JUST BECAUSE THERE IS A SPEED CAMERA ON 50MPH ROAD

[NotYoMomma]

Does NOT mean you should drop your speed to 35MPH!!!!

Ianbu!

HATE this, seriously why do 50, traffic moving nicely and then bang on the break just as you go past?!

Note I didn't nearly crash but we had to slow right down and of course it was muggins here who got stuck at the next set.of traffic lights of doom

GRrrr twitch

There are differences depending on the weight of your car, braking mechanisms etc., but the differences are small and too many people assume that stopping distance, speed limits etc. can all basically be ignored because they're based on a 1950's idea of an efficient car which is heavily outperformed by modern ones. There is a little bit of variation, but not nearly as much as people think.

I'm not sure about that. The stopping distances between brand new tyres and those that are at the legal limit are significant. My car weighs roughly 1 tonne and I am pretty certain that the stopping distance between my 2 seater and a Range Rover (at 2 tonnes) will be significant at any speed from 30mph upwards. As a result I'd certainly factor this into my driving if I drove a Range Rover but sadly I don't see many doing the school run really taking this into account and often see them doing 40mph (along with van drivers etc).

There are such angry, insulting messages on this, wow! The fact that the original poster put everything in capitals i.e. shouting, says it all.

Perhaps people should calm down and enjoy life and driving a bit more, it can be a pleasure you know. I mean whats the terrible rush?! Being so angry about people (maybe old age pensioners, maybe people who are a bit less A type ), anyway people who don't drive as fast as you, is maniacal and arrogant to say the least.

Have a nice cup of tea and listen to the birds for a few minutes. You might get some perspective...

I live near plenty of roads where driving anywhere near the speed limit - 60mph - would get you killed as you hit a tractor round the next bend.

There are plenty of other reasons for not driving to the speed limit. Weather conditions, light, being about to turn off, not knowing the road among them. What winds me up more on local roads is where a 60 limits turns into a 30 and someone carries on at 45mph into the 30 limit.

I do agree with the OP though, slowing down suddenly and ridiculously is hardly safe or desirable driving. It rather suggests the driver does not actually know the limit for that road.

There are plenty of other reasons for not driving to the speed limit. Weather conditions, light, being about to turn off, not knowing the road among them

Absolutely, as virtually everyone advocating driving to the speed limit when conditions allow has already acknowledged.

Stupid iPhone. It's obviously doing that weird thing of hiding text that others must be able to see, where some of us have apparently exhorted everyone to drive at the speed limit every single second regardless of conditions. Must get it serviced...

Have a nice cup of tea and listen to the birds for a few minutes. You might get some perspective...

Yeah, because that will really help you listen out for cars coming around a blind corner won't it?

It reminded me of the children's stories, does anyone else know them, about Gumdrop and his owner, Mr Oldcastle. He shuts his eyes while driving.

Maybe I've been indoctrinated by stories like this to think that the cuppa and the birds might not be the perfect focus when you're driving.

'it would drive me batty. ' Then you are an unsafe driver if people going slower than you'd like cause rage. I do drive slower than the speed limit on windy A roads. Thats why I stick to A roads rather than motorways because I prefer slower speeds and because I have a passenger in a wheelchair in the back and long wheelbase vans are not a comfy ride.
If me doing 40-50 on A roads causes roage I think the problem lies with the ragey drivers. Honestly, is getting to your destination ten minutes later worth rage? WTF do you do when you encounter a tractor or sheep?
Thes will be the same ragey drivers who beeped at me for sticking to 20mph in the 20mph zone inside the city the other day then overtook dangerously. I met that particular idiot at the lights 15 seconds later. Thankfully I rarely leave London so rarely drive but in the last few years I've noticed that drivers are full of rage.

Assuming you have a choice of route, which your post suggests you do, I would have thought your passenger would almost certainly be more comfortable on the motorway which is smoother, straighter, (usually) better maintained, and where you can maintain a higher average speed safely, thus making the journey shorter for them.

Nice to see you failed to take on board any of my points about safety there Dame. You clearly pay as much attention to what people are saying here as you do to your driving!

Oh and by the way I bloody love driving - it's all the numpties on the road that ruin it for me. Give me an empty country road and I'm in heaven.

Basilbabyeater - I think you will find that reaction time has a massive amount to do with stopping distances. At 30mph you are travelling at 45 ft per second. So if you are half a second slower at reacting you will travel 22ft further. That could be the difference between life and death.

Also, my Mk1 Escort would take a hell of a lot longer to stop at 30mph than my much heavier Zafira. And modern friction materials are far more efficient than older ones and will stop a car much quicker. That is why you get different pad materials for road or race use.

Infamouspoo. If you had a huge queue behind you would you pull over and let them by?

This thread seems to identified 3 separate sorts of drivers who clearly are a PITA on the road - piously perfect drivers (the limit is 60, you shall not overtake), self-justifying nervous nellies (it's not a target, you know), and those naifs who believe that cameras are in the best of all places on these best signed of all roads and have nowt to do with revenue generation.

I wonder how many of these actually drive much more than a school run and down to the shops.

Meant to say - Fortunately, for these people, cars still have hooters.

(cue 3 pages of harrumphing from the above)

course I would.

janey, I think this thread has identified three separate sorts of posters.

I am not that convinced it reflects what any of us is like as a driver, TBH.

Eg., I would love to think I've never drifted over the limit and braked for a speed camera, but I know I have. What I haven't done, is preached that this is somehow the correct andvalid approach, and really, how dare there be anything that requires me to concentrate on the road?

I am fairly sure most people who're being 'preachy' as you put it would acknowledge they make mistakes - but they don't go around retrospectively condoning them or pretending it's all a grand government conspiracy to rob us of our money.

LRD you are far too reasonable for a thread like this

My apologies, I'll pop back and be judgemental and ranty asap!

I don't get road rage. My mum does, and it scares the heck out of me. I do get road pedantry.

(I think we may, jointly, have used up the italics quota for a while.)

Infamouspoo. No problem then. You are a considerate driver

The theory test has a question that asks what should you do if a faster driver comes up behind you and wants to pass.

The correct answer is to let them pass! ( my wife has been doing plenty of these tests lately lol)

People who think Give Way reads Stop.

And no, scaredy cats, I've never gone into the back of you, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be on the bus.

And no, scaredy cats, I've never gone into the back of you, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be on the bus.

PMSL!

"Basilbabyeater - I think you will find that reaction time has a massive amount to do with stopping distances"

Yes, true, but I guess what I was actually thinking of (and didn't say), is that people who think they have a wonderful reaction time, are probably over-estimating it.

When surveys are done, people always think they're really brilliant drivers and everyone else on the road is crap.

And they are probably mistaken.

I always feel very sceptical of people who think their reaction times are better than everyone else's or that everyone else on the road is rubbish and they're the only good drivers. Also the ones who claim other people "cause" accidents because they force people to take um, stupid risks.

It is deeply frustrating being on a country road behind someone doing 40. But you are not a good driver if you are effing and blinding and allowing them to control your cortisol level, or blaming them for your idiotic and unsafe driving.

And yes, I do use motorways and I do speed, but like LRD says, I wouldn't try and justify it and I don't blame other road-users for my behaviour.

And also, i'm just not into the Jeremy Clarkson school of conspiracy, whcih says that speed cameras are just there to inconvenience us and raise revenue. I to work in a related area, and I happen to know that that's just pub-drunk nonsense.

Basilbaby. That's different. I am scared at the reaction time of some people. I have done some reaction based tests and know mine are reasonably ok. Not F1 standard but ok.

But there is of course a difference between doing tests and real life scenarios. Using the phone, changing the radio station, keeping an eye on the kids are some of many things that can alter reaction times. That's why I prefer being on my bike. With my helmet on I am concentrating on one thing - riding. No distractions.