Is it okay to drive well below the speed limit on a main road?

[ScarboroughFairy]

Hi all, tomorrow I’ll be driving on a main road where the speed limit is 60mph, but I’m thinking of sticking to 40mph. I know it’s well under the limit, but I just feel safer at that speed. Does anyone else do this

There are lots of direct trains tomorrow from Inverness to Edinburgh. Do that instead.

i wonder whythat is that crashes usually happen within five miles of the home

When I first bought a car, it was about 7 years after I had passed my test. I took a refresher lesson and a motorway lesson. I recommend it.

i didn't realize that there were specific motorway lessonsmy anxiety using them issevere after reading about all the crashes that happen onthen i've been on then but only as a passenger

The A90??? You must be fucking joking! Most of the A90 is dual carriageway so the speed limit is 70mph. The A90 has crashes because it has a lot of awful junctions where other A and B roads intersect without flyovers - so essentially you have to cross 4 lanes of traffic to get to the road on the opposite side. There are some sections up near Fraserburgh (where it is not dualled) where a lot of young lads speed (usually at night) and are killed. For the love of God do not drive 40 on the A90 - you are very likely to get stopped and fined. Road users up here will absolutely not have any patience for you driving like that and will sit right up your arse until they can get past (and may flash and beep until you hurry up).

There are so many crashes on the A9 & A90 because of people driving so slow. You make other people impatient & people do risky overtakes. No one wants to crash their car, drive at a normal speed like everyone else does & no one should do anything silly making you crash!
I’ve driven it a thousand times & never had any problem, but the tail backs behind motor homes etc are the problem as people pull out to overtake too many cars at once.
Just get the train.

If you're travelling by road from Inverness to Edinburgh you'll end up on motorway. There shouldn't be any problem getting on a bus or train, especially at this time of year. It'd be much safer for you. I've driven it regularly for years; the A9 isn't a road for the faint-hearted.

I don't think it's courteous for the OP to drive this slowly, but seriously

"You make other people impatient & people do risky overtakes."

The only person to blame for a risky overtake is the person performing the manoeuvre. If someone's reaction to impatience is to risk their life, just to get somewhere faster, then that's on them.

In reality of course, if someone risky overtakes you and crashes, then you'll likely be caught up in it, so for your own safety don't provoke nutters. But it's still the nutters fault if they cause a crash with an unsafe manoeuvre.

Nor did I until I asked. We went out on the dual carriage way/motorway, but came back via the A-road (the non dual-carriageway A-road), because the instructor pointed out that more accidents happened on those roads. Motorways are statistically the safest type of road in the UK, I think? The thing that really improved my confidence was getting a new job and having a 45 mile commute each way on major roads.

Another option is to do an advanced driving course.

Do you mean the A9 then? That has a reputation but that is because people get stuck for miles behind slow vehicles on the single carriageway sections and have to do ridiculous speeds to get passed the massive tailbacks on the dual carriageway sections. Most accidents are at the junctions anyway and that's a problem in Scotland because of a lack of flyovers so you are crossing 2 or 4 lanes of fast traffic. You could go the A90 if you cut across to Aberdeen. The actual A90 part of that route is the safest part as it is all dual carriageway and then you get onto the M90 in to Edinburgh. It doesn't matter which route you take though, you cannot be driving at 40mph between Inverness and Edinburgh when the speed limit is 70mph! You will cause an accident and likely someone will call the police to report you as it is so dangerous.

Take the train!!!!

There will be accidents on many roads every week, you just don't hear about them. The A9 has lots of cameras on it so I really can't understand why you don't want to drive this road at 60mph. There is no issue with being a bit under the speed limit but doing 40mph is utterly ridiculous!
Doing 40mph is more likely to cause issues with the drivers behind you, especially trucks/lorries that need to be at certain places for certain times as not all of the road is motorway. This will just make you more stressed. I think it would be safer for you to get a train than be a paranoid wreck!

It's a 70mph dual carriageway. The main road from North to South through Scotland!

This happens all the time in the villages around us. Drives me absolutely potty.

Most of the roads around where I live are NSL single carriageway A-roads and there is nothing more frustrating than getting stuck behind someone who thinks their car will spontaneously combust if their speedo hovers over 40, knowing there is nowhere to overtake and you’re probably going to be crawling behind them for the next 10 miles all the way into town. Oh my god it does my fucking head in.

You've never felt frustrated because you are stuck behind a slow vehicle? A slow vehicle on a road in Scotland can add hours on to a journey. We don't have spare hours because someone doesn't know how to drive. There is often only 1 road and once you are on it you're stuck on it!

I think it’s because people let their guard down/lose their focus thinking oh I’m nearly home, I know this bit, no need to concentrate anymore maybe I’ll start thinking about my dinner etc.

You definitely cannot get to space on a bus or train - need a rocket for that.

Apart from the reasons already mentioned, you are likely to make yourself a bit of a target from other road users, because they will get frustrated with you, of course they should deal with their frustration without risky manoeuvres - but in the real world that doesn't happen.
You are nervous already and being beeped, flashed and having people thunder past or attempt risky overtakes - that's not going to help your nerves or standard of driving.
Please don't attempt this journey by car if you're not comfortable driving at 60, there's posters have said parts are dual carriageway where the limit is usually 70, and 40 is far too slow for decent weather and road conditions.

@ScarboroughFairy , I mean this kindly, but - you are not safe to make this drive.

If you do 40 on a 60 single-carriageway, you will cause a massive tailback behind you, with the car immediately behind you able to see that the road ahead of you is clear and they will want to overtake you. This may cause some of those drivers to take risks just to get past you so that they can drive 'normally' and if the risk they take does not come off, how will you feel, knowing you are the root cause of the accident? That's if you can feel at all, because if someone crashes overtaking you, your car will almost certainly become involved on the crash.

If you do 40 on a 60 double-carriageway, cars will be able to overtake you in the second lane, but your car then becomes a pinchpoint, with everyone having to move into the second lane in order to pass you - you are effectively reducing the road to a single-carriageway. There's a reason to make a carriageway double, it's because there is a large amount of traffic using the road and it's going to be constant tailbacks and jams if it remains single.

The SAFEST speed to drive at is the same speed as every other car on the road. All cars travelling as one move smoothly, whereas cars moving at different speeds will introduce overtaking manoeuvres, which are inherently more dangerous that all cars travelling as one. So by YOU travelling at 40 when all others are at 60, YOU introduce the danger to yourself and others.

It may not be possible to book public transport at this short notice. In which case, either drive at the speed of the road, or not at all.

I would suggest you get yourself some motorway driving lessons for future. But for tomorrow - public, 60, or not at all.

A taxi from Inverness to Edinburgh? I doubt she's Jeff Bezos.

Feel frustrated, sure.
Feel frustrated to the extent that you risk your own and others lives by risking a manoeuvre that you can't be sure is safe - no, that's on the driver undertaking the manoeuvre.

Frustration isn't an excuse.
Bring in a rush isn't an excuse.
Provocation but an annoying driver isn't an excuse.

Your driving decisions are entirely your own, and as drivers, we should own those rather than blaming others for our own poor judgement.

Take the train! You just get on and get off. Taxi at the other end. Sorted. Relax and take in the lovely scenery. It's an exhausting drive for the best of us, nevermind someone that hasn't a clue how to drive those roads.

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha i just realized the typo

Nope, you shouldn’t be driving at all! I got a minor on my driving test for driving a little slow in a 30!