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Why do you drive everywhere at 40mph?

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Comments

  • Jackmydad
    Jackmydad Posts: 9,186 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 3 May 2017 at 3:31PM
    DoaM wrote: »
    You mean like Rainman? :D
    Never seen it! Or is he a member here? :)
  • paulpud
    paulpud Posts: 338 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    Mercdriver wrote: »
    Or the person bimbling along can pull in when safe to do so to let others pass :)

    But these occasions are as rare as hen's teeth.

    A lot of 'bimblers' are unaware of the convoy snaking out behind them and I'm sure caravanners take a perverse kind of pleasure from it.
  • iolanthe07
    iolanthe07 Posts: 5,493 Forumite
    Driving at way under the speed limit for no reason is just bloody selfish. I'm retired now, but I really feel for delivery drivers and commercial vehicle operators, with a schedule to keep to, being stuck behind people like this. It is often impossible to overtake safely.
    I used to think that good grammar is important, but now I know that good wine is importanter.
  • kmb500
    kmb500 Posts: 656 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 500 Posts Name Dropper
    iolanthe07 wrote: »
    Driving at way under the speed limit for no reason is just bloody selfish. I'm retired now, but I really feel for delivery drivers and commercial vehicle operators, with a schedule to keep to, being stuck behind people like this. It is often impossible to overtake safely.
    Isn't everyone selfish?
    Sometimes you can't avoid driving slowly. A few months ago I was carrying an extremely fragile computer in my boot that came with no packaging, and had to drive it back from work in my car with rock hard tyres/suspension, on extremely bumpy / pothole-full roads. I drove at 20mph the whole way - and it's 60 all the way. I had a massive queue behind me. I felt bad, but at the end of the day, it was unavoidable and well this sort of thing happens from time to time. It was a 10 minute journey and it's one of only a handful of times I've had to drive slowly. But you never know, there may be a reason someone is driving slow.
  • motorguy
    motorguy Posts: 22,619 Forumite
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    There's no obligation to drive at the maximum speed allowed. Each person has a right to drive at the speed they want and feel safe driving at so long as it doesn't cause a danger. I'd say 40mph in a 60 zone is quite acceptable but under 30 probably not. You can always overtake when safe to do so.

    If someone is only capable of driving at 40mph in a 60 then i would call in to question their fitness to drive.

    Whilst 60mph is a limit and not a target, theres really little excuse to be bimbling along at 40mph, often with a queue of frustrated drivers bumper to bumper behind them.

    And often these incapable drivers then are off like a stabbed rat at the first sign of a straight where people could otherwise overtake them just to slow down to 40MPH again at the first sign of a corner. :mad:
  • motorguy
    motorguy Posts: 22,619 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    kmb500 wrote: »
    Isn't everyone selfish?
    Sometimes you can't avoid driving slowly. A few months ago I was carrying an extremely fragile computer in my boot that came with no packaging, and had to drive it back from work in my car with rock hard tyres/suspension, on extremely bumpy / pothole-full roads. I drove at 20mph the whole way - and it's 60 all the way. I had a massive queue behind me. I felt bad, but at the end of the day, it was unavoidable and well this sort of thing happens from time to time. It was a 10 minute journey and it's one of only a handful of times I've had to drive slowly. But you never know, there may be a reason someone is driving slow.

    Yes, 9 times out of 10 you can be fairly sure of the reason. ;)
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    kmb500 wrote: »
    Isn't everyone selfish?

    Indeed...
    Sometimes you can't avoid driving slowly. A few months ago I was carrying an extremely fragile computer in my boot that came with no packaging, and had to drive it back from work in my car with rock hard tyres/suspension, on extremely bumpy / pothole-full roads. I drove at 20mph the whole way - and it's 60 all the way. I had a massive queue behind me.
    So apart from your inability to prepare by taking - or sourcing - packaging, using a less inappropriate vehicle, or taking a different route... you completely ignored rule 169 of the Highway Code?
    But you never know, there may be a reason someone is driving slow.
    <looks back up to top of post>
  • neilmcl
    neilmcl Posts: 19,460 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 3 May 2017 at 7:22PM
    kmb500 wrote: »
    Isn't everyone selfish?
    Sometimes you can't avoid driving slowly. A few months ago I was carrying an extremely fragile computer in my boot that came with no packaging, and had to drive it back from work in my car with rock hard tyres/suspension, on extremely bumpy / pothole-full roads. I drove at 20mph the whole way - and it's 60 all the way. I had a massive queue behind me. I felt bad, but at the end of the day, it was unavoidable and well this sort of thing happens from time to time. It was a 10 minute journey and it's one of only a handful of times I've had to drive slowly. But you never know, there may be a reason someone is driving slow.
    Driving at 20mph in a 60 zone, and you don't think that is in anyway dangerous and inappropriate.
  • facade
    facade Posts: 7,726 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    40MPH? Far too fast!!

    I drive everywhere at exactly 22MPH, making sure that I keep the central white lines under the centre of my car at all times.
    I am very courteous to other road users, in fact if someone comes towards me I always stop to allow them to pass by, and whenever I approach an obstruction I always give way, whilst making sure that my car is completely blocking the route that the other vehicle needs to take.

    At junctions I always wait, possibly as long as 15 minutes for the road to clear, yet whenever I pull out there is always a car that must be breaking the speed limit as it appears from nowhere, making a nuisance by blowing its horn and flashing its lights. :D:D
    I want to go back to The Olden Days, when every single thing that I can think of was better.....

    (except air quality and Medical Science ;))
  • Norman_Castle
    Norman_Castle Posts: 11,871 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Its because fourth gear is the perfect gear. If you use fifth you will have change down again so changing up is a pointless faff. If you drop much below 40mph you might need third so best to avoid slowing too much.
    Keeping your brain in neutral also helps.
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