Get out of my way!

I vaguely remember, when I was training with BSM to become a driving instructor, all these different acronyms. POM (Prepare, Observe, Move) was one. MSM was the most well known, although this was often broken down into Mirror, Signal, Position, Speed, Gear, Look. And this was sometimes further complicated with the addition of LADA (Look Assess Decide Act). I quite like POM, but I don't really use any others because I, personally, don't find them helpful.
But I was reminded of LADA yesterday. It can be useful when approaching pedestrian crossings, meeting situations, and overtaking. The reason I was reminded of it was because, in the space of a few hours, I encountered three other drivers who ignored the Look - Assess part, and predetermined that they were going to overtake.
The first one was with a relatively new pupil in Ullapool. She was going carefully along a narrow road, with parked cars lining one side of the road. Quite correctly, she was going at a speed that she felt comfortable, given how close the parked cars were. The grey Fiesta behind us was getting uncomfortably close but I reassured my pupil that her speed was fine - the worst thing she could do would be to accelerate. A blind right-hand bend was approaching, but we discussed the possibility of making progress and picking up the speed IF the road after the bend was clear. As we came round the bend we could see a parked car on our side so she checked her mirrors, indicated and moved out to pass the parked car. I was horrified to see the following car had already decided to overtake, before they could have seen the road ahead and, when we indicated to overtake the parked car, I could see him throwing his arms in the air and shaking his head. Prat. I assume, from his reaction that he expected us to wait behind the parked car while he overtook, even though there was no way he could have seen it was safe to overtake. Later, after the lesson, I was hoping I would see the driver somewhere in the village so that I could suggest that the head-shaking should have been directed at his own driving.
Later, as I was driving to Inverness on a 60mph road, I came up behind a car that was going at approximately 50mph. Although the road was slightly winding, it was safe to get up towards the speed limit. As I waited, knowing that some safe overtaking opportunities were a few minutes ahead, a red Saab convertible came quickly up behind me. He immediately sat on my shoulder, with his right indicator on. There was absolutely no way he could safely overtake for at least half a mile because of the bends in the road, but he was arrogant enough to tell me he was going to overtake long before he knew whether it was possible. When a short straight appeared he overtook us both. Fifteen minutes later, as I neared Contin, I could see the red Saab, just three cars ahead, but with several cars and two lorries ahead of him. Once again, he had already decided he was going to overtake, and took a risky chance to do so..... just as a police car came round the corner. I wish I could have seen his expression.
Perhaps the sun had got to some people's heads because a very similar thing happened just a few minutes later. I thought the whole point of the Toyota Prius was to keep fuel costs and emissions to a minimum. That is all very commendable, unless you drive it like an idiot. Lots of heavy acceleration and braking (even in a Prius) means that you will use a LOT of fuel.
When you have a lot of flowing traffic ahead of you (especially in a single carriageway where the traffic is travelling at the speed limit), it is pointless overtaking. It is a bit like sitting at the back of a train and gradually making your way through the whole train to the front carriage, just so that you can get through the ticket inspection slightly ahead of other people.
I could see this Prius driver overtaking the odd car behind me, then me, then a few cars ahead of me - each time, he would accelerate hard, then have to brake hard to get back in his lane. Twenty minutes later he had got past maybe 7 or 8 vehicles. This would have cost him a lot of excess fuel but at least he will have reached his destination 30 seconds earlier than he would have done if he had patiently sat in the traffic flow.
I had a Pass Plus session with Catherine the other day and she described how, in the week since she passed her test, she had been frustrated by people driving far too slowly for the conditions. It is frustrating and you should overtake when it is necessary and safe to do so, otherwise a queue will begin to form. But when there are endless vehicles ahead, all traveling at (or close to the speed limit), ask yourself "What will I achieve if I try to overtake all these vehicles?" Answer: a quickly emptying fuel tank. Although, admittedly, your ambulance driver won't charge you for the final part of your journey.