To think driving 20 miles under the speed limit is really dangerous?

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There's a long stretch of B road near my parents' place where the speed limit is 60 mph.

I can't tell you how many times I've been stuck behind someone pootling along at 40mph. It happened again today and this time the person I was stuck behind was indicating right for the whole length of the two mile stretch. Ie shit driver.

It's so annoying. And apart from anything else it's really dangerous to drive too slowly. Really boils my piss.

AIBU to think if the speed limit is 60 you should more or less attempt to drive at 60?

I passed last year broken. I was taught by an instructor who had 25 years instructor experience and he said it's dangerous to drive too slowly. You obviously don't have to match the limit but you have to be doing a reasonable speed for the area. 40 on a clear stretch in a 60 zone is not good!

I am concerned if slower driving is because of poor eyesight. I'd actually prefer to be behind a tractor as it would be easier to pass them.

I was always tickled when I lived nearby that this road, okay cart track on the right here (in Ponsanooth, Cornwall) was a national speed limit road. I see these days they've reduced it to a 40, but still.. 40mph along there.. are you joking??

As so many others have said, it depends entirely on the road. Doing 40mph on the one pictured would be suicide. However I also get annoyed at the 40mphers who do 40 on nice straight national speed limit roads, usually collecting a massive queue of traffic, and then do the same through the next village complete with school and small children running out into the road.

I will argue this until my last breath. Slow drivers do not cause accidents because of frustration, dangerous drivers do that.

Any driver who can't handle going a bit slowly for a few miles without attempting a suicide overtake which might cause a high speed head on collision should have their licence removed as they are unsafe to be on the roads.

I failed my first driving in large part because I drove at 50 on a dual carriageway with national speed limit. I just didn't think it was a suitable road to do 70 on. To be fair, I wasn't the only one who thought so as the speed limit was reduced to 50 a few months later!

It can be immensely irritated being stuck behind someone who does significantly below the speed limit when the road conditions are such that it is perfectly possible to drive a lot faster but still within the limit.

However, while I find it tedious, time-wasting and often worry about the driving skills of the culprits, I accept the fact that they have just as much right to be on the road as I do. I also think that if they consider their driving to be safest at whatever speed it is they're driving at, it's probably best to leave them to it without resorting to harassment through tail-gating or horn beeping.

I think a special circle of hell may be reserved for the 40-mph-ers who persist in that speed through 30mph zones however, as that blows the argument that they are simply driving safely and within their own limits out of the water.

Oh this bugs the shit outta me too OP.

And 99% of the time, the 40mph pootlers still drive at 40mph when they come in to a village which has a 30mph speed limit.

Therefore they are just idiots who choose to ignore all speed limits.

completely agree with morriszap.

There is a stretch of 60mph road near me. Whatever speed you drive at between 40 or 80, whether you are an overtaker or an overtakee, you always end up in queue together at the traffic lights in the next town.

Another yy to morriszapp. If you're overtaking in a hazardous fashion it's your stupidity and impatience, not someone else's fault.

Hi everyone. I do 40 on 60-rated single carriageways in the HGV because it's the LAW. Went to Great Yarmouth today; reckon that by the end of the Dereham Straight I'd got a three mile queue.

In that time there were four overtakers, two of whom made gestures, and one of which pulled in early and hit the brakes, presumably to try and get a new car out of my employers.

Got news for them: they're on camera, their number has been passed to Loss Prevention and Loss Prevention (who are all ex-coppers) have rung round the trade bodies that there's an idiot on the A47. It's not just the onboard camera either; you hit one of us in an urban area and we can get a FoIA request for the CCTV. Which shows very clearly the BMW driving into me in West London in April because he wanted my lane. Not only did he not get it, he didn't get a new wing either, after the wheel nuts ripped it like cheese.

Chill out. Better 30 minutes late in this life...

40 in 50 limits and still breaking for every tiny deviation in the road.

Drives me stark raving mad.

I ended up stopping in a lay by and MN the other day, just to stop following someone who was breaking for fallen leaves.

I know there is no over taking for miles on that bit of road.

Yabu especially if it is a country road.

But aren't limits lower in the US than the UK? I've lived in a lot of different countries, some with highly dangerous roads and bad drivers, but I find people drive very fast here in towns and on B roads.

On the interstates here in Ohio, the speed limit is mostly 65 MPH. I was traveling today in the left lane at 87 MPH, and I was keeping up with traffic. There are some interstates that are now 70 MPH. In my city, residential neighborhoods are 25 MPH, the main roads are either 45 or 50.

. 'In my city, residential neighborhoods are 25 MPH, the main roads are either 45 or 50.'

That little bit slower is much better. Im living in a country where the speeds are similar and the culture together with frequent fines mean that people take note of the rules. It feels far safer and much less alarming to walk, cycle, or ride horses on the road than in the UK .

Disgrace I don't think anyone would suggest that travelling at the speed limit in an HGV is in any way wrong! If you have a 3 mile queue behind you though it might be wise to pull over in a suitable place if possible and let them through.

Yep if conditions allow you should be aiming for 60 and would likely fail a driving test if you sat at 40. Unfortunately there's a big rise in the 40 everywhere brigade who sit at 40 through 60 limits and then continue into 30 limits. I can only assume that these are the kind of people who have no interest in driving whatsoever and would rather be concentrating on anything but. These are the sort of people who kill by failing to concentrate properly on the job in hand.

Can't believe I'm doing this bigdog, but I totally agree with you. We call them the "40 mile an hourers". Not a catchy title admittedly, but I don't know how else to describe them. As soon as I see someone driving at 40 in a 60 I think "oh here's another one" and yes, when we get to a 30 limit they still carry on at 40.

I was also thinking just this week (while I was following one) that not concentrating on changes in speed limit must effect their general concentration on the road and be potentially dangerous. It does seem to be an increasing problem too.

Thing is Osm the dawdlers shouldn't even have a licence in the first place. You WILL fail your test for driving too slowly. You should be aiming for close to the limit where conditions allow and believe it or not sometimes the conditions allow you travel in excess of the limit quite safely. Unfortunately there are some morons out there who think that because the NSL is 60 that it is safe for that road regardless of the conditions and then wonder why they're suddenly in a field.

'So to get this straight, the road is bendy enough that you can't overtake but you think doing 60 is fine. What if there were people walking on the road round the corner? Another car broken down? tractor etc? Madness. The onus is on you not to crash into the car in front. If you can't do that at the speed you're going then slow down. '

I so agree. Cars go so fast on rural roads they have discouraged anyone from using them for walking or cycling, thus making the problem worse as they don't seem to expect to meet them.

I got told off by my driving test examiner for driving too slowly - 25mph in a 30mph zone. She actually marked it down as a minor.

Make of that what you will.

The status quo is that any country road that is single carriage way has a 60 mile an hour limit. Some roads are then categorised as having a lower limit, but as the council has to spend money on signage, not all roads that are unsafe to drive at 60mph have a lower limit. You only needs to look at very small roads to know that you should not be driving them at 60mph. I think the standard 60mph limit even covers single track with passing places, but I could be wrong on that...

One, you should be driving at a safe speed for the road and conditions, and two, it is more environmentally friendly to keep at 50mph (and drive sensibly without unnecessary speeding up and slowing down).

That said, I detest the A65 from Kirby Lonsdale for the sheer number of 40mphers, on a road that is definitely not unsafe to drive at 60mph. I've not driven it for years (had a Uni boyfriend who lived on the A65), but I do the remember the feelings of extreme frustration! And my mum is a 40mpher, who keeps going at the same speed irrespective of the actual limit! Drives me insane!

On motorways, I think everyone should do at least 50mph, I was once in a car with my boss who was doing 30mph on a dual carriageway, and that was terrifying!

By going at 40 on a 60 road in good conditions where it's safe to drive at 60, you're forcing people to overtake and overtaking has some risk to it.

There are a lot of idiots overtaking when it isn't safe aren't there? Personally, I'd like to see THEM removed from the roads, not the slower drivers.

The status quo is that any country road that is single carriage way has a 60 mile an hour limit. Some roads are then categorised as having a lower limit, but as the council has to spend money on signage, not all roads that are unsafe to drive at 60mph have a lower limit.

Totally true.

Yabu. Good post morriszap. Personally, I find the impatient drivers who perform dangerous manoeuvres just to get to the traffic lights one car ahead far more scary and annoying than the slow ones.

It really does depend on the road.

In general I would say YABU.

The road we live on is a 60. However you would be crazy to go at that speed on most of it.

The stupid fuckers who do go past our house at 60, well, quite often you see their cars through a hedge or on it's roof in less than perfect driving conditions. Accidents are rife in autumn/winter. And I get so sick of them, I now think it just serves them right.