To think you can't just trundle along at any old speed you fancy...

[TallulahTwinkletoes]

I fully expect to get flamed for this because I know I'm a tad over the top about this but it's my pet hate so here goes.

If say be gentle but I know this is the wrong place for that

I drive a lot. Every day I drive on a road that's technically a country road as there are fields either side but it's more than wide enough and not too windy. This road is followed by two straight roads. These are all national speed limit roads.

This is comfortably attainable with a few corners on the country road where 50 is a better speed. Obviously various weathers call for different speeds. I was behind a double decker bus doing 50 down there today.

The last few days I have been stuck behind people doing 35-40. Today the lady flashed at me when I finally get chance to overtake.

They way I see it is if you are driving so slow on the roads either
A) you are unaware of the speed limit/unable to follow basic road signs and therefore shouldn't be driving
B) do not feel comfortable driving at an appropriate limit for the road and therefore shouldn't be driving.

I know it's a limit not a target but you fail your driving test if you 'fail to progress' so they shouldn't be driving like this.

It's the principle that they don't care about anyone's time frame or how they affect other people. They just trundle along deciding what speed they want to go at and not giving a fuck.

We all have bad days where we mess up roundabouts and misjudge but Jesus Christ, if you can't drive at 60 in a straight line...

YANBU!
agreed with all annoyances on here, but I do appreciate why some people have difficulty driving competently and TRY to stay calm. This doesn't always work though
Encounter the 40mph everywhere clowns daily, as well
As middle/outside lane slugs.

HATE flashers when I've overtaken on a safe stretch of road, often I have a good mind to come to a stop and give them a piece of my mind.

Wanker driving up my bum today: I was going slowly because there was a long truck in front of me and we were l driving down a country lane. You looked like a right twat overtaking me (on a blind corner, we were all going about 20mph), just to then sit in front of me but still behind the truck! Tosser.

Driving is stressful.

Ill assume the second part of your post is directed at someone else christina since ive never mentioned tailgating. As for some cars being slower than others, i think its common sense that 99% of cars that have passed an MOT can reach 60mph. It was clear that i wasnt talking about heavy vehicles which may have their speed restricted.

It isnt safe to overtake when there is oncoming traffic tondelayo

Why does everyone assume that because you dislike being held up you are an aggressive driver who tailgates. Im actually a courteous driver which is part of the reason i get irritated by drivers who seemingly dont care about holding others up.

-*driving my dear friend to hospital for radiotherapy when she was dying of breast cancer. She was frail, nauseous and just couldn't handle the movement of the car at speed

• when my DS had just got over a nasty bout of seizures. I was so afraid of it happening while driving*

That's fine, as Is towing a horse box or driving a tractor or a truck. You are missing the point. What is annoying is billy-bollocks-to-you pooling along with no awareness of the queue behind them, jumping on the brakes when something comes the other way on a wide A road.

I sometimes do chose to drive more slowly than the speed limit. If is someone is behind me, and clearly wasn't to travel faster than I do, regardless of wether or not I think they are driving too fast, I pull over/ slow down and indicate left and allow them to pass

I just wish everyone else would do this.

Clearly wants

YANBU.

It's selfishness, plain and simple. If you want to trundle along at tractor speeds on NSL roads then at least have the good grace to pull over in lay-bys to let others pass. Yes the speed limit is a limit, not a target, but when I was taught to drive the guidance was that you drive close to, or at the limit providing conditions were good. I know someone who failed their driving test for 'failing to make progress' by doing 40mph on a 60mph piece of road. The 60mph stretch wasn't even very long, so the examiner expected her to get up to 60mph-ish fairly quickly.

I'm not an aggressive driver, when I get stuck behind one of these egocentric idiots I simply hold back to give me a good view, and wait for a suitable place to overtake. Not sure why people are assuming that not liking slow coaches = aggressive driver.

MOT doesnt check speed thingys
You wouldn't do it to a police car...
Just think about that.

YABU to expect other drivers to take your time concerns into account.

YANBU to expect drivers to do the speed limit or as near as dammit if there is nothing to slow them down. This is the safest way to drive.

If you have to drive slower for any reason, then drive with your hazard lights flashing, and pull to the side when someone comes up behind you. You could even roll down your window and signal by hand that they should overtake.

The other driver was BU to flash you. It's not her road and she was in the wrong to drive so slowly and not to pull over.

mathanxiety

Driving as near to the speed limit as possible when it's a specific stated limit (40, 50, etc) within a red circle is the safest way to drive, but I really don't agree that it applies to national speed limit roads. Growing up and now living in the countryside a lot of the NSL roads I've been on are narrow and really windy - switchback turns etc. Going at 60 mph on many such roads is a recipe for disaster.

I was in the Peak District recently and amused to see NSL signs on turning up a very narrow, windy, potholed road that led up and over a hill. 60mph would be insane!

Christina, what the bleedin hell are you talking about?

Slow drivers, braking unnecessarily and inappropriately are dangerous and infuriating. If ultra slow and extra cautious driving was only employed when necessary through extenuating circumstances then it could easy be forgiven. But that's not we're talking about here, it's Muppets with no road awareness, driving sloooowly but not carefully as it's also with disregard for the appropriate speed and lack of courtesy to drivers behind them, who are righty infuriating. You have to leave an even longer gap behind them generally, as they brake at ghosts. And though it would be nice to overtake them, their odd or oddly random road lane positioning makes this even more dangerous than if they were just driving slowly but in a sensible way where their movements can be anticipated in expectation that they'll drive like a rational person.

Gah, slow drivers piss me off. YANBU

What I can't cope with with it pootlers who speed upwhen the stream of cars finally have a chance to overtake them. Why? Just why? Pootle away, but why so tetchy about letting people pass?

The OP stated that both of the straight roads and the country road are all NSL roads if I read her right. Unless a road has a posted speed limit to the contrary you can assume there is no reason for another speed to be posted. Driving significantly below that is dangerous when there is other traffic on the road as it means drivers will be tempted to overtake. Of course you would take into account road conditions, weather and what the rest of the traffic was doing, but the OP didn't mention any adverse conditions that would make anyone go slower than the NSL.

Christina- who is saying they bully and tailgait? I get bloody annoyed at people who drive slow but this does not mean I drive like an arse! I give people space, only overtake when safe and would never dream of bullying a driver. If I was behind an unmarked police car he would have no reason to pull me over.

It is still infuriating to be behind the idiot who drives 40mph through every speed limit (inc 30), it shows no road awareness. There are some people who cannot change their driving according to conditions, so cannot drive 60 on an open road on good conditions and that is scary.

Of course the unmarked police car could be he or she (well the officer inside)

You wouldn't tailgate a police/unmarked police car because they have extra driving qualifications and wouldn't drive so badly.

I'm glad you're a 22 year old girl Christina but I fail to see the relevance!

'You don't know their speed limit' as I say, if you're not capable of driving at appropriate speeds... GET. OFF. THE. FUCKING. ROAD. EVeryones speed limit should be the same because driving a big metal killing machine should mean you have a standard level of competence.

If you're driving carefully because you're so concerned about your passengers, the chances are that if you're causing tailbacks you would also be concerned about moving over if safe and legal to do so for other people to overtake.

I don't see why people tailgate lorries, disgrace, or any vehicle that is prohibited from going at the normal speed limit. Or why tailgate the person infront who is probably equally annoyed by the tail back and can't go any faster because of the car infront of them.

I think your attitude means YOU should be off the road op- anger clouds judgment - you are clearly a danger to other road users

Ha yes ok!

OP you seem to be unaware that different types of vehicles are subject to different speed limits on different roads which is kind of a basic thing to be ignorant about. Do you know that some vehicles even have speed limiters fitted?

I'd be more worried about someone who got as angry behind the wheel as you seem to get than about slow drivers. Perhaps you should move closer to your work and chill?

Booboo, see my post about an hour and a half ago. Or you can assume I'm stupid when I've only mentioned cars and not other types of vehicles.

Yes, I'll sell my house and uproot my whole family to move closer to my work. Fuck sake. I only live twenty mins away... If I'm not behind a stupid fucker. Then it's 30 mins.

as I say, if you're not capable of driving at appropriate speeds... GET. OFF. THE. FUCKING. ROAD.

But who told you that you were the person to judge the appropriate speeds?

Surely each driver makes that decision for themselves? The limit is the maximum, nowhere does it say that you have to stick as near to it as it is possible to be.

The problem with your way of ranting (I'd say thinking but you are beyond that) is that you have no idea of what the other driver is faced with in their vehicle. And if driving slower makes them a safer driver, then just work around it. As mentioned, if you know that these drivers are on that road, make allowances for it in your estimations of your journey lengths.

And if you were flashed when you overtook, then you must have been driving aggressively, otherwise they would not have flashed you.

I agree jaded and I'd love to stop getting annoyed by them but I can't 100 per cent of the time. Yet.

Funky, no one. The government did that when they set the limits...

Crikey - that all got heated!

As the driver of a big engined sports car I don't mind pootling along the country roads to get to work. It happens every day. Traffic never maintains the speed limit.

New pot holes, water over the road, new to the area drivers, pheasant in the road, extra wide load, fog in the 'bottoms', car turning off the 'main' road, tractor ahead, school bus picking up, cyclist, pedestrian on the roadside, roadworks, man from the MOT doing a spot check in a layby, speed camera van... the list of things that can cause a delay is endless. If I got worked up about any of them I would be the world's most angry driver, and really dangerous to boot.

The trick is to remember that you are driving a lethal weapon. It doesn't matter that cars these days make you feel all safe, cocooned, armoured, you are still at risk and put others at risk by forgetting to drive sensibly, calmly, safely regardless of the actions of others.

I live in a rural area and have to drive up a steep, single lane, country road to reach the primary school some two or three miles away. For some reason recently, HGVS are using this as a short cut and I am pushed into ill maintained muddy roadsides and struggle to get out again as my car cannot get a grip. As me and the children are forced out of the way, the offending driver maintains the no eye contact you-do-not-exist stare straight ahead.

Alternatively, four wheel drives tail gate me with lights blaring, attempting to overtake on single width road even on corners. I drive to speed limit but I know these roads are treacherous and unpredictable and that is why I do so.

A few years ago on the coast road leading to this particular road, three young lads were killed overtaking in a head on collision. Matters calmed down for a while, but this week said HGV driver(s) managed to smash into a wall, overturned the vehicle and brought down the power lines for five hours in the evening (thanks) All in the name of saving a few minutes. Whilst I can understand your irritation - and that is all it is - isn't it better to get to your destination alive?

Agree. And why do they flash when you overtake? It's perfectly legal to overtake!!!