John B. wrote:
On Mon, 15 Apr 2019 14:06:55 +1000, James wrote:

This morning I was riding to meet a friend. I was going to be a little
late, which isn't unusual for me. I made a left turn from a highway on
to another rural road that is also 100 km/h speed limit and quite busy
too. Maybe 100m from the turn is a rail crossing. I noticed a car
behind me as I approached the crossing. The driver wasn't going much
faster than me at that stage. About 30m from the crossing the lights
started flashing and bells were ringing. A train was approaching and
there are no boom gates at this crossing.

I applied the brakes and gently rolled to a stop. The driver in the car
following me accelerated, past me, and drove illegally through the crossing.

I wasn't bothered, but I did wonder why the rush considering the ease of
stopping.

About how many seconds between him leaving the tracks and the train
crossing? As a hat-protected roadie, and familiar with the crossing, you
really should have taken on the challenge! ;-)

There are a lot of people like that, "gotta pass, gotta pass", for no
good reason that I can think of except that it might be the driver's
way to assert himself, to prove that he's "the biggest dick on the
block".

Depending on how long the crossing was blocked, he might have been obliged
to turn his motor off, ruining the oil temperature and leaving him
defenseless either next to a "semi-human" cyclist or behind a powerful
bicycle safety flasher ... or even worse, some eco-europhile standlight_!!

As for getting there quicker... maybe. I've ridden with folks that
constantly drive above the speed limit and their times on a , say 200
km trip, is only minutes quicker than mine, driving at the specified
speed limit.

Drivers at the speed limit? They might be inexperienced, inattentive,
frail, foreigners, or even criminals trying not to get pulled over !!