Sheep on the road

LostKiwi

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Driving back from Fort Augustus to the Midlands today I noticed a very curious phenomenon. It seems all the cars I saw are driven by sheep content to play follow the leader.
Coming over Rannoch Moor I had the misfortune to find myself at the rear of a queue of around 20 cars and 3 HGVs all doing 40mph (speed limit was 60). Two of the HGVs were at the head of the queue and clearly the cause of the delay. In spite of there being several long straights with no oncoming traffic not one of the cars further up the queue even looked like trying to overtake.

Over the next 10 miles or so (and no doubt accompanied by much tutting and shaking of heads) I finally managed to pass the entire queue. Not one other car followed my lead - all were content to just sit there in the queue doing 40mph playing follow the leader. Not once during any overtake was there a dodgy moment nor did I exceed 60! The two HGVs at the head of the queue had a sensible gap between them too.

I subsequently saw exactly the same driving behaviour just out of Tyndrum. No one prepared to overtake a slow moving vehicle.

I'm almost certain that either sheep have learned to drive or we have entered the age of robot automaton drivers.
 

flowrider

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I know what you mean. What bugs me is that most people drive too close to the car in front so overtaking just one or two cars at a time is almost impossible and when you do overtake and have to pull in you get flashing lights and a few choise words. :rolleyes:
 

daveenty

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Overtaking is a lost art nowadays. :(

As you've suggested, most people are quite content to sit and play "follow my leader", which involves bunching up so that the only possible way to pass is to either overtake everything or make your own gap midway through the manoeuvre. This involves much flashing of lights and coffee bean gestures of course but is sometimes the only way to make progress.

They're probably all trying to post MPG figures on Car forums

There's a fair bit of truth in this statement, perhaps not so much the posting on forums but the actual fuel saving...
 

rorywquin

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I know what you mean. What bugs me is that most people drive too close to the car in front so overtaking just one or two cars at a time is almost impossible and when you do overtake and have to pull in you get flashing lights and a few choise words. :rolleyes:

Seems the tailgating idiots on the road are afraid that you will get infront of them and I just do not understand their reasoning

They are the ones that come on the forum and complain about the stone chips on the front of their car.

It amazes me how close people drive to the car ahead of them. Does not give other drivers the chance to leapfrog and leaves no room to manoeuvre in an emergency.

As posted elsewhere on the forum - I was taught to leave a good gap in front of me (for all the obvious reasons) but also, so that I can counteract what the car behind me does. I like having lots of space around me to move into and do it at all speeds. If someone passes me, I drop back and open up my buffer zone again.
 

Blobcat

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Overtaking is a lost art nowadays. :(
It appears that way in my travels on A & B roads. When I did my advanced we were expected to be planning for an overtake and execute them whenever possible.

As almost all cars will do well in excess of the speed limits there isn't the slow moving vehicles there used to be - even on country roads the tractors are so fast (and so wide) that you don't often get the chance to overtake one of those either.

I still very much enjoy a B-road blast whenever I can but with the proliferation of cameras the fun isn't there as much. Were probably the last generation to drive for fun!
 

rf065

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No one prepared to overtake a slow moving vehicle.

It's that bad that you can drive from Glasgow to London and back, easily in the same day (800 miles), but Glasgow to Skye (230 miles) takes most of the day during summer when buses, lorries and caravans dictate the speed limit. The lack of motorway construction in parts of Scotland really make long journeys an absolute pain.
 
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LostKiwi

LostKiwi

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It's that bad that you can drive from Glasgow to London and back, easily in the same day (800 miles), but Glasgow to Skye (230 miles) takes most of the day during summer when buses, lorries and caravans dictate the speed limit. The lack of motorway construction in parts of Scotland really make long journeys an absolute pain.
I found that when I went up in June - on that occasion in the SL500.
The number of slow inattentive drivers was shocking. On one occasion someone in a white minivan pulled out of a carpark and drove down the centre of the road as I headed towards them. If I hadn't taken to the verge we'd have hit head on. Right up to the last second he was looking through the passenger window at the scenery.
On both trips the northward journey from Glasgow was in the evening so traffic was light but the southward trip was around midday. Even with the SL's ability to overtake progress was slow.
 

M80

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I see it often round here, you know the roads Alistair.
Driving more slowly than is needed for safety, too close to allow for another to lepa frog, and would never consider pulling over to allow a faster car to pass. When I might finally see the opportunity to pass safely I've had many a flashing light in my mirror.

When I have had discussions with those that feel they can teach me road safety the invariable lesson to me is "the speed limit isn't a target". Realising I would waste my breath referring to the highway code and citing a specific example I just say "no but it would be nice if it was an average" just to confuse 'em cos they obviously can't think it through fast enough, like their driving.
 
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LostKiwi

LostKiwi

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I see it often round here, you know the roads Alistair.
Driving more slowly than is needed for safety, too close to allow for another to lepa frog, and would never consider pulling over to allow a faster car to pass. When I might finally see the opportunity to pass safely I've had many a flashing light in my mirror.

When I have had discussions with those that feel they can teach me road safety the invariable lesson to me is "the speed limit isn't a target". Realising I would waste my breath referring to the highway code and citing a specific example I just say "no but it would be nice if it was an average" just to confuse 'em cos they obviously can't think it through fast enough, like their driving.
It might not be a target but when you have places to be it's nice to be able to do a speed approaching the limit without slow inconsiderate drivers getting in your way.
 

keefysher

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It might not be a target but when you have places to be it's nice to be able to do a speed approaching the limit without slow inconsiderate drivers getting in your way.

Leave earlier?? :shock::shock::D:D
 

M80

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Leave earlier?? :shock::shock::D:D

How much earlier?
With the many unknown possible hold ups you might allow 2, 3 hours on a 350 mile journey.
Then if it's a good run that time might have been spent doing useful things before departure.

I have believed for a long time that retesting everyone every 5-7 years would improve road use massively.
Less accidents and less hold ups due to clowns finding road use too difficult to understand.
 
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rorywquin

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It appears that way in my travels on A & B roads. When I did my advanced we were expected to be planning for an overtake and execute them whenever possible.

As almost all cars will do well in excess of the speed limits there isn't the slow moving vehicles there used to be - even on country roads the tractors are so fast (and so wide) that you don't often get the chance to overtake one of those either.

I still very much enjoy a B-road blast whenever I can but with the proliferation of cameras the fun isn't there as much. Were probably the last generation to drive for fun!
Therein lies the problem - you hit the gas to overtake a row of 4 or 5 cars doing 45/50 and when you look at the speedo, you are doing 100mph :shock: (and to be truthful, I don't want to be behind anyone travelling at or under the speed limit).

The 59.9999 and 69.9999mph idiots are a road hazard.

I met an English guy in France last year and he was telling me that if he is at the speed limit in the fast lane, he does not see why he needs to move over......I explained that
1) He is not a traffic cop
2) As motorists, we should not do anything to cause another vehicle to have to change speed or direction...common sense really.

People don't understand why I flash them when they pull in front of me and I have to slow down for them...(particularly when there is no traffic behind me and they would have had to wait another couple of seconds at most). Numpties.
 
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rorywquin

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How much earlier?
With the many unknown possible hold ups you might allow 2, 3 hours on a 350 mile journey.
Then if it's a good run that time might have been spent doing useful things before departure.

I have believed for a long time that retesting everyone every 5-7 years would improve road use massivley.
Less accidents and less hold ups due to clowns finding road use too difficult to understand.


Nevermind retesting, teach them how to drive properly in the first place. Learner drivers are taught how to pass the test, not how to drive.

Although retesting, every few years, would be very inconvenient it would probably save lots of lives.
 

Chrishazle

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Two wheels instead?

With engine - more dangerous for them as so many car drivers are not "bike aware".

With pedals - just more inconsiderate road users, often with little or no thought for others particularly cars.

Heads rapidly for bomb shelter!!:rolleyes::rolleyes:
 

flowrider

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Therein lies the problem - you hit the gas to overtake a row of 4 or 5 cars doing 45/50 and when you look at the speedo, you are doing 100mph :shock: (and to be truthful, I don't want to be behind anyone travelling at or under the speed limit).

The 59.9999 and 69.9999mph idiots are a road hazard.

I met an English guy in France last year and he was telling me that if he is at the speed limit in the fast lane, he does not see why he needs to move over......I explained that
1) He is not a traffic cop
2) As motorists, we should not do anything to cause another vehicle to have to change speed or direction...common sense really.

People don't understand why I flash them when they pull in front of me and I have to slow down for them...(particularly when there is no traffic behind me and they would have had to wait another couple of seconds at most). Numpties.
Tell him its not a fast lane, its an overtaking lane so if he is not overtaking anything he must move over to an inside lane.
 

EmilysDad

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Tell him its not a fast lane, its an overtaking lane so if he is not overtaking anything he must move over to an inside lane.

I refuse to go around the middle lane hoggers on an empty motorway so will just continue past them them in lane 1. Sometimes the penny drops & they move back over after I've gone, more often than not, they just stay where they are. Going east on the M62 where it's in 4 lanes, middle lane hoggers just become lane 3 hoggers as they haven't the wit to move left
 

keefysher

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Has anyone else seen the rusty irony in this thread? :):)...









Started by a man from the land of sheep ;);)
 


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