AIBU to think th speed limit is not a target.

[EmmaLL25]

Driving home, busy cobbled street, bus coming towards me I need to slow down for to let pass, lots of pedestrians and children about, traffic lights at end of road.

It's a 30mph zone, I'm doing about 15mph due to all of above and some old guy behind me starts beeping and flapping his arms.

Within 30 secs he has to wait in the same set of lights as me. He then drives sbout 100 yards more and stops to park.

I'm really wondering if the minute he thought he'd gain by harassing me was worth it.

I'm a cautious driver I know but I do think he was being a prick.

Just needed a moan.

Who said I choose to focus on speed? This thread is about speed. Who says that's the only thing I'm bothered by. Of course arseholes not concentrating are a problem. We were discussing speed though.

We can all tell stories of arseholes. My DH was damn near killed by somebody speeding up as they approached an NSL sign. He was on a pushbike. She hadn't realised the sun was quite so dazzling and at 45mph she drove straight through him. Everybody does it on that bit of road though. I see it every day when I drive down it. People overtake me there all the time because I do 30mph in the 30mph zone. I'm sure they all think they're judging the road well. I'm sure they all defend themselves just as you do. We can all tell stories. Your stories of distracted people are awful of course. Those people were not safe to be on the road. We weren't talking about that. We were talking about speed.

You are extremely unlikely to be pulled over for speeding let alone prosecuted if you are within 10% of the limit.

But it happens. Lady on my speed awareness course was done for 32 in a 30. And the instructors said they've had people in who have been 1mph over the limit.

Lots of talk about speedos - I've given up using mine now. The satnav is far more accurate. However, I still set my speed limiter (why don't all cars come with them ?) by the speedo. So it's set to 30 in a 30, despite the fact that the car is really only doing 28. Gives me a teeny bit of wiggle room for cases where a road isn't level, and you can speed up slightly.

Not sure if it's a "thing" yet, but in the last 1,000 miles I have driven - urban and motorway - it seems as if people are being much more aware of speed limits, and driving under them. It's quite marked. Anyone else notice this ?

Lady on my speed awareness course was done for 32 in a 30.

Absolute rubbish. Strangely no one is ever able to produce any paperwork to back these claims up. It's been done to death on motoring forums.

yabu - if you do not reach the speed 'limit' on a road you fail your test

UNLESS it is unsafe to do so - IE snowing, driving rain or slow moving traffic

in the scenario you described OP you could have been driving nearer 30 - you sound like a bit of a nervous driver - you can perceive and react to hazzards at 30

I never speed because I don't want points and a fine. And I would not want to go on a speed awareness course like a naughty schoolgirl.

But it's relatively easy for me because I mostly drive in urban areas where it's sometimes difficult to move let alone speed.

I do have to watch it if I drive into suburbs where it's hard to believe the speed cameras are anything other than revenue-raising.

Routes from central London to Essex along the Limehouse link, Docklands, the A12 or A13 and the A414 - is it? The road that goes between Beckton and the M11 - are ridiculously festooned with cameras and variable speed limits despite not having pedestrian crossing points and very few junctions.

I often take a detour at Canning Town and go through Silvertown and Docklands to emerge at the big roundabout at Beckton for nostalgia. But the speed limits are insanely low.

For long stretches they are not pedestrian roads and have no junctions or traffic lights but roundabouts. I obey the speed limits but they might as well be honest and label the speed cameras as cashpoints.

I also find it tedious crawling back to central London at 2am from my BIL's who lives in Hampshire. I completely understand the issue about pedestrians - I am mostly a pedestrian - and junctions, but for long stretches that does not apply.

I am not a girl racer and would rate my driving as no more or less than competent.

I'm sure others can talk about their own local areas.

You are extremely unlikely to be pulled over for speeding let alone prosecuted if you are within 10% of the limit.

This isn't necessarily the case any more. It used to be.

As it happens, my father was sent on a driver awareness course for doing 32 in a 30.

An instructor on the driver awareness course I attended told us of someone on the previous course that had been done for doing 35 on a NSL stretch of the M4. And rightly so. There's cautious and then there's ridiculous.

everyone on the road is an utter idiot

except me

penisland

Absolute rubbish. Strangely no one is ever able to produce any paperwork to back these claims up. It's been done to death on motoring forums.

Were you there ? I was. I'm sure you are aware of the privacy restrictions surrounding such courses ?

As a subsequent poster has confirmed 32 in a 30 is indictable.

One thing I came away from my SAC with, is a very keen awareness that 31 in a 30 is an offence, and that the authorities are keen to make the safest roads in Europe even safer. So more enforcement, and lower speed limits generally.

Were you there ? I was. I'm sure you are aware of the privacy restrictions surrounding such courses ?

Sorry, but I just won't believe it until I see an actual NIP for 31/32 in a 30 limit.

Penisland - It really did happen. I would be more than happy to share the original NIP with you but DF informs me it was shredded months ago.

It was actually a speed safety van that caught him. He was told that had it been a fixed camera (which does have a small percentage tolerance) or an actual police officer, he probably wouldn't have been done.

everyone on the road is an utter idiot except mej

jokinnear there's me too

Ghost if I'd gone at 30 I would have hit the bus

If the speed limit isn't a target, why can you fail your driving text for driving under it?

LurkingHusband I've noticed more people sticking to the speed limit recently. It used to be the case that cars would always tail gate me when I was doing 30 in a 30 zone. Doesn't happen so much now. A good thing.
Driving too slowly for the conditions is dangerous, but I just wish some drivers would chill. All this crazy fast driving and you'll probably only get there a minute or two earlier. What's the point?

I've been done for doing 32 in a 30 limit too. Did the awareness course.

It DOES happen.

People who can't drive accordingly going by road conditions etc drive me insane. There are far too many awful drivers on the road, yesterday I was on a 50 dual carriageway and a guy screeched past me doing at least 80. After this, on a NSL road, he was pootling along at not even 30. Not only that, slowed down to 10 and indicated to go round a tight corner.

I was cracking up, I will admit.

ghostys

That's not true - you can fail for going too slowly on a fast-moving road and for holding people up unecessarily (think 30mph on a stretch of 50mph) but you would also fail for not driving according to the conditions - which, in some 30mph zones at certain times of day, means going at 20mph or less. There were certainly stretches of my driving test that involved roads of that sort.

Though, you probably would fail for driving at 15mph down a totally empty, really wide stretch of 30mph road with no hazards. That's the point of them being limits rather than targets - so drivers can adapt to changing road conditions.

Awayandrun- pootling along at 30 on a nsl road then slowing and indicating suggests following an unclear sat nav to me.

For the people that complain about slow speeds for no reason, how do you know there is no reason? They may have seen something you haven't, or simply be unfamiliar with the road. Roads around me are rural nsl, I tend to go around 40-50, but only because I am confident I know the road, know where the bad corners, tight spots are, where to be cautious, otherwise i think that would be a very unsafe speed to travel along them. When I come across people going v slowly I have to remind myself that I cant assume they know the road, and hope they will be considerate enough to let me by at a safe point

I must be the only person who doesn't give a shinny fuck about the driver in front, I just always keep a safe distance and give myself enough time to arrive where I need to be.

The only thing I get annoyed about is traffic lights as they hate me and I hit every red light.

The thing about being done for doing 32 in a 30 limit - as mentioned upthread, your speedo can be out by up to 10% but it's always in the 'safe' direction. So if you were clocked at 32, your speedo will very probably have been showing more than that.

People who speed up when they see derestricted signs... they're a real hazard to people like me who live at the end of a village. There's only pavement on the other side of the road so I have to cross to walk my dog - it's within a 30 limit but all too often there's idiots who come round the corner accelerating towards the sign. Theres a bus-stop each side of the road which schoolkids use too. And of course drivers coming the other way into the village aren't all down to 30 by the time they pass the sign (there's better visibility that way at least).

OMG I hate the 40mph brigade!!! Those who do 40 in a 60 and you're stuck behind them, then you go into a 30, you slow to 30 and they speed off still doing 40mph!!!
Does my head in.
I don't speed at all.
Some people are far too cautious, I was on a 60 mph road, good conditions etc and guy in front was doing 25 mph!! I mean come on.

willbillycome

Whenever I find myself getting annoyed about someone in front of me driving slowly I try to think of all the reasons why they might be doing so -- brand new driver, lost, etc! My favourite imagined reason for slowness is someone driving their brand new baby home and trying to drive very slowly and smoothly. That tends to soothe me a bit!

I'm a new driver (passed test 21st May) and I'm now having to get used to our family car which is a lot bigger than the corsa I learned in. I'm not going to bomb along a NSL road with lots of tight bends because its not safe. Typically on these roads I'm hitting about 50 and sometimes having to slow for bends and I'm comfortable with that. I'm also not going to speed up before leaving a 30 zone in case whoever is behind doesn't like it. Aside from the safety issue I can only get 2x 3 points for speeding and I will lose my hard won licence! I'm doing more and more driving in the family car and building up my experience and confidence gradually. I know some people don't like the idea but I use P plates in the hope that if people realise I am a new driver they will keep from up my arse and generally behaving aggressively. I have found that people have mostly been fine to be honest.