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.

Tractor drivers perhaps but no one else.

There are some drivers who are slow as they are sadly probably should not be driving any more for health reasons. There are some whose conduct is such they should have been banned.

Though as long as a driving licence is seen as a right not a privilege that will not happen.

No of course not everyone is but why is 5 minutes because someone wants to feel self righteous and save fuel...why is that more important

I wouldn't hold up a queue and if someone was obviously in a desparate rush to get past, I would indicate and give them appropriate space so they could get past.

There is a difference between driving slowly, holding up a massive queue of cars and being totally unaware of what's going on behind you and driving just below the maximum speed limit with full awareness of cars behind, being aware of them and giving them opportunity to get past.

Totally agree Gone. Fuming away behind the wheel - terrrible for your health. I rarely see slow drivers but plenty of fast impatient ones. And the argument that they might be in terrible hurry well hardly ever and anyway it makes literally minutes difference. Surprised as this thread tbh I grew out of this - weird so many mothers still on this go fast and damn you if you stop me mentality as grown adults. We live in a crowded country get over it

perplexedagain
Me too.
But that's where there is reasonable caution and unreasonable driving.

Somewhere near me is popular for holidays and we get a lot of people who can't really do country roads. National speed limit roads, most locals and competent rural drivers will drive between 45 and 60 depending on the stretch of road and conditions. Typically someone unfamiliar will do around 5mph less than what a more confident rural driver would do
on the more windy sections and nobody bats an eyelid during holiday season.

Then you get some who can't take a corner properly so they either slam their brakes on going into the corner to half their speed or they see a corner coming up and drop to 20mph for a corner no more technical than a typical corner in a housing estate. They tend to toddle along at 35mph in between times. Then at the few straight sections where it's safe to overtake, they speed up to 55/60, preventing anyone else getting past and subjecting us all to another 15 minutes of endless sudden braking.
It's just bad driving, but if they were on this thread they'd probably be arguing we all need to enjoy the view and stop being precious about time.

People who speed and tailgate are poor drivers. People who can't and won't drive appropriately for the conditions and stop others making progress are poor drivers. Both either have no awareness or consideration, or they choose not to have any awareness or consideration for other road users

I’m very aware that I’m not used to driving on rural roads (I live in London), so I drive very carefully and therefore slower than other road users. I keep a close eye behind me and as soon as there are a few cars there or someone has been following me for a few minutes then I find somewhere to pull over. It’s never very often and I don’t have a problem pulling back into the road after letting the traffic past

In California it's the law that you need to pull over if you're going slowly with more than 3 vehicles behind you. Obviously their roads are completely different, and many roads near me should never have anyone driving anywhere near the 60 limit due to endless unsafe bends, but on the whole I agree op.

Yes those bastards tourists driving carefully and looking at the view how very dare they! Listen to yourself!

Dont tailgate. Dont intimidate. Just be nice, be patient and enjoy the ride. Will those few minutes really make a difference?

I don't tailgate or intimidate, in fact I've had drivers undertake me to squeeze into the gap between me and the car in front, even though I'm pacing that driver, and we're in a long queue on a busy road.

But yes, those few minutes added on in the early part of my commute can lead to an additional 15-20mins on my commute when I reach the motorway. Rush hour on the motorway is stop start around this particular junction but getting there before a certain time means I'll make a decent time on the commute.

And the rural single track roads where I live are only national speed limit because they haven't been individually assessed. It's not an indication of a safe speed to drive.

@LolaSmiles

I hear you, but how badly is your journey affected by such drivers, except by being annoyed? If you just give them enough space so that you don't have to suddenly break, how delayed do you get?

California they all drive very slowly anyway. Some of the posters on this thread would explode with frustration

Veterinari I think you may have misunderstood my post. I am more than happy to overtake slow drivers on rural roads and I do tend to drive at the speed limit. I do not cause tailbacks.

HuntIdeas
I'm the reverse of you. I find driving in the centre of large cities overwhelming. My local cities that I'm familiar with are ok but I had to drive to London once for work. Never again!
My approach in cities is to keep at a reasonable speed, try to look for key information on signs and make the best decisions i can on lanes, rather than dithering across two lanes approaching a junction pondering about what to do. If I make a mistake, follow it round, see if there's a logic loop back or stop and correct myself.
There's just no need for driving that hinders other road users and shows no consideration.

Now generally I'll get a train or park and ride to large cities. It's so much less stressful.

Your idea of What is appropriate for the road might be faster than someone else feels safe at. Whether you think that makes them not as good a driver is irrelevent. Its just your opinion. They have a licence and are entitled to use it.

We are not talking about speeding. If a long tail of drivers catches up with the slow car, it suggests that the slow driver is at odds. And they do have the option of pulling in; they don’t have to keep doing it, just when there is a build up would be nice.

You can only imagine what would happen in the UK if we followed the French example and lowered the National Speed Limit to 50 mph....

But yes, those few minutes added on in the early part of my commute can lead to an additional 15-20mins on my commute when I reach the motorway.
If it makes that much of a difference why not leave a bit earlier anyway, so that you don't risk the worst traffic?

For most journeys, driving 10 mph faster doesn't save that much time. And nobody gets stuck behind a slower driver for more than a few minutes. It would have to be a very long road indeed.

I hear you, but how badly is your journey affected by such drivers, except by being annoyed? If you just give them enough space so that you don't have to suddenly break, how delayed do you get?
It's not about getting annoyed and sitting there furious. It's one of life's irritations and annoyances which are annoying because they are entirely preventable.

I'm not on their tail. It's just fairly hard to judge what distance you need to do when you first get behind them. Once you realise they're a habitual brake thrower who can't or won't drive with any consistency then you give them even more space as they're a liability on the road.

The other (even more annoying) issue that goes hand in hand with ramming brakes on is the brake tapping without reducing speed properly like some nervous twitch so people behind have no idea what's an actual hazard that needs to be slowed for or what's twitchy erratic driver's trigger happy foot because there is a horse in a field about 2 fields away / there was a leaf on the road / there was a stone built wall on their left hand side with over a foot verge next to it.

Amusingly they're also the people who can't deal with single track stretches of road and seem to think that a road that's single track due to not getting two lorries past, but wide enough for two cars to pass with a foot or so space doesn't have sides of the road so they drive right down the middle of it (much to the confusion and annoyance of people in the other direction). They also tend not to quite understand passing place rules either.

It's a mix of staggering incompetence and absolutely no consideration for other road users.

I'm with TinyMystery. I live very rurally, and the roads are NSL roads. But they are narrow, windy, there are often horses and riders around corners, people walking dogs (I run with my own dog down a single track lane that is NSL) and the visibility isn't good. We can always spot the tourists (apart from the fact that the some of them tend to slow down at every signpost), by the fact that they are blithly sailing along at 60, only to have to slam their brakes on when they meet deer, escaped sheep, etc and they are running over badgers and hedgehogs like nobody's business.

So, yeah, it depends.

Amusingly they're also the people who can't deal with single track stretches of road and seem to think that a road that's single track due to not getting two lorries past, but wide enough for two cars to pass with a foot or so space doesn't have sides of the road so they drive right down the middle of it (much to the confusion and annoyance of people in the other direction). They also tend not to quite understand passing place rules either

Go on...let it out....

I'd noticed people "sticking at 40 whatever" ie through 60 limit and 30 limit, but never realised it was a common thing until I read mumsnet driving threads! Are they just oblivious/ ignorant of speed limits in general?

Absolutely YANBU. It drives me mad this kind of driving and can be just as dangerous as speeding imo.

100% yes

There's a 40mph road near me, a nice, straight wide road. About 75% of the time that I use the road there is an idiot driving at 30mph with a queue behind them. I don't understand how these drivers can justify driving 10mph below the speed limit on that road.

Yanbu it's so dangerous as other drivers become frustrated and then accidents happen, my driver instructor Leary's said drive like a driver which has always stuck with me

can be just as dangerous as speeding imo.

How?

I'd rather have a cautious driver in front than someone overtaking in the opposite direction and coming straight at me.
There's so much dangerous and inconsiderate behaviour on the roads and streets, that quite frankly, slower drivers are the ones I'm the least concerned about.

Yabu

I have to drive slower than 60 on windy roads due to child with extreme travel sickness. This is often a reason people slow. The limit is a maximum. Don't like it then overtake.