I often read about overtakers saying they return to the inside lane leaving the overtaken car with a one second gap because they will be back to two seconds almost immediately, or the overtaken car just has to ease off the throttle momentarily to regain their 2 second gap. So here are a couple of examples:
feet per second = 1.467 x mph
1. Assume you are travelling at 70mph and the car you have overtaken is doing 60mph.
(a) If you want to leave a ONE second gap you can only pull back in 6 seconds after your back bumper passes his front bumper.
(b) Now, if the overtaken car doesn't adjust his speed it will take a further 6 seconds before he is back to a TWO second gap.
(c) If the overtaken car brakes so he is doing 50mph it will take a further 2.5 seconds before he is back to a TWO second gap.
2. Assume you are travelling at 80mph and the car you have overtaken is doing 75mph.
(a) If you want to leave a ONE second gap you can only pull back in 15 seconds after your back bumper passes his front bumper.
(b) Now, if the overtaken car doesn't adjust his speed it will take a further 15 seconds before he is back to a TWO second gap.
(c) If the overtaken car brakes so he is doing 60mph it will take a further 3 seconds before he is back to a TWO second gap.
Food for thought, no?
My conclusions are that (a) if someone cuts in on you then you need to brake quite hard, and (b) if you want to overtake you really need to be going significantly faster than the car you want to overtake.
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Absolutely correct. Another thing which drivers don't take into account is if in tne process of moving from one lane to another lane on a crowded motorway they cause drivers to have to brake then the resultant traffic jam umpteen miles back can take several hours to clear.
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L\'escargot.
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As I said in an earlier posting - if you can see the car you are overtaking in your rear view mirror you should be giving them enough room - leave more time if very wet so spray doesn't interfere.
My pet hate - why is it that drivers who cut you up then tend to slow to about 2-4mph LESS than you were doing?
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this happened to me yesterday - guy in a red BMW 3 series right up my backside (ooerrr missus) and when I pulled over to let him by he then stayed right in front of me for the next 10 miles - what was the point?
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(b) if you want to overtake you really need to be going significantly faster than the car you want to overtake.
Try telling that to the truckers!
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Whats going on here? Maths, seconds, gaps? Its very simple.
If I am going faster than the car in Front I overtake. Once I am passed I pull in. It doesent need to be any more complex than that.
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< Ex RF, Ex TVM >
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If you pull in as soon as you have passed then you force the overtaken car to tailgate you. If you need to stop quickly he will run into the back of you. That's why it's not so simple.
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If you pull in as soon as you have passed then you force the overtaken car to tailgate you.
No you dont, you are going faster than him. That why you overtake. It really is that simple
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< Ex RF, Ex TVM >
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No you dont you are going faster than him. That why you overtake. It really is that simple
You were going faster than him, but now you have forced him to tailgate, to try by every means to get past you again, so to that if and when he does he can slow down to his original mimse.
It really is that complicated.
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ha ha. Yes, that's true. Actually, my opinion has always been that I would prefer the truckers to drive safely even if they do hold me up (after all, if I'm behind them then they got there first).
However, I can now see that if they want a one or two second gap then the overtaking trucker is going to be 'blocking' a lane for a long time. You could ask the slower one to slow down, but why should he? Maybe there should be a rule that if one is stuck behind another then they are not allowed to overtake (after all, the leading trucker is on a limiter). If they think that an extra 1mph is important then why not set the speed limit to 61mph instead of 60mph then they won't be hard done by at all.
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(after all if I'm behind them then they got there first).
LOL. A long time ago, driving my very underpowered 2CV variant, I came up behind a queue of mimsers on an A-road and started moaning and griping, tiresomely I'm sure, about these tiresome queues.
A late friend of mine, who came from Cheshire and was emphatically not a car person, came up with the supremely irritating answer: 'Well, we know who's on the arse end of this queue anyway.'
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