Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

   / Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong #18,471  
Jstpssng said:
Is that why they do that? It drives me nuts. They come up so that their right front corner is by my left wheel and ride there for miles... until I overtake a slower vehicle. At that point they will s-l-o-w-l-y speed up just enough to block me from pulling out.
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That speed-matching thing is some type of odd but fairly common psychological condition. Drivers on multi-lane roads are OK going faster until they come upon someone in the right lane. Then they either match their speed or slow down to just barely faster. I've been driving for decades and I have not yet figured out the rationale. But I'm pretty certain most of the time it is subconcious for them. Those same folks are also ALWAYS oblivious to other cars on the road (behind them) and/or have zero care or respect to not impact others. Drives me nuts whether I'm the one behind them or in the right lane that they latch onto. 30 to 40% of drivers on the road really should not be allowed behind the wheel.
 
   / Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong #18,472  
BigBlue1 said:
That speed-matching thing is some type of odd but fairly common psychological condition. Drivers on multi-lane roads are OK going faster until they come upon someone in the right lane. Then they either match their speed or slow down to just barely faster. I've been driving for decades and I have not yet figured out the rationale. But I'm pretty certain most of the time it is subconcious for them. Those same folks are also ALWAYS oblivious to other cars on the road (behind them) and/or have zero care or respect to not impact others. Drives me nuts whether I'm the one behind them or in the right lane that they latch onto. 30 to 40% of drivers on the road really should not be allowed behind the wheel.
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Where I live it's all two-lane roads with the occasional third passing lane for uphill traffic. Follow a vehicle on the flats that's doing 55-58 mph, until they get to the 3rd lane, then they accelerate to 65. Since I am pulling a trailer, I can't accelerate fast enough to pass them. But when the 3rd lane ends, it's back to 55 again.
 
   / Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong #18,473  
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I did put a flag on it. 😆
 
   / Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong #18,476  
ning said:
I don't think this is adaptive speed control (ie radar cruise control) as that, at least on our Toyota that's my only familiarity (and thus a globally common experience no doubt haha) it ignores cars in the adjacent lane and will pass right by them.

No, this is the driver consciously or unconsciously matching your speed. I've noticed what I call a "rubber band" effect where if I try to pass someone at a small speed differential (like I'm going 65 and they're going 60), they'll speed up and pretty much match my speed, and when I slow down they slow down... I don't think it's conscious for the most part, it's a form of fixation.

If I speed up a bit, they match, I speed a bit more, they match, until they realize we're going 80 or 90 and the rubber band breaks and they drop off. Any more when I pass people I try to do it sufficiently quickly that they have to be thinking about it to match the speed; if I catch a rubber band, I'll reduce speed gradually and then suddenly race forward before they react.
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I use CC on the interstate... and am rather anally aware of my speed when somebody is overtaking as I know how I hate it when somebody does it to me. Yet it happens often enough so that I can usually predict when they are going to speed up about 1/2 mph, just enough to cover me so that I have to brake for the vehicle we are overtaking before swinging in behind them. Inevitably they will slow to their old speed once they get beside the lowest car, leaving me growling about why the heck they are in the passing lane.

No matter what, when somebody is in the passing lane next to you for 3,4, 5 miles or more they need to either crap or get off the pot.
 
   / Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong #18,477  
3 Horse Ranch said:
Where I live it's all two-lane roads with the occasional third passing lane for uphill traffic. Follow a vehicle on the flats that's doing 55-58 mph, until they get to the 3rd lane, then they accelerate to 65. Since I am pulling a trailer, I can't accelerate fast enough to pass them. But when the 3rd lane ends, it's back to 55 again.
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Here it's 45-50... 10-15 mph under the speed limit. Yet as you say, they speed up when somebody can get past them. I once got behind somebody playing that game...45 in a 55, slower when we were on a curve or hill. Yet when we came to a long 3 lane hill they sped up so quickly that I couldn't catch them. We did 75mph for over a mile... as soon as it went back to 2 lanes they dropped back to 45 so quickly that I had to hit the brakes.
 
   / Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong #18,478  
^^^
Yesterday I had someone playing that game...doing the 55 mph speed limit when you could get by, but 40 on curves or when somebody was coming. I was third in line with 7 more behind me including a dump truck loaded with gravel. When we hit the 3 lane hill the lead car sped up; the two in front of me went side by side up the hill so that nobody could get by. I started thinking about a letter to the editor I may draft. It's against the law in most states to speed up when somebody is trying to pass you. That would be nearly impossible to enforce yet in this case the local PD could set a car up to see when people are doing just that. It might make people more aware of an obscure law, and less apt to play games.
 
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