To wonder how so many people are comfortable breaking the speed limit?

@CantHoldMeDown I was talking more on the regular roads as opposed to a motorway. So say it's a 50 mph road and someone is on his tail wanting him to speed up etc, he will drop down to say 45 mph. They can flash all they want but he won't be budging.

Yes, I imagine they do. Doesn’t help much when you’re caught committing a crime, though, I’d guess.

So you take each law individually and decide whether it merits your compliance?

I should imagine a lot of people do that in various circumstances, not just driving.

@BernardBlacksBreakfastWine Exactly! It's scary that there are people like that on the roads. My dad is so funny, anyone who behaves like that and are on his tail and clearly wanting him to go faster, he actually slows down and refuses to bow to their stupidity.

My licence, my risk, nothing to do with you.

And there we have it! The sheer arrogance. Your blithe disregard for the rules of the road could affect any one of us. I pray I don’t drive anywhere near you.

@CantHoldMeDown I just sincerely hope that you never take anyone's life, or even your own with your over confidence. Always better to be safe than sorry.

I think you’re wasting your time with @CantHoldMeDown
He/she is absolutely certain he/she is too clever/important for tedious things like speed limits.

The threshold for action (even an MAC) is 10% +2mph over the posted limit so you are never going to get anything for an indicated 78-80mph given that speedos over-read by at least a couple of MPH on nearly every non-HGV vehicle, and never under-read.

But... that's the exact same shithouse type of excuses you used for being able to speed?

No, I play games and scroll Instagram on my phone. I am better at it than 99% of people and my phone is built for it, so I can do it when others can't.

I also do it when the roads are quiet so the risk is even more managed.

I think you say things to deliberately wind some people up. That's increasing blood pressure so giving the NHS work

In urban areas I follow the speed limit religiously. On motorways in benign conditions (no heavy traffic, wet weather etc) I will sit on 80mph.

I am broadly relaxed about anyone how people chose to interpret everyday speeding laws, as they are clearly a means of income generation, and as long as they don't whinge and whine when they are caught and accept the penalty that's fine. That doesn't mean I take the same view about all motoring offences

Some laws are less enforced than speeding - and I am relaxed about adherence to them as well, again as long as people don't moan when caught. But some laws have far more severe penalties, which is also presumably a reflection of how important the state thinks they are, and the seriousness of potential outcome for perpetrator and victim, and so I am not as relaxed about them being broken.

As we know, cyclists routinely ignore red lights, for which there is no penalty that can be enforced as there is no way of identifying a cyclist using a camera. They'll come of worse, so I don't mind if they break them

Lots of people speed. The penalty for that for most offences is 3 points and £100. in 2021 there were 2.4 million speeding offences, of which 3/4s were dealt with by speed awareness courses - at £100 a go that's £2.4 billion of income... So break speed limits within reason as often as you like. I struggle to get worked up, and I certainly won't be 'policing' it myself...and if anyone loses their licence as a result, well, you had enough warning

Plenty of people use mobiles when driving, but they do tend to whine when caught. The penalty for that is up to 6 points and £200. Again, I can't get worked up about it - hopefully they will lose their licence before too long anyway and cameras are increasingly being deployed to catch offenders

There are 42 million cars in the UK, of which ~ 300,000 are on the road and uninsured at any point in time. So the % is small - but the penalty is unlimited, the car can be seized and destroyed and the driver disqualified. I have no idea if a car is insured, but hopefully between ANPR and the police this is being tackled.

As 45% of people do speed on the motorway, I think it's safe to assume that there is tacit acceptance by the government and the police that the main reason that limits are what they are is for income generation, and therefore those who are rigidly sticking to 69 mph are not playing the game by the rules that are in place, and are in fact denying critical services like schools and the NHS of income ;)

Different types of risk. You can't compare riding through a red light against slightly exceeding a speed limit in good conditions. You certainly can't compare using a mobile phone which causes a loss of concentration/loss of observation. I'd regard cycling through red lights and using a phone far more likely to cause an accident than exceeding a speed limit in good conditions with full concentration.

I know plenty of cyclists don't stop at red lights. They chose to ignore the rules! I do find it funny that you don't consider pedestrians at risk when cyclists skip red lights.

By the way, you can use a mobile and keep full attention of your surroundings, I do it all the time - I'm better than everyone else!

So you take each law individually and decide whether it merits your compliance?

Interesting approach.

Exactly. If everyone in left hand and middle lanes are maintaining the two second gap (or 2 chevron gap where marked), then they shouldn't need to brake if someone who's just overtaken them moves into "their" lane, they can just ease off the accelerator slightly to regain the two second gap. The biggest problem in the left hand and middle lanes is people driving way to close to the vehicle in front of them. Quite simply if someone pulling in between you and the car in front causes you to have to brake or other evasive action, you were too close to the car in front in the first place!