People driving at 50mph on a 60mph road

[impossibldream]

I have to use an A road most days which has a national speed limit (60mph). It seems like I’m always stuck behind some idiot driving along at 50mph. I find it so hard not to get wound up. It just results in people trying to overtake (sometimes taking risks so I think it increases a chance of accidents) and generally increasing levels of stress. Why do people do this? AIBU to find it rude and annoying?

'Except it is dangerous, you'd fail your driving test for doing 50 in a 60'

Omg you'd fail your test for loads of things people do without danger everytime they get in a car.

An examiner doesn't know if they've failed to notice the speed limit or what.

That doesn't change the fact it is perfectly ok to go at 50 in a 60 limit. 30 no, but 50 is reasonable it isn't illegal.

Driving at 50 mph in a 60 zone would NOT make you fail your driving test. As has been said, it's a limit not a target!

Yes, driving too slow is a hinderance (and a danger if it carries on too long,) but 50 in a 60 zone is not too slow.... If you were travelling at 30 then that is ridiculous, or even 40 is too slow in a 60 zone. But like fuck would you FAIL your test for doing 50 in a 60 zone. Moreover, it's unlikely the test instructor would take you on a 60 mph road on your driving test anyway.

Yes unfortunately I had just picked up a new car the previous day that was about 10 years newer than my previous one so wasn't quite used to it, and was going 35 on a completely empty 30mph road at 7am on a Sunday. Not that I'm bitter about it 🤣 I drive 15,000 miles a year so I concede defeat on that one!

It is frustrating when you are caught behind a driver going slower than you'd like, but I am always patient and mindful of the fact that you don't know their circumstances - nervous driver, new driver, elderly, feeling unwell, pets in car, something fragile in car. There are lots of reasons why someone might be going 50mph on a NSL road and it's not slow enough to be dangerous.

In fact, why make the assumption that those drivers always drive like this? It may be a one-off, a bad day, on their way to the garage, pregnant woman in labour on the back seat.

It always surprises me that when we ourselves do something 'wrong' it's for a very good, understandable reason or we've made an honest mistake. When someone else does the same, they're an idiot.

I prefer those drivers to the angry ones who seem to think that anyone who doesn't drive like them is an idiot or shouldn't be on the road anyway. How much time does it add to your journey? Negligible. Just leave earlier if you know it will happen.

Perhaps you would like to widen yours

We have almost half the road deaths, per head of population, than Australia.

Not a good example to use.

They are getting better year on year, but they have some massive catching up to do, to get to our levels. We have very good levels of road safety in this country.

I think some posters aren't clear about the law in Australia

www.whichcar.com.au/car-advice/is-driving-slow-illegal

Yep this. ^ This really fucks me off too. It's patronising, condescending, and pathetic, and often shows the person saying it is losing the argument, coz they're saying 'calm down...' Gets on my tits.

I see 'why are you so angry?' and 'you sound angry' and 'calm down,' written SO much on this forum, in response to posters getting passionate or a little irked about something (often something that IS worth getting irked about.)

It's the equivalent of saying 'calm down luv, you're getting hysterical.' It's patronising and misogynistic. Telling someone to calm down really has the opposite effect, and as I said, it's soooo fucking patronising. (In addition to being boring and stupid and predictable.)

DON'T ANYONE DARE TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its good advice.

Particularly when people are getting so angry in a machine which could kill someone, including them.

Its not the equivalent of tutting when you read something annoying in the paper.

I disagree that driving under the speed limit by 10 mph is dangerous. Many vehicles using the same roads have to, by law, drive under the speed limit - some by more than 10pm. Does their existence mean the road is dangerous?

It's the start of harvest time where I am, and it's rare that on my journey to and from work that I don't encounter at least one tractor, often for several miles. It's also a popular route for lorries, and not a large number of spots for overtaking. And not a large number of places for vehicles to pull into to allow overtaking.

Also, you drive to the road and the road conditions. Not all roads are suitable for driving at 60, even though that's the limit for the road. As a driver you are meant to assess and alter your speed accordingly.

Yabu. A national speed limit road doesn't mean you must go at 60. You need to work on being patient.

You know what really irritates me.

Sometimes you have cars doing 50 mph because they are behind a vehicle such as bus or a lorry. There are a lot of cars so they leave a gap between them.

Then some idiot decides that 50 is too slow for them and decides to overtake, cut in, overtake, cut in - just so they can get to the front of the queue

People leave a gap for a reason. Not so entitled people can use the gap for overtaking into.

I suspect some of the pp on this thread are like the guy who tailgated me on a stretch of the A1 the other day. Roadworks with a 40 limit and average speed cameras. I was doing exactly 40 and overtaking a whole line of other cars. When I pulled over he roared past doing at least 60 and gave me the finger. Obviously the limit didn’t apply to him. I hope he enjoys his speeding ticket although I doubt he’ll learn from it.

i will drive the speed i want whether thats 40 50 or 60 . Im not breaking any law

You can fail your driving test if you drive too slowly. This is because overcaution is a sign that you are not confident behind the wheel.

When I went on a speed awareness course almost no-one knew the correct limits.

Agree with this!

I remember driving down the a9 a few years ago and it was torrential rain almost the whole way and I was leaving a gap between me and the lorry in front. Queue idiot overtaking, pulling into the gap and slamming on their brakes not realising that the wet roads affected their own stopping distance. They were very lucky not to end up in the back of the lorry.

And the worst thing was we were not far from a piece of the road that was duelled. So could have safely overtaken there.

If you can't drive safely, you shouldn't be driving. Take extra lessons to improve your confidence.

I so wish there was a driving test check every say 10 years.

You could be - people have been prosecuted for going too slowly.

Honestly if it's making you rage so so much I don't think you should be on the road

It would be counted as a fail-worthy driving fault in Britain @WhileMyGuitarGentlyWeeps if the examiner judges the road conditions suitable for driving at the speed limit (see the links on my post of 11:05). So 50 in a 60 could definitely be seen as "too slow" depending on the road and conditions.

That annoys me too, but to be fair there are sometimes reasons for it, an obstruction is no longer there, the road surface improves, (or, more annoyingly, the person has stopped faffing about with their radio or whatever and starts driving properly).

Haven't read the whole thread but no problem driving 50 in a 60 in many cases - completely depends on the road and the conditions. I think around 55mph is optimum for fuel consumption (though that may be out of date and I don't quite know how it works for electric cars which I presume use more energy the faster they go).

We did a road trip to the South of France a while ago. Nice long French autoroutes - little traffic.

110 km / h about 70 mph is the speed limit - occasionally 130 km /h (80 mph)

The journey was long - and I know that my car is more economical at 60 than 70.

But when doing such long distances, the extra time at a slower speed does add up, on a long, quiet autoroute. But also there was a cost saving in fuel which was quite significant, even more so now.

I think I probably did 60 - 65 on average. Occasionally 70 mph. I don't think I did 80 mph.

It was safe as there was little traffic and plenty of opportunities for cars going faster to get past as it's autoroute.

Then we did Germany - where the autobahn are completely different.

Totally agree. There’s a road near me that’s a 60 but it’s incredibly windy and I tend to do 50/55 on it. If that upsets some impatient bastard then I couldn’t give less of a fuck.

You do realize that 60 will be the MAXIMUM speed limit; there's no law that says that everyone must travel at that ,don't you?

No it wouldn't.