has anyone noticed this phenomenon?

[daryn]

ok i'm driving back to boston from western massachusetts today. i get on the highway and the setup is as follows: there's 2 lanes, one for each direction, and no passing allowed. it's like this for about 8 miles or so, at which point it splits and turns into 2 eastbound lanes, 2 westbound lanes, with about 30 feet of grass and trees in between them.

anyway, here's the phenomenon. i'm always stuck behind someone, because i drive fast, not too fast but faster than the speed limit usually. so i'm on this 8 mile stretch of just one eastbound lane, and i'm stuck behind this guy. we're going like 60 mph. speed limit 55.. ok.. there's nobody in front of this guy. so we are cruising along at this weak speed and i am like ughhhh can't wait to get to the split so i can pass this clown. i want to mention that i'm not tailgating the guy. i hate that [censored]. i'm about 30 feet behind him.. just normal driving. now the split comes up, he stays in the right lane, i get in the left and hit the gas. now i notice i'm not really gaining on him, in fact i'm losing ground. for some reason he has sped up. my speed increases.. 65, 70, 75.. still gaining no ground! finally i'm doing 80 and start to creep past him. the speed limit did not change by the way...

then i realized that ALWAYS happens to me there. for some reason when it's one lane, the lead car goes slow, but as soon as it becomes 2 lanes, they speed up almost always. any reason for this? anyone share this experience?

[guids]

They dont want to feel like a pussy by letting you pass, this happens all the time to me, and its the only logical explanation I can come up with.

[jokerthief]

That happens all the time to me as well. I think it has to do with people in general being pricks.

[edfurlong]

I tend to drive as fast as I can while still going slower than at least one car, but that doesn't explain your situation really.

[The Dude]

This seems to be especially true when the extra lane is because of an up-hill stretch in the road - when it's even harder to accelerate to get past cars. Yeah, maybe the road opens up more because of the extra lane and all of a sudden people feel like they have enough room to go faster. I dunno.

[theben]

heres something worse

i'm driving on a 2 way, 1 lane (total) road. its in a residential area, but very rural. the road is moderately crowded and the speed limit is 55

so the car in front of me is going about 45 and we are in a passing zone. hes been going slowly for a while, so i dont think hes gonna speed up. so i look ahead and see a large truck coming the other way, but not for a long time off. plenty of room to safely pass.

so i signal left, move into the oncoming traffic lane, and floor it. Since i was not tailgating him, it takes a few seconds before i got very close. As im about side by side, i'm going about 65 and notice that im making very little progress in passing. well to make a long story short, I decided to continue with the pass (very stupid move, but I usually commit to my driving moves) and ended up at about 75-80 something mph and just narrowly made it back into my own lane before oncoming traffic reaches me and i just shake my head saying, "what the hell" [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

[jthegreat]

Same thing happens on the interstate when you go to pass someone and they start to speed up.

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
That happens all the time to me as well. I think it has to do with people in general being pricks.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is the correct answer, and the solution is to get a faster car.

~D

[Jihad]

Yeah people are retarded. Similarly, there is a stoplight by my house that has two offset lanes, where one stops about 20 feet in front of the other, about 2 car lengths. No matter what kind of car, truck, or van is in the shorter right lane, they slam on the gas to make sure to overtake the guy in the left lane, because right under the light, the lanes merge. People are just retarded man.

[daryn]

actually i want to say that i have noticed it happens also even when i don't try to pass. in other words, even if i'm content just to stay behind the guy in the left lane, he will accelerate upon reaching the portion where one lane goes to two.