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.

I agree with others. Context is everything.

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.

My DH had a similar experience (having sped up for the 40-zone too early). It's forgivable to forget how close together the street lights have to be to make it a 30mph zone, but when qualified drivers don't know what a dual carriageway is or how you spot a motorway then it makes you quite alarmed.

I've been a hi-vis speed nimby this last week. Our council is looking at turning all residential areas into 20mph zones and has already done so in several. We are monitoring speeds in certain places to provide evidence for the consultation process. This involves standing next to one of those big YOUR SPEED boards that flashes 29 29 31 31 as you drive through.

Some people brake hard as soon as they see you (even though they were already safely under, and regardless of traffic). Some people floor it to see what they can score. Some people go round the block to have another go.

Our trainer (council speed officer or something) said that some people just won't modify their behaviour. All you can do is try to catch them, to get them off the roads for good ... and in the meantime chip away at the careless speeding of otherwise considerate drivers.

In terms of speeding drivers, I believe eventually we'll end up in a situation where the few (?) that do stick to the speed limit will be scattered around the population so evenly that they effectively force all traffic to sit at the speed limit. It's already started to a certain degree with managed ,motorways. When the speed limit is reduced, enough cars slow to it - across all lanes - that no matter how fast the idiot brigade want to go they can't. It's wall to wall cars.

For 4 years now, (ever since I had a car with one fitted) my best friend has been my speed limiter (although I originally chose the car because it had a cruise control). I'm quite anal about using it, and consider the design "feature" that it is off by default when you start the car a fault. I can't see any reason why it shouldn't be on by default (or you should have an option to enable it to be on by default). After all it stands to reason that if the speed limit was 30 when you parked, it will still be 30 when you set off.

Like others here I have been on an SAC - despite my use of the limiter (|I was snapped going from as 40 to a 30 as I was resetting the limiter). And like others I was shocked at the ignorance and lack of caring by other attendees (one of whom had never taken a test. At 48, I was the youngest there !), and above all entitlement. One person almost got removed from the course for insisting that - whatever the speed limit was, they were right to go faster "because it's a straight road".

The bottom line is speeding behaviour is irrefutably a marker for more dangerous behaviour. Overall.

I was amused to read one poster bemoaning the UK standard of driving. Which, given the UK roads are amongst the safest in the world does rather paint a grim picture of what it must be like in other countries ...

There's a narrow twisty road I use occasionally that for years had a 60mph limit. I always stuck to 50-55mph because I never felt safe at 60. If other drivers didn't like it then tough, I was on it for less than three miles so didn't think I was inconveniencing people too much but still got flashed/ tailgated. Should I have driven at the posted limit even if I felt unsafe doing so?

Last year the speed limit was dropped to 50mph because over the last decade there'd been some horrific fatal accidents including one were five people in one car were killed. I stick to 50mph on there now, guess what? still get flashed/ tailgated. The road is exactly the same as it was just the limit that has changed so I don't always agree with it must be safe if that's what the sign says.

Lurking, whilst I totally agree re speeding drivers, I can't use my speed limiter in the main because in my normal 10 mile journey to work via school it goes:

20 for a bit, then 30 for a bit, short stretch of 40, then into 60, then 50, then back to 30 and then 20, drop off at school, then still 20, onto 30, back to 50, then onto 70 for a couple of miles, then 60, then 10 in car park. And reverse on the way home :(

I don't always drive at the limit obv. and the biggest stretch of 60 (couple of miles) generally runs at around 50-55.

I live in N Ireland. We regularly go to England taking the car. We're always struck by how much slower and more carefully people drive over there, especially on the narrower roads. Mind you, I also drove around the M25 a couple of times, and even there I was impressed by how carefully people drove!

OneMagnumisneverenough

It can be a bit fiddly at times (see my point about limiter being "off" by default) ... and you should be able to drive without the limiter anyway ... (although it does concentrate your mind on the road).

One thing I have noticed in the last few years is I need the limiter less and less - because the car in front is driving below/on the limit (my point about a critical mass of drivers bringing the speed down).

Autonomous cars will be an interesting addition to the roads, given the accuracy (or otherwise) that telematic speed limiting has shown.

treacle I'm also in N.Ireland. Drivers over here are insane. We drove the Causeway Costal Route on Sunday and whilst there were a few slightly frustrating slower drivers (doing 30 on a NSL road) as its a very windy, narrow road with the sea on one side you can forgive people for being cautious! However, the amount of people who overtake dangerously on blind corners, tailgate etc is astonishing.

Itslike I'm glad it's not just me! A few years back we were in Yorkshire for a week, out in the country exploring, and this boy racer came up behind us, revved the engine, swerved back and forwards a bit, was really aggressive and eventually overtook us and tore off with the car barely under control. DH and I turned to each other and both said at once 'we've been here for almost a week and that's the first time anyone has done that'. It happens every day without fail at home, often several times a day!

I agree with Lurking that the speed limiter is a fabulous feature.

I know that I can't be speeding (unless steep/long downhill) so when I see a speed camera / can I don't need to check my speed or brake. I give it a glance if I pass a repeater and when I go through a sign, and that's it.

Mine also has a digital speedo - ie it reads digits not a dial. That helps enormously because it is so quick to gauge your speed and the DC can read it from the back seat.

It's also worth noting that if you set your speed limiter to the cars speedo, you will tend to be a tad under (which is helpful on gentle downhills).

I can't say I have never drifted over the limit occasionally and sometimes I have definitely gone over 70 usually because as I've been about to pass, someone has decided to speed up and I need to be on the other side but it's not a regular habit. Interesting what you say about Ireland, I find an East/West bias on driving style in Scotland with it definitely being much more calm and less aggressive on the East. Must be all that Irish blood in Glasgow :)

I was amused to read one poster bemoaning the UK standard of driving. Which, given the UK roads are amongst the safest in the world does rather paint a grimpicture of what it must be like in other countries.

Was that me? If so, I stand by what I said. I agree that the UK's roads are the safest in terms of KSI. But I've been driving for nearly 30 years (both here and in a variety of other counties) and I believe I've seen a significant decline in terms of people not knowing basic road rules, understanding signage and driving with courtesy and consideration towards other road users. I think there has been a change in people's attitudes - basically everyone feels entitled and everyone is in a rush.

But I've also seen a big change in the way the roads are policed, with increased use of speed/enforcement cameras and reductions of actual traffic police. The rise in concentration on speed enforcement has come at the expense of monitoring other poor driving behaviour. Speed enforcement is also a very black and white thing - if you're doing 31mph, you're breaking the law, whereas judging bad driving is a lot more subjective unless it's very obviously a hazard to other road users.