Safe Speed Forums

Do 35 in a 30 in North Wales and - if you are unlucky enough to be targeted by a Talivan - you will get £60 and 3 points, like I did. And you have no idea where they might be lurking as they don't have those blue warning signs. So having once been bitten, I was twice shy today.

Nice place Llangollen. Nice preserved railway as well. It took me rather longer to get there than usual though. I made absolutey sure that I had reduced my speed to exactly 30 by the time I reached the 30 sign, and stayed at exactly 30 until I was past the NSL sign. Well I'm being economical with the truth there. It's bloody well impossible to stick to exactly 30 in a modern car. What I mean is that I directed 50% of my attention to the speedo, paying scant regard to potential traffic hazards, so that as soon as I realised the speed had crept up to 35, I could apply the brakes pronto.

Drivers behing couldn't figure out why this lunatic was crawling along for ages, then suddenly accelerating up to 60 in record time. Having crawled all over my rear bumper in the 30 areas, they were nowhere to be seen in the NSL stretches. One decided to overtake me at the end of a 30 area, only to see me accelerate away as he was pulling up alongside.

There you are CC Brunstrom. I've learnt my lesson. I'm now a safe driver, just the sort of driver you want on the roads.

Once back in blighty, I could revert to my normal driving style, which is to try to keep between 35 and 40, and reduce speed when a - clearly advertised and painted orange - speed camera hoves into view. Like everybody else. Criminally dangerous isn't it though. People like that should be locked up.

why 35-40 specifically? Shouldn't you be driving to the conditions?

Good point. What I really meant was "at a speed appropriate to the conditions", which is typically 35-40. I wouldn't dream of exceeding 20 on my own street, with cars parked on the pavement on both sides and children playing. It's far safer in my view to concentrate on the road ahead and adjust your speed to suit the conditions, rather than keep furtively glancing at the speedo to make sure you haven't drifted up to a "dangerous" speed (which North Wales Police seem to think is 35 regardless of the conditions). I kept finding myself having to brake on downhill stretches, often with an impatient driver right on my tail. Which is preferable, 3 points on your licence or a rear end shunt?

I know how you feel matey, I've found myself being more dangerous on the motorway since being caught speeding, instead of making decent progress during an overtaking manouvre, I often have to pull out into a lane which is moving faster than what I am, instead of matching my speed to the flow of that lane and pulling back over to the left, I find myself causing people to put brakes on because I can't make the safe progress I did before, this is made especially more difficult and dangerous when I have to overtake one of the middle lane crew because I have to go into lane 3 and which in times of medium traffic has a much higher average speed than lane 2.

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Daveyboy - I agree with in principle here, and I do see what you're trying to say - but if it really IS that dangerous to move over a lane and you're absolutely not prepared to exceed the limit for whatever reason, then you have to consider staying put and shedding a few mph as the safer option...Don't get me wrong, I know exactly how you feel about being stuck behind slower traffic on the motorway or D/C- I was towing a 4m RIB (boat) on a trailer back from Poole at the weekend in the dark along the A34, which is mostly D/C. I couldn't see the trailer wheels or mudguards and I couldn't see much of anything behind me either, and I came upon some little muppet doing 50 in L1. I didn't feel that it was safe to pull out into L2, maintaining my speed limit of 60mph when I couldn't see safely behind me and any traffic approching from behind had nowhere to overtake. Therefore I stayed behind said muppet for about 5 or 6 miles until he pulled off. I hated every second of it, but it was the safest option...slightly different case than just being in a car, but you see my point....

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

I'll be honest, my car accelerates quick enough to match the speed of any motorway lane in almost an instant, so I often change my mind, bollocks to speed limits, I'm going to drive safely and speed up to match the speed of the lane, but still, I'm glad you get what I'm trying to say. I don't just pull out and expect people to slow down, I used to hate it when that happened, nor would I want to inflict this on someone else, above all, its dangerous as speed differential and the amount of distance between drivers are the dangers on any particular lane of the motorway, not the speed itself.

I just want this sort of issue being brought to the attention of the idealistic freeks from Brake and similar left wing attitude to road safety people.

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