many fields. People here aren't behaving much diffrent. I can still learn and improve my driving from your videos.
The main issue with people using the Right/Left Only lane to go straight on is that when you're sitting next to them, you can't see whether or not they are indicating as they should be turning away from you. They also don't necessarily need to indicate as they 'have' to turn anyway. And when it becomes clear that they are not turning, there's often not a lot of scope for giving way depending on the traffic situation. If you both move away and then they try to cut in, there's traffic behind you not expecting you to break/closing the space to stop the person cutting in front of them, there might be oncoming traffic heading straight for the 'should be turning' car, there might be literally no road in front of them so they have to cut in really sharply.
Great analysis on the first clip @Ashley. I would add that the Audi was in a ‘staggered’ road position prior to the overtake. They then used excellent acceleration/throttle sense (no show brake lights having moved into the lane of your cammer). Then maintained a road position where they were not The Meat in the Middle as they waited for the exit. All Advanced Motoring (common sense) practices.
Great detective work with the scooter overtake at 1min 30secs!
The clip at 3:44, the center line displays hazard markings so changing lanes is unwise until the hazard lines clear at 4:05. Doesn't excuse the brake-test, but apart from this the cammer has every reason to remain in the outside lane until the centreline markings show the hazard area has ended.
I've had a couple of instances on the motorway where I've overtaken a car doing say 55-60mph, and when I've passed they've suddenly matched my speed. I'm pretty sure they are baiting for someone to overtake in a small car so they can try and have a race. I don't give them what they want, but it's incredibly irritating! Difficult not get raged by it.
Sometimes the driver you are overtaking has been in a trance and lost concentration and not realised their speed has dropped. As you overtake, they wake up, check their speedo and get back on the gas. It’s embarrassment usually, not competition with you.
what is irritating about it?
@@truth.speaker On both occasions the drivers have sped up AND slowed down to block me from moving back into the left hand lane. They're just toying. I looked over the at the last guy and and he looked back and laughed. When I managed to pull back in behind he then sped off at well over 80+. I guess that's how they get their kicks - trying to put my little Yaris in its place! Same section on the A1(M) so maybe the same driver. Just don't see what they point of doing it is?
@@maxmaxwell3787 I agree that may often be the case, but I wouldn't expect someone to then actively block me from moving back into the left lane. Maybe just me, but if I lost concentration, started to speed up and then realised someone was trying to overtake i'd just ease off the gas and let them move over I guess some people really don't like being overtaken - especially by a small car.
Some people are just dozy mate, and it probably isn't good for the soul to assume the worst. When I started driving I regularly only noticed I was driving way too slowly when I saw others racing past me, where I'd then speed up. It wasn't intentional. Just doziness.
“We’re not judge or jurors over anyone else” Best quote to live by. Love it.
Arrogance is often the biggest enemy of driving
Conceivably the root cause of all incidents.
@@PedroConejo1939 along with being in too much of a rush, or distractions (e.g. using your phone, kids in the back, etc.). I'd guess that 90%+ are caused by one or a combination of those 3 things, with mechanical failures and medical emergencies a very distant 4th and 5th
Definitely right with this comment 👌
@@Haggisking Even some of the causes you mention have their roots in arrogance (eg. I know better than the law, etc).
You mean ego
04:57 - Sorry Ashley, I feel you are driving like a typical Audi or BMW driver here. There is no particularly good reason for choosing the overtake lane whilst the lights are green unless 1) you want to get ahead of the car in front or 2) you want a clip to make a point in this video.
Twice the volume can flow through while maintaining space from the vehicle in front. Interesting you don't see that as a valid reason!
I'm glad you watched this upload and hope you take something from it 👍
It was hardly worth it just to antagonise the driver in front. The road narrowed back to a single lane very quckly. Poor driving skill.
Overtaking across a junction is never a good idea
@S HM don't tell that to some cyclists 😂. @wirdy1 it's interesting you seem triggered by someone overtaking, so I'm glad you watched the video 👍
if someone catches up to me, then I generally let them around when it is safe to do so since I don't expect I'll see them again, afterwards. but here in the states, the common trend is as soon as an opportunity to overtake comes up, it is off to the races, and as soon as the opportunity closes, the brake lights come on.
case in point; there is a junction about a mile from the road home with a traffic light, and there is a passing lane at the last quarter mile. the speed limit increases from 50 to 55 just past the junction. the "normal" traffic speed out of the light is to slowly creep up from 30 MPH leaving the light to 45-50 MPH coming into the passing lane, then bang up to 70 MPH for the passing lane, and on the brakes back down to 50 after the passing lane.
the clip with the car and the van at 3:30 is the road i take to work everyday. there are fatal accidents on that road all of the time and i think that it is the competitive nature of some people that casue most of them especially as just past the traffic lights it goes down to a single lane with a merge in turn.
The van is also doing way over their speed limit, which is 60mph on a dual carriageway.
@@philwildcroft1764 around my area not many people can stick to speed limits unfornuately
@@owenluck5771silk mills is comical
@@owenluck5771 I don't think most van drivers even realise they're limited to 60 unless it's a motorway.
Thanks for this Ashley.
There is a stretch of road where the M23 becomes the A23 (all the way into Croydon) - it’s a single carriage road, but there are so many moments where it briefly becomes two lanes (traffic lights, roundabouts) and it gives motorists an opportunity to get a couple of cars ahead.
It’s such a frustrating strip of road to drive down as you feel as though you have to be competitive to not be overtaken constantly.
But if you are "overtaken constantly", does it matter? If you weren't, you might save a minute over the whole journey, more likely no more than 30 seconds. 🙂
I've never been bothered by people overtaking me, people not following the rules or doing something dangerous has frustrated me in the past, in some instances enough for me to react i'm ashamed to say. It's something I've worked on letting go in the last few years, with success, because as you it's just not worth it.
At around 1:40 I think the other thing that happened is that on seeing the temporary lights change to red, the cammer thought that the correct place to stop was at the white stop line. Although this would have been correct when the regular crossing lights were in operation, those were covered up and now the temporary lights took over. The cammer missed the temporary sign further back for "When red light shows wait here" likely as Ash said due to focussing on the overtaking motorbike. And since they were so near to that sign when the lights changed, plus the motorbike close behind, I reckon the cammer should have just continued even if they did notice the sign. Also, the issue with stopping at the stop line is that it doesn't give oncoming vehicles much room to swing back over to their side, which was the very reason for the sign further back in the first place.
I've made a similar mistake previously, at a junction that I regularly use. It's normally a 4-way light-controlled junction. On this day, there were temporary traffic lights in place instead - *behind* the regular stop lines. I focused on the stop line, which then of course put me in front of the temporary lights. Crap.
Now obviously I should have been paying more attention to the *sign*, but if there's an obvious and visible stop line - and especially if it's a junction you're used to - I think it's a very easy mistake to make. I feel that they should cover up the stop line in some way, and put a new/temporary stop line down at the sign, in scenarios like this.
@@BlazeFirereign I was thinking the same thing re covering up the more permanent stop line until the temporary lights are removed and it reverts to a proper crossing again. Or put the temporary lights where the temporary stop sign is. Not sure if that would have caused issues with trailing cables though?
These videos have helped me, even as a driver of 35 years, to understand that a space is not worth fighting over, particularly when on my motorcycle, I will come off second best in an incident. But as someone who can use transit lane and bus lanes I know that even though I have let the driver have the space initially I will, in the end get past them and reach my destination ahead of them.
I do see drivers deliberately moving across to block the gap to prevent filtering and, stick two wheels over into the bus lane as I pass them, if they are so jealous of the motorcyclists ability to make progress why do they themselves not learn to ride?
I've stopped it after the intro to say, the Audi wasn't an issue, for me, only for you to say the same. I don't have an issue with faster vehicles using the space I leave as I am a slower driver and expect faster vehicles to use the space if safe. If someone wants to come past, I will try and increase the gap to give them space and time. Nice video and analysis
Sometimes people in a dedicated turn lane who go straight ahead very fast before the correct lane starts do it because of very poor road markings where a dedicated lane pretty much ambushes even the best driver and they would not have been there had the road markings been good .
Theres one near me which I'm very familiar with and recently had extra left turn markings added much earlier probably in recognition of the fact it was causing accidents (guess) or enough locals had complained. Before that you essentially could turn up and find you were in a dedicated left turn lane with pretty much no warning / notice at all.
That Audi in the first clip was absolutely fine. Spotted where he needed to go, cleared the cammer, indicated correctly and didn't affect anyone
Yeh I couldn't see an issue with it, clearly familiar with the junction.
true, I usually see it done much closer. where the overtaker clearly feels an emotional need to overtake one more driver before their exit.
@@kenbrown2808 Sounds like some projection there, more likely they're just impatient, have a lack of planning and/or care.
@@Frost_Saber ah, yes, projection - the fallback accusation of someone who wants to attack someone but has no other reason to.
in short: it's not a habit I have, nor is it an urge I feel. and in fact, if I am approaching an exit on a freeway (motorway) I am more likely to slow down and drop behind another vehicle, rather than do a late overtake. because I'm not impatient, have a lack of planning, or lack of care.
and I've long since figured out how childish it is to want to win a race against someone who isn't racing.
1:04 that was mild to what they do on the A2 by Chatham, Gillingham, Rochester turn offs, or the m25
When you’re watching a clip and suddenly realise it’s a road you drive on almost every day 😂 Great stuff Ashley!
Often see this on motorways. Overtake a slow moving vehicle only for them to suddenly speed up either to stop you completing the overtake or to re-overtake you soon after, only for them to slow down again. What is it with these people? Are they doing it deliberately in their little fantasy world? Or are they in their little fantasy world and just unaware of everything going on around them and can't keep a consistent speed? If they do it to me a couple of times then I just hang back for a while until something else occupies their tiny minds.
It's often that they don't have a clue that they are doing it/don't have a clue that they shouldn't be doing it!
Not helped by the number of vehicles with Active Cruise Control aka the middle lane hoggers friend.
Set it at 70, sit in lane 2, lorry pulls out to over take, the car deals with it by slowing/braking as needed, lorry pulls back in, car accelerates itself back to 70 with compete disregard for anyone trying to do the correct thing and pass in lane 3.
usually tailgaters slow down when you let them pass.
Plenty of people don't like being overtaken, but one of the *WORST* culprits are those who drive slower than the speed limit, driving at 40mph on a 50mph road for example, other drivers pull out to overtake and the slower driver speeds up, the overtaking driver can't get past, so they drop back in behind, and the slower driver drops back down to 40mph - *WHY?* I _NEVER_ did understand that "Gandalf" logic, and had several instances of it as a lorry driver
*_THEY SHALL NOT PASS_*
And I am sure many others could tell a similar story of such stupid petty behaviour over nothing
I'm not convinced that this is always malicious. With a lorry, maybe, as they don't want to sit behind you and selfishly want you to travel at the same speed. However, often I think it's the result of judging speed based on vehicles around them, ie. they speed up to keep up with the overtaking vehicle.
Yeah, they’ll speed up when you’re alongside. You end up beside each other and a bend in the road is fast approaching.
I confess to being guilty of this myself. I'm just a competitive person and sometimes, I'm ashamed to say, this competitive instinct can be too powerful. Only when I'm alone though, never with passengers. Anyhow, I know it's childish, wrong and potentially dangerous and it's something I'm trying hard to correct in my driving. I'm finding your videos very helpful. Thank you.
Many years back now when I was younger and more foolish, I was driving behind a tractor, looking for a chance to overtake, when a small van overtook me and the tractor in one go. The red mist descended. All I could think was that he thought he'd won.
A chance came and I overtook the tractor before charging after the van who I then overtook. I then waved at him as if to say you lose and I win.
Once it was over and the van turned off, I was actually shaking a bit from the monumentally stupid behaviour. If I'd crashed and killed someone, prison could be waiting for me. All so I could 'win'.
I have the odd red mist moment now but nothing like that anymore.
I had a red mist moment when I was a young driver. A car overtook me unexpectedly in a built up area and I accelerated to give chase. Thankfully I had my mum in the front passenger seat who called out my name and I caught myself on. I was shocked and ashamed at how easily I'd slipped into angry mode, so after that I watched out for the warning signs in me, especially when driving alone.
As Ashley says, just let them go. Be the better driver.
Damn, you red mist people need help
And that is exactly what they are here for.
And me too for that matter.
Ashley's videos are a lovely way of softly breaking the news that you are a bad driver.
In almost all other driving videos it highlights how idiotic other drivers are. Ashley does a damned fine job of putting us, the idiot, in the humble internal perspective chair.
Self reflection is very difficult, especially on the faceless judgmental space that is social media. So I just wanted to say, well done to those that admit to their own faults, so that others may learn from them.
And thank you to Ashley to provide us with a safe space to share them!
6:54 is that filtering? I class filtering as moving carefully between slow or stationary traffic. When cars are moving this quickly, it's just an overtake in my book. Look at rule 88, it doesn't seem to fit that description:
"Additionally, when filtering in slow-moving traffic, take care and keep your speed low"
Have to agree, it's a little quick for filtering.
After watching Ashley's videos, I remember going slowly because there was traffic ahead and the person behind me started to tailgate me, he then overtook me and started to drive slowly in front of me thinking it would annoy me but I just drove slower to maintain the distance, which made his actions worthless. After nearly 3/4 minutes of this, we both got stuck in the traffic. I think he realised then, it was all pointless and the rage just fazed out. It was the day that changed the whole dynamics of my driving attitude, hopefully forever.
Luckily, I quite often get comments like this about how people have changed, driving mindset after watching my videos. It's comments like these that are the absolute icing on the cake for me. RUclips is quite demanding timewise but knowing that I've been able to make a difference couldn't make me happier. Thank you so much!
5:55 is the main road between Aberdeen and Inverness (I know it far too well). It’s mainly single carriage way and is a nightmare. Cars emerge out of nowhere, frustrated drivers tailgate and I’ve seen many dangerous overtakes
Not sure if I'm imagining this, but when I am on my motorbike I notice some drivers will pull out on a dual carriageway and then run alongside the vehicle they were supposed to be overtaking, occasionally they will reduce their speed further until we end up in the outside lane doing less than the traffic in the inside lane. I assume they are trying to get me to go up the inside. On one occasion I moved into the inside lane and just rode behind them, (behind, not in their blind spot). They then put on their left indicator, kept it on and stayed in the outside lane. This carried on for more than a mile. Mind you I have seen the same thing done to police cars with blue lights on. It's pretty odd behaviour. When I went on a police bikesafe training course they told me off for taking too long to overtake - their view was decide if it is on and then go, don't hang about.
When I get into these situations, I usually tell myself, let it go, if they are the problem, they will probably face karma in the road ahead, sooner they will learn their lessons. Best to ignore, enjoy the ride and drive safely.
5:55: idc if what they’re doing is illegal, i’d rather do whatever’s safest and let them get away with it rather than try to chase them
The old 'speed up to stop this person over-taking me' is something I encounter a lot - I often wonder if it's because I'm driving a wee 1.2 Corsa
I also hate it when people don't overtake me - if you're driving that much faster than me, why stick behind me getting more annoyed when you could simply go around? Especially when I've dropped off in speed to allow you to do that, and even more especially when it's a three lane motorway!?
From overseas: not to mention that denying an overtake increases risk all around. I can't stand it when I get a chance to pass a lorry, it accelerates over the limit just because eff me.
This puts me at an even bigger risk - my car is not a hundred-horse powerhouse, so if all comes to the worst, I need to interrupt the overtake and fall back - probably to the dismay of the one following me, closing space up. This would be a sad moment, for I plan my moves carefully, and even then there is an element that is dependent on the other drivers; will they oblige the road rule to aid an overtake (reduce speed, clear space - reduce risk whenever, however, wherever). All because some take it as derogatory - to yield to an overtake, that is.
3:38 clip is at Thornfalcon, just outside Taunton and regular accidents occur there.
As always, a nice balanced analysis. On clip on first view I disagreed, but went back, & yes they Did close the gap
one thing that has caught me out a few times is that the arrows on the lane priorities are only near the end of the lane to the junction and /or they are obfuscated either by que of cars or worn out, leaving you in a right turn lane wanting to go straight on
Devon Pensioner Syndrome! (I'm one myself ;-) )
I do a lot of my driving on long bypassed ex Trunk roads here, and often trigger people by overtaking them entirely safely and properly. This is usually displayed by lots of headlight flashing and sometimes by them increasing their speed very substantially from the 45 they were doing when I caught up with them while I'm ambling along at below 60!
Very strange.
3:09 "try and pick up on the clues early" - the other car is a Golf? 😅
I like my Golf 😂
If someone overtakes me, I prefer they do it safely, but I don't prevent it either way. If it's not particularly safe, I'll ease back because there's no way in the world I want to be involved in an accident because someone's being stupid in front of me.
There was one I had recently who overtook me, seemingly because I didn't let them come out of a junction in front of me based on how it was done.
It was still done safely though but still felt like retribution. I let them go regardless but met them up at a set of traffic lights shortly up ahead anyway so it really saved them absolutely nothing 😅
03:32 - I thought I recognised this road. It's the A 358 out of Taunton. I've driven it so many times it's ingrained in my visual field lol.
As always a great video. Though with both a BMW and an Audi in the last video I expected that to go on for hours of overtaking slowing down and the obligatory no signalling.
Though I use to drive a BMW X5 as a company car. I didn’t usually get overtaken. People use to drive like they were on their driving test, and suddenly everyone’s indicators worked regardless of their make of vehicle. Though it might have had something to do with the company logo “POLICE” and blue lights 😂. I have to say to be honest the amount on their phones who wouldn’t see the vehicle. Even if it was lit up like a Christmas tree.
Great content yet again.
🤣🤣 my ex had a motorcycle, when viewed from front it looked much like a police motorcycle (and his helmet was white at front), it's amazing the number of drivers who would suddenly slow to speed limit and remember what those indicators are for!
LOL.
I drive a dark coloured saloon in the Police Roadcraft style. When I have a friend in the car so we are two-up, it's amazing the number of drivers who react as if we're an undercover Police car!
The only frustration I have with being overtaken is when I’m in my van on a dual carriageway or motorway, my van is restricted to 60-61mph (GPS) because I have a trailer on 95% of the time.. Only for the person who overtakes to do under 60mph in front of me instead of behind me. It baffles me because do I resign to 55-56mph or do I risk overtaking for the next 2 miles only for them to decide they don’t want to be overtaken and hold me in the awkward predicament of dropping back after making “some” progress or holding out for the eventuality the drive to drop back to 55mph? I can guarantee if I drop back and pull in behind them, they tend to slow down again. But to what end? I don’t care about being overtaken, I’m slow, heavy, nearly 35ft long and nearly 7 ton but I can still do 60mph comfortably, safely, efficiently but if I’m clearly making progress into my stopping distance I’m going to overtake, as would (and do) any HGV..
I used to be a speed racer back in my own country, quite vocal & aggressive. Lost my licence twice and received around 6 speeding tickets in 5 years. I arrived in the UK 7 years ago and I learned my approach was not good. Been driving here for 7 years, not one incident, speeding or a ticket. Think age & experience plays a massive role, I now am just amused by other drivers such as I was, I slow down, allow them to join and very rarely beep or get upset.
It's been many years since I was a regular motorcyclist, but even now I fully appreciate and know from experience, a mc usually has a far better view of the road than a car driver. What might look like dodgy riding is more often than not perfectly safe for a rider.
I used to be an aggressive driver, took a few risks, treated every drive like the Le Mans 24 heur. Then I went to live and work in Saudi, where the worlds most dangerous drivers ply their trade, where speed cameras are everywhere (its not unusual to see cars with number plates covered up, even ones driven by Police or Soldiers), if you get a speeding fine, it pings on your phone and you cannot leave the Kingdom with any unpaid fines, even for a vacation. ,and if you have an accident, you have to wait for the Police to come and apportion blame, you cant get a car body repaired without a certificate from the Police. And they tend to apportion blame according to who was driving, Saudis least likely to get blamed, following by Westerners, then non saudis.
It changed me as a driver, I am less aggressive, drive very defensively (Remember, Undertakers, love overtakers) and am enjoying watching your videos for the extra tips. As we say in Saudi, "Shukran".
10:47 I have to say that is not filtering; it's overtaking if the traffic is moving at speed like that. filtering is actually when the line of traffic is going very slowly which they weren't. I agree that you shouldn't retaliate however.
6:28 we don't know what led to the overtake. It could be just that, a faster moving car making a pass. The Tesla also could have come screaming through the junction and passed the cammer with little care.
I agree that it didn't affect the cammer though.
Page 46 of the highway code does say BMWs have priority.
8:20 when I see this sort of situation unfolding behind me, my biggest fear is they are going to collide with me since they are distracted. I would be inclined to get out of their way by either parking, or turning off the road. I'd rather not be a victim of this juvenile and frankly pathetic behaviour.
A good bit of advice my dad once told me, 'Let the idiots get past you, keep them where you can see them easily'.
I don't care about being overtaken, I intentionally leave home early enough to get where I'm going with time to spare. That way I'm not going to feel the need to rush and get aggravated.
At 0:10 I’d lay odds that the Audi driver was local, as they knew the second slip lane off the road existed. They were hesistant to check if the car ahead was maintaining speed. In that case they would have needed to slip behind our driver. But see them power on at 0:17 when they could the gap widening. I have seeen much closer calls than this, but it was good to educate the learner.
The clip at 3:50 with the "dueling viewer and silver van" is the A358 east out of Henlade, it's the only section of duel road for 6 miles of a busy M5/A303 connection. You get idiots like this almost every time you are on there, then west bound you get the anti merge in turn police who would rather sit in a mile of congestion than a half mile of congestion.
I drove a 1955 Land Rover for many year so being over taken was pretty common, top speed was about 50mph but 40mph was more comfortable, when ever I could I would pull in tight to the left and wave cars past so they knew what I was doing. No point in having them sit behind for no reason so helping them pass safely is good for all. There is a roundabout near me with a right turn only lane on the approach which is quite commonly used to over take and then go straight ahead, its clearly signed and you can see by the driving it is deliberate overtaking and not accidently being in the wrong lane. I had a new Lotus Elise over take me there once which cut it way to fine when he swerved in to the gap in front of me at the last second and stood on his brakes to avoid the car in front, I had seen him coming but assumed he would slow in the right turn lane and drop in behind, at that point he discovered that his modern disc brakes where way better than my drum brakes (LR brakes weren't considered good when the car was new in the 1950 and by modern standards a pretty bad, the gap was there for a reason). No one was injured but his car was a total right off and he ended up pleading guilty to due care and attention (I believe on the warning it would a dangerous driving charge if it went to court). All I had to do was pick bits of fibreglass off the winch and front bumper.
Since I started watching your videos I just let it go, and I avoid to get involved in things like this. Changed the way I drive by a lot.
Same here. I never use my horn to tell people off these days, I just do what's needed to avoid a problem and then get on with my journey.
5:16 why does Ashley come back to people not wanting to be overtaken by a driving school car when earlier in the video someone did exactly the same to a cammer who I presume was not using a driving school car? 5:51, if you let the other driver go there is no road rage, no risk to vehicle or life. You can try and stop them but if one of the drivers does not give way and there is a collision, is it worth it, if you bottle first the other driver may feel mighty proud but not if you just let them go. Not sure this is an accurate video of people not wanting to be overtaken but more not wanting a certain other driver to be in front.
I overtook someone recently who was driving slow and leaving a massive - in my opinion - unreasonable gap, which apparently triggered him! How dare I over take him! I overtook him in a safe area, he went and overtook me to regain his space in a dangerous fashion, he gave me lots of verbal abuse, brake checking, swerving into me etc.. Could see his presumably girl friend cowering in the front seat thinking not again!!
I remember last year on a slip road in the overtaking lane. Had a old guy in his Volvo hatchback in the left decide to put his foot down, for some reason I did too where we both were doing 70. A truck was coming up in front so braked early whilst this fool sped in front of me and started weaving in and out of traffic possibly to get away. Yesterday I had a Nissan leaf in the front of the traffic lights in the right lane put his foot down to get in front of me when I was in the front of the left lane then proceed to do 20 in a 30 zone. Don't know what goes on in people's heads 🤦
In regards to 5:45, I think it depends on the situation. I don't think we should let people get away with doing selfish, stupid and potentially dangerous things but don't get involved to the point where you might put yourself and/or others at risk. People will never learn or get put in their place if they're allowed to get away with everything and will continue doing it.
There will always be a-holes on the road, and nothing you do will stop them or change them, no point trying. However if you drive with care and courtesy you'll get a lot of friendly waves and thanks which makes up for all the bell ends. I used to ride motorbikes a lot in Australia so am hyper aware of their presence, always checking on the motorway for them coming and make it obvious I've moved for them so they know to pass safely. The drop down wave off the bar is always so damn satisfying, and having a generally happy experience with 99% of drivers is far more relaxing than trying to be judge and executioner out on the roads.
Following on from the previous vid on autopilot, this one is reaffirms my yearning for the truly autonomous vehicle. We will sit back and have forty winks or a giggle about what people got up to in the old days.
Another excellent video Ashley, keep them coming
Not a problem to me if someone wants to get passed, easier to keep an eye on their next trick… but one of those situations was the 2 in 1 lane melarky, town where I work they get grumbles from visitors, I always see near misses. This town has 2 lanes before then the merge is immediately after lights usually the right laners are travelling at twice the speed of everyone else with that “attitude” head and just push in front of normal traffic and so the junction gets snarled up not a flow … if only the minority of people drove with sense like most …. 🙄
1:15. Thank you
I was thinking what ever was wrong with that ? The Audi had to either brake to squeeze into a small space behind [and become a space invader] or accelerate slightly to a clear road ahead to come across.
When I have a bike behind wanting to pass I always leave a good gap in front and move over to the left side of the carriageway to make it as easy and safe as poss for them to pass. They nearly always wave in gratitude which makes me feel much better than trying to keep them behind.
I think life is much easier if you just think; people are always just doing the best they can, and alright, they might not always live up to our expectations but that's ok too. We can lower our expectations, increase our acceptance and balance out in the middle. 😂 people get in the wrong lane sometimes. It's not like I've never found myself in the wrong place. Just doing my best at the time.
Well said Ollie, we’re all getting by as best we can and we’re all at the centre of our Universe, no one else’s.
@5:49 - i'm indifferent to that sort of thing. in my mind, they're trying to upkeep a fragile ego, and it's just not worth contesting. i prefer to let them embarrass themselves and demonstrate their lack of regard for other road users. the road is a shared space, and we all have a destination to get to. i would rather get to where i need to go safely and with the least amount of stress as possible. sometimes choosing not to escalate, or actively deescalating incidents like this are the best option.
Something that I feel doesn’t occur to many people is just because person A is driving at a speed that is appropriate to the road conditions for them and their vehicle, doesn’t mean that is the same appropriate speed for person B or C, and getting overtaken isn’t going to make any of those people any lesser a person. It’s been very wet today, and speeds naturally drop, but some people will have tyres, driver aids, and/or drivetrains more suited for the conditions, for me that’s fine if they want to go faster than me. Hell if they’re being dangerously fast then I would prefer them to be past me and nowhere near me.
Also quick question, I drive a lot of country roads with lots of cyclists, if the driver behind overtakes and there’s the possibility they have failed to see the cyclist, what is your opinion of blocking that overtake to protect the cyclist? I currently try to do nothing and give the person behind the space to safely pull back in after passing me.
The only triggering I do now when I've been overtaken, is triggering myself if I didn't see it coming. It means my observations weren't up to scratch and I wasn't at full concentration. Give myself a mental telling off!
At 3:27 I wasn't sure if the Golf was "parking in" or pulling over to "have a discussion". Either way it would have made the Golf's desire to be one car ahead by cutting off the cammer so utterly pointless. And if they were indeed pulling in to park, do you really want to hack off another driver when you know you're going to be stopping in front of a house moments later? That's just inviting further trouble.
At 8:30, one German car driver against another. Who'd have thought! And the way those two were carrying on, you'd think there was some kind of prize at the end...but there never is in these situations. All I can say to both drivers is "Chill".
Ashley forgot something, the van on the dual carriageway was speeding aswell, would anyone like to remind themselves what is the speed limit for a van on a dual carriageway as I do see it on a dally basis and the amount of people I know that get the speed limit for vans wrong
So, I had a situation when on a motorway, passing a very long line of lorries all driving pretty close together. I passed the sign showing my exit was next in a mile or so, so started looking to try and move back to the left hand lane. Slowed to the speed of the lorries and indicated to show I wished to move in the left hand lane, but absolutely none of them remotely interested in letting me have a safe space to move across into. Slowed down even more, annoying the vehicles behind me, at least one lorry passed me on the left hand side and I finally ended up with a gap just about big enough to move into behind a lorry that had undertaken.
Having negotiated my way into that lane I gently slowed to open up a slightly safer gap between me and that lorry in front. Cue the lorry behind using his horn then accelerating up till he was about 3ft behind me. (Still travelling at about 55mph at this point.) Not satisfied with that he then pulled into the middle lane, started overtaking me, and as his cab wheels drew level with me he just pulled back across into the left lane forcing me onto the hard shoulder to avoid a collision. Honestly fail to see what particularly I should have done differently except maybe miss my turning completely and have to go another 15 miles up the motorway before turning around.
3:38 I thought I recognised where that dual carriageway was used. Used to live in the town where it was used it quite a lot when I lived there quite funny seeing it in a video😆
Not sure the guy at 6:20 was intentionally closing the space, looks more like the guy in front braking caused the space to close.