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.

Am I the only person on this thread who is happy to get stuck behind a slower driver!

I sometimes go to a different building for work with lots of winding roads. The best I can do is 45/50 on a 60 - I don’t judge it safe to go more than that.

If I go for a meeting during the day, quite often I have no one behind. I relax, I enjoy the ride.

Other times I have someone very close behind me. I get unnerved, I start going at 50/52 mph to try and speed up and I don’t feel safe, I’m distracted seeing if the car behind has backed off a little, I start gripping the steering wheel tightly, I don’t enjoy driving at all.

When I get ‘stuck’ in a queue where overtaking is not really possible I relax - it’s not my ‘fault’ to the person behind me and I am not being tailgaited, I can go back to just driving without the pressure.

Yabu. The limit is exactly that. If I consider it safe to drive 40 on some of the 60 rural, windy, pitholey roads near me, it’s to keep me and all other road users safe. Overtake if you will but don’t expect me to drive in an unsafe manner just because you are late. If you need to drive at max speed to get anywhere on time, bloody leave earlier.

My partner works at the coal face of RTAs. Speed is almost always the reason people die or are seriously, life changingly injured. Really, is it worth the rush?

zzzzzzzz12345
Have you missed the repeated times people have said that it's about driving appropriately and reasonably for the conditions??

If a road is windy and covered in potholes then of course 60 isn't going to be safe, but (and here is the crucial part) nobody is suggesting anyone drives in a way that is unsafe or reckless, because they're advocating driving in a way that is making reasonable progress appropriate for the conditions.

Seriously. It's almost like some people deliberately choose to ignore most of a thread before offering their 2p challenging a view that nobody has made.

Maybe by page 20 we'll have a reply like this:
I don't understand why people don't just set off earlier and stop focusing on rushing everywhere. Last winter there was loads of snow near me and the roads were icy in places. Was I going to do 60mph on a winding rural road that's slippy in places just to appease some idiots who think that the everyone has to nail 60 the second there's a national speed limit sign? People with that attitude are the reason there's all these crashes because they're always speeding. I drove in a way that was safe for the weather and I wouldn't be speeding up just because people who are impatient think I should do 60 around icy blind bends.
And everyone will be still saying "but nobody said you have to do 60 all the time... And everyone has said you drive for the conditions..."

zzzzzzzz12345

Overtake if you will

Again:

1. we are talking about times when you cannot overtake due to traffic in the other lane or where it would be unsafe due to poor visibility. If you cannot comprehend that there are VERY OFTEN conditions in which overtaking is very dangerous then you should not be driving.

2. as a slow driver you would greatly facilitate overtaking by pulling over in exactly the way the OP describes.

@NoWordForFluffy

You should've just posted that on the first page and avoided loads of posters misunderstanding the OP and the many clarifications!

Highway Code
"Rule 169

Do not hold up a long queue of traffic, especially if you are driving a large or slow-moving vehicle. Check your mirrors frequently, and if necessary, pull in where it is safe and let traffic pass."

helpme & meckity do you ever practice on these windy roads at night? Assuming you mean proper country roads with occasional traffic at night, driving at night gives you far more freedom. If you can see an oncoming car miles away then you can give yourself some width on the corners to practice without needing to stay on your side. Plus they are quieter at night.

(It struck me when I just nipped out that I drive faster in some places at night than I would in the day. Eg a stretch of adverse camber, a patch where the edges of the road aren’t in good condition, a blind corner to a t- junction etc. Because you can see anything coming for miles you can position yourself on the best part of the road. I’ve been doing it so long that I’d kind of forgotten. But I do remember when I first drove a car on the roads how much easier it was on twisty lanes in the dark)

Obviously the above is only helpful for new/ inexperienced drivers. 9/10 ditherers hate driving at night, and the occasions they do always leave their full beams blinding oncoming traffic. Like a beacon to broadcast their inexperience.

do you ever practice on these windy roads at night? Assuming you mean proper country roads with occasional traffic at night, driving at night gives you far more freedom. If you can see an oncoming car miles away then you can give yourself some width on the corners to practice without needing to stay on your side. Plus they are quieter at night.
My instructor had me do that. It was really helpful. For a while I was happier driving country roads at night and even now I find them much more calming than town driving at night.

TrainspottingWelsh That's really helpful. I have driven at night, and I agree that it's easier to see someone coming. I may see if I can sneak out.

I feel okay on some of the winding roads. When I'm used to the road, I can get round those bends like a ferret up a drainpipe. I struggled on the A65 between Settle and Skipton, because I didn't know the road and I was way too inexperienced to do 60mph. I managed 40 and 50 where appropriate, but I struggled at the higher speeds. I did pull into laybys quite a lot, though, so I hope I am not shouted at too much. I just need practice, and I actually manage okay a lot of the time I think. I've got a little 1 litre mum car that can stay quite tight into corners and bends, and I'm getting confidence.

I'm scared of motorways, and this thread hasn't helped. There are so many ways I can get it wrong, and my car won't reach 70mph on a hill easily. I'm trying to force myself to go on the local bypass to the tip, and if I do that then as a treat I go by the winding back roads on the way back.

As someone finding their feet as a driver, this thread is really tough. I still check my mirror regularly and I still check the speed limits all the time, but it's hard to work out what's right. I can only get there with experience, and I can only get that experience by going out there and making mistakes.

Hand on heart, I usually keep up to the speed limit if I can, though, and I try not to dither at junctions and roundabouts. Just sometimes I have to be a little slower.

There aren't many proper country roads close to me. Most of them have two lanes and street lights. But there are plenty of winding roads and tight corners and I think it's a great idea.

I've come late to driving, but I really enjoy it, and I go out to drive as a treat. I don't want my treat to be a problem for other people, though. I'm paying attention to this thread.

Rarely does it seem to be the happy medium.

I agree.

@TrainspottingWelsh That is a great idea and I’ll definitely be trying it out!

I haven’t driven in the dark yet (only passed 4 days ago) and I plan to do pass plus lessons before I even attempt the motorway!

Honestly, motorways are simple. And with an instructor you’ll find it easier than driving roads on your own.
You use the slip road to pick up speed, and then you pull onto the motorway in the same way you would change lanes at 30mph on a ring road, just at a faster speed. Even if a slip road is initially uphill, there’s always enough space after it flattens out to pick up speed before the slip road ends.

And unlike roads, you aren’t constantly needing to ascend, or slow or stop (barring jams) so it’s easier to maintain speed. All you need to watch is traffic going in the same direction, not the myriad of things on a road.

lola my first ever experience of driving alone with nobody nearby was in a tractor at night. And several years later with a licence my first experiences of driving a car alone and going fast with loud music were also on quiet roads in the dark.

(Obviously my early driving experiences were farm vehicles on private land, I wasn’t driving around in public without a licence for years!)

If rather share the road with cautious drivers than impatient drivers.

I regularly drive through an estate that has a 20mph limit, but when I turn on to the main road at the end of the estate which has a 40mph limit on it, 9 times out of 10 the drivers carry on at 20mph, it really annoys me & the road has several bends so it is impossible to overtake.

I'm still surprised at claims most people are either ditherers or fast/reckless drivers.

The vast majority of the time I'm on the road I don't get stuck behind ditherers (because they're a minority, which is why they stand out when you're stuck behind them because you're used to making reasonable progress) and I don't experience people on my tail or being aggressive (because most people aren't dickheads). Given I drive within the speed limits and for the conditions like most drivers it surprises me.

Maybe middle ground drivers observe both and find both extremes a bit irritating, whilst those who are impatient and wish to speed think most people dither and those who dither think most people are reckless and fast.

Maybe middle ground drivers observe both and find both extremes a bit irritating, whilst those who are impatient and wish to speed think most people dither and those who dither think most people are reckless and fast.

I think you're right.
I get annoyed by both, but it's the impatient and reckless that I'd love to slap most times. The only slow drivers that I'd want to slap are those hogging the fast lane on the motorway.
For the most part slow drivers are just slow and aren't likely to endanger anyone directly. Whereas reckless drivers may well crash someone.
If you're slow and hesitant I can just give you enough space. If you're coming at me too fast, overtaking dangerously or tailgating, then there's not a lot I can do and you're endangering me directly.

However, when I do the exact speed limit, I often find myself with a few cars behind me. In the motorway most drivers zoom past.
That's why I have some trouble believing all these pps complaining about slower drivers do stick to speed limits. I don't think they're particularly dangerous, as in most roads it's ok, but I suspect they find slower drivers even more annoying because they're not doing 50, but 60 and perceive the slower driver as even slower and hindering their progress than they really are.

It seems the faster drivers get more 'frustrated' (angry) behind the wheel than the slower drivers and thats also reflected on this thread.

I wouldn't mind as much someone a bit under the speed limit (say 50-55 on a 60 road), but it is the ones who are actually dangerously slow.

We have lots of roads around here which are one lane each way. I have followed a driver around dusk/just dark down the road, driving 25-30 on the 60 road with full beam lights and then breaking heavily whenever a car comes the other way and they have to dip their lights. That is really dangerous driving and if people are not able to drive in the dark then they should avoid it.

I'm still surprised at claims most people are either ditherers or fast/reckless drivers.

Most drivers are good drivers. You don't notice them because they're doing nothing wrong. It's the extremes at either end who you notice, luckily both extremes are in the minority.

Honestly, motorways are simple. And with an instructor you’ll find it easier than driving roads on your own. Difficult to take the plunge if all the motorways near you are crowded. Round where I am, the merge process either means slowing down slightly for the person to merge in front of you, or pulling into the centre lane if free. This makes it very intimidating for someone taking their first drive on a motorway. And if they're an hour away from their nearest motorway, trying to get there early in the morning before traffic builds up means they'll be worried about being too tired to drive. Not to mention that for half the year it'll be pre-dawn.

That is really dangerous driving and if people are not able to drive in the dark then they should avoid it. Not very practical for all those people who travel to/from work in the dark for a large proportion of the year. We can't all live in London, and elsewhere public transport is pants.

It was saying that if everyone drove 10mph under the speed limit the amount of fatalities would be significantly reduced.

I'd strongly dispute that. There've been several serious accidents in my village, including a few fatalities.

Only one was clearly caused by speed but the driver was an 18 year old with a car full of friends and just showing off - completely ignoring speed limit signs and a speed camera - a lower limit wouldn't have stopped that!

Another fatality was caused by a drunk driver. All the other fatalities were relatively slow crashes where drivers were elderly - in one, two 80+ year old women killed each other in a head on collision - both being on the wrong side of the road so i can only assume it was bad luck that two old ladies both had health issues at the wheel at the same time, in the same place.

The speed limits on our village by pass have been reduced from 60 to 30 in the past 20 years or so, and it's made the road more dangerous because now traffic is closer together due to the speed limit. Before, traffic was more spread out meaning it was actually easier to cross or pull out into from side roads - now there's basically a long queue of 30 mph traffic which means people take risks to try to get between slow moving vehicles, which has caused a lot of slow speed collisions.

Not very practical for all those people who travel to/from work in the dark for a large proportion of the year.

Then they should practice and do more of it until they are confident.

Difficult to take the plunge if all the motorways near you are crowded

Highly unlikely they're crowded 24/7 - why not practice when it's quieter on a weekend morning or early evening or whenever it's quiet in that area?