Driving well below the speed limit

[LowLevel]

Nothing worse than a 40 in a 50, 40 in a 30 driver. Should forfeit their licences as they're clearly not paying attention or found them in a cereal box some time in the 80s.

Honda Jazz needs to be added to the offenders list.

Encountered one yesterday - I was driving at 30 in a 30, nearly midnight. Despite me not being at all far off they pull out and sit at about 38.

Road changes to 50, nope, still sat at 38.

Happily there is a long downhill straight with perfectly visibility shortly after so I just overtook them and still got the "you're a maniac" light flashing etc, despite not actually exceeding the speed limit in overtaking them.

 

[Brent Goose]

The worst thing with that at roundabouts is if the person behind anticipates too far ahead and does not realise the one in front seems to think a give way line is a stop line !. It has not happened to me yet !.

What is also annoying are roundabouts where fences have been installed to block the sight lines into them. The roundabout from Hamble onto the M27 is one and I recall the same on the A505 near Duxford

 

[Peter Sarf]

What is also annoying is roundabouts where fences have been installed to block the sight lines into them. The roundabout from Hamble onto the M27 is one and I recall the same on the A505 near Duxford

I think the M25 where the A21 meets from the North is the same. Perhaps it is to stop unlucky anticipation ?.
Just ruins the chances of a steady flow at a junction, might as well convert em to crossroads with traffic lights .

 

[Cloud Strife]

I don’t really find speed makes that much difference to fuel consumption.

Tried and tested on some very lengthy roadtrips from Poland to Croatia. There's nearly no tangible difference on such runs between doing 115km/h and 135km/h on the speedo, although fuel consumption does rocket up once you start driving above 140km/h. But generally speaking, I do the speed limit the whole way, and after experimenting one year with going 110km/h rather than 130km/h (GPS-measured), the difference was around 0.3L per 100km. Over a typical run to Croatia (1300km), it's a difference of three litres of fuel, but with around 1.5 hours time difference in travel.

The other thing that I find is that having the cruise control on at 115km/h is a recipe for falling asleep, whereas 135km/h keeps you alert.

 

[Hadders]

I see this sort of behaviour all the time when driving around.

The standard of driving does seem to have deteriorated over the years but it seems to me that many drivers lack awareness of their surroundings. Also, people drive slowly because they think they're being 'safe' when the opposite is true.

 

[gabrielhj07]

I had the pleasure of driving down the A1081 at about 2 o'clock this morning, where I found myself stuck behind a BMW 5 series doing about 45 all the way from Luton to Harpenden. Highlights included braking on straights, not slowing at all for roundabouts, and crawling through the empty town centre at 10mph.

 

[Bald Rick]

I had the pleasure of driving down the A1081 at about 2 o'clock this morning, where I found myself stuck behind a BMW 5 series doing about 45 all the way from Luton to Harpenden. Highlights included braking on straights, not slowing at all for roundabouts, and crawling through the empty town centre at 10mph.

Surprised you didn’t go past, especially that time of the morning. The stretch frrom Luton Hoo to Kinsbourne Green has some long straight sections. I‘ve had stuff go past me rapidly in that section when I’ve been doing 60 (car mph) or 40 (bike, km/h).

 

[telstarbox]

Braking for no reason is often a giveaway that the driver is texting.

 

[Bald Rick]

Braking for no reason is often a giveaway that the driver is texting.

it is always a giveaway for a bad driver!

 

[Starmill]

I always worry when I see this. How much of it is straightforward carelessness / poor driving style, and how much of it is someone who knows they're unfit to drive (drink, drugs, fatigue, sickness, typing on their device, not passed their test - whatever it may be) and is doing so anyway?

 

[Peter Sarf]

I always worry when I see this. How much of it is straightforward carelessness / poor driving style, and how much of it is someone who knows they're unfit to drive (drink, drugs, fatigue, sickness, typing on their device, not passed their test - whatever it may be) and is doing so anyway?

Same here. It is possible there is something dangerous (most likely texting) rather than the driver just being a bit "slow", tired, clumsy or cautious.

 

[gabrielhj07]

Surprised you didn’t go past, especially that time of the morning. The stretch frrom Luton Hoo to Kinsbourne Green has some long straight sections. I‘ve had stuff go past me rapidly in that section when I’ve been doing 60 (car mph) or 40 (bike, km/h).

Hardly worth it; I could only do 55 myself, otherwise I would’ve done.

 

[Cowley]

I thought of another one that I’ve noticed a few times but it only seems to occur around 3:45pm - 4:30pm, which is tradespeople with sign-written vans belonging to various local companies, driving veeeery slowly back to their bases in Exeter

I wonder why that might be..?

 

[Peter Sarf]

I thought of another one that I’ve noticed a few times but it only seems to occur around 3:45pm - 4:30pm, which is tradespeople with sign-written vans belonging to various local companies, driving veeeery slowly back to their bases in Exeter

I wonder why that might be..?

They're busy doing their end of day "paperwork" - as they drive .

 

[Cowley]

They're busy doing their end of day "paperwork" - as they drive .

I think timing things so that you get back to the yard just too late to be able to do anything except get ready to go home is the aim. If you saw the same van at 4:50pm it would probably be going faster than a Formula One car.

 

[Peter Sarf]

I think timing things so that you get back to the yard just too late to be able to do anything except get ready to go home is the aim. If you saw the same van at 4:50pm it would probably be going faster than a Formula One car.

I am sure it will be that or rounding up their hours to the nearest hour. I wonder if they are quicker on a Friday though.

 

[bramling]

Same here. It is possible there is something dangerous (most likely texting) rather than the driver just being a bit "slow", tired, clumsy or cautious.

I think in a lot of cases it’s just a total and complete inability to be able to anticipate and plan ahead. Hence why motorways are nowadays often like a display of red disco lights all flashing on and off, mostly completely unnecessary (which is incidentally a leading cause of traffic jams).

Do agree though that in some cases in certainly is an indication that something else nefarious is going on.

 

[GDKEnts]

What bugs me is when people are driving at 30mph happily know there is a speed camera up ahead and slow down to 15mph!

 

[Peter Sarf]

What bugs me is when people are driving at 30mph happily know there is a speed camera up ahead and slow down to 15mph!

Near me in Croydon (West side) there is a dual carriageway that is 40mph. It has houses on one side and really ought to be 30mph. It is a mile or so of 40mph surrounded by 30mph or less, there is a flyover at one end that has recently been reduced from 40mph to 30mph (and has no houses on it surprise surprise !). So no logic from Croydon council there.

But almost everyone doing over 30mph brakes hard as they approach the speed camera. It can fool people behind.

This tells me most drivers do not know what the speed limit is, instinctively speed or do not know what their current speed is.

A bit of an aside but shows how easily people make "mistakes".
Irony is a bit further on is a busy Pelican crossing. On the Northbound it has killed a few people apparently, As a pedestrian I cross it every day I go to the station or shopping. Now I seldom drive across it as it means I am going past my house so to speak. But one of the last times I did I said to everyone in the car one of those two cars (two lanes) is not going to stop and will go through the red light. The reason is there is a light controlled junction just beyond and it was just turning green. I knew the timing was right for a mistake, what I did not know was BOTH drivers would make the same mistake !. What a good example for the need to be 30mph - too many pedestrians around.

 

[Krokodil]

This tells me most drivers do not know what the speed limit is, instinctively speed or do not know what their current speed is.

Signage could be better in many locations. I would prefer it if speed camera signs always included the limit.

(Link to illustration of speed camera and 30 limit symbols combined into one)

Speed camera ahead sign - Highway Code

Save A sign indicating that speed cameras are in use on the road ahead, alongside a clear 30 miles per hour speed limit sign.

highwaycode.org.uk

I remember seeing speed camera signs in a National Speed Limit area and wondering if I'd missed signs telling me of a lower limit. Nope, it was enforcing the NSL. Nice to be told this.

 

[Meerkat]

What a good example for the need to be 30mph - too many pedestrians around.

If the pedestrians are crossing at a crossing then no reason for a busy dual carriageway to be 30

 

[Krokodil]

If the pedestrians are crossing at a crossing then no reason for a busy dual carriageway to be 30

Apart from the fact that the lights at this particular location appear to be the equivalent of a SPAD trap.

 

[Harpo]

If the pedestrians are crossing at a crossing then no reason for a busy dual carriageway to be 30

A 30 could be for motorist safety, capacity or a combination of the two.

 

[AM9]

If the pedestrians are crossing at a crossing then no reason for a busy dual carriageway to be 30

That doesn't matter, as long as the limit isn't incorrectly signed, drivers have nothing to complain about. A 30mph limit is pretty easy to see anyway, i.e. it is the default when street lights are regular. Unless you can see repeater signs indicating otherwise, driving faster puts you at risk of prosecution.

 

[Yorkshire09876]

I thought of another one that I’ve noticed a few times but it only seems to occur around 3:45pm - 4:30pm, which is tradespeople with sign-written vans belonging to various local companies, driving veeeery slowly back to their bases in Exeter

I wonder why that might be..?

That will be a result of the vans now being fitted with GPS trackers - in the past they'd probably have stopped in a layby to read the paper for a while!

 

[Meerkat]

That doesn't matter, as long as the limit isn't incorrectly signed, drivers have nothing to complain about

Apart from being unnecessarily delayed and annoyed.

 

[sprunt]

Also, if I'm in a 30 limit I will tend to keep the speedo needle around the 25 mark. That gives me an extra 5mph to play around with should I need to make any sudden acceleration moves, like overtaking a cyclist or something.

Why would you need a sudden burst of speed to overtake a cyclist? If you can overtake one at 30 having been doing 25 previously, why can't you just overtake one at 30 as part of going at that speed?

Agreed. I’d also like to add poor lane discipline on motorways and not using bus lanes outside of their operations.

I did a long motorway journey for the first time in over 10 years on Sunday, and either my memory's failed me or lane discipline has got much worse over that time. On a 4 lane stretch of pretty empty M6 at 9pm there were loads of cars just tootling along at 70 in the third lane with nothing ahead to their left as far as the eye could see at times.

Over a typical run to Croatia (1300km), it's a difference of three litres of fuel, but with around 1.5 hours time difference in travel.

Wow, that's a pretty poor cost saving for that much time!

 

[AM9]

Apart from being unnecessarily delayed and annoyed.

So, if they don't like it, complain to the relevant highway authority if they think that the road should be subject to a faster limit after the needs of all highway users are duly considered of course.

 

[Brent Goose]

I did a long motorway journey for the first time in over 10 years on Sunday, and either my memory's failed me or lane discipline has got much worse over that time. On a 4 lane stretch of pretty empty M6 at 9pm there were loads of cars just tootling along at 70 in the third lane with nothing ahead to their left as far as the eye could see at times.

Also evident on the M25

A friend has been know to pass them in lane one (thus a lane separation should they suddenly choose to pull in) and watch them still ‘marooned’ in lane 3 in his or her rear view mirror.

 

[Bald Rick]

Also evident on the M25

A friend has been know to pass them in lane one (thus a lane separation should they suddenly choose to pull in) and watch them still ‘marooned’ in lane 3 in his or her rear view mirror.

As I have said on other threads, I do that all the time. I passed 200 cars between Knutsford and Oldbury like that one Sunday evening before I stopped counting.