I'm working on a contract in Palmerston North until the end of June and the travelling there and back every day by car (not always the best weather for the bike - the wind along Tokomaru is pretty lethal at times!) irritates the shit out of me. I arrive at work so wound up that I could kill someone! The woman who lives across the road is so slow it's a wonder she gets anywhere - she left at least five minutes before me the other day and yet I caught up to her at Shannon - about 15-20kms away! She drives at a maximum of 80kph and if you come up behind her, she slows to 70. And she drives a diesel.
Friday was a pain, just south of Tokomaru I was the last in a line of about seven cars behind a double truck and trailer unit doing between 50 and 70kph. No one was overtaking and it's quite windy from there until the Opiki turn off so no one got past the truck. Along the straight leading to Shannon one vehicle in the middle of the pack pulled out and overtook the truck but nothing else looked like it had any plans to overtake so I pulled out from the back of the pack and overtook the remaining cars. I didn't want to risk getting caught out with a corner approaching so I pulled in behind the truck. There was plenty of room - the car directly behind the truck was at least eight or nine car lengths behind it so I didn't have to brake or force my way in front of him, but he obviously was pissed off someone behind him had decided to overtake so until I got past the truck a few minutes later, I was subjected to him flashing his light and then sitting behind me with his lights on full. I'm sorry? None of the other six vehicles had bothered to overtake anything and there was no way I was sitting behind a truck all the way home, so what was his problem? (Apart from driving a people mover...)
Most truckies are pretty considerate (and I always give them a toot of thanks if they pull over to let me pass) but a PBT driver last week needed his arse kicked. He was sitting about three metres off the bumper of a stock truck travelling at 60kph on the same road, but heading north. I had to wait until the straight at Tokomaru to get past both of them as there was no way I was risking having to pull in between them.
It's a well documented fact that people speed up when they get to passing lanes because they feel safer as the road is wider. Someone should invent a device that prevents cars from speeding up as you pass them!
Yes, I am pedantic about spelling and grammar so get used to it!
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