It’s scary as hell being behind someone who’s driving at 40 km/h onto a motorway (the E16) where everyone else is doing 100 km/h or more. I really don’t get it. They’re probably sweating as they creep out into the faster traffic and at the same time they’re forcing everybody following to drive that slowly too. And if the slow driver manages to slide out into traffic safely there’s no guarantee that the cars behind can do that. At times like this I feel most at risk when driving. Luckily most people know how to drive, but it’s surprising how often I get stuck behind someone who can’t.
Yesterday I was behind a car that slowed down to 60 km/h before driving OFF the same motorway, forcing me to slow down to that speed, as I was taking the same exit and there wasn’t time to pass. That also put my blood-pressure into an upward curve as I had a heavy truck behind me, coming up fast. Truckers don’t want to brake unless they need to stop as it wastes time and fuel getting back up to cruising speed, especially if they’re on a long trip.
When I left the motorway, the truck was only three meters behind me. Of course, if I’d slowed any more, he would have braked, but I still felt that twitch of nervousness. So that got me swearing, but as I was on my own, I didn’t disturb anybody. It’s as if some people are in a world of their own when they’re driving and completely unaware of what’s going on around them. People who don’t feel comfortable using a motorway, or don’t know how to drive on one, should use a side road. Or go to a driving school and learn how to drive a car.