Safe Speed Forums

Is it just in this area or have the summer holidays brought out a spate of slowtard drivers?

Was driving up to Gloucester earlier, one guy in a Focus driving at 30-35mph all the way up the hill out of Wotton (B4058), a road where it's safe to do 50mph easily in a car with a "normal" performance envelope.

Overtook him then came up behind an Octavia about a mile further along doing 40mph through a wide straight NSL. As I prepare to overtake him he responds by emergency braking (fortunately I always leave room to stop even in the overtaking position).

Then another one further along, 35mph.

This road is NSL (and safe to do 70-80mph most of the way).

Does my head in, really!

_________________
Magistrates rule #1: "Never let justice get in the way of a conviction."

Get something like one of these, record your driving and when you have one of these incidents post a clip on photobucket and let us see it.

_________________
Driving fast is for a particular time and place, I can do it I just only do it occasionally because I am a gentleman.
- James May

aHHH.. BUT it's if a dual carriageway - it's .. umm .. 70 mph and 60 mph if a single carriageway.


If it's safe in real terms - you know it will not be safe in clean licence terms/

If it's a twisty bendy with dips and very dangerous - you know no one will be bothered .. but will be the first to bleat about them statistics.

They call it road safety. I call it "green sh:censored:t - and those bleating some nonsense should be aware that we change nappies quite frequently and some say we should change politicians and those practising their worn out mantra as often and for simiilar reasons I could name the famous philoshper who first came up with this classic opinion...I am delighted to think a kindred intellectual spirit to me and the kindred spirits on this board though of which our submarinated multi-personae ain't a part of nor could hope to be.

But Squirrel - I do understand you. but just pause and nibble a hazelnut here and think COAST ..other drivers who may wish to drive as Captain Slow ... and then /.. mobile scammer..and more COAST ..

Chiil on your hazelnut when meeting these "dodderin'-doris-mobiles" - and take great pride when overtake opportunity presents itself SAFELY and LEGALLY! Ohmeee-God.!. I sound like .. v-v-v vonbraces of PH here :ARGGGH! NO-OGGGH!ARGGGH!

_________________
If you want to get to heaven - you have to raise a little hell!

Smilies are contagious
They are just like the flu
We use our smilies on YOU today
Now Good Causes are smiling too!

KEEP SMILING
It makes folk wonder just what you REALLY got up to last night!

Smily to penny.. penny to pound
safespeed prospers-smiles all round! !
But the real message? SMILE.. GO ON ! DO IT! and the world will smile with you!
Enjoy life! You only have the one bite at it.

I believe there is only one person who can decide what is a safe speed to drive at and that's the person behind the wheel. If the people driving these cars don't feel they can drive any faster then we should respect their decision.

But if a driver is not competent to drive at a speed which the majority of motorists would consider to be safe their ability to cope with an emergency must be called into question.

_________________
When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Yes, that's fine, no problem with that; but please will they not all follow each other closely spaced, so that others - who may wish to do some overtaking - can't get into the gaps.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

I don't suppose Squirrel noticed... but perhaps the scenery was pleasant, and the drivers concerned were in no particular hurry?
That said, if drivers wish to travel WELL BELOW the posted limit so they can admire the scenery, they should be polite enough to allow others to pass in good time where it is safe to do so.

How do I know all this? Because I live in Cumbria, and this sort of behavior is a fact of life we have to live with on a daily basis!
A 22 minute journey to my Doctors in Ambleside presently takes around 45-50 minutes even on a good day from Staveley. I can do it in 15 - 18 minutes in the middle of the night!

_________________
Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

Yes indeed. We suffer the same in the Peak District. Unfortunately the prettiest roads don't usually have many opportunities for overtaking.

_________________
When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

My commute takes me over Okeford Hill in mid-Dorset. As occurred tonight, slow drivers often wave me past shortly before reaching the summit, as the view is spectacular and they want time to appreciate it. I just want to get home, so am very grateful when they let me pass.

That's good motoring when people observe that they are holding you up and let you past. What annoys me are the people who don't notice you are there or do, but slow right down on corners and then speed up on the straights, to make life difficult or travel so close to the person in front of them, with no intentions of overtaking but stopping everyone else from doing so.

_________________
My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

Growing up on the Jurassic Coast of Dorset (before they called it that), I learned that tourists steer where they are looking. Hence the coast road was not a great place to overtake when the sea was on your right, as tourists were prone to go "Ooh, look at the sea" and drift across the line in front of you...

(edited for dodgy spelling!)

Does anyone here exclusively drive at the very limits of their safety? Safety is just one criteria to choose your speed. Others include comfort, noise, petrol consumption, load, habit, vehicle, passenger concerns, or the view etc. You may even be driving slowly to delay your arrival to the right time. There is only one person who can decide the speed to drive at and that's the person behind the wheel.

And the driver in front, if you can't pass them.

And the driver six cars ahead that you've been following for 2 miles at 30MPH on a NSL thats full of double whites and bends.

_________________
My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

To the extent that the driver ahead is capable of realizing his/her impact on the freedom of the drivers behind to choose their speed ...
It's one thing to have a difference of opinion as to what the safe speed may be on any given patch of road.
It's quite another when one masks their own lack of consideration/empathy/driving ability as the right to decide how those behind should drive - which most obviously manifests as denying others behind the right to overtake where reasonably possible.

It's not that hard to say, "excuse me, go on ahead" when you're walking about, and someone tries to get around and past you. If it's that much harder to do the same when driving, and the environment allows it, and the driver in front is the primary reason, then either that driver's motives, abilities, and/or social consideration are rightly called into question.

_________________
The Rules for ALL ROAD USERS:
1) No one gets hurt
2) Nothing gets hit, except to protect others; see Rule#1
3) The Laws of Physics are invincible and immutable - so-called 'laws' of men are not
4) You are always immediately and ultimately responsible for your safety first, then proximately responsible for everyone's
Do not let other road users' mistakes become yours, nor yours become others
5) The rest, including laws of the land, is thoughtful observation, prescience, etiquette, decorum, and cooperation

Tonight on the A30 it was the bulk lorry followed by a car transporter* that insisted on driving 3' behind so that I could not overtake one at once. Followed for five miles, then we caught a tractor and the lorries tailgated him for a further five miles...



* Loaded with what I believe to be brand new Brazilian VW Camper vans (of the old shape)!

I have never been able to understand why the instant that most people climb into a car they forget the normal courtesies that they observe in non motoring life.

_________________
When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

I bet you can't justify that without relying on personal bias.

_________________
Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

Or personal observation. I have never had any problem joining a crowded pavement from my office door - someone always steps aside to allow me to do so. I have lost count of the occasions I have been prevented from joining the road from a drive way by passing cars whos drivers will not give me consideration.

_________________
When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Observation can also be subjective, as well as the interpretation of the results.

I bet they don't allow you to walk in front of them when they're in a single-file, non-passable queue - which is the equivalent of your driving example.
You'll find many (if not most) drivers on multi-lane carriageways will actually pull over (when safe and possible) to let you in from a slip road (which is the equivalent of your crowded pavement example).

Interesting concept: someone 'preventing' you from taking their right of way.... when you said 'prevent' did you mean they just didn't grant you access in front of them, or were you trying to literally force your way in?

_________________
Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign