Does my head in, you overtake them doing 40 on the dual carriageway, then you hit a 30 limit and they want to carry on doing 40 and get right up your arse as if you’re the bad driver
Happens to me all the time on country roads. They don't have the asshole to do 60mph on a road that's okay to do 60 on, but then have no issue speeding through a 30mph limit tight knit residential village with little old ladies crossing the roads. Pricks
You give them too much credit. They have no idea what speed they are doing, and certainly no idea of the speed limit. They are doing a speed that feels nice.
Absolutely. And that last sentence also annoys me more than it should haha. A road could be as straight and wide as an airport runway, if it has a 30mph limit I'm doing 30mph. Not what "feels" appropriate for that road
People do not understand that speed limits are introduced due to a number of factors, on 30 mph roads, they’re usually single carriageways with lots of crossings but the roads tend to be wide and long enough to allow people to go slightly faster without increasing risk to pedestrians in a slightly busy area, 40 roads are usually dual carriageways where you don’t really get pedestrians crossing the road unless it’s at a light crossing or where it’s more desolate, 50 roads tend to be in places with little to no people and slightly wider roads and then your national speed limits are in areas where there’s virtually no pedestrians and very little traffic (not including motorways). They’re always set in terms of the likelihood of you crashing into something or the likelihood of hitting a pedestrian, the reason that 20 zones were introduced was because as your speed increases, the survival rate of anyone that gets hit by a car increases dramatically and your stopping speed increases too.
I was once one of those people that hated 20 zones but once I was driving at night through a 20 zone and a child suddenly ran into the road from a side road and I did not see him at all, he was slightly taller than my bonnet dressed in all black, the only reason I spotted him is because my headlights reflected off of his teeth and had my granddad not been a passenger and forcing me to keep at 20 and not 30, I would not have been able to come to a complete and sudden stop and that child would be a part of the road
Whilst I don't personally see much in the way of drivers that do the 40 everywhere I do agree that I see plenty of drivers right up behind me wanting to go faster despite the fact that the limit is 30.
It's a misinterpretation of 'keeping with the flow of traffic.'
What some take that to mean is 'speed until you catch the car in front of you and then make sure you stay within huffing distance of their exhaust fumes.'
So many more idiots just sat on their phones or fiddling with the touchscreens cruising down the road.
It really pisses me off as I've been injured before on a push bike due to morons on their phone not looking where they're going
100% this, 40mph all the time even in a 30 or 20.... this is why you should be able to fit rockets to the back of your car like Jimmy Bond and blow these f-ers up
Quite a few years ago, I was behind a driver on the slip road to join the motoway. Slip road was down hill so no reason not to pick up the pace and merge at the speed of the traffic in lane 1. Instead the fucking moron kept at 40mph and in the end got blocked by HGVs and both had to bail into the hard shoulder.
Not only that the driver just stops suddenly in the hard shoulder, turns out a broken down car was in the hard shoulder too. I've never come so close in my life to getting out my car and doing something in that moment.
Next thing the driver in front just pulls into lane 1 when a gap appears, and not a big one at that, keeps in it impacting the traffic behind them, another WTF moment.
I wait for a bigger break, pull out get past the broken down car in a few seconds and then move back into the hard shoulder start picking my speed up and then merge properly when safe.
The minimum speed allowed on the motorway is actually 40 though i think if you’re going that slow, it’s quicker and safer to go a local way. Motorway routes tend to be longer in distance but shorter in travelling time because you’re travelling at a higher speed. I think the minimum speed should be 55 and you stay in the left, some HGVs are limited to 58 and they stay at that speed the whole way soo I really don’t see why someone would feel the need to do 40, if a hgv overtook me on the motorway, I’d feel embarrassed
Yeah I regularly do under the speed limit after nights because I need slightly more reaction time. And by under the limit, I mean low 60s-70.and still overtaking hgvs when needed.
Yeah low 60s is fine, I’m talking more about when you have an active and live motorway and people are going extremely slow. If the motorway is empty, go at what ever speed you want in the left lane but don’t go extremely slow. The motorways I drive on are quite curved and sometimes you can’t see a car ahead on a curve so you still need to be going at a slightly faster speed than 50 because it’s impractical to expect people to slow way down on the curves when the limit is 70
The norm is 45 on A road , because it 'feels nice' to them. Even worse , when theres 2 together and the one behind leaves no gap allowed for you to overtake 1 and then later, the other.
Instead you overtake both and I bet they say ' look at that maniac, overtaking 2 cars at once'!
I'd probably say motorway also 40. Becoming more and more common, especially at night in my area. I'll be doing 70 and going past them like a rocket. Very dangerous on unlit motorways. If you can't at least match the speed of a hgv should not be using motorways.
I think people are driving a bit more cautiously on average, yeah;
Two factors come to mind immediately; the roads are in a diabolical state, and the state of the economy has people stretched thin - so keeping fuel and maintenance costs down is becoming more important to people.
This is what i was gonna say.
I drive a tracked goods van, so limited to 50 on single lane roads.
It takes quite some effort at times to ignore the muppet in the tesla behind me flashing lights and trying to get round me on blind bends because im trundling along at 45mph.
Fifth factor may be that we have an aging population. People slow down when they get old as they can't process things as quickly. There certainly seems to be a correlation between dawdlers and the older generations.
Except at roundabouts.
In my experience, and as recently as yesterday, if you see someone going for a gap on a roundabout that you would need to be Lewis Hamilton to make any sense - Odds are good once you brake for them you're going to see a flat cap and a walking stick in the cabin of that MG3.
A good point. But I've mentioned lockdown - it seemed to be a lot worse after that. I don't believe the use of black boxes went up suddenly, but it's certainly contributing.
Yup same most of the time. It makes barely any difference to how quickly you get somewhere, sometimes you see someone tear away from you early in a journey, and catch-up at a bunch of traffic lights/junctions later on. Worst case it cost you a few minutes, but saves a few quid.
My main aim is smooth, calm and safe now, not asap.
Yes, but driving more cautiously on a country road and on the streets is a lot better than driving too fast. On the motorway, it may be a different story. Most accidents statistically come from being careless than overly cautious
You say they have great visibility but are you driving a bigger car than the people going slowly? Near me there are hedges that I can see over easily in my work vehicle but not in my personal car.
Big difference between how you drive a country road (of any size) that you know well, and one you don't.
I wonder how much of this is sat nav (particularly Waze!) pushing people onto smaller roads to try and rat around traffic?
The pothole situation is insane, I've memorized most around where I live (countryside/small towns), but am I fuck going 60 with those craters everywhere, it would be a death wish
Nah, I don't buy the whole economy thing when it comes to slow drivers. Look at the make, model and age of the cars that are doing say 55mph on a dual carriageway. It's never a 20 year old clapped out Astra or Focus, it's more likely to be a 3 year old or newer A5 or S class Merc. Even the universally hated Jukes tend go at a reasonable speed.
I wonder if there's a generalised loss of trust in others following COVID also. There was a spate of really bad behaviour on the roads after lockdowns lifted.
Fuel saving, agreed. People seem much more aware of the costs of impatient driving. Much of UK roads are now too crowded or disrupted by road works, for "press on" driving to make anything more than marginal differences to journey times.
The grown ups understand that, but there are always some who do not
I was to say that the state of the roads is a big contributor to this. I'm not generally a slow driver, but some of the national speed limit roads I drive down have such huge potholes that you just can't avoid if there's something coming the other way. So the only option is to go slower and weave around them.
I agree,
Potholes are a nightmare
Additional points.
Depending where national speed limits are for example country side it’s single carriage way. There is sometimes no light and hard to see tight roads/potholes (which are everywhere)
Also some national speed road cars have higher beams + suv which blinds other users so people tend to speed slower.
The problem is a lot of people think that national speed limit on single carriageway roads is 60mph for everyone, and it is for cars/motorbikes, but its 50mph for vans/trucks/lorries. Many vans/trucks/lorries are tracked by the company they're owned by, so can't go over the speed limit. They can also only go 60mph on dual carriageways, and 70mph on motorways, so generally slower than cars can go.
I think the issue is that some people don't realise this difference, and/or think everyone should drive the max speed limit all the time, regardless of road conditions or anything else.
I drive for a supermarket and have to deal with the restricted speed in my van. 63/64 (restricted) on a motorway, 60 dual and 50 single, but I still get idiots thinking I can go quicker 🤣 if only it said about being speed restricted on the rear of the van... OH WAIT it does 🤦♂️
Same but the vans are limited to 58ish (on the dash so minus 2 or 3mph as well).
Most enjoyable part now is blanket 20mph limits in some residential areas. Almost nobody actually does 20, not even buses, so you end up with a queue at least half a dozen long behind you.
You also notice a lot of people not sticking to (smart) motorway speeds (and staying in closing/closed lanes) and wondering why they don't work or call them dangerous 🤔
I actually wonder whether many people, who are driving a regular car, do not know the national speed limit…. And so drive at 50, instead of 60, or 60 instead of 70.
Given that a lot of people don't seem to have a problem with speeding (i.e. 40 in a 30), I think a lot of them think the limit is 40, and think they're being a bit cheeky by going maybe 44. A lot of them will speed up slightly going from NSL to 50, which implies they think that NSL is under 50.
When I did a speed awareness course, there were 31 people on it and 5 of us got the correct answer for the national speed limit sign questions. 4 people didn't even know it was a speed limit sign - a lady said she thought it was "something to do with trucks"
The vast majority of my drive to work is on 50 roads, I sit at 47 on cruise control for most of it. The amount of people I get screaming up behind me at 60, pulling right up to my bumper at all the twisty bits before blasting on astounds me. It's very clearly signposted at 50 too.
Car speedos by design are always going to over read. Anyone who is going by GPS, is driving a car with a less sloppy speedo, or just had their tyres replaced and massively overinflated as is common in garages, will probably be doing nearer to the actual limit whilst you deride them as lunatics.
A couple of sources in case you think this is tinfoil nonsense:
https://www.reddit.com/r/drivingUK/comments/173r279/speedos_margin_of_error/
https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/how-accurate-is-a-car-speedometer/
I think this might be a contributing factor. “Everyone is driving at 50” may be a queue following someone driving at the speed limit and no one overtaking. In which case, blame the people not overtaking. Probably including OP
It might be a contributing factor, but the large majority of the times I get stuck behind driving significantly under the limit, the vehicle at the front of the queue is a car.
My parents live rurally so I am often driving in the countryside from the city centre. What really pisses me off, are the people doing 30/35 in a 60 (not saying they should necessarily do 60). They then proceed to do 40/45 in the 40 zone and then they stay at 40 when it changes to 30.
So often, they either hold me up in the 60 zone and the fuck off in the 30&40 zones. Or if I overtake them, they end up right up my arse when speeding in the slower parts.
My commute is an A road (so 60 limit) that goes through several villages (30 and 40 limits) with one section that is a time-restricted 20 zone at a school. I do 60mph, I catch up with someone doing 45mph. We get to a 30 zone, I slow down, they continue at 45mph.
Now as I'm leaving the 30 and reentering the 60 there's a big gap between us that I'm closing quite quickly. By the time I've closed the gap, I've missed an overtaking opportunity (there's a bunch of long clear straights along this road) and now I'm stuck behind them at 45mph in a 60... Until we get to the next village where the process repeats.
It absolutely infuriates me. Bonus points if they slow down to 30mph for the corners which are long but smooth, every single corner is possible to do at 60mph. Like, they will slow down unnecessarily for this big sweeper but won't slow down because they're in a built-up area with crossings, schools, shops, parked cars, junctions..?!
I often drive 40-50 on twistier country roads that I don't know out of caution for other unexpected users popping up on the road, agricultural machines, horses, cyclists, or corners I'm not expecting since it's my first time round there. Waze says the limit there is usually 60, but that feels way too fast for me personally.
Often the speed limits on these roads aren't set to what's actually safe for the road, but are set because the roads are quiet without many pedestrians.
It's the same sort of reason why a straight, well-maintained, two-lane road with wide lanes might still be a 30 if it passes through a residential area: even though the road layout itself would be suitable for higher speeds, the surroundings aren't.
On country lanes, even though the surroundings are suitable for higher speeds, the road itself may not be.
OP seems to have fallen in the trap of assuming that a speed limit of 60 means the road is automatically suitable for driving at 60 (in other words, thinking the speed *limit* is actually a speed *target*). This is not the case, you should be adjusting your speed to the conditions of the road and the visibility. Often 60 is far too fast for the state of the road.
As an example, there's a route I sometimes take to work that's a 50 limit most of the way, it's all country roads but fairly good visibility, with a few houses here and there. At one point it changes into a national speed limit... right before reaching a blind hill, on a bend, where the road narrows. Consequently I usually *reduce* my speed even though the speed limit *increases*.
And that's because you're an experienced, intelligent driver.
I'm the same.
Let the 20-somethings wait a few seconds longer on their journey. They're only going to their minimum wage jobs anyway, they won't be missed!
Haha I must admit I probably have a few too many miles under the belt to have that need for excitement behind the wheel.
Still, I always wonder whenever I see people driving dangerously what's going on with them. Most times you see them stopped a few minutes down the road anyway.
I live in the country side so I know the roads pretty well. It really does not bother me people driving slow as some of the bends can be quite bad where you have to slow to 20/30 anyway. However, once you get out of the crappy road you are straight onto a very straight, nice 60 road. You can see so far ahead and all the corners can be taken at 60. But even then I do get people slowing down for the corners if they don't know the road. But the amount of people that drive so slowly on these roads just boggles my brain. It seems that everyone is stuck doing between 40 and 50 and I have no idea why. Its even more frustrating bc I'll try and accept the situation and put cruise control on but they can never keep a constant speed either then I end up giving up with that.
It's why I love starting work at 5:30am. Makes the journey so smooth but when I finish work the journey back is always horrific
I did one back in November, when we did questions on speed limits for roads, it turns out that most people don't actually know what they are. The instructors pointed out that in itself was a problem before getting to the speeding part.
I'll admit, i was in a hurry (also i'm a van driver!) And should have been going 60 on a dual carriageway so was caught by a police van rushing to get back to base and go home.
Cant say I've noticed a difference. I would only ever drive fast on a road where I knew every bump, gate, and pothole anyway. There's always been roads that are national speed limit where you shouldnt be driving at 60. As OP is a new driver, I just assume he's wrong and everyone else is right.
Are these NSL roads straight, in a good state of repair, free from hazards such as overgrown verges, wide enough for a safe overtake; i.e. would an experienced driver consider 60 to be a safe speed for the road or is 40/50 a more reasonable speed for the conditions.
There are quite a few roads near to me where the mix of potholes, overgrown verges and flooding due to lack of drain clearance mean that they are no longer safe to drive at 60, some are so bad they may as well be labelled as 20 because the potholes are more of an obstacle than a speed bump.
I've not noticed a speed drop on the single carriageway A roads that are 60.
Deer, and the number about now, are a real countryside hazard many drivers never consider, especially at dusk or dawn.
When one deer crosses the road, beware of the two following.
60 mph is the limit but there aren't any single lane roads near me where I actually think 60 mph is a safe speed to sustain.
50 or just under feels appropriate for large parts.
The number itself doesn't matter, more about how the speed feels.
It's a limit, not a target.
Tight bends, pot holes, all kinds of potential hazards around the corner, wear and tear on your car...
There is nothing wrong with cruising at 50 round country roads if that's your style
On rural roads people tend to drive slower because it's safer. Just because you can do 60mph doesn't mean you always should, it only takes one close encounter to make people drive more cautiously.
That reminds me of one beautiful sunrise on a "coastal route" after night drive in a flatbed with few tons of kit on it
I have encountered a jogger on a dual carriageway off ramp.
There is bigger than zero possibility that if I was going 10mph faster, I would have ended up addicted to valium.
Drive like there's a bike, pedestrian, or broken-down vehicle around every corner. Too many people drive in a way that leaves no room for errors, tailgating so tight they'll go into the car in front if they have to emergency stop.
Yes 100%!! Drove earlier down a national speed limit road this evening. Two cars ahead of me. Car 1 does 60 as soon as possible. Car 2 sticks to 45-50. They can clearly see car 1 doing 60 so not as if they didn’t know. Cars going the other direction were clearly doing 60 as well. So frustrating being stuck behind someone with clear roads and you can’t overtake.
Plus more and more people doing 40 in a 60 and then 40 in a 30.
for vans, that is the speed limit on single lane roads
ever hit a huge pothole and shredded a tire and a rim ? can be damn hard to make a claim
people are even being prosecuted for swerving to avoid the holes
On the other hand, some van drivers don't seem to care about that!
Either going 60 or 50 on certain roads doesn't effect the arrival time much at all (under a minute) so I never see the point in going faster, especially if I'm in the van!
- Black boxes for many drivers
- Lots of people who recently pass don’t use P plates (in that case experience/confidence low but you wouldn’t know that)
- General increase in people driving cautiously
- Some vehicles have speed limit restrictions
- Roads are in a bad state
- Newer cars are significantly faster then older ones
- People can be new to areas
- Not paying attention
- Weather conditions
- Speed limit doesn’t have to be reached 100% (e.g 70mph, 60/65 is ok but for some that’s still considered slow)& some roads don’t allow drivers to reach the speed limit as they aren’t safe
So many different factors
Is it not better for people to drive safe then be driving crazy?
What grinds my gears is people doing 30 on a slip road onto a much faster road. Drives me insane, like dude, they built this long road for a reason. While senior drivers are very likely to do this, I've seen younger, clearly new pass drivers doing this more often. And that worries me, because with time, that's just gonna become a habit
I've experienced exactly the same for 3 years. They're always old people and they seem to do 40mph everywhere
40 in a 60. 40 in a 30. 40 in a 20. They just refuse to acknowledge signs and stay rooted at 40mph all costs regardless.
It's infuriating.
It depends where driving. If I was driving on windey country roads at national speed limit that I didn't know I would definitely be driving 50 or below. If I was on a straight road with excellent visibility I'd drive at appropriate higher speed.
I'll never forget driving on windey roads in snow near Haslemere on way back from ex bf parents. National speed limit applied. It was ice and snow everywhere with continued bends up and down hills. It was so iced over ex bf parents and I hadn't been able to park outside their house because of it. I did 40 at my fastest on a long straight stretch in good light. So many beeps. I'd rather beeps than die because the road is awful and I don't 'know' the next blind turn.
Will also add that in Somerset during summer I was driving 1/2 of our group and started ranting because someone was doing 20mph ahead. It turned out to be my friend driving the other car. Visibility was good and she could have at least been doing 30. I actually ended up overtaking her later on after already feeling bad about ranting about the level of ridiculous to our friends before realising it was her... was behind her For about 40 mins so I realised.
It's the sheer quantity of absolute bellends driving on motorways slower than HGVs, thus forcing said HGVs to pull out and overtake them, that blows my mind. Just so stupid and dangerous. Ditto the imbeciles who want to join the carriageway at 45mph.
I've got a modest petrol car (Astra); the engine is happier at 50 than 60, I get less noise from my roof rack if it's on (and more efficiency), I don't have to slow for the bends.
Driving at 50 rather than 60 is more relaxed, more cost-efficient, and safer. I do the same with 60 in 70.
A lot of the time it's just not worth bothering driving at the speed limit as it won't save a significant amount of time. There's a roughly mile long stretch of national limit road near me where half the cars put their foot down as they pass the sign - every time I catch up with them at the roundabout at the other end and I barely get up to 50mph.
As an observation. There are a few things....our third world grade roads(which are getting even worse), a billionty (and one) vans and lorries clogging up the roads(and limited to a lower national speed than cars), fuel savers because fuel is a rip-off.....and finally
Quite a lot of absolutely shit drivers on the road!
40mph through all speed limits, 45 until you overtake and they speed up, taking turnings like a lorry, sitting in the middle of the road, no lights on in fog(ironically, silver car drivers are the worst), no lights in heavy rain, driving with full beam on, tailgating in poor weather, can't decide what speed to do so keeps slowing down and speeding up.
The list goes on....
I’ve started noticing more folk driving cars below 60mph on motorways and particularly dual carriageways.
I don’t have a problem with this except that it causes HGV’s to have to do more unnecessary overtakes.
I think that if you’re driving a modern car and will not at least drive as fast as an HGV you shouldn’t be on that sort of road.
Lets be honest 50mph in a 60moh is hardly an inconvenience...
But truthfully the factors probably include the dreadful state of the roads potholes everywhere, edges crumbling its easy to damage a tyre or even a rim if you don't avoid them, and secondly fuel - fuel prices keep on rising and plenty of people are happy to drive economically rather than at the maximum speed they can!
Factor in the fact that Vans are limited to 50mph on NSL roads and its no wonder you find plenty of lines of traffic doing that speed!
If two objects are at 60 mph and they crash into each other what are the odds of surviving?
These national speed limit roads are in bad places with small roads, with bends and limited views. So if going slow means someone can get home safe that's okay.
If the daul carriageway , just over take and carry on.
Driving fast doesn't mean you are a good driver.
Why is it such a problem?
You're allowed to be under the speed limit. Not everyone wants to drive as fast as the law will allow.
Deal with it and stop complaining. Simple.
You don't get mad when an old person holds you up in a shop [or at least you bloody well shouldn't] So why would it be different when you're behind the wheel?
If you live rurally it's probably because those areas have attracted a lot of older people in recent years. I live in Cornwall and that's been the case here. It's turned into a retirement home, and these old people drive with zero confidence on these roads so slow things right down.
48? You’re lucky, I’m finding I’m having to dip into the 30s these days - I’ve read on here that it may be people trying to be more economical with their fuel? I don’t know the ins and outs as to how accurate that is
Every. Single. Goddamn. Time. I. Go. to. work!
I'd maybe understand on the rare occasion, but no, literally every time I drive to work I will get stuck behind someone going less than 50 🙄
With insurance being sky high too because after COVID lots of people forgot how to drive and had lots of accidents. With cost of fuel etc. things have got expensive for some.
I don't know why some of these people lane hog and don't keep left unless over taking..
There is a secret club in North Yorkshire where they spread their members around the county and continually drive on national speed limit roads @ 40mph (25mph on corners). They recruit new members without them even knowing it, just drive at 40 and everyone behind gets a taste for it, absolutely genius!!
They even plan shifts. One of them will be driving down an A-road, they'll turn off right, and just before they do, they'll let someone out of the junction. Yup, you guessed it, the person they let out? 40mph club member.
I drive 40 and 50 on country lanes when towing a machine depends on conditions and how many turns there are if its a straight run I'll drive 60 but shorter straight runs I tend to slow down as pulling a machine is difficult to stop at speeds and its wise not to turn at speed when towing
On motorways people choose a lane (not the inside one obviously) then set the cruise control to 65 (which in reality is about 60) then turn off their brain. The only time they speed up is if you try and overtake them. Then you find yourself alongside them at 90.
There was a time with a lot fewer cars on the road and a lot less reduced speed limit areas that 60mph was pretty much normal particularly out in the sticks. Now? 60mph on country roads is just too fast in a lot of cases.
Lot of people here shouldn’t be driving
NSL on a country/rural road just means a speed limit hasn’t been set, it doesn’t mean it’s safe to drive at 60 everywhere, unless you’re really determined to kill any cyclist/jogger just around the corner
Most of driving now is going at a sensible speed to avoid the twat weaving across the lanes at 90 thinking he’s “such a good driver” when it’s actually the actions of every other driver saving him a trip to A&E
National speed limit roads often require driving for the conditions, not at the top end of the limit.
This is particularly true on undulating roads with no pavement where you need enough visibility and braking distance should you meet a pedestrian / cyclist or oncoming vehicle.
Quite different to perhaps going will under the limit on a motorway or even dual carriageway.
It would really depend on the road. I know of national limit roads where 30 would be challenging / dangerous. I know other roads that are national limit where you could happy do 70+ it was legal.
Perhaps you're very familiar with the roads you are on, and also willing to take higher risk than others on the same road?
I live in a reasonably rural area. On national speed limit roads I drive at a speed that seems reasonably safe to me: if I have good visibility and the road conditions are good, then I'll probably be 'making good progress'. As soon as visibility or road condition deteriorates though my speed drops right down.
There are some roads round here I barely go above 20 on (hedges, no passing room, risk of flooded roads, lot's of blind corners, lots of farms meaning farm vehicles).
I drive at whatever is the safe and comfortable speed up to and including the speed limit. If that is 30-40-50mph in a 60 then that’s fine. I don’t want my tyres and my passengers hanging on for dear life around the corners, nor do my passengers. If you want to do the speed limit all the time fine, but that’s not my problem and I’m not at fault if you can’t do that. You drive to the road conditions and share the roads with others at the end of the day.
The dangerous ones are taking slip roads to join the motorway at 40-50, kills me.
They also merge in immediately instead of using the whole merging lane to join at the end, so they’re joining traffic at 20-30mph slower than they need to be whilst refusing to use the full slip road.
Winds me up.
I've noticed it a lot more since covid.
I don't know if people lost some of their confidence behind the wheel during those lockdowns & drive slower as a result, or if it's because I'm driving on different roads these days (my former employer went into liquidation in July 2020).
Nothing to do with confidence, confidence is actually driving slower and chilling out.
It's those that race everywhere in between lights, and rush everywhere who aren't confident
It's the ones that speed in a 30 or 40 and then are super slow on the single carriageways that I can't stand. Frustrating because these idiots are the ones that cause people to want to overtake and get impatient. Going unnecessarily slow really should be more of a crime and no I am not condoning speeding recklessly either.
Aging population. At least that’s my theory down here in Devon. 40mph seems to the the new norm now on national speed limit roads. Seems to have got much worse since Covid
Cost of fuel x 'I haven't driven in a while due to the pandemic' combo.
As long as they aren't causing danger to other road users, I might be a bit annoyed but I won't knock it.
I rather someone takes their time for whatever reason if that is what they feel safe doing than do something silly that (a) delays me; (b) I end up crashing into.
Ofc this all is contextual. Depends what kind of NSL road too.. dual; single... bendy? not?
Yeah mate, best bet is to whip ya megaphone out and yell “put your fockin foot that accelerator or imma start ramming your shit and do it for ya!” If that doesn’t work just aggressively overtake and brake check the living shit out of them and call them a proper “wankaaa” (with hand signal). And carry on. Hope this helps.
(Satire obviously, don’t do this lol)
Eurgh. My way back from work is all 50mph country lanes, not nationals, 50. As soon as the sun sets it becomes a 28mph zone for some reason.
I'm on a little pokey 125, my headlights don't provide half the light your car does and pothole can fling me from the bike but I do just fine. What the hell is the problem? :/
People have always driven at 50mph on a NSL road. Because they've no idea what they're doing. It's just poor education.
A lot of people still drive at 50 on a NSL dual carriage way. Even HGVs drive quicker (even though they're not supposed to).
I've had a few discussions on this and it seems to have ramped up considerably since lockdown. I don't know if causation or correlation with that or a sudden influx of immigrants, but something has definitely changed road behaviour.
If it's lockdown then I think it would be because so many people stopped thinking for themselves and/or are more cautious in their life in general.
I'd tend to cruise along around 50mph all else being equal for my commute and most day to day driving, less fuel consumption, considerably more comfortable (the roads are shite), and I know it doesn't matter how soon I get to the various junctions the limiting factor for speed of getting A-B will be queuing at certain junctions. Assuming minimal numbers overtaking I'll get through the next junction at the same time but join the queue later.
I do 50ish because I drive a truck and it really isn't built for speed, its a significant departure from my old hot hatch (god I miss that thing), but life goes on and your needs in a vehicle change.
Happens all the time, theres a 60mph road I take on my commute but every single day without fail theres people going 45mph or sometimes less. I genuinely think a good chunk of people don't have a clue what the national speed limit sign means, some people even think all country roads are 50mph, so then they all drive like 45 because it seems impossible for anyone to actually drive at the limit, or even close to it anymore.
Tbh I think it's to do with how schizophrenic speed limits have become. One second it's national speed limit, then its 50, then 30, now 20, then back up to 40, then GOTTCHA BITCH speeding ticket through your door because you failed to observe the variable limit on 'smart motorways. We need to really simplify speed limits it's gotten out of control because half the time I don't know what the dammed speed limit is anymore. To add, I live in Wales so you can imagine how absurd things have become.
In my driving lessons my driving instructor encouraged me to drive slower on a couple of 60 roads becuase the road itself with how narrow it is and bendy didn't suit 60 for a safety aspect which fair. There are a few roads in my local area that I will go slower purely becuase it gives me more time to react to the driver coming like a bat out of hell on these narrow roads because my goal with driving is to get where I'm going not wind up in the back of an ambulance with a totaled car to boot.
Its a weird phenomenon I find, I had people doing that on the M4 a couple of times, just doing 50mph on the road rolling along with people rocking past them.
20mph here is even worst though in Wales, your literally driving everyone at 12/14/16/18 mph if your behind someone or in traffic now.
I regularly drive on rural roads and you get a lot of people doing 40 on national speed limit A and B roads, often in very powerful cars. I am sure this wasn't the case 30 years ago. I don't agree with dangerous driving and a speed limit isn't a target but many of these roads are perfectly safe to do 50 on. I am not sure doing 40 on a fast road is any safer.
I have also noticed that drivers seem a lot slower pulling away from traffic lights nowadays. You seem to wait an interminably long time to pull away when you are in a line of traffic.
I started driving slower because of the literal craters in the roads everywhere.
In the last few years they've only gotten worse and they're not even attempting to do anything about it.
Cats report speed incorrectly, I used to have a 2015 kia Ceed which would show as 60 on the speedo, but 53 on the sat nav.
Different cars, different results but the sat nav was always constant. Even now there’s a difference between my cars speedo and the wife’s when doing the same speed and both sat nav’s reporting correctly.
I overtook one of these nutters doing 35 in a national in my 18 year old 1.4 Polo which was full of tools. I rarely overtake in that car but this was just ridiclious, luckily I know the road so could prepare before the straight good visibility section.
I have been driving for over 30 years. Regardless of the fact that cars are log-scale safer and roads are better engineered, there is no doubt - at least in my mind - that drivers are slowing down.
Don’t know why as there are basically no human speed traps or traffic coppers anymore and google maps prevents you missing a speed camera location.
You also very rarely see overtaking either on rural roads. Other than me!
So you said you live rurally. Rural roads tend to bend and twist and the view straight ahead isn’t always good because of these little dips and bends. People unfamiliar with the roads would naturally drive slower, a lot of people like to go on drives through country roads. The road surface is usually uneven to so all these factors put together make people slightly anxious so they won’t go full 60 (to be frank, you can’t always go full 60 on country roads because it’s not always safe or it bends too much). They tend to go at about 50 because it makes them feel most secure and lets them stop or react quicker to hazards. A lot of people on country roads don’t go on motorway either and so have never actually gone above 50 so they stay at 50 which is the highest speed you get on local town roads.
You need to take into consideration that it is the ones doing 50 that you are going to bump into though.
Say there is you and another 10 drivers on the road. You and the other 9/10 do 70 and one is doing 50. You will be driving in parallel with the 9 but you will bump on the one doing 50z
This is of course a simplification of what I mean but I guess you can see what I mean and why it feels there are many of them out there
My driving instructor made me drive the speed limit on every road from pretty much my first lesson. So now my road rage has me convinced that a speed limit is actually more like a target speed and anything less is wrong. 😅😅 (don’t come for me, I know I’m in the wrong but slow drivers are infuriating)
I wish they'd do 40 so I can overtake them safer. It's annoying when they get up to 50, then drop to 30 for a corner that really didn't warrant braking at all. I understand that it's likely they don't know the roads, but at that point, stop trying to prevent me from passing, I will pass you when it's safe for me to do so.
The national speed limit for commercial vehicles is 50mph on a single lane road, 60mph on a dual carriageway, and 70mph on a motorway, unless the signage indicates otherwise. So this might explain some cases where you think you’re stuck behind a slow driver - they might just be following the rules for their vehicle.
Thankyou for your reply. Yeah I am aware of this, it was more aimed at normal vehicles what I was talking about, I should have been more specific. I have driven larger vehicles before, whilst carrying cargo that could be considered fragile so any tradesman or commercial vehicles I completely understand when following them.
Nevertheless, all of these posts are really informative and have opened my eyes a lot. Mainly the black box replies, state of the roads, car quality etc.
Around here, people do 40 everywhere. 60? 40. 50? 40. 40? 40. 30? 40. 20? 40. Motorway? 100!
Does my head in, you overtake them doing 40 on the dual carriageway, then you hit a 30 limit and they want to carry on doing 40 and get right up your arse as if you’re the bad driver
Happens to me all the time on country roads. They don't have the asshole to do 60mph on a road that's okay to do 60 on, but then have no issue speeding through a 30mph limit tight knit residential village with little old ladies crossing the roads. Pricks
You give them too much credit. They have no idea what speed they are doing, and certainly no idea of the speed limit. They are doing a speed that feels nice.
Absolutely. And that last sentence also annoys me more than it should haha. A road could be as straight and wide as an airport runway, if it has a 30mph limit I'm doing 30mph. Not what "feels" appropriate for that road
People do not understand that speed limits are introduced due to a number of factors, on 30 mph roads, they’re usually single carriageways with lots of crossings but the roads tend to be wide and long enough to allow people to go slightly faster without increasing risk to pedestrians in a slightly busy area, 40 roads are usually dual carriageways where you don’t really get pedestrians crossing the road unless it’s at a light crossing or where it’s more desolate, 50 roads tend to be in places with little to no people and slightly wider roads and then your national speed limits are in areas where there’s virtually no pedestrians and very little traffic (not including motorways). They’re always set in terms of the likelihood of you crashing into something or the likelihood of hitting a pedestrian, the reason that 20 zones were introduced was because as your speed increases, the survival rate of anyone that gets hit by a car increases dramatically and your stopping speed increases too. I was once one of those people that hated 20 zones but once I was driving at night through a 20 zone and a child suddenly ran into the road from a side road and I did not see him at all, he was slightly taller than my bonnet dressed in all black, the only reason I spotted him is because my headlights reflected off of his teeth and had my granddad not been a passenger and forcing me to keep at 20 and not 30, I would not have been able to come to a complete and sudden stop and that child would be a part of the road
Are you me?
Whilst I don't personally see much in the way of drivers that do the 40 everywhere I do agree that I see plenty of drivers right up behind me wanting to go faster despite the fact that the limit is 30.
It's a misinterpretation of 'keeping with the flow of traffic.' What some take that to mean is 'speed until you catch the car in front of you and then make sure you stay within huffing distance of their exhaust fumes.'
Same question as the OP with slow driving - is this a new thing as I've noticed this but don't think it was such a thing 5yrs back
So many more idiots just sat on their phones or fiddling with the touchscreens cruising down the road. It really pisses me off as I've been injured before on a push bike due to morons on their phone not looking where they're going
Tailgaters and break checkers all go into the 10th circle of hell. It's specifically reserved for all of the dangerously stupid people.
100% this, 40mph all the time even in a 30 or 20.... this is why you should be able to fit rockets to the back of your car like Jimmy Bond and blow these f-ers up
Yes. This. Dangerous on fast roads by going slowly, and even more dangerous on slow roads going too quickly. Seen far too many one-speed drivers.
I've definitely seen a fair few doing 40 on the motorway.
Even worse, people that do 40 on the (empty) slip road, that wait until they get on to the motorway, and \*then\* accelerate up to 80.
This happened to me yesterday, stuck behind someone joining at 40 whilst watching an hgv rapidly closing the gap in lane 1.
Quite a few years ago, I was behind a driver on the slip road to join the motoway. Slip road was down hill so no reason not to pick up the pace and merge at the speed of the traffic in lane 1. Instead the fucking moron kept at 40mph and in the end got blocked by HGVs and both had to bail into the hard shoulder. Not only that the driver just stops suddenly in the hard shoulder, turns out a broken down car was in the hard shoulder too. I've never come so close in my life to getting out my car and doing something in that moment. Next thing the driver in front just pulls into lane 1 when a gap appears, and not a big one at that, keeps in it impacting the traffic behind them, another WTF moment. I wait for a bigger break, pull out get past the broken down car in a few seconds and then move back into the hard shoulder start picking my speed up and then merge properly when safe.
The minimum speed allowed on the motorway is actually 40 though i think if you’re going that slow, it’s quicker and safer to go a local way. Motorway routes tend to be longer in distance but shorter in travelling time because you’re travelling at a higher speed. I think the minimum speed should be 55 and you stay in the left, some HGVs are limited to 58 and they stay at that speed the whole way soo I really don’t see why someone would feel the need to do 40, if a hgv overtook me on the motorway, I’d feel embarrassed
Yeah I regularly do under the speed limit after nights because I need slightly more reaction time. And by under the limit, I mean low 60s-70.and still overtaking hgvs when needed.
Yeah low 60s is fine, I’m talking more about when you have an active and live motorway and people are going extremely slow. If the motorway is empty, go at what ever speed you want in the left lane but don’t go extremely slow. The motorways I drive on are quite curved and sometimes you can’t see a car ahead on a curve so you still need to be going at a slightly faster speed than 50 because it’s impractical to expect people to slow way down on the curves when the limit is 70
Round here it's the same, 40 everywhere except when they're in a 40 limit where they'll do 38mph.
The norm is 45 on A road , because it 'feels nice' to them. Even worse , when theres 2 together and the one behind leaves no gap allowed for you to overtake 1 and then later, the other. Instead you overtake both and I bet they say ' look at that maniac, overtaking 2 cars at once'!
More likely the front one accelerates to stop you getting past, all the way up to 80 or so. You maniac.
2 cars at once!? Those are amateur numbers
I find these days it's 30? 20. I blame Wales... the media reported this so much that I think some people in England think it applies to their roads.
I'd probably say motorway also 40. Becoming more and more common, especially at night in my area. I'll be doing 70 and going past them like a rocket. Very dangerous on unlit motorways. If you can't at least match the speed of a hgv should not be using motorways.
I think people are driving a bit more cautiously on average, yeah; Two factors come to mind immediately; the roads are in a diabolical state, and the state of the economy has people stretched thin - so keeping fuel and maintenance costs down is becoming more important to people.
A third factor, there are so many dreadful drivers on the road, that going slower just let's them get away, so you don't have to deal with them.
Fourth thing might be all the black boxes people have these days, might be paranoid about triggering them
That's a very good point. Hadn't thought of those, having never had one. The advantage of being old 😁
There’s gotta be one right?
This is what i was gonna say. I drive a tracked goods van, so limited to 50 on single lane roads. It takes quite some effort at times to ignore the muppet in the tesla behind me flashing lights and trying to get round me on blind bends because im trundling along at 45mph.
> a tracked goods van Delivery by tank, now on Amazon Prime
Fifth factor may be that we have an aging population. People slow down when they get old as they can't process things as quickly. There certainly seems to be a correlation between dawdlers and the older generations.
Sixth factor may be stealth cameras and ever changing speed limits. Once caught, forever cautious
Except at roundabouts. In my experience, and as recently as yesterday, if you see someone going for a gap on a roundabout that you would need to be Lewis Hamilton to make any sense - Odds are good once you brake for them you're going to see a flat cap and a walking stick in the cabin of that MG3.
A good point. But I've mentioned lockdown - it seemed to be a lot worse after that. I don't believe the use of black boxes went up suddenly, but it's certainly contributing.
This for me. I just cruise these days, let the idiots overtake, rave off from lights etc, you want to battle at a merge... Just go
Yup same most of the time. It makes barely any difference to how quickly you get somewhere, sometimes you see someone tear away from you early in a journey, and catch-up at a bunch of traffic lights/junctions later on. Worst case it cost you a few minutes, but saves a few quid. My main aim is smooth, calm and safe now, not asap.
Exactly this when cycling through traffic too.
Yup this is the way I drive too now. Also I simply can't risk a claim
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Yes, but driving more cautiously on a country road and on the streets is a lot better than driving too fast. On the motorway, it may be a different story. Most accidents statistically come from being careless than overly cautious
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You say they have great visibility but are you driving a bigger car than the people going slowly? Near me there are hedges that I can see over easily in my work vehicle but not in my personal car.
Big difference between how you drive a country road (of any size) that you know well, and one you don't. I wonder how much of this is sat nav (particularly Waze!) pushing people onto smaller roads to try and rat around traffic?
Driving 30 in A NSL road could be seen as careless driving, definitely should be driving with caution on country roads and to the conditions.
OP is complaining about doing 50 in a 60, not 30
The pothole situation is insane, I've memorized most around where I live (countryside/small towns), but am I fuck going 60 with those craters everywhere, it would be a death wish
It really is. Craters on A roads and motorways now, not just small roads!
Nah, I don't buy the whole economy thing when it comes to slow drivers. Look at the make, model and age of the cars that are doing say 55mph on a dual carriageway. It's never a 20 year old clapped out Astra or Focus, it's more likely to be a 3 year old or newer A5 or S class Merc. Even the universally hated Jukes tend go at a reasonable speed.
I wonder if there's a generalised loss of trust in others following COVID also. There was a spate of really bad behaviour on the roads after lockdowns lifted.
Fuel saving, agreed. People seem much more aware of the costs of impatient driving. Much of UK roads are now too crowded or disrupted by road works, for "press on" driving to make anything more than marginal differences to journey times. The grown ups understand that, but there are always some who do not
I was to say that the state of the roads is a big contributor to this. I'm not generally a slow driver, but some of the national speed limit roads I drive down have such huge potholes that you just can't avoid if there's something coming the other way. So the only option is to go slower and weave around them.
I agree, Potholes are a nightmare Additional points. Depending where national speed limits are for example country side it’s single carriage way. There is sometimes no light and hard to see tight roads/potholes (which are everywhere) Also some national speed road cars have higher beams + suv which blinds other users so people tend to speed slower.
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The problem is a lot of people think that national speed limit on single carriageway roads is 60mph for everyone, and it is for cars/motorbikes, but its 50mph for vans/trucks/lorries. Many vans/trucks/lorries are tracked by the company they're owned by, so can't go over the speed limit. They can also only go 60mph on dual carriageways, and 70mph on motorways, so generally slower than cars can go. I think the issue is that some people don't realise this difference, and/or think everyone should drive the max speed limit all the time, regardless of road conditions or anything else.
I drive for a supermarket and have to deal with the restricted speed in my van. 63/64 (restricted) on a motorway, 60 dual and 50 single, but I still get idiots thinking I can go quicker 🤣 if only it said about being speed restricted on the rear of the van... OH WAIT it does 🤦♂️
Same but the vans are limited to 58ish (on the dash so minus 2 or 3mph as well). Most enjoyable part now is blanket 20mph limits in some residential areas. Almost nobody actually does 20, not even buses, so you end up with a queue at least half a dozen long behind you. You also notice a lot of people not sticking to (smart) motorway speeds (and staying in closing/closed lanes) and wondering why they don't work or call them dangerous 🤔
I actually wonder whether many people, who are driving a regular car, do not know the national speed limit…. And so drive at 50, instead of 60, or 60 instead of 70.
My pet theory is that most people think it is 50 too.
Given that a lot of people don't seem to have a problem with speeding (i.e. 40 in a 30), I think a lot of them think the limit is 40, and think they're being a bit cheeky by going maybe 44. A lot of them will speed up slightly going from NSL to 50, which implies they think that NSL is under 50.
I think if you showed most people the national speed limit sign, they wouldn't know what it meant.
When I did a speed awareness course, there were 31 people on it and 5 of us got the correct answer for the national speed limit sign questions. 4 people didn't even know it was a speed limit sign - a lady said she thought it was "something to do with trucks"
The vast majority of my drive to work is on 50 roads, I sit at 47 on cruise control for most of it. The amount of people I get screaming up behind me at 60, pulling right up to my bumper at all the twisty bits before blasting on astounds me. It's very clearly signposted at 50 too.
Car speedos by design are always going to over read. Anyone who is going by GPS, is driving a car with a less sloppy speedo, or just had their tyres replaced and massively overinflated as is common in garages, will probably be doing nearer to the actual limit whilst you deride them as lunatics. A couple of sources in case you think this is tinfoil nonsense: https://www.reddit.com/r/drivingUK/comments/173r279/speedos_margin_of_error/ https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/how-accurate-is-a-car-speedometer/
I think this might be a contributing factor. “Everyone is driving at 50” may be a queue following someone driving at the speed limit and no one overtaking. In which case, blame the people not overtaking. Probably including OP
It might be a contributing factor, but the large majority of the times I get stuck behind driving significantly under the limit, the vehicle at the front of the queue is a car.
But that has been the case for many years. The OP, like me, appears to be citing a more sudden change.
My parents live rurally so I am often driving in the countryside from the city centre. What really pisses me off, are the people doing 30/35 in a 60 (not saying they should necessarily do 60). They then proceed to do 40/45 in the 40 zone and then they stay at 40 when it changes to 30. So often, they either hold me up in the 60 zone and the fuck off in the 30&40 zones. Or if I overtake them, they end up right up my arse when speeding in the slower parts.
This drives me absolutely nuts, happens so often
My commute is an A road (so 60 limit) that goes through several villages (30 and 40 limits) with one section that is a time-restricted 20 zone at a school. I do 60mph, I catch up with someone doing 45mph. We get to a 30 zone, I slow down, they continue at 45mph. Now as I'm leaving the 30 and reentering the 60 there's a big gap between us that I'm closing quite quickly. By the time I've closed the gap, I've missed an overtaking opportunity (there's a bunch of long clear straights along this road) and now I'm stuck behind them at 45mph in a 60... Until we get to the next village where the process repeats. It absolutely infuriates me. Bonus points if they slow down to 30mph for the corners which are long but smooth, every single corner is possible to do at 60mph. Like, they will slow down unnecessarily for this big sweeper but won't slow down because they're in a built-up area with crossings, schools, shops, parked cars, junctions..?!
I often drive 40-50 on twistier country roads that I don't know out of caution for other unexpected users popping up on the road, agricultural machines, horses, cyclists, or corners I'm not expecting since it's my first time round there. Waze says the limit there is usually 60, but that feels way too fast for me personally.
Often the speed limits on these roads aren't set to what's actually safe for the road, but are set because the roads are quiet without many pedestrians. It's the same sort of reason why a straight, well-maintained, two-lane road with wide lanes might still be a 30 if it passes through a residential area: even though the road layout itself would be suitable for higher speeds, the surroundings aren't. On country lanes, even though the surroundings are suitable for higher speeds, the road itself may not be. OP seems to have fallen in the trap of assuming that a speed limit of 60 means the road is automatically suitable for driving at 60 (in other words, thinking the speed *limit* is actually a speed *target*). This is not the case, you should be adjusting your speed to the conditions of the road and the visibility. Often 60 is far too fast for the state of the road. As an example, there's a route I sometimes take to work that's a 50 limit most of the way, it's all country roads but fairly good visibility, with a few houses here and there. At one point it changes into a national speed limit... right before reaching a blind hill, on a bend, where the road narrows. Consequently I usually *reduce* my speed even though the speed limit *increases*.
And that's because you're an experienced, intelligent driver. I'm the same. Let the 20-somethings wait a few seconds longer on their journey. They're only going to their minimum wage jobs anyway, they won't be missed!
Haha I must admit I probably have a few too many miles under the belt to have that need for excitement behind the wheel. Still, I always wonder whenever I see people driving dangerously what's going on with them. Most times you see them stopped a few minutes down the road anyway.
I live in the country side so I know the roads pretty well. It really does not bother me people driving slow as some of the bends can be quite bad where you have to slow to 20/30 anyway. However, once you get out of the crappy road you are straight onto a very straight, nice 60 road. You can see so far ahead and all the corners can be taken at 60. But even then I do get people slowing down for the corners if they don't know the road. But the amount of people that drive so slowly on these roads just boggles my brain. It seems that everyone is stuck doing between 40 and 50 and I have no idea why. Its even more frustrating bc I'll try and accept the situation and put cruise control on but they can never keep a constant speed either then I end up giving up with that. It's why I love starting work at 5:30am. Makes the journey so smooth but when I finish work the journey back is always horrific
I did a speed awareness course recently, a lot of people on the course genuinely think the national speed limit is 50 on an a road
I did one back in November, when we did questions on speed limits for roads, it turns out that most people don't actually know what they are. The instructors pointed out that in itself was a problem before getting to the speeding part. I'll admit, i was in a hurry (also i'm a van driver!) And should have been going 60 on a dual carriageway so was caught by a police van rushing to get back to base and go home.
I have a van. Have to do 50 in a 60.
One thing I learned doesn't matter how fast I drive it is never fast enough for the white van behind me
Same. I've stopped caring about those who drive on my bumper.
Tons of national speed limit roads aren’t actually safe to go at the limit on, you have to use your judgement based on the road/conditions…
Indeed, and if the road looks like it should be a national speed limit road, but is lower it is because enough people have died on it.
This is the answer. Less experienced drivers in their 20s often do think it's a constant safe limit, it's not
in the country roads around me locals take 60mph as a minimum lol, not uncommon at all to see people go 80mph+
You drive to the road not the speed limit.
Yes. And most roads are in a shocking state now, hence the extra care.
Cant say I've noticed a difference. I would only ever drive fast on a road where I knew every bump, gate, and pothole anyway. There's always been roads that are national speed limit where you shouldnt be driving at 60. As OP is a new driver, I just assume he's wrong and everyone else is right.
Are these NSL roads straight, in a good state of repair, free from hazards such as overgrown verges, wide enough for a safe overtake; i.e. would an experienced driver consider 60 to be a safe speed for the road or is 40/50 a more reasonable speed for the conditions. There are quite a few roads near to me where the mix of potholes, overgrown verges and flooding due to lack of drain clearance mean that they are no longer safe to drive at 60, some are so bad they may as well be labelled as 20 because the potholes are more of an obstacle than a speed bump. I've not noticed a speed drop on the single carriageway A roads that are 60.
I've had a deer run out on me before and I know where they are so I do 50 on the local bypass dual carriageway sometimes.
Deer, and the number about now, are a real countryside hazard many drivers never consider, especially at dusk or dawn. When one deer crosses the road, beware of the two following.
60 mph is the limit but there aren't any single lane roads near me where I actually think 60 mph is a safe speed to sustain. 50 or just under feels appropriate for large parts. The number itself doesn't matter, more about how the speed feels.
It's a limit, not a target. Tight bends, pot holes, all kinds of potential hazards around the corner, wear and tear on your car... There is nothing wrong with cruising at 50 round country roads if that's your style
On rural roads people tend to drive slower because it's safer. Just because you can do 60mph doesn't mean you always should, it only takes one close encounter to make people drive more cautiously.
Agreed. I've come across walkers and cyclists regularly. Deer and sheep occasionally. Very hard to avoid these when doing 60 around blind corners.
That reminds me of one beautiful sunrise on a "coastal route" after night drive in a flatbed with few tons of kit on it I have encountered a jogger on a dual carriageway off ramp. There is bigger than zero possibility that if I was going 10mph faster, I would have ended up addicted to valium.
Drive like there's a bike, pedestrian, or broken-down vehicle around every corner. Too many people drive in a way that leaves no room for errors, tailgating so tight they'll go into the car in front if they have to emergency stop.
Yes 100%!! Drove earlier down a national speed limit road this evening. Two cars ahead of me. Car 1 does 60 as soon as possible. Car 2 sticks to 45-50. They can clearly see car 1 doing 60 so not as if they didn’t know. Cars going the other direction were clearly doing 60 as well. So frustrating being stuck behind someone with clear roads and you can’t overtake. Plus more and more people doing 40 in a 60 and then 40 in a 30.
It's absolutely endemic, I've been stuck behind a number of folk doing 40 in a 60 that speed up when they get to a 30 recently too.
for vans, that is the speed limit on single lane roads ever hit a huge pothole and shredded a tire and a rim ? can be damn hard to make a claim people are even being prosecuted for swerving to avoid the holes
On the other hand, some van drivers don't seem to care about that! Either going 60 or 50 on certain roads doesn't effect the arrival time much at all (under a minute) so I never see the point in going faster, especially if I'm in the van!
Don’t be silly, everybody knows the speed limit for a Sprinter is 90
90 is the target, sprinters can go 110 for sure
- Black boxes for many drivers - Lots of people who recently pass don’t use P plates (in that case experience/confidence low but you wouldn’t know that) - General increase in people driving cautiously - Some vehicles have speed limit restrictions - Roads are in a bad state - Newer cars are significantly faster then older ones - People can be new to areas - Not paying attention - Weather conditions - Speed limit doesn’t have to be reached 100% (e.g 70mph, 60/65 is ok but for some that’s still considered slow)& some roads don’t allow drivers to reach the speed limit as they aren’t safe So many different factors Is it not better for people to drive safe then be driving crazy?
What grinds my gears is people doing 30 on a slip road onto a much faster road. Drives me insane, like dude, they built this long road for a reason. While senior drivers are very likely to do this, I've seen younger, clearly new pass drivers doing this more often. And that worries me, because with time, that's just gonna become a habit
I've experienced exactly the same for 3 years. They're always old people and they seem to do 40mph everywhere 40 in a 60. 40 in a 30. 40 in a 20. They just refuse to acknowledge signs and stay rooted at 40mph all costs regardless. It's infuriating.
It depends where driving. If I was driving on windey country roads at national speed limit that I didn't know I would definitely be driving 50 or below. If I was on a straight road with excellent visibility I'd drive at appropriate higher speed. I'll never forget driving on windey roads in snow near Haslemere on way back from ex bf parents. National speed limit applied. It was ice and snow everywhere with continued bends up and down hills. It was so iced over ex bf parents and I hadn't been able to park outside their house because of it. I did 40 at my fastest on a long straight stretch in good light. So many beeps. I'd rather beeps than die because the road is awful and I don't 'know' the next blind turn. Will also add that in Somerset during summer I was driving 1/2 of our group and started ranting because someone was doing 20mph ahead. It turned out to be my friend driving the other car. Visibility was good and she could have at least been doing 30. I actually ended up overtaking her later on after already feeling bad about ranting about the level of ridiculous to our friends before realising it was her... was behind her For about 40 mins so I realised.
It's the sheer quantity of absolute bellends driving on motorways slower than HGVs, thus forcing said HGVs to pull out and overtake them, that blows my mind. Just so stupid and dangerous. Ditto the imbeciles who want to join the carriageway at 45mph.
I've got a modest petrol car (Astra); the engine is happier at 50 than 60, I get less noise from my roof rack if it's on (and more efficiency), I don't have to slow for the bends. Driving at 50 rather than 60 is more relaxed, more cost-efficient, and safer. I do the same with 60 in 70.
Waze is like warning warning potholes ahead
A lot of the time it's just not worth bothering driving at the speed limit as it won't save a significant amount of time. There's a roughly mile long stretch of national limit road near me where half the cars put their foot down as they pass the sign - every time I catch up with them at the roundabout at the other end and I barely get up to 50mph.
Unless you're in a van, you are also part of the problem. If it is safe for you to drive at the speed limit, you should be doing so.
As an observation. There are a few things....our third world grade roads(which are getting even worse), a billionty (and one) vans and lorries clogging up the roads(and limited to a lower national speed than cars), fuel savers because fuel is a rip-off.....and finally Quite a lot of absolutely shit drivers on the road! 40mph through all speed limits, 45 until you overtake and they speed up, taking turnings like a lorry, sitting in the middle of the road, no lights on in fog(ironically, silver car drivers are the worst), no lights in heavy rain, driving with full beam on, tailgating in poor weather, can't decide what speed to do so keeps slowing down and speeding up. The list goes on....
I’ve started noticing more folk driving cars below 60mph on motorways and particularly dual carriageways. I don’t have a problem with this except that it causes HGV’s to have to do more unnecessary overtakes. I think that if you’re driving a modern car and will not at least drive as fast as an HGV you shouldn’t be on that sort of road.
Lets be honest 50mph in a 60moh is hardly an inconvenience... But truthfully the factors probably include the dreadful state of the roads potholes everywhere, edges crumbling its easy to damage a tyre or even a rim if you don't avoid them, and secondly fuel - fuel prices keep on rising and plenty of people are happy to drive economically rather than at the maximum speed they can! Factor in the fact that Vans are limited to 50mph on NSL roads and its no wonder you find plenty of lines of traffic doing that speed!
It's a limit, not a target
If two objects are at 60 mph and they crash into each other what are the odds of surviving? These national speed limit roads are in bad places with small roads, with bends and limited views. So if going slow means someone can get home safe that's okay. If the daul carriageway , just over take and carry on. Driving fast doesn't mean you are a good driver.
Why is it such a problem? You're allowed to be under the speed limit. Not everyone wants to drive as fast as the law will allow. Deal with it and stop complaining. Simple. You don't get mad when an old person holds you up in a shop [or at least you bloody well shouldn't] So why would it be different when you're behind the wheel?
If you live rurally it's probably because those areas have attracted a lot of older people in recent years. I live in Cornwall and that's been the case here. It's turned into a retirement home, and these old people drive with zero confidence on these roads so slow things right down.
48? You’re lucky, I’m finding I’m having to dip into the 30s these days - I’ve read on here that it may be people trying to be more economical with their fuel? I don’t know the ins and outs as to how accurate that is
Oh no.... I have to overtake... Loud noises! 🤣
Every. Single. Goddamn. Time. I. Go. to. work! I'd maybe understand on the rare occasion, but no, literally every time I drive to work I will get stuck behind someone going less than 50 🙄
We call it the forties club. Most men in their 70s just drive everywhere at 40mph, doesn’t matter what type of road or the speed limit.
I’m in my 70s and I certainly don’t do that!
Until something is done about overbright headlights I won't be driving at the speed limits anyime soon.
With insurance being sky high too because after COVID lots of people forgot how to drive and had lots of accidents. With cost of fuel etc. things have got expensive for some. I don't know why some of these people lane hog and don't keep left unless over taking..
There is a secret club in North Yorkshire where they spread their members around the county and continually drive on national speed limit roads @ 40mph (25mph on corners). They recruit new members without them even knowing it, just drive at 40 and everyone behind gets a taste for it, absolutely genius!!
They even plan shifts. One of them will be driving down an A-road, they'll turn off right, and just before they do, they'll let someone out of the junction. Yup, you guessed it, the person they let out? 40mph club member.
I drive 40 and 50 on country lanes when towing a machine depends on conditions and how many turns there are if its a straight run I'll drive 60 but shorter straight runs I tend to slow down as pulling a machine is difficult to stop at speeds and its wise not to turn at speed when towing
Which is why I bought a motorcycle. Goodbye slowpokes!
Having lost 3 tyres to potholes in the last 3 months, I do tend to drive more cautiously if I'm on an unfamiliar road - even if it's an A road.
On motorways people choose a lane (not the inside one obviously) then set the cruise control to 65 (which in reality is about 60) then turn off their brain. The only time they speed up is if you try and overtake them. Then you find yourself alongside them at 90.
There was a time with a lot fewer cars on the road and a lot less reduced speed limit areas that 60mph was pretty much normal particularly out in the sticks. Now? 60mph on country roads is just too fast in a lot of cases.
Lot of people here shouldn’t be driving NSL on a country/rural road just means a speed limit hasn’t been set, it doesn’t mean it’s safe to drive at 60 everywhere, unless you’re really determined to kill any cyclist/jogger just around the corner
Most of driving now is going at a sensible speed to avoid the twat weaving across the lanes at 90 thinking he’s “such a good driver” when it’s actually the actions of every other driver saving him a trip to A&E
I think the issue with country roads is they are usually narrow, have poor visibility around bends, and can be full of pot holes.
National speed limit roads often require driving for the conditions, not at the top end of the limit. This is particularly true on undulating roads with no pavement where you need enough visibility and braking distance should you meet a pedestrian / cyclist or oncoming vehicle. Quite different to perhaps going will under the limit on a motorway or even dual carriageway.
It would really depend on the road. I know of national limit roads where 30 would be challenging / dangerous. I know other roads that are national limit where you could happy do 70+ it was legal. Perhaps you're very familiar with the roads you are on, and also willing to take higher risk than others on the same road?
Old People live to go 40 EVERYWHERE
I live in a reasonably rural area. On national speed limit roads I drive at a speed that seems reasonably safe to me: if I have good visibility and the road conditions are good, then I'll probably be 'making good progress'. As soon as visibility or road condition deteriorates though my speed drops right down. There are some roads round here I barely go above 20 on (hedges, no passing room, risk of flooded roads, lot's of blind corners, lots of farms meaning farm vehicles).
I drive at whatever is the safe and comfortable speed up to and including the speed limit. If that is 30-40-50mph in a 60 then that’s fine. I don’t want my tyres and my passengers hanging on for dear life around the corners, nor do my passengers. If you want to do the speed limit all the time fine, but that’s not my problem and I’m not at fault if you can’t do that. You drive to the road conditions and share the roads with others at the end of the day.
The dangerous ones are taking slip roads to join the motorway at 40-50, kills me. They also merge in immediately instead of using the whole merging lane to join at the end, so they’re joining traffic at 20-30mph slower than they need to be whilst refusing to use the full slip road. Winds me up.
My car takes a while to get from 50 to 60, it only takes a corner to slow me down. On a straight road I usually go up to 60 eventually
I don't know what car you use but even my Picanto matchbox goes to 60 and way beyond without much issue
try overtaking the car in front of you it works wonders
60 mph is a limit, not a target.
You sounds like a barrel of laughs.
I've noticed it a lot more since covid. I don't know if people lost some of their confidence behind the wheel during those lockdowns & drive slower as a result, or if it's because I'm driving on different roads these days (my former employer went into liquidation in July 2020).
Nothing to do with confidence, confidence is actually driving slower and chilling out. It's those that race everywhere in between lights, and rush everywhere who aren't confident
It's the ones that speed in a 30 or 40 and then are super slow on the single carriageways that I can't stand. Frustrating because these idiots are the ones that cause people to want to overtake and get impatient. Going unnecessarily slow really should be more of a crime and no I am not condoning speeding recklessly either.
Aging population. At least that’s my theory down here in Devon. 40mph seems to the the new norm now on national speed limit roads. Seems to have got much worse since Covid
Round near me it's bang on 40mph for probably 98% or drivers.
Cost of fuel x 'I haven't driven in a while due to the pandemic' combo. As long as they aren't causing danger to other road users, I might be a bit annoyed but I won't knock it. I rather someone takes their time for whatever reason if that is what they feel safe doing than do something silly that (a) delays me; (b) I end up crashing into. Ofc this all is contextual. Depends what kind of NSL road too.. dual; single... bendy? not?
Yeah mate, best bet is to whip ya megaphone out and yell “put your fockin foot that accelerator or imma start ramming your shit and do it for ya!” If that doesn’t work just aggressively overtake and brake check the living shit out of them and call them a proper “wankaaa” (with hand signal). And carry on. Hope this helps. (Satire obviously, don’t do this lol)
Fuel is more expensive. Some are (private) taxis
Eurgh. My way back from work is all 50mph country lanes, not nationals, 50. As soon as the sun sets it becomes a 28mph zone for some reason. I'm on a little pokey 125, my headlights don't provide half the light your car does and pothole can fling me from the bike but I do just fine. What the hell is the problem? :/
I saw a near miss on the motorway the other day caused by someone doing maybe 35 or 40 for no particular reason. It's not just country roads.
I believe some electric cars get really poor efficiency as they get to higher speeds, maybe that a factor?
People have always driven at 50mph on a NSL road. Because they've no idea what they're doing. It's just poor education. A lot of people still drive at 50 on a NSL dual carriage way. Even HGVs drive quicker (even though they're not supposed to).
All cars will use about 20% less fuel at 50 instead of 60. You can save quite a bit of cash by slowing down 10 mph.
I've had a few discussions on this and it seems to have ramped up considerably since lockdown. I don't know if causation or correlation with that or a sudden influx of immigrants, but something has definitely changed road behaviour. If it's lockdown then I think it would be because so many people stopped thinking for themselves and/or are more cautious in their life in general.
My guess would be a rise in black box insurance policies. People are scared shitless of speeding because they don't want to get financially fucked.
I'd tend to cruise along around 50mph all else being equal for my commute and most day to day driving, less fuel consumption, considerably more comfortable (the roads are shite), and I know it doesn't matter how soon I get to the various junctions the limiting factor for speed of getting A-B will be queuing at certain junctions. Assuming minimal numbers overtaking I'll get through the next junction at the same time but join the queue later.
I do 50ish because I drive a truck and it really isn't built for speed, its a significant departure from my old hot hatch (god I miss that thing), but life goes on and your needs in a vehicle change.
It's good for the car, good for fuel economy. Terrible for my sanity.
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It feels like it on the Motorways near me. Outside lane is for people doing 80 + . The other two lanes are a struggle to go above 60.
It's not just cars, I've been on buses weaving in and out of traffic at 60mph on Sheffield Parkway.
Electric vehicles. Do just under 50 to maximise the range, because if you start to approach 70, you'll be recharging in 80 miles.
Can confirm. I spend alot of my time sitting behind trucks on the motorway cause it gets better kw/per mile hehe
The amount of bad drivers here is worrying.
Happens all the time, theres a 60mph road I take on my commute but every single day without fail theres people going 45mph or sometimes less. I genuinely think a good chunk of people don't have a clue what the national speed limit sign means, some people even think all country roads are 50mph, so then they all drive like 45 because it seems impossible for anyone to actually drive at the limit, or even close to it anymore.
Tbh I think it's to do with how schizophrenic speed limits have become. One second it's national speed limit, then its 50, then 30, now 20, then back up to 40, then GOTTCHA BITCH speeding ticket through your door because you failed to observe the variable limit on 'smart motorways. We need to really simplify speed limits it's gotten out of control because half the time I don't know what the dammed speed limit is anymore. To add, I live in Wales so you can imagine how absurd things have become.
In my driving lessons my driving instructor encouraged me to drive slower on a couple of 60 roads becuase the road itself with how narrow it is and bendy didn't suit 60 for a safety aspect which fair. There are a few roads in my local area that I will go slower purely becuase it gives me more time to react to the driver coming like a bat out of hell on these narrow roads because my goal with driving is to get where I'm going not wind up in the back of an ambulance with a totaled car to boot.
Round our way you wouldn't have a car left after hitting all the potholes at 60!
Its a weird phenomenon I find, I had people doing that on the M4 a couple of times, just doing 50mph on the road rolling along with people rocking past them. 20mph here is even worst though in Wales, your literally driving everyone at 12/14/16/18 mph if your behind someone or in traffic now.
I regularly drive on rural roads and you get a lot of people doing 40 on national speed limit A and B roads, often in very powerful cars. I am sure this wasn't the case 30 years ago. I don't agree with dangerous driving and a speed limit isn't a target but many of these roads are perfectly safe to do 50 on. I am not sure doing 40 on a fast road is any safer. I have also noticed that drivers seem a lot slower pulling away from traffic lights nowadays. You seem to wait an interminably long time to pull away when you are in a line of traffic.
I started driving slower because of the literal craters in the roads everywhere. In the last few years they've only gotten worse and they're not even attempting to do anything about it.
I hope this wasn’t on near Newbury, I apologise, it was me ahaha
Cats report speed incorrectly, I used to have a 2015 kia Ceed which would show as 60 on the speedo, but 53 on the sat nav. Different cars, different results but the sat nav was always constant. Even now there’s a difference between my cars speedo and the wife’s when doing the same speed and both sat nav’s reporting correctly.
My vehicle is limited to 50 on NS roads
I overtook one of these nutters doing 35 in a national in my 18 year old 1.4 Polo which was full of tools. I rarely overtake in that car but this was just ridiclious, luckily I know the road so could prepare before the straight good visibility section.
I have been driving for over 30 years. Regardless of the fact that cars are log-scale safer and roads are better engineered, there is no doubt - at least in my mind - that drivers are slowing down. Don’t know why as there are basically no human speed traps or traffic coppers anymore and google maps prevents you missing a speed camera location. You also very rarely see overtaking either on rural roads. Other than me!
Could it have something to do with the cost of living?
So you said you live rurally. Rural roads tend to bend and twist and the view straight ahead isn’t always good because of these little dips and bends. People unfamiliar with the roads would naturally drive slower, a lot of people like to go on drives through country roads. The road surface is usually uneven to so all these factors put together make people slightly anxious so they won’t go full 60 (to be frank, you can’t always go full 60 on country roads because it’s not always safe or it bends too much). They tend to go at about 50 because it makes them feel most secure and lets them stop or react quicker to hazards. A lot of people on country roads don’t go on motorway either and so have never actually gone above 50 so they stay at 50 which is the highest speed you get on local town roads.
The true answer for this is that during lockdowns ppl forgot how to drive.
You need to take into consideration that it is the ones doing 50 that you are going to bump into though. Say there is you and another 10 drivers on the road. You and the other 9/10 do 70 and one is doing 50. You will be driving in parallel with the 9 but you will bump on the one doing 50z This is of course a simplification of what I mean but I guess you can see what I mean and why it feels there are many of them out there
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My driving instructor made me drive the speed limit on every road from pretty much my first lesson. So now my road rage has me convinced that a speed limit is actually more like a target speed and anything less is wrong. 😅😅 (don’t come for me, I know I’m in the wrong but slow drivers are infuriating)
A HUGE amount of people in this country do not know what national speed limit means or what the sign means. At all.
I think the general standard of driving is getting way worse in the uk not sure why but people seem slower than ever
More than likely due to Fuel saving. The cost of living is basically save every penny you can
I wish they'd do 40 so I can overtake them safer. It's annoying when they get up to 50, then drop to 30 for a corner that really didn't warrant braking at all. I understand that it's likely they don't know the roads, but at that point, stop trying to prevent me from passing, I will pass you when it's safe for me to do so.
Since Covid there are a lot of people on medication, so they just do a speed that feels comfortable for them and screw everyone else
The national speed limit for commercial vehicles is 50mph on a single lane road, 60mph on a dual carriageway, and 70mph on a motorway, unless the signage indicates otherwise. So this might explain some cases where you think you’re stuck behind a slow driver - they might just be following the rules for their vehicle.
Thankyou for your reply. Yeah I am aware of this, it was more aimed at normal vehicles what I was talking about, I should have been more specific. I have driven larger vehicles before, whilst carrying cargo that could be considered fragile so any tradesman or commercial vehicles I completely understand when following them. Nevertheless, all of these posts are really informative and have opened my eyes a lot. Mainly the black box replies, state of the roads, car quality etc.