Aibu in thinking that people are more likely to drive up your arse in a 20 zone?

[KindergartenKop]

In my local area all the roads are 20mph. Annoying but safer! I feel like people are more likely to be driving right up behind me to try to get me to go faster in 20 zones than in a 30 or 40 zone elsewhere. Aibu?

I suppose correlation doesn't equal causation, maybe my fellow townspeople are just particular arseholes???

I'm not so sure. I had a complete pillock right up my arse for 5 or 6 miles of 50 mph road yesterday. He was so close part of the time I couldn't even see his headlights in my rear view mirror.

When we got into town, and the traffic was at a crawl, I stopped and let another car out of a side road that is really difficult to get out of when the traffic is busy. The stupid arsehole sounded his horn at me, for holding him up for maybe .... ooh, a whole couple of seconds.

And it’s always men that do this

I know it's dangerous because these guys are probably psychos but I drove more slowly to piss them off.

Nah, they're twats, whatever the speed limit and whether or not you're keeping to it yourself - they'd still be up your arse trying to intimidate you out of their way (or straight into a mortuary) if you were doing 90 on the motorway in the pissing rain as well.

Rather than risk them doing something even more stupid than they are already doing and possibly taking out other road or pavement users, I think the best way is to keep doing what you're doing at the speed you feel is safe, but look into a way of letting them fuck off past you at the earliest safe opportunity to do. Hopefully, it'll take them straight into the view of a police car.

YANBU I think they all want to break their axles on the speed bumps. Can't think of another reason why they are so silly.

No it isn’t. Don’t be sexist.

I find whatever the speed limit I'll have an arsehole driving up my tail. I stick to speed limit and most short journeys it happens at least once.

Don't rely on the police to do a thing about it either. I've been driving with someone up my tailpipe and a police car just drive past in the other direction. They're not interested and that just gives the green light to this type of driver.

IME I notice a lot more tailgaters when I’m driving in a 20 zone.

Totally disagree with this. Some of the worst driving I've seen recently has been from young women- reckless and aggressive.

Nope I find it happens at any speed/ road conditions. Does my head in. It like them driving close is going to make me go faster, what is even more annoying is when they don’t over take when there is an opportunity to do so.

Our road is 20mph
If anyone drives up my arse, I go even slower....

The arseholes find it particularly annoying that I don't break the speed limit when it's quiet at 630am. And it's also dark and there are cyclists everywhere!

Completely agree and was just thinking it yesterday. A lot of drivers act as if you're going at 20 just for your own entertainment, and get up right behind and/or overtake. I find it quite stressful driving at 20 for this reason.

I do wish you'd told the woman who tailgated me for a couple of miles and beeped me for doing 27 in a 30 zone.

Most of our city is 20mph. Not policed. Just means the twats who were doing 40 so ten mph over the 30 limits are now doing twenty over.

Also a mix of women and men drivers.

And don't get me started on the school run idiots.......

YANBU and don't get me started on the drivers who over take you in a 20 even if you're doing over the 20mph speed limit and there's a line of traffic in front of you

I live in Edinburgh. Most of the city, and much of the suburbs, are 20 zones now. I have noticed I get tailgated a lot here. A lot of people ignore it and seem to zoom about at 30.

Is a 20 zone not actionable? Maybe if it was made a legal speed limit we'd get more people observing it.

And yes, I'd say the tailgating is an even mix of women and men. It happened to me yesterday, the woman was inches from my back bumper — so close that my car's rear proximity sensors kept going off. I pulled over and let her past; I didn't want her smashing into the back of my car.

At 20 the braking distance is shorter of course. It may feel like they are closer than usual, while still being reasonable.

Or they are just reckless muppets!

The other thing that seems to have happened (here) is that while many roads have been reclassified as 20mph zones, any existing speed cameras are still set to 30. So they don't catch anyone speeding unless they're doing over 33(ish) mph.

And the wording around the enforceability of 20 is a bit wafty. I still can't work out if 20 is enforceable by traffic police or not. (And maybe it's different in England vs Scotland vs Wales vs NI.)

There are some roads where 20 is the suggested speed limit, but is not the legal limit. Are you sure it's a definite legal limit?

I learned this on a speed awareness course (it's not just men who drive like dicks, I can assure you)

As someone who always sticks to the speed limits I inevitably attract the fuckwits who don't no matter what the speed limit...and who are deluded enough to think that driving as though they want to sit in my boot will make me go faster.

I just maintain my safe distance from whatever is in front of me and keep to the right speed. I have a dashcam, filming myself breaking the law would be the height of stupidity!

I think once people get used to the 20mph it will reduce. That said, there's occasionally idiots who'll overtake if they see the chance, go off at 30mph+ then I catch them up at the next traffic lights. What's the point?
There's always tailgaters whatever speed you're doing. I had a horrible one on a 3 lane section of the A1 once. I was in the middle lane doing 70 passing loads and loads of lorries, he was flashing his lights and I could see him waving his arms around in my mirror. I moved over once I'd passed all the lorries and he continued being aggressive as he passed. I have no idea what his problem was as there was a perfectly good third lane he could have used to overtake me!

In London the 20mph is enforced. I know this because my husband got a ticket for accidentally driving at 26mph on a non residential dual carriageway that is now limited to 20mph.

I was in a 20 this morning and had to overtake a cyclist, which I did safely and widely, but the idiot behind me assumed that I was going to go faster than 20 so tried to come up behind me at the same time. So dangerous as there was a car coming the other way. Some people just drive like they're the only ones on the road.

It’s 20 in our area too, it’s for emissions rather than road safety. It’s terrifying being the fool driving at 20 whilst people drive up my bumper and then overtake and throw aggressive gestures my way.
I now do detours to avoid certain roads where I can.