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.

You can fail your driving test for driving too slowly. A friends ex failed for this.

Why oh why is it acceptable/ allowed that once you have your test you can drive as slow as you like.
I am convinced slow drivers cause more accidents than speeding. Perhaps I'm wrong but I honestly wouldn't be surprised

Sayhellotothethings
The baby on board sign is utterly irrelevant.
People tailgate because they're impatient and aggressive drivers. It's a problem for every one and isn't more of a problem because there's a baby in the car.

I mean I would prefer to do this than pull out in front of somebody when I'm doing half their speed, and force them to slam on their brakes.
I'd prefer people who do this to learn to drive to a safe standard and/or keep off busy dual carriageways at peak times. If they can't do dual carriageway or slip roads they need to keep off them until they've had refresher lessons.
Their driving is reckless and places people in danger.

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

You assume these people use their mirrors.

chom that makes more sense, I suppose what I mean is I don’t think about that because it’s instinctive/ habit iyswim. My driving attitude is to be prepared for the fact that every other vehicle on the road is potentially driven by a fuckwit so I always expect the unexpected!

mejulie clearly your comprehension skills aren’t too good. I don’t think in advance about what I might need to do for a range of so far imaginary scenarios, I’m aware that anything might happen. Thinking about fuckwit a possibly pulling out of the t-junction means you’ll miss the fuckwit in front doing an emergency stop at their turning, and the kid running out and so on. You watch them all and be prepared for all. If you need to think about hitting your brakes or any other avoidance method in advance, you aren’t quick enough to do it when the situation arises. And fwiw 17yrs of bus driving isn’t something that I find impressive, although telling that you do.

sayhello the reason I, and I imagine every other decent driver don’t tailgate is because we aren’t twats or dangerous drivers. I don’t change my driving based on someone’s boot sticker.

Nobody looks at your sign and thinks ‘yeah, actually I was going to drive like an arse, risking my life, the occupants of the car in front, and any third parties that are subsequently killed or injured. But she’s got a baby in the back so I’ll put that plan on hold’

@Sayhellotothethings
Sorry, the baby on board signs are not designed to make other drivers think 'well, she procreated so I'd better think twice about my decision to crash into her'.

The baby on board signs are there for other drivers' safety. It shows that there is a very sleep deprived driver in the front who may or may not have her full attention in the road if her baby is wailing in the back.

I mean I would prefer to do this than pull out in front of somebody when I'm doing half their speed, and force them to slam on their brakes.

I'd prefer people who are incapable of safely joining a motorway to sell their car and get a bus instead! People who stop at the end of a sliproad prove they're incapable of driving - 99.9999% of people manage to merge without feeling they have to stop!

Ridgedperfection - so you're driving 30 miles of difficult roads every day and you're pissed off others dont go as fast as you?

It's about time we had a tougher driving test and re-tests every 10 years.

Driving standards have plummeted and we need to do something about it. Only yesterday, I was only driving an hour and saw two cars go straight through red traffic lights (different junctions). Neither had just changed - the drivers were simply oblivious to them (no doubt busy looking at their phones!) and also oblivious to the cars going through the lights on green who had to brake/swerve to avoid them and still they just carried on oblivious.

I'd prefer people who are incapable of safely joining a motorway to sell their car and get a bus instead!

That's harsh. Most such people use their cars locally with no problems.

Some motorways can be scary, at times with a constant stream of lorries driving close to each other at high speeds.

It just means that those people aren't used to high speed driving or heavy traffic conditions. They'd probably avoid such motorway but they're not familiar with it and get stuck.

On a side note, how many of the self confessed fast drivers on this thread actually drive at or below the speed limit?
And are you sure you don't tailgate at all? Do you regularly check that you're leaving enough time to the car in front?
Just curious. From my experience on the road most people drive above the speed limit and get too close, even if they leave a gap.

People who drive slow on a motorway shouldn’t be driving. Doing 50 is dangerous. You don’t realise how slow they are going until you’re close to them and you have to slam on your brakes. I was once behind someone doing 30 on the A1. Nearly caused an accident.
I’ll get flamed for this but in the majority of cases, it’s always elderly people. The guy doing 30 was at least 80. Don’t rice if you’re not confident.

It's not harsh at all. Stopping at the end of a slip road is insane. If you can't join the flow of traffic at normal speed, you'll never do it from a standing start. There'll be people coming on that slip road at high speed trying to properly match their speed to lane 1 traffic to merge in and they may well plough into the back of an idiot who has chosen to stop at the end of the slip road.

*drive

@FrancisCrawford the policemen I talk to say the opposite it’s aggressive drivers who cause the most accidents they attend.
I think it depends what you mean. Doing 20 in a 60 is excessively slow however I have been on National speed limit roads that were single track roads where only one car could drive down with passing points and no way of seeing a car coming towards you until they were less than a 100 yards away. Driving at 60 down a twisty track like that is insane and why should someone pull over if they are driving sensibly.

Personally far too many people drive too fast for the conditions. Just because the speed limit is 30/40/60/70 doesn’t mean it’s always safe to do so.

@Dogsarebetterthancatsok sadly the law doesn’t agree with you. 50 is perfectly acceptable on the motorway and you should be able to judge the fact you are gaining considerably fast on a car doing 50 if you are going faster than that.

I read recently that while young men cause the most spectacular accidents, older, slower drivers have a large number of minor accidents or near misses, many of which don’t get reported as they don’t want to affect their insurance.

It's not harsh at all.

Yes it is. It's not part of the driving exam, so why should anyone stop driving?

Having said that, driving lessons should include motorway practice.

You don’t realise how slow they are going until you’re close to them and you have to slam on your brakes.

I'd say it was you who weren't paying enough attention to the cars ahead. Only going at 70?

CassianAndor
I'd read similar. The young men tend to do the most damage when they crash, but there are other accidents that don't go through insurance.

It's similar to the number of bumps when parking that don't get reported because people sort it outside insurance.

There was also a finding a few years ago that after having one accident people were more likely to have another regardless of being at fault or not because after an accident people are more likely to be over-cautious, over slow, not make time appropriate decisions (eg gap in traffic but dither and pull out as the gap is ending, causing others to break suddenly). I only recalled it after my friend had a second crash in 6 months. The first wasn't her fault, the second was.

Personally far too many people drive too fast for the conditions. Just because the speed limit is 30/40/60/70 doesn’t mean it’s always safe to do so.
Nobody on this thread has said otherwise.

In fact most posters agreeing with the OP have said it's about making reasonable progres for the conditions. The only people getting het up about speeding and tailgating are people who drive significantly slower than others trying to argue there's nothing unreasonable about that and seem to think using examples of aggressive driving (which everyone is against) somehow makes their point.

Gosh, the way some of you speedy drivers talk, anyone would think you own the roads

lola

It's Sunday. A perfect day for you to get out into the country, go on a NSL road and find all those 'Sunday drivers' pottering along. Those people who don't use their car much in the week but fancy a nice drive somewhere on a Sunday. Probably to a nice tea shop somewhere.

I guarantee it will do wonders for your health

Yes, I was doing 70. It’s ridiculous to do 50 on a motorway. If you’re not confident, don’t drive.

Yes, I was doing 70. It’s ridiculous to do 50 on a motorway

50mph on a motorway is slow - but there are vehicles that do it - either because they want to or because they have to because of the weight, if they are towing something.

A good driver should be looking ahead and noticing that the vehicle is going slower than expected and adjusting their speed and thinking about getting out into the other lanes - where people are all obviously doing 70mph. They will probably see other people doing similar.

But we all know that there are speed merchants in the outside lane and it can be difficult to be slowing down as you approach a vehicle doing 50 mph and getting out into the outside lane where vehicles are doing 80 - 90 mph occasionally.

Driving at 60 down a twisty track like that is insane and why should someone pull over if they are driving sensibly.

Not a single poster has said that doing 60 on that kind of road is the right thing to do.