Are you a roadhog?

[steve25805 126,156]

I have little patience with those driving at ridiculously slow speeds. Nice straight bit of road with 60mph limit and some twat wants to drive at 40. I will take risks to get past the twat because I find it too mind numbing to follow. Does that make me a roadhog? I guess so. I have zero patience for idiots who cannot drive competently at a reasonable speed for the road

[gldenwetgoose 21,498]

I wouldn't define you as a road hog at all @steve25805 - at least not from what you've told us there.  My thoughts on typical road hogs would be those who force their way past parked vehicles driving straight at you on the wrong side of their road, who don't give way over narrow bridges and generally force everyone else off THEIR road, or those who block the outside lanes of dual carriageways or middle and outer lanes of motorways when they could and should easily move to the left.

What you've expressed is the desire to make effective use of the road, driving to the conditions, and as the police term it 'making progress'.  Overtaking safely and effectively is not road-hoggish at all.  If anything sitting right on their bumper rather than overtaking would be far more aggressive and intimidating.

There are far too many drivers who seem to have a brain-in-neutral driving tendency to sit at 38mph irrespective of good dry conditions on a 40 / 50 / national speed limit road and even more worryingly then continue to drive at exactly the same speed when entering a 30 or even 20mph road.  If overtaking them jolts them back into concentrating on the road even better.

[steve25805 126,156]

5 hours ago, gldenwetgoose said:

I wouldn't define you as a road hog at all @steve25805 - at least not from what you've told us there.  My thoughts on typical road hogs would be those who force their way past parked vehicles driving straight at you on the wrong side of their road, who don't give way over narrow bridges and generally force everyone else off THEIR road, or those who block the outside lanes of dual carriageways or middle and outer lanes of motorways when they could and should easily move to the left.

I guess I am not a roadhog in the discourteous sense. I have zero tolerance for prats who cannot drive competently at a reasonable yet still legal speed, and who potter along at well below the speed limit. I guess I can take risks overtaking them and in that sense could be seen as a bit road-hoggish. I remain a courteous driver though and will often flash people waiting to turn into a junction in front of me, stopping to let them do so. I will also often let people pull out in front of me and will stop to let pedestrians cross. I always give way when I should and respect the right of way of others. I also stop to let pedestrians cross at zebra crossings But if the driver looking to pull out in front of me is elderly - or driving a Berlingo, lol - I am much less likely to let them out because past experience has taught me that they are likely to drive slow as fuck and hold me up.

So I guess I am a courteous but impatient driver, with little tolerance for those lacking the competence to drive at a reasonable legal speed for the road. I regard driving at a reasonable legal speed  as just another courtesy for those behind me. Those who lack the same courtesy either through selfishness or incompetence annoy me. And I seek to get past them whenever I can. To do so I often have to drop down a gear for faster acceleration. Accelerating until I am past them means I might exceed the speed limit briefly, but that is because - on a single carriageway road - the faster you can get past someone, the less time you spend on the wrong side of the road, and the safer the overtaking therefore is.

Deeply irritating are those daft prats who put their foot down when you are overtaking them, dangerously prolonging the overtaking manouvre. Accelerating when somebody is overtaking you when otherwise driving very slowly is itself a form of dangerous driving.

[Remi 1,034]

I like to think i am not for almost all the time. I'm ok with someone going 70 on a rural road where the limit is 100 for a short distance. Some speed limits here are plain stupid. 50, 70, 100 for 400 metres just to go back to 50. Why go up for this short distance just to have to brake again in a few? Just to be standing on the same red street light so in that situation people taking risks to overtake someone bother me waaaay more. Like you are saving no time at all.

I'm also mostly ok when on rural roads someone drives just the exact limit or a bit under. Makes you a rolling traffic stop sometimes but ok, maybe they got caught by a radar some time before or are careful not knowing if there is one, maybe their car has issues and they wanna take it easy cause no money etc. As long as they are not that much slower i'll stay behind.

What bothers me is someone going 40 or 30 in the city when there is 50. Like, when you can't even drive 50km/h for whatever reason...take the fucking bus or order a taxi! Also those going 40 will oftentimes keep going 40 through a 30km/h zone. It is astonishing me to the point of almost making me angry how unaware some people are of their surroundings. 

Another thing that annoys me is when people carry their car around a corner when taking a turn so i will drive around them to not go almost full stop. Man, look...make sure there are no pedestrians crossing etc AND THEN ATTACK THIS CORNER! You don't have to get out to push your car around it.

So in my mind i am oftentimes complaining about other drivers but i just TRY to let that amuse me instead of doing something or getting angry. Pointless.

Only thing i will often take action is in the city or on rurals when i am already driving the limit or mostly even the standart bit above and someone is tailgating me. Overtake if you can and feel the need to or keep your distance. Sometimes it leads to me flooring it until i have a huge gap which isn't smart either to be honest. But some people don't seem to understand gestures or hazard lights because, once again, they are unaware of their actions and/or don't understand what they do wrong.

Edited March 6, 2021 by Remi