AIBU - If you want to drive below the speed limit you should pull over at regular intervals

[TheCumbrian]

'It's a speed limit not a target' etc

But equally, on a good road in good conditions theres no reason why a competent driver shouldn't be able to drive somewhere close to the speed limit (sharp bends, single track national speed limit C roads etc excluded) and make reasonable progress without holding up other road users.

If you can't, you should pull over, when safe to do so, once you have 5 or more vehicles trundling behind you.

Yanbu

I disagree, a competent driver should be able to overtake safely unless you are driving on single track roads.

YANBU...particularly round here when there’s traffic coming the other way so your tail can’t overtake!

Oh god I live rurally and couldn't agree more- YANBU! It's a nightmare for those of us commuting to work along a narrow road to be stuck for 12 miles behind someone doing 35 when the limit is 60. Obviously around bends and when it's uneven then fair enough but the road is straight and there are rarely cars on the other side. It drives me mad!

Totally agree - tractors etc do this and it should be no different for cars significantly under the speed limit. YANBU.

I agree - I was following “Sue” a few days ago (guessing her name due to personalised number plate) she managed to get to nearly 35 in a 60 zone
I was trying to get (quickly) to DF nursing home to sort out DM with Alzheimer’s who was very upset
Rural roads with not much opportunity to overtake
I don’t normally suffer from road rage but on this occasion would have cheerfully throttled Sue

YANBU

I disagree, a competent driver should be able to overtake safely unless you are driving on single track roads

Let's just assume that safe overtaking isn't possible which is precisely why people are having to queue behind the slow driver until a point they can safely overtake.

Which in my part of the world can often be for several miles.

Totally agree, but people who drive like this are usually oblivious to other road users and the tailbacks they're causing.

Totally agree. As for the poster who says about overtaking...well with a decent engine size, that would be fine. But in a little 1l car overtaking can be dangerous as you don’t have enough acceleration!

My mum drove like this. Her driving instructor used to say don’t worry about the other drivers, just concentrate on what you’re doing and let them sort themselves out. Which to her seemed to justify going at 40mph at all times and the other drivers were the problem. She wasn’t a great driver

Drivers shouldn't be forced to overtake because of someone else's incompetence.

And there are lots of situations where it's not safe to overtake. Especially if you are say 5th car back that's going to be ages before you can get past

On single track roads you are supposed to stop if someone wants to travel faster than you, why is it different on two lane roads?

It's law in California; once you get 4 cars behind you, need to let them by.
So I follow same rule in Britain.
Does depress me how many people want to drive 10-35 miles above speedlimit, though. Especially around 6:30am.
Ever since I got points on my license & try hard to keep firmly to the limit, I can rely on aggressive tailgators in specific stretches at particular times.

In California it’s the law I believe. If you have 3 cars tailing you you have to pull over to let them pass.
FIL was pulled over by the police who explained it to him very nicely.

X post

I was on a national speed limit road stuck behind some fuckwit and I could see her turning her head to gab to her pal....shut up and fucking drive....30mph!!!!!

Although on the other hand I had done fuckwit right up my exhaust. The limit was 50, the round in circular so you are on a constant turn and it was torrential unrelenting rain. I was doing 40mph, the idiot decided to overtake and pulled out into the path of oncoming traffic. He had to pull back in behind me.

I know what you mean OP, I recently got stuck on a single lane A-road for a good 45 mins behind a car doing 35-40 max. There was no room to overtake so there was just me and a huge row of traffic dragging behind until she eventually turned off. Added so much extra time to my journey.

I think it should be the same for cyclists but I doubt that’s a popular opinion. I spend many a morning stuck behind one in a queue of cars.

To the people who think I'm unreasonable by vote ...

Are you slow drivers who don't want to pull over or is there another reason you think I'm not reasonable?

I voted YABU. I don't think you're unreasonable to be annoyed by people driving far too slowly (it drives me mad, too!) but I just don't think it's safe for them to be regularly pulling over and then pulling out again on what could be a busy road - if they're slow drivers, they may be 'unable' to accelerate quickly enough when they're pulling out, possibly causing an accident.

Just come back from Norway.
Speed limit is 50 mph on most roads.
Speed limit is encourage with very heavy fines. Like £600 - £1000

If you are found to be careless in your manouvres, you get a big fine as well.

It has some of the safest roads in Europe.

I have taken to driving at 50 mph here now - on roads where the speed limit is 60 mph. There are more roads that are becoming 50 mph now. It's great for the fuel.

Also - many cars that speed up to overtake generally find themselves having to slow down - because of traffic, junctions etc and I very quickly catch them up.

BUT - if I was going at say 40 in a 60, and there was a big queue behind me, I would let people overtake.

What drives me crazy are the 'stay at 40 no matter what' drivers
I see a lot of them. Semi rural but not bad roads. Not many overtaking places
They sit at 40 but don't slow to 30 through the villages.

I can see both sides of the argument.

I live on a narrow country lane. It’s a national speed limit road. That does not mean you should be doing 60 when there is barely space for two cars (and some is single track). Especially not when approaching the ‘village’. I make a point of doing 30 and won’t pull over for someone to speed off and kill a cyclist/deer/child.

But I do get that in other circumstances, I do get frustrated!

It's probably not a bad idea. The tractor drivers around here always do.

I do a lot of rural driving so it's tricky, as there's so many other things to consider but on a nice straight road then it's irritating.

But it's also irritating when you are absolutely going the speed limit and someone is virtually touching your bumper because in their opinion it's still not fast enough.