If you can't drive faster than 35mph....

[DeRigueurMortis]

So indulge me with a rant....

My drive to work involves a 10 mile section on what you might describe as country roads.

The national speed limit applies.

There are a couple of sections that are winding but the corners are not severe - for example you could safely drive the whole section at 55mph (inc cornering) and 60mph in the straights (in good conditions - in the dark/rain/snow you would obviously not be unreasonable to adjust your speed as required to be safe).

I appreciate that someone who doesn't know the road might want to adopt a slower pace and wouldn't think that going 45-50mph corners/straights was unreasonably slow.

However there is a man who regularly seems to be on the same schedule as me that that insists on driving the whole section at no more than 40mph slowing to 35mph for long stretches. He obviously knows the road having done the journey many times and his speed (or lack of) is not impacted by driving conditions.

Cars regularly bunch up behind him (I'm talking queues of 10/15 other road users) as opportunities for safely overtaking are limited
(and I've seen quite a few dodgy overtaking manoeuvres done in sheer frustration I would assume - which I don't condone).

I can't help feeling that if you're incapable of driving at an appropriate speed you shouldn't be on the road at all.

This man works in a building near to my office (I've seen the car parked there) and I'm getting to the point of wanting to walk over and speak to him if I see him getting in/out of his car to have a strong but polite word.

Realistically I won't because I'm not sure there's anything I can say to make him a better driver.

However I don't think I'm U for thinking of you can't drive at a reasonable speed you shouldn't be in charge of a vehicle at all.

hope u dont meet the man i followed to morrisons the other day as his top speed was 18 miles per hour.....most of the time he was slower than this.

Thing is a lot of rural roads have a 60 limit where they really shouldn't. The speed limit is exactly that, it isn't a target. There's a lot of spectacularly bad driving on the roads, someone driving under the speed limit is actually a long way down the list of some of the stuff I've seen.

Go to work a bit earlier and avoid him.

Tbh I worry more about him causing an accident than my increased journey time Female.

I'd feel equally strongly about someone driving like a bat out hell and tailgating such as Spaniel described.

It just seems to be more acceptable to driving right ridiculously slowly than over the speed limit but I'm not convinced that the former has the potential in certain circumstances to be any less dangerous on the basis of the lack of ability/awareness the driver possesses.

Maybe he's a good enough driver to go faster but just doesn't feel like it? Like you said, it only adds five minutes to your journey –why is everyone so rushed and impatient? If people tailgate and perform risky overtakes for the sake of 5 minutes of their day, then they're the bad drivers!

Drivers like this are a menace. They're as bad as speeders. If you lack confidence, get off the roads. If you're unsure about what the signs mean, have a look at the highway code and re-learn it.

@bettytaghetti I drive that road a lot on my way from Fakenham to Holt and it happens every single time. I know we have very few speed cameras here but it isn't a jeffing unicorn ffs. No need to slam on the brakes.

It’s very hard to “enjoy those extra 2 -5 minutes” stuck behind such a driver. Inevitably they also brake at everything meaning you have to be on high alert. Cars bunch up meaning headlights or cars on your bumper and you are always waiting for someone to over take or get cross that you haven’t overtaken.
Compared to days when everyone does the NSL and we all drive smoothly, with nice spacing and get to work on time.

The favourite manoeuvre around here (rural) is to pull out from a side road just as you're coming along on a straight road (with no one behind you so they could have waited), causing you to brake sharply. They then pootle along at 35 mph. When I rule the world they, and your daily annoying driver, will be banished from the roads.

longearedbat you are SO right with this observation!!

I agree that people who drive excessively slow are not only questionable in terms of their inability to 'make progress' (as they call it in advanced driving circles) but also don't have the wherewithal / self awareness to know the danger that driving so slowly presents and I also feel a dogged selfishness to remain at a speed that's not appropriate and there is no reason for - it's incredibly dangerous.

There is NO excuse for dangerous overtaking, no matter how frustrated you might be. These people are reckless idiots of the highest order.

However, I do feel that people who might be getting a bit close to that car in front, are doing so because they fail to understand a variety of things (that in some cases should be obvious, especially if the car that's driving slower than your 5 Series BMW is obviously a small powered hatchback!):

• the person driving might be accelerating at the maximum rate they can for their vehicle - they're not necessarily tootling along just to piss you off, when their little vehicle finally cranks up it will reach the maximum speed limit but it's not going to happen instantaneously
• physics dictates that if you are the second or subsequent driver behind a vehicle doing less than the limit it is NOT possible (without resorting to fourth dimension time travel) to go any bloody faster! So it's the epitome of pointless to sit up the arse of one of the vehicles behind that person because there is nothing they can do about it
• not acknowledging that current weather conditions might speak to a slower speed and getting up your rear end/overtaking stupidly as though it's dry clear and 100% suitable to do the speed limit - stubbornly sticking to the speed limit because it's the speed limit - shows a level of dumb that's quite hard to comprehend - it's a maximum not a required speed that must be attained and subject to adjustment based on a variety of indicators.

I think it's fair to say that a lot of country road B roads have a mixture of straights, bends, hills and the different sections need different speeds. On a route I travel frequently there near single track bend sections - only a complete plonker would drive those at 60 mph. Yet it's when I get to a largely straight section with minimal bends that I regularly get stuck behind someone who won't go over 40 for ANY of the sections including the completely straight ones (and in this example in clear dry bright conditions).

Obviously very fucking annoying but I think after being stuck behind him once of twice I would only be angry and myself that I haven't left a few mins earlier in order to not end up behind him

This is a driving offence. You'd fail a test for failure to make sufficient progress. I have a similar drive to work and these slowcoaches on the 60 and 70 mph sections cause a lot of trouble with junctions and persuading people to do stupid overtakes. They also do stick at the 40 mph through the villages when they should be doing 30 mph. It's ignorance and it is selfish.

He is a bad driver. You could report him to the police via 101. Just tell them where he regularly drives, every day holding people up and could they monitor it and once they see him doing it, have a word with him that he is being dangerous and needs to adjust his behaviour.

If he is too frightened to drive faster, then like you say he shouldn't be on the road. He doesn't have the confidence to drive to the road and conditions, lacks awareness of other people around him and clearly has bad hazard perception.

I do a very similar commute by the sounds of it.

And you really get to know the incompetent drivers. I completely agree that it ISNT safe, if they have an impairment that means they aren’t able to drive faster than 35mph then their driving needs to be called into
Question.

There is also a circle of hell reserved for people who cannot drive in the dark and jump on their brake whenever a vehicle comes the other way, on a wide national speed limit road. If your night vision is that bad that an oncoming vehicle takes you by surprise then you really need to get your eyes checked. And don’t bloody drive in the dark if you can’t do it safely.

Unnecessarily slow drivers bug the hell out of me too. However, neither you nor I own the road and slow or otherwise irtitating drivers are a fact of life. As you say, speaking to him or putting a note in his window is highly unlikely to change him and even if it does there are plenty more like him out there. Learn to deal with it or leave a bit earlier. I actually find driving a great opportunity to practice my emotional control. Making a habit of giving the incompetent drivers space and a happy smile is good for the soul.

Imo drivers who can't drive at the speed limit shouldn't be on the roads.
I actually failed a test for lack of progress and hesitancy for only doing 50 on a wet, rainy day on a back road. Would love to hear about someone getting pulled over for it.

Blue I've already stated that although on this road it's perfectly feasible to drive most of it at, or very near the limit I don't think people driving it (who might not know the road or tbh for any other reason) at 45/50mph to be unreasonably slow.

I agree the limit isn't a target and obviously road conditions are a massive factor wrt what's an appropriate speed on any road at any time regardless of the limit.

But I think there's big difference between driving 45/50 mph in a 60 and driving 35/40 mph in good conditions.

It's not making reasonable progress and I don't think other road users should have to suck it up - if you can't drive confidently at appropriate speeds then you shouldn't be driving at all.

YANBU, this is one of mine and DH’s absolute pet hates! I always say I think there should be a TV campaign to explain what the NSL sign means. Not that that should have to be the case at all, but so many people don’t seem to know what it means! And as far as I’m concerned, anyone who doesn’t feel comfortable driving at those speeds on perfectly good roads, with good lines of sight etc, are not safe to be driving at all.

YANBU. I think it should be part of the driving test that you have to be able to handle a car confidently and safely at speed. If you can't make it round a pre-determined route/track in less than a set time, then you fail your test.

I'd set a similar standard for drivers who hold everyone up waiting for the entire width of the road to be clear when moving out round an obstacle, just because they have no idea how wide their car is.

This also reminds me of something my late DF said to one of his friends once. DF was rather proud of his driving skills and was pretty good when he wasn't speeding; his friend was one of those Volvo drivers types who tend to do 40 in a 60 and 40 in a 30. Friend accused DF of 'ignoring the speed limit'. DF put down his pint, looked his friend in the eye and said, 'No, Eddie. I exceed the speed limit. You ignore it.'

There is a similar section of road near to where my parents live- long stretches are NSL or 50mph, with some sections which slow to 30mph to go through villages. The people who really annoy me are the ones who drive at 40mph everywhere- both on the 60mph stretches and through the villages. To me, this just shows complete obliviousness to anything and these people shouldn't be on the road!

It is also the sort of place where you could get stuck behind a tractor (there are some places you can overtake but not many) and so I always allow extra time for my journeys. I do also see some really dangerous overtaking, and have no time/patience for this at all.

I do think sometimes in the dark or low viability, being the "first" driver is harder- if you are behind it is much easier to follow the tail lights of the person in front, and it may feel like they are going too slowly.

I agree totally that people who can't judge an appropriate speed for the conditions shouldn't be on the road- not just because they do encourage dangerous behaviour in other drivers, but also because they clearly lack the insight to make judgements about their own driving. It worries me how many of those people would react to unusual situations, for example.

I'm not sure there is much you can do about it, though.

I could count the people driving ‘too slowly’ I encounter in a week on one hand. I couldn’t keep up with the amount of people that break the speed limit regularly and consistently.
It may be a bit annoying but it’s nothing compared to people regularly speeding.

I can understand the straight parts but on winding country roads probably with no pavements there are so.many hazards that are actually more dangerous than towns and cities...maybe this man has encountered them and therefore more cautious.

There could be pedestrians walking or running towards you, tractors coming out of junctions ( I never want to see again a car going under a trailer drawn by a tractor. The bonnet did, the people didn't !), farm livestock, horses, cyclists, deer etc.

As said many times ...it's a limit not an aim.

Depends to on the width of the country lane. I and my lovely cob could have been on a vans bonnet had I not heard him.coming at speed and my horse is great at doing reverse gear rather quickly . The look on the young man's face as he came round the bend and saw us was enough to show me he realised his error but i did day that if I had been a child or my horse not so educated we could all have been injured.

I once came round a bend on a country road to a huge bull standing there. Had I been going 60... or even 50 .. ..or even 40 we would have collided.

I would rather be a few mph slower and get there safely than a few mph too fast for the conditions and likely hazards . You don't get more than a few minutes gain over 10 miles for even an extra 10mph to make the risks worth it. Try doing the maths if you don't thin thats true..although I thin you have said as such OP.

No, Eddie. I exceed the speed limit. You ignore it.'

Try to think of it another way.

We all feel speed differently. There will be a speed that you will feel less confident driving beyond. Everyone's is different.

If he drove any faster he may feel unsafe and therefore be unsafe.

If he is driving safely then be grateful he is driving at that speed.

Once you think like that it'll become far less frustrating.