They feel a need to police others driving decisions?
Ego getting crushed?
Why Do People Speed up When You Overtake Them on Country Roads?
Boogerman on 22/11/2020 - 22:55
Comments
Apart from it being illegal if you are over taking them and crossing the centre line of the road to do it, I think it’s if someone is getting overtaken by another, they take a look at their speedo and think, “oh, (fropanity), I’m only doing 92 in a 100 zone” and automatically speed up.
Other people think there is some sort of prize for getting the some magical finishing line first. The same (fropanity) heads that weave in and out of traffic and cut you off, only to be one car ahead of you after going 5km and through 8 sets of lights. Some people just can’t stand being behind others…
Oh, and probably most of all, people are stupid.
Illegal only if it is a double unbroken line?
This is the Road Rule I was talking about… I don't know what everyone else is talking about. If there is an unbroken/continuous/double unbroken line down the middle of the road… no one should be over taking…
it is illegal but does anyone not speed up?
What is this double unbroken line you speak of and why is it illegal?
Its not illegal. Double broken lines are treated the same as single broken lines.
@Sawtell: Thanks.
People keep saying the double line this and that but never link the legislation to support their claim.
@whooah1979: "Double white unbroken (continuous) lines - you cannot overtake across these lines."
Here's your legislation: https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/roads/safety-rules/road-rules/roa…
Doesn't take a genius to google road markings.
@Sawtell: What's not illegal? Speeding up while being over taken? Or crossing over unbroken/continuous centre lines to overtake??
In the worlds of the great George Carlin: People are stupid. Think of how stupid the average person is, and realise half of them are stupider than that.
Maybe they figure if you plan on going faster than them, then they may as well go faster themselves. Maybe even a little faster still, they don't want to be stuck behind you now that you've gifted them a need for speed.
They are gronks
Ugh - people truly are stupid.
Most people don't really pay attention to the speed they are travelling, and many are constantly adjusting their speed when they notice.
It drives me crazy when people constantly speed up and slow down, then repeat.
I tend to use cruise control heavily to maintain a constant speed - it is ridiculous how often I'll catch up to someone, they'll pull away, then I'll catch up to them again, all while my speed has been set on cruise control.and then in a overtaking lane they go from 100 k to 130 or more to overtake the car in from thats doing the speed limit only to have to slow eventually or get a radar catch them just silly
I hate people who cling to the right-hand lane like its a lifevest.
I have thought for awhile that every car should be fitted with a self-destruct mechanism where if you are overtaken on the left it starts to beep, then if you are overtaken again on the left before you overtake someone your car explodes.
Lol, speed up more.
probably even more salty when you're in a slower/smaller car than them.
They do it on city roads too.
just my theory, some people seem to get offended/triggered when you try to overtake them.
"HOW DARE YOU TRY TO OVERTAKE ME!!!!!!! REEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!"
One issue is that usually the non passing bits of country road are the slow winding parts where people drive slow. The bits with broken line for passing are the straight line bits and they can drive faster too…
This. I agree
Yeah this is like <10% of the time on country roads overall.
Additionally, are you not checking your rear-view and mirrors? I personally can't live with myself if see anyone behind me frustrated, and I pull over (even when I'm actually speeding).
Have to admit that doing many long country trips made me realise other people do this, and then made me realise why I have done it myself - its a mixture of points made above.
1) I am stupid
2) When someone overtakes me I look at the speedo and go "oh man I'm going way too slow"
3) The road becomes easier to drive at the speed limitNow if someone is overtaking me I keep the same constant speed until they do and are a good distance ahead then do whatever I feel is right. The difference between 95kms as opposed to 100 for 10 minutes isn't really going to make much difference in the end of the day.
Some people just go too far. Had a guy yesterday speed up so much to try to eliminate the gap to the car in front so I wouldn’t have space to get back in. So he wants to put another’s life in danger. Then after I got in proceeds to tailgate, really close.
I find that some people have a width of the road mentality and tend to increase their speed where the road becomes wider at overtaking lanes.
this one drives me mad.
Small peepee.
I do about 50 - 60 thousand K's per year and I abuse the cruise control at every opportunity I can, so this issue becomes very pronounced for me as the cruise control maintains speed up or down hill and also on the flat.
There is so many issues to list but all of there are quite stupid.
Some people don't have cruise control and its hard to hold the throttle constant.
Some people are dumb and only react to environmental changes so they see a car flying past they feel the need to react and do the same.
Some people have egos.
Some people fear driving so when its a single lane country road with oncoming they go slow. When it changes to double lane for overtaking they psychologically feel better and go faster.
Some people have momentary lapse in concentration and don't have the mental capacity to keep it up. I.e. they're going 80 in a 100 zone. They momentarily realise and speed up. Then they can't hold that focus so eventually they crawl back down to 80. They then repeat this process from Sydney to Melbourne.
When you use cruise control a lot you realise that other cars vary speed significantly. Many people only adjust their speed based on external factors - like a police car, or someone passing.
Apparently you can mathematically model traffic bunches on a freeway based on how people speed and slow and then speed up when the get passed because they actually look at the speedo and realise their speed has dropped off.
Spent about 6hrs on dual carriageway yesterday. Despite having cruise control for the vast majority of it, i frequently felt the need to check my speed as it felt like I was slowing when I was maintaining the same speed. Human perception is weird.
If one is in a 100 zone and was doing 90, is one allowed to accelerate to 100 when someone is overtaking?
I do Zero country driving on a dual carriageway, so it’s a question out of curiosity.
There a lots of shocking dash cam videos of idiot overtakers misjudging the overtake distance required, especially overtaking a long truck, and the truck driver has to actually slow down to save the idiots’ lives.
I would do the same purely because I do not want the innocent party coming the other way copping a 100kph x 2 collision.
If your state has a "dont increase speed when being overtaken", then yeah going from 90->100 is illegal.
This is my pet peeve, cos I live in the country on already terrible roads which are single-lane everywhere. Every time I overtake an idiot like this, I risk going 40kmph over (which is nothing) and getting car crushed and lost license.
Definitely makes driving REALLY fun amongst all the dodging potholes.
It's either machismo or merely that you've woken them up and they realise what speed they've been going. Do women do it?
They see you rollin….
They hatin.Had a couple over the holidays flash their lights after I’ve overtaken
The ego behind the fossil fuel slug getting crushed by an electric car
Any post that starts with "why do people do x dumb thing", it's because people are dumb. We're monkeys and when we are on the road we're monkeys piloting a big metal box. Don't overthink it.