Two fatal Accidents In my area

Tony5896

I see no issue with driving at 50-55mph on a multi lane road where people are free to overtake as needed .. I do see issues where people drive at 55-60 mph and then don't increase speed while over taking .. I also see an issue where people crawl along single lane roads at 10mph or more less than than the posted limit ..  
  

MattMattMattUK

Tony5896 said:

I see no issue with driving at 50-55mph on a multi lane road where people are free to overtake as needed .. I do see issues where people drive at 55-60 mph and then don't increase speed while over taking .. I also see an issue where people crawl along single lane roads at 10mph or more less than than the posted limit ..  

I have more of an issue with those people who will crawl along at 30-45 mph on a single lane national speed limit road, but the moment someone starts to overtake them they suddenly decide to accelerate to 60, before dropping off again after the person has overtaken them or given up the attempt.

I had it on my way to work earlier this week, the road was 30, the car in front of me was doing around 18, never exceeded 20. The road then becomes 40, they kept doing 18, after ten seconds I went to overtake and as I got past them they floored it (they not only accelerated but I could hear their engine noise increase significantly). I completed the mauver but I was very tempted to stop in front of them and have some serious words.

People who choose to accelerate when someone else is overtaking them should be banned from driving for life. 

matt_drummer

QrizB said:

matt_drummer said:

I wouldn't think about trying to overtake a vehicle in front of me travelling at 55mph on any of those roads by only travelling at 60mph and taking 46 seconds to get past.
Not worth the risk to me.

That's clearly your choice to make.

matt_drummer said:

If I felt compelled to get past I would do it as quickly as I could using as much speed as the vehicle I was in could muster. That is, I would break the law by exceeding the speed limit

That too is your choice.

matt_drummer said:

... as I suspect most people would.

That however sounds more like you making excuses for your own hypothetical lawbreaking on the grounds that "everybody does it". A version of the bandwagon fallacy.

I haven't overtaken anybody on a single carriageway for years.

I wouldn't  even consider overtaking anybody on a single carriageway doing even 40mph when they could do 60mph.

I can't be bothered anymore.

I merely enquired how it was possible to safely and within legal limits, overtake a car doing 55mph on a single carriageway

born_again

Tony5896 said:

I see no issue with driving at 50-55mph on a multi lane road where people are free to overtake as needed .. I do see issues where people drive at 55-60 mph and then don't increase speed while over taking .. I also see an issue where people crawl along single lane roads at 10mph or more less than than the posted limit ..  
  

The limit is advisory & subject to road conditions, not a target. 
Different drivers have different perception of what is safe. Simply take a look at the number caught speeding 🤷‍♀️

Mildly_Miffed

matt_drummer said:

I haven't overtaken anybody on a single carriageway for years.

I wouldn't  even consider overtaking anybody on a single carriageway doing even 40mph when they could do 60mph.

I can't be bothered anymore.

I merely enquired how it was possible to safely and within legal limits, overtake a car doing 55mph on a single carriageway

I last overtook a car on a single carriageway yesterday. As had the car in front of me.

Did I break the speed limit to do so? Yes, briefly, before dropping back down to 60.
Was it safe to do so? Yes, absolutely.
Did I see that car behind me again? No. They'd completely disappeared from my mirrors in very short order.
Do I feel even slightly guilty about having done so? Nope, not a bit.
Would I do it again tomorrow? Yes, absolutely.

I also overtook an articulated truck or maybe two on single carriageways earlier in the week, and some agricultural machinery.

It's a common part of driving when you live where traffic levels are considerably lower than they are in the crowded urban parts of the country.

SiliconChip

matt_drummer said:

My current car accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in less than 3 seconds, complete unnecessary, utterly ridiculous and positively dangerous in the wrong hands.

One would have to ask why you bought a car that will accelerate at that rate if you consider it to be so unnecessary, surely it's a key feature of any car that does that, along with a top speed that is likely to be significantly more than twice the maximum speed limit in the UK. 

matt_drummer

SiliconChip said:

matt_drummer said:

My current car accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in less than 3 seconds, complete unnecessary, utterly ridiculous and positively dangerous in the wrong hands.

One would have to ask why you bought a car that will accelerate at that rate if you consider it to be so unnecessary, surely it's a key feature of any car that does that, along with a top speed that is likely to be significantly more than twice the maximum speed limit in the UK. 

There's more to a car than acceleration and outright top speed.

They don't make a slower one that looks the same with the same features, otherwise I would have bought that assuming it was cheaper.

And that was my point, why make cars for the road that fast?

It's not even special or particularly expensive.

Arunmor

matt_drummer said:

Arunmor said:

In my view the one thing drivers should do is drive over (the true) 56mph on motorways so as not to become a mobile chicane to the HGVs whose speedos will read a true 56mph.  For most cars that will mean an indicated slightly over 60mph.

HGV's don't exist any more and haven't done for over 30 years

I hope you are taking that with the government they seem to disagree and still use the term eg:-

https://www.gov.uk/training-hgv

So if the government still use it so can I.  That was just an act of pedantry on your part. 

On your other point of course they were not a problem to you, but is a problem to the large queue behind you.

Nasqueron

ButterCheese said:

Emmia said:

I'd argue that 55mph on a motorway, when everyone else is doing 70(+?) is potentially dangerous

That's what I was told when learning to drive.  If the conditions are good, you should be doing 70.  If you're doing 55/60 then you'd get marked down for hesitancy and/or not making good progress.  

As this is a non-factual post, I will add my theory on Mway/DCW accidents, which we do get a lot of where I live.  I think the worst culpret is not doing a shoulder check (checking blindspot).  As a motorcyclist I do this naturally in a car, but so many people don't.  They change lanes into a car that's been hiding in their blindspot and that's it.  swerve, roll, someone following too close behind, quickly can become very serious

This is one of the things between showing you can pass a test and showing you know how to drive and indeed, how the real world works. I am perfectly comfortable doing 70 on the motorway and keep to the side however, I am happier (for MPG) doing 60 in the inside lane where I am not holding anyone up as I am faster than lorries, and I can accelerate to 70 to pass where necessary. My GPS says my speed is 58mph so I am faster than speed restricted lorries even at top speed and I do not accept it is hesitancy or not making good progress where I am not holding cars up. On a test doing 20mph in a 30 zone is rightly a fail as it means other cars are potentially going to try and overtake dangerously and it indicates an inability to drive to the road conditions but once you pass, anything 60-70 on a motorway is fine for me. A straight road on 60mph limit whether single or dual carriageway, I would similarly do 60

matt_drummer

Arunmor said:

matt_drummer said:

Arunmor said:

In my view the one thing drivers should do is drive over (the true) 56mph on motorways so as not to become a mobile chicane to the HGVs whose speedos will read a true 56mph.  For most cars that will mean an indicated slightly over 60mph.

HGV's don't exist any more and haven't done for over 30 years

I hope you are taking that with the government they seem to disagree and still use the term eg:-

https://www.gov.uk/training-hgv

So if the government still use it so can I.  That was just an act of pedantry on your part. 

On your other point of course they were not a problem to you, but is a problem to the large queue behind you.

Pendantry or educational as I prefer to think of it, they are LGVs now and the government should know that seeing as they changed it in the 1990s.

I am not sure what the other point is you refer to, I never had queues behind me as I just followed the truck in front on a dual carriageway so as not to spend three miles trying to overtake and blocking the whole road. I also slowed down as other trucks overtook me so it was over sooner.

I saw no material difference whether I was doing 54.5mph or 55mph, it doesn't matter.