to point out that the national speed limit on a dual carriageway is *70* and not *60*?

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

I am sure after the zillion AIBUs about drivers over Christmas this isn't necessary but WHY do some people not know the speed limit?

I know that the speed limit is a limit not a target; I'm fine with people driving at 60 if they think that's the appropriate speed for the road or the conditions. What I'm not fine with is pillocks who slam the breaks on every time they see a speed camera because they're doing 65 and think the limit is 60.

Moaning about this to friends at lunchtime, they did not know that the national speed limit on a dual carriageway is 70, not 60. They've passed their tests, btw, and have been driving for a while.

AIBU to think they're twats and so are the idiots I ended up behind today?

Fizzy - me too. I've lived and driven in mountains with proper snow, half an inch of slush down here and it was fecking chaos Very funny.

SIL has a Ka: once we were travelling in "convoy" because we have a larger car to help her move a lot of stuff. Up a (straight, clear) dual carriageway, we were doing about 65mph, she had suddenly vanished into the distance behind us. This happened several times.

Apparently she thought we were doing 90mph and was terrified. This is a well-maintained car, which has definitely passed its MOT test etc. So maybe these people just don't realise that they are only doing 65mph?

Oh, I will certainly put my hand up to sanctimonious!

I felt like the humourless school prefect on this thread, or disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.

But, well ... no harm done, and I am glad I started it.

There's a place round here where there are two 30 zones separated by a very brief stretch of national speed limit, but it is so short you could never get close to 60 in most cars - I don't see why it's not 40 or 50, because it always ends up with people accelerating like mad then braking hard. So I guess the issue isn't just the number of signs but also thinnking a bit harder about where they should go and what they should say.

mrshoarder DD drives a KA and her speedo is 10% out, when her clock shows 70mph she is only doing 63. I think they're notorious for it.

But all cars have speedos that show the car is doing more than it is. It's a deliberate thing AFAIK.

10% sounds like a lot though ... and for the woman whose speedo showed 90mph at 65, that must have been terrifying! I guess you wouldn't know it'd malfunctioned would you? Or not easily, anyhow. Scary.

10% is the maximum allowed afaik.

At least 10% is easy to calculate, I guess. I only realized they did it at all back when sat navs came in, and you could see the difference.

My last two cars have both said approx 10% over as well, I drive past a speed board that displays your speed and it always says 27 when I reckon I am doing 30 and 23 when the car(s) said 25.

This is a very polite AIBU..

I feel like throwing in something like inconsiderate cycling just to get it going

It's the ones who seem to think the speed limit is 90 who bother me more!

Just to clear up the argument once and for all, here's a link to a very exciting website which summarises the history of speed limits:

www.ukmotorists.com/speed_history.asp

So a 70 limit was introduced for all roads in 1965. Then in 1977 the 60 limit came in for single carriageways, meaning that 70 only applies for motorways and dual carriageways. The limit for dual carriageways has therefore never been 60.

Jareth, what like all cyclists are selfish and inconsiderate and should be shot?!

Joking......

Living in a university town, cycling will do it for me Jared.

I bet it will hellhas :)
Hardly any cyclists where I live now, just lots and lots of horses. With owners with road sense, amazingly.

Jareth...

..and I live in Oxford so I understand. :)

Jareth, is the 4th picture on your profile (green cake) how you'd feel after driving round your town?!

Horses are good too. I travel through Newmarket frequently and there are plenty of them dodging the traffic there.

Likewise hellhas....

I was amazed to discover it was 70 mph on a dual carriageway when DS was doing his driving test. I didn't believe him at first! I passed my test 30 years ago and I'm sure it was 60 mph then. Happy to drive at 70 now though on dual carriageways.

Jareth sorry old eyes, new fangled technology and fat thumbs.

:) don't worry, everybody does it.

Fizzy no, that's the Charlie and Lola monster cake

..and well done for getting past the crotch picture.

Hellhasnofury - does living in a university town make everybody unable to drive? Or are you saying that all students are stupid?

I went on a speed awareness course a few years ago and around 90 percent answered this q saying that a picture of a dual carraige with central reservation was 60. I Was one of the youngest there at age 40 [ grin] I got the answer right because my dp had been on the course previously we'd had a conversation. I'm sure that when I passed my test over 20 years ago, motorways were 70, all the dual carraige roads near us were 60. I wonder if there's been more of the 70 kind spring up over the years.

There's obviously widespread misunderstanding, which would point to poor communication, or whatever, rather than them being jerks. Slamming brakes on due to speed camera is jerksome, so yanbu in that respect. If your think you're going too fast better to slow down a bit more naturally. Long straight road shouldn't require break slamming.