people driving sooooo slow cos they dont know the speed limit!

Idiophreak

jackieb wrote: »

Why do you brake? Why not just take your foot off the accelerator a bit? The only time I brake when someone is overtaking me is if something is coming the other way, and I brake out of fear! Do you brake if something is behind you when someone is overtaking? What if the lorry or whatever needs to get back in behind you for some reason, and you've been braking - they'll have had it. :eek:

Sorry, a bit of a typo...I meant "slow down" rather than brake. I don't brake very much at all these days (which also means I take rounabouts much faster than before)...the engine braking from my little car is pretty weak, but gets the job done eventually.

As to stopping people getting back in, holding up people behind, blah blah. I do what I feel is most helpful to get everyone on their way as fast as possible. I'm sure you can find fault with whatever I say I do, so I won't bother - I just try to be helpful.

dzug1

neil421967 wrote: »

I know speed limits are for a reason, but people should at least stay close to the max if safe to do so, they say speed causes accidents, but i have lost count in our area of the number of times a slow driver has caused one.

It's just as arguable that impatient/aggressive/inattentive drivers have caused many of those accidents

Lum

vax2002 wrote: »

That could be because it does not always mean that the national speed limit is 70 mph on dual carriageways

The national speed limit, for cars, is always 70 on a dual carriageway

if there is no central reservation with a solid kerb but still 2 lanes its 60

I don't think you quite understand what a dual carriageway is. It is not defined by how many lanes are in each direction, it is defined by how many carriageways, which are bits of tarmac that can carry one or more lanes in one or more directions.

If the oncoming traffic is on a separate carriageway, the separation can be as basic as a 1' wide strip of grass or as severe as a 20' brick wall, then you are on a dual carriageway. If the only separation is a bit of paint then it's a single carriageway.

This is a dual carriageway, the limit on it is 70



This is a single carriageway

I would also say the best way to determine a good driver is to both obtain an insurance quote, the experts in risk will soon put the argument to rest.

Utter rubbish, insurance quotes are based on generalisations so you are judged by the quality of driving of people of a similar age, location and occupation to you. Also by this reasoning anyone who lives in a high crime area is automatically a crap driver.

The only insurance factors that are directly related to you as a person are points on your licence and your accident history and even that is misleading since getting your car broken into while away on holiday puts your insurance up.

wba31

martinthebandit wrote: »

Usually I would brake to disengage the cruise control, plus in a big old auto lifting your foot off the accelerator has very little effect.

In the 3 cars i had with cruise control i either had a cancel button on the steering wheel OR i would put the clutch in then out again. doesnt light up the brake lights but switchs CC off and lets the engine gently slow the car down.

LandyAndy

wba31 wrote: »

In the 3 cars i had with cruise control i either had a cancel button on the steering wheel OR i would put the clutch in then out again. doesnt light up the brake lights but switchs CC off and lets the engine gently slow the car down.

Not so easy in an auto.;)

I drive a manual with cruise now and use the cancel button but when I drove an auto with it I did tend to touch the brakes to disengage it. Perhaps that's connected with the relative lack of engine braking in an auto?

slyracoon

My pet hate is people that drive at 40 everywhere!

40 in a national which is slowwwww and then when It switches to a 30 through the villages I slow down but they continue through at 40!

Tinks74

@Lum - I get your point, but would you want to drive at 70 on that dual carriageway? I know I wouldn't. If that road was used by someone on their driving test would they fail or be penalised for not driving near or at the speed limit (as has been suggested by previous posters)?

It is possible that other drivers are new to the area, don't know the road or are looking out for a particular street/house/turning.
For those people who insist other drivers are in their way, do you always know exactly where you are going, have you never been anywhere new?

A little more tolerance of other drivers and a lot less of the 'You are holding me up' mentality would do everyone good.

wba31

LandyAndy wrote: »

Not so easy in an auto.;)

I drive a manual with cruise now and use the cancel button but when I drove an auto with it I did tend to touch the brakes to disengage it. Perhaps that's connected with the relative lack of engine braking in an auto?

Ah yes, forgot about autos. have never driven one with CC so never thought about it... in fact the only auto ive ever driven was so bad i avoided using it as much as possible

spiro

interstellaflyer wrote: »

Just beng a little pedantic here but there is no such thing as aa fast lane, anything other than the inside lane is an overtaking lane so the self apointed policeman doing 55mph shouldn't be there in the first place also, the real trafic Police take a rather dim veiw of these people.

Seeing the motorway cop on one of the TV shows last night he said he normally drove just under 80mph on the motorway because if he drove at 65mph no one would overtake him and the whole motorway would slow down.

jaydeeuk1

I hate people who drive these large v6/v8 audi's and BMW's and potter about doing 60 on a motorway.
If they're not doing 90 I just think why the hell did they bother buying that car? Might as well have bought a Nissan Micra or Polo