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Colliding with an oncoming car is bad, so people want to minimise the amount of time they're in the wrong lane, hence they go faster than the speed limit during the overtake.
What is supposed to happen is the lorry driver doing 10 mph below the speed limit pulls over to allow the long queue of people behind him to pass. But unfortunately they are incentivised to never stop by their employers.
(On the very rare occasions that I drive these days, if I'm behind someone slow I sit and wait, like you suggest, after the speed camera incident I mentioned above.)
frankenbike-
I can see why people think they need to speed to overtake a slower vehicle but If they're not going slow enough to be able to overtake easily, then where is the pressing need to get past them?
I'm not going to pretend that I've never done it myself however I don't think I'd ever have the cheek to try and justify it as somehow thinking of safety :-) As you say, these days I tend to just be patient and wait - I'll happily go slightly slower without working myself up in to a frothing Clarkson.
AlexD
Sorry, but that's bonkers. If someone's driving 5mph under the maximum speed limit for the road and you can't overtake them without exceeding the speed limit, surely the safe thing to do is to drive at the same speed? The idea that they're being somehow dangerous or unnecessary by not driving as fast as they legally can baffles me.