There appears to be a new ‘must have’ gizmo for cars, namely cruise control. I am a little worried … bear with me.

Cruise control is set rigidly at 40 mph and it never waivers. National speed limit roads are to be endured enjoyed at this speed as well as those charming chocolate box villages with a 30 mph speed sign and requisite cameras.

Nope, 40 mph it is irrespective of Highway Code guidelines.

My patience is getting tested. 🙄

haha mu ultimate biggest bug bear the one speed fits all drivers.
Mind you, the ones that really **** me off are the people who are constantly on the brakes. Have these people never heard of keeping your distance, observing further than the end of your nose and also the fact that you can use engine braking.

Driving, it not difficult, but some people make it look a real challenge.

40mph-everywhere isn’t a cruise control thing, it’s been a certain type of driver’s favoured approach for as long as I’ve been on the roads at least, probably a lot longer.

Mind you, the ones that really **** me off are the people who are constantly on the brakes. Have these people never heard of keeping your distance, observing further than the end of your nose and also the fact that you can use engine braking.

All good points, but none of those skills will apply your brakes every time an oncoming vehicle approaches will they!

very common – on yr bumper in 30mph section – drop way back as you speed up when houses disappear – back on yr bumper in next residential area – thats the main road i live on

one thing think noticed more and more is that if a car is approaching and slows to turn left then the car (usually tailgating) behind will in effect pull beyond the centre and overtake the turning car irrespective of the fact that oncoming traffic has to slow to allow them to do this great time saving manoevre

edit def turned into victor meldrew there – must be all the bonfire smoke

It’s Sunday.
Everyone knows that 40mph is the speed limit for Sunday.
Probably mentions it in the bible somewhere.

Probably the maximum speed of Moses’ Triumph.

With you there c_g. Too many selfish people around. It’s all rush, rush, rush.

All those things ^^^ annoy me hugely. But I reserve a special kind of black hatred for the stupidly over-cautious, timid drivers on narrow rural roads (esp west coast of Scotland) who do 20 whenever the road is a bit windy (90%of the time) and immediately put their foot down the second the road straightens up enough to allow an overtake. I seem to get stuck behind tourists like this all the time. It’s almost as if they know they’re holding everyone up, so try to make up for it on the straights 🙁

I always stick to 30 mph limits and 40 limits, however on NSL and 50 dual carriageways, i will stick to a speed that i feel comfortable at with the weather and road conditions in mind.

Sunday Morning A666, hardly any cars on it, its dry and clear will be dispatched at a steady 80 mph.

Tailgating i can’t stand either.

@ user removed, agree.
my dad used to get so wound up by this when i was a kid.
now that i drive myself i understand.
the one that gets me is the people who drive at 60 on a dual carraigeway/motorway, but speed up after you have overtaken them, pass you at about 80 then back in front of you and slow down to 60 again.
it really is amazing the number of ‘drivers’* who will do this 5 or 6 times.
*i use this term loosely.

The worst are those people who stand the car on it’s nose at every speed camera. Driving along, they’ll be doing 45 ish in a 50 zone then up ahead they see a camera or police car and immediately it’s brake pedal to the floor, they crawl through the camera zone then back on the gas. No idea of what the limit is on that particular road and as mentioned above, they’ll usually keep to that same speed no matter what. 40mph the whole way…

Its not yet compulsory to have to reach the speed limit of the road youre driving on 😯

The art of adapting one’s speed to suit the conditions has been replaced by a device which means you’re always going too fast or too slow for the conditions but will never get nicked for speeding. The death rate is lower than when people ignored speed limits so why the rant?

I adapt my driving to suit the conditions, and that includes the other drivers on the road. Try not to get upset, everyone is just trying to get somewhere, you wouldn’t act like this if you were walking down the pavement.

The drivers that annoy me are the ones that deliberately swerve into me! Twice in the last 6 months.

project – Member
Its not yet compulsory to have to reach the speed limit of the road youre driving on

POSTED 15 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST
Tell that to the examiner who failed my daughter last time she sat her driving test 🙄
“Not making good progress” apparently.

These people I seem to encounter quite regularly drive at 40 mph through small villages too even when it’s signed 30. I seriously wonder if they drive with their eyes open and are capable of reacting to any situation.

I observe speed limits except on motorways or where there is a national speed limit.

Seem to do a lot of overtaking these days and I’m anything but a girl racer. 🙂

All I can add is never come to NZ. You’ll explode.

Yep, no one can corner these days. Its frustrating especially if they have a big powerful car. Tourists and small motors can be forgiven.
I’m guilty now too in my underpowered van that is guided rather than steered but I will signal left for folk to pass when it’s safe. Another bit of etiquette that seems to be forgotten about.

project – Member

Its not yet compulsory to have to reach the speed limit of the road youre driving onthink the OP was complaining about the duality of 20mph under the limit on NSL roads then 10mph over the limit on residential.
That suggests not caution or driving to suit the conditions but bloody mindedness

On the subject of the W Highlands, signs like these seem to work:

I’ve never seen one like it in England.

Its not yet compulsory to have to reach the speed limit of the road youre driving on

I faild my first MC test for not getting upto 70 on a DC ring road (quite happy to sit in the ‘slow’ lane but ended up behind one of the OP’s drivers doing 40 and couldn’t get past as once one car’s pulled out behind you there’s a stream to contend with.

The next test the examiner was following in a car so I adopted the attitude that if I rode it like I’d stolen it he couldn’t fail me for what he couldn’t see. Got 1 minor for something I don’t remember doing (or not doing) so I think he was trying to justify the test at that point.

Yeah the 41mph driver and the can’t go round corners drivers are a total pain.

But my ire is reserved for lack of lane discipline. The first two drivers might be lacking in confidence or ability but middle lane drivers are just lazy and inconsiderate

It migh not be people are bloody minded, simply poverty stricken or environmentally aware. The most economical speed for most cars is not much over 40mph and certainly no more than 60mph. Google it.

My personal favourite are the idiots in the middle lane who speed up as you try to pass them. Coming down the M3 on Saturday, guy in the middle land doing 65. I pull out from the inside lane to the outside lane, doing about 75 ish, and he speeds up. Once is gets to 80, I let him go and pull back in. At which point the moron slows back down to 65. At this point I try again, having flashed him. This time he looked embarrassed and I got past safely. Muppet

i failed my first test for not going fast enough. only made it to 45 in a 50 up a hill. the examiner was a right fat git – i mean not shy of 20 stone or so. i was in a diesel fiesta im pretty sure it wouldnt go any faster up a hill with 32 stone in the front seats. not that im bitter or anything

It’s also amazing how often this happens…

* Almost deserted motorway
* Somebody still finds it necessary to drive down the middle lane at about 50
* I pull out from inside lane, to outside lane, to overtake them.
* I give them my special ‘Evil stare’ as I go past, so they get the hint and pull in.
* Once past, I pull back in to the inside lane.
* About 5 seconds later, they pull back out to the middle lane.

🙄

My personal favourite are the idiots in the middle lane who speed up as you try to pass them.

Have you ever tried the “passive aggressive wingman” approach? It’s great fun.. You pull up to just behind them in the slow lane, so you’re clearly visible in their LH wing mirror, match speeds, and then gradually step it up but keep your position relative to them. In their confusion over being potentially undertaken, you can often get an extra 20mph out of them before they realise that they’re the problem and pull in.. Or they just get the huff and speed off! It needs a clear motorway, but it can liven up those long journeys..

No doubt somebody will be along shortly to tell me that this is reckless and dangerous etc etc..

There are some right wrong uns let loose on our roads, I just think they’re let out more on a Sunday.

but middle lane drivers most people are just lazy and inconsiderate

I generally hate the smart-arse ‘FTFY’ type comments, but having said that, FTFY ^

But my ire is reserved for lack of lane discipline.

Drove up from London yesterday. M1 > M6, fact fans.

There’s a stretch, I think it’s the south end of the M6, which is four actual lanes (ie, not the hard shoulder) and has variable speed limit signs.

Lanes 2-4 were busy with traffic all doing 60mph. Lane 1, empty. I dropped to the first lane, set the cruise control to 70 and sailed off in my own private little lane. At a point where it all goes straight, there was not a single other vehicle in the lane for as far as the eye could see either in front or behind. The number of vehicles I passed must have been in three figures, easily.

yes I often meet people like this. Normally on national speed limit country roads there’ll be dragging along at 40mph on a reasonably wide straight section.

Then your’ll approach a tight corner and think actually I better slow down might be a cyclist or pedestrian round the corner and 40mph is the max I feel safe going round the corner.

And then the driver, who appeared so nervous they had to go 40mph on the lovely straight bit of road with good visibility, will start to pull away from you drive like Michael Schumacher round a series of hair pin bends where an accident is quite likely.

Then your’ll catch them straight back up when you get to the next safe, easy and faster section of road where they should be at 60 no problems.

All I can add is never come to NZ. You’ll explode.

when I was driving round NZ back in October I could drive for three hours and barely see another car, the place is deserted. When there was another car on the road they almost always killed themselves by overtaking on a corner when just 100yds further up would be a straight piece of road two miles long!

Kev

Anyone else get annoyed when drivers of small cars pull out to the right before turning left? It’s Ok for you’re in a truck or even a van but in a Matiz? Really?

Set Cruise Control on car then spend the entire journey disengaging and re-engaging it to avoid accidents with the other drivers who speed past then slow down. I didn’t bother with it on my new car…

Its the same when walking though. If you come up gradually behind someone who is walking at similar pace as you, you put on a spurt to get past. You then slow down to your preferred pace only to find them passing you again. People do this to me everyday on my walk to work.

Some real classics on here. M25 at night you will see hundreds of cars driving in lanes 3 or 4 with lanes 1 and 2 empty. A3 or M3 at a quiet-ish time of day/night most cars will be driving in the middle lane with the inside lane empty. Yet everyone seems to complain about it. Who are all these people then?

I just get annoyed by the number of people who don’t seem to know where their indicators are these days….especially when cars just brake in the middle of the road without indicating when turning right and expect me to know what they are doing! Gah…

Anyone else get annoyed when drivers of small cars pull out to the right before turning left? It’s Ok for you’re in a truck or even a van but in a Matiz? Really?

Nowt wrong with that. Makes the corner smoother. If they’re staying in their lane it means they actually get off the road and out of your way quicker.

All I can add is never come to NZ. You’ll explode.

when I was driving round NZ back in October I could drive for three hours and barely see another car, the place is deserted. When there was another car on the road they almost always killed themselves by overtaking on a corner when just 100yds further up would be a straight piece of road two miles long!

Other than some pretty bad tailgating I thought the driving in NZ was okay. People tended to stick to the speed limit and not wander to far below it on open roads

Romania on the other hand!!!

On a 2 lane motorway. You catch somebody cruising along in the right hand lane. Pull out behind them, flash them, they very quickly pull over. You overtake and pull in, with no traffic visible in front. The car you’ve just overtaken pulls back out into the RH lane.

Lanes 2-4 were busy with traffic all doing 60mph. Lane 1, empty. I dropped to the first lane, set the cruise control to 70 and sailed off in my own private little lane. At a point where it all goes straight, there was not a single other vehicle in the lane for as far as the eye could see either in front or behind. The number of vehicles I passed must have been in three figures, easily.

This perplexes me. Something I see a lot. Even with just two lanes. Everyone’s on the outside in attempt to reach their destination faster, and the inside lane is practically empty.

Of course there may be one or two people dawdling along, and even the odd tractor, but if everyone were to use the lanes appropriately, overtaking when necesarry, then the outside wouldn’t be crammed with people doing 45mph.

Is it just me, or does it not take a lot of intelligence to figure this out?

And yes, I notice the 40mph everywhere gang too. You think they’re being safety conscious (which is fair enough, you know), until they plough past schools at the same speed. As I get older I realise there are some things we will just never know the answers to.