What do you think of my driving instructor forcing me to do 82mph on a motorway?

[HappyPeach]

I had a pass-plus lesson on motorway driving to build my confidence. It was with the AA driving school, not my original instructor. I am an absolute stickler for the limit being the limit & not wanting to get fines or lose my reaction time. The instructor said I had to 'do 70 + 5mph + 10%' so I wasn't allowed to drive below 82mph as he called it 'failure to make progress' and I would piss off the other drivers. I'm really unhappy about this and I'm thinking of reporting him. I know many people drive at 80mph and above but that doesn't mean I have to. What d'you think?

Tailgating is wrong at any speed. I really do have firmly held beliefs on speeding but you have be sensible while doing it

60 mph is indeed perfectly fine on a motorway.

If you are driving a HGV.

I think it's important to be able to drive at the speed of the traffic and be able to safely overtake quickly in certain circumstances. Speeding up to overtake in order to allow emergency services to pass for example.

Average speed on the motorway is almost always over 70. Rightly or wrongly it is. That's unlikely to change.
But he was wrong to force you to go above the speed limit.

You should maintain a speed that is reasonable for the conditions. If your driving is considered a hazard, and at 50 in a 70 I'd expect it would be, you could be fined and classed as 'inconsiderate driving' for 'dangerous driving' it could be disqualification

50 is a bit slow, but I disagree that anyone would be even prosecuted for doing 50 on a motorway, never mind disqualified! As long as they are in the inside lane, that is (or overtaking a really slow moving vehicle in the inside lane).

Driving at 50 on the motorway in clear conditions is frankly dangerous. Your forcing HGVs to overtake you at that speed. If your not confident or capable of driving faster than that please stop driving on the motorway!

Nope, wrong wrong wrong. Please report him to AA and don't have any more lessons with him.

I half trained as a driving instructor (I lack staying power!) and there is no way we are ever supposed to do over the limit or encourage others to.

There is making good progress but that doesn't involve breaking the speed limit.

It is perfectly fine for any vehicle. People go far too fast on motorways and actually only save a few minutes. On the M1 in Sheffield there's a 60 limit to reduce pollution and that should be everywhere in my view, with average speed cameras to enforce. I thought the high fuel prices would encourage people to drive more slowly but it hasn't looked that way.

If we get driverless cars we'll be locked in together doing 60 in a convoy anyway.

Driving at 50 on the motorway in clear conditions is frankly dangerous. Your forcing HGVs to overtake you at that speed. If your not confident or capable of driving faster than that please stop driving on the motorway

It's funny how people expect other people to change their behaviour because they're the dangerous ones. Yes slow drivers are annoying. But the drivers behind them can choose their response. They can drive more slowly. They can move out in plenty of time. If in the middle lane, they can allow others to move out (rather than seeing the situation but ignoring it). And most of all, they can pay attention.

It's a bit like the debate over smart motorways. I am not keen on them, but if an HGV goes into the back of a broken down car, it's because the driver wasn't paying attention.

It doesn't matter what speed you do on the motorway or how much your (lack of) speed pisses off the other drivers - provided you are driving within the law and not hogging lanes when not overtaking, then you should drive at the speed you are comfortable with. A newly passed driver is very unlikely to be comfortable driving at 82mph - that is a huge step up from the speeds of normal roads for a driver, and motorway driving is very different from normal roads. There is a learning curve like anything else.

Given that were getting more electric vehicles Ion the road i would argue dropping the speed limit to 60 for "environmental" reason is soon to be a waste of time

60 mph is indeed perfectly fine on a motorway

If you are driving a HGV

And it’s perfectly fine if you’re driving a car too. As has been said, it’s more efficient and greener, something many drivers should consider in this day and age. I more often stick to 70, but sometimes sitting in lane 1 at 60, holding speed with the hgvs can be preferable, especially if there are lots of people speeding/tailgating in lanes 2 and 3.

Regardless of where 82 mph sits with respect to being prosecuted or not, the idea that dropping below 80 is failing to make progress is nonsense. I drive on motorways most days and the majority of traffic is around the speed limit or lower. You’d only achieve a steady speed of 82 mph if you were in the right-hand lane almost constantly and even then you’d probably be tailgating much of the time. Of course, there are some that do drive like this but they’re in a minority and not to be emulated. Rubbish advice.

Driving at 50 on the motorway in clear conditions is frankly dangerous. Your forcing HGVs to overtake you at that speed. If your not confident or capable of driving faster than that please stop driving on the motorway!

Exactly. Lorry drivers have places to be, on time. Them pulling out to overtake the unconfident, nervous driver pootling along in lane 1 doing 50 causes even more tailbacks as traffic behind them slows. And the pootler is probably only doing 46 or 47 as the speedo is always a little off. There are some seriously awful drivers out there. But they are always desperate to show that they are not the problem, it's everyone else driving too fast.

If you think 50 mph is acceptable on the motorway, you should not be on the motorway.

Speed limit is a speed limit for a reason and that instructor was an arse and I hope by you reporting him he can loose his license and no longer teach people to be so dangerous.

Going by these comments a few people could do with a lesson for motorway driving!

LOSE*

Motorways are the easiest roads to drive on. Apart from hgvs most vehicles should be doing the same sort of speed heading in the same direction with no side street or cyclist or pedestrians and in most cars an indicated 82mph is probably closer to 73/75mph

So you during instruction allowed yourself to be coerced into dangerous manoeuvres at high speed by a stupid arrogant man and you found it 'quite exhilarating'?

Tailgating causes accidents. Wouldn't have been quite as exhilarating if the driver of car you were tailgating had had to slam on the breaks suddenly and you had wound up smashed into the back of them.

It does matter what speed you do. Driving too slowly on a motorway is as dangerous as speeding and also an offence.

As PPs have said, if you are not confident enough to drive at a normal speed on a motorway you shouldn't be on one.

82 from a driving instructor is concerning, I'd definitely be raising that either with them directly or with AA. The 70+5+10% sounds like he has misunderstood. But is also be raising concerns if he was saying to drive at 50.

What do you mean 'if it's pissing people off I move to left lanes' - you should never be in any other lane than the left lane at that speed unless you happen to be overtaking something slower (unlikely if you're driving at 50.)

To be honest no matter what your speed you should always be in the left lane unless overtaking. I can't stand the number of drivers who sit in the middle lane when the left lane is clear - it's so dangerous.

Given that were getting more electric vehicles Ion the road i would argue dropping the speed limit to 60 for "environmental" reason is soon to be a waste of time

You use a lot more electricity in an EV at higher speeds, though, so there is still a green argument. I often drive to work at the speed limit, range dropping like crazy, and on the way home when I’m not in a rush stick with the lorries in the left-hand lane. I often get home with the same range as I left the office with or even a bit more! The difference between driving at 60 and 70 is huge.

Me too! I find 57 is optimum for holding range in mine.

If you were just driving along then that's not appropriate and I would report him.

However if you were stuck behind a lorry etc and he wanted you to drive in the overtaking lane and build up speed to overtake then you are being unreasonable.

For me you haven't given enough information about the drive.

In a 70mph limit? Are you sure?

If so, can you post a (redacted) photo of the NIP?

There are regular arguments about the threshold on motoring forums and, from what I've seen, no one seems able to provide evidence of being prosecuted for less than ([limit + 10%] + [2]) mph, so it would be interesting to be able to prove it does happens.

I'm an IAM National Observer (I help people pass their advanced motorcycle test). Progress does not mean speed Progress is making the best use of the available speed limit where safe to do so. On a motorcycle, that would include filtering, for instance.

Progress must be balanced with restraint.

If you were taking your advanced test, and broke the speed limit (as in this case), it would be an automatic failure.

Although I never drive at 60mph on a motorway so cant comment on the mpg. I know theres not a massive difference in mpg if I'm doing 70mph or 85mph .55-62mpg range in a 18yr old diesel