Mini Review...

I take any of my cars to their limits when ever safely possible, one was

50 this year, one is coming up for 35, one is nearly thirty. The others are much younger at 18 and 15.

This being the closer you get the slower I go tacit.

Or just not a particularly quick Porsche. The old 9-3s did have a huge mid range overboost.

Pretty much, yes. When moving in faster queues of traffic, on the motorways particularly, if I feel the person behind is dangerously close (no grille visible for instance) I gently de-cellerate so that I have extra room ahead so that if I need to brake it won't be hard braking and there will be no excuse for the one behind not stopping in time. They usually get the message and drop back, if they don't then I am still relatively safe from me running into the car in front by getting pushed into it.

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+1

To go anywhere, I have to negotiate a 30 limit road around an estate for perhaps 3/4 mile. I try to stay close to the limit; about 33-34mph on my speedo. I am frequently tailgated, and increasingly it seems to be by young women. I slow gently, sometimes down to 20mph. They either back off, or roar past. Either way, I'm safer.

Chris

I do exactly the same.

Trouble is, you usually end up with unwanted lane shifters filling the larger space (your safety zone) in front.

Phil

it happens, but safety is paramount. I once almost became the meat in a sandwich, but I saw and heard the crashing behind me and dodged left into a relatively empty lane, I leave more space nowadays.

Why would you get pushed into the car in front if you keep adequate distance? It's this close up driving in the fast lane which so often causes the 3-car shunts.

It's quite irononc that the density of cars in the fast lane is often higher than the density of cars in the middle lane. This is my theory:

Drivers in the fast lane want to go fast - of course. Hence when meeting a car in front, they will go close up to persuade (or intimidate) that car to either go faster or to to pull over. This is the mathematics of the situation, it inevitably leads to denser traffic in the fast lane which I find quite comical.

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It's quite ironic that you think of it as the 'fast' lane, because that's what causes a lot of the problems.

It's a balance between leaving a safe distance in front, but not being a lane-hogger.

Chris

An adequate stopping distance for my car would be inadequate if the car behind has hit me and is pushing me forward, therefore my distance from the car in front needs to become larger for two reasons: I can brake less hard if the one in front slows suddenly, the car behind will then get more warning and be able to brake before hitting me, and 2 : in the event of the car behind hitting me then I am less likely to get shoved into the car in front.

In the UK we do not have a 'fast' lane.

Yes we do it is the empty nearside lane. If you are in the outside lane then your speed is limited by high traffic density and the vehicle in front.

I use the inside lane a lot, the bizarre thing is that cars that I undertake very, very rarely move over after I have gone through, you would think they would get the hint.

You the ones of holier-than-thou. I don't think criss-crossing lanes is necessarily a good idea.

If the nearside lane is available then you should be in it.

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I don't think it matters what you think; the rule of law is what's relevant. Perhaps you are unfamiliar with this document?

HTH

Chris

They really should change the law so you can overtake on either side legally. Same as many other countries. No reason then for so many to hog any lane.

It's if anything even worse in towns. Everyone drives down the middle of the road regardless.

I noticed that, while driving someone to hospital in London last week, I put a lot of it down to bus lanes: they all seem to have different operating times, so it is hard to tell if they are in operation or not, so everyone just avoids them all the time. Compounded with traffic light junctions that suddenly turn out to have a left or right turn only. It is fine if you know the area well, but very hard if you don't. Also, by keeping in the middle you don't have to keep dodging the cyclists that just wobble out of sidestreets without even a glance to the right or left.