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

'The crack of twat.'

Agree OP. And don't even get me STARTED on people who think it's OK to overtake on a bend!

Also, yep always the same cars too. SUVs, Jags, BMWs, Mercs, and Audis! Some of them contain the most abysmal drivers!

You don't usually get people driving very dangerously in a 1.2 Vauxhall Corsa, a Fiat500, or a Ford Focus.

I'm generally on the roads at the crack of twat and the roads are clear. I find I have to take even more care because there are other roads users who think because the roads are quiet they can do what they want and random wildlife that are braver because the day hasn't started up yet.

Complacency just needs to bite you on the arse once. No matter how many years you've been doing it.

There are some posters on this thread that I hope I never encounter on the roads. Such breathtaking arrogance and unwillingness to accept that laws exist. The same type of attitude that some folk have towards shoplifting- I’ll do what I want and sod everyone else.

It's this kind of self assurance and overconfidence that has led to many deaths and injuries. Quite scary how oblivious some people are to the dangers.

Yup. In almost a million miles it’s affected nobody negatively, including me. - and of course it never will ........

Also, driving is perhaps the most obvious area where the Dunning-Kruger effect comes into play.

I read a report by the RoSPA into road traffic incidents a few years ago. 95% of fatal or life-changing road traffic incidents in the UK are caused by males behaving carelessly or dangerously, and the biggest cause of that careless or dangerous behaviour is over-confidence in one's own abilities. So, yes, the people (almost always males) who think that they are such wonderful drivers they can exceed the speed limit and that they are so skilled and lightning-quick they will avoid an accident are the problem. I don't care if these people just kill or maim themselves but their arrogance usually destroys other people.

I drive on a motorway on my work commute and you definitely can't guarantee getting back from lane 3 in a few seconds, it just isn't the way the traffic works especially with heavy lorry volumes

I’ve never, even at 80mph, been in the outside lane for more than a few seconds. Perhaps that’s the issue here. I’ve also never been flashed to move as I used the lanes as intended.

Other peoples speed isn’t yours to police so you don’t have to sit in the outside lane ensuring we all stick to 70mph.

Yes. The best drivers are those that adapt well to what is going on around them. Such as give space to hesitant drivers not drive up their bum flashing them.

See so many you tubes with avoidable accidents because cam car had right of way and would rather have an accident than give way. People make mistakes it's how you react that counts.

100%

I've done loads of motorway driving, sometimes driving 30-40 thousand miles per year. Certainly on most motorways, you really don't need to spend much time in the right hand overtaking lane. Usually lots of opportunities to get back into the middle or left hand lanes, even at 70! I think it depends on which motorways really and the standard of driving - obviously if there are loads of middle lane hogs, then you're going to spend more time overtaking them in a right hand lane.

it’s those that are really too nervous to be driving that cause issues
It really isn't. It's the utter tools who don't read the road, don't pay attention, don't adjust their driving to the conditions, treat a speed limit as a jumping off point, and think that the highway code is just something that happens to other people that cause issues. Always.

"I felt that the speed limit was a guide, your honour, which is why I was going a lot faster than 70."

"Well, I feel the sentencing rules are a guide, pet, which is why I'm giving you three months in chokey without the option."

(We all limit 90+ to racetracks and 70-90 to motorways/dual carriageways.)

So you are happy to announce on a public forum that you and your family/mates break the law every day! Unbelievable.

If the speed limit is considered too low by some, then the route to follow is lobbying parliament for a change in the law and NOT to casually break the existing law.

Apart from the safety aspects of speed (hopefully everyone knows kinetic energy rises with the square of the velocity, increased stopping distances...) , going faster than the vehicles optimum uses more fuel and creates more pollution. For most cars somewhere about 50-60 is best for that. It was noticeable in our area that during the recent fuel price surge there were far fewer cars speeding and more staying below 70.

I don't think it's particularly likely speed limits on motorways will be reduced on environmental grounds any time soon, but neither does it seem likely that any government would raise them.

When cars were invented the speed limit was something like 12mph and that was considered “too fast” by some. As technology advanced the speed limit increased.
So now in the UK we have decided that 70mph is “fast enough.” If you think that’s incorrect, write to your MP and ask to change the law. You complain that people driving at 70mph are “policing” you - well you cannot unilaterally decide that they are driving too slow and your speed is correct.

Other countries they manage with higher speed limits I don’t think they are safer drivers it’s time things changes here

Not sure many manage well. The U.K. is pretty low on the list for traffic-related deaths, despite having busy roads.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listoffcountriesbyytraffic-relateddeathh_rate

Other countries they manage with higher speed limits I don’t think they are safer drivers it’s time things changes here

you will always have bad drivers its not only over confident fast drivers it’s those that are really too nervous to be driving that cause issues the driver in front of me recently that almost came to a stop from the slip road onto the motorway

Im not sure what motorways people drive in when they say the left lane is empty

I'm seeing that on 'smart' motorways where most people are staying out of it. Under normal traffic conditions when 3 lanes is enough and the speed limit hasn't been reduced, that's what was meant to happen but the authorities aren't putting the X up. This is on the M6.

I don't see the left lane empty when there's a hard shoulder

Im not sure what motorways people drive in when they say the left lane is empty but I do a lot of long journeys and rarely the left lane is empty. There can be miles and miles of lorries and trucks on the left which can leave me in the middle lane for far longer than what most would find acceptable. The alternative is zig zagging from left to right every 30 seconds which isn't safe either or when you do pull to the left you find you're at a slip road entry when lots of vehicles start pulling in to the left leaving you to pull to the middle again just to stop a slow pile up from the slip road.