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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

That I’m not going to speed just cos some dickheads are?

112 replies

Agsjsgkahs · 17/06/2021 06:41

Hello

I drive to work each day, on a mix of motorway and city roads. Shift work so always before 7am and after 8pm.

I drive within 2mph of the speed limit. The area I live and work in has one of the highest amounts of speed cameras, red light cameras and police cars doing speed checks in the UK. I have zero desire to get 3 points.

Yet now and again( often a taxi driver) honks at me, today I was going 51 in a 50, and had this prick up my tail, going on the horn.

AIBU to stick to the bloody speed limit ?

If I was going 35 in a 50 I’d get it but I go the limit.

OP posts:
Original poster
Agsjsgkahs · 17/06/2021 06:43

I should add I work in ICU in a major trauma hospital, I see the effects of car crashes, car v bike and car v pedestrian all the time. That motivates me to drive safely

OP posts:
InTheDrunkTank · 17/06/2021 06:43

YANBU. There are a few roads near me where people expect to speed. I always drive at the speed limit and I have them right up my arse until they can overtake.

DinosaurDiana · 17/06/2021 06:43

Ignore and turn your radio up.

Original poster
Agsjsgkahs · 17/06/2021 06:44

@DinosaurDiana I did just that, blasting Arctic monkeys 😆

OP posts:
PixieDust28 · 17/06/2021 06:44

YANBU.

YABU about the taxi driver comment though.

Ginuwine · 17/06/2021 06:45

You are not unreasonable at all. 51 in a 50 is probably 47-48 mph once you take into account speedo inaccuracies, but it's well beside the point of course - even at 48mph you are making VERY reasonable progress by anyone's definition.

You are not hindering someone with unreasonably slow driving.

What you are doing is stopping them from hitting this imaginary "performance commuting" target they have in their mind. It's ridiculous because anyone who drives professionally will know that the road is for all users - people drive at different speeds, and shock horror, some even at the legal speed limit! So this person should just factor that in and set off earlier, or adjust their wrong perspective, and follow you at a safe distance and save themselves 3 points.

YANBU it's just embarrassing how many folk act the big one on the roads.

elsaesmeralda · 17/06/2021 06:46

Currently learning and when doing the speed limit the amount of people that overtake me makes me feel really stupid but I know I'm doing the correct thing and they're just impatient.

Ginuwine · 17/06/2021 06:47

@PixieDust28

YANBU.

YABU about the taxi driver comment though.

What is unreasonable about the taxi driver comment?? It's the OP's lived observation.

Is a taxi driver a protected interest group for which singling them out and naming them is a hate crime? Grin

Original poster
Agsjsgkahs · 17/06/2021 06:47

@PixieDust28 thanks. All bar once it has been a taxi driver, hence why I said often, not always.

OP posts:
PixieDust28 · 17/06/2021 06:50

Yes that will be it @Ginuwine.

PixieKitten · 17/06/2021 06:52

I'd do 45mph if they're blowing the horn at you doing 50mph

Original poster
Agsjsgkahs · 17/06/2021 06:53

@PixieKitten 😂 😂 just what my mother does

OP posts:
Ginuwine · 17/06/2021 06:53

@PixieDust28

Yes that will be it *@Ginuwine*.
Hmm

Didn't think you'd explain such a ludicrous comment.

Theunamedcat · 17/06/2021 06:57

It makes no sense to be blasting your horn at people I slowed down before now because I couldn't see i was doing anything wrong so I assumed something was wrong with the car and slowed to check my mirrors etc to see what I had missed (petrol cap or something) turns out doing the speed limit was too slow and slowing down further sent him apocalyptic 🤷‍♀️

PandemicPalava · 17/06/2021 07:02

I have the same problem in my area as some of the roads near me are like a race track and people love it. What I do is when they are right up my bum I hit the brake ever so slightly so the red lights go on but it doesn't actually slowdown my car much, and it makes them panic and back off. If anyone ever confronted me about it I say there was a rabbit in the road.

ncforthispost1 · 17/06/2021 07:07

I get tailgated relatively often on a 50 speed limit road, even if I'm doing 50. IT DRIVES ME UP THE WALL! as for that journey I always have my almost-3 year old in the back. And a baby on board sticker.

I actually slow right down to 30 so that if I had to react quickly to something in the road it would mean the reaction time of the reaction time of the behind me increases.

I hate tailgaters!

MarshaBradyo · 17/06/2021 07:08

Yanbu we have 20 areas here. It’s slow but most stick to it

Ginuwine · 17/06/2021 07:11

@Theunamedcat

It makes no sense to be blasting your horn at people I slowed down before now because I couldn't see i was doing anything wrong so I assumed something was wrong with the car and slowed to check my mirrors etc to see what I had missed (petrol cap or something) turns out doing the speed limit was too slow and slowing down further sent him apocalyptic 🤷‍♀️

I really don't understand this post, I'm sorry.

If you think something is wrong with your car, find a safe place to stop, pull over, and do a walk around.

Otherwise if someone honks you and you're checking to see if petrol cap is left open, fair enough, but that shouldn't technically necessitate some enormous slow-down.

NavigatingAdolescence · 17/06/2021 07:13

@ncforthispost1

I get tailgated relatively often on a 50 speed limit road, even if I'm doing 50. IT DRIVES ME UP THE WALL! as for that journey I always have my almost-3 year old in the back. And a baby on board sticker.

I actually slow right down to 30 so that if I had to react quickly to something in the road it would mean the reaction time of the reaction time of the behind me increases.

I hate tailgaters!

You could be prosecuted for doing 30 in a 50 for no good reason (fog/torrential rain). It’s dangerous driving to drive so slowly. Like doing 40 on a motorway.
Oblomov21 · 17/06/2021 07:16

You shouldn't be driving way under the speed limit.

BlusteryLake · 17/06/2021 07:19

I live on a 20mph road. I have idiots tailgating me most days while I drive at 20. It sends them practically apoplectic when I slow down and indicate to turn into my driveway 😂

badpuma · 17/06/2021 07:20

There is a similar 50 mph limit near me and it is very heavily policed - there's a fixed camera and a police van out every week. It's a dual carriageway, but even sticking to the left hand lane I'm constantly tailgated by lorries trying to do their max rather than complying with the speed limit.

It's annoying and pretty scary as they come very close behind and don't always notice immediately when the traffic in front breaks.

MilduraS · 17/06/2021 07:23

I always stick to the speed limit and I haven't had anyone honking their horn at me, just the occasional tailgaters on the A road I use. I can ignore it most of the time but it drives me up the wall in winter when it's a big 4x4 and their lights are blinding in my rear view mirror. When they do it I usually drive as far to the left as I can so it's obvious that they can overtake me. If they don't use the next couple of opportunities to overtake I move back to the middle of the road and continue at my normal speed.

Constantcrayfish · 17/06/2021 07:27

I don’t condone tailgating in any way but a baby on board sticker doesn’t entitle anyone to special treatment on the road.

SnackSizeRaisin · 17/06/2021 07:29

You could be prosecuted for doing 30 in a 50 for no good reason

Rubbish - the speed limit is a maximum, there's no obligation to drive at it. You can go any speed you like as long as it's below the limit
Tailgating however is an offence.