re: speeding - do you? How often? in what circs? AIBU???

[MissJacksonIfYourNasty]

I had a tiff with my DH today on the way home from visiting friends. He drove 90 mph on the motorway, 70 mph in a road clearly marked 50 mph and then 55-60 mph on a road marked 40 mph. I made a remark about how dangerous I thought it was, which he rubbished. He then came out with his stock remark 'When you learn to drive, you can do what you want'. (I failed my test last year and will start lessons again in the summer, when I have the time off and have scraped together the money). To which I gave my stock reply (this is an old argument, btw): 'It's my business when our kids are in the car'. Humphy silence followed on both sides (and he slowed down).

It just makes me so mad.

AIBU, though? Do all you drivers regularly speed? he certainly wasn't the only one whizzing down the dual carriageway at way over the speed limit. He doesn't speed on residential / town roads, btw, just A roads and motorways. And he is not usually a twat.

It depends on the conditions. On clear, dry motorways with good visibility I might stray a bit above the limit but not by much these days. Certainly not if I have DCs in the car. If I'm on a national speed limit road then I tend to do speeds that are entirely dependent on conditions/visibility/environment.

I used to go at some quite ridiculous speeds in my 20s when I had a fast motorbike and no children. I've calmed down an awful lot now. What annoys me are the people who'll do 40 in a wide-open 50 limit and then, when entering a 30 with narrow pavements and pedestrians around, carry on doing 40. Ones speed needs to be appropriate for where you're driving.

Like most others, it seems, I occasionally exceed the limit on motorways but never in a 30 zone.

I think there is a good case for an 80mph limit on motorways (maybe just on the middle/fast lanes), but with many more average speed cameras to make it a real limit. I am amazed at the number of people who drive at 100+.

I also think rigorously enforced 20 mph limits should become the norm in very built up areas, including around every school.

My pet bugbear is roadworks.

I get really annoyed at motorway roadworks where there is no-one working there - especially if you are forced to slow down to 40 or below for no reason. The road repair companies should be paid a flat amount for the work, but also charged increasing fees every day for the privilege - so they try their best to get roadworks done quickly.

The same sort of scheme can apply to people who come to fix gas/water/telephone/cable in residential areas. Dug up roads with no-one doing anything annoy the hell out of me!

The speed limit is there for a reason, I never speed, ever.

I am almost 2 years up since passing test, that isn't the reason I don't speed.

I don't speed as speeding kills.

JMO.

once and once only when i had to take my DS1 to casualty after he fell off his bike and slammed into our gatepost, knocking himself out and splitting his head really badly in the process.
Ambulance was gonna take at least 20 minutes. Threw my DS2 (aged about 10 months) to my neighbour, picked my DS1 up and threw him in the back of the car and took off.

70 miles an hour on the dual carriage expressway to the nearest hospital.

DS1 needed stitches and an overnight stay in the hospital.

What I don't understand is what difference it makes having children in the car? What about the children in the other cars that are driven within the limit? What if you have an accident with them?
I am tired so not biting tongue right now- it is just arrogance to think you can drive how you want and you are safe. It is laziness to not rein it in. If you are consistently driving the same amount over the limit, you just have to train yourself to drive within the law.
When you get used to it, it isn't slow or inconvenient anymore. Unless there is a true emergency, there isn't a good excuse.
It's not about driving as if every other driver is an idiot, it's driving so that you don't become the idiot.

"And it makes me really cross that people worry more about getting caught, points, fins, etc than endangering livs"

Absolutley AGREED! NO ONE has mentioned worrying about an accident, how they would feel if they hit someone. Speeds are set for a reason, and that reason is not for people to think it is a challenge to see how much faster they can go.

Really am shocked at how many of you seem to think speeding is OK! And the speed awareness course, instead of the points is a crap idea! You should get the points, pay the fine & do the course!

If you get caught speeding here (Australia) you pay up to $300 for the 'privilege' & get points dependant on the speed. No doing a course to get out of points!

"You are quite right that when dc are in the car and you can't agree on a speed, the driver should pick the lowest"

How about picking the speed LIMIT?

Perhaps the speed at which you choose to drive may be under the speed LIMIT, differentnameforthis? In bad driving conditons, the speed LIMIT may be too fast.

Only on motorways or dual carraigeways and only when the road is clear.
I occasionally go over 30 on the seafront road when it's empty as well, but never in traffic or in a residential area.

Sometimes, yes. As most people have confessed it's normally on motorways or similar - but sometimes also I'll just suddenly realise that I'm driving too fast on a single-carriageway road. I'll slow down, and it makes me take notice again for a while (and I mean weeks, not just a few minutes). But there are plenty of circumstances where it's easy to get sucked into breaking the limit again.

I have two big issues with the whole 'speeding' debate:

1. You are not necessarily driving safely if you are going at a speed less than the posted limit. Your stopping distance and the amount of control you have vary greatly with a number of factors - weather conditions, the car you're driving, your own skill as a driver - before even considering the traffic conditions and other factors. A speed limit is therefore not a definition of how fast it is safe to drive.

1. Certainly around us, we are seeing more and more speed limits put in place - and many more changes of limit. It's my opinion that this is partly because of my previous point: people take them at face value and do not adjust their driving for the situation. Whereas we may previously have had a 40-limit on a major road through a town, it now has frequent 30 (or even 20) stretches because most drivers have forgotten how to drive safely when the road narrows, where there are junctions, a few shops, etc. This has led to the introduction of more and more limits in the same way that you end up micro-managing someone who cannot think for themselves.

So all-in-all, I think that speeding is dangerous, and there's no question that exceeding the posted limit is an offence. What I also think though is that the posted limits are not always put up for the right reasons - and that to make our roads safer we need to concentrate on having better drivers rather than more arbitrary limits.

SouthernDad, I agree. Inappropriate speed is dangerous.

You hit a car with children in it on the motorway at 90 you just might kill them. Or yourself. Doesn't matter whether the road conditions are good or there aren't many cars on the road, things happen which means you may be unable to avoid hitting them.

Agree with you southerndad. Unfortunately we live in a society where people need to be told what to do rather than use their common sense!

You hit a car with children in it on the motorway at 70 and you might well kill them.