driving slow : your views ?

Jamie_Carter

nobbysn*ts wrote: »

Link for that?

Do your own homework, and go and look for it. You won't have much difficulty.

DevilsAdvocate1

dada44 wrote: »

generally, i try not to hold up others. if i can pull over, if i see someone is quite impatient behind me , i probably wouldn't mind. the problem with asking the question i did, in a public forum, is i'll often get answers from ppl's sense of frustration and impatience, rather than good driving or from whatever is legal.

i do believe that if everyone drove slower, there would be far fewer accidents. i often feel quite a bit of pressure to keep up with others. i don't think it's a lack of confidence because i can drive faster, i just don't find it comfortable.

I did a speed awareness course and was told there that the number of accidents related to speed alone is very low. So I don't think you can assume its safer to be driving slowly.

Also, I had a problem with my car once which meant I couldn't go above 30. I was driving to the garage on a motorway (this is where the car had lost its power). A policeman pulled me over and said that this was dangerous. When I explained the situation he agreed to follow me but told me to drive on the hard shoulder.

I think the speeds you mention are fine depending on which lane you are in. I was stuck behind a driver yesterday who was doing 55 on a motorway. He was in the outside lane and there was nothing for him to overtake. There was a massive queue of traffic behind him. I ended up undertaking him as did several other cars. He did not move across. This behaviour is wrong.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

I have explained why you were wrong, and why your interpretation of roadcraft was wrong.


From what you have told us I don't believe you have passed any blue light test.

No you haven't. You just made something up about driving dangerously close and have said that if I do what I do then I have misinterpreted the words of Roadcraft.

...and then, there you go again, classic Internet troll tactic, changing the rules. Nobody mentioned blue light tests, this is a discussion about everyday drivers on every day roads.

Seriously, if you simply post "You are wrong and it is obvious" type posts without clearly explaining anything then I have to assume that it is you that has misinterpreted Roadcraft and it is you that do not understand proper overtaking.

I am still waiting to be told what is wrong with following at the 2 second rule, moving up to an overtaking position that is closer than 2 seconds behind (ahem, but not dangerously close), pulling out and then accelerating, (checking at each phase and considering whether to return to an overtaking or following position) and why, if you believe that is wrong, why Roadcraft and IAM explicitly teach that approach. Roadcraft and IAM are not ambiguous in how they explain it.

Why not explain clearly how you overtake and we'll see whether it is a problem of words on the screen or something else?

nobbysn*ts

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

Do your own homework, and go and look for it. You won't have much difficulty.

Sorry, made up stats don't cut it much.

skitler

nobbysn*ts wrote: »

Link for that?

Idiots In Cars

nobbysn*ts

Well, 600 miles on French and Belgium roads, compared to the drive down england, I know which I'd take.

Foreign drivers stay in the first lane. They move out, very late, overtake at whatever speed they are doing, then pull back in quickly. Importantly, the cars coming up behind let them out. Not actively, no flashing lights, but the car in the outside lane sees the indicator, and expects the slower car to pull out. They read the road for all the vehicles, and adjust their speed, not adopt a blind, "I'm overtaking, you all have to let me because I'm here and the highway code says nothing can stop me" attitude. It's not active, as all the drivers work it automatically.
Urban motorways, congestion spots, the speed limit is down to 90kph, or about 55mph. Trucks, no overtaking. So slow the traffic down, cut the speed and cut the delay.
Importantly, indicators mean the car in front is going to overtake, let him, even if it means letting him out in front of you!

UK road, everyone picks their speed, and god help those that don't do the same speed. The drivers at 70mph may be in the first lane, coming behind a truck, indicating. The driver merrily cruising alone at 77mph, sticks in his rear quarter, and will happily push him into the truck, or make him brake. Doesn't slow down to let him out, doesn't move into the third lane. Same with the BMW's owning the third lane at 85mph, Nothing can impede their progress, nothing gets out to overtake. So it's brake, look for a gap, speed up, slot in behind them, before the next one comes along, or wait for the tailgaters to get past as well, as 85mph isn't fast enough for their choice.

So the British technique? See a need to overtake way in the distance. Get out as soon as possible, as you know you can't leave it late. See another overtake coming up? Stay out.

Indicators, the car in front is thinking about overtaking, make sure I can hold him in until I get past!

Cornucopia

We've been spoilt by having mostly 3-lane motorways. It simply couldn't work in France, where is it mainly 2-lanes.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

The trouble is you are comparing apples and pears. I've driven to the far East of Germany, Dresden, via Cologne and Berlin and you will see different standards of driving as you pass through different areas and at different times of day. You can't compare driving standards because the conditions are so different. If 80% of your motorway driving is on quiet roads where you can normally get passed, you will tend to be accepting of the occasional delay in pulling out; if 80% of your driving is on busy roads where pulling out takes time, then you'll tend to be reluctant to pull back in.

Drive around the UK in quiet areas or at quiet times and you will see entirely different behaviour to busy times.

We are highly influenced by what we believe other drivers are thinking and driving in the UK tends to be more competitive and aggressive due to the lack of road space to compete over.

However, when the going gets tough in Europe, you will see extremely bad driving (try driving through Brussels on the motorways anytime near rush hour), whereas in the UK, people tend to be more resigned to delays of heavy traffic.

Iceweasel

I agree - Paris, Brussels, Lille and Stuttgart are the worst at rush hour, late afternoon. Worse than the M25.

But I prefer to call it 'going home time' as they behave like little kids coming out of Primary School.

Ebe_Scrooge

I witnessed a corker yesterday. Driving along a NSL road, up ahead was a tractor doing about 15 mph. Behind him was a car. A straight patch of road, I waited for the car in front to overtake - he didn't. So I calmly overtook them both. Why was he sitting behind the tractor ? Actually, he was tailgating, he was only a few feet from the tractor, getting covered with bits of straw that were flying off the bales the tractor was carrying. There were no turn-offs ahead for at least the next 3 miles, so it's not as though he was about to turn off the main road. Surely even the most nervous driver in the slowest car in the world could manage to overtake a tractor at that speed ?