Courteous driving

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Tue 27 Jul 2004 22:11
Courteous driving - AngryJonny

It's Sunday evening and I'm driving back to London from Lincolnshire where I've been visiting the folks for the weekend.

I'm on the A1M happily cruising and I've been following a gent in an Audi 100 for some time. I decide that rather than hanging on his tail I'm going to overtake him so I pull out. As I'm overtaking him he appears to be approaching the vehicle in front of him rather quickly so I pull into the 3rd lane, anticipating his desire to pull into the second lane and overtake the vehicle in front of him. A hand goes up to say thanks and off I go.

Some miles down the road the A1M has ended and it's just plain old 2-lane A1 dual-carriageway. Due to the non-motorway nature of the road I've slowed a bit. As I'm approaching the vehicle in front of me I check my mirrors to see if it's safe to overtake and I see the same Audi from earlier about to overtake me. The driver, presumably in recognition of my move earlier, flashes me out into the second lane even before I've began to signal, allowing me to overtake the vehicle in front without having to slow. A wave of thanks from me, and off he goes. I don't see him again.

But for the rest of the journey home I had a warm glow. I felt good and I let a lot more drivers perform manouvres around me than I perhaps otherwise would have.

So there's a lesson in there, even for the most cynical among us (ie me). Driving courteously can pay off, and sometimes you just feel good about it. What a shame more motorists don't try it once in a while.
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Tue 27 Jul 2004 22:24
Courteous driving - HF
Agree completely.

Just the very fact of being let out or behaved to with courtesy makes you far more likely to do the same thing. In the same way that a smile and a 'thank you' tend to bring the same response back from a surly shop assistant to a customer, or the other way round, it applies just as much to driving. Sadly as you say we see less and less of this.

And we're supposed to be a polite country!
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Tue 27 Jul 2004 22:26
Courteous driving - frostbite
Main problem is, this scenario takes two like-minded drivers to be in the same place at the same time.

Since they are in a minority, chances are slim. Enjoy it when it happens.
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Tue 27 Jul 2004 22:29
Courteous driving - AngryJonny
Ah but that's the thing. The majority of drivers, well those not in Porsche Cayennes) appreciate and respond to a bit of courtesy. They just rarely get to see any, and therefore are a bit miserable and bad-tempered at the wheel. I know I am guilty of that at times.

Spread a little love people ;-)
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Tue 27 Jul 2004 22:36
Courteous driving - frostbite
The instance you describe also takes anticipation and intelligence x2.

That's even thinner on the ground.
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Tue 27 Jul 2004 22:57
Courteous driving - AngryJonny
Man... you're even more cynical than I am.
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Wed 28 Jul 2004 08:11
Courteous driving - Cliff Pope
I find he inner glow I get from being courteous to someone is worth having in itself. If the other person responds, that is even better. If he doesn't, he will get his come-uppance one day -
"Time wounds all heals", as Groucho Marx said.
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Wed 28 Jul 2004 09:52
Courteous driving - Hawesy1982
I find that this generally only happens fairly late in the day, often at weekends (as in your case), and usually on fairly empty roads.

Perhaps it's simply because the drive is more relaxed, with no major rush and no hold-ups to contend with.

I also find that often when i have been travelling at a similar speed to another driver for a good length of time that a kind of pyschic cameradarie is developed, again as it did in your case. It is a pity that our roads are too busy and the population is too rushed to experience this regularly.
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Wed 28 Jul 2004 10:17
Courteous driving - patently
Nice one.

Don't you always remember the courteous drivers and the lane-hoggers for a good few miles after you pass them/they pass you? Just in case?
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Wed 28 Jul 2004 11:49
Courteous driving - Mapmaker
I don't call that courteous driving. Well, it obviously is courteous. What I think is that it is the sort of very good driving that requires paying attention to how the other drivers are going. So you anticipate not only your next move, but also the next move of the other drivers in front & behind you.

If it was a silver Avant, that was possibly me.

A mark of a bad driver is one who regularly gets bogged down on the inside lane behind a slow moving vehicle as he cannot get out to overtake - because he didn't anticipate what was going to happen to him & he didn't think about overtaking until it was too late.
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Wed 28 Jul 2004 12:18
Courteous driving - Rosanbo
A mark of a bad driver is one who regularly gets
bogged down on the inside lane behind a slow moving vehicle
as he cannot get out to overtake - because he didn't
anticipate what was going to happen to him & he didn't
think about overtaking until it was too late.


I don't get bogged down, but I regularly, hold off from indicating and pulling out, to allow those approaching in the middle lane to pass without having to negotiate me. If this leads me to lift the foot on occasion, and wait for a bit of clear tarmac then so be it, no big deal, an increase in journey time of a minute or 2. This time might even be made up later in the journey because I am no longer in the position I would have been, and good fortune might come to me later in my journey.

My driving changes quite a lot from single carriage way to motorway. On motorways I'm happy to toddle along at 56 - 60. On single carriageways I generally don't like being stuck behind someone doing less than 50 in an nsl, so I overtake and drive at 55 - 60.

It is easy to imagine that all or most of those who regularly overtake on single carriageways, are the ones who drive fast on motorways. This might not be the case.
---
was kev_is_here
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Wed 28 Jul 2004 12:44
Courteous driving - patently
There are two sides to the same coin.

First, there is the simple courtesy to others. Particularly those that have shown themselves likely to reciprocate.

Second, there is the steady development of knowledge about the styles in which other cars near you are being driven. This allows you to predict what will happen sooner, such as the car that has already pulled out too close without indicating.
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