To wonder who all these people are, speeding?

[justonanote]

Or more to the point, how they think they can get away with it, or clearly do all the time?

I do a lot of motorway driving and I see so many cars doing over 80!

See also dual carriageways near me. People do 80+!

I'll be in a lane sometimes doing 70 and I have cars behind flashing at me to speed up

My question is do people not get done very much for speeding? I wouldn't really think to speed anyway but surely the strong possibility of a fine or more is a deterrent? Do people just not care?

It’s an utter joke. I caught caught by speed camera doing 27 miles and hour in a 20mph zone. They’d recently changed the speed limit so I thought I was within limit. Absolutely no reason for this road to be 20mph, it’s a quiet road with no pedestrians. There isn’t a problem with speeding there.

I now have to do a speed awareness course or take a fine/points.

Whereas there’s a road near us where people speed all the time, it’s so dangerous for pedestrians and eventually someone will be killed or seriously hurt - the police do NOTHING about it.

And I usually get at least two or three cars doing the drive up your bumper, flash and push you out the way thing while I’m on the motorway with kids in the car. They do it because they know they’ll get away with it.

The whole thing is just a joke.

[quote DogInATent]My ex was done for 75 on the motorway in the last 18 months so it clearly isn’t universal?

Even on a normal road there's an allowance for the accuracy of your speedo, 10% +2mph. If he got pulled at 75mph on a motorway, he was in a 50mph or 60mph reduced speed limit.

See, (and follow-up the links)
www.theaa.com/driving-advice/legal/speed-limit[/quote]
No he wasn’t.

I know where he was pulled over and the ticket from the police was for 75.

That”rule” is at the discretion of the police anyway. It’s not a rule. I just googled. www.google.co.uk/amp/s/news.jardinemotors.co.uk/amp/how-to/speeding-fine-faqs-what-to-do-if-you-get-a-speeding-ticket Here for eg. And here www.roadlawbarristers.co.uk/speeding-what-is-the-10-plus-2-rule-and-what-does-it-mean/

People are punished for speeding on the motorway. Our workplace has quite a few employees who spend a lot of time driving around in vans and they have been caught speeding. Slower than 85 too.

We had a scary experience last year on an unlit motorway at night. My husband was in the middle lane overtaking a few lorries and was was doing around 70. Probably fluctuating to a bit above it. Some wanker behind us took offence to that and got right up behind us, then put his lights on full beam so my husband was blinded. Our kids were in the car. How much of a fucking arsehole do you have to be to put other people at risk like that? The right hand lane was completely clear so he was free to overtake if he wanted.

This is all making me wonder if there are any other laws it is ok to break that I'm not aware of

@Popopopo

This is all making me wonder if there are any other laws it is ok to break that I'm not aware of

Me too.

[quote DogInATent]My ex was done for 75 on the motorway in the last 18 months so it clearly isn’t universal?

Even on a normal road there's an allowance for the accuracy of your speedo, 10% +2mph. If he got pulled at 75mph on a motorway, he was in a 50mph or 60mph reduced speed limit.

See, (and follow-up the links)
www.theaa.com/driving-advice/legal/speed-limit[/quote]
Not being pedantic but it's + or - 2mph and is dependent on the county in which you're driving. It would explain why the chap got fined for doing 75mph.

Although in reality, I believe the police can fine people for doing 71mph as the tolerances are discretional.

@sanityisamyth

Middle Lane Drivers cause far more problems on the motorway than drivers driving at 80 mph. Middle Lane Drivers should be banned.

100% agree with this. So many poor drivers sit in the middle Lane 'where they feel safe' oblivious to what's going on around them. So many times I have to pull into the middle and then straight to outside to overtake these idiots sat at 60 or 70 and then move back into the inside lane where they should be. I'd actually book these people rather than speeders.

Speeding in the motorway in a modern car is actually quite safe. No kids running around, no pedestrians at all. I would class 35 by a school as far worse tbh

Slow lane, lefthand lane, lane 1.

I think we can all agree it is semantics and we all know what others mean when they call it any of the above.

@VeganCow

Those of you regularly doing 80, arent you worried you'll get clocked by a speed camera? Or are you relying on a sat nav to warn you when one is upcoming and then you slow to 70?

Speed cameras are tools for generating fines. Average speed cameras are tools for improving road safety.

The only roads you see everyone sticking to the speed limit are stretches with average speed cameras. The A9 north of the Kier roundabout is a good example of a road where the decision has been made to encourage good driving through ASCs rather than punish speeding with dumb speed cameras.

@EthicalNonMahogany

Bollocks are you getting flashed in the lefthand lane. You're getting flashed in the middle or right for not moving over.

That's what I thought too.

Give MN any rule about anything and there will be people falling over themselves to justify why it's not needed and it's ok to break it.

@justonanote

Or more to the point, how they think they can get away with it, or clearly do all the time?

I do a lot of motorway driving and I see so many cars doing over 80!

See also dual carriageways near me. People do 80+!

I'll be in a lane sometimes doing 70 and I have cars behind flashing at me to speed up

My question is do people not get done very much for speeding? I wouldn't really think to speed anyway but surely the strong possibility of a fine or more is a deterrent? Do people just not care?

I routinely do 80+ on motorways and 70+ on dual carriageways when it is safe to do so (i.e. I can maintain appropriate stopping distances etc). I don’t generally drive at peak times so this is when roads are quieter.

I was got by a mobile speed camera once, in a place that had been reduced to 30mph from 40mph the week before and I was not 100% with it being 2 weeks post-partum. I was doing 34mph and got a speed awareness course. By the end of that even the instructor agreed that speed isn’t necessarily bad on its own, it’s inappropriate speed that is dangerous. Not leaving enough space between cars is by far the most dangerous thing.

Round here other drivers seem to drive at 40-56mph regardless of speed limit. 40 in the 30 zones and 40 on the 60mph bypass, then 56 on the motorways and dual carriageways. I regard these as exceptionally dangerous - I don’t speed in 20/30 zones which are there for a reason (the 60/70 is historic based on the poor braking performance of cars from decades ago) - and wish they were flagged more by police/traffic officers.

MrsArchchancellorRidcully

“I do regularly flash idiots sat in the right lane doing 70 and they can't be bothered to move over.”

What a total arrogant arsehole comment 🙄 those “idiots” are often within the law whereas you for some reason think you’re entitled to speed and endanger everyone else on the road.

I love that fact that I know 100% what my ex was done for (it was in the local paper for a start and dc told me) but I have to be wrong and he has to have been in a 50 or 60 limit.

No. He wasn’t. He was done for 75.

Why would you just make something up that has no basis in reality or facts?

Although in reality, I believe the police can fine people for doing 71mph as the tolerances are discretional.
If you fail the attitude test the tolerance is very low.

@AchillesPoirot

I love that fact that I know 100% what my ex was done for (it was in the local paper for a start and dc told me) but I have to be wrong and he has to have been in a 50 or 60 limit.

No. He wasn’t. He was done for 75.

Why would you just make something up that has no basis in reality or facts?

You need to contact your ex immediately and get them to claim it back under the ' 85mph unwritten rule' clause.

@Hangthetowels

80 is my normal motorway speed if the traffic flows and it's relatively clear. If I'm travelling and it's very empty I'll do 85 - it's people who speed in residential areas that I don't understand.

Yeah I never get why drivers on motorways are bullied for speeding yet the ones doing 40 past schools are OK - and it's usually the parents! I do think most parents seem to subconsciously want children dead..

@RampantIvy

I do a lot of motorway driving, mainly between Sheffield and Newcastle. The M1 near Sheffied and near Wakfield has average speed cameras, as does the M62 near the junction with the M1, so people don't really speed round there.

I agree with @tttigress that the ridiculous speedsters are much rarer these days, and I rarely see people flying past me on the motorway at really high speeds.

My speedometer calibrates at 3MPH lower than it states on the dashboard. I know this because speed signs on the road side and the satnav on my phone always show me as travelling slightly slower. On a clear run I usually set my cruise control at 73 - 75 MPH, so at most I am travelling at 72 MPH. Obviously it varies according to road conditions.

People shouldn't be flashing you at 70 MPH unless you are in the wrong lane.

M62 nr M1 are static cameras not average. Basically my Tom Tom shows me which are live and which not so I only slow down for the live ones. I regularly go through at 80+ in the fake ones. Done this for a few yrs.

To me it depends on the conditions and other aspects of driving. 80 on a fairly clear, dry road, at a safe distance from other vehicles, is IMO a very different thing from 80 on a busy road with drivers who will not keep a safe distance, and even more so in wet conditions.

Failure to keep a safe distance is IMO just as much a cause of accidents as 10 miles over the limit. I see it all the time, and once missed by the merest hair’s-breadth a pile-up caused by exactly this - in wet conditions, too.

IMO we should have loads of ‘keep apart’ chevrons marked on roads, and an automatic reduction of the speed limit when it’s wet - like they do in France.

A speedometer only has to be accurate within a 10% margin which is why often different counties do not have a 0% tolerance in their speed limits before prosecution, however this does vary county to county.

@NotNotNotMyName

MrsArchchancellorRidcully

“I do regularly flash idiots sat in the right lane doing 70 and they can't be bothered to move over.”

What a total arrogant arsehole comment 🙄 those “idiots” are often within the law whereas you for some reason think you’re entitled to speed and endanger everyone else on the road.

No I'm entitled to expect people to stay left unless overtaking. If people don't under other then they should hand their car back. It's a simple rule. There's a reason Germany has no speed limits when the conditions are good. Doing over 100 on a clear, dry day with little traffic in a motorway with a modern car is actually very safe. I don't do that too often 😉😉😂😂😂

Agree with the comment about middle lane drivers, they are infuriating and cause more issues than they are probably aware of.
Going back a few pages about 80mph feeling comfortable - it does in my current car, I can get to 80 without feeling much difference before I check myself. My first car however, battered little 1litre punto, felt like the wheels were going to fly off if I went to 70.

Are people really saying that it's ok to speed on a motorway because it's safer than speeding outside a school??

I am very conscious about speeding, mostly for me because there have been times in my life when getting fined would hit me too hard, rather than thinking going a bit over is definitely dangerous.
That said, I get a bit annoyed by people who do the same speed regardless of the road. There's a road near me (not dual carriageway) that I use quite a lot where the speed varies between 60 and 40 as you go along it . A shocking number of drivers seem to sit at about 50 for the entire length regardless of the actual limit in that section