driving slow : your views ?

Cornucopia

almillar wrote: »

We all have a right to overtake if it's safe to do so, that's in the Highway Code.

As I said before, you cannot cherry-pick from the HWC.

You have an option to overtake, within the prevailing speed limit, if it is safe to do so and doesn't cause problems for other road users.

Nodding_Donkey

GabbaGabbaHey wrote: »

That's fine, providing that you are doing so in order to open up a gap between you and the vehicle in front, so that the car which is tailgating you has a space to pull in to when they overtake you.

Any other reason would be purely childish, dangerous and anti-social.

No it wouldn't. I slow down when people are tailgating so they would do less damage if the hit me. I'm actually doing them a favour

nobbysn*ts

Well, life as normal. Steady 65mph, dual carriageway, no problems, and no, I don't hang back overtaking trucks doing 60mph. I overtake at 65mph. The biggest problem with morons I encounter is in a 20mph zone. Good visibility, open road, very wide. Guess what? I drive at about 20mph. It's a park, I drive fairly well over to the left, it's a road 4 cars wide, the sheep come up behind, I would estimate at 35 to 40 mph, but completely lack the ability to pass. It seems it's fine to speed, but only if others do as well. I actually enjoy them weaving about my offside rear, but totally lacking any confidence to overtake, and lead. To be fair, they're probably congratulating themselves on their ability to drive faster, if they could, while blaming me for my lack of confidence to speed. In front of them.

nobbysn*ts

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

Last week I was driving on a road I know very, very well. Back of the hand job. NSL, clear, dry, no traffic. Normally I do < ahem > slightly more than 60. Police car pulls out of a side road in front of me about 1/2 a mile up ahead ( yes, I can see that far ahead ). I think "oh no, gonna be stuck at 60 here for the next 30 miles". But no, he does 90. No blue lights or sirens, he's on his way back to the nick to clock off. So I tuck in behind him ( leaving a more than safe gap ). So the limit is officially 60, but 80 - 90 is actually quite safe here. He can hardly pull me for speeding when he's doing 90 on a NSL !

Conversely, the village where I live, the road going through it is 30 mph. But I know there's a school, and residential area, and my kids and their friends are playing out on their bikes. 30 is far too fast, I do about 15.

Speed doesn't kill - inappropriate speed does.

< rant over >

Just a note for the future. He can. He was probably on a shout where he has to arrive without alerting all and sundry, so no blues and twos. It's not always about giving every scrote a sporting chance to leg it when they hear the old bill arriving. Hence he didn't have the time to pull over the idiot he's paced, from in front. Why do you think they have front, and rear facing cameras? I'm also worried you think being able to see 1/2 mile somehow shows your ability as a driver? Most people have much better vision, the horizon is 3 miles away on the level, and as for the stars...... 1/2 mile isn't impressive at 80mph, it's merely a few seconds! Maybe you should slow down, or consider an eye test?

buglawton

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

No it wouldn't. I slow down when people are tailgating so they would do less damage if the hit me. I'm actually doing them a favour

I (and probably the occasional tailgater) drive the same twisty narrow no-visibility roads regularly. We both know there'll be no serious opportunity to overtake for a another half mile but that does not stop them tailgating, possibly with bright LED daytime lights bearing down as well.

About slowing down: Yes it does make sense. Good example is when there's a moderately hazardous stretch ahead with a known probability of farm vehicles, cyclists around and also cars exiting a hidden T-junction. You would not want you and the tailgater to be going fast in such a situation.

Stoke

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

No it wouldn't. I slow down when people are tailgating so they would do less damage if the hit me. I'm actually doing them a favour

That's clever.... Not.

Just as selfish as the tailgater in my opinion.

Ebe_Scrooge

nobbysn*ts wrote: »

I'm also worried you think being able to see 1/2 mile somehow shows your ability as a driver? Most people have much better vision, the horizon is 3 miles away on the level, and as for the stars...... 1/2 mile isn't impressive at 80mph, it's merely a few seconds! Maybe you should slow down, or consider an eye test?

The horizon may well be 3 miles away, but you can't see 3 miles of road. The point I'm making is that I can see the road and the surrounding fields for that distance. I can easily stop well within the distance I can see. I can also see if a sheep, deer, rabbit, whatever, runs out into the road, and again I have the time to stop easily without any drama.


The golden rule I was always taught was "Make sure you can come to a stop within the distance you can see". That may be only a few yards on a narrow twisty road, in that situation I adjust my speed accordingly.

< edit > By the way, forgot to mention the copper wasn't on a shout. I followed him all the way back to what I presume is his home town, where he pulled into the police station car park. I'm guessing the reason he didn't stop the "idiot" behind him was because that "idiot" was actually driving perfectly safely, albeit over the speed limit. As I said, it's INAPPROPRIATE speed that's dangerous.

Cornucopia

Although it's rare for the Police to actively police the roads these days, in the past it was reasonably common for people to make the mistake of following a Police car at speed - and end up being booked for it.

Individual anecdotes don't really make a good argument for what should happen generally, anyway.

aardvaak

For some unknown reason I find people get most frustrated with people going slowly around 5 - 6pm.

Ebe_Scrooge

Cornucopia wrote: »

Although it's rare for the Police to actively police the roads these days, in the past it was reasonably common for people to make the mistake of following a Police car at speed - and end up being booked for it.

Individual anecdotes don't really make a good argument for what should happen generally, anyway.

OK, a genuine question. Are the police actually allowed, by law, to break the speed limit when they're not on a shout; or are they subject to the same rules of the road as everyone else ?