I think you may be right that there are some who think as you have suggested. They think they are being helpful.
However, can you help me understand the mindset of a couple of drivers I encountered at overtaking lanes on my last two trips down the Princes Highway?
I was gaining on the car in front and with several hundred metres to go, I was about to move into the overtaking lane when the driver in front moved right. I thought it was fairly obvious that I had plenty of time to complete my overtaking before the end of the overtaking lane. At the next overtaking lane, exactly the same thing happened and again at the next one.
I can think of a couple of possible explanations for that behaviour. It may be that the driver is paranoid about being trapped in the left lane by an overtaking vehicle as the lanes merge. It may be that their view in a convex external mirror gave them the impression that I was a lot further back than I was. It may be that the driver was just very bad at judging the speed at which I was gaining.
That one I can almost understand, but I need some help understanding the mindset of the second example.
I was about the fourth car behind a motorhome. The instant the overtaking lane started, the motorhome driver moved into the right hand lane. Since the overtaking lane was fairly short, by the time the following cars realised that he was going to stay in that lane, it was too late to take the risk of overtaking on the left.
At the next overtaking lane, the same thing happened. At the third overtaking lane, the motorhome again immediately occupied the right hand lane. By then the three cars in front of me had decided to use the left lane to overtake.
I was sitting back a bit to ensure that I wasn't going to be part of any carnage that might occur, so another vehicle had the opportunity to pass me but wasn't able to pass the motorhome.
I knew that there was another overtaking lane coming up and I knew that the driver between me and the motorhome wasn't going to take any nonsense from the motorhome. I knew that because it was a lowered ute with a P plate driver.
As predicted, the ute charged past before the motorhome had time to move into the overtaking lane and I followed close behind. The moment we were both past, the motorhome took up its usual spot in the right hand lane.
The fact that the motorhome paused for long enough for the hard charging ute and the more sedately driven Defender to pass suggests that the motorhome drive was not completely oblivious to the fact that there were cars waiting to overtake.
Any suggestions you can offer to help me understand the mindset of that motorhome driver would be most appreciated.
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