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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this is a bit unsafe?

82 replies

WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant · 03/08/2015 01:36

Nice, fairly empty motorway.
Most cars doing about 70.
Most lorries zooming along at their speed limit.
I know not everybody wants to compete with the reps/ boy racers..
But doing 40, on the m6?
Forcing lorries to overtake

I am guessing the driver could have been old/not confident/foreign?

But for their safety, would it BU to have a motorway lesson?

I am now trying to remember if there are rules (suggestions?) about a minimum speed on empty-ish motorways?

OP posts:
MaidOfStars · 03/08/2015 14:21

Sorry, not the OP, diamondjoan

Bunbaker · 03/08/2015 14:27

"Perhaps the car mentioned by the OP which was going very slowly might have had a mechanical problem"

Good point. That would be another reason the police would want to stop the driver.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 03/08/2015 14:34

If it had a mechanical problem it should have gone straight onto the hard shoulder, easy enough if it's already in the inside lane.

Tanith · 03/08/2015 14:36

If you have a mechanical problem, surely you put your hazard lights on to warn people?

Another dangerous aspect of slow motorway driving is that, if you force a lorry to slow down, it takes the lorry driver much longer to build up his speed again, making him a hazard for a lot longer.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 03/08/2015 14:37

I disagree that in the scenario of boy racer overtaking 40mph driver on country road any ensuing accident is in any way the 40mph driver's fault though. No matter how infuriating it was, the boy racer should not have overtaken if it wasn't safe to do so.

Garlick · 03/08/2015 14:37

I've driven at 30 (in the left-hand lane, obvs) when low on petrol and the next services were a zillion miles away. It's got to be preferable to stuttering to a halt while zooming along at 70. The big trucks are only doing about 40 anyway, aren't they?

Garlick · 03/08/2015 14:38

YY, Who.

MaidOfStars · 03/08/2015 14:57

Garlick Did you not have an opportunity to exit the motorway?

Garlick · 03/08/2015 14:58

If I'd seen a services sign I'd have followed it - obviously Hmm

ExConstance · 03/08/2015 15:06

When I did m IAM training I was taught that provided it is safe to do so ou should drive just within the speed limit for the road.

FriendAskedMeToAsk · 03/08/2015 15:10

I was taking my driving test a few weeks ago and the examiner took me onto the dual carriage way.

Bicycle in the left lane. Checked mirrors, signaled, changed to right lane to pass bike.

Car roars up behind me, stops short behind me, pulls around me, roars past the other cars that have moved to go around the bicycle, has to stop short for, you guessed it, the bicycle, then cuts off the lead car of the cars that have moved right due to the bicycle and roars off.

And, proving my theory that they removed all emotion and nerves from the examiners, said examiner said 'That was poor driving. Poor poor driving.'

I flunked the text BTW, because the next bit was a very complicated roundabout and I was so shaken by this speeding car I totally lost my confidence.

Bunbaker · 03/08/2015 15:13

"The big trucks are only doing about 40 anyway, aren't they?"

Ha ha ha. Erm, no. HGVs can drive at a maximum speed of 60mph on motorways. I do a lot of motorway driving and would say, that unless on an uphill climb or in busy traffic, the vast majority drive at 60.

You need to remember that HGV stopping distances are a lot further than in a car, so having one on your tail because you are driving too slowly isn't safe either.

MaidOfStars · 03/08/2015 15:15

Garlick, sorry for lack of clarity. I was asking whether you had passed regular junction exits?

NotMyChashkaChai · 03/08/2015 15:23

we once got on the motorway only to discover that there was a problem with our acceleration (driving through London traffic beforehand with no need to accelerate) and so had no choice to continue driving along the motorway to the next services (which were before the next junction) as fast as we could go which was about 40 mph! I wouldn't purposefully drive that slow on a motorway but there was nothing else we could do in this situation.

ReginaFelangi · 03/08/2015 17:28

You should have driven down the hard shoulder (if clear) with your hazards on, or stopped completely.

MaidOfStars · 03/08/2015 17:46

You should have driven down the hard shoulder (if clear) with your hazards on

Shock

Driving at 40 mph on the main carriageway is far preferable to driving down the hard shoulder.

acatcalledjohn · 03/08/2015 17:58

It's bad form to get in to situation where you are pretty much out of fuel.

But 40 on a free flowing motorway is outright dangerous. You force people to overtake at to low a speed, increasing chances of a collision.

I had one a week ago doing 35 on a relatively windy 60 road. Get off the road if you are too scared to bloody drive!

MaidOfStars · 03/08/2015 18:03

It's bad form

Grin

Probably not really an 'etiquette' issue though?

ReginaFelangi · 03/08/2015 18:10

Driving at 40 mph on the main carriageway is far preferable to driving down the hard shoulder.

To you, perhaps. But not to your fellow road users. You should have been on the hard shoulder.

MaidOfStars · 03/08/2015 18:31

Hey, I'm the first person to jump on slow drivers, but still prefer them where I can predict what's happening, rather than wondering what the bloody hell they are doing and, more importantly, what are they likely to do next.

NerrSnerr · 03/08/2015 19:02

Christ. You drove 30 on the motorway because you didn't have enough petrol? You know that lorries do about 58mph? You should have pulled over, called the AA and paid whatever penalty. Going 30 on a motorway is really dangerous.

NotMyChashkaChai · 03/08/2015 21:38

there wasn't a hard shoulder for much of our stretch (which was only a couple of miles to the services). We were not low on fuel and there was no way we could have been aware of the problem until we got on the motorway. interesting once we got off at the services and had the aa out, the bloke said that the only way of fixing the problem was to continue driving down the motorway as fast as we could for about 50 miles and then the problem should sort itself out! we declined to do so!

Doodlebug300 · 03/08/2015 21:46

You know it's the speed limit, not the target, right?

There is absolutely no rule that you need to be driving at the speed limit and I think 40 on a country road (especially one you are unfamiliar with) is fine. I do think on the motorway you need to keep up with the flow of traffic a bit, but only because such a large number of people speed and drive like entitled twats on the motorway, so you really can't be safe if you drive slower.

And can I just say - that all of you who get angry with slower drivers and do stupid overtaking or drive halfway up their anal passage are actually more dangerous than the one driving slowly in the first place.

whois · 03/08/2015 21:47

Christ. You drove 30 on the motorway because you didn't have enough petrol? You know that lorries do about 58mph? You should have pulled over, called the AA and paid whatever penalty. Going 30 on a motorway is really dangerous

And stupid.

Original poster
WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant · 03/08/2015 22:19

As a sideline to garlick, I thought it was an offence to enter the motorway knowing you were low on fuel?

And I was taught that if you have a mechanical problem, you pull on to the hard shoulder and put your hazards on. If you are near to the orange phone, then stop there. They are a mile apart... (I think you are allowed to drive slowly to the phone, but can't remember this detail)
Use the orange phone to get help.

No need to drive more than a mile on hard shoulder or drive at an unsafe speed on the road.

Glad I am not the only one who thinks it is a bit unsafe.

OP posts: