...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?

It is frightening how many shit drivers there are out there - people who think that the speed LIMIT is the speed everyone should drive at regardless of road conditions.

It is impatient, speeding, tail gating drivers that cause accidents - not people cruising along at a perfectly reasonable 50mph.

I'd actually love a big neon sign in the rear widow that I could flick on when some tailgating prat comes too near that says
"OY TWAT - BRAKING DISTANCE - YOU REAR END ME AND IT IS YOUR FAULT AND IT WILL BE YOUR NO CLAIMS BONUS THAT GOES UP IN FLAMES - AND POINTS ON YOUR LICENSE FOR DANGEROUS DRIVING IF PLOD CATCHES YOU."

I reckon that'd do it.

Well you can given the appropriate traffic conditions or if your vehicle was in difficulty and you were on the hard shoulder. You could also do 200mph in the right vehicle and conditions but then you be exceeding the speed limit. It's all laid down in the Highway Code.

Yanbu

I think 50 miles per hour on a busy 70 road where some drivers might be going 85 illegally is quite dangerous actually. An accident waiting to happen. I think if you were going 60 - fine but 50 is really too slow on a fast moving road.

I like to plod between 60 and 70 dependant on the conditions

Sorry? Because someone might be exceeding the speed limit by 15mph those who are driving perfectly legally should drive faster?

thanks trixy! No we don't go THAT slowly

Right, all you horrible motorway abusers.

There is no such thing as "the slow lane" or "the fast lane". That is outdated nonsense. If you believe in that I suggest you book yourselves back in for a skills refreshing course. Twats.

The inside is where EVERYBODY should be ALL THE TIME unless they are overtaking. "Overtaking" does not include "there might be another car in the inside lane in 5 miles". Middle lane drivers should actually be pulled off the road and made to forcibly attend driver re-education classes. Twats.

The speed LIMIT on motorways is 70mph. That's a MAXIMUM of 70, not 80, or 90, not even in the outside lane. Don't think you're entitled to flash your headlights or drive on someone's rear bumper just because they're "only" doing the legal speed limit in the outside lane. YOU are the one in the wrong if you do. Twats.

70mph is not the speed limit on motorways in thick fog as was amply shown in the pile-up a couple of weeks ago near here.

When I run the world, anybody committing any of the above crimes will be banned from driving until they've taken another 100 hours of driving school.

I have spoken.

Bunbaker I LOVE a link to that case too. Sounds like pub anecdote to me. Probably spouted by someone who then drink-drove home.

Succinctly put Duchesse.

Yeah sorry, bit a of soap box issue to me.

What duchesse said.

Duchesse, I love you.

Op, yabu. Drive at the safest speed for the road and conditions, keep pace with other traffic.

Nobody is advocating speeding!!!!

The reality is that most twats drivers on the motorway drive at 80mph plus and driving at 50mph puts you and other road users in danger by forcing trucks to overtake. Driving at 60 is much safer for everyone.

I notice the only people who have said they also travel at about 50 are classic car users. It's actually very hard to go at 50 in a modern car and it is much much slower than you think. Try driving exactly 50 on a busy motorway next time you are on one as a simple experiment. The reason most people don't is that it's too slow unless there is a 50 sign flashing and all the other traffic starts doing 50 or when you are on the M25 with a speed restriction. Then it is very safe indeed.

I think all 4x4s and expensive german cars should be given bull bars and be allowed to shunt cars driving at less than 60mph on motorways, and trucks should be allowed to drive over them rather than overtake.

Sorted.

YANBU. The lower limit on motorways is 50mph. However you will have lots of people with poor hazard assessment skills telling you that YABU.

link to the lower limit on motorways please?

Everything I said in my first post on this thread is here:
www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_069862
Enjoy.

Here even.

Where does it say 50 is the minimum speed on the motorway?

And this.

Your first post was spot on btw Duchesse.

Yy, there is no such thing as a minimum speed limit, which was my point.

It doesn't. The second site seems to be fairly authoritative and suggests that there is no lower limit, although I swear my instructors all suggested that 20mph was the lower limit. There is a restriction on the type of vehicle that can go on motorways which excludes vehicles that are slower in nature (bicycles, mopeds, horses, etc.)

But it does say that 70 is the maximum, in bold capitals.