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!

No. Read again. Drive with the flow of traffic.

I love these threads, you either get a thread that says "I have a speeding ticket" and everyone jumps on with the, you shouldn't be speeding, you've broken the law speeches. But then someone makes a thread about driving to the speed limit and everyone jumps on telling them they are a slow dangerous driver who should be banned from driving on the motorway! Honestly you couldn't make it up

The op is perfectly entitled to be in the overtaking lane going at the speed limit if they are overtaking

HGVs and some other vehicles are limited by law to 60 mph and/or are fitted with speed limiters. HGVs are not allowed in lane 3 on a three-lane carriageway.

So if you're doing a steady 70mph (while conditions allow) then you're going to have to either slow down or overtake these at some point and might need to accelerate above 70 for a few seconds to safely pass.
You should still pull back in as soon as it's safe to do so.
Don't get me started on HGVs blocking lane 2 for miles on end on two-carriageway motorways like parts of the M11 because they're determined to overtake another lorry that's going one mph slower, but they then haven't got the oomph to get past. Especially on hills. Causes long, slow queues and much frustration.
There is a short, hilly stretch of the M11 which bans HGVs outright in lane 2. It's widely ignored, often by trucks with foreign plates, and is especially chaotic.
Rant over.

OP is driving with the flow of traffic, she's going into the outside lane and overtaking people in the middle lane going slower than 70mph and then returning to the inside lane.

She's doing nothing wrong

If I’m overtaking slower vehicles to my left then I am driving with the flow of traffic.

Agreed. And there's no such thing as the fast lane

Rightly or wrongly, most people work on the basis that cameras won't be triggered and the police will not stop you if you are 'only' 10% over the limit. That's 77mph on most dual carriageway/motorways, and given that no car speedo under reads, means that most drive along at an indicated 80 mph. In my experience those going significantly faster are much smaller in numbers - and I drive 25/30k miles a year.

There are two key problems that I see al lthe time. One is that for every 10 people doing an indicated around 80 (with little or no chance of prosecturion for sensible reasons) there's one that sits at an indicated 70mph or less, which is probably an actual speed as low as 58mph or even slower, that then annoys all the lorries trying to get around, and means that there's a 20 mph differnce between them and most other cars.

The second problem is that theres a bunch of drivers who are incapable of maintaing a constant speed even on a quiet road (these are aften the same people that speed up when you move out to overtake them...), so cars that are drving at a constant speed find that they are overtaking the same cars time after time - and constantly having to change lane as a result

I speed on motorways (though am conscious of where the speed cameras are on "smart" motorways). I overtake and move back into the appropriate lane. I don't tend to do more than 85mph. I cannot see how I can drive perfectly legally on a 2-lane motorway in France at around 82mph (130km/h) whereas suddenly that's dangerous in the UK?

The 70mph was introduced decades ago when few cars could even reach those speeds. It should be updated. Clearly everyone needs to be aware of stopping distances etc, but I have driving slowly.

I do the same as you. If I am driving faster than the other cars I stay in the right lane until there is space for me to move over. I have absolutely no issue moving over and letting other people pass if they want to drive faster than the speed limit. It’s not up to me to police other people’s speed.

This is quite eye opening. People clearly feel that the speed limit on motorways is wrong and therefore it is ok to break that law. It does make driving more challenging when everyone decides their own rules based on how tgey rare their own competence and their own opinions on when speed limits were set. The rules of the road work best when we all follow them.

There's an argument that you only get speeding tickets if you are not paying attention.

A lot of people who exceed the speed limit don't get speeding tickets. Because when they see something that is likely to clock them they slow down.

Some people would argue that this level of attention is necessary for driving at any speed.

If you think that, you shouldn't be driving

I'm not condoning speeding op but have you ever driven one of those larger cars. They really don't feel like they are moving that fast so it is very easy for the speed to creep up. The road handling is significantly different to a little light car like a fiesta too.

@CantHoldMeDown

Where I live the majority of people drive far too slowly, are hesitant, have poor lane discipline and observation. I want those people behind me, not in front of me.

I fully agree. Fast drivers usually aren't the problem. At least they're usually concentrating on the road and have roadworthy cars.

The real problem are the ditherers, the hesitants, the oblivious and the incompetent. Those who don't stay in lane 1 except actively overtaking (middle land hoggers in particular need a special place in hell!). Those who don't know the road rules/laws and dither/hesitate or just do the completely wrong thing. Those doing 30 in a 20 limit and carry on doing 30 when it changes to 40 or 50 (oblivious). Those who don't get in right lanes at roundabouts and junctions because they don't look at road signs and road markings and then swerve across traffic without shoulder check/mirror check to the right lane at the last minutes. Also the ever increasing number of drivers without valid licences, i.e. foreign drivers who've not got UK licences despite living here for years, people just without licences at all, people who got relatives/friends to take their driving tests for them (look alikes!).

So many other types of dangerous drivers are a much bigger problem than competent drivers going a bit over the limit when conditions suggest it's not dangerous to do so!

As you say, I want the dangerous/incompetents behind me where they can't harm me than in front of me where they can!

Thats not how it works - lane 3 is for overtaking vehicles in lane 2 not speeding

🤦‍♀️
Think about this if you were walking on a footpath, and how annoying you'd be to suddenly pull put in front of people so they all have to slow down. It's dangerous. Why don't you slow down to those other people rather than pull out? They are to you, what you are to them. You're meant to apply common sense, not blindly follow the law. That's why it's called common law.

OP is overtaking slower traffic, she doesn't need to go over 70 mph to do this, if she's getting in the way of others at 70mph then OP isn't the problem here, it's those speeding

Ive driven a 4 liter lexus and a 1.1 UP obviously there is a difference in handling and power - still doesn't mean you should break the law. Added to which the UP doesn't have cruise control and the luxury cars do and can be set at 70mph

You are completely correct OP. The fact that people call it the fast lane, and are indignant that anyone in it is going under 90 mph, says a lot. I was a bit of a zoomer, until i moved to Southern Italy. No one gives a flying fuck here about the rules of the road, and i have seen so many crashes, multiple deaths, including a child being thrown through a windscreen. Everyone needs to grow up, and slow down.

This doesn't make any sense though? Nowhere did the OP say she just pulls out in front of people. If you are overtaking you look first to make sure it is safe to do so and then pull into the lane. So if it is safe to do so and you pull into the lane, overtake without breaking the speed limit and pull back to the left, you have completed the maneuver correctly. If you are flying up the "fast lane" at more than 70MPH then you are speeding

The danger is those that are speeding - just don't Don't try and justify speeding and breaking the law with "common sense"

I don’t suddenly pull out in front of people. Ever. Ever.

Are you suggesting I should never overtake someone unless I’m prepared to break the speed limit whilst doing it, on the off chance
some dick a good distance behind me wants free rein to continue zooming along at 90 mph?

I call it the Clarkson tendency. Those who view any restriction when behind the wheel as some assault on personal freedom.

Along with people who are always late for anything and trying to reduce that, those who underestimate time for a journey, and traffic congestion caused by middle lane hoggers.

The terminology of motoring 'offences' not crimes (which is what they are) shows how such crimes are viewed.

Re OP, I do not think you are being unreasonable. I can rarely remember the last time I was able to drive at even 70mph on UK motorways as 'average speed checks' are all over the place at 50mph and if a lane is closed for any reason then if you don't have to constantly stop and start because some drivers just do not know how to merge, then to get above 30mph you're winning. I hate the M5!