Country road etiquette. Am I doing it wrong?

[JensonsAcolyte]

I have a new twice daily commute which is mainly country roads. Very twisty and windy, most of it is wide enough for two cars to pass but not all. Lots of up and down hills as well.

I’ve done the journey three times now. It’s 40mph until it hits the two villages then it’s 30.

Every single time I’ve had a car right up my arse for nearly the whole way. I’m starting to think it’s me.

So I drive at 40 along the straight bits with good visibility ahead. I brake coming into sharp turns and then accelerate coming out. I slow right down if I think I’m going to struggle with the gap with an oncoming car. I sometimes have to tap the brakes on a downward steep hill to stay at 40. I slow down to 30 approaching the village.

Every single time I slow down, the car behind pushes right up to me. It was a big white van this morning and yesterday morning (thinking about it, it could be the same guy) and an Audi SUV thing yesterday evening. The Audi overtook me when we got to the dual carriageway and GLARED at me. I’m in a mint green fiat 500, girly little car which I think is half the issue.

Am I being over cautious? Do I need to just thunder round the lanes at a steady 40?

If you are the sort of driver who would be pissed off with me can you explain why?

There is also the matter that some vehicles have much higher driving positions so they may have clearer/earlier visibility than someone in a lower vehicle and they fail to appreciate that just because they can see over the wall/hedge and see the road clear ahead, you can't.

My 7 year old has to be driven there and back on these roads every day to his special school, I hate it. There is always some kind of crash going on, on or close to his route, read of a bad one this week! Freaks me out.

I have to take him for a fortnight next month and I really don’t want too!

@JensonsAcolyte if you’re doing it wrong then so am I as I drive the same as you described in your OP. Just as long as you are safe keep doing what you are doing x

I’m not a particular confident driver. So I used to dread these types of roads. It’s hard as we have a local country park I like to take the kids. I always have a parade of traffic behind. I’m going at the speed limit. But I tend to stop and let the parade pass as they make me nervous, like I’m holding up the traffic. I know I am. Some people just want to drive faster with no care who’s in their way.

Haven't read all thread but what I sometimes do is turn the rear view mirror so I cannot see the car behind me but so it is square onto car behind - which hopefully that driver notices i.e. that you cannot see him/refuse to look at him. At night this is particularly effective because the rear vehicle's lights shine back in its driver's eyes.

I’d pull over when you feel it’s safe.
It can be frustrating when you know the road very well, and you are behind somebody who doesn’t

@DynamoKev I had to laugh at the running from car to shop. My husband does this when getting ready for work in the morning, sprints between rooms to let me know he's incredibly late. Wastes more time dropping things & getting muddled than he would at a normal pace.

OP, YANBU - tailgating is a pet hate. I pull over at the first sign of one as I normally take country roads for a scenic drive and they ruin my vibe.

I drive a lot on all sorts of roads for my job and find the narrow country roads the most stressful because of the people who are local so drive fast as they know the road and then the idiots who have just gone past a passing place but refuse to reverse meaning you and everyone behind you has to reverse half a mile down the road.

I much prefer a motorway any day of the week!

You are doing it exactly right. As a horse rider, I love drivers like you (unless you drive an electric car which are terrifying as silent).

Ignore the arseholes!

@TheNorthWind

No, they are twats. They think the road is empty because it's a country lane. And it probably mostly is, until it isn't and there's no visibility and no time to stop.

Absolute bellends.

This.

Don't drive any faster than you feel comfortable with, and make sure you can always stop within your sight. As a driver and horse-rider, it amazes me how many will fly round country lanes, with no way of being able to stop in time if they meet a horse, tractor, car etc.

Thank you for being sensible, and not putting the resto of us in danger.

Rural roads account for 62% of all road fatalities, it is ridiculous that most are NSL. I would reduce them all to 30mph limit.

There’s a reason why the highest rate of mortality for car accidents is on country roads - and you’re not it!

You are driving at the speed limit, not 20mph below it. The Audi driver with the small penis is the one who should not be on the road.

These drivers know the roads like the back of their hand so know every twist and turn so are able to navigate them faster.

The best thing really is to pull over and let them pass. That's the unwritten etiquette.

Otherwise you are like an 80 year old sticking to the 70 mile speed limit in the fast lane with everyone exasperated behind you not able to get past

billybagpuss
Given the central part of driving is driving in a way that's appropriate for the road and conditions, making rural roads 30mph isn't going to magically stop the people who drive riskily from doing so.

The issue isn't people driving more than 30mph. The issue is people driving in a way that isn't appropriate for the conditions.

In my experience country roads show the two extremes of driving: those who take the roads like rally drivers, and those who are tapping their brakes every 5 seconds and excessively slowing to make entirely typical bends.

A winding country road might be NSL but that doesn't mean that it would be safe to drive at that speed the whole time.

Incidentally, I drive the same way and at the same speed whether I'm driving my small middle-aged hatchback or driving DH's white van. Guess which one gets tailgated and the other one doesn't?

As someone who drives these roads daily - thank you.

Yes, some locals know the roads like the back of their hand and are able to navigate them faster, but a blind corner is a blind corner. In my experience, the locals tend to drive to the conditions as they are often the ones that are first on the scene when there is a serious collision.

@RedactedTaeFeck
Good choice of car. There seems to be an immediate assumption your a dawdler, and are going to hold them up so should be intimidated.
the ones that make me laugh are the ones that bust a gut to get past you and then your sat next to them at the lights.

Just drive how you feel safe and don’t worry about who is behind you. I’d pull over if it’s easy but I wouldn’t stress over it.

If you can’t see round a courier then you have to assume there might be an obstacle there, maybe a horse or a broken down car. That means some sharp corners have to be taken very slowly.

I drive country roads all the time and I’m very comfortable doing so but I refuse to drive fast because we have a lot of deer in the area and they occasionally juts leap out of the hedge in front of you. I’m not risking my life for the sake of 10 mph

@billybagpuss

Rural roads account for 62% of all road fatalities, it is ridiculous that most are NSL. I would reduce them all to 30mph limit.

They don’t NEED speed limits is the point! You drive them according to the conditions. Speed limits are only set if there’s a need like a fast road through a village needs a traffic speed limiting measure or a school nearby needs a speed limiting measure or a particularly dangerous section of an otherwise unremarkable B-road needs a limit... But the reason all unmarked/country lane roads don’t need 30mph is because loads of them are fine! ‘Rural roads’ can mean a fast A-road or a tiny lane - they’re not all the same.

@Tambora

A winding country road might be NSL but that doesn't mean that it would be safe to drive at that speed the whole time.

Incidentally, I drive the same way and at the same speed whether I'm driving my small middle-aged hatchback or driving DH's white van. Guess which one gets tailgated and the other one doesn't?

TBF you might be less likely to be tailgated in the van due to the car behind having less visibility than if they were behind a hatch back.

Don't let them intimidate you. I got overtaken on a road with a limit of 30 which is what I was doing there was traffic up ahead so the knob didn't get anywhere

OP to me you sound like a very safe and sensible driver and I wish more were like you. I've lived in the countryside my whole life and the standards of driving I meet in the lanes these days is diabolical and getting worse and worse. So many idiots who think that because the NSL is 60 they must drive at that speed regardless of road, terrain and visibility considerations.

Unfortunately we can no longer safely hack out our horses on the lanes as a result of the speed and aggressive driving we have encountered in recent times.

And as for people who say "oh it's probably locals who know the road like the back of their hand" well that is a pretty poor excuse. I could probably drive my car blindfold round my local lanes, in fact my car could probably drive itself on autopilot at this stage!!! However, due to the unpredictability of country driving, speed -even in familiarity - is never a sensible idea.

@NoSquirrels my apologies by rural roads I mean C classification, I agree they shouldn’t need speed limits, but the fatality rates on them shows that people do need advising of safe speeds. Reducing the speed limits would reduce the number of deaths. I drive country lanes regularly and there are some complete idiots. I also lost a friend to a RTA On a country lane when I was a teenager, due to a car within the speed limit but too fast for the conditions.

I just pull over and let them pass. Everybody is happy.