driving slow : your views ?

westwood68

Indeed. A young neighbour regularly would drive too slow when learning to drive and despite his instructor telling him he would fail if he didn't keep up with traffic, he continued to drive under the 30mph limit because his relatives were adamant he would be ok in the test.

He failed for failing to keep up with the traffic and despite an official compliant being made by him and his family; the result stuck.

motorguy

dada44 wrote: »

hi.

i like to drive slow. in that, if its a 30 road zone, i prefer 25. if its a roundabout, i prefer 15 or 20 mph. if it's a motorway of 70, i prefer 60, maybe even 55.

i have noticed that this sometimes makes drivers behind me impatient, as if i am the one driving wrong. however, when i drive i feel calm, and much safer, than if i was driving a little faster.

just wondering, is there a legal view on how slow to drive in roads ? would i be considered to be doing the right thing, legally ?

Personally i drive at 30mph in a 30, where appropriate to do so. If its in a town or built up area i'll do less.

This sometime seems to surprise other drivers as the 30mph limits dont seem to apply to them?

Motorways / carriageways probably 60mph.

I can get 65+mpg out of my car driving sensibly, which makes for a significant difference when you're doing 25,000 miles a year.

motorguy

Ozzuk wrote: »

I can't say I agree with your stance at all. If you don't find it comfortable then it is a lack of confidence/ability.

'Everyone' isn't going to drive slower. And if they lowered speed limits, would you then driver slower again? Doesn't make sense.

Its not good driving (in my opinion) it is indicative of someone lacking confidence and could actually cause more issues than you believe you are avoiding.

Speed up, please

They're speed limits - not targets, so i personally wont drive at the limit just because.

Likewise i'd never drive slow enough to hold other drivers up.

slip.digby

depends on the condition / size / age of car
also its a speed limit NOT a target

pinkteapot

No problem with you doing it on a dual carriageway or motorway where I can overtake you. If you're doing it on single carriageway roads, pull over periodically to let the queue behind you pass.

Scotland (land of the single carriageway road) is riddled with signs reminding people to pull over to avoid causing frustration among other road users. And people (generally) do it. I sometimes feel that all roads could benefit from the same reminders. I've followed people doing 40mph in a 60mph limit for miles and miles before and it's incredibly annoying.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

I think it is wrong to plan to drive slowly for the sake of driving slowly rather than taking into account road conditions.

There is nothing wrong tootling along at 60mph on a motorway, or even slotting in with the lorries at their 56mph, but if you drove at 50 then you are causing problems because you will have lorries passing you, in turn holding up traffic because it takes them time to get past.
You also risk being involved in accidents because of high closing speeds, e.g. a quiet motorway and an inattentive driver looking to exit at 75-80mph vaguely spots car, thinks nothing of it and Bang! a high speed collision.

In a 30mph, there will be places where 30 is too much, especially residential roads, but then there are wide roads, even dual carriageways, red routes with nothing on them where if you do not drive at 30 you are just a nuisance and a potential source of accidents.

So you should always drive to road conditions, be mindful of other drivers, feel happy to drive conservatively and economically, but also with due consideration to other road users and your safety. To be honest if you feel calm driving at 25mph in town on good roads, then my guess is that you are oblivious to what is going on around you, including the Mercedes Sprinter sitting 2" off your rear.

I'd suggest going on an IAM course for advanced driving - it is not about high speed driving it is about attentive and careful driving and if you really are saying you are not confident at speed, then you may actually be saying your driving isn't really of a high standard.

Rover_Driver

dada44 wrote: »

just wondering, is there a legal view on how slow to drive in roads ? would i be considered to be doing the right thing, legally ?

Depending on the circumstances at the time, it may be considered to be the offence of driving without reasonable consideration for other road users, contrary to s.3, Road Traffic Act 1988.

BeenThroughItAll

My driving instructor was always very clear with me that one should, in the absence of any contrary indicators (inclement weather, poor visibility, traffic hazards, etc), drive at the posted limit or very slightly below.


I find it deeply concerning when I have to follow a driving instructor giving a lesson along some of the single carriageway roads around me, where the (perfectly safe in good conditions) posted limit is 60mph, with the pupil trundling along at 40mph.


My wife recently attended a speed awareness course with thirty others, and of those in the room, she tells me well over half of them thought the speed limit in a derestricted area was 40mph - I wouldn't be surprised if some of these people have learned this through not being taught otherwise clearly enough by their driving instructors.

Ebe_Scrooge

molerat wrote: »

Like the bell end I was following yesterday, 40mph on an open NSL road busily chatting away to his passenger and waving his arms around, braking at every slight curve in the road, could not overtake him due to oncoming traffic. He may have been calm but the half dozen drivers behind him were not.

This is what infuriates me. I regularly encounter this on my weekly commute, and there's invariably a queue of traffic behind. This is on a road where it's perfectly safe to drive at 60mph ( and actually a fair bit faster, if I'm honest ). It causes frustration, and after following the slow car for a few miles, people tend to take risks, trying to overtake where it's not really safe, or at best marginal.

I don't have a problem with people who want to drive slowly, but do the decent thing and pull over every so often to let other traffic pass. As another poster said, this is common in rural Scotland, and most people do pull over when they realise they're causing a tailback.

DUTR

dada44 wrote: »

hi.

i like to drive slow. in that, if its a 30 road zone, i prefer 25. if its a roundabout, i prefer 15 or 20 mph. if it's a motorway of 70, i prefer 60, maybe even 55.

i have noticed that this sometimes makes drivers behind me impatient, as if i am the one driving wrong. however, when i drive i feel calm, and much safer, than if i was driving a little faster.

just wondering, is there a legal view on how slow to drive in roads ? would i be considered to be doing the right thing, legally ?

Well actually there is section 169 of the highway code suggests "Do not hold up a long queue of traffic, especially if you are driving a large or slow-moving vehicle. Check your mirrors frequently, and if necessary, pull in where it is safe and let traffic pass."

So yes it is ok to drive below the limit (as it's not a target) however you will know you are in the wrong as it were if nothing is in front of you and there is a long queue behind you.