driving slow : your views ?

Stoke

Weyoun wrote: »

Why would I be preventing people from going faster? If I'm doing 60 and the limit is 70 then there must be at least one additional lane which other people can use to overtake me.

And if you're doing 50 and the limit is 60? Not all NSL are dual carriageway and there may not be a safe place to overtake, for whatever reason. What about 40? 30? 20? If you have no legitimate reason to drive unnecessarily slow then this would frustrate me. It's not about being impatient it's about making progress and if you're driving like a complete tool then you are just as bad as the person doing 35 in a 30!

AdrianC

DirectDebacle wrote: »

The only reason the incident described by Weyoun occurred is because the other driver exceeded the speed limit. If that driver had travelled at or below the speed limit then the vehicle would not have caught up with Weyoun and the incident would not have happened. It really is that simple.

No, it really isn't. A considerate and aware driver may very well have been travelling in excess of the speed limit before catching up with Weyoun. They would then have slowed in sufficient time so as not to "charge up" behind, and they would have been in a road position which would allow them to best spot and take advantage of any overtaking opportunity that may arrive.

OTOH, somebody doing 30mph whilst unaware and "clearly not concentrating" is very likely to "slam into the back" come the first pedestrian crossing, traffic lights, junction or whatever other hazard.

DirectDebacle

AdrianC wrote: »

No, it really isn't. A considerate and aware driver may very well have been travelling in excess of the speed limit before catching up with Weyoun. They would then have slowed in sufficient time so as not to "charge up" behind, and they would have been in a road position which would allow them to best spot and take advantage of any overtaking opportunity that may arrive.

OTOH, somebody doing 30mph whilst unaware and "clearly not concentrating" is very likely to "slam into the back" come the first pedestrian crossing, traffic lights, junction or whatever other hazard.

Any driver of whatever standard would have to exceed the speed limit to catch up with a vehicle travelling at the speed limit.

It really is that simple.

Weyoun

Stoke wrote: »

And if you're doing 50 and the limit is 60? Not all NSL are dual carriageway and there may not be a safe place to overtake, for whatever reason. What about 40? 30? 20? If you have no legitimate reason to drive unnecessarily slow then this would frustrate me. It's not about being impatient it's about making progress and if you're driving like a complete tool then you are just as bad as the person doing 35 in a 30!

If I'm doing 50 and the limit is 60 then over the course of ten miles it will take me (and you, in the unlikely event that you've been behind me and unable to overtake for the whole of that distance) an extra two minutes to traverse that distance. Is two minutes really worth chewing your steering wheel and foaming at the mouth over? In reality I'd probably be doing around 55 in a 60 limit, so then you'd actually lose around 55 seconds.


You point out that it's about making progress. So if I'm driving at 50 and the limit is 60, I'm not making progress? Funny, I thought I'd have made about 50 miles of progress every hour. How can you say it's not about being impatient after you've admitted it would frustrate you? If my speed, marginally slower than the limit that it is, is frustrating you, then clearly you're being impatient.

Stoke

DirectDebacle wrote: »

Any driver of whatever standard would have to exceed the speed limit to catch up with a vehicle travelling at the speed limit.

It really is that simple.

Unless of course Weyoun wasn't driving the speed limit as he's quite openly admitted he doesn't tend to do? Add the fact his speedo is reading low, he might have been doing 22mph or 23mph.

AdrianC

DirectDebacle wrote: »

Any driver of whatever standard would have to exceed the speed limit to catch up with a vehicle travelling at the speed limit.

It really is that simple.

So driving through an urban 30 limit can always be done at a constant 30mph. Put the cruise control on and just steer...? Never any need to slow down for any hazards. After all, it's a 30 limit!

(And, let's not forget, that's just a number which was chosen as the default back in 1930, at a time when front brakes were a novelty, and hydraulic brakes almost unknown... How convenient that it's the exact magic number that's a safe and appropriate speed for so many conditions 85 years later! What foresight!)

Stoke

Weyoun wrote: »

If I'm doing 50 and the limit is 60 then over the course of ten miles it will take me (and you, in the unlikely event that you've been behind me and unable to overtake for the whole of that distance) an extra two minutes to traverse that distance. Is two minutes really worth chewing your steering wheel and foaming at the mouth over? In reality I'd probably be doing around 55 in a 60 limit, so then you'd actually lose around 55 seconds.


You point out that it's about making progress. So if I'm driving at 50 and the limit is 60, I'm not making progress? Funny, I thought I'd have made about 50 miles of progress every hour. How can you say it's not about being impatient after you've admitted it would frustrate you? If my speed, marginally slower than the limit that it is, is frustrating you, then clearly you're being impatient.

Unfortunately Weyoun, a bit like that guy last night, you're talking as if these things are linear, yet they quite clearly aren't. In driving, time rarely equals distance / speed and this is what you're failing to understand.

Say you drive 50 in a 60 zone, what if by failing to make progress a large wagon pulls out and now brings your speed down to 20? If you'd been going just a bit faster, and saved those 55 seconds, you would have avoided that wagon. I've been there plenty of times. Now that might be an extreme case for some of you but another thing I've seen is that by driving unnecessarily slowly, you invite other drivers to pull out of their junction. This then slows the traffic down once again (using more fuel in the process) as they slowly accelerate up to speed. Now, say one of those drivers also now decides to go at 30 instead of the 50 you were happy to travel at. You decide not to overtake too. This linear formula you are using has fallen apart.

People doing the speed limit will often 'look' faster to those considering pulling out. People like to chance these things.

AdrianC

Weyoun wrote: »

You point out that it's about making progress. So if I'm driving at 50 and the limit is 60, I'm not making progress?

"Failure to make adequate progress" is certainly how the examiner would put it when telling you why you had not passed your driving test, yes.

Weyoun

Stoke wrote: »

Unless of course Weyoun wasn't driving the speed limit as he's quite openly admitted he doesn't tend to do?

Let me post that again for you:

Weyoun wrote: »

I wish I had a pound for every time I've been driving at 30 in a 30 limit and had someone SELFISH, whose time is far more important than mine, nearly slam into the back of me...yes I am certain that the limit is 30 on these occasions.

For the record, if the limit is 30, 40 or 50 I'll be driving at the limit.

Stoke wrote: »

Add the fact his speedo is reading low, he might have been doing 22mph or 23mph.

So now you know for a fact that my speedo is reading low? Where did I say that? In fact for me to be going slower than my speedometer indicates, it would have to be reading HIGH.


This of course opens another can of worms. If I believe that I'm going at the speed limit but I'm in fact going slower due to an inaccurate speedometer, does that make me an inconsiderate driver? Am I now obliged to get my speedometer correctly calibrated, or to invest in a sat nav?

Weyoun

AdrianC wrote: »

"Failure to make adequate progress" is certainly how the examiner would put it when telling you why you had not passed your driving test, yes.

Another subjective concept. Your "adequate" is clearly not the same as mine.