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

Very good point.

This!!

For those out there who are OK with bending the laws to their whim, can I just double check if you are OK with others doing it?

If you can choose when to speed, can a cyclist choose that a red light is worth stopping at? Can a driver choose to choose to use their mobile phone when the road is quiet? Can a road user choose to not to insure their vehicle (no fundamental risk there, except to your wallet) when it suits them?

Very interested.

Quite often, it's a struggle to get change lanes after overtaking because the cars in the other lane are driving too close together and not leaving sufficient gap between them .

Yeah, you’re literally the only person ever to view lorries as a potential hazard on the roads. The rest of us are staring rigidly at our speedometers.

Or… people who are cautious about speed are also cautious about other potential sources of danger 🤷‍♀️

Just because a lot of young men drive Audi, Mercedes & BMW doesn't mean the rest of us who drive them should be boxed in the same category. I am an Audi driver and drive very well I think. We're not all assholes. I just love the comfort and style of that car. I have come across many bad drivers who don't drive either of the 3.

The motorway I use most is a smart motorway and if I set my limiter at around 74 it doesn’t trigger the camera and most people are going slower .

If "hanging back" behind a lorry means that another lorry is also behind you, probably too close, then I'll be accelerating and breaking the speed limit, if necessary, to get past it. No way am I being a jam sandwich between two lorries - that's suicidal the way they drive sometimes. I also don't want a lorry close behind me as it will mean my visibility of what's behind me in other lanes will be severely compromised - unless the road was curving to the right, I wouldn't be able to see what was coming up in the right hand lane well enough to understand their relative speed and how much space I had. As I say, I get away from them and if that means speeding for a short period so I can overtake and get out of their way as quickly as possible, then I'm happy to do it.

I'm pretty sure that in reality no-one with any sense hangs around longer than they need to while passing a truck. But because they're speed limited you shouldn't need to really welly it to get past, should you? If traffic in the overtaking lane isn't going much faster than the lorry then hanging back a bit till there's enough gap to accelerate into is likely a good idea.

They are worth avoiding for a number of reasons. Ever seen those plastic luminous things on the wheels ? They are wheel nut indicators. Because lorries can shed wheels. One of those hits you can be catastrophic for you and barely affect the lorry.

High sided vehicles are also susceptible to swerving out of lane from gusts of wind because of the force on the high sides. So if you are driving close to one and there is a massive gust it can swerve into you.

Stuff can also fall off them.

How many people actually think about this sort of stuff rather than go on about endlessly about speed limits ?

Not many is the answer.

People who drive too close behind are so rude. You missed out Audi drivers in your post.
I do speed a little, but I don't bully slower drivers. Being in that lane to overtake sounds perfectly reasonable.

It also causes lorries to drive too close together

Nothing 'causes' anyone to drive too close to the vehicle in front, except (temporarily) another vehicle moving into your gap until you've momentarily eased off and dropped back.
There's a problem with lorries overtaking when there's not enough speed difference, which would be alleviated either by the overtaker being more realistic or the overtaken easing off a wee bit while the other passes. But there's quite a few places where a crawler lane would be useful

As will I. But if I go up to 75mph I am breaking the law, as are you. I’m ok with that for those few seconds but it’s not ‘the right’ thing to do. So OP should not feel bullied into breaking the law by some jackass trying to do 90mph while she is safely and legally passing slower vehicles. That’s what this thread is about.

This happened to us on a beautiful split highway in Vermont. Should have been a delightful, scenic cruise but the same white car kept going past us only to settle in and slow down again in front 😂

It was a charming looking, chatty older couple and they clearly had no idea they were overtaking the same car every five minutes or so!

Or you could go a few mph above the speed limit to get past those two lorries quicker. I hate driving "side by side" with lorries, especially in their blind spot, so will happily go to 75 or so just to get past quicker. I don't want lorries alongside me and don't want lorries close behind me, so I make the informed choice to exceed the speed limit slightly for a short space of time so I can distance myself from them as soon as possible.

Speed limiters are fixed to HGVs and cause loads of problems, particularly lorries side by side for miles causing huge tailbacks because the one overtaking can't get the extra 1 or 2 mph to actually complete the overtake. It also causes lorries to drive too close together, thus nowhere near enough stopping distance, hence the number of "rear ended" accidents involving lorries. Again, they can't go faster, so drivers decide not to slow down when they should to keep up momentum and maintain timeslots etc.

Motorways and dual carriageways would be more free flowing if lorries had more leeway as to speed.

Love this 😂Nothing quite like taking my track car for a blast on a cool dry day either

Ah, but shouldn't you just sit behind those two lorries instead of overtaking them, lest you hold up one of these higher beings for a few moments as you do so and they are incapable of dealing with the frustration of that?

As I'm reading it, unless you're doing anywhere between 70 & 140mph (70 being slow, even though legally it's the fastest you can drive in this country) - or whatever speed the person coming up the outside lane wants to do, you're responsible for any dangerous driving they engage in at that point because they cannot possibly be expected to ever travel at a lower speed for a few moments and (woe betide) deal with any frustration that may cause them as you overtake and return to the middle and then inside lane.

My biggest bugbear by far is people who've overtaken me pulling in front of me where there is no space to do so, forcing me to slow down. It makes it really hard to keep a consistent speed. I've done about 500 motorway miles in the last few days and by far the most dangerous driving I have seen is lane weaving and driving too close to the car in front.

In response to carefully posted evidence from @DdraigGoch about the positive impact of 20mph limits, we get this from @CantHoldMeDown:

It’s a load of crap.

Great arguing @CantHoldMeDown !

All you’re confirming with each post is that you’re an arrogant driver who thinks they’re above the law.

Your hurry is not more important than other road users’ safety. Just slow the fuck down.

70mph is the highest speed limit, so regardless of lane, there should be no overtaking of any vehicle at that speed.

Those of you claiming ‘advanced driver’ qualifications are forgetting their fellow road users don’t give a fuck about that and your impact speeds are combined.

Spend a day with a traffic cop looking for missing body parts and you might stop moaning about slow (in your opinion) drivers.

If a council has re-signed a 60 as a 20 then it's nothing to do with the change in Welsh law.

I'm sure that you would, given the drivel you wrote here:

We have blanket 20mph here and that’s what I’ve been focusing on overturning. It’s now being reviewed because it’s a fucking senseless policy.

1. It's not a "blanket limit". I see no 20mph signs on the North Wales Expressway.
2. It's not senseless, the 30mph limit in built-up areas was an arbitrary figure plucked out of the air around 90 years ago. There is a considerable body of evidence pointing to 20mph (30kph) being much safer than 30mph in areas where cars are likely to encounter vulnerable road users. That's why 30kph limits have become normal in many European countries.

In Wales it has already produced promising results:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/01/casualties-on-welsh-roads-fall-after-20mph-speed-limit-figures-show

Bristol has had a longer period to evaluate results and the use of lower limits in built-up areas has yielded considerable savings.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-43050841

Of course I realise carbrains are inherently selfish people who positively despise pedestrians, horse riders and cyclists so would rather save a few seconds than save a life.