To wonder how so many people are comfortable breaking the speed limit?

[AngeloMysterioso]

Is it just me? I’m pretty vigilant about sticking to the speed limit but more and more I’ve noticed recently that I’ll be doing 70 or just below on a dual carriageway or the motorway and someone will go flying past. God forbid I be driving at the limit on the outside lane, even if I’m going faster than everyone in the middle lane it’s only a matter of time before some knob is either flashing their headlights at me or driving up my arse (or both) while I wait for a big enough gap to move across so they can shoot off before doing the same to the next car in front.

It tends to be most often 4x4 drivers or Mercedes/BMW/Jaguar etc types. Maybe they just don’t think they should have to see the back of a 16 year old Fiesta!

As will I. But if I go up to 75mph I am breaking the law, as are you. I’m ok with that for those few seconds but it’s not ‘the right’ thing to do. So OP should not feel bullied into breaking the law by some jackass trying to do 90mph while she is safely and legally passing slower vehicles. That’s what this thread is about.

It also causes lorries to drive too close together

Nothing 'causes' anyone to drive too close to the vehicle in front, except (temporarily) another vehicle moving into your gap until you've momentarily eased off and dropped back.
There's a problem with lorries overtaking when there's not enough speed difference, which would be alleviated either by the overtaker being more realistic or the overtaken easing off a wee bit while the other passes. But there's quite a few places where a crawler lane would be useful

People who drive too close behind are so rude. You missed out Audi drivers in your post.
I do speed a little, but I don't bully slower drivers. Being in that lane to overtake sounds perfectly reasonable.

They are worth avoiding for a number of reasons. Ever seen those plastic luminous things on the wheels ? They are wheel nut indicators. Because lorries can shed wheels. One of those hits you can be catastrophic for you and barely affect the lorry.

High sided vehicles are also susceptible to swerving out of lane from gusts of wind because of the force on the high sides. So if you are driving close to one and there is a massive gust it can swerve into you.

Stuff can also fall off them.

How many people actually think about this sort of stuff rather than go on about endlessly about speed limits ?

Not many is the answer.

I'm pretty sure that in reality no-one with any sense hangs around longer than they need to while passing a truck. But because they're speed limited you shouldn't need to really welly it to get past, should you? If traffic in the overtaking lane isn't going much faster than the lorry then hanging back a bit till there's enough gap to accelerate into is likely a good idea.

If "hanging back" behind a lorry means that another lorry is also behind you, probably too close, then I'll be accelerating and breaking the speed limit, if necessary, to get past it. No way am I being a jam sandwich between two lorries - that's suicidal the way they drive sometimes. I also don't want a lorry close behind me as it will mean my visibility of what's behind me in other lanes will be severely compromised - unless the road was curving to the right, I wouldn't be able to see what was coming up in the right hand lane well enough to understand their relative speed and how much space I had. As I say, I get away from them and if that means speeding for a short period so I can overtake and get out of their way as quickly as possible, then I'm happy to do it.

The motorway I use most is a smart motorway and if I set my limiter at around 74 it doesn’t trigger the camera and most people are going slower .

Just because a lot of young men drive Audi, Mercedes & BMW doesn't mean the rest of us who drive them should be boxed in the same category. I am an Audi driver and drive very well I think. We're not all assholes. I just love the comfort and style of that car. I have come across many bad drivers who don't drive either of the 3.

Yeah, you’re literally the only person ever to view lorries as a potential hazard on the roads. The rest of us are staring rigidly at our speedometers.

Or… people who are cautious about speed are also cautious about other potential sources of danger 🤷‍♀️

Quite often, it's a struggle to get change lanes after overtaking because the cars in the other lane are driving too close together and not leaving sufficient gap between them .

For those out there who are OK with bending the laws to their whim, can I just double check if you are OK with others doing it?

If you can choose when to speed, can a cyclist choose that a red light is worth stopping at? Can a driver choose to choose to use their mobile phone when the road is quiet? Can a road user choose to not to insure their vehicle (no fundamental risk there, except to your wallet) when it suits them?

Very interested.

This!!

Very good point.

Exactly. If everyone in left hand and middle lanes are maintaining the two second gap (or 2 chevron gap where marked), then they shouldn't need to brake if someone who's just overtaken them moves into "their" lane, they can just ease off the accelerator slightly to regain the two second gap. The biggest problem in the left hand and middle lanes is people driving way to close to the vehicle in front of them. Quite simply if someone pulling in between you and the car in front causes you to have to brake or other evasive action, you were too close to the car in front in the first place!

So you take each law individually and decide whether it merits your compliance?

Interesting approach.

I know plenty of cyclists don't stop at red lights. They chose to ignore the rules! I do find it funny that you don't consider pedestrians at risk when cyclists skip red lights.

By the way, you can use a mobile and keep full attention of your surroundings, I do it all the time - I'm better than everyone else!

Different types of risk. You can't compare riding through a red light against slightly exceeding a speed limit in good conditions. You certainly can't compare using a mobile phone which causes a loss of concentration/loss of observation. I'd regard cycling through red lights and using a phone far more likely to cause an accident than exceeding a speed limit in good conditions with full concentration.

I am broadly relaxed about anyone how people chose to interpret everyday speeding laws, as they are clearly a means of income generation, and as long as they don't whinge and whine when they are caught and accept the penalty that's fine. That doesn't mean I take the same view about all motoring offences

Some laws are less enforced than speeding - and I am relaxed about adherence to them as well, again as long as people don't moan when caught. But some laws have far more severe penalties, which is also presumably a reflection of how important the state thinks they are, and the seriousness of potential outcome for perpetrator and victim, and so I am not as relaxed about them being broken.

As we know, cyclists routinely ignore red lights, for which there is no penalty that can be enforced as there is no way of identifying a cyclist using a camera. They'll come of worse, so I don't mind if they break them

Lots of people speed. The penalty for that for most offences is 3 points and £100. in 2021 there were 2.4 million speeding offences, of which 3/4s were dealt with by speed awareness courses - at £100 a go that's £2.4 billion of income... So break speed limits within reason as often as you like. I struggle to get worked up, and I certainly won't be 'policing' it myself...and if anyone loses their licence as a result, well, you had enough warning

Plenty of people use mobiles when driving, but they do tend to whine when caught. The penalty for that is up to 6 points and £200. Again, I can't get worked up about it - hopefully they will lose their licence before too long anyway and cameras are increasingly being deployed to catch offenders

There are 42 million cars in the UK, of which ~ 300,000 are on the road and uninsured at any point in time. So the % is small - but the penalty is unlimited, the car can be seized and destroyed and the driver disqualified. I have no idea if a car is insured, but hopefully between ANPR and the police this is being tackled.

As 45% of people do speed on the motorway, I think it's safe to assume that there is tacit acceptance by the government and the police that the main reason that limits are what they are is for income generation, and therefore those who are rigidly sticking to 69 mph are not playing the game by the rules that are in place, and are in fact denying critical services like schools and the NHS of income ;)

In urban areas I follow the speed limit religiously. On motorways in benign conditions (no heavy traffic, wet weather etc) I will sit on 80mph.

I think you say things to deliberately wind some people up. That's increasing blood pressure so giving the NHS work

No, I play games and scroll Instagram on my phone. I am better at it than 99% of people and my phone is built for it, so I can do it when others can't.

I also do it when the roads are quiet so the risk is even more managed.