Colleagues complaining I'm too slow

[Stuffedandbloated35]

In driving- I'm not, I'm just actually doing the speed limit. We're in a community-based role where we have clients who need two carers and we all have to drive as part of the role.
I've only been driving a few months but I seem to be one of the few who actually does 20 in a 20 (I know the speedometers and sat navs are probably slightly off) and I'm definitely not doing below the limit, I'm doing 30 in 30s and so on.

But I've been in the car with these colleagues e.g. when i was shadowing, and most of them go a few miles over the limit so it looks like I'm slow in comparison. We meet at people's houses and they're always there before me, also because I'm new I have to find the address on my sat nav, I don't yet know the way by heart.

I've had one member of staff ask me if I can go a bit quicker, and often now carers go into the call before I'm there, so it makes me look late even if I'm not. I'm not getting lost or going the wrong way, I must only be a min or two slower at most and sometimes we do arrive at the same time.

It's stressful but I'm not willing to risk points over it, not sure what to do?

If I'm on a 20 road and a car is driving right behind me, I hate that so I tend to let them pass and funnily enough they whizz down the road, so were probably doing way more than 20.

Get them to give you a lift?

They can drive.

Have Google maps on the dashboard. It'll display the speed limit and your actual speed.

It may be the only way, just sometimes it's difficult because we also have 'single' calls in different areas where we need to go our own way to.

Thanks, i do but they don't match, if it says I'm doing 30 on google maps it'll show as about 32 on my car, so I don't know.

Are you setting off promptly? My dd passed her test a year ago and is a careful driver (good) but it takes her ages to get anywhere as she also takes a while to set off as she’s faffing about with her sat nav etc.

Don’t feel pressured about driving faster, better to be few minutes late and in one piece.

Cars always show a little over what you're actually doing. The sat nav will be much more accurate.

I used to be a carer and it's never been an issue for me. I also drive to the speed limit and, if they elect to go in without me, that's their prerogative and it will be their responsibility should anything happen to them or the client. My job is to document what happened i.e. "arrived at XX:XX, colleague X was already at the house. I did these task ,they did the following. Left YY:YY" happy days.

Let them get the speeding tickets.
You will feel better when you know your routes and have more confidence in driving. We all have to learn at some point how to do new things.

I start my car, enter the address then set straight off, takes about 30 seconds to wait for it to set up

I just don't trust whether the sat nav is more precise or the car

The sat nav is correct. Speedometers over read by a couple of miles an hour. They're built that way.

I've heard of people getting speeding tickets for doing 23 in a 20, so YANBU.

Are any of these people going to pay your speeding fine?

Are they going to take your speeding points for you?

Are they going to pay your insurance premium hike if you crash your car?

No, they won't. So just say you won't breaking the law for anyone.

There have been quite a few community carers in the two speed awareness course I’ve been on.
It’s obviously a stressful job - too much to do, too few hours. The answer is not to speed, but the actual solution (decent working terms and conditions) won’t come soon.

Sat nav is more precise
Speedos underestimate
You can do 10% over or something without being flashed by speed camera. So there's an allowance over/under
So don't feel like you'll get shot and slam on the brakes just bc you're going 32 in a 30 or 22 especially if it's off a hill or what not
Just tell them you're still new at driving so don't know all routes if they complain about you being slow. Simple as

I'll just have to keep doing what I'm doing and tell them to speak to the office- it does feel like so many people go over the limit. I know this colleague did as her car went beep beep beep and flashing red on the screen because she was going over 20 mph.

@Stuffedandbloated35

just highlighting this post in case you miss it, this is the kind of attitude you need to develop. Their driving is their business & you're driving is your business! Don't let them pressure you into exceeding the speed limit.

if they ask you to go more quickly just say ' I prefer to stick to the speed limit and not get a ticket thank you'. No need to be too preachy. about driving more safely than they do or whatever.

I will say, though that most cars speedos are a bit higher than what you're actually going so I would say that The satnav or Google Maps 30 when your car is saying 32 is probably you driving at 30.

do you go past any of the digital speed things that tell you your speed? That would enable you to check your car speedometer and what the satnav is saying.

Obviously, it's going to take you a minute more until you get to know the houses and the routes

try not to stress about it, shut them down just by saying you're not going to exceed the speed limit & it'll all work itself out.

It's a very tough job you're doing and greatly appreciated by those of us that have needed you, I hope other than this they're a good bunch to work with because it makes all the difference!

If I'm on a 20 road and a car is driving right behind me, I hate that so I tend to let them pass

Do you mean that you're slowing down to let them pass?

I pull over where I can, I hate having a car tailgating me trying to make me go faster

You really don't need to do that. All you're doing is making yourself even slower, and more likely to be late!

Are you running late on your rota'd time? If not then it's their problem not yours. If they want to start on a double up call on their own, then that's their prerogative as long as they don't do anything that requires 2 carers, they can crack on.

Don't let them pressure you just because they want to knock off early or cut call times.

Rota software should plan the time required to drive at the speed limit between care calls. If it doesn't, it's because the care coordinator is cramming calls.

Passengers don’t get to dictate how a driver drives. It’s your licence, OP, your car, your choice. (FWIW, I think your approach is the right one, speeding kills.)

Is there a driving on work business type e learning module you need to do. If you do that and say to boss you are following training (it will say about adherence to speed limits)

Don’t let the fact you’re a new driver make you feel inadequate. Just remember you’re not dying to get there. Ignore them and unless you’re driving at a snails pace under the speed limit you’re fine.

They usually only give 5 minutes between calls even if if it's a 10-min drive, but if it's e.g. an hour call you usually leave around the 50-55 minutes mark.