UK drivers beware

[Tumble]

Quick calc:

1hr 30 at 70 = 105 miles.
1hr 25 at 85 = 120.4 miles.

You've gained 15.4 miles there somehow.

I agree the maths should make it more sensible, but like Kalniel said - this is a real world statement, born of experience, not a mathematical exercise. Been there, done that got the tshirt etc.

[scaryjim]

My sister once tried to send me and my gf home again to "do it properly" when we got to her house "far too fast" - in a 1l Corsa . That was Christmas Eve, around 6pm, from Lancaster to Daventry - roads were utterly empty, and frankly 90mph on an empty motorway simply isn't dangerous. Drive at the right speed for the road conditions - a lot of the country lanes in the Yorks dales are national limit, but you wouldn't dream of trying to hit 60 on them...

Nowadays I tend to drive low end hire cars anyway, and I stick to all the limits unless I'm on an empty motorway - but even I'll admit I'm still a bit reckless and aggressive.

[RhinoUK]

A lot of fair comments on speed and sensible driving and fuel costs etc Ive always driven at the speed limit, get upto that speed as quickly and safely as possible and maintain it for the same reasons. What is very frustrating is to come across someone doing a stupid speed of 35 in a 50 on a single carriage A road holding up everyone else. This is inconsiderate of other road users and can equally lead to accidents when you suddenly come round a bend traveling at the speed limit to be confronted by this type of poor driving ability. The same going through speed cameras why do people slow down to 20MPH for a 30MPH camera?
I also like to be able to travel above the speed limit at times for very short periods such as the safe overtaking of a large vehicle doing 67 in the 2nd lane of the motorway which may be obstructing my view ahead. So i will accelerate to 75 or even 80 to do this as quickly and safely as possible. Some people may find it perfectly acceptable to do this at 70 which i dont know the mathmatics on how long that exactly takes but its a bloody long time.
Black box's perhaps or confidence or ability or stringently remaining to speed limits?
I dont know which one it is for sure and it could be a combination of all the above but i have thought it could just be these black box thingymybobs.
I wouldnt ever want to have one fitted to be constrained in my driving style and it to be used as a means to put my premium up, no thanks.

[kalniel]

and can equally lead to accidents when you suddenly come round a bend traveling at the speed limit to be confronted by this type of poor driving ability.

Actually that's dangerous driving on your part. If you've limited visibility around a corner you should be going slowly enough to stop if the road is obstructed.

The same going through speed cameras why do people slow down to 20MPH for a 30MPH camera?

That annoys me greatly as well- in my case people slow down to 60 for a 70mph stretch of road.

[Saracen]

A lot of fair comments on speed and sensible driving and fuel costs etc Ive always driven at the speed limit, get upto that speed as quickly and safely as possible and maintain it for the same reasons. What is very frustrating is to come across someone doing a stupid speed of 35 in a 50 on a single carriage A road holding up everyone else. This is inconsiderate of other road users and can equally lead to accidents when you suddenly come round a bend traveling at the speed limit to be confronted by this type of poor driving ability. The same going through speed cameras why do people slow down to 20MPH for a 30MPH camera?
I also like to be able to travel above the speed limit at times for very short periods such as the safe overtaking of a large vehicle doing 67 in the 2nd lane of the motorway which may be obstructing my view ahead. So i will accelerate to 75 or even 80 to do this as quickly and safely as possible. Some people may find it perfectly acceptable to do this at 70 which i dont know the mathmatics on how long that exactly takes but its a bloody long time.
....

I sympathise with that, and largely agree but .... if you go round a bend at 50mph, even in a 50mph limit, and someone doing 35 causes you to have an accident, then sorry, but you were going too damn fast for your visibility.

Suppose there's been an accident? Suppose a biker has come off, or been knocked off, and is laying in the road? Suppose it's a child fallen of their pushbike? Suppose a 40-ton lorry broke down just round the bend? It'll be doing 0mph, not 35.

A 50mph limit is exactly that, a limit, a maximum, not an entitlement to be doing 50mph in it, all the time, and your speed should always, ALWAYS be related to circumstances, road conditions and visibility, so as to be safe.

That car doing 35mph could be slowing down, for instance, to turn, or simply be unsure of the road and looking for a turning, or a house.

Golden rule, if you aren't sure the road ahead is clear at your current speed, you should be slowing down, not flying round blind bends and hoping everyone else is doing the maximum too, because they may not be, for very good reason. That's exactly the sort of thing I was talking about when I said "reading the road ahead" - it's one of a very large number of potential hazards, from kids larking about, to cars pulling out of turnings, to deer deciding to run across the motorway.

So yeah, while getting stuck behind someone doing less than the maximum for a long distance is irritating as hell, you still should be at a speed and distance behind where you can stop, if an emergency occurs.


I do rather agree about overtaking though .... even though it may be illegal. I was taught (by a police-trained driver) to expose yourself to risk for the minimum period, and that implues spending the minimum period on the wrong side of the road.

But there's a caveat. If you have to be doing 80, 85 or 90 to get past safely, you probably shouldn't be overtaking there in the first place. So yeah, get past quickly, but it's not an excuse to overtake in unsafe places.

[scaryjim]

Quite apart from anything, if the bend is so sharp that you can't see safe stopping distance round it, then in most cars you're going to be off the road trying to take it at 50 anyway

[RhinoUK]

Actually that's dangerous driving on your part. If you've limited visibility around a corner you should be going slowly enough to stop if the road is obstructed.

That is only if i was not driving to the road conditions or my ability and was not aware of the conditions ahead and road hazzards weather, children etc. If any of these were a factor and my speed needed to be reduced it would be. My point of frustration sadly is too many people drive well below the speed limit when conditions dont require it and it could be because of the black box!

[Saracen]

That is only if i was not driving to the road conditions or my ability and was not aware of the conditions ahead and road hazzards weather, children etc. If any of these were a factor and my speed needed to be reduced it would be. My point of frustration sadly is too many people drive well below the speed limit when conditions dont require it and it could be because of the black box!

Agreed, but that wasn't the situation you gave, which was going round the bend at 50 to find someone at 35 and it causing an accident.

It's irritating if people dawdle, but if it causes an accident, you were going too fast for the visibility, because if you can't see the guy at 35, you can't see any of the other things suggested either, and they'll be a lot slower than 35.

[kalniel]

That is only if i was not driving to the road conditions

Visibility around a corner is sort of a road condition

or my ability and was not aware of the conditions ahead and road hazzards weather, children etc.

Ability has nothing to do with it - unless you have the ability to see around corners! Otherwise visibility is one of the great levellers between abilities and car capabilities. You can't be aware of something you haven't seen/heard/spotted on radar, so if you can't see around a corner you have to be going slowly enough that you can come to a dead halt in a distance equal or less than the range you can see in a straight line.

That's why you can go take right handers faster than left handers on country roads. That's why it's sometimes safer to deliberately cross a non-continuous lane dividing line if it gives you further visibility around a corner. That's why on a blind corner you slow *right* down.

[kalniel]

Quite apart from anything, if the bend is so sharp that you can't see safe stopping distance round it, then in most cars you're going to be off the road trying to take it at 50 anyway

Actually you'd be surprised - country roads with tall hedges can block visibility with only a slight kink. Ditto blind crests/dips etc. All major perils of driving in the countryside that those of us with any experience in the country have learned to take account of. (Trust me, once you come face to face with the spikey end of some farmyard equipment and have the joy of breaking from 60 to 0 on muddy surfaces, you have a LOT more respect for these kind of hazards.. and the road might not be the only brown coloured thing nearby...)

[scaryjim]

Actually you'd be surprised - country roads with tall hedges can block visibility with only a slight kink.

Oh, I know that Just using hyperbole to make a point Country roads at night are the worst: had one where the sharp bend sign was almost completely overgrown; almost put myself, the wife and both kids into a field. Learned to be a lot more circumspect that day. Although I'm still not sure whether that was my worst country road experience, or if it was the one where I was driving down off the tops of one of the Yorkshire Dales passes and all the electrics in the car stopped working. Got back on the flat, everything kicked back in again. That car didn't last much longer (unsurprisingly...)

[kalniel]

In the last few minutes I've just witnessed a probably fatal car smash, caused by one drivers impatience. So again, be careful out there