To wish that people knew speed limits?

[Gide]

I was blocked by traffic on the outside lane today so couldn't go past someone doing 30 in a 70 for a bit. When I did go past, I was thrown evil looks-I hadn't been tailgaiting.

There's an A road I use a lot, no choice, really, and some drivers are convinced it's a 40 and stick to this rigidly for ages. It's a 60, single lane carriageway. AIBU to want to carry a speed sign with 60 on it? The road isn't signed until a certain point where it reduces to 50.

Lurking it's blue isn't it?

I didn't even know that minimum speed limit signs existed! Not that they would be particularly relevant to me as I normally drive up to the speed limit when conditions allow, but good to know anyway.

It's a blue circle with the minimum limit on it.

There isn't actually a minimum limit on most roads but you can be fined for driving too slowly if you're causing a hazard.

My cousin failed her test for driving too slowly.

One road I drive on frequently is mainly 40mph limit but I so often get stuck behind some twat who insists on imposing their very own 30 limit. Similar situation on a dual carriageway I use a lot. Several times I've cruised past 40mph freaks which is odd when they are often driving Mercedes and I'm in a 1-litre Citroën. Bizarre.

I admit I don't care for fast driving but folk who drive needlessly slow piss me off.

I did a speed awareness course last year... it shocked me how many people didn't know all the speed limits. I was fuzzy on caravans (never tow one), but plenty of folk didn't know hardly any for regular vehicles.

What I didn't know was about speed limit sign repeaters... when they even existed or if there are no repeaters then I could rest assured that the default applies. That info turns out to be very helpful. Also there are advisory not compulsory speed signs... but must admit I've forgotten which are which, just treat them all as compulsory.

*I also learnt about the speed camera where I got caught, and never to violate that one again.

All of the above!! But yes yes yes to actually using a slip road to speed up and join. I slowed down once to create space for someone to join (couldn't move out as a busy road) and they just got slower and slower and so I had to speed up and whizz past. If they'd put their foot down they would have fitted in, i was doing 50 in a 60 on purpose.

I also DETEST drivers who don't move out to let cars on a slip road join and just merrily ignore the traffic joining from the left. Obviously sometimes the road is busy (see above ), but I once had someone do this to me on an empty A road. I slowed and they slowed and we were parallel and I was running out of slip. They should have just moved the fuck out!!! As it happens I just put my foot down and joined in front of them with not a huge amount of space and sped off. I wouldn't usually drive so aggressively but it was late and the road was empty and they really got my rage on

I also encountered a bloke going the wrong way down a one way road yesterday

I failed one of my driving tests for doing 40 on a 50 road, so it is a major fault.

I think this is one of those situations where context is everything and we can't see the roads the OP is talking about or the driving conditions.

I'm no slouch as my recent attendance as a speeding awareness course shows but the road I live onandthe one prior to it have a 30 mile and hour limit but I would never dream of driving that fast down them in day light hours as you have to pass a children's playground in a residential area with lots of parked cars.

I try to restrict myself to around 24 as have often seen kids chasing after footballs, the limit might be 30 on that road but only a real twat would drive that fast when the kids are out playing.

Exactly. Context dependant. People expect to "make progress" on a NSL road just as people don't expect a 50mph driver to be in the middle lane of the motorway. If you want to tuck in behind a lorry that's fine as you're not holding anyone up. I often do it to conserve fuel because I have a shit car and have a more relaxing journey.

40mph on a clear NSL road is unreasonable and dangerous but it's 100% context dependant.

I feel the same as the OP some days on my drive to work. Its a A road with mainly 60mph speed limits, windey (sp) road though and not many opportunities for overtaking.

Most people tend to travel around 40-50mph along it which works for the road.

We seem to have a spat of 25mph drivers currently (in normal cars, not towing anything, not lorries, or farm traffic - we do get them thrown into the mix as well some days) - it makes it very frustrating commute to and from work! I try to keep my patience but it can add 30 mins to a 45 minute commute which can make me late for nursery collection and I already leave a 20 minute window for traffic - can't leave work much earlier.

I do despair a bit at how awful driving standards in this country appear to have become. It's not that I think everyone should be driving with a leaden right boot, but a combination of issues.

Entitled twattery (I'm going to park here BECAUSE I CAN), lack of observation and looking ahead, lack of understanding of road rules, people who are so nervous behind the wheel they are are virtually paralysed with fear when driving, but refuse to consider doing additional training and your common-or-garden impatient and stupid.

A couple of years ago, my friend's car was T-boned at a junction by someone who jumped the lights. Her response? 'But I wasn't speeding!' Worse, she tried to blame the accident on my friend because she has a sports car therefore it must have been my friend's fault for having a fast car. Today, I saw a car waiting at a busy roundabout quite correctly, but the driver behind leaned on their horn, swerved around them and through a set of red lights on the wrong side of the road, causing oncoming traffic to brake sharply to avoid a collision. Then there was the 35mph driver I mentioned before - a huge queue of traffic built up behind them which was unable to overtake. Yet a lot of people would think that's absolutely fine because NSL is a limit, not a target, so everyone should be forced to sit behind someone who can't read a road sign or isn't competent enough to drive any faster.

Sorry, bit of a rant. I'm by no means a perfect driver, but some of the twattery I see on the roads makes me astonished there aren't more accidents.

The route I travel daily and one section in particular changes speed limit through the entire range of those available. It does drive you mental when they do 40 in the 50, 40 in the 60, 40 in the 40 and then 40 in the 30. It just shows a complete lack of awareness of the signage and the highway code. I'm not saying they have to drive at the limit, but not changing speed in the different zones is just poor driving.

However, I had the misfortune to get a puncture the other week and had a space saver which is limited to about 48pmh. I could sense peoples frustration on the 60 but my only alternate route was the motorway. i think those tyres should come with a sign to explain ;) thankfully it's not a big stretch of 60 and whilst still waiting on my new tyre - the next trip on it I was thankfully held up by a slow truck.

I generally nip up the motorway for the school pick up and everyone was telling me just to go that way since the road is relatively quiet at that time. I didn't, I went round the long way as it being quiet is actually worse. When trying to join, most drivers are doing 70 so trying to join doing less than 50 would be a nightmare. Plus I get passed when I'm driving 70 and need to be in the outside lane at the top of the motorway (ends in a roundabout) so it would be dangerous trying to do all that when I couldn't go over 50.

Banned for driving too slow :

slow

The only time my driving has alerted attention was driving at 19 in a 30, on a road with raised junctions and parked cars strewn around. In my defence, I was still adjusting to a new car that I'd owned a few days, it was a horrid rainy night, and I was still feeling a bit chilled out after yoga relaxation. After a brief, friendly chat with the police, I kept to 29 the rest of the way.
They were probably highly suspicious of someone not speeding on that road!

There's a NSL road nearby that's less than 30 years old so is a decent width and the bends are well cambered. It attracts a lot of drivers (and they do tend to be older) that drive at 35 when the majority of drivers do 50-60. When they reach the 40 at the end, they speed up. Surely that is evidence that they don't understand the speed limits.

DH went on a speed awareness course reccently and most didn't know the default speed limits. He was the only one who knew what a dual carrigeway is.

And have you noticed that whenever it's pointed out that slow drivers would fail their driving tests, the "speed limit is not a target" posters never have an answer?!

Most driving tests would encounter the NSL in the context of dual carriageways, which are designed for people to travel at 70mph (and on which it is dangerous to do significantly less). Everywhere else on a driving test a learner qoulsy be encountering specific speed limits set based on an assessment of what is a safe speed to do on that road. Rural NSL roads, on the other hand, have not been assessed for it to be safe to drive at 60mph on them, and in many cases to do so would be very dangerous. It is this type of NSL road that I would have in mind when quoting "it's a limit, not a target".

The A9 has been mentioned, which is agoody example of some of the finer points of the NSL. A dual carriageway (and therefore a 70mph speed limit) occurs when you have a central reservation. The A9 has stretches where you have an 'overtaking lane' on one side of the road with no central reservation, and it gets my goat when the 50mph restricted lorries speed up to 65mph at these points, assuming dual carriageway NSL, meaning you Canty legally pass.

I'm also always amazed at the number of people who ignore variable speed limit signs and carry on driving at NSL even when this has been overriden by the variable signs.

Context, sorry! Straight road, long stretch of perhaps 2 miles, althoughnot much opportunity to overtake. Two left turns available south bound. Bordered by the M1.

Coming home tonight, one guy was sticking rigidly to 40. There was a car behind him, me then a huge queue of traffic. Little bit frustrating, but I just ramped up the stereo and sang along to the Prodigy. :)

The 40mph-ers really piss me off. Their inability to change their speed where required tells me that they aren't paying attention to the road conditions, changes in their surroundings or having an awareness of other road users. Thats shocking driving. I know I can be guilty of going over speed limits on the odd occasion and also going too slow on others but I'm always taking in my surroundings - driving tires me out because of the constant high alert but I would prefer that than the lackadaisical approach the 40mph-ers seem to take.

Rose: no HGV is capable of 65 unless they've been illegally modified. Mind you, the Scots fish boys are nearly as bad as the Irish for fiddling with speed limiters.

Fair enough op now you've explained.

But yes context is everything. I used to drive an a road with one of the highest fatal accident rates in the country (the rate is posted at either end of the road updated monthly).

Locals are well aware of the horrific accidents at particular points and slow down at them. But non locals (near a tourist destination) get impatient and don't. But if you're driving along a rural, twisty road you're unfamiliar with surely you exercise caution and read the road not just refer to the speed limit?

Think someone has referred to my pet peeve: not knowing the difference between TEMPORARY speed signs (usually when they are doing more long term work on a road, usually exactly the same black number in red circle signs as normal) which you have to abide by, and ADVISORY signs (e.g the variable message ones, usually orange letters, often on for just a few hours in bad weather on motorways), which you don't.

The ones that piss me off most are those that drive at 40 in a 60 zone but then continue at 40 through a 30 zone!!

Sure, the limit is not a target but it's a guide to what is a safe speed (in good driving conditions etc) why would a driver ignore that and drive 25% slower for no reason

Lots of country roads have a 60mph limit but only a fool would drive at that speed on some of them

Disgrace

I reckon I've driven behind a certain number of illegally modified HGVs, then. Though the same issue also applies to the pootlers in cars who speed up at an overtaking-but-not-dual section, making it impossible to overtake. But to be fair with the A9 it's as much a problem of the road as the drivers...

silvermantela

Variable speed limits on electronic signs can also be compulsory, though - as you say it's the red circle that's the giveaway. You get this on the approach to the Forth Road Bridge to slow traffic down gradually in preparation for congestion on the crossing but I often find it quite frightening to slow down to the limit as it often feels like going against the speed of most of the traffic around.

silvermantella I had no idea there was a difference despite having recently attended a speed awareness course where most people were there for not adhering to the variable speed limit on the M25. I was there for a different speeding offence

Exactly, YorkieDorkie. They are the worst.