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.

ProvisionallyAnxious

I like that idea. How about they have a toddler who wakes up when the car stops, so they are trying to take as long as possible to get home?

Lol, I'll always remember that drive home from hospital with our pfb. About 20mph all the way home, and we took a five mile detour to avoid a road with speed bumps.

I drive no faster than the speed limit at any time. I have to - I already have 9 points on my licence for speeding and a further 3 points would mean a ban (3 separate offences - only a few mph over each time). Naturally I also drive slower than the speed limit if conditions dictate. My car is automatic and I set it to cruise control at 30 in a 30, 40 in a 40 etc

Strangely enough I rarely get people tailgating me - I was expecting it to happen frequently, but whilst they accelerate and catch up with me they then seem to accept that I (and therefore they) will be driving within the speed limit and drop back to an acceptable distance and let me get on with it. I was surprised - maybe they think I am plain clothes police...or perhaps even within in my car I manage to exude 'don't mess with me' vibes.

Does anyone think that driving standards are deteriorating?

There seems to be far more impatient aggressive drivers on the road now.

We had to drive our new baby home on that same cobbled street after a c-section. I wanted my OH to drive at 5mph, it was not comfortable!

Does anyone think that driving standards are deteriorating?

There seems to be far more impatient aggressive drivers on the road now.

Aggressive I can deal with. It's the lazy ones that don't check blind spots or indicate and can't park/don't know how big their cars are that drive me crackers.

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.

This is a bugbear of mine - I think that if you learn in a small car, you should be restricted to driving a small car for 2 years.

If you take your motorcycle test on a 125cc bike you're restricted to 33 BHP for 2 years and after that you can ride anything. Cars should be similar but with size.

It seems bizarre to me that people learn in a Corsa, Mini etc & then get in the family estate car and have no concept of how to drive it...

I don't agree that new drivers should be limited in the size of car - bigger ones are often easier to drive than the little ones and other road users tend not to treat you so badly. It was a revelation to me how much better the standard of other people's driving (especially white van men) became when I went from a micra to a cavalier! When my DD starts driving I want her in something safe and the laws of physics dictate that size matters.

Bad drivers get on my wick too.

Sometimes I end up driving at say 30 in 40 because there is nothing to indicate it's a 40 but street lights etc suggest it's a 30. I ain't risking my driving licence for anyone- it takes seconds to pull over and let someone pass if they are annoying you that much.

I DO think the most dangerous types of drivers are those who drive at 40/50mph on motorways

yabu. people who drive to slow are almost as bad as those who drive to fast.

Drivers should drive at a speed which feels safe but should be aware of other drivers. I hate driving behind people who are driving at speeds 10kmph or more below the speed limit on a long straight road with safe conditions.

I put up with it and pass when safe but there are a lot of drivers who speed up to the limit when you are trying to overtake on the wrong side of the road (legal here). you are forced to either accelerate rapidly to get ahead and be above the limit or decelerate rapidly. The drivers then slow down to their original speed.

Those people saying they have a ticket for driving at 32 in a 30mph zone have been charged against CPS guidelines. The guidelines state that the minimum speed for prosecution it 10% above the speed limit plus 2mph (so 35mph for a 30 zone. This was also stated on the back of my speeding ticket (I was doing 38mph in a 30 on a wide open road where the speed limit had just decreased from 40mph and I was keeping pace with traffic).

Guidelines here (scroll down to "speed enforcement")
www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/road_traffic_offences_guidance_on_fixed_penalty_notices/#maximum

Speed limit is the absolute maximum, you should drive slower if the road conditions require.

www.gov.uk/speed-limits

PS OP - was he driving an Audi?

Many years ago i witnessed a driver being pulled over for doing approx 10-15mph in a 40 zone. There was a queue of about 20 cars and the police passed us all and pulled in the driver causing the hold up. It was a straight road in perfect driving conditions.

I do a lot of night driving and get fed up with people driving at 40mph in a 70 limit on empty roads. They are unsafe either through lack of confidence or ?alcohol or drugs.

OP - I'm surprised a urban road with busses, cobbles and pedestrians isn't a 20mph if you felt it was so unsafe you needed to drive at 15mph instead of 30

IknowIam, that's fine in theory but we don't have a small car and can't afford to run two at the moment. I either drive what I have access to or nothing. It would be far more risky to wait two years and then drive. I wouldn't take a smaller car down the same roads any differently or exceed the speed limit and get banned!

Those people saying they have a ticket for driving at 32 in a 30mph zone have been charged against CPS guidelines.

Mysteriously, guidelines are just that - guidelines. If parliament had intended the guidelines to be law, they would have made it that way. Otherwise the logical conclusion would have to be that a sign for "30" may as well be a sign for "35".

There are a shed load of local variations to guidelines, depending on location and situation. If there has been a problem with speeding at a location - especially near a school - then 32 in a 30 could be enough. Also as a pp suggested there may be a difference between fixed and mobile camera strategies. Also, it may be that mobile cameras have a better service record, and are less likely to be challenged for smaller speed differentials than fixed ones.

I ain't risking my driving licence for anyone

How true. A few years ago, I had to take a company car with a colleague about 50 miles. He drove there, I drove back. It was like a masterclass is really shit driving.

• ensure you can't get a credit card between you and the car in front. CHECK
• pull out from behind HGV with no view of oncoming traffic. CHECK.
• wildly exceed speed limit (hitting 100 on the motorway). CHECK.
• start to overtake just before you have to leave the motorway. CHECK.
• immediately pull in after overtaking causing car behind to brake. CHECK.

He also had absolutely no idea what was happening more than 2 cars length in front. So we were weaving in and out of lanes, as he was "surprised" to come up behind an HGV you could have seen a mile off. Cue sudden pulling out without checking.

Those were the highlights. On the return, I was practically shouted out to "FLOOR IT!!!!!!" as I trundled along at 70 on the motorway. I made the original comment then, to much cursing.

It took us longer to get there than back .

This is a bugbear of mine. Sometimes, in a 30 area it absolutely is not safe to drive at 30 mph.

Think driving down a busy street, cars parked either side, people crossing the road, cars pulling out. In my mind, 30 isn't safe in a situation like that at all.

My father is terrible for this - he accelerates to 30, slams on when a car pulls out, accelerates again, slams on... and on and on, swearing constantly at the 'annoying' obstacles. If nothing more, it's bad for his bloody stress levels!

I always think "what if a child ran out in front of me now - could I stop?". That's my benchmark. I'd rather annoy a few arseholes behind me for doing 15mph, than have to live the rest of my life with the knowledge that I'd knocked down a child because I wanted to get to work 2 mins earlier.

Similarly, if I pull out into the outside lane on the motorway to overtake, I do 70 and no higher. People tailgate me, and I don't care. I will overtake then pull back in when it's safe. They can speed all they like, they're not forcing me to do so.

If (as the plan is) more motorists become aware of the risks (either to their licence, or other road uses) and start taking speed limits seriously, we'll eventually reach a tipping point where it will be practically impossible to speed.

Only yesterday, I left a set of lights, into a wide (but not 2 lane) section of road. I hit 30 (28 in real life) and my limiter kicks in. Chummy behind me sees his opportunity, and roars past (so doing well over 30). Gets in front before the road narrows, to see about 6 or seven cars all doing 30. (It's a busy road, so no chance to overtake.)

Now whether this is because they were all being sensible, or just the leading one makes no difference. For that stretch of road, the speed limit was effectively being observed by all cars - willing or not.

Having driven a lot in the US, I was really keen to have cruise control on our last two cars. Turns out I rarely use it. But it's second nature to use the limiter (although they could have designed it a lot better IMHO).

I'm surprised a urban road with busses, cobbles and pedestrians isn't a 20mph if you felt it was so unsafe you needed to drive at 15mph instead of 30

Over the course of this thread I've been impressed with a) the faith in councils to get every single speed limit just right, and b) the lack of acknowledgement that roads demand different speeds according not just to weather conditions but also traffic conditions! The 30mph speed limit may well be appropriate for that urban road at certain times of day, when it isn't busy, which is why that is set as the maximum speed, but that doesn't mean you will necessarily be able to go at 30mph on it at 9am or 5pm when there are buses, bikes, cars pulling out parking spaces, etc. Or, a 20mph limit may well be more appropriate but it just hasn't been changed. Either way the ultimate responsibility lies with the driver to assess what's going on and, yes, sometimes drive at half the stated limit if that is what required.

Thinking about this thread I monitored my speed this morning coming into town. In a '30 mph zone' I didn't go above 25mph and most of the time was at around 20mph. I wasn't dawdling, but I was ensuring I had enough time to react to the various cyclists and pedestrians around. As Rude says it is often pointless to accelerate all the way up to the limit between obstacles as you then just have to brake more harshly.

I agree that someone driving at 30mph on a motorway is driving dangerously slowly, but 15-20mph in a 30mph zone when the conditions are busy? I think they're probably safer than people who aim to drive at the speed limit regardless of conditions.

limited The A13 has average speed cameras between Limehouse and Rainham, but there are also some nearer the M25 for roadworks. The A406 (between Beckton and the M11) has gatsos.

I'm always astonished at how few people seem to understand average speed cameras. Every time, there are a handful of people doing 20mph over the posted limit, then braking for the cameras.

Another prediction from my SAC course which is now coming true was the spread of 20mph zones. A couple of new build housing developments near us have been set as 20mph zones.

Also we've got a shared space layout around a college, shops and supermarket. Cars don't like it, but will have to get used to it.

I think I'm one of those people who don't understand average speed cameras fuckingliability. Maybe I do. How do they work?

I don't exceed the limit so it's not a problem for me.

And yes, thank you, it's the A406. I forgot. What drives me nuts on there are people who speed between cameras and then slam on their brakes, usually overbraking and causing the whole line of following cars to brake.

I don't drive in a daydream but it's not very relaxing.

speed = distance / time - so there will be two cameras a given distance apart. They take photos of you going through the first one, then again through the second one, work out the time you took to cover the distance, and hence your speed. So you can still be caught even if you slow down for the camera then speed up again straight away.