slow drivers

ILW

If I get any fool flashing their lights and tailgating me, i tend to slow down a lot and take up as much of the road a necessary to stop them passing. You can virtualy feel their blood pressure rising.

custardy

martinthebandit wrote: »

Of course everyone should be courteous to other drivers including people who choose, for whatever reason, to drive slower I am just surprised that you don't seem to believe that courtesy should work both ways.

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brat

martinthebandit wrote: »

Of course everyone should be courteous to other drivers including people who choose, for whatever reason, to drive slowly I am just surprised that you don't seem to believe that courtesy should work both ways.

It should work both ways, but you are presupposing discourtesy in people when, in very many cases, this is not so. To ask drivers that are doing 40mph in a 60 NSL to pull into lay-bys so that other drivers can make more progress is not only an ask too far, but it is probably more dangerous than the potential build up of frustration by those behind.

Many motorists' nervousness in a car is developed by the aggression of car drivers tailgating, trying to push them faster. Many following drivers don't realise that their proximity to the car in front is one of the reasons why it is going slower than they would like.

sapphireeye

Has anyone mentioned that a lot of drivers don't seem to know what the national speed limit is? I have noticed that this is particularly the case on dual carriage ways where drivers think that the NSL is the same as on single carriage ways.

steve-L

splishsplash wrote: »

I think it should be obvious that if you accumulate a queue of cars behind you and there are no cars in front of you, YOU are the problem. Whether you think the conditions are unsafe or not is not the point - the other drivers are clearly happy to go faster than you, and you should have the common courtesy to get out of the way.
If you were walking on a footpath and people walking faster than you caught up with you, they would say 'excuse me', you would step aside and they could continue on their way. Why not show the same common courtesy behind the wheel of your car?

There really is only one option if you're holding up traffic, option 3.

(Female, almost 50, driving 33+ years).

Especially when the queue includes artic's, caravans and bicycles!

However, everyone seems to be jumping on the OP for asking the question ???

In answer to the question....
1) There are a LOT of people on the roads that shouldn't be.
a) People who's Dr.s don't take away their license because it will kill them slowly
b) People who have been drinking
c) People with no driving license

b and c often drive in a accentuated SLOWNESS

People in (a*)... well they may be unable to process the information any faster. May be suffering episodes of unconsciousness for a second or so at a time.... but they don't give up their license as it is the end f their independence.

People driving too slowly can be just as dangerous as those driving too quickly.

Whether the person is driving too slowly or too quickly the main point is that they are dangerous and inconsiderate.

People who drive tractors etc. that act considerately are fine....

People who can't drive any quicker because of their reactions or illness - a different (more complex) matter.

However it is the consideration for other drivers be it 'I am going as fast as I want to and I will not be pushed into considering other drivers' OR the 'I can go faster so I will' tear-!!!! that matters.

Those who arrogantly don't care if they hold up traffic are just as big a hazard as those who drive too quickly!
They have an option to pull over..... they also have the option to consider if they really should be driving**!


*My father was driving for several years with Alzheimers and Parkinsons (and the meds) before the doctor finally pulled his license. We (family) were simply amazed he didn't kill anyone. On the other hand his Dr. knew once he did this he would go downhill fast..... One aspect was he drove VERY SLOWLY ... he would lose seconds and then come around but of I was driving at a reasonable speed he was still terrified because he couldn't process the information coming in. For example me doing 50 on the NSL to my mothers he would have me doing 40.... and the car would have been capable of doing 140 (i.e. stick this on a racetrack and I could easily have done 140 mph on that road knowing there were no pedestrians) but he was convinced we were travelling faster than the car could go (and in this case I was driving a road legal track car with the only difference being the tyres)

** My mother's eyesight in the dark is not what it could be. She drives VERY RARELY at night .... if she has to then she will pull over and let cars pass as she recognises this is HER inability

HOWEVER
The fact is (from observation) many of the people who drive 40 in a NSL are also the same people who THEN drive 30 through a town when it is NOT SAFE to do so. I had one yesterday.... followed for miles on NSL at 40 mph until I got to a 30 mph section through a village where the road was hazardous due to pedestrians

They then drive through the village faster than I would (by a good amount) and went through a amber going to red light on a pedestrian crossing until I lost sight of them.

5 minutes later having passed through the village with me driving at the NSL I caught them again doing 35-40 in NSL....

They are also the same people that brake on bends......
Not BEFORE bends but actually ON an BEND!

Either you are going too fast for your car in that bend in which case braking on the bend will merely make you exit the road*** OR your not.

***This excludes more advanced techniques best left to a track where you deliberately want to provoke understeer or oversteer!

splishsplash

arcon5 wrote: »

What if you're first at a traffic light and hit NSL down the line... there is a chance you are the front car with a line of cars behind you in a few miles time - doesn't make you a menace
If you drive at the NSL then as per the OP, there is no issue.

It's exactly the point - you drive how you feel safe not the car behind you. So you're saying Option 1?

Hardly the same thing. Really? I think it's a fair analogy.

It is you that is the problem if you think everybody elses drive should revolve around what you want. Don't you see that's exactly the opposite of the situation you describe? By delaying everyone else, you expect their drive should revolve around what YOU want to do - you give them no choice. Some people require a few extra seconds to process the information around them so adjusting their speed to reflect their reaction times is safer and acceptable So, would that be Option 1 or Option 3 (assuming they are aware they're slower and have sluggish reaction times?)

I drive a lot. I like driving, I'm a good and safe driver. My record speaks for itself. I would never dream of tailgating or harrassing a driver who was travelling (too) slowly, but it is extremely annoying that they don't show consideration for other road users.

custardy

splishsplash wrote: »

I drive a lot. I like driving, I'm a good and safe driver. My record speaks for itself. I would never dream of tailgating or harrassing a driver who was travelling (too) slowly, but it is extremely annoying that they don't show consideration for other road users.

If I drive at a speed I feel is appropriate
there is nothing to consider

colino

Well done all you drivers filling the gaps in our Police Force by enforcing your own rolling road blocks. If you had actually developed your driving skills since fluking your drivng test you would know that one of the tenets of good driving is ensuring you do not cause any other road user to accelerate. That is, change direction or speed because of your actions.
There are far too many people thinking we are still in the 50's and happy to meander down single carriage roads in their euroboxes blissfully unaware of the conga line of people behind them.

splishsplash

alastairq wrote: »

Totally disagree. You are pefectly entitled to do so:)

{Are you implying that, if your vehicle has a lower lawful speed limit, and one acquires a queue of vehicles behind with a higher speed limit, one should pull over and stop to allow that traffic to pass?

Not so! Imagine if every LGV did that, we'd have the world's largest lorry park, and the shops would run out of goods very quickly.] Trucks, LGVs, tractors and other large vehicles are quite good usually about allowing others to pass. The biggest problem are ordinary cars and caravans being towed by cars, in my experience.


The creation of a convoy [aka queue] of vehicle behind doesn't often happen very rapidly. Some will go faster than others. Doesn't make them any more competent or 'correct'. So Option 1 as per the OP?

As I mentioned earlier, too many drivers take their 'queue' from the vehicles ahead.....assuming that if those other drivers are fine at a faster speed, then so should we be? So they are choosing Option 1? That is not the point I was making, though. The point I was making is that it is not your job, as the driver delaying me, to decide what my speed should be.

Most of us drive like lemmings. [follow those in front, do what they do]. Speak for youself

In my experience, if the slow[er] vehicle does 'pull over', then the next vehicle takes its place.....and find that the original leader was in fact pretty much spot-on with low risk speed than first thought...so they become the new 'slow' driver.....and so on. Really? How much experience is that, exactly, just out of curiousity? I've had 33 years of cross country commuting, and I beg to differ.

It is then the original slow driver that becomes impeded.

Why not overtake the slow driver?

What?

Can't do it because of the road condition's? You're just talking to yourself now...

Well, if one cannot make full use of the carriageway because of the presence of snow or ice or other vehicles......is it really a good idea to try to go faster in the first place?
So Option 1?

I don't 'pull over' if I'm making 'reasonable progress'.....simply because I don't want to have my journey delayed by those who insist on driving faster, and who then...having raised the risk levels to an intolerable level, crash 'n burn in front, blocking my path! So you choose Option 3. I see.

Accept it..there will be slower drivers out there...and they will be in front of you!

And there will be drivers driving faster than you...and they will be behind you!

That is a fact on our overcrowded public highways.

The alternative might be the train?

Or, simply, re-arranging our lifestyles [temporarily] to allow for the more extreme weather conditions......and not trying to run our lives as we do in the height of summer?

Like I said, I wouldn't dream of tailgating or harrassing anyone, but courtesy costs nothing.

splishsplash

brat wrote: »

That clearly depends on many factors, and if you are significantly holding up traffic, eg a 20mph tractor on a busy trunk road, then clearly it is inconsiderate not to pull over every so often. If you are doing 40 in a 60, and that is your preferred speed for the circumstance, I'd suggest you would have every right to remain on the road at that speed. Yes, you should accommodate those who wish to pass, but there's no need to be pulling over, and no pressure should be put on such drivers to do so.
That's a much better way of putting it, I agree. I phrased in clumsily in my first post.

It is also a common courtesy to tolerate other road users who are driving perfectly legally on the road. As with all skills, there are some who are better and more capable than others. The roads are not split into leagues for Champions League drivers, and Conference League drivers. We must accept that those of lesser skill and driving interest and experience will be out there, perfectly entitled to use the road. We should accommodate that in our driving plan.

I will repeat - I would never dream of tailgating or harrassing anyone, and have a clean driving history of over 30 years. Of course we tolerate poor drivers and compensate for them every day. Doesn't mean we can't have a moan about it every so often .