To drive at the speed limit, despite what the bloke right up behind me wants?

[tearinghairout]

I often do a 20-mile trip on B-roads & through villages where the speed limits are 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60mph in various places. On two stretches there are speed cameras, and a few months back I got a warning letter for doing over 30 in a 30mph limit - don't know by how much, but I was lucky not to get a fine.

So I stick to the speed limits, even though IMO some are a bit daft - the 20mph is only relevant at school pick-up & drop-off really - but it's not for me to decide the law.

So why are there always cars - always BIG cars - right up my exhaust pipe trying to chivvy me up? It's SO stressful, why not just relax & go with the flow?

I can't BEAR being tailgated. I generally slow down gradually which usually allows the person behind me to overtake (or on narrow country roads, I do often pull over). I don't HAVE to do that, but if someone is a tosser, I would rather that they were in front of me, not behind.

Plus I have twice had the absolute joy of seeing the tosser pulled over by the police further down the road.

I also have just had to do a speed awareness course and I'll admit I did feel slightly hard done by being done for doing only 36 mph (in a 30) especially as I generally stick to speed limits. But the one thing that really stuck with me was this - if a child stepped out 75 feet in front of you, you would stop in time if you were doing 30mph. At 32, you would still be travelling 11mph when you hit him, and at 38mph, you'd be doing 29 mph and there would be an 80% chance of serious injury or death. And that's with fast reactions. So I won't be exceeding 30 in a 30 again.

I do find it very annoying when people drive 10/15 miles under the speed limit on a perfectly clear road but then I just wait safely to overtake them (you can't see clearly if you tailgate!). And that's not the OP's point anyway. I'll go now, I am rambling!

Haha good one, my brains will not be splattered anywhere cos i dont actually drive, i usually walk most places except the weekly shop, so nur i just watch all u other idiotic drivers + what u do. And mums are the worst especially when they are the laziest sods of all, cant be bothered to walk to school and get the kids, and then barely concentrate whilst driving down the road in their tanks cos the kids r distracting them. + just to clarify i havent mentioned country lanes, but ppl should go easy on small roads.

You're quite barmy.

Thats me hercules lol

i didn't actually specify whether or not your brains would be splattered on the outside or inside of the windscreen.

speeding is your business if you're a pedestrian, most certainly. it increases the danger to you quite distinctly.

Like i said i walk anyway, so y would my brains be splattered on the inside. Makes no sense

I must agree. And to touch your brakes when someone is tailgating you, especially at high speed on the motorway, is extremely dangerous because if the twunt behind you slams on, it's the poor unsuspecting person behind who them is liable to end up face-first in their back windscreen. It's better to lift off the accelerator slightly and increase the distance between you and the car in front but without braking. Of course, if this approach has the effect of irritating aforementioned twunt, so much the better as far as I'm concerned.

I've been behind a car that was aggressively tailgating another once. I flashed my lights and honked my horn at him. I thought the car in front could probably have done with my support.

uh-huh, tiredmum. a pedestrian is someone who walks.

Leave tiredmum alone Riven and Aitch, you're both trying to get a bit 'clever' and it's irelevant to the post.

lol. yes, a pox on 'clever'. i'm not sure i'd be too flattered by your defence, moonchild, if i was tiredmum.

we've had some seriously heavy rain here recently, i couldn't believe how fast some people were driving on the motorways. i wouldn't even say that they were breaking the speed limit, but they didn't slow down. i saw one car overtake another then aquaplane across the two inside lanes. madness.

so what, now you want to have a pop over here as well? I'm not defending her Aitch, please explain where I do?

Ah yes pile ups on German motorways.

Casualty rate 75% greater than in Britain.

The result of no speed-limit.

what ARE you talking about, moonchild?

Yes there's no speed limit on german motorways, they have massive pile-ups with loads of casualties.

There's been talk of introducing a speed limit but the car lobby scuppered it I think.

Incidentally has anyone heard of the Association of British Drivers? They're a bunch of tossers who claim to speak to all of us who drive and they basically embrace the Jeremy Clarkson school of motoring behaviour as representative of us and reasonable. I came across them recently and felt so pissed off that they claim to speak for me and wondered if there's an alternative, reasonable organisation.

(Sorry for thread hijack OP, no yanbu btw!)

I didnt say all drivers r idiotic riven, so dont even go there, i know u might like to try and get others to start but i hope they are not listening to u. And when i said dp gives them a piece of his mind + overtakes them, i meant only when they just pulled out in front of him then continued to drive at 20 mph. But i suppose cutting people up is ok in ur and aitch's book, i am sure u will say thats ok though. Come on lets see if ur hypocrites. And thanx for moon they think only there opinions count

No problems Tired.

Agree tailgaiters are the devils spawn who have microphalluses.

Sorry TierdMum, I find your textspeak too knackering to try and read, you may have some amazingly salient points, but I just can't be arsed to wade through the abbreviations.

If you are driving at 30 in a 30 mph zone there is no reason to pull over to let people pass.

The only time I would let people pass is if I'm driving at night when I tend to drive slower so if at night I want to drive less than 40 in a 40 mph zone I would pull in to let the driver behind past.

If I am driving at 40 in a 40 mph zone and someone is right on my tail I might then slow down so that if he wants to drive in a way he risks hitting me he will hit me at a slower speed....

People driving dangerously close do not have room to stop so will hit you if you have to stop suddenly (if a car comes the other way on a narrow road) so it would not be advisable to drive faster to make the person behind less impatient.

People who do not leave the correct distance
and drive too close are the ones in the wrong.