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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Learner doing 25mph in a 30

137 replies

Hullabaloo9 · 03/04/2022 13:35

I'm taking my son out driving to consolidate what he learns on his professional lessons. We drive round residential areas at non peak times.

Is it acceptable for him to be driving generally at 25mph on residential 30mph roads?. I encourage him to go a little faster but with lots of road parking etc he says he only feels confident to go at that speed at the moment. Are we a total nuisance or is this OK? Xxx

OP posts:

BonjourCrisette · 03/04/2022 23:20

When I was first learning to drive I found 30mph a bit alarming. My very experienced driving instructor always said twenty is plenty as a general speed on quiet roads. Ten years later and all the roads round here including busy main roads have a 20mph speed limit now.

25mph is fine for a learner.

DdraigGoch · 04/04/2022 00:02

@EricScrantona

there may not have been enough deaths to reduce the limit.

I've no idea about deaths but there were enough gaps in the wall to make it obvious that I wasn't the first to spin out on that road by a long stretch.

DdraigGoch · 04/04/2022 00:05

[quote fairylightsandwaxmelts]@DdraigGoch as has been said, that depends entirely on the road and what the other traffic is doing.

25 in a 30 is almost 20% below the speed limit. That's not a tiny percentage by any means. It's the equivalent of going 45-48mph in a 60, or 55mph on the motorway.

[/quote]
Percentages are meaningless in the real world.

HGVs should be doing no more than 56mph on the motorway anyway, as that's where their limiters are supposed to be set. A car doing the same speed as the HGVs in the same lane is not a hazard.

WeirdlyKind · 04/04/2022 00:47

@Muchtoomuchtodo I failed my first test for not masking enough progress aka going too slowly! So it can happen!

OneTC · 04/04/2022 12:53

25 in a 30 is almost 20% below the speed limit.

And what percentage of your journey were you hindered by the whole 16% speed reduction?

What percentage of your journey were you able to move unhindered by traffic, lights etc?

Given the average car journey in the UK is 8.4 miles you're talking about a difference of 3 minutes if you are forced to knock 5mph off for the whole of it, realistically you won't be hindered for the whole journey

The horror

Clymene · 04/04/2022 12:56

@OneTC

25 in a 30 is almost 20% below the speed limit.

And what percentage of your journey were you hindered by the whole 16% speed reduction?

What percentage of your journey were you able to move unhindered by traffic, lights etc?

The horror

Who said I was hindered by anything? I was merely pointing out that repeatedly parroting 'it's a limit, not a target' has been shown to be untrue by many people as it can lead to failing the driving test. If the OP's son is driving at a sensible speed for the road conditions, then fine. If he's not, he may need to speed up to avoid failing the test he's practicing for.

Does that help?

BarbaraofSeville · 04/04/2022 13:09

@EricScrantona

Trainee driving instructor here. He needs to go at 30. If he is unable to drive at the speed limit safely and consistently when able to do so, he is not a competent driver and cannot expect to pass.

Whilst it's true that it's a limit not a target, the limit is a designated safe speed to travel on that road at. You need to prove you're able to drive at that speed therefore making it the target speed for that road.

Tell that to the 'advanced driving instructor' that I had work training with recently.

Hours and hours of driving around housing estates in second gear interspersed with trips up and down the 60 MPH limit dual carriageway, where he told me off for going too fast every time I got past 40 MPH 'because there might be a red light about half a mile up the road'.

It was utterly ridiculous and a completely frustrating experience. I was left with the impression that 'making progress' by aiming to drive at the speed limit when safe to do so was no longer a thing.

OneTC · 04/04/2022 14:04

Who said I was hindered by anything?

Not me, I was replying to fairy lights comment

WalkingOnTheCracks · 05/04/2022 09:48

I didn't learn to drive until I was in my mid-thirties - so at a stage of my life at which I had more self-confidence than most learner drivers. And I was appalled at the way other road-users treat learners, bullying, berating, gesturing, and generally being arseholes.

Being older, I was perfectly happy to tell them to fuck off, if only in the universal language of mime - though my instructor wasn't too keen on my doing so. But a lot of people act as if they emerged from the womb clutching a driving licence, and never had to go through the process of learning how to do it.

Sod them. If he's not confident above 25, then let him drive at 25. If he's happy at 20, likewise. If other drivers have to wait a little while as he attempts to parallel-park, they ought to use the time to think back to when they were learning to do that.

Good luck to the kid.

WalkingOnTheCracks · 05/04/2022 09:56

Trainee driving instructor here. He needs to go at 30. If he is unable to drive at the speed limit safely and consistently when able to do so, he is not a competent driver and cannot expect to pass.

He may need to be able to by the time he takes his test. That doesn't mean he should be made to before he's confident doing so.

Ozanj · 05/04/2022 09:59

I have failed tests for going too slow. It was marked down as a serious fault because there was traffic behind me. At the time the examiner said when there is traffic behind you, you should aim for no more / less than 2 mph below the speed limit. If he can’t drive safely at this speed then he needs more professional lessons.

Nicholethejewellery · 05/04/2022 10:05

You should discuss it with his instructor. When he's with the instructor is he happy to drive at 30mph? If so, why is he happy with them, but not with you? Is it the car, is it the fact there's not the safety net of someone with extra pedals?

My honest view is that if he's not confident enough to be driving at 30mph then you shouldn't be taking him out for unofficial lessons yet. He needs to be able to drive at the speed limit when conditions permit. There are times when 25mph is necessary even if the limit is higher, but he needs to be able to recognise what the appropriate speed is and drive accordingly. The fact he thinks anything faster is not safe suggests his reading of this is not good enough yet.

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