AIBU To think that if the speed limit...

[sadie3]

Is 50 mph you drive at 50 not 30 mph

Rant over !

Everlong It is dangerous as the majority of people are going to go to the speed limit so people are having to slow down or move around people, if everyone was doing a similar speed traffic would flow better. I agree sometimes it isn't appropriate to drive at the speed limit and people should adjust according to driving conditions but if people are chugging along at 50 in the middle lane of the motorway and everyone is having to move around them it can cause accidents, in fact I have been in a situation where someone merrily pulled out into the middle lane at 40-50 miles an hour and a car slammed into the back of them as they just couldn't break in time as they were doing 70. Not me I hasten to add. That and it just riles me to the core.

The ones doing 30 aren't slow drivers, I always stick to the limit to the annoyance of other drivers. It is the ones crawling along.

It sounds like the driver in front thought they were still in a 30 zone. It's a shame they didn't see the change in speed sign but these things happen. I cannot understand why you didn't overtake though - you had the speed and you said it was a straight road. I don't think you should critique other people's driving skills when your own clearly need a little work.

I hope you're not saying that those two examples are the same as driving at 30 in a 50 limit on a single carriageway road, blueraincoat?

I would love to see some public education adverts about lane discipline on motorways, especially aimed at people who thing they are too important to ever need to move over to the left when not overtaking someone. We don't have a slow, medium and fast lane. We have a lane to drive in and two to use for overtaking manoeuvres. Why is that so hard to understand?

Goldmandra No I'm not, I was just talking about slow driving in general. Totally agree with you about the motorway education. Though I do think though 30 on a single carriage road with a 50 limit is also bad, people should anticipate the slow driver up ahead but they don't and break sharply which is dangerous and yes they should be more careful and aware and they are being dangerous but if the person was doing 50 there wouldn't be a problem.

I know we should all be more aware of others situations and I have actually noticed myself thinking more about why a person might be doing something since joining Mumsnet but slow driving still makes my blood boil.

Yanbu

The police pull over for driving too slowly and it is a fail in the driving test.

I could have overtook but I don't like to.

People who don't overtake when it is safe to do so are no less (or more) of a problem than people who drive more slowly than conditions dictate.

Some cars are not safe to drive at the speed limit. A car on a temporary tyre, or some other mechanical issue that is safe but limits speed. If you can overtake but choose not to you help cause a build up because safely overtaking two cars is a lot more difficult than overtaking one.

Nevertheless, cars that are being driven (for whatever reason) slower than conditions allow should pull over from time to time and let people pass if they are causing a jam.

YANBU you can be pulled over for driving to slow imagine this scenario 60 limit windy road you are driving 50 and come round a bend to some twat doing 25-30 could cause an accident, yes you should be alert and have good brakes as well.

I'm another who failed there driving test for driving too slowly and that was only by about 6mph not 20.

YANBU. Slow / hesitant drivers cause just as many accidents on the roads as over zealous ones.

Emmeline, could you name some 'mechanical issues' which limit speed but make the car safe to drive significant distances? I can't think of any. You can drive at 50mph on a temporary tyre, or one treated with tyre weld, but you shouldn't NEED to because they are supposed to only get you as far as the nearest tyre supplier to get the tyre fixed or replaced. You aren't supposed to tootle round on them for weeks, and I live in the middle of nowhere and can get to a tyre fitter without coming close to a 50mph limit road.

"then you can overtake the tractor and all the ditherers queued up behind it all in one go "

Please don't ever do that in a car. It is really dangerous.

"Surely driving at 50 on a bend isn't the greatest idea?"

Surely it depends on the bend?

Middle lane hoggers on motorways annoy me.

Why is it automatically unsafe to do 50 on a bend? It depends very much on the road and on the conditions.

People who don't adapt to the flow of traffic on the road (whether by driving far too slowly or far too quickly) should be pulled up on it as they are a danger to themselves and other road users. It is all about adapting to the environment - so you slow down in fog, rain, snow, darkness (or combinations of the above) and you keep up when it is clear, light and dry.

There is a reason why you can fail a test for driving too slowly.

Even on long stretches of road that are national speed ( I do a few fairly regularly ) I drop down to at least 40 whilst taking a slight bend.

If this is true, everlong then you are not a good driver. Sorry.

Provided I was not on a single track road, I wouldn't automatically slow down for a bend. I think I go faster than 40 on our single track windy mountain road, but the nature of it means you can clearly see cars approaching from a good distance away.

I don't mind people slowing right down in difficult conditions, or on windy or narrow roads, but people who drive substantially below the speed limit on normal roads in good conditions are a bit of a pain in the neck.

I was in London today and I got stuck behind a guy with P plates who mainly drove at under 10mph (on perfectly normal, fairly clear roads) with a couple of daring accelerations to nearly 15mph on some particularly straight, wide stretches of road. If he can't drive any faster than that then he should never have been found competent to be on the roads. People behind me were beeping.

Well I did say when conditions are right. And yes I do drive on single lane bendy roads at 60. I have a car that handles well, corners well and am capable of driving it properly.

If the conditions don't allow - heavy rain, ice, poor visibility etc then I slow down to allow for it.

Slow drivers cause accidents. If I'm driving on a 50 road and someone in front is doing 30, it is going to result in heavier braking from me which is very dangerous. The most dangerous way of driving is against the flow of traffic, whether that be too fast or too slow. And I totally agree about drivers in the middle lane of the motorway trundling along at less than 60. Extremely dangerous!

You should ease off the accelerator/brake if necessary before the bend and then put your foot back on it as you go around it - braking on a bend is dangerous as it can cause you to skid! Braking unnecessarily is dangerous if you have cars behind you. Just to add my pet hate to the mix - indicating around cyclists/parked cars - I do realise this depends when you learnt to drive as it used to be taught, but argh!

And yes I take bends at speed, provided it is safe to do so. I can't think, for example, of a motorway slip road bend that I'd slow down to 40 for.

everlong I have been stuck behind people who have hit the brakes for literally every slight deviation from the absolutely straight. I have no trouble with people slowing down on bends where it is sensible to do so - i.e. if the bend is a tight one, has a hazard behind it, has reduced visibility. Your roads may well be like that. Lots of roads and their bends, however, are not. So you can't make a blanket assumption that slowing down on any bend is always necessary, not can you assume that not slowing down is always sensible. See what I have said above about adapting.

If you do not adapt your driving to the roads and the circumstances, then you should not drive. Round my way there are some roads that I slow down for, and there are some that I do not slow down for. When it is wet, dark, icy, foggy etc. I always slow down to an appropriate degree. Driving according to dogmatic ideas is just plain dangerous.

We get the same people round here that other people have described above - the ones who will do 40mph no matter what the speed limit or the road conditions. I call them the '40 is a safe speed' brigade. They do 40 through the villages, past schools, in the pouring rain, on snow. They are very very dangerous drivers.