Faster, and faster, and faster

I have noticed this for a while, but thought I would ask the astute observers on this forum to interpret the condition which I have noticed on the Interstate highway system for quite some time now.

I am cruising along (on cruise control) , 5 over as usual, about 75 MPH, when I come upon a slower vehicle running about 65 MPH. So I just cruise up to pass and as I go by the vehicle beside me speeds up. Now we are running 75 MPH side by side. Since I am a little uncomfortable with 2 vehicles running 3 feet apart at 75 MPH for mile after mile, I climb it up to 80MPH....He/she does too! Still side by side at 80 MPH.

Can you explain this behavior? ande why it happens over and over?

they suddenly woke up & saw that they were't alone. Prolly texting or talking on phone & had't noticed they'd slowed down.

I can?t explain it. People are dopey. A couple years ago I was traveling I-94 west of Alex. Fairly light traffic. I had the cruise on probably 74 mph. I got passed by a sporty Toyota driven buy what looked to be a college girl. About 10 miles later I cruised past her. This situation repeated itself. The 3rd time she shot by me she missed seeing the unmarked merging in the on ramp in front of her. End of story.

Several years ago my business required me driving all over the country in a Dodge Caravan. It was a 94 V6 shorty that would cruse at 90 although the speed control couldn't be set over 85.

I noticed many like you describe but the funniest was all the ones that just couldn't stand being passed by a Caravan. I would be running 80 - 85 in the left lane and invariably someone would come up behind me. I would pull over to get outta the way at which point I'm guessing he usually discovered how fast we were going and I would see brake lights.

Radar detector and CB radio paid for themselves more times than I can count.

You are not the only one friend. People get behind the wheel and everyone else can go to heck. You ain't going to pass me turkey. Idiots galore.

Happens to me all the time and frequently on almost empty roads. My theory is herd mentality. The other driver is operating in a comfort zone until you/I arrive. They reflexively speed up to join the herd. I've arrived at this conclusion because once I'm past, they generally drop slowly back to their original speed. I've considered if it might be competitive but the mix and variety of drivers makes me doubt that.

My dad warned me about this when he taught me to drive almost 50 years ago. Human nature.

Another aggravating behavior: You speed up to pass someone on the freeway, then once you're clear of them slow down to your previous speed. A couple of minutes later, they're passing YOU. And then THEY slow down again. And on and on.

It's nothing new, in the 1960's people would sometimes speed up to 90 on two lane roads to prevent someone from passing them.

A few years ago I was riding my Triumph Tiger 1050 motorcycle on a two-lane highway in West Virginia. I come up on a Ford pickup and start to pass it. As I pull alongside him, I'm up to 80 mph and realize I'm not gaining on him. This guy has it floored and wants to race! I opened up the throttle and left him behind, but what was he thinking?

Think you have something with the herd mentality theory. Every time I leave the property I have to pull out onto a 4 lane 65mph highway. Funny how the traffic clumps up in groups. You will see a group of 5 to 10 cars then nothing for a mile, then another group. I try to adjust my speed to stay in the clear but it's a bit of a challenge.

Steve may be right, plus add the distraction of cell phones and they are not paying any attention to how fast they are driving. They use you to pace their speed.

Best is when they pass you then have to slow down to turn off!

How about the people who have to drive slow in the left lane and everyone has to pass on the right......

Dont forget the 2 semis taking 20 miles to pass !

We drive I-90 to Boston two or three times a year. What drives me nuts are people who camp in the left lane and refuse to move right for faster traffic. Like that all the way across NY. Add to that NY rapes you on tolls.

Haha, we call those parades, see em all the time caused by a slower driver. Hate to get caught up in 'em.

X2

x2 gobble

And I thought it was me....happens to me every trip I take....I always use cruise control and fall victim to these antics. Make for a bad case of road rage after the second time in 2 miles.

There are quite a few drivers out there that are just plain jerks. They do not like to be passed for one thing. They speed, follow too closely, weave in and out of traffic, and camp out in the passing lane.

I have found that it is nearly impossible to get on a highway and drive along at your own (legal) pace without another driver annoying you - either intentionally or otherwise. Even in the slow lane, there always has to be one that will drive right up on your bumper or another that will sit right in your blind spot for miles.

The ones that insist in staying in my blind spot are the ones that annoy me the most. I know they are there, and if a problem comes up, they will surely add to it. I speed up, they speed up. I slow down, they slow down. Finally, I hit the brakes and pull in behind them so that they are now out of my blind spot. Then the whole thing starts again.

I am getting to hate even getting on a highway anymore. All I want is to be left alone. I suppose that is a lot to ask.

And I want to know, who the heck these drivers are. I am on four or five various forums and every time this topic comes up,none of the posters are the ones doing the poor driving. None! It seems that being an active member of an internet forum, makes one a skilled driver. Perhaps forum membership should be a requirement!

Could be Gravitational Force
Gravitational Force

The technique I have started using when I am traveling about 2 mph over the limit with the cruise control set, and someone zooms up past me and pulls in 20 feet in front of me is to immediately change to the left lane. I don't intend to pass, just wanting room in front of me. Usually they speed up and when there is what I consider a proper space, I move back into the right lane. Of course I don't do it in heavy traffic.

Not only are we superb drivers, we are all six foot five, with lots of long blonde wavy hair,
piercing blue eyes, and six-pack abs.

Driving a semi that the company has chopped off at 68mph : this happens constantly. Of course when I move left to pass they speed up, but just enough to pace me thus blocking me in the left lane. Of course everyone stuck behind me is cursing me out and rendering the single finger salute. Oh yeah, if I slow to fall back in behind, I get cut off with traffic going around on the right.

You left the story hanging at 80 mph. What happens (happened) after that, somebody must have backed off? Anyways, like they say (and no offense), it takes two to tango and both of you were dancing (well, sort of). Probably not a safe way to travel down the highway regardless of who's at fault.

That is a pretty deep topic for a bunch of us old farmers. You are suggesting that the traffic bunches up due to the same forces that give us the tides on the ocean? I think that it is all peoples egos -- a small girl or even a small male who is continually picked on gets into a powerful truck or car -- suddenly they are "masked" and no longer judged by there size or appearance . They now feel powerful and take out there frustrations on who ever is near -- now being the bully it goes to there head a power rush if you will. Add to this every body only looks forward (well hopefully not the semi drivers). No body wants to look at your backside so they over take you even if they turn off in a 1/4 mile -- another ego thing. I my self find that I am looking in the mirrors almost as much as forward. There is just as much danger on the highway coming up behind you as there are problems ahead.

That?s why I like living in a low population area.
Jim

I think it's a sign of weak-mindedness rather than malice. Herd mentality. They catch sight of something moving out of the corner of their eye and instinctively match speed with it.

80 is my tops, so I back off and try to drop in behind, most of the time as I back off, they do too, and the dance starts again. My take is that most are not paying attention and just going with the flow...whatever the flow is. Personally, I try to find an empty space to run in.

I drive a semi part time, hauling landscaping blocks. I usually run the speed limit, or a couple miles over. When I come up behind someone, I will kick it up a little to pass, so that I don't tie up the left lane. Sure enough, about half of the time, they will speed up, to match my speed, or just a little faster, so that I'm forced to drop back. I try to be a courteous truck driver, but sometimes it's really hard to keep cool.

If you want a real driving experience Just go and drive a semi then add in hauling the big ugly loads . Most times you have setting on the deck way more then what everybody else has gross , your wide , you maybe high , you maybe long and you can NOT stop on a dime and give back 9 cents change. And you have to navigate thru all of these people . what i lovved were the freight boxes and the new age drivers , they drive a company truck that they do not have a dime in and are governed at 62-65 MPH and have limited pony power . sometimes while under permit we are regulated to speed , lane restrictions and how we must go thru tunnels . So let say the permit says 65 is as fast as we can go , ok that is fine by me and with the pony power down in the engine room i can hold that speed up any hill on the interstate system in the area i run in .so your paddling along at 65 and you get Billy Big rigger in a Freight box that his truck will do 66 MPH and he just has to pass ya and he has a problem of staying in his lane so here he comes and you have to take to the berm while he turtle crawls past you For the next mile and a half all the while backing up traffic behind him . Then when he is almost past you with out warning , no signal here he comes on over and darn near takes off your hood. Now i am Blind to what is coming up that maybe setting along side the road and if something happens and he slams on the brakes i have no time to react . Slowly he gains distance and you back in your comfort zone only to come up on a hill and his 430 Hp starts to loose speed while you 740 Hp is just starting to wake up and go to work , as you press down feeding your ponys your speed is staying at 65 and you are gaining ground fast and you wait for and opening and you take it and blow on past . like he is parked . This gets him all fired up as he just got his COO COO Clock knocked into the creek while you still doing you max speed up the hill , You are working on covering as much real estate as you can before the sun goes down . So up over the top ya go and as soon as you start the down hill your already in a gear to hold back the load on the Jake and NOT use the service brake while holding your 65 . Half way down here comes Billy Big rigger in Georgia over drive screaming by with smoke coming off all his brakes and you get to enjoy this all the way to the bottom , then we get to do this all over again on the next hill. Then ya have the four wheelers that see all the blinking lights and flags and they become ragging bullls if they see you put on your signal to move over due to something setting along side the road close or a cop or some other emergency vehicle setting along side or blocking your lane . And will get up along side of you and just set there and try to block you . People this is NOT a good thing to do because it is like this if we let you know ahead of time while your BEHIND and you stomp it down into passing gear just to get up along side to BLOCK us , Guess what WE ARE COMING OVER and you are eihter going to hit us or your going out into the pea patch and if you think your little old 3500 pound car is even going to shake the truck you could be DEAD wrong . Now mayself i did not like loads over 250000 like the one friend of mine that i taught how to drive back in the early seventy's as Gene does them loads up to a Million pounds that may take him three months to move , my longest was 11 days and for me that was enough being under one load . I like the one i did every two weeks . Load on Tuesday unload on Thursday reload that afternoon for parts unknowen Drop sometime Friday and be back at the house by 12 or 12:30 Friday evening and go to the bank Saturday morning and watch the tellers eyes when i handed her my check. I really liked it when i had State cops for escort 99.9 % of them we really great guys to be around . Ya always had a short meeting with them before you moved out to discuses the game plan and look over what the little piece of paper said . The one time i brought a oversized out of Ft. Dix the only way out due to construction was thee Pa Turn pike and normally ten and a half foot is all that is allowed , i was 12 and a half wide and only 75000 on the deck . I made the call to the State cops and they said ya we will let you un the pike and we will supply the escort FREE , i like FREE . It was all i could do to get the load thru the gate and had to run the first 20 miles before i meet up with my escort , when i got to the pull off i had about a 20 min wait before he arrived. When he gets there he checked my license and my permit and all was good and i asked him how fast he wanted to travel , he said how fast can you run and being me i said alot faster then you may like and he say well we don't want to hold up traffic to much do you think you could run 80-85 i couold not believe what i was hearing and i said yea i can do that , he say but what about when we get into the mountains and i looked at him and said WHAT MOUNTAINS i thought Pa was flat as this truck never seamed to find one over here . And what about construction zones and i get well lets slow down to 65 going thru them and when we get to the tunnels you take the middle and use BOTH lanes and i will hold the mad house back BEST I CAN the rest is up to you to crowed them out . and off we went with him behind me . Now here we are running at 80-85 and we are still getting passed even with him behind me with his lights going people are still passing and the speed limit was 65 .