AIBU to want to drive at the correct speed

[Freudianslap]

All bloody morning I've had people driving an inch behind me, some shaking their heads, some then overtaking and looking glaringly into my car - all because I am daring to drive bang on the speed limit.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of these people who do 20 in a 30mph zone but having already got points for speeding I am not prepared to speed up just so other people are less annoyed.

I am usually quite stubborn about things like this so am not usually bothered but today it has really irritated me.
Plus these people tend to be the same ones who drive in full daylight with their bloody full headlights on.

Oh I don't know, maybe I need to go an have a lie down.

AKAK81 always crops up on these threads farting out the same old nonsense . BTW - what did the DoT say when you pointed out the stopping distance errors on their website?

The thing is AKAK81 - too many drivers who overestimate their driving abilities.

Sorry for being interested in driving and posting on driving related threads. I don't think there's any argument from anyone that the highway code stopping distances are a complete load of tosh - a BMW 5 series will stop from 60mph in 33m vs the highway code figure of 55m

"a BMW 5 series will stop from 60mph in 33m vs the highway code figure of 55m"

That's interesting, and I'm sure is the case. I know the brakes on our Audi are excellent, which is very comforting. I had to use them to full effect recently when some idiot veered into my lane approaching a roundabout.

The problem is of course when people bear that in mind when driving, and assume that because they will be able to stop quickly, it's therefore fine to tailgate/speed.

I think people do think like that, in fact I'd bet money on it. Tailgaiting is never acceptable and while it can be perfectly fine to exceed the speed limit the capability of the car should not be the main reason although it certainly comes into it - there are cars that I would happily drive at 130mph+ and plenty that I wouldn't want to drive at 90.

YANBU. I could lend my DS to anyone of those tailgaters - he spends the entire journey staring at the speedometer and will tell you if you go 1mph over. I am always bang on the max speed limit for a quiet life.

I was recently driving along a narrow winding country road with passing places. It was a road I'd never been a long, so was going at a speed I considered safe (which was just as well, because I met a tractor and a pickup truck coming the other way and I was in a people carrier). However the woman in the little white car behind me kept honking, and when I turned into a car park sped round me as I turned, honking and giving me the finger.
I was at a loss as to what else I could have done, as passing both those vehicles required careful use of the available space and quite a bit of co operation.
As she sped off down the next right turn I wondered just what difference it would have made if I'd gone faster and potentially hit the tractor on a bend. She'd have been a lot later for whatever it was that was so important, that's for sure.
Some people just don't seem to engage their brains when driving.

AKAK yes my car would fall to bits at 90mph

When I was talking about reading the road and reaction times I was really thinking about motorways and dual carriageways where you only have one carriageway of traffic to think about, not pedestrians, animals, crossings, side streets, parked cars, etc. It's all far more predictable which is why 70mph limit is justified in the first place, but also why genuinely skilled drivers (as opposed to "I drive an expensive car and am therefore Kimi Raikkonen compared to you peasants" skilled) can be safe at speeds in excess.

Absolutely Horry which is why it can be safe to do massive speed on unlimited sections of German autobahns without being killed to death every 5 mins. Its the same here I can think of plenty of stretches of motorway where 150mph would be perfectly safe in the right conditions.

Oh AKAK. People's head will be exploding at the thought of 150mph.

I agree that it is speed in the wrong place and the wrong time that is the problem.

And to Hellsangel81 or whatever your name was what is the point of having a motorcycle without pushing on through traffic? You don't have to be dangerous when breaking a speed limit in the right place and time - not a built up
Area for a start!

"a BMW 5 series will stop from 60mph in 33m vs the highway code figure of 55m"

On that point alone AKA you are quite right, the stopping distances haven't been changed since the 1960s.

On the other hand, even if we take your figure of 33m (which assumes dry road conditions and brand new brakes and tyres) that is hell of a lot of distance to be travelling and tailgaters are often centimetres from the rear bumper, rather than metres.

Improved stopping distances do not mitigate driving like a douche.

YANBU OP. I also get annoyed by people doing 50-60 past our house then doing a noisy emergency stop at the t-junction. Our street is a 20 BTW.

akak when someone is tailgaiting you they are usually a lot closer than 33m. A white van man once tried to run us off the road. I was doing 70 down the motorway, there were 2 other lanes which he could have used to pass us but it was more fun for him getting really close and trying to nudge us off the road. Tailgaters are just pathetic bullies IMHO.

When did I say that tailgating was a good idea? Of course its possible for two cars separated by 2m for example to both carry out an emergency stop at the same time and not collide but its probably not a good idea to try it!

AKA thing is that is reliant on both cars hitting their brakes at the same time, the driver behind will be reacting to the first car slamming on the brakes and will require thinking time.

Yet again, you are talking shite in order to justify your own law breaking. What do you imagine the braking distance would be at 130 mph that you advocate for motorways?

Did you even read what I wrote? What part of "Tailgaiting is never acceptable" did you not fucking comprehend? I'm fully aware of the points you mention I just pointed out that the physics would be possible (effectively in lab conditions). As for advocating 130 on the motorway there are certain stretches which in the right circumstances where it would be perfectly safe. What kind of speeds do you think the motorway cops do even when there is other traffic? I'm talking about traffic free conditions. What do you think happens in Germany? Even when there is traffic its not uncommon for people to be doing 150+ quite safely and legally.

No, I'm sure that for those ^really good^ drivers who know what they're doing (in between patronising everyone else who isn't in the Jeremy clarkson fan club and want to speed everywhere) then 150 mph is perfectly super on a public road.

Akak. The sheeple can't think for themselves and don't understand that it is perfectly possible to be safe at high speed in the right conditions. If it wasn't racing drivers would die in their hundreds and emergency vehicle drivers would have to stick to the speed limits themselves.

Oh an interestingly a decent car will stop from 120mph in less than 75 meters which is the highway code stopping distance at 70mph (both excluding thinking distance which will obviously increase with speed) Makes you realise just how far things have come in the last 50 years.

Emilythornesbff. In the right place and the right time it would be. That's why a fast response driver can travel at that speed if required.

If your reaction times are quick enough, if you are on a road with no junctions, and if the visibility and conditions are good then it's no problem. If you don't feel safe though, you don't have to do it!

Well I've never seen a F1 race conducted on the m25 but I have seen and attended to plenty of people who've been victim to the speeding antics of others who considered themselves the ones who were in the right car and the right place to drive ridiculously fast.
Still. So long as they're not being sheepish.

And yet Emily I can go to Germany tomorrow and do just that both safely and legally. In fact at a mere 150 I'd expect to be in lane 1 and be overtaken. And you know what? All the children within a 50 mile radius wouldn't be killed to death. Unfortunately my car is electronically limited to 155 but before my next trip to Germany it will be removed. I fully expect to achieve 175-180mph whilst I'm there.

The roads are not really comparable though.

Pisses me right off when people do this, but I get the biggest rage when I'm following someone doing 40 and then slowing for bends in a national speed limit section who then speeds away as the continue to do 40 through the 30 zone going through the village Ffs it's not that hard?!

wonderstuff I hear you. It's like they've got their eyes shut.

AKA you are a fucking idiot! I wasn't talking about tailgating, the stopping distances at the speed you're talking about would be vast, leaving you no time to respond safely to any hazard and before ypu bleat on about the autobahn they are designed for those sort of speeds and only select stretches are derestricted.

What is the stopping distance at 130mph in your precious 5 series?

Emily. Get it into your head. It is not speed that kills
It is inappropriate speed. And the comment about steeple was nothing about sheepish. It about those that can't think for themselves but have to spout the normal crap about speed.

It's dangerous driving that kills. You can be safe at 150
And dangerous at 30mph.