People who drive 40 everywhere

I had this on Friday, managed to not let it outwardly aggravate me. But then on the way back I got another one and overtook it, car coming the other way flashed me even though he was nowhere near because I'm not an idiot unlike 50% of the other twats on the road.
DH decided to say "we're not in a rush" so he got shouted at "this car's got 5 fucking gears I'd like to use them all. Some people shouldn't be allowed to drive.

I think the only time it is understandable is on those really annoying roads that change speed limit every 5 minutes, and half of the speed signs are obscured by bushes. And if you join it from a country road, well you just have to guess. Of course, the road like that near me is the one where police speed detector vans like to hide out.

I got stuck behind one of these fools yesterday- exactly that 40 on normal rd, dry conditions in daylight(with stuff coming the other way so not safe to overtake for a while) then they sped through a village!

It’s actually harder to drive so slowly on the open rd, I don’t understand what is wrong with them? Unless they have reduced or impaired reaction times, in which case they shouldn’t be driving at all!

Ugh yes I hate that so much. Get that all the time coming out of our driveway. Totally clear behind the flasher 🙄 and then by the time I’ve actually started pulling out (as was expecting to let the flasher go ahead of me as per the rules, so not fully prepared to pull out myself), a car has come from the other direction!!! 😤

Even worse are the fools who are the last car in a line of traffic who flash to let you in/across! Just why? They're the last car and you can easily/safely move once they're passed which is probably the same timescale as them slowing down to let you in!

@Porridgeislife couldn’t agree more on the flashing to tell you to go hence ignoring road rules. I’ve seen a couple of bad accidents happen as a direct result of this, one at a junction and one at a pedestrian crossing.

It is so much safer if everyone sticks to the road rules.

Exactly. A courtesy is nice but if I can see someone coming up the outside I'm not moving over, it may look clear to the one on the slip road. So I don't accept the pp assertion that drivers who don't move over are weirdos.

The problem is that people start to expect it and lose the ability to “merge like a zip” and you end up with the motorway slowing down to a crawl at each junction.

See also: people turning right out of an intersection across a busy road. The number of people locally who try to force their way out when they don’t have right of way is insane.

I hate it when drivers slow down and flash me to let me out because a) the road rules exist for a reason and b) it’s going to be entirely my fault if something goes wrong.

No they don’t but I was taught to do so and am intensely grateful when other drivers are thoughtful enough to do it.

No, but if you can it’s a nice bit of courtesy

People already on the main carriageway do not have to move over for those joining. It is up to those joining to do so safely and to merge with the traffic.

Also annoys me when people do 20 in a 30 zone because they assume all city roads are 20 now. It’s 20 where it says it’s 20, not where it doesn’t!!

Of course I agree 💯

If they don't know the speed limit, they shouldn't be driving. It's not difficult to observe the speed limit signs and remember some pretty basic rules about speed limits when there are no signs!!

People often do not know what's the speed limit so they just do a flat 40 everywhere. I dont agree with people in the comments saying it's ok to do 40 in a 60, perfect example is people doing 40 or even 35 some.times when trying to join a 60-70 mph road, it can cause accidents, they should be matching the speed of cars already on that road to join safely. Don't even get me started with the weirdos that won't move to the right hand lane when they see a car trying to join the road... completely unaware of their surroundings....

Couldn’t agree more.

You have no business being behind the wheel of any car, much less a large, powerful one.

@FourLeggedBuckers when I say I drive to the road conditions, that includes the type of users who use our roads. It's not just about the type of road or the weather conditions.

Our windy, narrow roads are used by cyclists and horse riders as well, so I drive assuming I might meet one on the road as well as other road users.

Looking at some of the posts on here and how I see people drive regularly in real life, I’d bet there are also posts about me.

But I’d say that those people are probably not used to being vulnerable road users (pedestrians on country roads / cyclists / riders) or driving different vehicles (HGV/livestock/tractors etc) and have no concept of how dangerously they’re driving.

The trouble with driving to the road conditions is that it’s a judgement - if you know you could hit your mate’s kid cycling round the next bend, you drive slower than if you don’t realise people actually live in the area and use the road other than in cars. Or if you were hit by an idiot speeding round a blind bend a couple of weeks previously you’re probably going to be a bit cautious… despite what some posters on here are saying, that doesn’t mean you’re not fit to be on the road.

People just need to remember that their judgement isn’t necessarily more correct than the person they perceive to be holding them up. Sometimes they might be right, other times, they may lack local knowledge etc. It’s annoying to be held up, but it’s just a part of life.

(And still that’s not relevant to the original comments about people doing 40 everywhere, even in 30s.)

It's the same in our village. I drive to the road conditions.

It’s the people who think NSL means “drive at 60” regardless of the road which scare the crap out of me.

Round here, that’s mostly lanes - single car width, passing places, high hedges, blind bends, tractors, wildlife, walkers, cyclists and horse riders.

And yet absolute muppets - some of whom are probably posting on this thread - try to drive around them at 60. Even 40 is fucking dangerous. But no, it’s NSL so anyone doing 30 is dangerous 🙄

As for the poster who mentioned going around a blind bend at 59 and rear ending someone - that would not be the fault of the person doing 40, ever. If it’s a blind bend, you cannot drive around it faster than you can stop if there’s an obstruction. People driving slowly may be irritating, they may be legitimate (tractor / trailer / whatever) or they may be a shit driver - but they’re less dangerous than a fuckwit taking a blind bend at 60mph.

Not that this is relevant to the OP, because if you’re doing 40 in 30s, you’re definitely in the wrong and driving like a twit.

I had one earlier today, 50mph dual carriageway. A car ahead was tailgating the one in front of it at under 40, in the right hand lane. The car ahead pulled off and the one in front of me went to the left hand lane. I went to pass and it immediately pulled in front of me and went at 35, for a couple of miles.

Eventually, she pulled over, I looked as I passed, which was when I realised that it was a woman. In a burka! 2 little slits to see out of - surely that can't be safe?