Slow drivers - why do you do it?

[Kibble29]

If you’re a slow driver who chugs along the motorway at 50mph in a 70 zone, or one that does 17mph in a 30, why do you do this?

Are you afraid of driving? Or is it something else?

Yes the limit is a limit, not a target. Yes there can be roadworks or lane closures, or torrential rain. But I’m just talking about a standard road with no issues or adverse weather.

Agree about many single track country roads being national speed limit....and yet some 3 lane roads into London are 40 mph where, ( admittedly not at many times of day,) you could safely do 50 or 60 in dry conditions.

I rarely do more than 30-40 on narrow country lanes as they are usually winding without good visibility and you are almost as likely to meet horse riders, pedestrians, wildlife, or farm vehicles as another car.

I’m a driving instructor, unless conditions are unsafe we do teach to drive to the limit, or not far below. However in a rural road with a national speed limit they often haven’t been classified, so just have that limit automatically applied. Obviously then use your hazard perception to drive at the appropriate speed for the conditions,

People do believe they are being safe being way below a limit but they certainly wouldn’t pass a driving test now.

Overtake . . .

On the last speed awareness course I went on, the advice the trainer gave us if someone was driving too close behind you was to slow down 🤷

Too fast for the bend, bounced off the curb,over steered, hit a lorry and killed his best friend.

Sometimes when I am driving on fumes…

I drive mostly on unlit narrow country roads with few pavements and some drivers drive them as if they are in a tunnel completely oblivious to the fact that there are many things that may be in the road round the corner that mostly (apart from wildlife sadly) have right of way/priority.

Also, it is much easier to drive behind someone else's rear lights in fog/snow/driving rain or even just in the dark with glaringly bright headlights (way too bright lots of them now) coming at you that make it very difficult to see the edge of the road/soft verge/ditch than it is to be the one in the front getting cursed for driving too slowly. I just pull over now and wait for tailgaters to overtake. Can't be doing with it anymore!

Omg this brings back memories! I had a friend like this when young.

To be fair I dont think his car could actually go faster than 45!

It also didnt have power steering so he could barely turn a corner bless him 😂

I definitely do 30 om my 60 single windey country lane. And I'm local so I know there are likely tractors or dog walkers or wildlife out there and 60 is insanity. I also do 30 through the villages as that is the speed limit there.

Yes. I keep an eye on the SatNav's ETA and it's incredibly difficult to take a minute off (or add one on) by changing your speed (but not breaking the limit). My dad used to say, 'Better late in this world than early in the next!'

Depends on the conditions.

I drove down the A21 yesterday behind someone doing 25mph. It’s a 60mph. Straight bit of road - great visibility. They nearly caused several accidents and, in the end, after nearly being rear-ended twice (because no one, even when they’re slowing down, expects some fuckwit going that dangerously slowly on a road that fast and clear) I overtook them.

There’s being a cautious driver, then there’s being a danger in the road - and driving less than half of the speed limit certainly counts as dangerous driving IMO. Ditto for people who enter a motorway at 40 or drive along the slow lane at 40. It’s dangerous to go slowly on fast roads.

The very narrow winding country road near me is a 50 limit. I tend to drive at 40 (or below in dark and fog) because almost every day there are sheep/ deer or suicidal squirrels appearing out of nowhere! It would break my heart to hit one, so I give myself more time to react. I pull to the side when I can if the car behind is driving too fast or too close.
My motorway speed tends to be 60, and that is because that’s where my foot sits comfortably on the accelerator. My mai journey is only one junction anyway, so driving at 60 instead of 70 makes very little difference time wise.

Have you seen the state of the roads recently, they are often appalling.
A few weeks ago I had to visit Nottinghamshire, literally every road I drove along had huge potholes. So beside following a satnav, looking out for lights, crossing pedestrians etc I had to weave around massive holes to avoid damaging my car. Are you surprised I wasn’t driving at the limit?

Merge in turn, but unless you travel at the same speed as the left lane, you aren’t merging you’re overtaking and creating the tail back.

You’ll see lorries try and reset the merge sometimes, by sitting in the outside lane at the same speed as the inside, so that the zip merge works again. But as soon as some people overtake and others move in early, the tailback forms again. Both lanes are to blame, not just one.

The speed limit is 30 outside my kids' school (it's in a 30 borough) - that doesn't mean you should drive at 30 between 8 and 9 am (or ever really, it's a residential street).

The amount of morons you get up your tailgate or dangerously overtaking when doing 20 in a 20. Like a pp I wonder if they actually know the speed limits have changed. Because the other option is they are a moron.

I worked with someone who insisted driving through a local tunnel at 30mph when the limit is 40 and in normal flowing traffic, everyone does 40. It's a dual carriageway but overtaking is prohibited.

She'd arrive in work each day upset and flustered that she'd got repeatedly beeped at. She was generally annoying

If it’s on a major road, or clear long stretch of road, then yes it’s very frustrating, but if it’s on county lanes, than this lady is probably me. No way should anyone be doing 60 on those narrow and winding roads, where often there is not enough room for 2 cars to pass each other. So very dangerous to be going at that speed, regardless of that permitted limit.

They are not committing an offence other than annoying you, they are driving within their safe limits. Overtake them safely...

For an 18 month period I had to drive very slowly. I could tell drivers behind me were irritated, but I couldn't do anything about it. In my case it was because my passenger was my terminally ill DH who had cancer in his spine and hips, with fractured vertebra in his spine where the bone was crumbling. Every bump on the road was agony for him, and let's face it, the state of the roads everywhere is a nightmare. I had to try and make the drive gentle for his benefit, and it was always on our way to hospital visits, I didn't go out and hog the roads for the fun of it. Sometimes there's a reason for slow driving that isn't anxiety or nervousness.

I live near a dual carriageway, which I use daily. The amount of drivers that stop on the slip road and indicate is frightening. It's a good size slip road and a not particularly busy dual carriageway, plenty of time to math your speed and judge where you can slip in. It then causes 3/4 cars to stop and have to try and speed up on the slip road after they've pulled on at 20mph

Why would you behave that way? Deliberately winding people up is twatish and childish, plus downright dangerous when you are both in charge of tonnes of hurtling metal.
Really says a lot about your character.

Yeah everything you said in the first two paragraphs was summarised by my “hopefully”.
Your last paragraph makes no sense. Are you referring to google maps notifying you when the speed limit changes? That’s to do with accuracy of mapping data. Nothing to do with calculating your actual speed.

These are the same people who join a 70mph road from the slip doing 30mph. I've known people come to a complete stop, despite the road being clear to join. It's so dangerous. On approach you should be increasing your speed to match the road you're joining, along with using mirrors and a blind spot check over your shoulder. Not only are you putting yourself in danger going too slow but everyone else around you.

Not sure why wanting to drive at the speed limit on a perfectly clear road in good conditions equates to being in a rush. No I’m not in a rush, it’s just incredibly tedious being stuck behind Timid Tessie/Tim clinging to their steering wheel for dear life doing 20mph under the limit while the traffic stacks up behind them.

I was visiting db and had a flat tyre.
RAC guy put the spare on, it’s one of those get you home tyres, he warned me not to exceed 50.
I had to drive home 30 miles on the M1. I kept in the slow lane but still so many drivers hooting and gesticulating.
It made me realise how impatient people are.