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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

'sunday drivers' 40mph everywhere

246 replies

angelos02 · 18/10/2015 23:04

Just had a weekend away in the countryside and at least half a dozen times got stuck behind people that shouldn't be allowed to drive. Doing 40mph in national speed limit zones & the same in built up 20 mph areas. Note to you Numpties...if there is big line of traffic behind you, you are probably driving dangerously.

OP posts:
Devonicity · 19/10/2015 11:05

I recently drove at between 20 and 40 mph on an NSL road (30 in the villages).

Why? It was dark (no street lights), misty in some places and very foggy in others, the road surface was wet, there were sharp corners and places where two cars have to slow right down to pass safely in opposite directions.

I still had people in my boot, then overtaking me (I stopped once to let people pass, but not soon enough for some of them). I was aghast - there was no possibility of overtaking safely in those conditions no matter how well they knew the road.

Is it really worth risking a serious accident to get home five minutes earlier? And even if you truly believe you could safely drive faster, why does it matter so much to you that I don't and you get delayed by a few minutes?

CerseiHeartsJaime4ever · 19/10/2015 11:06

YANBU but are you are still going faster than some poor sod who is walking or sitting stationary freezing and waiting 60 minutes for a bus on a Sunday. Ie elderly and disabled.

Hotpatootietimewarp · 19/10/2015 11:10

Yep grates my nerves too but the one that annoys me more is those that sit in the middle lane of the motorway for miles and miles going about 60mph Angry so blooming dangerous

celtictoast · 19/10/2015 11:11

YABU to equate driving slowly with "driving dangerously". If drivers are impatient to get somewhere they should have allowed more time. However if I ended up with a queue behind me, or someone impatient tailgating, I'd just pull in and let them past.

helenahandbag · 19/10/2015 11:14

CaptainHammer

No Indicator Sunday must be a thing because I nearly ploughed into the side of a man who decided to turn into the junction I was coming out of - no signal, of course! I'd started moving off and had to brake sharply, then he looked at me like I was the dick Hmm

Scremersford · 19/10/2015 11:19

Devoncity if so many other drivers could see well enough in the dark to overtake you, and you were able to speed up from 20mph to 30mph in villages with street lights, despite the mist and fog, has it ever occurred to you to get your eyesight tested? I'm not being faceitious. Seriously.

NoArmaniNoPunani · 19/10/2015 11:19

People can get pulled over for driving too slowly. My mil was

CerseiHeartsJaime4ever · 19/10/2015 11:20

#firstworldproblem

BreakingDad77 · 19/10/2015 11:24

Yanbu

It is way more dangerous to be driving 40 through a 30/20 zone as most often you will have the potential contact with pedestrians/bikes you will insta-kill them, etc also there is more road furniture in the way, concrete walls, lamp posts, ditches etc

On roads your trying to avoid big speed differentials eg from the worst case - head on, to shunts e.g 40-60/70.

Its a mixed bag with local drivers as some are careful as poster above but also there are the 'I know these roads have driven them x decades'

Indication in general has me WAAAAAY more AIBU.

yoshipoppet · 19/10/2015 11:28

"Note to you Numpties...if there is big line of traffic behind you, you are probably driving dangerously."

I had a long line of traffic behind me this morning. This was going through the 40mph zone. I was doing 40 mph. I don't think I am a numpty.

Devonicity · 19/10/2015 11:39

Scremersford
I have my eyesight tested every year, thanks. But I'm not local to that country road and so I needed to go more slowly than the locals who were confident they knew every corner despite the conditions. I wasn't confident I knew what was coming around every corner, and I can't see how they can have been either. So I concluded that they couldn't see any better than me but were using their memory of the road. Which is fine for the corners but doesn't work so well for oncoming traffic.

Justmyluck1 · 19/10/2015 11:43

In my experience the people who think they own the road and call other people Sunday drivers are generally bloody dangerous and impatient drivers who cause mayhem while preening themselves in their superior skills.

Wink
MaidOfStars · 19/10/2015 11:45

I nearly ploughed into the side of a man who decided to turn into the junction I was coming out of - no signal, of course! I'd started moving off and had to brake sharply, then he looked at me like I was the dick

I might not be picturing this correctly but this sounds like your fault?

helenahandbag · 19/10/2015 12:23

MaidOfStars

The guy had almost driven past the junction so I was creeping out, ready to turn right onto the main road, when he decided that he wanted to turn after all. He didn't indicate, just swung right after almost missing the opening.

I hadn't started moving out in earnest, just crept forward with my foot off the brake.

helenahandbag · 19/10/2015 12:23

I should mention that he didn't slow down, he wasn't looking towards the road that I was on or anything. No indication that he was about to turn.

Gruntfuttock · 19/10/2015 12:29

I live on a long road with a speed limit of 20 mph and a permanently locked gate at one end. I have noticed that motorcyclists think the speed limit does not apply to them. I can't understand why that would be.

ReallyTired · 19/10/2015 12:32

A speed limit is the absolute maximum that you should drive at.

There is an arguement for reducing the speed limit in built up areas to 20 mph. At 30 mph a pedestrian (maybe a child) might be seriously hurt or killed in a road side traffic accident. At 20mph the fatality rate falls considerably.

These people want 30 mph speed limits reduced to 20 mph.

www.20splenty.org/

I can't see the problem with someone doing 40 on a single track national speed limit road. Its their legal right and it might be annoying, but its bad over taking that causes danger rather than a slow driver. Does the OP get annoyed with tractors or milk floats on the road? The answer is to leave more time for your journey.

thedancingbear · 19/10/2015 12:43

Reasons why I have driven more slowly than I normally would:

-Transporting my other half to hospital after her waters had broken
-Driving my very elderly and frail grandmother home from hospital having had a stroke
-Taking my son (aged two or three at the time) to a+e in a car without a car seat in it.

In each instance I had people like the OP driving aggressively up my arse and making the situation far worse. Presumably, OP, you consider that I should have used some sort of fucking teleportation device in each of these scenarios.

specialsubject · 19/10/2015 12:49

the road between my village and the town has 60mph sections and 40mph sections; there are several fuckwit-driver hotspots hence the slower bits. But there are also tight bends in the 60 bits. The safe average speed is 50, slower in the wet.

For a short 60 stretch when the 40 is coming, I don't speed up to the 60 because I pay for my petrol and car maintenance and that is really bad driving. The idiot who overtakes me in the 60 and then has to stamp on the brakes for the 40 is always just in front of me at the next speed limit or roundabout. Really not worth risking life for and doesn't get to the destination quicker.

round here Fridays are crash days, people in a hurry to get home, drunk from lunch, or on the phone. Sundays don't seem any worse than any other day.

BTW goldenbear this IS Shropshire and I recognise your description!! That's why we have a lot of crashes and whining for better/wider roads. No, we need people to learn to drive.

Tinklewinkle · 19/10/2015 12:49

Obviously, depends on the road and conditions at the time, but this does drive me mad

My route to work is along a nice straight, wide NSL road with open fields either side, good visibility, yet every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I get stuck behind the same person trundling along at 25mph with huge queues behind. Sometimes they creep up to 30mph, then we all get excited, but then the brakes go on and it's back down to 25mph. You can't over take as the road is busy so no break in the oncoming traffic

I can understand people not wanting to do 60, but less than half the speed limit?

I can't leave any earlier as I have to drop my daughter to school, so it makes it a bit tight for me getting to work on time.

Saying that though, on Friday morning I saw they'd been pulled over by the police, hopefully they've been spoken to. I had the morning off work today.

One of my neighbours does 40mph regardless of the speed limit, she's been done for speeding in a 30 twice, but thinks shes a perfect driver as she never goes above 40.

specialsubject · 19/10/2015 12:49

ps I know the roads and that is why I am not pushing the speed limit.

MaidOfStars · 19/10/2015 12:55

The answer is to leave more time for your journey

A few months ago, we did a journey that should have taken around 4.5 hours but actually took closer to 7. No congestion, just a series of Sunday drivers pooling along.

An extra 7 mins on ten miles might not seem much. But when you're travelling 20 lots of ten miles, it's a massive increase in journey time.

MaidOfStars · 19/10/2015 12:56

Pooling = pootling.

ArmchairTraveller · 19/10/2015 13:02

Sunday drivers have always been a joke though, I remember my dad commenting on it over 40 years ago.
If I have to drive slower than the speed limit for whatever reason, I do pull over every now and then to let the speed freaks hurtle past. Got a lot of those in the SE. You also have to watch out for them rocketing towards you on the wrong side of the road as they overtake a slow-moving vehicle.
GoldenBear I come over the beacon regularly on my way to work. Smile I'd hate to think of how much rage and bile and froth I'd be venting if slow drivers/cyclists bothered me and an extra 10 minutes in the car was inconceivable.

IKnowIAmButWhatAreYou · 19/10/2015 13:18

There is an arguement for reducing the speed limit in built up areas to 20 mph.

Yeah, I see cyclists "stuck"next to vehicles in the 20mph zones in London for ages - they don't look overly happy to have a car/bus/lorry next to them for long stretches.

At least at 30 they get overtaken...