Pacific Hwy Overtaking Lanes

[cul202]

holiday driving rant...

what is the deal with those who choose to go 10km/h under the limit on the Pacific Hwy until they reach an overtaking lane where they suddenly find the 'racer within' and go 20km/h over?

i found this phenomenon to be disturbingly common on my trek to & from the Gold Coast. single lane 10km under - o/t lane 20km over - back to 10km under, making getting past them a little more difficult than it should be.

has anyone else noticed this?

watching the manouvers people are doing (me included) to get around this highly frustrating species of driver is quite interesting.

[leech_]

lol it happens everywhere you go everyone knows that in a single lane double lines it doesnt matter how slow u go people cant do anything... come double its a race to stay in front even if u are just going to back off when i comes to a single lane again... it sucks but meh happens everywhere

[Jimbo2000]

YES, oh my god yes.

VERY VERY annoying

[Abo Bob]

All the bloody time, I drive down the coastd a bit and always get it. That's one reason why I drive a skyline although even that can't help you sometimes.

[akeenan]

try sitting behind a 4wd on the great ocean road doing 40 in a 100 zone and nearly coming to complete stops around each bend...

[blind_elk]

I had a similar phenomenon when returning from Brisbane last Easter - cost me a $150 fine when I had to accellerate to 96 k (in 80 highway zone) to get past this total incompetant who couldn't drive at more than 70 k when there was only one lane each way, yet found the confidence to travel at 80k when he had an extra lane available.

[cul202]

another interesting one was being spat at by a tradie doing about 140+ in a HZ 1 tonner while simultaneously trying to push in front of me on the brisy to gc motorway.

kinda funny in hindsight...

[predator]

I have experienced the same phenomena all around Australia and its not isolated to one particular area. I believe its related to age and "oh people are over taking me, better go faster". Its very baffling, and very annoying. Luckily being in a skyline it don't matter what speed they're going, you can generally overtake them quite quickly

[51jay]

Why do you think Qld decided to put speed cameras on overtaking lanes!!!!!!

You simply cannot get past unless you go well over 100Kph. In relation to speed cameras this is probably the most blatent case of pure revenue raising

Everyone...absolutely everyone ....who gets done in an overtaking lane should take it to court

[predator]

I haven't seen any yet luckily.. the only ones that i did see were across the border in NSW where they have fixed cams in the overtaking lanes! in the middle of phucking nowhere! now that is screwed.

[dAVE]

yeh it sucks... espeically when you are driving a 2.4 l surf. I have done the trip about 10-15 times now and the Surf was a bitch cos I couldnt overtake anyone in the over taking lanes, yet wanted to go about 20-30km/h quicker than them.

[walu]

I get the impression that the nervous nellies that do 10km/hr under the limit become more confident when the double lanes come up (more road, less claustraphobic), so then they feel more comfortable speeding up (which really bugs the rest of the drivers on the road).

The other thing I have noticed (apart from drivers with egos that can't let you go past them as it questions their manhood), is that when some people are overtaken, they suddenyl become more 'awake', realise the are crawling, then speed up - which again, bugs the rest of the other drivers on the road.

[pentae]

If people just learnt a bit of road courtesy none of this would Happen. When somebody is overtaking me I actually let off, and let them pass easily. That also gives them heaps of room, so when they do come back into my lane i'm not RIGHT up their ass.

[JMP 82]

Let's sit back and think why we (not everyone I'm sure) break speed limits... Is it because we want to go faster or get to a destination quicker? Maybe, but I dont think so... I have really thought about why I might do that 5-10km more than the speed limit and risk getting a fine... I reckon it is purely the sensation of overtaking another car... I don't know if its like this for the rest of you guys but when im driving down the highway, i will do 105 to pass a car that is doing 100... but will do 110 to pass a car doing 105... hmmmm

[xaero1]

It sounds like you guys get it pretty bad on the motorways in Australia.

What is the average limit over there on a dual carriage way? 90kmh? 100kmh?

In the UK the limit is 70 miles per hour, although most people drive at around 80-85 mph. Police won't do a thing if you're amongst traffic that's doing 90mph even.

We don't get so many cameras on motorways - only in areas under maintenance - but the real problem is the cameras in towns and cities. They are pure revenue generators. It is getting so bad the Conservative party are trying to get votes by saying they'll scrap all cameras on non-dangerous stretches of road (i.e. all un-necessary cameras) if they get into power!

Luckily all cameras in the UK have to have a luminous yellow back to them so you can spot them as you go up the road. This doesn't include hand-held radar guns though.

[cul202]

the road in question is bloody shocking considering it is the main hwy (and is National Route 1) from Sydney to Brisbane. 1 lane per direction for the most part between Necastle & the Byron turnoff.

my rant was that the randoms one encounters on this road make a shitty road even shittier. Unfortunately with each new random driver i encounter i get more aggressive, which is not a healthy way to go on the road

[The_Paladin]

people like overtaking people.

it's what happens to australia when they decide that their principal family cars (commies, falcons) are actually prime racing cars which are in compition aginst eachother. it's all in the mentality.

[Rasi]

I just thought it was a one off thing. I noticed it on my way up to Gladstone. Was so utterly annoyed and it was very dangerous as everyone was racing to overtake, but when the merging takes place everyone is on their brakes so they don't run up the ass of the car in front. People also need to learn how to merge.

All mighty frustrating.

[krptr]

I went down great ocean road a little while ago for the first time, had my folks in the car so couldnt go very fast and I just wanted to cruise with them and enjoy the view anyway, so like any normal person would do, I kept pulling into the turnout to let cars pass.

The next day, I felt a little more confidant on the same strecth of road and wanted to do the speed limit but kept coming up to cars that simply refuse to pull over either cos their wankers or because they had no idea what to do. Really pissed me off and made for what should have been a 30 minute trip between some towns much longer and frustrating.

[Kwyjibo]

Had the same trouble on the Great Ocean Rd, first was playing it safe and just cruising, sometimes catching up to cars and occasionally pulling over to let someone overtake. But further up we were stuck behind some bastard in an old Kingswood, fair enough they go slow but we went through about 5 "turn-out" points and even through a town with about 4 people stuck behind him and he wouldn't budge. Could finally overtake him after awhile though.