I’m quite surprised that almost no one mentions the effects of those people who routinely speed in urban areas. I live in west London, I usually commute and get about by bike (I also own 2 vehicles). I also walk a lot because we have really good public transport, and there are shops and things within 5-10 minutes walk so why would you drive all the time?
Where I live the road speed limits have been reduced to 20mph, which “some” people abide by. Crossing the road can be a Russian Roulette activity as one particular road is on a slight curve, and those driving at 20mph are visible far enough away so that there’s a level of confidence of being able to get across the road once they appear. However, those doing 50mph (quite common) cause pedestrians to have to run across the road, drivers coming out of side roads to accelerate hard, everyone else to drive like complete dicks, because you have to because of the few who don’t believe that speed limits apply to them because they’re “driving gods”, or they drive to the conditions, or worse still “according to their experience”.
Oh, and when I drive, I consider that pretty much every time I get behind the wheels there’s at least one moment when I think, “hmmm I shouldn’t have done that”.

I find some speed limits inappropriately slow. I still obey them.

I find some speed limits inappropriately high. I drive slower then I am legally allowed, at a speed I feel comfortable and safe at.

Not hard is it?

Overtake when it’s safe to do so. It’s not rocket surgery.

Fair enough, but in the time between coming up behind the driver and the safe overtake…….?

Oh, and when I drive, I consider that pretty much every time I get behind the wheels there’s at least one moment when I think, “hmmm I shouldn’t have done that”.

May I recommend the Institute of Advanced Motorists, or perhaps spend some time being coached by a skilled driver? 😉

Fair enough, but in the time between coming up behind the driver and the safe overtake…….?

As long as it takes to be safe….

Or is it a trick question.

I feel the need, the need for speed!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

Fair enough, but in the time between coming up behind the driver and the safe overtake…….?

One would simply drive according to the conditions, ie. as you would when there’s another car in front.

I can see exactly where you’re going, you’d like to suggest that I’d be up their arse, flashing my lights and being an aggressive dick.

The best way to overtake safely is to start from far enough back that you can see down both sides of the car in front. One of the most useful views of the road ahead is underneath the car, so being close is counterproductive.

The best way to predict what another driver might do is to assess his driving over a distance WITHOUT letting your road stance influence the way he drives. That way you know if he cuts corners, moves out for left-handers etc.

And by beginning an overtaking manouvre from further back, you have more time to abort if a hazard materialises.

All basic stuff in the Advanced Driver training, I think overtaking should be covered in more detail in the standard driving test – it’s not something one should be afraid of.

Internet troll
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rossburton – Member

It’s Friday and I’m going away for the weekend so this could be fun.

Why do some people think that speeding (in a car) isn’t really wrong? And get annoyed with speed cameras?

Nice work op. Nice work.

put me behind the wheel of a lively, enthusiastic vehicle on an open, sweeping, undulating B road and I become alive: my reflexes sharpen, I become more aware. I choose my line, my braking points, look ahead for hazards, and general enjoy the “roadcraft” of “making progress”.

Put me in a line of traffic dawdling along at 25mph and I just become another zombie, far more likely to be saying “Sorry mate, I didn’t see you”…

Couldn’t have put it better myself but you don’t have to speed to do that, well not much anyway.

put me behind the wheel of a lively, enthusiastic vehicle on an open, sweeping, undulating B road and I become alive: my reflexes sharpen, I become more aware. I choose my line, my braking points, look ahead for hazards, and general enjoy the “roadcraft” of “making progress”.

Couldn’t have put it better myself but you don’t have to speed to do that, well not much anyway.[/quote]
Indeed. I do all that in an ageing, overweight estate car, within the speed limit. Probably comes from my first car being a Hillman Imp (fun below 30mph).

I agree with both those points, and I don’t habitually set out to deliberately break the speed limit. But I simply don’t mind at all if I do.

By the same token, there are times when I wouldn’t dream of driving anywhere near the speed limit because conditions dictate that it’s not safe to do so.

My first car was a 20-year old Triumph Spitfire 1500, top speed around 75mph, so I agree, you can get your kicks at relatively low speeds if you choose the right vehicle.

One of the best in this regard was the Smart Roadster, felt like you were caning it all the time! Test drove the Brabus version which was genuinely rapid and it was terrifying!

We have the technology to install GPS trackers in every vehicle. These could be set to upload data whenever a speed limit is exceeded. If we’re already talking about phasing out petrol/diesel cars then this should just be adopted as a new C&U standard.

I have taken recently to watching ‘epic fail’ / bad driving videos on YouTube, they’re a real eye opener for me as I don’t drive. The vast majority of accidents are caused by people speeding. The only people who then do not also become involved in further secondary collisions are not only paying attention, but also driving slowly. ( Those who are also speeding, often becoming involved in the crash too).

Flaperon – Member
Try driving with adaptive cruise control
It’s sooooooo tiring.

I’ve managed to get door-to-door on a 300 mile journey without disengaging the cruise control (mostly good luck, had a lead car to follow at traffic lights).

What else did you do then when not driving? Play Mindcraft on yer phone ?

Turned mine off, the constant pitch and yaw as the traffic flow ebbed and flowed was making me sick.

Take back control 😆

The best way to overtake safely is to start from far enough back that you can see down both sides of the car in front
…
And by beginning an overtaking manouvre from further back, you have more time to abort if a hazard materialises.

That may be the first most sensible thing you’ve said on this thread. Also, being further back means you can plan an overtake in advance and be travelling faster than the car in front when you reach them rather than at the same speed.

TBH though, in that scenario I’d probably just sit patiently behind them, unless their driving suggested that they were going to carry on at 30mph when they reached an NSL further ahead. I very rarely break 30mph limits these days.

I don’t drive. The vast majority of accidents are caused by people speeding.

The former statement arguably invalidates the latter.

Can you give an example?

I don’t drive. The vast majority of accidents are caused by people speeding.
The former statement arguably invalidates the latter.

Sounds like a poorly reasoned argument to me. As I said, this was an observation made from watching several crashes on video.

Can’t believe so many people have bothered to respond to the OP…..what a shite thread!

Where’s the ‘thumbs down’ emoticon when you need it?

@Cougar: apologies, that came across rather pishy- it’s been a long week.

‘s absolutely fine mate. I didn’t think you were, I was probably being pishy myself. My doctor tells me I have an overactive sarcasm gland.

A bloody overactive ban-hammer more like…

I’m awesome and a great driver is basically what some seem to think. The thing is, you can be the best driver of all time, but you can’t control or account fort the behaviour of other motorists, pedestrians, cyclists, horses, dogs etc. Hence the awesome skillz are worth two things, jack and shit. That’s why lower speed limits are a good thing. They help to lessen the seriousness of an incident.

I always promise myself I won’t look at or post on speeding threads. I can’t help it though. Hands up how many of you have lost somebody very close due to a driver thinking speed limits don’t matter. I have and it’s shit. My brother was killed crossing the street. According to the investigators three miles an hour makes a big **** difference.

Three miles an hour less and I’d have been celebrating my brothers 46th birthday with him a couple of weeks ago. Instead I had to sit in a corridor in intensive care eleven years ago and explain to an eight year old boy that we were turning off the machines that were keeping his father alive.

A bloody overactive ban-hammer more like…

It’s underactive if anything. Bans are always a last resort.

I’m awesome and a great driver is basically what some seem to think. The thing is, you can be the best driver of all time, but you can’t control or account fort the behaviour of other motorists, pedestrians, cyclists, horses, dogs etc.

Of course you can’t. But you can look and think ahead, forward-plan your driving and mitigate a lot of the risks. Driving at a speed appropriate to the conditions is an important part of that but only a part of it, and as you say will also reduce the severity of the outcome should a collision occur (though I’d rather try and avoid a collision in the first place). Speeding through a built-up area when there’s likely to be people about is bellendery. Doing 75 on an empty motorway, not so much.

And I’ve said it before but it’s probably worth repeating if only so that people don’t think I’ve had an empathy bypass; I’m sincerely sorry for your loss.

Unrealistic speed limits in a lot of instances. Roads that used to be national, now 40 or 50. I didnt die 20 years ago when they were national, I have no intention of slowing down on them now.
Please for the sake of yourself and others you share the road with, go on a speed awareness course. Or if you’ve been on one, go again but this time listen. Things have changed somewhat over the last 20 years.

If there is a stretch of road that has had the speed limit reduced it is because people have died. And on these accident blackspot stretches of road where speed limits have been reduced it is proved to be an effective way to reduce the accident rate. So that sort of disproves your point of view about lower speed limits being introduced as an annoyance to road users – they are introduced very deliberately backed up with evidence to support them being changed.

There have been a number of local roads to me which had limits lowered just because there were a couple of accidents, only one of which involved a fatality, and all were caused by inattention at speeds below what was originally set, i.e. 60mph.
The fatal accident was on a bypass, which has a housing estate built inside it, a woman was killed when she turned around to berate one of her children, and drifted across the road into the path of a large truck. Neither vehicle was doing more than 40mph on a 60mph road.
The other one on the same stretch was at a junction where a woman was waiting to pull out onto the bypass, a motorist turning left into the road she was on flashed her to say she could pull out, and she was hit by a car overtaking the one turning. Nobody was seriously injured, no vehicle was doing more than 35 mph.
They installed roundabouts on all the junctions and dropped the limit to 50, on the grounds that it’s “an estate road”.
It is not, it’s a road bypassing a road into town that’s heavily built up, narrow, and has a school nearby, and it happens to have an estate built inside it after it was put in place, as nearly always happens when developers get a chance to do ‘infill’.
Another limit was imposed on the A4 near Box after a collision where a car pulled out from a garage into the path of another vehicle without looking, again neither vehicle was travelling more than 40mph, as established by accident investigators.
The classic is the Batheaston bypass, put in place to avoid the accident blackspot that is Batheaston; it’s a dual-carriageway that sweeps around the watermeadow below the village, and it had a speed-camera installed and a 50mph limit imposed, before it was even opened!
Why? Because the rules state that a speed camera can be set up within 2km of an accident black-spot, so as Batheaston is within the 2km limit, a camera was installed on the road built to avoid the black-spot; a clear and blatant case of using a camera for making money, not to avoid accidents that had never ever happened on that road.
It doesn’t even need to be 50mph, it’s a dual carriageway with no other roads accessing it, except for assess ramps.

But you can look and think ahead, forward-plan your driving and mitigate a lot of the risks.

You can, but I don’t think a lot of people do. I’m with you on the motorway thing though. All traffic flowing one way, no pedestrians, cyclists etc. I know I shouldn’t post and you don’t come across as having no empathy.

It’s the people that think speeding is okay and act like children when they receive a fine that piss me off. Don’t like it, don’t speed. It’s selfish, entitled behaviour at the end of the day.

I speed occasionally because I want to. And I’ve decided that it is safe to do so. So there.

My theory, as in life as well as driving. Is that one should always give way/help to the weaker/more vulnerable. So when driving, pedestrians and cyclists are ALWAYS given priority. What I cannot stand, is people who don’t do this and use there cars to bully people. See it a lot when I’m out and about on foot. I’m talking about those speeding in busy built up areas, those revving to shoot off from the lights at a pedestrian crossing when I’m half way across “THE LIGHT CHANGED I HAVE RIGHT OF WAY!”, those who park on the pavement blocking access etc…

Like all laws, they are for the guidance of the wise, and the obedience of the fool.

Edit: and I don’t/won’t moan if/when I get a ticket. What will be, will be. Only ever had one ticket for speeding, and I speed pretty much all the time (when appropriate) which just shows that my speeding is (mostly) appropriate.

They should bring back all those public information films

[video]https://youtu.be/_RNXHByX4qI[/video]

I’ll happily speed on open roads so as to overtake all of those morons who are dead from the neck up and travel at a constant 40 mph regardless of the speed limits.

Given the inability of so many motorists to be able to maintain road speed I suspect all road will be 40 mph max within 10 years.

Takes me 45 mins to travel 19 miles here in rural Dorset,

Like all laws, they are for the guidance of the wise, and the obedience of the fool.

Eh?

I’ve not read the thread as life is to short, but in my opinion things that should of been said by now are (in order of importance )

1, Where is surf matt?

2, My car is NCAP 1 billion so it won’t affect me or my victims

3, We live in a nanny state

4, I am better than the majority of drivers on the road

5, All motorised road users are killers.

May I also say that I have absolutely no respect for the posted limits of the road, sometimes I drive faster, sometimes slower, I refer you to point 4 😉

I treat 30 and 40 limits as sacrosanct but empty open country roads have places where I’m quite happy to go over the national.
I’m going to start advanced driver training soon so I can feel superior, I mean be a better, safer driver.

Off topic a bit but one of the types of driver that get me are the ones you overtake between villages because they’re rolling along at 45. Then at the next village you slow to the 30 but they catch up and get right up your chuff because they want to do 45 through the village as well. Fools.

Off topic a bit but one of the types of driver that get me are the ones you overtake between villages because they’re rolling along at 45. Then at the next village you slow to the 30 but they catch up and get right up your chuff because they want to do 45 through the village as well. Fools.

+1 Come to Dorset. It’s full of them!

While we’re having an off-thread moan about driving habits…

Those people who really make a meal of turning off a main road into a side road causing you to unnecessarily slow to a halt and wait for them to complete the whole tedious manoeuvre. Watching them slowly feed the wheel through their hands whilst cars are screeching to a stop behind you in a tailback on the dual carriageway ring-road. Just fuggingeddinthere! Slow down one you’re in and off the main drag!

The worst type are the bastards who travel at 30 on a national speed limit road and then speed up when they reach a 30. I swear to god that there are a small number of drivers that think signs work in reverse. You are now leaving a 30 limit 🙄

Some really disappointing stuff on this thread from people who spend time on the roads on bicycles and might not get killed/injured if more people drove according to the highway code. I know someone who killed a pedestrian who wouldn’t have done with a little more care and respect for the law. You don’t want to have to live with that, or do you?

Just a couple of thoughts:

Use your limiter rather than cruise control. If you start to doze off you’ll slow down which might bring you to your senses and if you do crash you’ll be going slower. If you have to brake you’ll find the pedal faster from the accelerator than from wherever you’re resting your foot. A Swiss study concluded cruise controls to be a significant contributor to motorway accidents.

Engine braking is still very useful, especially in the mountains. A British coach driver was hailed as a hero for the way he crashed his coach to save lives. A driver familiar with driving in the mountains wouldn’t have cooked the brakes to failure in the first place.

To support countzero, a road I use was until fairly recently was a NSL of 60 as it was rural, it then went to 40/30/60, it then further went 40/30/20/60, I still drive the road the same as I always did, just because a few idiots thought they could take a blind 100degree plus bend at 60mph in the snow doesn’t mean I should adjust the way I drive.

For funkmasterp, those are the **** that can’t see well enough to go fast on unlit roads that then try to make ground when they can see in a lit (urban ) area 🙁

Use your limiter rather than cruise control. If you start to doze off you’ll slow down which might bring you to your senses and if you do crash you’ll be going slower. If you have to brake you’ll find the pedal faster from the accelerator than from wherever you’re resting your foot. A Swiss study concluded cruise controls to be a significant contributor to motorway accidents.

Engine braking is still very useful, especially in the mountains. A British coach driver was hailed as a hero for the way he crashed his coach to save lives. A driver familiar with driving in the mountains wouldn’t have cooked the brakes to failure in the first place.

Apparently this is all BS… even the moderator says so!

(For the record, nail on the head)

I was going to post something balanced, conciliatory and thoughtful.

And then I thought better of it and had another biscuit.

Dark chocolate digestive, proper McVities one.

What else did you do then when not driving? Play Mindcraft on yer phone ?

Didnt know you can get Minecraft on a phone, so no. Finished the “Fiendish” level Sudoku in The Times though.

I’m awesome and a great driver is basically what some seem to think. The thing is, you can be the best driver of all time, but you can’t control or account fort the behaviour of other motorists, pedestrians, cyclists, horses, dogs etc. Hence the awesome skillz are worth two things, jack and shit.

Exactly this. The law is to protect the vulnerable from the incompetent and/or idiotic. You awesome drivers out there are clearly no problem, but the law is written to protect us from those less competent. There is a certain amount of irony there.

Top and bottom of it is if you want to drive at competitive speeds, go and compete in something. get it out of your system.

You can [think ahead], but I don’t think a lot of people do.

I don’t disagree, that was kind of my point TBH.

you don’t come across as having no empathy.

That’s kind of you to say. Mostly I was preempting a mauling from the great unwashed. (-: