why are people still driving too fast?

exup

couldnt care what speed you do really - I'd rather keep my attention on the road then constantly checking on my speedometer , what gets on my nerves is the nob who insists on driving at 40 mph in a 60 limit for no reason, then when they enter a built up area (30mph) they carry on at the same speed - unless there is a speed camera then they brake down to 30. For some reason they seem to brake down to 30 if they are in a 40 mph limit too and pass by a speed camera.

Flyboy152

alastairq wrote: »

Fear not...I fully understand!

If there was so much oncoming traffic...the question may be, is it wise to increase one's own speed?

I really don't believe I am arguing this point, with an otherwise apparently intelligent person. The lane I was in, as I stated in my earlier post, was quite wide, at least approximately five meters.

The very volume and nature of the oncoming traffic may have contributed to the leading driver's reluctance to drive faster?

There was a vehicle coming from the other direction every hundred and fifty to two hundred meters or so (sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less), not enough traffic for anyone to worry about, but enough to make it unsafe to pass from a speed of thirty miles per hour. There was no need to be driving at thirty miles per hour, on a straight, clear and wide single carriageway, irrespective of what traffic was on the other side of the road. If a driver cannot cope with that, they really should not be driving.

Just because you have a perception of what constitutes the best, low risk speed, does not mean to say it is shared by others.

Do you think it is acceptable to drive at thirty miles per hour when the speed limit is sixty miles per hour? We have seen many posts (to the point of ad nauseum) about reasonable progress, holding up a long line of traffic is not reasonable progress.

Trouble is, when someone get's in people's way, all of a sudden the world is full of experts.

Experts who can only see things from their own perspective.

What if your slow driver had in fact, stopped [to let you past?]?

There was no other reasonable explanation for his actions. The driver did not stop, there would have no safe place to do so. The fact that it was a clearway notwithstanding, if he had just pulled over as far as he could, there still would have been not enough space to have passed safely.

Would that have not created an even worse situation, of having to await a suitable gap in the oncoming traffic, to move out into?

There would have been no need to have stopped, all he had to was allow the following traffic to reasonable progress.

HC is an abbreviation, for the purposes of driving forums, for Highway Code...thought everyone knew that?

Well, sorry, but I don't trawl through motoring forums, why I would need to?

Your comments regarding drivers being 'unable to cope with their surroundings' seems to me a case of shooting oneself in the foot?

Patently, you yourself failed to cope wit the perceived shortcomings of another driver......

Excuse me? I am perfectly happy with my surroundings and I drive safely. But if this moron I encountered was, as you say, nervous about driving on a clear, straight, wide road, which has a speed limit of sixty miles per hour (that was clearly not the reason him obstructing the traffic), he really does need to reconsider the reasons for his journey and chose a different mode of transport. Drivers like that can be far more dangerous than many others. This driver's objective was to cause as much disruption and annoyance as he possibly could, by driving slower and slower (at one point he was driving as slow as fifteen miles per hour), sharply applying his brakes, in a clear attempt to intimidate other road users, not a perceived shortcoming, but a very obvious one.

mikey72

Flyboy152 wrote: »

So you would deliberately annoy another driver, just because you are causing an obstruction and they are reminding of that?

The point of flashing my headlights at him, in accordance with the highway code, I was letting him know I was there. My assumption was that he did not know he was holding up the traffic. So, after alerting him to my presence, I hoped that he would increase his speed to a more acceptable level, instead he decide to ignore the ever increasing line of traffic behind him and actually slow down. The sounds of their horns were becoming deafening. I was maintaining a safe distance, he was the one who was continuously braking (violently at times and for no reason) to reduce that distance, presumably in the vain hope that I would be intimidated by this.

No, I'll drive at a speed I choose.
You won’t change that.
If you want to flash your lights, I'll assume you want to pass. The point of slowing down, in accordance with the highway code, is to let you overtake, at you've gone to such great lengths to inform me you're there.
But if you can't because of oncoming traffic, that's just helped reinforce my general impression of you.

If you want to drive into me when I, in accordance with the highway code, perform an emergency stop, due to a perceived hazard, that's your problem. And your insurers.

Flyboy152

mikey72 wrote: »

No, I'll drive at a speed I choose.
You won’t change that.
If you want to flash your lights, I'll assume you want to pass. The point of slowing down, in accordance with the highway code, is to let you overtake, at you've gone to such great lengths to inform me you're there.
But if you can't because of oncoming traffic, that's just helped reinforce my general impression of you.

If you want to drive into me when I, in accordance with the highway code, perform an emergency stop, due to a perceived hazard, that's your problem. And your insurers.

If I have flashed my main beam at you, it is to inform you of my presence, not necessarily that I want to pass. If it is unsafe for me to do so and you were driving athirty miles per hour, on a road with a limit of sixty miles per hour, it would generally mean that you are impeding the reasonable progress of the traffic. If you have decided to ignore the general courtesies of roadcraft, that would typically mean that you were not much of a gentleman.

mikey72

Flyboy152 wrote: »

If I have flashed my main beam at you, it is to inform you of my presence, not necessarily that I want to pass. If it is unsafe for me to do so and you were driving athirty miles per hour, on a road with a limit of sixty miles per hour, it would generally mean that you are impeding the reasonable progress of the traffic. If you have decided to ignore the general courtesies of roadcraft, that would typically mean that you were not much of a gentleman.

Take it for granted I'm a tw*t, but I've seen you. Take it for granted I have my own, perfectly valid reason for driving at 30mph as well.

newbie007_2

Flyboy - Yes there are plenty of annoying and not so good drivers out there, you just have to deal with it.

mikey72

Calmly, resolutely, or they’re just going to make you do something stupid.

real1314

optimus_primera wrote: »

Geordie_Bear
The faster you go ,the more stressed you become?
Only if you don't like going fast surely? If it stresses you out, then don't do it?
I find it,relaxing is the wrong word,but its a close defination.
I love driving quickly,yes even given the rights and wrongs of doing so, i still get a buzz out of driving fast,(note i said driving, i hate being a passenger,i must be the one in control,as i am a bad passenger).

Rather than relaxing, you're probably looking at attenuating your senses; operating them in an efficient / effective way.

The snake pass can be a wonderful, testing drive, when driven well (within the limits of the vehicle) and safely. The speed used can be well within the safe limits, but well above the speed others might choose.

mikey72

real1314 wrote: »

Rather than relaxing, you're probably looking at attenuating your senses; operating them in an efficient / effective way.

The snake pass can be a wonderful, testing drive, when driven well (within the limits of the vehicle) and safely. The speed used can be well within the safe limits, but well above the speed others might choose.

I've come off the bottom of Winnets Pass at night in winter at about 70mph.
(mainly as it was technically closed due to snow and ice, and I couldn't slow down quite as much as I would have liked on the way down) Testing, but not relaxing, and definately not within any safe limit.

Inactive

Trebor16 wrote: »

Then you clearly know nothing about instructing if you think that an instructor cannot attain a full working knowledge of how standards are applied.

Come back when you actually know what you are talking about.

You clearly do not, sadly you are like many instructors, you only think that you know what the standards are.