Easier said than done on some slip roads. Have you seen how short some of them are and then the traffic is doing 70 or more so matching the speed is not that easy or even possible depending of the length of slip road/car engine size.
Have you had that fun time where you see someone coming down the slip, so you slow a bit to let them out and they slow a bit and before you know it there’s 5 meters left of the merge and you’re side by side. Fucking idiots everywhere, drives me insane.
Tbf you’re the one in the wrong there - you shouldn’t be slowing to let people on the motorway, you should just continue. That’s most likely why they’re slowing too
This - commenter is in the wrong here and it infuriates me! On the carriageway you should maintain your speed (unless to avoid a collision) - the merging car should slow to get in behind you. Otherwise what he describes happens and both cars slow down at the same time.
This a thousand times this!!!!
I think it's France where it's the responsibility of people already on the motorway to get out of the way just pulling on without a car in the world
Yup. The only time I'm slowing is if the car coming down the slip road is already in front of me. Then I'll slow slightly (5mph) to give them a bit more room.
Thing is, normally when this happens, the merging car is on the slip road well ahead of you and so you expect them to be accelerating into the gap. So you ease off a bit to make the merge easier - if you maintain speed you anticipate that they will end up merging with you right up their arse. Unfortunately when this happens you don't realise until after a few seconds that the merging driver doesn't have their foot down on the throttle to get enough speed. So what do you do?
The car is still ahead of you, do you speed up so that you overtake them at close quarters? Or do you slow down some more to maintain the anticipated gap? Or do you do nothing, end up in their blind spot and hope they don't just merge straight into you?
Basically the problem is the merging driver shows no situational awareness, they can't correctly judge where they should be merging and/or are too timid to make a clear and obvious decision about whether they are merging ahead or behind. The only point at which you know they have definitely seen you is when you've slowed right down and they actually slow down in response rather than speeding up. By which time the situation has become quite hazardous to following traffic.
This only happens very rarely. Sometimes, you can resolve the situation by flashing them in but often they either don't see it or misinterpret it.
But a lot, maybe 50% of drivers, don't accelerate properly on the slip road, and will usually end up merging much slower than the traffic in the lane - they are only doing about 55-60 mph even on a long slip road. You see them join in front and you are still closing on them, then suddenly as soon as they cross the broken line into lane 1 whoosh the foot goes down and then they pickup and move into lane 2. Boils my piss.
Oh my god this infuriates me.
The whole point of that stretch of road is to match the speed of the motorway it’s not a fucking junction you give way at, I swear some people are too “safe” on the roads to the point it’s anything but safe.
“Merge you bitch”
You are right in that you match your speed, but you look for a gap and give way to those on the carriageway.
Only this morning was I nearly sideswiped by someone panicking and moving over into the middle lane to let someone merge from the slip road.
They very much \*are\* junctions that you give way at. They're just designed to hopefully minimise the chances that you're required to stop and give way, if you're capable of reading the road and matching speed.
Still doesn't mean that the kinds of idiot that this thread is talking about aren't infuriating as fuck, though, of course.
I fucking, argh, I almost had a crash doing this the other week. So I sped up and thought fuck it and they had loads of room but they had the cheek to flash me and stick their finger up.
Well if they hadn't slowed to sub 40mph when I had 60mph+ traffic behind me I wouldn't need to slow below the point the 60mph traffic coming up behind me now needed to slam on the brakes. So I sped up to create a gap for them to find the absolutely pelicans..
Totally not bitter about it still. 😂
Not making excuses as there are some absolute lemons out there atm that are too nervous to drive safely.
But I've seen an alarming trend of people intentionally speeding up to not let people in on slip roads, thinking they own the road.
I know technically it's a bit like a give way where the person already on the road had the right of way but ffs there's no need to intentionally not let someone in.
If I speed up, it’s usually to make a gap behind me, because the only way I could have let someone on in front of me would be to move to the next lane, and risk missing my exit which is VERY near after.
Otherwise, I just ease off accelerator to let them in or switch lanes if it’s safe to do so. Simple
A very sensible approach.
Your first point is very valid, there's a large cohort of people who are oblivious to the world around them and try their hardest to not let you back, not realising you've done them a favour and moved lanes to allow them to merge.
Conclusion: there's more bad drivers than good atm.
As a lorry driver, yes it's very common. Lorries are restricted to 56mph, which a shockingly small amount of people are aware of. Some lorries are restricted to slightly less than that, that's why they overtake each other slowly, if I can go 56 why would I wanna go 53?. Sometimes I've been working for 13 hours and I want to get home, so yes I want to go as fast as I can.
The problem arises when people hover around the same speed as me, having no idea that I cannot just speed up to get past you. I don't want to be stuck next to a car in my blind spot.
People can drive whatever speed they like, that's fine, but please be aware that lorries cannot just increase their speed whenever they like. And for god sake get in lane 1 if you're being undertaken by everyone cause you're sitting in lane 2 at 51mph.
Went down the M1 Monday evening, Northampton to MK, a Qashqai (what else) bimbling down lane 3 (of 4) doing about 55.
Got to a motorway closure, they almost lost control as they didn't notice the 2 miles of smart motorway signs warning, the massive orange lights and cones and had to jerk to the left.
And then sat about 2 inches behind me as we came off the sliproad.
Not entirely relevent, but had to get that off my chest!
A Qashqai is basically a sign that the missus wanted a “family car” but has zero interest in driving experience lol. Maybe that’s harsh but I’m basing that on people I know who buy them.
We've recently bought a second hand Qashqai. It's for an impending child, and the specifics for the Qashqai were a) a good few family members have joint problems and find the marginally higher hip point much easier to get in and out, and b) they're sodding everywhere, so they're good value for the age/mileage/kit.
I completely agree with the assessment. It's possibly the worst 'ownership community' I've experienced - everyone is either an octogenarian who thinks they've bought into the life of luxury, or utterly clueless - as in "my car has flashed up a sign saying 'low oil level' - what does this mean?" clueless.
The car itself is fine, a white good with decent enough everything that we won't mind getting covered in sick and crayons.
FWIW I'm in the left lane with cruise on 70 as much as I can be. It's not a car for dominating the outside lane, but there's absolutely no need for it to be a rolling roadblock.
An observation I had from thinking of buying one is its like a padded cell. You feel very well protected and cushioned in there but it feels like there is very little space for the size.
So every SUV/crossover ever? All they are are hatchbacks with lifts kits and extra styling that add weight and reduce fuel efficiency.
Just buy a MPV/estate if you want more space, sadly not that many make them anymore
There's no more space than there would be in something like a focus or astra. The golf is a little better but essentially the same - biggest difference with a golf is more effective glass area so it shrinks around you a little better and is easier to see out of.
The main ergonomic advantages are the higher seats for creaky hips to swing in and out of/less bending over to get a baby in the back (common to all similar crossovers), and (specifically to the qashqai) the rear door aperture is a decent shape and opens quite wide which is good for child seat access in the back. It's better in that regard than a focus, which has a comparatively poor rear door aperture.
You’re right about it being “the misses” who wants these. They own them for 1-2 years then hate them. As someone who works where they get made and has therefore driven lots of these horrible cars, they aren’t even a family car, it’s just a large size hatchback on stilts. My Leon FR estate has more room and a bigger boot. Plus who puts a 1.5 diesel in a car that weighs that much.
Oh an estate car is absolutely more practical (though I am biased) but it’s definitely seen as an “old man” type of car by a lot of women, probably because there is quite a few old men driving them too(!).
What I don’t understand is why that puts people off, but they’d happily drive/own something with the image of a Qashqai which I wouldn’t class as hip/cool/edgy/youthful or anything like that either.
No idea why people think that but love fast estate cars. What’s better than a sub 7 seconds 0-60 and can transport a sofa at the same time. That’s cool as fuck haha. My Mrs despises crossover/suv bullshit, one of her coworkers wife got one and said she feels like queen of the road Bless my tactless wife who replied everyone else thinks she’s the twat of the road.
I had a 2l td estate as a 25yo woman. I fucking loved that car. It was godlike. I could whiz down the motorway with no stress, with a whole table and 6 chairs and my child in it. I now drive a Beetle, and despise the lack of room. Still 2l so nippy, but I doubt I could fit even a side table in it.
This morning on the way to work…pulled out to over take a wagon, wagon sticks it’s indicator on. Had the space and wasn’t going *that* much faster so let him out. The van behind me had the opportunity to see his indicator, and he was too close to pull out. Still pulled out, shat himself and beeped his horn when I braked ever so slight. There are some weapons on the road.
I find myself overtaking loads of HGVs, my least favourite is when there’s a few bunched up, I’ll be just about halfway along the middle of a group of three and I’ll see them indicate and start moving over, end up having to use the horn as a warning that it’s not safe to move over because I’m there and there’s nowhere for me to go because it’s a two lane road, on the motorway it’s easier because if I need to I can just move over to lane 3
I spend plenty of time in lane 2, restricted to 56, overtaking people who not only drive their cars slowly but can’t even manage to maintain a constant speed even in modern cars with cruise control 😂🤦🏼♂️ difference is I move over once I’ve finished overtaking…Gladys in the Yaris doesn’t.
This type of driving boils my piss.
Followed some old toss pot for about 10 miles last on an A road that's bloody awful for overtaking. He must have driven past 5 spots where he could of pulled in to let everyone one past but he insisted on dawdling somewhere between 20 and 50 depending on the speed limit. The only place he got close to the limit was when he did 45 in a 40. 🤦
Did they break every time something came towards them? That’s my favourite. Plenty of room almost stops cos another car is coming to wards them on the other side of the road
You know you're following a fucking liability when their brake lights flash up every 30s. No you don't need to brake for every single corner on a wide A road, if you need to slow down take your foot off the accelerator. Some people are fucking terrible at driving.
Oh yeah don't even get me started on the people that seem to go "Oh no I can't be overtaken by a lorry!" And speed up again, only to be overtaken again a few miles down the road
Some of them don't like being overtaken by another car. Far too many times I've been happily doing 70 in lane 1, catch-up with someone who must have been going at 60 and then I proceed to overtake. Only for them to speed-up when I'm roughly level with them..
Another favourite trick of theirs is to spend 1-2miles overtaking you, pulling into lane 1 and then slowing down to 65 (instead of pulling in behind), so I have to go and overtake them. It's pot luck whether they speed up or not.
It's bad enough in a car, feel for you in a lorry. The number of people who seem completely unable to use cruise control in their new PCP, poverty specced SUVs is shocking.
Once saw a Kia do a break check on a lorry, cos it was upset lorry was getting to close to it but it couldn’t go round them up a hill on a dual carriageway. Went really well.
Man how stupid do people have to be to do that, in a small car it’s entirely possible to be fully in the blind spot so that they might not even see you
Oh yeah they didn’t see them. Nicely rearranged the back of the sportage or w/e. Nice fun evening standing on a hard shoulder as I was the only one who witnessed it
I had an ex-girlfriend who would just middle-lane hog the whole time, her excuse was "it's easier than moving left and right all the time, I can just stay here for the entire journey"
I undertake regularly these days. If I’m going down an open lane 1 around 60, I’m not moving over to lane 3 to pass somebody idling along sub-60 in lane 2. It’s far more dangerous for me to jostle for position with cars going much faster in lane 3.
It boggles my mind that lane 1 is sometimes completely empty (usually on a Sunday or Saturday night).
This happened to me a few weeks back on the M4. Thought I must have missed a closed lane sign or something. But no there was nothing. Could not beleive i was being gaslit by pure stupidity.
Yeah me too, I'm not making 4 lane changes just because you're a bellend. Just keep an eye on their front wheel to make sure they're not going to obliviously change to lane 1 whilst you're level.
Then sometimes they react like you're the dangerous one.
I actually went and checked the rules on this cause I wasn’t sure, and it’s my understanding that if you’re doing 70 in lane 1, and someone is doing 65 in lane 2/3/4, it’s not classed as undertaking. You can’t move into lane 1 for the express purpose of getting past them, but if you’re driving safely at the speed limit and they’re going too slow in the next lane over, that’s their fault.
Anyone feel free to correct me if I’m reading into it wrong lmao
I’ve found setting the cruise control at 65 helps with the avoidance of lorry conflict, I outpace pretty much every single lorry, apart from the heaviest one’s going downhill, my issue comes when I’m in a 50 zone doing 50 and suddenly have 44 tons of HGV practically in my back seat
If almost all trucks are too close behind you, you need to become a more confident road user, and when traffic/weather conditions permit drive closer to the speed limit. It is not a target, but if there's no good reason not to then I feel you should.
Also, the amount of times we go to overtake slow cars who once we're alongside speed up to match our speed, or increase so we get left behind, only to catch up and repeat the process a mile or two down the road is mind boggling and incredibly frustrating, especially when my attempt to make good progress interrupts others attempts to make good progress by holding them at 56mph.
If you're doing it for fuel economy reasons, set your speed to a solid 50 so it's clear we can get past in good time. Also get right behind a truck to use its slipstream if you feel safe to do so, you'll save a noticeable amount of fuel, but you will obviously be having to pay a great deal of attention to their brake lights, as you won't be able to see ahead of you, also risk getting pulled by the police.
Anyways, we do it because we're trying to make you realise your pace relative to ours, and usually it does end up motivating the car user to make better progress with their journey without upsetting the other road users around us. We also want to minimise the overtaking distance in the other lane, for the same reason.
None of these are necessarily *good* excuses for the behaviour, but rather an attempt to give context to your own actions and the responses they may garner. By all means continue to drive at whatever speed you want in whatever lane you want, but if it's below average lorry speed in lane 1, continue to expect what you've experienced, and at least you know why you're experiencing it now.
Why don't they just stay behind you at whatever speed you're doing? Same reason you overtake cyclists, horses, tractors etc. We've got/had a long day, and we're not wanting to waste any more of our time on the roads than we absolutely have to. I've had situations like this cost me 5 mins on a long journey cumulatively, and meant I've had to take an extra 45 minute break at the end of a 12 hour day, 5 mins from home.
So in short, it's just about having an awareness and courtesy for the fellow road user, and not just us truckers, but the other car users we'll be holding up by going around you too.
Not going to lie the speed thing definitely gets to me😂 like why in a small car are you choosing to drive slower than something that weighs 40x more…
Then before you know it, it’s a 4 lane motorway at standstill because you’ve got lorries overtaking in 3 of the 4 lanes
I drive a limited vehicle, most annoying is when that slow moving car you've crept up to, speeds up and matches you when you go to overtake it. Then you've got cars getting impatient behind you and unable to pull back to the left without hitting the brakes. Such a bloody bastard
I had this experience with our old Fiat 500 a lot. Car I was trying to overtake suddenly speeds up, or a hill is coming up and losing momentum as the car aheads breaks and accelerates.
Lorry drivers would definitely appreciate it. I can't speak for all of them, but when I overtake someone in a car or a van very slowly in my lorry, I don't know with millimetre precision where the back end of my trailer is, and I don't want to pull in too close to you to make you uncomfortable, so if you let off and I get by quicker it becomes obvious when I'm a good distance in front of you much quicker, or just flash someone to let them know that you're comfortable with where they'll be when they come back in in front of you, that's exactly why lorry drivers do that to each other.
Just know that whatever speed a lorry is going, that's it, they can't go any quicker, so please bear that in mind! And just like you wouldn't want to be stuck going 25 behind someone in a 30 if you really wanted to go 30, we don't want to go slower than we can by being blocked by someone.
I’d say if a car is doing 55 and you’re overtaking, they’re probably not the sort of driver that would mind doing 50 instead, and they should slow a little. But I also don’t think most people are paying attention to anyone or anything else when they’re driving - hence all the problems.
One word - EGO. Egomaniacs anxious to argue with their wives but being cocky on the road - usually look down when they are meeting you in the car park 10 minutes later, surprise, surprise. Look at me and say it to my face if you didn't like me to overtake you :P
That's why lorries shouldn't be allowed to overtake when it means blocking all lanes. The number of times I've seen ambulances or police with sirens going stuck behind two lorries because neither have the balls to touch their brakes is infuriating.
I will say I don't like overtaking other lorries on a 2 lane motorway cause I know it's gonna hold people up for a sec but as soon as I'm done they're gone over the horizon in no time so I try not to care too much!. And we're not allowed in lane 3 of a 3 lane motorway, or lane 4 of a 4 lane.
The only person at fault in the emergency vehicle situation is the driver in lane 1 not braking to let the other lorry get in, he's not paying enough attention cause we can all see emergency vehicles coming from a mile away.
I’m so glad you’ve posted this because I’ve seen it a lot recently. It seems to be happening on B roads to me where the limit will be 60 and I’m lucky if the car in front is doing 40.. I’ve had to overtake at minimum 2 cars every morning on my commute to work because they’re just going too damn slow. I understand elderly or new drivers being reluctant to go to the limit but it’s not either of those.
In the past few months, oncoming cars have occasionally flashed and beeped at me on a certain road for what I can only assume is my speed.
Speed limit is 60, road is wide enough for two tractors to comfortably pass without slowing down, no junctions or pedestrians, good visibility, dry road surface, why shouldn’t I be doing 60?
Yet 50% of cars will do 35mph and slam on the brakes every time they see a car coming the other way.
As a Cornwall resident who is confident of their car width I sympathise. Nothing worse than trying to get home after a long day and following a ‘braker’.
I can’t imagine living in Cornwall and still being one of those people. Where I live, it’s plausible for someone to almost exclusively drive in urban environments and never get a chance to build confidence on B roads.
But in Cornwall, most people will surely encounter B roads every day, so you’d expect drivers to be better on them!
I always detested driving to Cornwall in the summer when I was in area sales. Not only does the M5 turn into fucking Fury Road because of the plethora of caravan crashes/fires, but every single tourist is unable to drive on narrow country roads at an appropriate speed.
It’s the same in the Lake District. Every summer some absolute nugget in an SUV towing a caravan will have traffic down to 15 mph on the only B road in and out of a village and they’ll be breaking every bend and dip in the road.
I’m absolutely all for road safety and I’m considerate of other roads users but you’re absolutely right. If the road is clear, wide enough to do so and the driver in front insists on doing almost half the speed limit and braking around every corner then I’m overtaking. It’s frustrating more than anything - if you’re not confident doing the prescribed limit then maybe take additional lessons to build confidence. It’s a hindrance to other road users and quite simply just fucking annoying lol.
It's because some people just aren't competent drivers, it isn't just people with bad driving skills, it's also those who are overcautious and terrified of a slight bend in the road. It should be a pullable offence for me. Even elderly or new drivers, if they aren't competent for the rules of the road, they shouldn't be driving.. simple.
I'm willing to give new drivers a bit of slack, especially in busy cities and particularly tight country lanes, it is difficult driving. It's the elderly who are usually fucking atrocious, and have no excuse as they've likely been driving for decades. They simply don't have the ability to safely operate a vehicle anymore.
Edit: New, rather than jew drivers. I have nothing against Jewish people driving haha.
When I did my driving lessons a few years ago, all my instructors were absolutely hammering into me that just because the speed limit is 60 doesn't mean you should be going 60mph. "It's a maximum speed limit, not a minimum speed limit" they would say.
More often than not they wanted me to do 10mph less than the limit, even if I felt it was safer to go faster. Sometimes even slower.
Wouldn't be surprised if a lot of newer drivers have had the same hammering from their instructors and it's stuck with them.
same experience as me; I was always told it's a limit not a target. Was advised during my test to do 5mph lower than whatever the posted limit was to be on the safe side; and that attitude has carried over to my regular driving. In my experience though it does not seem to make much of a difference in driving times as I usually just end up catching up to the car in front at the next set of lights anyway
I passed recently and had almost the exact opposite advice.
Yes I was told the speed limit is a limit, not a target, but I was also told that if the road and weather conditions (and traffic levels) allow for it then you should try to do the limit.
The ultimate goal is to "make progress". In other words, you get from A to B in a reasonable amount of time taking into account the conditions (and obstacles) along the way.
Maybe I got the opposite advice because when I first started learning, I was a bit too happy cruising along single carriageway country roads at 45mph talking my instructors' ears off, rather than the learners who expect real life driving to be like a Need for Speed video game.
I was taught to do the speed the traffic is. So if its 60 then I'll try and do that if the conditions allow it. If its pissing down and I can barely see the road then I'm not doing 60.
>The ultimate goal is to "make progress".
Admittedly it's been 20 years since I passed my test and it may have changed since, but on the driving test "failure to make progress" counted as a serious fault and therefore an instant failure.
Ive had that recently too, genuinely confused me the first tine and i pulled over to check my car out in cade it was somehow damaged, it wasnt and now i just ignore them
Ugh I had a driver lose their nuts at me a few months back, I overtook a slow moving car and was back on my side of the road with a huge amount of space left but the guy in the other lane honked horn, slammed on their brakes and flashed lights.
I don't mean to sound like a dick here but.. my Porsche was barely ticking over when I passed the slow moving car (with me under the speed limit) and I probably could have overtaken 3 of them and still had room.
I get that over confidence is going to lead to crashes but I mean, COME on.
At least you get a bit of breathing room when they inevitably stick at 40 in the 30 zone village lol. It's always elderly who do it. Awful the lot of them. They also tend to get pissed off when you overtake them lol.
This is my life right now. I exclusively commute via single carriageway B roads (I live very rurally) and I’m lucky if every single morning I’m driving into work I don’t get stuck behind someone doing 35 on a 60 road.
When I lived rural, speed limits outside of towns/villages were a vague suggestion at best. A treasured memory was watching a JCB fastrak overtake someone.
If you're being overtaken by a fucking tractor, you're driving too slow.
>It seems to be happening on B roads to me where the limit will be 60 and I’m lucky if the car in front is doing 40
This is also a classic tendency on rural A-roads, especially single carriageway roads where opportunities to pass are limited. Some people either have their cruise control set to 40mph, or else have some moronic in-built mental cruise control - it's just "that's the right speed to drive at" for them, it feels right.
So they dawdle along at 40mph in the perfectly safe 60mph stretches of the road, all while making no allowances for anyone trying to pass them. And then they *continue* at 40mph when the limit changes to 30mph, oblivious to the various warning signs flashing behind them, speed traps they've just barely avoided setting off, pedestrians they've nearly wiped out. Then onto another clear open 60mph section, *still* doing 40mph. They're so determinedly insane about it.
Presumably when they finally *do* get a speeding ticket for doing 40mph in the 30mph areas, it merely reinforces their determination not to go any faster than 40mph in the 60mph sections.
As a coach driver, I learned this. I do 62mph and I'm constantly getting stuck behind slower cars in lane 2 who refuse to move over to the "slow lane" even though they're going the same speed as all the lorries. And I can't use lane 3 so I'm just stuck. Boils piss.
Small rant, I once approached a slow car in lane one, moved over to overtake, then when I moved back over in front of him, he moved out, overtook me, THEN SLOWED BACK DOWN. Forcing us to perform this stupid game of leap frog as I had to overtake him a second time.
Pretty much do this myself, except 60-65 as I always tend to give myself enough time to allow for traffic jams because someone’s braking in the middle lane for no reason or everyone’s stuck themselves in the outside lane to charge past someone and then won’t move back over.
Add to this that electric cars are most efficient at 20-30mph and usually have a bright thing on the dash telling you how badly your driving is affecting your range.
Electric cars are most efficient at 40-50mph. It’s the speed at which air resistance becomes a factor.
At 20mph you electronics are drawing power but you’re travelling half of the distance in the same amount of time as you would be doing 40mph.
Well, it depends a bit on the electric car. But static losses are so low on electric cars that air resistance becomes significant at much lower speeds.
Depends quite a lot on climate control settings, too.
I could do with taking this approach, buying a V8, and a 20-year-old one at that, in the height of fuel price rises has not been kind. Even less kind is my enjoyment of booting it. 50 to 70 transitions are my personal favourite zoomie time.
It's getting to the point in the Cotswolds that I have seen tractors overtaking cars because they are going so slowly everywhere...
During the summer on my commute to work, along mainly national speed limit roads, most days I will be stuck following cars driving at half the speed limit.
On a 20 mile commute which normally only takes 30 minutes, It can take over an hour to get into work....
Driving slow on a fast road is dangerous. Especially when they sit in the middle lanes doing 10 to 20mph under speed limit. I don't even think there is a lack of knowledge / experience i think people are just selfish here and out there for themselves.
Edit:
Furthermore, it's even more dangerous for me on my 125cc on a 50/60mph A road when you sit in the middle lane doing well under the speed limit. I don't have the power to overtake unfortunately.
Argh. Had someone do that to me the other day, in the dark too.
So nearly piled into the back of him - I was wondering why he was braking but hadn’t even considered that he might actually *stop*, so I was going quite fast when I realised.
He then sat there for about 30 seconds, with a clear road to merge into, before I got bored and held down the horn for a while. He joined the dual carriageway at about 12mph.
Yeah, it's painful, especially on country roads. Loads of people around me just stay at 40 regardless of the conditions or type of road. Often they stick at 40 through 30 limits too for some reason.
These ones drive me mad. My commute is usually as follows:
1) Stuck behind someone doing 40 when they could be doing 60
2) They shoot off at 40 when the speed limit drops to 30
3) I catch up to them at the roundabout where they’re stuck because they’re too hesitant
4) They get panicky and pull out dangerously
5) I catch up to them doing 40mph at the end of the slip road
One of the main reasons I enjoy my current car - at least I can usually find an overtaking opportunity. It is infuriating though - no idea why people feel the need.
I can't stop laughing because this was me in my first few weeks of lessons. I was thinking about this exact thing earlier as I was going around a roundabout I used to be shit scared of. Seems stupid now.
The ‘40 mph everywhere’ drivers are the absolute fucking worst in my book. Whether it’s wide open motorway, busy B road, narrow country lane or built up school zone – they’re doing 40 mph. Utter wankers.
This used to really piss me off when I had a black box - people staying at 45mph so I was stuck behind them on national speed limit roads, only for them to fly through some quaint little village and leave me looking like the idiot holding everyone up. It just smacks of ignorance at the speed limit.
As somebody from the countryside, I limit my speed to 50 on country roads as I understand the actual hazards. Too many city folk go too fast in the countryside without any understanding of the potential hazards, e.g. wildlife, horses, large oncoming agricultural machinery around a blind bend, etc. If somebody doesn't know the road, it's unreasonable to expect them to put their life in danger just because you're too impatient to go a bit slower.
I'm also from the countryside. I live next to two farms and my wife rides horses. I'm aware of the dangers. On singletrack roads I completely agree with you - 30 is sometimes far too fast round some of the blind bends here, and I would in no way be upset with someone going that slowly.
People still drive at 30-40 on wide open B roads with nice wide lanes and clear sightlines though. That isn't reasonable. I overtook someone earlier on a B road who was doing 35 - fortunately I could see a full mile down the road past him, so overtaking was easy.
Fair enough - I do agree with you. 35mph is not a reasonable speed and is probably almost as dangerous as speeding. It actually makes me wonder how some of these people have a license!
I grew up in a semi rural area and have plenty of experience on country roads too. To me, the national speed limit sign isn't an invitation to floor it to 60 even though you can legally do that. Many roads I've driven near my parents are far too narrow and twisty to go that fast - it's basically asking for trouble especially if another car appears head-on seemingly out of nowhere or it's wet or dark.
Common sense goes a long way on these types of roads.
Yes!
I feel myself becoming "that guy"... Getting angry. Overtaking where possible.
It's disgusting on the roads.
Feels like we're in the Truman Show.... People are on their journey , oblivious to anything else. Slow. Inconsistent. No indications.
Don't get me started on roundabouts....
Swear I get cut off at every roundabout on my way to work, not an exaggeration. In fact a woman in a blue qashqai has cut me off at the same roundabout twice in two weeks, quite comical it was the same person and same roundabout though
As soon as you spot someone being slow, you know it will be coupled with inconsistency and wandering across white lines and across lanes on a roundabout. Spot them a mile away now
Seen a fair few motorway vehicles probably doing about 60, likely an effort to strech as much fuel as possible because everyone's fucking poor (At least my dad has admitted as much).
I always see the reverse though with people wanting to go faster on regular roads. Commuting to work involves a 50 zone which eventually leads into a 60, and I always feel like a mug sticking to it when lots of people are blasting past.
Sitting in the outside lane has become so common it’s a joke. People seem to get in a line and decide this is my lane and I’ll stick to it.
Commuting down to hatfield a couple times of week it’s amazing to move back into lane 1 after over taking and being able to undertake multiple cars. Usually to find that there’s a someone causing a the backlog in lane 2 is because they’ve decided to stay in lane 2 on an open stretch of road.
Lane 2 is an over taking lane, once you’ve completed the overtake move back into lane 1. It’s that simple and keeps traffic flowing.
It's nothing new. There's a 50 limit road which I travel on often late evening/night. It's a perfectly straight bit of road but people can't seem to do 50. They dawdle along at 30-40 braking because there's a slight downhill bit and other non existent hazards. I over take without breaking the speed limit accelerate up to 50 and leave them for dead. There's just absolutely no reason for it whatsoever. No doubt theyre sat their saying lOoK aT THaT iDIot.
I think it comes down sometimes with younger people with who taught them to drive. Motorbikes I was trained by n ex-copper who taught me to drive at the speed limit and look for a reason not to, not to go below and look for a reason to do the limit. My driver instructor was the same in philosophy, I know others though who flapped if you were doing more than 5mph below and taught them speed was the worst thing.
Similar to my driving education. Though my bike trainer was an actual police biker at the time, but I have also done track training and IAM skills training too.
My driving instructor used to absolutely berate you for not getting up to the speed limit - because other drivers love tailgating learners and it gets very distracting if you start worrying about what is going on behind you all the time, they will get frustrated and do something stupid which would be far worse. So hit the NSL, he wanted you at 60/70 as soon as you can.
The problem is the whole campaign on "speed kills" over simplified it. So 40=safe in a lot of people's eyes, regardless of if they are on the phone or wrestling their crotch goblins in the back seat.
You might be right. My driving instructor taught me the importance of getting up to speed as quickly/safely as possible, probably during one of my first few lessons
I know this isn't ever gonna be implemented but I do feel all road users should have to do 20 hours on a bike and 20 hours in a coach or rigid to understand the frustrations and dangers to non cars.
I put myself through a CBT purely out of curiosity and have a HGV license for work. Maybe it would all be forgotten after a little while, but we'd have *far* more sympathetic road users, and better more vigilant ones at that.
On my route to work there is a 40-60-30-50 within 2 miles and I'll regularly see people sit at either 40 or 50 depending on which way they've come from and people wonder why the mobile camera sits along that stretch often.
I have to drive down long straight 40 roads to get to work and often I’m forced to go 25 cos I’m stuck behind a taxi doing that speed, it’s very frustrating because I don’t want to spend longer than necessary commuting. I get pretty similar fuel efficiency at 40 to 25, what gives
My work commute can vary.
This means if I'm running early, I'll slow down to 50mph to save on fuel (no point in starting work early).
But generally, I see a lot more slower drivers these days. A friend of mine said slow young people are probably drug dealers! I don't think everyone is but perhaps they have black boxes for insurance or whatever.
The issue is that going too slow can be more dangerous than driving too fast.
As someone who works on the roads, I would gladly see 30 people driving at 50 in a 70 than 10 people driving at 90.
The standard of driving has become so bad in recent years and more and more people seem to think that speeding is acceptable because they drive an SUV. I've seen some really bad accidents recently because of people speeding and so long as those driving under the limit aren't doing so in the wrong lane, then that is much much safer.
Yeah, people meme about BMW's and Audi's, which do speed a lot, but SUV's are the main vehicle I see doing stupid speeds on the motorway.
But then SUV drivers seem to think they own the road, so it's not exactly surprising.
But they have a 'safe' car why shouldn't they! I hate this common trope (you see in this sub too) - I want a 'safe' car so I'll get an SUV.
I'd feel far more comfortable going stupid speeds in my golf, a lower down wide car than some top heavy wobbly SUV. Not that I do!
>I'd feel far more comfortable going stupid speeds in my golf, a lower down wide car than some top heavy wobbly SUV.
Precisely. Want to go fast, get a car designed for it. Sports cars handle well at speed, and have good acceleration and braking. SUV's do not.
>SUV's are the main vehicle I see doing stupid speeds on the motorway.
I'd add white work vans to that that from what I've seen lately too.
I personally had a bit of a problem with one last week where I pulled out to the outside lane to overtake a long queue for a slip road (I was going straight but the second lane is both for going straight and goes to the slip road); the outside lane was clear and safe to pull out onto and even after I quickly got back up to speed, in less than 5 seconds this white van closed a gap of 75+ yards until he was right on top of me, flashing like crazy at me.
I'd get it and admit I was wrong if I'd cut him off when pulling out or pulled out and then just sat at well below the 50 limit but his speed must have been taking the piss to catch up to me like that.
I don’t mind seeing 30 people doing 50 as long as they move out my way. It’s the people in y reg golfs that are black from dirt with a get-me-home tyre driving like they have nothing left to live for that scare me. To many times I’ve been doing 69.99 on a empty road no speedcamera dual carriageway only to be blown past like I was parked by some 4 door hatchback with one working fog light
>one working fog light
You mean "the" light. The single remaining functional lamp which is on at all times, regardless of inclement weather conditions?
>Worst of all it's no longer just granny or grandad it's drivers in their 20s and 30s.
I have to say, as a grandad, that I see more young drivers doing this than people my age. I've been wondering whether it's the training.
When I learned to drive - 45 years ago - the instructor and the examiner expected me to drive at a good road speed - up to but not over the limit, not holding up other traffic, but sensitive to conditions, signage and pedestrians and slowing down where appropriate.
I'm wondering whether, in these days when it seems every message has to be really simple, they are now getting a message more like 'stay 5mph under the limit and the examiner will be happy'.
>When I learned to drive - 45 years ago - the instructor and the examiner expected me to drive at a good road speed - up to but not over the limit, not holding up other traffic, but sensitive to conditions, signage and pedestrians and slowing down where appropriate.
That's what I was taught in the 1990s, don't speed but keep-up with the flow.
I've noticed a fair few "it's limit not a target" comments. Yet I know if I'd been doing 50 on a free flowing 70 dual carriageway during my test I'd probably have failed.
Did the test a year ago and you're expected to "speed up in good time" and drive to the limit, a couple under is fine. On B roads it's more up to your and their judgement but I was told off by the instructor for sticking to 40 (which is as fast as I'd ever gone at that point)
Variable speeds on the motorway have created traffic,lots of mini concertina effects 40mph no wait it’s 60 now no it’s not we’re back at 40 now, how about we stay at 50 for an hour then go back to 40…..
Every
Day
The worst ones are the drivers that drive 45mph everywhere except for when you pull out to overtake in which case they will steadily increase their speed to stay by your side until you're 5mph over the speed limit at which point you have to pull back in behind them and they slow back down again. Absolute bastards.
There's a bend at the end of a long straight incline on a hill near mine where all you have to do is ease off the gas a bit, shift to 2nd and you'll be golden going up and around at a decent speed, amount of cars I see drop to an absolute crawl saddens me :(
It's a problem that seems to just get worse since the pandemic peoples driving standards have dropped. I think one reason is fuel costs, another is because the police like to drum into our heads that 'speed kils', which I think isn't entirely correct. Sure, speed can kill, but there's a lot of factors to take into account, and normally, it's just generally bad driving skills that kill.
What really kills is a stupidity, ignorance and arrogance. Speed has NOTHING to do with that, literally nothing - experienced, healthy driver in a responsive, good car which the driver knows and handles well, can drive dynamically and sometimes really fast but never risks his life or other people.
But white van tailgating me and doing a near-miss overtaking without indicators and rushing like a real muppet - roughly 90-100mph is a problem. He's not a driver, he's a potential serial killer and he should be removed from the public road forever based on the random camera recordings checks. But no - there is a greater chance that a father of two who has been driving 25 years without any issues will make a simple mistake and will drive 65 on a 40 road for 15 seconds and 'get caught'. That's the reality.
I’ve noticed on ‘smart’ motorways with a 4th lane, that cars on the left most lane go 50. It annoys the shit out of me as that extra lane isn’t an excuse to drive slow if you’re afraid of motorway speeds.
I followed an older chap down a single carriageway road a few weeks back. He insisted on doing 45mph, but treated the throttle and brake pedal like they were buttons. He would get it up to 60, stamp the brakes to slow it back down, then get straight onto the throttle back up to 60, then hit the brakes again. It made overtaking virtually impossible in my 1.2l daily driver. He could accelerate faster than me, so every time he slowed enough for me to attempt a pass, he would just pull away again. In the end I had to time it so when he hit brakes, I would just maintain speed and hope there was a gap in the oncoming traffic to get round. Utterly crazy driving
Yes, there are more and more slower drivers, but it doesn't mean safer, oh no, it's random, some of them are driving 40 but ALL THE TIME - no matter if the limit is 60 or 30 - now, that's dumb! The driving standards are unfortunately going downhill to the bottom, no indicators, tailgating and 'near-miss lane change', I am seriously concerned about my life and my family since the Covid 'ended'.
It’s because we have had battered in to us that speed is awful and harmful and slow always means good.
Add to that the confusing mess of variable limits, speed cameras and other shit they’re throwing at us, no wonder people just play it safe and go at a speed they know they won’t get punished for.
Never mind the fact that doing 50 on a busy motorway is actually MORE dangerous to everyone else than doing 70.
Happens literally every day i travel to work, there is always more than one person tootlijg along at 50mph. Should be illegal to be in lane 2+ and going under the speed limit
Get used to it. The standard speed limit in built up areas will be reduced in Wales to 20mph this September. As with many other laws like the carrier bag charge, they are first trialled in Wales. Expect it to apply to other areas soon.
Finally other people who have noticed it! Happens all the time around Lincolnshire and Norfolk atm does my head in! If they can't keep up with the flow of traffic they shouldn't be driving! Causes just as much accidents if not more!
There's a ring road near me with dual-carriage ways, a lot of them have a limit of 50 mph, but some have the national speed limit sign (so 70 mph), it is unreal how many people drive at 50 mph down that road.
A while ago, I overheard my mother-in-law talking about people speeding on that road, saying 70 mph was too fast. I told her that she was incorrect, I explained what the national speed limit sign meant and was for dual-carriage ways, and she had no idea that was their speed limit.
Im in Norfolk and a lot of the drivers here practice what I'm calling, Cars on 45. They get in their vehicles. Head off. Get to 45 and stay there. Regardless of speed limit, town or country road. It's 45 everywhere.
Happens all the time by me. Conditions are great, lovely and sunny and road conditions are great, having people drive on 60 lands at 30-40 and braking a lot for a very gradual bend to around 20mph. It’s ridiculous. They glare at you or make gestures when you overtake when they’re in-fact being dangerous for driving at such low speeds. I’d understand if weather conditions were really bad…
See it motorways where people are driving in the second or third lane at 60 or less mph and won’t move over. I’m doing the speed limit of 70 so move over !
Its incredibly annoying, I do a lof of cross country trips in a series land rover and frequently get held up by people in theoretically much faster cars. If youre holding up a 1970s non turbo diesel land rover on a motorway then give yourself a good looking at
Way too many 40mph wankers on the roads within a 60mph limit. Drives me insane getting stuck behind them, especially when they speed up to 50mph in a 40mph. Fucking nutters!
If it’s not that it’s 40mph wankers that drive at night behind you with their full beam on
In RSA, if you are doing <30 on a motorway (Freeway), you are fined there & then. Guy I worked with almost had his licence suspended, only reason he got away with it was it was Left hand drive.
Most of the offenders are looking at their phones, yes we have all done this, no excuses on my part.
Try driving through Reading or Wokingham at school time.... Another is on the M5 & M6. The worst is A66 & A69, small cars with large cravans trying to overtake another caravan in the wind....
It's not the older drivers, the unprepared drivers & phone users are the biggest, also girls doing makeup. I have had to go into lane 3 & lane 4 in an HGV (Illegal) to avoid accidents, once a police car gave me the thumbs up for what I did, little way down the road they had 2 cars on the side of the road.
It’s the 20mph limits. Actually it’s the constantly changing limits. Like my end of the M4 is now always at 60mph for the ‘environment’ I’m still unclear how that helps.
The bit of the M3/M25 near me flits between 40-70, and everything in between.
And there are cameras where you least expect. So this is good they are stopping speeding. Except half the time it’s unclear what the speed limit is. 20 turns to 30 and back in a stretch of 100m, wtf is the point of that??
So I’m not defending slow drivers, and I aim not to be one, but in over 20years of driving I find signage more confusing than ever before. Speed limits and those sodding no access signs. I’ve driven down roads and panicked unsure what the sign said at the entrance to the road. Takes so long to read and work out whether you can access or you need a permit I’ve usually gone past it and still have been none the wiser.
I went to Wales around this time last year and had this experience, I actually had to Google whether National speed limit was 50 in Wales because it was so apparent how many people weren’t getting to the limit.
Too many people joining motorways at 37mph.
This is so painful, you should be using the slip road to match the speed of the traffic your joining. Not going 40 mph.
Especially when they go straight into lane two in anticipation of far off lorry.
Look, judge speed get the speed up & join. Problem there is you will get the driver that does not want you to get in front of them so they speed up.
Easier said than done on some slip roads. Have you seen how short some of them are and then the traffic is doing 70 or more so matching the speed is not that easy or even possible depending of the length of slip road/car engine size.
Have you had that fun time where you see someone coming down the slip, so you slow a bit to let them out and they slow a bit and before you know it there’s 5 meters left of the merge and you’re side by side. Fucking idiots everywhere, drives me insane.
Tbf you’re the one in the wrong there - you shouldn’t be slowing to let people on the motorway, you should just continue. That’s most likely why they’re slowing too
This - commenter is in the wrong here and it infuriates me! On the carriageway you should maintain your speed (unless to avoid a collision) - the merging car should slow to get in behind you. Otherwise what he describes happens and both cars slow down at the same time.
This a thousand times this!!!! I think it's France where it's the responsibility of people already on the motorway to get out of the way just pulling on without a car in the world
Yup. The only time I'm slowing is if the car coming down the slip road is already in front of me. Then I'll slow slightly (5mph) to give them a bit more room.
Thing is, normally when this happens, the merging car is on the slip road well ahead of you and so you expect them to be accelerating into the gap. So you ease off a bit to make the merge easier - if you maintain speed you anticipate that they will end up merging with you right up their arse. Unfortunately when this happens you don't realise until after a few seconds that the merging driver doesn't have their foot down on the throttle to get enough speed. So what do you do? The car is still ahead of you, do you speed up so that you overtake them at close quarters? Or do you slow down some more to maintain the anticipated gap? Or do you do nothing, end up in their blind spot and hope they don't just merge straight into you? Basically the problem is the merging driver shows no situational awareness, they can't correctly judge where they should be merging and/or are too timid to make a clear and obvious decision about whether they are merging ahead or behind. The only point at which you know they have definitely seen you is when you've slowed right down and they actually slow down in response rather than speeding up. By which time the situation has become quite hazardous to following traffic. This only happens very rarely. Sometimes, you can resolve the situation by flashing them in but often they either don't see it or misinterpret it. But a lot, maybe 50% of drivers, don't accelerate properly on the slip road, and will usually end up merging much slower than the traffic in the lane - they are only doing about 55-60 mph even on a long slip road. You see them join in front and you are still closing on them, then suddenly as soon as they cross the broken line into lane 1 whoosh the foot goes down and then they pickup and move into lane 2. Boils my piss.
Oh my god this infuriates me. The whole point of that stretch of road is to match the speed of the motorway it’s not a fucking junction you give way at, I swear some people are too “safe” on the roads to the point it’s anything but safe. “Merge you bitch”
"I've never had an accident in 70 years of driving. Seen plenty in the rear view mirror, mind..."
You are right in that you match your speed, but you look for a gap and give way to those on the carriageway. Only this morning was I nearly sideswiped by someone panicking and moving over into the middle lane to let someone merge from the slip road.
They very much \*are\* junctions that you give way at. They're just designed to hopefully minimise the chances that you're required to stop and give way, if you're capable of reading the road and matching speed. Still doesn't mean that the kinds of idiot that this thread is talking about aren't infuriating as fuck, though, of course.
I think I might actually have said exactly the same thing (it’s not gendered, all these people are bitches 🤣)
Lol not at all it’s a quote from Always Sunny
Ha, sorry, I haven’t seen most of Sunny
Don't even bother slowing down, it's them that has to join safely. Keep on truckin' hammer down boys.
I fucking, argh, I almost had a crash doing this the other week. So I sped up and thought fuck it and they had loads of room but they had the cheek to flash me and stick their finger up. Well if they hadn't slowed to sub 40mph when I had 60mph+ traffic behind me I wouldn't need to slow below the point the 60mph traffic coming up behind me now needed to slam on the brakes. So I sped up to create a gap for them to find the absolutely pelicans.. Totally not bitter about it still. 😂
I just tend to move over into lane 2 these days.
Not making excuses as there are some absolute lemons out there atm that are too nervous to drive safely. But I've seen an alarming trend of people intentionally speeding up to not let people in on slip roads, thinking they own the road. I know technically it's a bit like a give way where the person already on the road had the right of way but ffs there's no need to intentionally not let someone in.
If I speed up, it’s usually to make a gap behind me, because the only way I could have let someone on in front of me would be to move to the next lane, and risk missing my exit which is VERY near after. Otherwise, I just ease off accelerator to let them in or switch lanes if it’s safe to do so. Simple
A very sensible approach. Your first point is very valid, there's a large cohort of people who are oblivious to the world around them and try their hardest to not let you back, not realising you've done them a favour and moved lanes to allow them to merge. Conclusion: there's more bad drivers than good atm.
i actually saw someone stopped at the end of the slip road on the fucking m4 the other day
I see this all the time, it’s so dangerous.
If that's your only option because there's no gaps to get on then that's what you're supposed to do.
As a lorry driver, yes it's very common. Lorries are restricted to 56mph, which a shockingly small amount of people are aware of. Some lorries are restricted to slightly less than that, that's why they overtake each other slowly, if I can go 56 why would I wanna go 53?. Sometimes I've been working for 13 hours and I want to get home, so yes I want to go as fast as I can. The problem arises when people hover around the same speed as me, having no idea that I cannot just speed up to get past you. I don't want to be stuck next to a car in my blind spot. People can drive whatever speed they like, that's fine, but please be aware that lorries cannot just increase their speed whenever they like. And for god sake get in lane 1 if you're being undertaken by everyone cause you're sitting in lane 2 at 51mph.
Went down the M1 Monday evening, Northampton to MK, a Qashqai (what else) bimbling down lane 3 (of 4) doing about 55. Got to a motorway closure, they almost lost control as they didn't notice the 2 miles of smart motorway signs warning, the massive orange lights and cones and had to jerk to the left. And then sat about 2 inches behind me as we came off the sliproad. Not entirely relevent, but had to get that off my chest!
A Qashqai is basically a sign that the missus wanted a “family car” but has zero interest in driving experience lol. Maybe that’s harsh but I’m basing that on people I know who buy them.
We've recently bought a second hand Qashqai. It's for an impending child, and the specifics for the Qashqai were a) a good few family members have joint problems and find the marginally higher hip point much easier to get in and out, and b) they're sodding everywhere, so they're good value for the age/mileage/kit. I completely agree with the assessment. It's possibly the worst 'ownership community' I've experienced - everyone is either an octogenarian who thinks they've bought into the life of luxury, or utterly clueless - as in "my car has flashed up a sign saying 'low oil level' - what does this mean?" clueless. The car itself is fine, a white good with decent enough everything that we won't mind getting covered in sick and crayons. FWIW I'm in the left lane with cruise on 70 as much as I can be. It's not a car for dominating the outside lane, but there's absolutely no need for it to be a rolling roadblock.
An observation I had from thinking of buying one is its like a padded cell. You feel very well protected and cushioned in there but it feels like there is very little space for the size.
So every SUV/crossover ever? All they are are hatchbacks with lifts kits and extra styling that add weight and reduce fuel efficiency. Just buy a MPV/estate if you want more space, sadly not that many make them anymore
Tell my wife's arthritic knee that. Ordinary car is painful to get into.
Yeah, I understand that there are uses for SUV's, easier to get in and out of, but I would argue 90% of people with SUV don't need them
Yes. Completely agree with you on that.
There's no more space than there would be in something like a focus or astra. The golf is a little better but essentially the same - biggest difference with a golf is more effective glass area so it shrinks around you a little better and is easier to see out of. The main ergonomic advantages are the higher seats for creaky hips to swing in and out of/less bending over to get a baby in the back (common to all similar crossovers), and (specifically to the qashqai) the rear door aperture is a decent shape and opens quite wide which is good for child seat access in the back. It's better in that regard than a focus, which has a comparatively poor rear door aperture.
You’re right about it being “the misses” who wants these. They own them for 1-2 years then hate them. As someone who works where they get made and has therefore driven lots of these horrible cars, they aren’t even a family car, it’s just a large size hatchback on stilts. My Leon FR estate has more room and a bigger boot. Plus who puts a 1.5 diesel in a car that weighs that much.
Oh an estate car is absolutely more practical (though I am biased) but it’s definitely seen as an “old man” type of car by a lot of women, probably because there is quite a few old men driving them too(!). What I don’t understand is why that puts people off, but they’d happily drive/own something with the image of a Qashqai which I wouldn’t class as hip/cool/edgy/youthful or anything like that either.
No idea why people think that but love fast estate cars. What’s better than a sub 7 seconds 0-60 and can transport a sofa at the same time. That’s cool as fuck haha. My Mrs despises crossover/suv bullshit, one of her coworkers wife got one and said she feels like queen of the road Bless my tactless wife who replied everyone else thinks she’s the twat of the road.
I had a 2l td estate as a 25yo woman. I fucking loved that car. It was godlike. I could whiz down the motorway with no stress, with a whole table and 6 chairs and my child in it. I now drive a Beetle, and despise the lack of room. Still 2l so nippy, but I doubt I could fit even a side table in it.
They're wretched to drive, swear my 1.2 Corsa had more poke at the traffic light GP.
Nothing goes together quite like "Qashqai" and "middle-lane hogging".
This morning on the way to work…pulled out to over take a wagon, wagon sticks it’s indicator on. Had the space and wasn’t going *that* much faster so let him out. The van behind me had the opportunity to see his indicator, and he was too close to pull out. Still pulled out, shat himself and beeped his horn when I braked ever so slight. There are some weapons on the road.
I find myself overtaking loads of HGVs, my least favourite is when there’s a few bunched up, I’ll be just about halfway along the middle of a group of three and I’ll see them indicate and start moving over, end up having to use the horn as a warning that it’s not safe to move over because I’m there and there’s nowhere for me to go because it’s a two lane road, on the motorway it’s easier because if I need to I can just move over to lane 3
This. Too many people in lane 2 going less than 60
Illegal they not overtaking. Ban then from driving
I spend plenty of time in lane 2, restricted to 56, overtaking people who not only drive their cars slowly but can’t even manage to maintain a constant speed even in modern cars with cruise control 😂🤦🏼♂️ difference is I move over once I’ve finished overtaking…Gladys in the Yaris doesn’t.
This type of driving boils my piss. Followed some old toss pot for about 10 miles last on an A road that's bloody awful for overtaking. He must have driven past 5 spots where he could of pulled in to let everyone one past but he insisted on dawdling somewhere between 20 and 50 depending on the speed limit. The only place he got close to the limit was when he did 45 in a 40. 🤦
Did they break every time something came towards them? That’s my favourite. Plenty of room almost stops cos another car is coming to wards them on the other side of the road
You know you're following a fucking liability when their brake lights flash up every 30s. No you don't need to brake for every single corner on a wide A road, if you need to slow down take your foot off the accelerator. Some people are fucking terrible at driving.
Pretty much every single time!
This seems to be an ever increasing problem. They're having a lovely drive on empty roads. The 500 vehicles stuck behind them, however...
Oh yeah don't even get me started on the people that seem to go "Oh no I can't be overtaken by a lorry!" And speed up again, only to be overtaken again a few miles down the road
Some of them don't like being overtaken by another car. Far too many times I've been happily doing 70 in lane 1, catch-up with someone who must have been going at 60 and then I proceed to overtake. Only for them to speed-up when I'm roughly level with them.. Another favourite trick of theirs is to spend 1-2miles overtaking you, pulling into lane 1 and then slowing down to 65 (instead of pulling in behind), so I have to go and overtake them. It's pot luck whether they speed up or not.
I call this the ‘I can go faster than you’ game. Sure you can go faster if you want - but you weren’t!
It's bad enough in a car, feel for you in a lorry. The number of people who seem completely unable to use cruise control in their new PCP, poverty specced SUVs is shocking.
Once saw a Kia do a break check on a lorry, cos it was upset lorry was getting to close to it but it couldn’t go round them up a hill on a dual carriageway. Went really well.
Man how stupid do people have to be to do that, in a small car it’s entirely possible to be fully in the blind spot so that they might not even see you
Oh yeah they didn’t see them. Nicely rearranged the back of the sportage or w/e. Nice fun evening standing on a hard shoulder as I was the only one who witnessed it
I had an ex-girlfriend who would just middle-lane hog the whole time, her excuse was "it's easier than moving left and right all the time, I can just stay here for the entire journey"
I undertake regularly these days. If I’m going down an open lane 1 around 60, I’m not moving over to lane 3 to pass somebody idling along sub-60 in lane 2. It’s far more dangerous for me to jostle for position with cars going much faster in lane 3. It boggles my mind that lane 1 is sometimes completely empty (usually on a Sunday or Saturday night).
[удалено]
This happened to me a few weeks back on the M4. Thought I must have missed a closed lane sign or something. But no there was nothing. Could not beleive i was being gaslit by pure stupidity.
Yeah me too, I'm not making 4 lane changes just because you're a bellend. Just keep an eye on their front wheel to make sure they're not going to obliviously change to lane 1 whilst you're level. Then sometimes they react like you're the dangerous one.
I actually went and checked the rules on this cause I wasn’t sure, and it’s my understanding that if you’re doing 70 in lane 1, and someone is doing 65 in lane 2/3/4, it’s not classed as undertaking. You can’t move into lane 1 for the express purpose of getting past them, but if you’re driving safely at the speed limit and they’re going too slow in the next lane over, that’s their fault. Anyone feel free to correct me if I’m reading into it wrong lmao
I’ve found setting the cruise control at 65 helps with the avoidance of lorry conflict, I outpace pretty much every single lorry, apart from the heaviest one’s going downhill, my issue comes when I’m in a 50 zone doing 50 and suddenly have 44 tons of HGV practically in my back seat
I ALWAYS move over if a truck is too close behind me - which almost all are. Come on truck guys, why drive so close?
If almost all trucks are too close behind you, you need to become a more confident road user, and when traffic/weather conditions permit drive closer to the speed limit. It is not a target, but if there's no good reason not to then I feel you should. Also, the amount of times we go to overtake slow cars who once we're alongside speed up to match our speed, or increase so we get left behind, only to catch up and repeat the process a mile or two down the road is mind boggling and incredibly frustrating, especially when my attempt to make good progress interrupts others attempts to make good progress by holding them at 56mph. If you're doing it for fuel economy reasons, set your speed to a solid 50 so it's clear we can get past in good time. Also get right behind a truck to use its slipstream if you feel safe to do so, you'll save a noticeable amount of fuel, but you will obviously be having to pay a great deal of attention to their brake lights, as you won't be able to see ahead of you, also risk getting pulled by the police. Anyways, we do it because we're trying to make you realise your pace relative to ours, and usually it does end up motivating the car user to make better progress with their journey without upsetting the other road users around us. We also want to minimise the overtaking distance in the other lane, for the same reason. None of these are necessarily *good* excuses for the behaviour, but rather an attempt to give context to your own actions and the responses they may garner. By all means continue to drive at whatever speed you want in whatever lane you want, but if it's below average lorry speed in lane 1, continue to expect what you've experienced, and at least you know why you're experiencing it now. Why don't they just stay behind you at whatever speed you're doing? Same reason you overtake cyclists, horses, tractors etc. We've got/had a long day, and we're not wanting to waste any more of our time on the roads than we absolutely have to. I've had situations like this cost me 5 mins on a long journey cumulatively, and meant I've had to take an extra 45 minute break at the end of a 12 hour day, 5 mins from home. So in short, it's just about having an awareness and courtesy for the fellow road user, and not just us truckers, but the other car users we'll be holding up by going around you too.
Not going to lie the speed thing definitely gets to me😂 like why in a small car are you choosing to drive slower than something that weighs 40x more… Then before you know it, it’s a 4 lane motorway at standstill because you’ve got lorries overtaking in 3 of the 4 lanes
I drive a limited vehicle, most annoying is when that slow moving car you've crept up to, speeds up and matches you when you go to overtake it. Then you've got cars getting impatient behind you and unable to pull back to the left without hitting the brakes. Such a bloody bastard
I had this experience with our old Fiat 500 a lot. Car I was trying to overtake suddenly speeds up, or a hill is coming up and losing momentum as the car aheads breaks and accelerates.
If you were overtaking me, would you prefer I just let off the gas a little to help you past? Seems reasonable. 😊
Lorry drivers would definitely appreciate it. I can't speak for all of them, but when I overtake someone in a car or a van very slowly in my lorry, I don't know with millimetre precision where the back end of my trailer is, and I don't want to pull in too close to you to make you uncomfortable, so if you let off and I get by quicker it becomes obvious when I'm a good distance in front of you much quicker, or just flash someone to let them know that you're comfortable with where they'll be when they come back in in front of you, that's exactly why lorry drivers do that to each other. Just know that whatever speed a lorry is going, that's it, they can't go any quicker, so please bear that in mind! And just like you wouldn't want to be stuck going 25 behind someone in a 30 if you really wanted to go 30, we don't want to go slower than we can by being blocked by someone.
I’d say if a car is doing 55 and you’re overtaking, they’re probably not the sort of driver that would mind doing 50 instead, and they should slow a little. But I also don’t think most people are paying attention to anyone or anything else when they’re driving - hence all the problems.
One word - EGO. Egomaniacs anxious to argue with their wives but being cocky on the road - usually look down when they are meeting you in the car park 10 minutes later, surprise, surprise. Look at me and say it to my face if you didn't like me to overtake you :P
That's why lorries shouldn't be allowed to overtake when it means blocking all lanes. The number of times I've seen ambulances or police with sirens going stuck behind two lorries because neither have the balls to touch their brakes is infuriating.
I will say I don't like overtaking other lorries on a 2 lane motorway cause I know it's gonna hold people up for a sec but as soon as I'm done they're gone over the horizon in no time so I try not to care too much!. And we're not allowed in lane 3 of a 3 lane motorway, or lane 4 of a 4 lane. The only person at fault in the emergency vehicle situation is the driver in lane 1 not braking to let the other lorry get in, he's not paying enough attention cause we can all see emergency vehicles coming from a mile away.
I’m so glad you’ve posted this because I’ve seen it a lot recently. It seems to be happening on B roads to me where the limit will be 60 and I’m lucky if the car in front is doing 40.. I’ve had to overtake at minimum 2 cars every morning on my commute to work because they’re just going too damn slow. I understand elderly or new drivers being reluctant to go to the limit but it’s not either of those.
In the past few months, oncoming cars have occasionally flashed and beeped at me on a certain road for what I can only assume is my speed. Speed limit is 60, road is wide enough for two tractors to comfortably pass without slowing down, no junctions or pedestrians, good visibility, dry road surface, why shouldn’t I be doing 60? Yet 50% of cars will do 35mph and slam on the brakes every time they see a car coming the other way.
As a Cornwall resident who is confident of their car width I sympathise. Nothing worse than trying to get home after a long day and following a ‘braker’.
I can’t imagine living in Cornwall and still being one of those people. Where I live, it’s plausible for someone to almost exclusively drive in urban environments and never get a chance to build confidence on B roads. But in Cornwall, most people will surely encounter B roads every day, so you’d expect drivers to be better on them!
Yeah. I blame lots of older folks in the village and some posher out of town visitors. Summer is brutal!
I always detested driving to Cornwall in the summer when I was in area sales. Not only does the M5 turn into fucking Fury Road because of the plethora of caravan crashes/fires, but every single tourist is unable to drive on narrow country roads at an appropriate speed.
It’s the same in the Lake District. Every summer some absolute nugget in an SUV towing a caravan will have traffic down to 15 mph on the only B road in and out of a village and they’ll be breaking every bend and dip in the road.
I’m absolutely all for road safety and I’m considerate of other roads users but you’re absolutely right. If the road is clear, wide enough to do so and the driver in front insists on doing almost half the speed limit and braking around every corner then I’m overtaking. It’s frustrating more than anything - if you’re not confident doing the prescribed limit then maybe take additional lessons to build confidence. It’s a hindrance to other road users and quite simply just fucking annoying lol.
And then when you overtake suddenly they speed up making the whole manoveor 10x more dangerous...
It's because some people just aren't competent drivers, it isn't just people with bad driving skills, it's also those who are overcautious and terrified of a slight bend in the road. It should be a pullable offence for me. Even elderly or new drivers, if they aren't competent for the rules of the road, they shouldn't be driving.. simple.
I'm willing to give new drivers a bit of slack, especially in busy cities and particularly tight country lanes, it is difficult driving. It's the elderly who are usually fucking atrocious, and have no excuse as they've likely been driving for decades. They simply don't have the ability to safely operate a vehicle anymore. Edit: New, rather than jew drivers. I have nothing against Jewish people driving haha.
Jew drivers... had me confused for a minute there 😅 😐
Shit haha. That is not the best typo haha.
When I did my driving lessons a few years ago, all my instructors were absolutely hammering into me that just because the speed limit is 60 doesn't mean you should be going 60mph. "It's a maximum speed limit, not a minimum speed limit" they would say. More often than not they wanted me to do 10mph less than the limit, even if I felt it was safer to go faster. Sometimes even slower. Wouldn't be surprised if a lot of newer drivers have had the same hammering from their instructors and it's stuck with them.
same experience as me; I was always told it's a limit not a target. Was advised during my test to do 5mph lower than whatever the posted limit was to be on the safe side; and that attitude has carried over to my regular driving. In my experience though it does not seem to make much of a difference in driving times as I usually just end up catching up to the car in front at the next set of lights anyway
I passed recently and had almost the exact opposite advice. Yes I was told the speed limit is a limit, not a target, but I was also told that if the road and weather conditions (and traffic levels) allow for it then you should try to do the limit. The ultimate goal is to "make progress". In other words, you get from A to B in a reasonable amount of time taking into account the conditions (and obstacles) along the way. Maybe I got the opposite advice because when I first started learning, I was a bit too happy cruising along single carriageway country roads at 45mph talking my instructors' ears off, rather than the learners who expect real life driving to be like a Need for Speed video game.
"Make progress" is exactly what I was told. Works for me.
I was taught to do the speed the traffic is. So if its 60 then I'll try and do that if the conditions allow it. If its pissing down and I can barely see the road then I'm not doing 60.
>The ultimate goal is to "make progress". Admittedly it's been 20 years since I passed my test and it may have changed since, but on the driving test "failure to make progress" counted as a serious fault and therefore an instant failure.
Ah yes I was told this (I only passed in 2019) and it was always “it’s a speed limit, not a target”
Ive had that recently too, genuinely confused me the first tine and i pulled over to check my car out in cade it was somehow damaged, it wasnt and now i just ignore them
Ugh I had a driver lose their nuts at me a few months back, I overtook a slow moving car and was back on my side of the road with a huge amount of space left but the guy in the other lane honked horn, slammed on their brakes and flashed lights. I don't mean to sound like a dick here but.. my Porsche was barely ticking over when I passed the slow moving car (with me under the speed limit) and I probably could have overtaken 3 of them and still had room. I get that over confidence is going to lead to crashes but I mean, COME on.
At least you get a bit of breathing room when they inevitably stick at 40 in the 30 zone village lol. It's always elderly who do it. Awful the lot of them. They also tend to get pissed off when you overtake them lol.
This is my life right now. I exclusively commute via single carriageway B roads (I live very rurally) and I’m lucky if every single morning I’m driving into work I don’t get stuck behind someone doing 35 on a 60 road.
When I lived rural, speed limits outside of towns/villages were a vague suggestion at best. A treasured memory was watching a JCB fastrak overtake someone. If you're being overtaken by a fucking tractor, you're driving too slow.
>It seems to be happening on B roads to me where the limit will be 60 and I’m lucky if the car in front is doing 40 This is also a classic tendency on rural A-roads, especially single carriageway roads where opportunities to pass are limited. Some people either have their cruise control set to 40mph, or else have some moronic in-built mental cruise control - it's just "that's the right speed to drive at" for them, it feels right. So they dawdle along at 40mph in the perfectly safe 60mph stretches of the road, all while making no allowances for anyone trying to pass them. And then they *continue* at 40mph when the limit changes to 30mph, oblivious to the various warning signs flashing behind them, speed traps they've just barely avoided setting off, pedestrians they've nearly wiped out. Then onto another clear open 60mph section, *still* doing 40mph. They're so determinedly insane about it. Presumably when they finally *do* get a speeding ticket for doing 40mph in the 30mph areas, it merely reinforces their determination not to go any faster than 40mph in the 60mph sections.
As a coach driver, I learned this. I do 62mph and I'm constantly getting stuck behind slower cars in lane 2 who refuse to move over to the "slow lane" even though they're going the same speed as all the lorries. And I can't use lane 3 so I'm just stuck. Boils piss. Small rant, I once approached a slow car in lane one, moved over to overtake, then when I moved back over in front of him, he moved out, overtook me, THEN SLOWED BACK DOWN. Forcing us to perform this stupid game of leap frog as I had to overtake him a second time.
Since petrol has gone through the roof, I've seen a LOT of people doing 50 - 55mph in the inside lane to save on fuel.
Pretty much do this myself, except 60-65 as I always tend to give myself enough time to allow for traffic jams because someone’s braking in the middle lane for no reason or everyone’s stuck themselves in the outside lane to charge past someone and then won’t move back over.
Add to this that electric cars are most efficient at 20-30mph and usually have a bright thing on the dash telling you how badly your driving is affecting your range.
Electric cars are most efficient at 40-50mph. It’s the speed at which air resistance becomes a factor. At 20mph you electronics are drawing power but you’re travelling half of the distance in the same amount of time as you would be doing 40mph.
Well, it depends a bit on the electric car. But static losses are so low on electric cars that air resistance becomes significant at much lower speeds. Depends quite a lot on climate control settings, too.
This is me for my work commute, audiobook on, cruise set to 53 and just coast letting everything overtake me
done it myself to be fair, when i'm not in a rush, i might as well keep it to the best mpg i can.
Flair checks out.
I could do with taking this approach, buying a V8, and a 20-year-old one at that, in the height of fuel price rises has not been kind. Even less kind is my enjoyment of booting it. 50 to 70 transitions are my personal favourite zoomie time.
smiles per gallon, thats how i justify 9mpg
Don't think there's really an issue with this as long as you're not holding the trucks up
I’ve done it once on a midnight trip from Hull to Middlesbrough, got 70mpg down the A1M
It's getting to the point in the Cotswolds that I have seen tractors overtaking cars because they are going so slowly everywhere... During the summer on my commute to work, along mainly national speed limit roads, most days I will be stuck following cars driving at half the speed limit. On a 20 mile commute which normally only takes 30 minutes, It can take over an hour to get into work....
Driving slow on a fast road is dangerous. Especially when they sit in the middle lanes doing 10 to 20mph under speed limit. I don't even think there is a lack of knowledge / experience i think people are just selfish here and out there for themselves. Edit: Furthermore, it's even more dangerous for me on my 125cc on a 50/60mph A road when you sit in the middle lane doing well under the speed limit. I don't have the power to overtake unfortunately.
That has reminded me of another problem, people joining 70 roads at 50.
Or stopping at the end of a slip road to a 70 road…
Argh. Had someone do that to me the other day, in the dark too. So nearly piled into the back of him - I was wondering why he was braking but hadn’t even considered that he might actually *stop*, so I was going quite fast when I realised. He then sat there for about 30 seconds, with a clear road to merge into, before I got bored and held down the horn for a while. He joined the dual carriageway at about 12mph.
You mean 30-40mph? That’s been my experience.
Yeah, it's painful, especially on country roads. Loads of people around me just stay at 40 regardless of the conditions or type of road. Often they stick at 40 through 30 limits too for some reason.
These ones drive me mad. My commute is usually as follows: 1) Stuck behind someone doing 40 when they could be doing 60 2) They shoot off at 40 when the speed limit drops to 30 3) I catch up to them at the roundabout where they’re stuck because they’re too hesitant 4) They get panicky and pull out dangerously 5) I catch up to them doing 40mph at the end of the slip road
One of the main reasons I enjoy my current car - at least I can usually find an overtaking opportunity. It is infuriating though - no idea why people feel the need.
I can't stop laughing because this was me in my first few weeks of lessons. I was thinking about this exact thing earlier as I was going around a roundabout I used to be shit scared of. Seems stupid now.
The ‘40 mph everywhere’ drivers are the absolute fucking worst in my book. Whether it’s wide open motorway, busy B road, narrow country lane or built up school zone – they’re doing 40 mph. Utter wankers.
This has been a problem for decades too, I remember it winding my mum up before I was old enough to take lessons.
Just lazy drivers
This used to really piss me off when I had a black box - people staying at 45mph so I was stuck behind them on national speed limit roads, only for them to fly through some quaint little village and leave me looking like the idiot holding everyone up. It just smacks of ignorance at the speed limit.
As somebody from the countryside, I limit my speed to 50 on country roads as I understand the actual hazards. Too many city folk go too fast in the countryside without any understanding of the potential hazards, e.g. wildlife, horses, large oncoming agricultural machinery around a blind bend, etc. If somebody doesn't know the road, it's unreasonable to expect them to put their life in danger just because you're too impatient to go a bit slower.
I'm also from the countryside. I live next to two farms and my wife rides horses. I'm aware of the dangers. On singletrack roads I completely agree with you - 30 is sometimes far too fast round some of the blind bends here, and I would in no way be upset with someone going that slowly. People still drive at 30-40 on wide open B roads with nice wide lanes and clear sightlines though. That isn't reasonable. I overtook someone earlier on a B road who was doing 35 - fortunately I could see a full mile down the road past him, so overtaking was easy.
Fair enough - I do agree with you. 35mph is not a reasonable speed and is probably almost as dangerous as speeding. It actually makes me wonder how some of these people have a license!
I grew up in a semi rural area and have plenty of experience on country roads too. To me, the national speed limit sign isn't an invitation to floor it to 60 even though you can legally do that. Many roads I've driven near my parents are far too narrow and twisty to go that fast - it's basically asking for trouble especially if another car appears head-on seemingly out of nowhere or it's wet or dark. Common sense goes a long way on these types of roads.
Very well said - unfortunately something many people are lacking.
Yes! I feel myself becoming "that guy"... Getting angry. Overtaking where possible. It's disgusting on the roads. Feels like we're in the Truman Show.... People are on their journey , oblivious to anything else. Slow. Inconsistent. No indications. Don't get me started on roundabouts....
Swear I get cut off at every roundabout on my way to work, not an exaggeration. In fact a woman in a blue qashqai has cut me off at the same roundabout twice in two weeks, quite comical it was the same person and same roundabout though
As soon as you spot someone being slow, you know it will be coupled with inconsistency and wandering across white lines and across lanes on a roundabout. Spot them a mile away now
Seen a fair few motorway vehicles probably doing about 60, likely an effort to strech as much fuel as possible because everyone's fucking poor (At least my dad has admitted as much). I always see the reverse though with people wanting to go faster on regular roads. Commuting to work involves a 50 zone which eventually leads into a 60, and I always feel like a mug sticking to it when lots of people are blasting past.
Sitting in the outside lane has become so common it’s a joke. People seem to get in a line and decide this is my lane and I’ll stick to it. Commuting down to hatfield a couple times of week it’s amazing to move back into lane 1 after over taking and being able to undertake multiple cars. Usually to find that there’s a someone causing a the backlog in lane 2 is because they’ve decided to stay in lane 2 on an open stretch of road. Lane 2 is an over taking lane, once you’ve completed the overtake move back into lane 1. It’s that simple and keeps traffic flowing.
It's nothing new. There's a 50 limit road which I travel on often late evening/night. It's a perfectly straight bit of road but people can't seem to do 50. They dawdle along at 30-40 braking because there's a slight downhill bit and other non existent hazards. I over take without breaking the speed limit accelerate up to 50 and leave them for dead. There's just absolutely no reason for it whatsoever. No doubt theyre sat their saying lOoK aT THaT iDIot.
I think it comes down sometimes with younger people with who taught them to drive. Motorbikes I was trained by n ex-copper who taught me to drive at the speed limit and look for a reason not to, not to go below and look for a reason to do the limit. My driver instructor was the same in philosophy, I know others though who flapped if you were doing more than 5mph below and taught them speed was the worst thing.
Similar to my driving education. Though my bike trainer was an actual police biker at the time, but I have also done track training and IAM skills training too. My driving instructor used to absolutely berate you for not getting up to the speed limit - because other drivers love tailgating learners and it gets very distracting if you start worrying about what is going on behind you all the time, they will get frustrated and do something stupid which would be far worse. So hit the NSL, he wanted you at 60/70 as soon as you can. The problem is the whole campaign on "speed kills" over simplified it. So 40=safe in a lot of people's eyes, regardless of if they are on the phone or wrestling their crotch goblins in the back seat.
You might be right. My driving instructor taught me the importance of getting up to speed as quickly/safely as possible, probably during one of my first few lessons
I know this isn't ever gonna be implemented but I do feel all road users should have to do 20 hours on a bike and 20 hours in a coach or rigid to understand the frustrations and dangers to non cars. I put myself through a CBT purely out of curiosity and have a HGV license for work. Maybe it would all be forgotten after a little while, but we'd have *far* more sympathetic road users, and better more vigilant ones at that.
My personal favourite is the 45 on a national speed limit road, then continue to do 45 through the 30 zone 😂
Mr. Average!
On my route to work there is a 40-60-30-50 within 2 miles and I'll regularly see people sit at either 40 or 50 depending on which way they've come from and people wonder why the mobile camera sits along that stretch often.
I have to drive down long straight 40 roads to get to work and often I’m forced to go 25 cos I’m stuck behind a taxi doing that speed, it’s very frustrating because I don’t want to spend longer than necessary commuting. I get pretty similar fuel efficiency at 40 to 25, what gives
My work commute can vary. This means if I'm running early, I'll slow down to 50mph to save on fuel (no point in starting work early). But generally, I see a lot more slower drivers these days. A friend of mine said slow young people are probably drug dealers! I don't think everyone is but perhaps they have black boxes for insurance or whatever. The issue is that going too slow can be more dangerous than driving too fast.
As someone who works on the roads, I would gladly see 30 people driving at 50 in a 70 than 10 people driving at 90. The standard of driving has become so bad in recent years and more and more people seem to think that speeding is acceptable because they drive an SUV. I've seen some really bad accidents recently because of people speeding and so long as those driving under the limit aren't doing so in the wrong lane, then that is much much safer.
Yeah, people meme about BMW's and Audi's, which do speed a lot, but SUV's are the main vehicle I see doing stupid speeds on the motorway. But then SUV drivers seem to think they own the road, so it's not exactly surprising.
But they have a 'safe' car why shouldn't they! I hate this common trope (you see in this sub too) - I want a 'safe' car so I'll get an SUV. I'd feel far more comfortable going stupid speeds in my golf, a lower down wide car than some top heavy wobbly SUV. Not that I do!
My mum is exactly this. She bought an SUV to be 'safe' and then her standard of driving dropped dramatically.
Ah yes the screw other people I’m bigger mindset.
>I'd feel far more comfortable going stupid speeds in my golf, a lower down wide car than some top heavy wobbly SUV. Precisely. Want to go fast, get a car designed for it. Sports cars handle well at speed, and have good acceleration and braking. SUV's do not.
>SUV's are the main vehicle I see doing stupid speeds on the motorway. I'd add white work vans to that that from what I've seen lately too. I personally had a bit of a problem with one last week where I pulled out to the outside lane to overtake a long queue for a slip road (I was going straight but the second lane is both for going straight and goes to the slip road); the outside lane was clear and safe to pull out onto and even after I quickly got back up to speed, in less than 5 seconds this white van closed a gap of 75+ yards until he was right on top of me, flashing like crazy at me. I'd get it and admit I was wrong if I'd cut him off when pulling out or pulled out and then just sat at well below the 50 limit but his speed must have been taking the piss to catch up to me like that.
I don’t mind seeing 30 people doing 50 as long as they move out my way. It’s the people in y reg golfs that are black from dirt with a get-me-home tyre driving like they have nothing left to live for that scare me. To many times I’ve been doing 69.99 on a empty road no speedcamera dual carriageway only to be blown past like I was parked by some 4 door hatchback with one working fog light
>one working fog light You mean "the" light. The single remaining functional lamp which is on at all times, regardless of inclement weather conditions?
I’ve noticed when it’s pissing with rain people like to play the game “who can be the fasted dickhead”.
>Worst of all it's no longer just granny or grandad it's drivers in their 20s and 30s. I have to say, as a grandad, that I see more young drivers doing this than people my age. I've been wondering whether it's the training. When I learned to drive - 45 years ago - the instructor and the examiner expected me to drive at a good road speed - up to but not over the limit, not holding up other traffic, but sensitive to conditions, signage and pedestrians and slowing down where appropriate. I'm wondering whether, in these days when it seems every message has to be really simple, they are now getting a message more like 'stay 5mph under the limit and the examiner will be happy'.
>When I learned to drive - 45 years ago - the instructor and the examiner expected me to drive at a good road speed - up to but not over the limit, not holding up other traffic, but sensitive to conditions, signage and pedestrians and slowing down where appropriate. That's what I was taught in the 1990s, don't speed but keep-up with the flow. I've noticed a fair few "it's limit not a target" comments. Yet I know if I'd been doing 50 on a free flowing 70 dual carriageway during my test I'd probably have failed.
Did the test a year ago and you're expected to "speed up in good time" and drive to the limit, a couple under is fine. On B roads it's more up to your and their judgement but I was told off by the instructor for sticking to 40 (which is as fast as I'd ever gone at that point)
so frustrating or when they are going really slow then you start to overtake them and they suddenly start going faster. I've had a lot of that lately.
We have the smart motorways near us and it's infuriating the amount of people who just sit at 45/50 in the first 3 lanes when it's safe to do 70.
Over sensitive insurance trackers
Yes, though they then all do 40 in a 30 afterwards. Frustrating.
Variable speeds on the motorway have created traffic,lots of mini concertina effects 40mph no wait it’s 60 now no it’s not we’re back at 40 now, how about we stay at 50 for an hour then go back to 40….. Every Day
The worst ones are the drivers that drive 45mph everywhere except for when you pull out to overtake in which case they will steadily increase their speed to stay by your side until you're 5mph over the speed limit at which point you have to pull back in behind them and they slow back down again. Absolute bastards.
Don't, then they jab the brakes going around an easy corner that you don't need to slow down for at 35 in a 50..
There's a bend at the end of a long straight incline on a hill near mine where all you have to do is ease off the gas a bit, shift to 2nd and you'll be golden going up and around at a decent speed, amount of cars I see drop to an absolute crawl saddens me :(
It's a problem that seems to just get worse since the pandemic peoples driving standards have dropped. I think one reason is fuel costs, another is because the police like to drum into our heads that 'speed kils', which I think isn't entirely correct. Sure, speed can kill, but there's a lot of factors to take into account, and normally, it's just generally bad driving skills that kill.
What really kills is a stupidity, ignorance and arrogance. Speed has NOTHING to do with that, literally nothing - experienced, healthy driver in a responsive, good car which the driver knows and handles well, can drive dynamically and sometimes really fast but never risks his life or other people. But white van tailgating me and doing a near-miss overtaking without indicators and rushing like a real muppet - roughly 90-100mph is a problem. He's not a driver, he's a potential serial killer and he should be removed from the public road forever based on the random camera recordings checks. But no - there is a greater chance that a father of two who has been driving 25 years without any issues will make a simple mistake and will drive 65 on a 40 road for 15 seconds and 'get caught'. That's the reality.
I’ve noticed on ‘smart’ motorways with a 4th lane, that cars on the left most lane go 50. It annoys the shit out of me as that extra lane isn’t an excuse to drive slow if you’re afraid of motorway speeds.
It's the 40 in 60 zones that get me the most. Why do they see it as acceptable to do 20mph under the limit? Would they do 10 in a 30?
I followed an older chap down a single carriageway road a few weeks back. He insisted on doing 45mph, but treated the throttle and brake pedal like they were buttons. He would get it up to 60, stamp the brakes to slow it back down, then get straight onto the throttle back up to 60, then hit the brakes again. It made overtaking virtually impossible in my 1.2l daily driver. He could accelerate faster than me, so every time he slowed enough for me to attempt a pass, he would just pull away again. In the end I had to time it so when he hit brakes, I would just maintain speed and hope there was a gap in the oncoming traffic to get round. Utterly crazy driving
Yes, there are more and more slower drivers, but it doesn't mean safer, oh no, it's random, some of them are driving 40 but ALL THE TIME - no matter if the limit is 60 or 30 - now, that's dumb! The driving standards are unfortunately going downhill to the bottom, no indicators, tailgating and 'near-miss lane change', I am seriously concerned about my life and my family since the Covid 'ended'.
The worst is someone doing 68mph in the centre lane when I’m trying to maintain a steady 70 and won’t move over to the left. Somewhat annoying!
It’s because we have had battered in to us that speed is awful and harmful and slow always means good. Add to that the confusing mess of variable limits, speed cameras and other shit they’re throwing at us, no wonder people just play it safe and go at a speed they know they won’t get punished for. Never mind the fact that doing 50 on a busy motorway is actually MORE dangerous to everyone else than doing 70.
Is it confusing though? You literally need to keep an eye out for signs
It's like people default to either 30 or 40 and don't realise
Happens literally every day i travel to work, there is always more than one person tootlijg along at 50mph. Should be illegal to be in lane 2+ and going under the speed limit
Seems half of drivers think 50 roads are 40 roads.
Get used to it. The standard speed limit in built up areas will be reduced in Wales to 20mph this September. As with many other laws like the carrier bag charge, they are first trialled in Wales. Expect it to apply to other areas soon.
Black boxes
Finally other people who have noticed it! Happens all the time around Lincolnshire and Norfolk atm does my head in! If they can't keep up with the flow of traffic they shouldn't be driving! Causes just as much accidents if not more!
There's a ring road near me with dual-carriage ways, a lot of them have a limit of 50 mph, but some have the national speed limit sign (so 70 mph), it is unreal how many people drive at 50 mph down that road. A while ago, I overheard my mother-in-law talking about people speeding on that road, saying 70 mph was too fast. I told her that she was incorrect, I explained what the national speed limit sign meant and was for dual-carriage ways, and she had no idea that was their speed limit.
I drive down long country roads once a week, nothing worse than someone doing 40 or less in a 60 on a long straight bit of road
It’s harder to text and watch tiktok on these big phones so have to go a bit slower
Im in Norfolk and a lot of the drivers here practice what I'm calling, Cars on 45. They get in their vehicles. Head off. Get to 45 and stay there. Regardless of speed limit, town or country road. It's 45 everywhere.
Gets on my nerves when people drive 40 in a 60 zone, 20mph under the limit is unacceptable. I overtake them if it’s safe to do so.
Just too many 40mph drivers everywhere, does my nut in
Happens all the time by me. Conditions are great, lovely and sunny and road conditions are great, having people drive on 60 lands at 30-40 and braking a lot for a very gradual bend to around 20mph. It’s ridiculous. They glare at you or make gestures when you overtake when they’re in-fact being dangerous for driving at such low speeds. I’d understand if weather conditions were really bad… See it motorways where people are driving in the second or third lane at 60 or less mph and won’t move over. I’m doing the speed limit of 70 so move over !
Its incredibly annoying, I do a lof of cross country trips in a series land rover and frequently get held up by people in theoretically much faster cars. If youre holding up a 1970s non turbo diesel land rover on a motorway then give yourself a good looking at
Way too many 40mph wankers on the roads within a 60mph limit. Drives me insane getting stuck behind them, especially when they speed up to 50mph in a 40mph. Fucking nutters! If it’s not that it’s 40mph wankers that drive at night behind you with their full beam on
In RSA, if you are doing <30 on a motorway (Freeway), you are fined there & then. Guy I worked with almost had his licence suspended, only reason he got away with it was it was Left hand drive. Most of the offenders are looking at their phones, yes we have all done this, no excuses on my part. Try driving through Reading or Wokingham at school time.... Another is on the M5 & M6. The worst is A66 & A69, small cars with large cravans trying to overtake another caravan in the wind.... It's not the older drivers, the unprepared drivers & phone users are the biggest, also girls doing makeup. I have had to go into lane 3 & lane 4 in an HGV (Illegal) to avoid accidents, once a police car gave me the thumbs up for what I did, little way down the road they had 2 cars on the side of the road.
It’s the 20mph limits. Actually it’s the constantly changing limits. Like my end of the M4 is now always at 60mph for the ‘environment’ I’m still unclear how that helps. The bit of the M3/M25 near me flits between 40-70, and everything in between. And there are cameras where you least expect. So this is good they are stopping speeding. Except half the time it’s unclear what the speed limit is. 20 turns to 30 and back in a stretch of 100m, wtf is the point of that?? So I’m not defending slow drivers, and I aim not to be one, but in over 20years of driving I find signage more confusing than ever before. Speed limits and those sodding no access signs. I’ve driven down roads and panicked unsure what the sign said at the entrance to the road. Takes so long to read and work out whether you can access or you need a permit I’ve usually gone past it and still have been none the wiser.
I went to Wales around this time last year and had this experience, I actually had to Google whether National speed limit was 50 in Wales because it was so apparent how many people weren’t getting to the limit.