...to drive at 50mph on motorways and dual carriage ways...

[BistoBear]

...when the speed limit is 70mph?

I used to drive at 70-75mph but have cut down to 50mph and I am saving so much money due to reduction in fuel being used :) Before, on a full tank of petrol I could do two return journeys from halls/uni back to my home-town (150 miles) and I would need to refuel pretty quickly. I can now do THREE return journeys on one full tank and still have some left :)

I'm really happy to be saving money but I am a little bit worried about hindering other road users? So, am I being unreasonable?

My driving instructor always said that doing ANYTHING that other drivers don't expect is asking for trouble - pulling out from a junction at the last second, changing lanes quickly, or driving noticeably faster or slower than everyone else.

Because no matter how 'right' you think you are, you are then transferring your safety to the ability of everybody else to adjust accordingly. And they don't always do that, especially if they're thinking about the idiot who's just done something unnerving on their other side...

For those who aren't sure, the Highway Code is online and you can refer to rules
125,126,254,260 which cover the points mentioned in the thread. 70 mph is the limit not your aim

YANBU. Just don't get in peoples' way when they overtake you. With the increase in petrol prices I have noticed that people are driving a lot more conservatively now.

"You're also committing an offence of driving without reasonable consideration for other road users"

Utter, utter rubbish.

Strandedunderthemistletoe, if you had to "slam on your brakes" when coming across someone doing 50mph you are not a sufficiently competent driver to be on the road.

No of course it's not illegal to drive at 50, or op's fault if there is an accident. Whether or not it's wise is quite different though.

Of course other road users should be able to accomodate a driver doing 50, but the fact of the matter is a lot won't, and are idiots. This is their fault, not yours, but you don't want to get in their way just to prove a point.

Not at all. If you get out of the way every now again so that people who are in a hurry can get past!

Petisa, if the motorways that you drive on are so quiet, why is it an issue if someone drives at 50 in the slow lane ? You have 2 other lanes to overtake them in

One of the great joys of the motorway is being able to drive at speed.

If you don't want to, drive on the 1000s of roads in Britain that aren't motorways.

Best bit of motorway I've driven on is the m6 toll, no lorries, no pootlers, nice and smooth, bliss :)

I think some folk won't be happy til there's speed bumps on the M1! :)

right, i would like to clear something up here.

DRIVING SLOWLY IS NOT AN OFFENCE No matter how much some of you want it to be, it is not. I do not know a single police officer that would pull someone over that was doing 50 and sticking in the slow lane and was not causing an obstruction. Most of our traffic officers are too busy picking up the pieces of people involved in accidents where people have been driving too fast to react to the road/traffic conditions.

DRIVING TOO SLOWLY CAN BE AN OFFENCE

why are we shouting?

It is not the speed of driving itself. It is causing an obstruction to other road users. Hence a driver making progress at 50mph and not impeding progress commits no offence.

And I am shouting because the people that wish that driving 20% under the speed limit was a specific offence will not listen, despite numerous people telling them that it is not

I think the main thing is to be aware of other road users around you and adjust your driving to suit the circumstances.
50mph would probably be OK if the motorway is quiet and there is plenty of space for vehicles behind you to move lanes and overtake you. In this situation you wouldn't be impeding other road users by failing to keep up.
However, if the road is busier and there starts to be a build up of traffic behind you, all trying to move across into faster moving traffic (and potentially slowing down the other lanes as well) in order to get round you, then I think you need to speed up to keep up with the general flow of traffic.

You'll be trundling along at 50mph, the lorries all try to overtake you at 56mph (which means it takes an awful long time to get past you) and anyone doing faster than 56mph will try to squash over into the fastest moving lane.

You are causing a hazard, speed up or keep off the motorways!

piprabbit is spot on. You need to drive according to the road conditions and flow of traffic. That is the safest way to drive.

It is all very well being smug about speed limits, but several years ago a woman was fined for driving in the outside lane of a motorway at exactly 70 mph because she was obstructing the traffic.

Bunbaker do you have a link to that case? The need to drive according to road conditions also applies to those belting along at 70/80mph+. Those who don't expect slow moving traffic are the very ones causing accidents. They should slow down, according to whatever is ahead of them, wait until it's safe to overtake, and then proceed to do so without causing an accident. It's not that difficult. I've been doing it for nearly 20 years, never had a problem whatsoever. It's all about that wait though isn't it? Those few seconds or minutes when people are having to wait until it's safe to overtake. It has nothing do to with the OP driving inconsiderately, or dangerously. It's all about people having no patience and great difficulty controlling their frustrations at another road user doing absolutely nothing wrong just because it means they'll reach their destination a few minutes later than planned. If everyone was so concerned about safety and not causing accidents, they wouldn't be hurtling along at speeds that make an accident far more likely to happen.

IMO

YANBU. Even if I take my foot off of the accelerator for a quick moment in my little car it loses speed rapidly at anything over 50mph so I regularly drive at 50 as long as it seems okay to do so in the flow of traffic on the motorway.

Piprabbit is spot on. It is dangerous to say you will always drive at one set speed, thats not realistic or safe.

so - what do we do in older cars that don't actually go that fast then? As i said, people often go slower near us, to admire or even wave sometimes. DH is not an old man, we are in our 30's - our cars are older than us. Actually the oldest one can go the fastest out of the 2, but when we are in our slower vehicle, it sure feels like we're going really fast I hate motorways anyway, scare me shitless. (I don't drive btw and have no intention of ever doing!)

Maxybrown, we have classic cars too and they go max 60mph, we just try and stay in behind a truck and keep up with it as best we can. I have been in convoys of classic cars where we have been going at 50mph. There's not much you can do about that if that's as fast as you can physically go. The point being made on this thread is that it's better to travel at the same speed as the rest of the traffic where possible as it's safer, but it's not illegal to drive at 50mph on a motorway.

Obviously if your max speed is 30 or 40 then you should really stay off the motorway.

I suspect that slow drivers on motorways are the same people who stop as they come off the escalator, wibble along and then shoot over the orange traffic light etc - a combination of little situational awareness and blissful selfishness.

'Get off the motorway', 'I am in a hurry','you are in a slow lane' are some of the comments I see here. The motorway has a speed limit of 70mph - this does not mean driving at 70mph. If you are in a hurry, so what? You should be able to move out and overtake smoothly should conditions be appropriate to do so and there isn't a slow lane.

The motorway has a speed limit of 70mph - this does not mean driving at 70mph. If you are in a hurry, so what?

So, why not do 10 mph then under that logic?