Is overtaking banned now?

I'd go with this one. I went to Brum for work earlier this week so 90%
motorway from here. I go flashed a couple of times by middle lane hogs
after overtaking them. I presume because I'd exceeded the 69.99 mph
they fell it's their duty to enforce.

 

I've always assumed a flash on the motorway is just someone politely
giving a visual queue that it's safe to pull back in front of them,
rather than a rebuke.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, ginge

Do you honestly believe that the sort of arsehole who drives for miles
in the centre lane has sufficient situational awareness to tell you when
it's safe to pull back in?

 

From a truck a single flash I'll go with your explanation, from a CLOD
a series of flashes my guess was I'd disturbed their sleep by
overtaking.

 

Yes, as nobody could possibly have cause to critisise any aspect of my
driving, ever.

)

 

You callous bastard, sir!

Surely the following would be less cruel and just as effective:

The prisoner will be:

Bluned on ye Grunions
and krelled on his Grotts
Ye legges will be twergled
and pulled thru’ ye motts!

His Nukes will be Fongled
split thrice on yon Thulls
Then laid on ye Quottle
and hung by ye Bhuls!

Twice thocked on the Phneflic,
Yea broggled thrice twee.
Ye moggs wiIl be grendled
and stretched six foot three!

By now, if ye victim
show not ye sorrow,
Send him home. Tell him,
"Come back to-morrow"

 

Because their speed and distance perception is so bad, and their
knowledge of road traffic law is so lack, that they don't know that
what you're doing is safe and legal.

 

Na, it's so much better when they wash their windscreen at you.

 

They do it because lorry drivers do it. So it must A Good Thing,
right?

Same as people who swing out to the centre of the road before turning
left, like they're in an 40-ton artic rather than a Ford fucking Ka.

 

<mode=Roy Walker>
Is the right answer!
</mode>

 

Obviously. Thing is, truckers are quite good at it, but I can foresee
problems if one was to trust the "Pull back in now" signal from a CLOC
member.

I fucknear rammed one of them in the nearside doors the other day: the
driveway entrance was at least as wide as his Discovery was long, yet
he pulled right across the road and slowed to less than walking pace
before abruptly swinging back across my front end. That would have
been an interesting insurance claim.

 

They do it because lorry drivers do it. So it must A Good Thing,
right?

Same as people who swing out to the centre of the road before turning
left, like they're in an 40-ton artic rather than a Ford fucking Ka.
[/QUOTE]
+1

 

Except undertaking, while not a specific offence in iself, could see you
done for careless driving. Or dangerous driving if it goes pear shaped.

DAMHIK, etc.

 

That can be bloody uncomfortable. Not to mention laying you open to a
dose of Legionnaire's.

 

I've spent the last few days trolling around between Amalfi, Positano
and Agerola, and some time on Capri, and watching the Italian drivers
and riders has made me realise just how poor UK driving standards have
got.

Initially I thought that they were mad, but having paid more attention I
realised that they're actually a bit like a colony of ants swarming
about but working together to try and keep the traffic moving; everyone
seems happy to go, stop, pull in, reverse, overtake, Be overtaken, all
for the greater good while still trying to make progress themselves.

There's still a lot of testiculating, but it's almost as Italy has
introduced a No Cunts rule on the roads and I for one rather like it.

 

Gyp wrote:
[Italian driving]

<fx:drums fingers>

He'll be along shortly, I'm sure...

 

For me this is the key to why British drivers are so cranky. They are a
bunch of queue-imaginers. By competing over every inch they all get
nowhere, like silent comics getting stuck getting through a door at the
same time.

 

It's funny you say that. A couple of years ago whilst doing the three peaks, we were on a road
going somewhere where the ol' Bill had closed the inside lane in the distance, about half a
mile away. Everyone had moved into the centre and outside lanes well before the traffic cones
had started. And I mean well before (It was a very clear day and visibility was great).

I distinctly remember some bloke in a motor on the inside lane, thinking "well, bollox to this,
I'll move over when the cones start in the distance" (which I thought, "fair enough"). The
driver of our minibus saw this and went out of his way to block him and I was doubly surprised
when I saw another couple of vehicles in the centre lane also move to block him too.

I really didn't see the point in that.

 

What's wrong with the handbrake?

 

There's already part of the off-road test that's similar to that... the
emergency stop and swerve and avoid parts are both done at 32mph
(minimum) and you have to go between pairs of cones set 1.5m apart.

See here: http://www.dsa.gov.uk/Documents/MPTC/MC_manouvre_Diagram.pdf

After duh gubbmint introduced this new test I was surprised that they
didn't bugger about with the car test too, I don't see why us bikers
should be singled out; especially given the erratic lines the majority of
cage drivers follow on the roads. Now, apparently, they're going to
lengthen the distance that the swerve and avoid is performed over so
it'll now be like a gentle "avoid that manhole cover maneuver" rather
than the "got to use counter-steering to do this or I'll take out the
cones" as it used to be.