does the general public dislike 'advanced' drivers?

[crocodile tears]

Anyone else sometimes feel like they may be a considered a 'nuisance' by the general public?

- in heavily built up areas people tailgate you because you're travelling at a sensible speed

- in less built up areas when there are for instance red lights or roundabouts whilst you ease off the throttle/time your approach so you its fluid everyone else seems to plough in/change lanes to get ahead or tailgate behind you in only hit the brakes or stop whilst you cruise straight past them all.

- even when you're out in the countryside down safe open roads people seem upset that you make good progress and perform fast, safe and well thought out overtakes.

Edited by crocodile tears on Monday 14th May 00:46

[davepoth]

crocodile tears said:

Anyone else sometimes feel like they may be a considered a 'nuisance' by the general public?

- in heavily built up areas people tailgate you because you're travelling at a sensible speed

- in less built up areas when there are for instance red lights or roundabouts whilst you ease off the throttle/time your approach so you its fluid everyone else seems to plough in/change lanes or tailgate behind you in only hit the brakes and stop only for you cruise straight past them.

- even when you're out in the countryside down safe open roads people seem upset that you make good progress and perform fast, safe and well thought out overtakes.

Don't confuse "Advanced" (with a capital A) with "sensible" driving. If you are keeping to a safe speed (which may be much less than the posted limit depending on circumstances) through built up areas, avoiding harsh braking and accelerating, and driving smoothly and quickly on the open road, it's their problem.

[Synchromesh]

Yes. All three situations are all too familiar.

[GravelBen]

How dare you reveal their inadequacies by displaying competence!

Tbh PH isn't that different, notice all the sarcastic 'driving god' comments in GG if you admit to being able to control a slide?

[AnotherGareth]

crocodile tears said:

- in less built up areas when there are for instance red lights or roundabouts whilst you ease off the throttle/time your approach so you its fluid everyone else seems to plough in/change lanes to get ahead or tailgate behind you in only hit the brakes or stop whilst you cruise straight past them all.

I've seen some people who've trained for and passed an advanced driving test take this to extremes, in that they try to almost completely avoid using the brakes, perhaps forgetting that one attribute of advanced driving relates to fitting in with prevailing traffic conditions and not needlessly standing out in a way that would antagonise other drivers.

[Pugsey]

crocodile tears said:

Anyone else sometimes feel like they may be a considered a 'nuisance' by the general public?

- in heavily built up areas people tailgate you because you're travelling at a sensible speed

- in less built up areas when there are for instance red lights or roundabouts whilst you ease off the throttle/time your approach so you its fluid everyone else seems to plough in/change lanes to get ahead or tailgate behind you in only hit the brakes or stop whilst you cruise straight past them all.

- even when you're out in the countryside down safe open roads people seem upset that you make good progress and perform fast, safe and well thought out overtakes.

Edited by crocodile tears on Monday 14th May 00:46

IF (I do say IF) you're driving around feeling that you're an 'advanced' driver and spending lots of time noting that everyone else is getting it 'wrong' then maybe (just maybe) you've got a ways to go yet. Especially of you're driving seems to be effecting the actions of the vast majority. I always think the sign of a good driver is to be all but 'invisible' (in a safe way) to the rest of the world.

Not meant as an attack on OP!

[crocodile tears]

I wouldn't say I'm elitist or take anything to the extremes, nor am I being tail-gated 24/7.. I just always notice theses instances when they do happens.. Very much depends on what you would class as tail-gating too

The same people who are eager to speed in built up areas never make progress in national speed limits - its almost opposites

Being very keen on observation means you never really get bored on otherwise dull journeys imo

Its always interesting to see what's going on around you

[shandyboy]

It's hard not to feel frustrated sometimes at how others drive even though I know you should only concentrate on your own driving.

I was tailgated by a young guy in a Focus through a 30 area, then it went to 40 and as I stuck to the limit, he stayed glued to my back bumper (I didn't go over the speed limit, or drift near the middle of the road, nor would I have blocked any overtake if he tried)

There are roadworks up above, and the lights just changed red to let the other traffic pass, so I pulled up to the wait sign.

Focus sees what's happening, but overtakes me, then goes through the red (which has now been red for maybe 10 seconds) and is on his merry way. I can only sit there and think "if I did that, there'd be a police car coming the other way"...

Similarly, there road past Keelham Farm shop used to be a 50 (it's quite wide and no houses etc for most of it), now it's a 30 with a very short section of 40. If you stick to the limit, you're tailgated and harassed (sometimes they'll overtake but often just show their displeasure by hanging off your bumper).

I know that the one time I get fed up of it and go as fast as the other traffic, I'll get a ticket...

I'm not an advanced driver (by any means!) as I nearly drove into the side of a Passat on Saturday (unfamiliar area and no road markings on a side street!) but some of the stuff you see makes you wonder.

[blindswelledrat]

crocodile tears said:

Anyone else sometimes feel like they may be a considered a 'nuisance' by the general public?

- in heavily built up areas people tailgate you because you're travelling at a sensible speed

- in less built up areas when there are for instance red lights or roundabouts whilst you ease off the throttle/time your approach so you its fluid everyone else seems to plough in/change lanes to get ahead or tailgate behind you in only hit the brakes or stop whilst you cruise straight past them all.

- even when you're out in the countryside down safe open roads people seem upset that you make good progress and perform fast, safe and well thought out overtakes.
]

You think you are better at driving than anyone else, thus your judgment should apply to everyone and are happy to hold everyone up who has a different opinon.
Other people clearly have different opinions on safe speeds, yet are frustratedly held up by you.
THe arrogance of the thread title/your post speaks volumes about the sort of person/driver you are.
And the reality is that if you are finding an excess of people tailgating you because they have a different opinon of the circumstances, then I suspect it is your interpretation that is questionable.

FOr the record I regularly drive below 30 in certain conditions and cannot remember the last time I was tailgated.

[crocodile tears]

blindswelledrat said:

crocodile tears said:

Anyone else sometimes feel like they may be a considered a 'nuisance' by the general public?

- in heavily built up areas people tailgate you because you're travelling at a sensible speed

- in less built up areas when there are for instance red lights or roundabouts whilst you ease off the throttle/time your approach so you its fluid everyone else seems to plough in/change lanes to get ahead or tailgate behind you in only hit the brakes or stop whilst you cruise straight past them all.

- even when you're out in the countryside down safe open roads people seem upset that you make good progress and perform fast, safe and well thought out overtakes.
]

You think you are better at driving than anyone else, thus your judgment should apply to everyone and are happy to hold everyone up who has a different opinon.
Other people clearly have different opinions on safe speeds, yet are frustratedly held up by you.
THe arrogance of the thread title/your post speaks volumes about the sort of person/driver you are.
And the reality is that if you are finding an excess of people tailgating you because they have a different opinon of the circumstances, then I suspect it is your interpretation that is questionable.

FOr the record I regularly drive below 30 in certain conditions and cannot remember the last time I was tailgated.

you are genuinely deluded.

I put 'advanced' in the title because I don't really believe in the elitist attitude.

But yes you are correct - as per my opening post; I hold people up who want to slam their brakes for traffic lights, want to go speed past schools during busy times and who can't judge roundabouts properly.

Driving standards does appear to vary depending on where you live.. It can even depend on what type of car you drive as to what type attention you receive.

p.s I'm a driving god

Edited by crocodile tears on Monday 14th May 14:29

[supersport]

I would agree that a lot of drivers appear to be a bit st, but I think most of them are just lazy and selfish.

I often get tailgated through 20/30/40 zones even though I am sat on the limit. These are the same people who when the road opens up and I disappear into the distance amazingly soon catch up in the next village.

Just look at the gaps between cars on dual carriage ways/motor ways, often with some prat sat in the middle lane.

Yellow boxes are ignored, red lights are ignored, people block roads/junctions and for some reason the vast majority of the population think that the NSL for a bloody wide open road is 45mph regardless of how many times it is actually 40 or less. These are the same morons get all upset and start flashing/honking if you overtake them.

[R0G]

I get 'tailed' on the straight easy bits of road but lose them at most physical hazards such as chicanes or roundabouts

Best one is one I do quite often - tailed at 30 in a 30 limit as it starts to go up a steep hill where the limit changes to 40 - at 40 sign I accelerate briskly to 42 in 3rd then change to 4th (loses 2mph) - look in mirror and see a huge gap behind ..... thats in a 1400 cc Seat Ibiza

[Deva Link]

blindswelledrat said:

FOr the record I regularly drive below 30 in certain conditions and cannot remember the last time I was tailgated.

What do you mean by "certain conditions"?

I live in a fairly calm, semi-rural, area but pretty well always get tailgated through the 30 limits (which are quite aggresively and sneakily Policed here - daughter got done for 36 the other day).

[Dave Hedgehog]

many people applying "sensible" distances tend to be doing so either based on a 1950s car with drum brakes all round or based on the reactions of a 90 year old

if someones up your arris 9/10 you are the problem

traffic generally has a natural flow to it

[blindswelledrat]

Deva Link said:

What do you mean by "certain conditions"?

I live in a fairly calm, semi-rural, area but pretty well always get tailgated through the 30 limits (which are quite aggresively and sneakily Policed here - daughter got done for 36 the other day).

Past a school. On sunny weekend days through areas kids are likely to be playing.
THose are just two that spring to mind. I don't regularly do it, though as I am confident in my general awareness that 30 mph is plenty slow enough under most conditions, bearing in mind that this limit also applies to pensioners with half my reaction times.

[anonymous-user]

its the beards that get me riled

[supersport]

Dave Hedgehog said:

many people applying "sensible" distances tend to be doing so either based on a 1950s car with drum brakes all round or based on the reactions of a 90 year old

if someones up your arris 9/10 you are the problem

traffic generally has a natural flow to it

Are you advocating not leaving a sensible gap between cars?

Clearly I am the problem because I am one of the few drivers in my area that believes 30 is reasonable in a 30 limit through residential streets. Where as the nob who tailgated us down our road last Saturday before over taking and then immediately turning right despite the wife sitting dead on 30 was clearly a gold standard driver

Personally I don't remember seeing any of these techniques mentioned in any advanced driver handbooks.

[RizzoTheRat]

The tailgating thing may also be dependant on area. Around Surrey it seems a large proportion of drivers believe you should do 40mph on urban roads, 50 out of town, and 80 on the motorway, and like the OP I've had cars overtake me to go through a red light, or hoot at me for stopping at a red.
Some get quite upset when you dare to slow down for a 30 limit after overtaking them in an NSL

[BertBert]

I don't think I have ever seen driving that I think is done by an advanced driver. I see people who drive faster than me and slower. I do see things though that on the face of it would not be done by better drivers.

I also think that its like whatshisname's cat. Observing changes the perception.

So you see the driving without the context of what the driver is thinking. So a lot of driving looks stoopid and inexplicable. But I think a lot of is "not explained" rather than being "inexplicable".

However the core danger is to get an inflated view of one's own skills. Fortunately although I maintain a public persona of being a driving deity, I make sufficient horrendous cockups to bring me down to earth

Bert

[RizzoTheRat]

Schrodinger driver, he might be a good driver or he might try to run you off the road, but you won't know until it happens.

Hiesenberg driver, he knows where he's going or he knows what other traffic there is on the road, but can't ever know both at the same time.