driving slow : your views ?

Iceweasel

nobbysn*ts wrote: »

Well, "nap" in the edit won't fool the wife!

Ha ha - Mrs Iceweasel is with me on all of my long haul trips - so she has a 'nap' too.

Dead easy to fall asleep late afternoon in any services.

But you're right there is not much to do in them.

I hate the games machines, and there is a limit to how much KFC even I can eat.

nobbysn*ts

Iceweasel wrote: »

Ha ha - Mrs Iceweasel is with me on all of my long haul trips - so she has a 'nap' too.

Dead easy to fall asleep late afternoon in any services.

But you're right there is not much to do in them.

I hate the games machines, and there is a limit to how much KFC even I can eat.

I couldn't sleep for more than a few minutes in a service station, too much noise, too many people, and I just want to get where I'm going.

UsernameAlreadyExists

Iceweasel wrote: »

<snip>
Even in Germany where there are many sections of the Autobahn with no limit at all - there are those who travel at warp speed factor 4 - who appear out of nowhere - but they too do not show impatience or aggression - they let you finish your manoeuvre and then they whoosh past and disappear as fast as they caught up with you. But beware delaying your return to the near-side - then the horns will start - not many centre-lane hoggers in Germany.

They know how to drive on the Autobahns. You stick to the inside and if you want to overtake, get on with it with a sense of urgency and get back in again. There could be (and often are) luxobarges travelling at warp speed. If one of those isn't paying attention for a split second then carnage ensues. Because speed kills, obviously.

Iceweasel wrote: »

But on the M40 on Tuesday evening I was overtaking in lane three a series of slower moving cars and vans in lane two, who were themselves overtaking trucks and caravans in lane one.

I was trying to maintain a steady 70mph - no cruise control - and I was very alert to the density of traffic.

When lane two was clear I moved left into it and when necessary I pulled back into lane three to overtake some more vehicles which I estimate were doing somewhere around 65 to 68mph.

Why 70mph? Everyone knows the "average" and "acceptable" speed is at least 80.
Couldn't you just sit behind the flow of traffic in Lane 2 at 2 or 3 mph less than your desired speed? Or accelerate to perform the overtake and then pull back in again?
Overtaking people doing 68 whilst doing 70mph yourself puts you in the same class as HGV drivers overtaking each other on a dual carriage way. It's plain inconsiderate.

nobbysn*ts

UsernameAlreadyExists wrote: »

They know how to drive on the Autobahns. You stick to the inside and if you want to overtake, get on with it with a sense of urgency and get back in again. There could be (and often are) luxobarges travelling at warp speed. If one of those isn't paying attention for a split second then carnage ensues. Because speed kills, obviously.



Why 70mph? Everyone knows the "average" and "acceptable" speed is at least 80.
Couldn't you just sit behind the flow of traffic in Lane 2 at 2 or 3 mph less than your desired speed? Or accelerate to perform the overtake and then pull back in again?
Overtaking people doing 68 whilst doing 70mph yourself puts you in the same class as HGV drivers overtaking each other on a dual carriage way. It's plain inconsiderate.

Autobahns must be safer than the UK motorways, as it's been said all through this thread that higher speed is safer, and slower drivers have poorer attention. As to the overtaking, it's the fault of those doing 68mph, that make the overtaking have to go past at 70mph. So it's totally different to the truck driver you compare to.

Richard53

All this reminds me of the old joke:


"My granny drives everywhere at 25 mph and she's never had an accident.


She's seen thousands, mind."


When I did my advanced bike test, the examiner (a class 1 police motorcycle instructor) said to me: "30 limits are non-negotiable. Anything else, I will expect you to keep broadly to the limit, but if you have to exceed it briefly to perform a safe overtake, I won't mind, as long as you get back to the limit soon afterwards." Seems reasonable to me.


And I am pretty sure you would fail the IAM test for doing a steady 50 in a 60 limit, if there were no good reason to do so (road conditions, traffic etc).

nobbysn*ts

Richard53 wrote: »

All this reminds me of the old joke:


"My granny drives everywhere at 25 mph and she's never had an accident.


She's seen thousands, mind."


When I did my advanced bike test, the examiner (a class 1 police motorcycle instructor) said to me: "30 limits are non-negotiable. Anything else, I will expect you to keep broadly to the limit, but if you have to exceed it briefly to perform a safe overtake, I won't mind, as long as you get back to the limit soon afterwards." Seems reasonable to me.


And I am pretty sure you would fail the IAM test for doing a steady 50 in a 60 limit, if there were no good reason to do so (road conditions, traffic etc).

Like I said, I have no problem if you speed on a bike. It's down to you to be safe, I drive at the limit, not above, and will assume you're the same though, so if you're not where I expect you to be, I'm in a car, so it won't be a problem to me, so long as your insurance pays me out. You've done the safe driver course, me, I'm obviously a worse driver, so the onus is on you to avoid me.

UsernameAlreadyExists

nobbysn*ts wrote: »

.. it's the fault of those doing 68mph, that make the overtaking have to go past at 70mph. So it's totally different to the truck driver you compare to.

Huh?


1) You don't "have to" go past at all. You've entirely shot yourself in the foot here, you're apparently in no rush and you'd only get there 9 seconds earlier (or some other random number plucked from the air). Wanting to maintain 70mph "just because" makes no sense if you're not taking into account other road users.


2) doing 68mph in lane 2 is perfectly fine because people can overtake in lane 3 ... unless there is some klutz doing 70.


Overtaking someone at 2mph more than they're doing is always taking the p1ss.

nobbysn*ts

UsernameAlreadyExists wrote: »

Huh?


1) You don't "have to" go past at all. You've entirely shot yourself in the foot here, you're apparently in no rush and you'd only get there 9 seconds earlier (or some other random number plucked from the air). Wanting to maintain 70mph "just because" makes no sense if you're not taking into account other road users.


2) doing 68mph in lane 2 is perfectly fine because people can overtake in lane 3 ... unless there is some klutz doing 70.


Overtaking someone at 2mph more than they're doing is always taking the p1ss.

So, you have to speed, otherwise you shouldn't be allowed to overtake? Got a link to the highway code for that?

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

BillJones wrote: »

This is true, they are told to take them into account, as there is information contained in them. However, when I've done the Bike Safe course, provided by the police (the Met in my case), their instructions regarding speed limits were "Stick to 30s and 40s, beyond that, don't go silly, and remember, just because it's safe doesn't mean it's legal, and if you get a ticket, it's completely your fault".

What followed, each time I did it, was a day learning to make good and safe progress, which meant rising at least up to the speed limits, and doing it safely through learning to improve observation.

IAM teach sticking to the speed limit at all times. You would fail your assessment (by a police assessor) if you make anything but a temporary accidental mistake and do not immediately correct it.

What instructors may say informally for whatever reason is not the course.

So the maximum progress you can make under an IAM advanced driving course is that of the speed limit.

Essentially IAM teach a system, and in a system you cannot have optional sometimes comply sometimes don't.

[Adding] IAM do not insist that you drive up to the limit, nor the maximum safe speed for the road, for example you are entitled to choose to drive economically, however, the situation where you are alone on the road vs when there are cars around, you would be failed for driving without due consideration to other road users if it was felt you were being unnecessarily slow. Similarly on the motorway, if your junction is in a mile, you would not loose marks for driving at the speed of the slow lane rather than overtaking a couple more vehicles, especially in heavy traffic - recognising that there is little real gain over a relatively short distance.

UsernameAlreadyExists

nobbysn*ts wrote: »

So, you have to speed, otherwise you shouldn't be allowed to overtake? Got a link to the highway code for that?

143. DO NOT overtake where you might come into conflict with other road users. For example

• approaching or at a road junction on either side of the road
• where the road narrows
• when approaching a school crossing patrol
• between the kerb and a bus or tram when it is at a stop
• where traffic is queuing at junctions or road works
• when you would force another vehicle to swerve or slow down