to have been infuriated by this driver?

[Gentleness]

Part of the route we were taking tonight was closed for roadworks and there was a long diversion. In the end it added 30 miles to the journey on winding single carriageway roads, almost all clearly marked as national speed limit. We soon ended up 3 cars behind a little car being driven at a steady 40 despite all the signs. 1 car managed to overtake quite early on on a rare straight stretch but it was rainy, dark, hilly and winding so much that there just weren't other opportunities. 20 miles we were stuck behind this fool who either didn't notice the long stretch of diverted cars stuck behind her, didn't notice the many places she could have pulled in, didn't know what the national speed limit sign meant or was too anxious to take it all in and respond appropriately to the situation. Or just didn't care. Who knows?

Eventually I managed to overtake ( which is how I know she was female) but I was so cross at her incompetence that I honked the horn at her as I did. Ok, I know that bit was unreasonable, but dh thinks it was unreasonable to be cross with her at all. I don't - pointless maybe, but justified given that however nervous, she could have pulled over rather than hold everyone up for so long. So, your opinions please - worthwhile anger or not, do you think her driving was enough to anger?

This lady was doing a totally appropriate speed for the type of road, time of day and weather conditions...

No she wasn't.

What speed would you recommend for a dark, rainy, hilly, winding road in the country then, Shelly?

'This lady was doing a totally appropriate speed for the type of road, time of day and weather conditions...'

Yup she was

Anyone who is either (a) oblivious to other road users, or (b) in unable to pull into parking spaces is a bad driver.
Driving at a speed that causes a huge que to build up behind you and doing nothing to let other vehicles past you is inconsiderate and downright rude, regardless.
Plenty of people on roads are very familiar with the route so will be perfectly able to judge what is a safe speed FOR THEM to travel at. It does sound like just one of those things that happens all the time on rural roads (which are the most dangerous roads to drive on according to fatal-to-vehicle-occupiers accident statistics) though, so getting overly worked up is pointless.

Not read whole thread but YUNBU - AT ALL!!!!!

I can't stand slow drivers like this. They make everyone else behind them cross. She should have pulled over.

Under-confident springs to mind.

Or sensible perhaps Kerry? You do realise that drivers are supposed to react to the conditions and not just drive at the speed limit no matter what?

assuming this incident happened in the U.K, what part of the U.K did it happen in as this might explain the 40 mph speed?

Op you do seem to have completely contradicted yourself, in your op you said there was a 'rare' stretch to allow 1 car to overtake, but the conditions were so bad the rest of the road there wasn't another opportunity, you then take this back in your second post by saying the conditions where variable, these are 2 completely different sets of conditions which would require completely different handling.

its called backtracking

Interesting how assumptions gather momentum. No tail-gating, in fact if you'd read carefully it would be clear there was another car inbetween me and the slow driver. Also the only reason for mentioning her gender was because I didn't want to call her 'it' and wanted to be clear that saying 'she' wasn't an assumption.

The road was winding but not always, it was raining but not always, it was hilly but not always. We're talking about 30 miles of road in total, over 30+ mins. It varies. I didn't think it necessary to be that precise - my mistake. It was sod's law that at any point where it might have been sensible to overtake 2 cars, at least one of those conditions made it unwise. It wasn't a narrow road - another assumption.

And we drive a small car ourselves, not a high-powered one in any way. Once I got past her my speed varied between 30 and 55 depending on the stretch of road - no different variation of conditions, just responsive, responsible, aware driving. Perhaps those people who are insisting her speed was appropriate are missing the point that she wasn't responding to varying conditions.

I'd still like to know whether advocates of driving as slowly as makes you feel safe think there is a time to just stop, and how they think that decision should be reached.

So you overtook 2 cars on a country lane and your trying to make out other people are bad drivers?

I would start by looking a bit closer for home for the dangerous driver!

where did this happen?

Where did I say it was a country lane? Please, do try to read accurately.

YANBU to have found it irritating, I would.
You were however, an absolute prat and BVU to have beeped at her.

OP nothing you have said in your last post has made me change my mind, i still think you were unreasonably infuriated by this driver, even your own dh thinks you were unreasonable, just accept that this is the majority vote and move on, try to be a little more patient next time

Ok "winding single carriage roads"

Either way overtaking 2 cars is down right stupid.

I know sauvignon. Very about having beeped at her.

Op, was she an R driver by any chance?

it might have been sensible to overtake 2 cars

If it was impossible to overtake in the conditions due to the nature of the road then the driver was driving at an appropriate speed. Over taking 2 cars at a time is a grey area in general even in good conditions and is dangerous. ESPECIALLY if like you admit you do drive a small not very powerful car.

You do realise that in addition to beeping someone in an aggressive fashion being against the highway code at the very least you could potentially fall foul of being guilty of 'Furious Driving' with what you did.

Have a for being a complete hypocrite who could do with a few lessons in driving herself before attacking others for their ability.

yabu

she was following a diversion, unfamiliar roads, worried about getting lost/missing signs...poor weather conditions, dark ...

And as for saying none of us knew what the conditions were like... I'd like to point out your OWN comment about your attitude from the one person who WAS there and witnessed everything:

but dh thinks it was unreasonable to be cross with her at all

Kind of says something doesn't it. You are just trying to back track and make out you are a great driver when just about everything says to the contrary.

There are typically plenty of stretches on the roads round here where you can overtake perfectly safley,but sods law states that these are thre stretches when there's something else coming. Hence you get stuck behind someone for 30 miles because whilst some stretches you'd drive at 40 or 35 or whatever, other stretches you can safely do at nearer 55 or 60.
As none of us were there it's impossible to say if the OP was driving recklessly or the car in front was overly-hesitant. BUT if the driver in front was not proficient enough to pull in to let others past OR not aware of other road traffic stuck behind then it does suggest she wasn't driving well.

We don't know she was not sufficiently proficient to pull in, or that she was unaware of the cars behind her. All we know for sure is that she drove at a steady speed, and didn't pull in to let the cars pass her. Maybe she thought she was driving safely for the road conditions, and felt that made it reasonable to carry on at that pace.

With regard to the suggestion that she was driving in a way that might make other drivers cross - surely each individual driver is responsible for their own behaviour whilst driving, and if they are going to drive badly if they are cross, maybe they should learn to control their emotions while driving, rather than blaming others for their (possible) bad driving.

YABU