Couple of points on this thread, I was taught on my motorbike test to actually accelerate as quickly as possible, go over the speed limit, and drop back down to the speed limit when overtaking slower vehicles, as safest way. Not just me, I've spoken to other bikers that were told this is how you should overtake.

Why is it an offence to flash motorists warning of a revenue generating van waiting to catch speeding vehicles?, I'm sure we have all at some point been randomly flashed by an oncoming motorist if they deem we have been driving too fast at that time, when there has been no speed camera in sight. Is this an offence commited by the driver flashing his lights in this instance as well?

And the original post, not exactly crime of the century. The guy is a managing director, much better to give him a hefty fine, rather than fill up a cell at the tax payers expense.

 

IIRC Highway Code states flashing lights is solely to signal other road users of your presence.

They aren't supposed to be used to convey any other message (like it's clear to pass, or accident ahead etc...but yeah everyone does it ).

 

Years ago when I did the IAM test, you'd fail for not 'making progress', so overtaking a vehicle driving below the speed limit was desirable - I'd give an example of somebody doing 55 in a 60. If a clear overtaking opportunity existed and you didn't take it - fail. That was with training and the test with serving traffic officers - I doubt the theories have changed much.

I don't know the context of your statement above, but clearly you can gain much more than a car length by overtaking somebody - I'd agree on busy roads it can become pointless, but frequently where I live, overtaking somebody dawdling along can save you a considerable amount of time. However, I'm more in to chasing MPG stats this days, so more people overtake me.

 

I think those days of overtaking are long gone, probably as far back as the 1950s for making good progress.

I have had many a driver aggressively over myself and a number of others Infront of me, when I arrive at my near town or major junction, there they are a couple of cars in front. Even mega long journeys 100+ miles, the time gained is relatively small. I remember once riding my motorcycle back from Germany with a group of others. One rider had a bit of a tiff so wouldn't ride with the rest of the group over the speed limit. So we agreed to break up and meet at ferry crossing. I and two others went off and rode faster than the limit for a couple of hours, we arrived at the port, by the time we had taken our kit off and got settled the other biker arrived. He said he followed the speed limit all tbe way. If you check a satnav destination time whilst traveling at the speed limit then slow down a few mph, the time difference is negligible. Only when there is a huge difference is when you're stuck and stopped in a traffic jam. Again those days are long gone, just pleased to get there in one piece now.

 

LOL, I'm not that old !!!!!

Still plenty of opportunity up 'ere

 

On recent visit to see my son, traveling on A1M in atrocious weather, doing a steady 75/80 mph, in middle lane, (it varied, as in parts its four lanes now) never venturing into outside lane, as there was a constant stream of BMW/AUDI/R R sports doing what had to be a ton +, this in torrential rain!, 5 series very nearly losing it when hitting standing water. Time and place!.........

Where are the traffic plod to help make the road save here,(sitting in a nice warm van perhaps ) even a presents would have done wonders!.

Easy money to be had, but then a was a bit wet...

 

you ever tryed overtaking a lorry doing 56mph at 60mph it takes forever and is dangerous

 

why would you

 

I remember lorries doing exactly this on the A34, sometimes taking several miles to do it with many frustrated car drivers stuck behind them. I don't live near that road now but I doubt things have changed.

 

omfg because they do 25mph on the hills 56 on the flat i am struggling to believe you actually asked the question, or do you enjoy doing 25 in a 60 zone going up a hill

 

I think he was trying to get in front of lorry!, I do it all the time, I don't like traveling behind them breathing in the sh*t that comes out of the exhaust, although I do it a little faster.

 

Dont worry , all be electric soon nothing worry about ?

 

http://www.volvogroup.com/en-en/news/2018/jan/news-2796722.html

 

Except he wasn’t talking about passing a lorry on a hill... At which point you can just sail past if they’re really doing 25mph (must be some steep hills up your way).

 

You can't go over the speed limit though. If you are following a car doing 55 in a 60, then you will have to follow as it is more or less at the speed limit in any case.

Presumably the IAM examiner would want you back at the speed limit as soon as you overtook - so you would be overtaking and then braking to get back to the correct speed.

 

But you can't go over the speed limit to do so. If they are doing 25 in a 60, you should be able to overtake within the speed limit.

Or more over, you can - but just accept the fact that you take a chance of being hit by a camera.

 

You will find that they are tied up with a whole host of other things - accident investigations etc. Beside which, most traffic divisions have either merged with ARV or have been decimated by the cuts. We have 4 traffic/ARV cars covering 2 police authorities now.

 

Another that should really be given a jail sentance for their complete disregard: https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.t...-for-18-months

Again camera vans won't catch these. Maybe funds would be better spent if camera vans were given more ability to video other offences rather than just sat looking for speeders. Maybe funds could be relieved by getting rid of PCSOs on stabilised-mopeds (why does London get mopeds when PCSOs everywhere else get mountain bikes? ): Or better still, get rid of the vans, keep the PCSO mopeds and equip them with on board cameras instead.

 

On my test I come upon a car that was drifting between 50-60, so after a short while I dropped back and didn't' attempt the overtake. I was asked to explain my decision at our next stopping point and was told I'd made the correct choice. However I was also told, "in the real world, we know we would both have overtaken, but because you're on the test......"

 

With his 'IAM' hat on, he can't really say you have made the correct choice by not overtaking and then (as per the IAM standards) go against it by intimating that you be OK to overtake in the real world.

That's kind of like a driving instructor saying that you were right to stop as the traffic lights changed to red - but in the real world you can probably just put your foot down and sneak through.

In any event, its fine if you want to go over the speed limit to overtake, but just accept the fact that you take a chance of being hit by camera if you do.

 

Ignition Advance Multiplier....?

 

Institute of Advanced Motorists

 

Yes. I know.

 

And that's where the system is flawed. It is better to spend less time exposed to danger, i.e. being on the wrong side of the road, but cameras or vans don't take that in to account. Road safety is not a binary issue of breaking a speed limit or not, but I assume you know that. It's sometimes safer to break the speed limit than not, one of those cases would be during an overtaking manoeuvre. But as you say, in the dumb-ed down world we now live in, you just have to take the risk that you might get pinged by a camera for actually trying to do something in a safer way and the numb skull safety partnerships or whatever they are called these days can't see that, or don't want to see that.

 

There is another senario. I exceed the speed limit quite often on motorways or dual carriageways.
When approaching a merging junction & you see traffic on the slip road joining the motorway/carriageway I either slow down or speed up to accommodate them merging into the flow to match their approach speed but only if it's safe & there is room behind or in front of me & I can't safely move out into the next lane to make room.


So shoot me!Common sense really.

 

But, you can't get away from the fact that the speed limit for the road is set in stone and can not be exceeded. So you have to take this into account when you go to overtake. If the overtake maneuver is done properly and planned, then you should not be exposed to any danger at all and there should not be a need to break the speed limit.

Any other mitigating factor for speeding (rushing someone to hospital etc etc) can be heard at hearing or at court where this will be taken into account. But using this to simply say i was overtaking something at the time will not be sufficient argument I'm afraid.

As I said before, 99 times out of 100, you can go above the speed limit and be fine - just accept the fact that you will always have that one occasion where you might get caught.

 

If you are on the main carriage way and can not move over to allow slip road traffic on, you should not alter your speed to accommodate them.
This is up to the slip road traffic to find a space in the main carriage way to move in. Again, if you break a speed limit to try and allow traffic onto a carriage way in this manner you run the risk of prosecution.

 

Really, so you shouldn't back off slightly to open up a gap for somebody to pull in to? Surely that is much safer than them running out of slip road and coming to a standstill - which I experienced 1st hand quite recently and it nearly caused a massive accident, or they try squeeze in to a non existent gap? Common sense?

 

When joining you MUST give way to traffic on the motorway.
You MUST NOT use the hard shoulder for anything except it's intended purpose. It is NOT ok to use it as a continuation of the slip road.

So what's to do?

(1) Observe the traffic on the motorway very early.
(2) If there is NO chance of joining, slow down and using your observations - see if a gap becomes available
(3) If you've got to the end of the slip whilst doing (1) and (2) above chances are the traffic in Lane 1 is moving at 5mph or less. Then wait for a gap in the traffic.

There's a give way line at the end of the slip road and a solid line protecting the hard shoulder. You should sit and wait at the give way like you would any other junction, although with good forward planning you should rarely have to come to a complete stop.

That's the rule - now i know you will slow a little to let people in in the real world, but in theory this breaks the rule, so again just accept the fact the you take a chance. The problem occurs when people hammer their brakes on to allow people in who (for some reason) are accelerating along the hard shoulder and have not seen that there is no gap for them to enter the motorway.

 

All comes down to leaving a gap whilst traveling along the motorway. The 2 second rule is rarely if at all adhered to whilst driving. That would allow traffic from a slip road(your example) to merge safely. Speed by nearby drivers would then be altered slightly to regain safe driving gaps. It Nevers happens as everyone doesn't give a **** and just want to get to the end of their journey fast as possible, generally angry whilst doing it