OK, just had a really annoying drive and it's prompted me to think about it a little further. I'm a concientious driver, I drive at the speed limit (and I mean it, if it's a 60, I'm doing 60, in a 40 I'm doing 40 etc), I let people out of difficult junctions and I try and leave decent space between me and the car in front. Why is it then that the majority of the time on single carriage roads I have someone sat right on my tail, trying to overtake and generally being a hassle and a nuisance. I say again, I'm driving at the speed limit, I'm not holding people up. I'm not the most confident guy in the world and it really stresses me having this happen. You could say I should man up, but then again I'm driving the way I'm supposed to in the first place. So basically... I'm just a little sick of it and wondered what the mass opinion was. Do any of you drive like that? Is there a reason for it? Or does it really wind you up too? /late night rant over.
I find exactly the same thing - I reckon that a lot of drivers see the speed limit as more of a recommendation than anything else...
I can't say I've noticed that. The thing that annoys me is when someone does 50 on a 60, then slows down to 40 for the 30 through the village halfway along the 60. Or the time I was leaving a village, and had to slow to a crawl to let a car come the other way (there was a car parked on my side), and the chelsea tractor that was right up my chuff (at this point) overtook me as I moved back into the left hand land after passing this car that was parked, then shot off at 70+. I gave a halfhearted pursuit and when I got to the next village, there they were, surprise surprise, maybe 30 yards ahead of me, just turning right at the junction. They were going a good lick faster than I and it was ultimately like... why? Over those two miles they got an extra 30 yards, big man, you could have sat behind me and we'd have got here just as soon... (They might have seen the 1.2 and the lack of a fart can exhaust and assumed that I wasn't the sort to give the car a whip when needed... I get from one speed limit to the next as quick as possible to stop people being berks and trying bad overtakes because of my crappy car holding them up.)
I don't drive like that but most speed limits are rubbish. Those sharp corner ones are the best. "Max speed 20" and you can coast round it at 30 nice and easy. If I thought the speed limits were being set by logic as opposed to fear I would probably be more sympathetic.
I do like those Max Speed ones, there's one on the Dual Carriageway nearby with a 'Max Speed 50' sign, and it's cambered, and turns left, then right. If it's clear you can use the lane on the 'inside' for both corners at 70, and you get a lovely feeling in your back when the camber pushes you into the seat. It's about the only time the Corsa feels poised.
Having a collision on a sharp corner at 20 and having a collision at a sharp corner at 30 are two very different things. Guess which is the most dangerous? And I'm sure any other road users affected by someone having an accident at 30 when the limit was 20 wouldn't be too happy or sympathetic.
I tend to look at speed limits as advisory and will drive at whatever speed I feel is safe. It may be 40+ in a 30 zone if the houses are set back from the road, there's nothing to obstruct vision and there's no speed cameras around. I really hate people that drive at the speed limit, e.g. 70 on dual carriageways, and insist nobody is going to pass them because they're doing the speed limit so nobody should be going any faster. On a dry motorway, not much traffic around, no roadworks, in a modern car that's in good nick, 80-85 feels perfectly safe to me. However, I'm always conscious that people who are doing precisely 70 in the fast lane aren't likely to be looking in their mirrors so I can't see the point in driving right up their chuff. So to summarise, it's not me right behind you. I'm the guy 50+ metres behind, fuming quietly about how slow you're going.
If anecdotal evidence were correct more often than science and surveys, we'd be able to cure super-AIDS with tap-water. You may feel perfectly safe and happy doing well over the posted speed limit, but I assure you it is there for a reason. No matter who you are, no matter what training you've gotten, your reaction times are going to be exceptionally poor at a high rate of speed. This means you will get into an accident, and because of the speed you are going, one or more people will die. For the moment it is fun, but stop being so selfish and think of others, and of the future ahead of you. Legal limits are there with reason and thought, not just because the government doesn't want you having fun. Go speed on a race track, that is what they're there for. On the subject of poor road behaviour: daily people cut me off, speed past me, and are generally driving massively outside the zone where it is safe for me as a cyclist. This is all while I am doing the speed limit in the middle of a legal lane of traffic, following all the rules and regulations. I've seen multiple vehicles get into accidents because they couldn't be bothered to obey the posted signs (speed or otherwise), and I've been hit multiple times by vehicles not obeying the posted signs. I don't much enjoy either. This isn't to talk of the families I've talked to, or the people I've known, whom have been killed by motorists not paying attention to posted signs and regulations. For the sake of every single other person on or near to the roads that you do not have any sort of respect for: slow the hell down and keep your eyes open as you're human, and therefore horribly flawed. You will kill somebody, regardless of what you may presently think.
I cannot agree more. The reason there are problems on the roads more often than not comes down to people believing the rules do not apply to them, or that they infact know better. I'm confident most of you have seen an advertisement about the risks and dangers of speeding, the ones in the UK bring the point home abruptly and they fork out thousands on these ads to keep you out of a hospital bed, out of jail and dare I say it, out of a prematurely dug grave.
I agree. I know we're wrong, but speed limits are something I just can't respect. Obviously, I don't drive like a maniac in residential areas and I don't get over 30 (kph) in school zones, but on the highway and on the back roads, speed limits are stupid and annoying. Driving at a steady 100kph and seeing other cars drive past me is unbearable. I have to be the one going past them, I just have to.
I mentioned this in another thread. The fact that speeding is still seen as being acceptable practice to a lot of drivers, but drink driving is not. The end consequences can be exactly the same, but people ignore this when they choose to ignore speed limits. It's always the same attitude that those who choose to speed have too: "it would never happen to me". Speeding doesn't just put your own life in danger, it also presents increased danger to other road users, passengers and pedestrians. I was knocked off my motorcycle a couple of years ago by a speeding driver, who also was driving inappropriately for the road conditions. I came out relatively well (my hand and face were pretty smashed up), but I was lucky to escape serious injury. The woman (who was a pensioner) didn't even stop after she clipped me. Another car driver who witnessed it chased her down and told her to come back. It bugs the hell out of me with arrogant and stupid drivers who ignore the rules of the road, just so they can get from A to B maybe a little faster, or use the throttle of their car as a penis extension - feeling all manly because they are going over the limit. It's downright selfish, stupid and arrogant. If you cannot abide by the rules, then you do not deserve a license, it's as simple as that.
then I'm selfish, stupid and arrogant .. which I am not at all. I'm a polite driver who respects all the other laws of the road, including the lines (which most people don't care about). It's okay though. This thread is turning exactly like the piracy threads turn out to be. Suddently everyone here will pretend they never exceed the speed limit and they will all bash those who do and those who are not hypocrites admit the truth out loud. It's fine. It doesn't affect me at all. As we say here, Ça me fait pas un plis
One of the most annoying things I've ever come across is doing 70 in the fast lane to legitimately pass someone doing say 50 or whatever, and having someone else get right up within a few meters of my back end and stay there til I get the chance to pull in again. So many times I've wanted to give the brakes a quick smash, just to show them exactly what they're doing wrong Before anyone accuses me of high-horsery, I'm still on my R plates (possibly the dumbest road law we have here).
Oh don't get me wrong - I exceed the speed limits constantly (which is something when you're pushing your own two wheels with a rather meaty half-horsepower) and disobey posted road signs and laws. My issue is with people in large metal boxes doing it not realising how much danger they're putting other people in, even when they think they're in control. If I were to get into a crash while riding a bike outside of the law, I die. If you were to get into a crash with me on the receiving end while you were outside of the law, I die. There really isn't two ways about this: if you're in a large, encased metal box with a couple hundred horsepower thundering down to the wheels, then I'm the one who dies when we hit, no matter what precipitated it. I don't doubt that through your many years of driving prowess and through extensive professional training that you are a master of speed and handling with the reaction times of a field-mouse on enhancement drugs, and can without a doubt judge better than those boffins in lab coats how fast is too fast, but maybe your viewpoint isn't the only one that matters, and maybe some people on the road aren't quite as trained or learned as you are, which you are setting a bad example for.
I don't pretend to be a driving god. I also don't act like I can't die. Everyone is just overreacting. Driving over the speed limit doesn't not necessarily equal high speed driving. Anyone telling me I am a menace to society because I drive 20 over the 100kph limit is completely full of it (I know nobody said that). I can't wait for tomorrow to see how this thread unfolds. I am sure it will be just as I predicted.
I think personal experience is what allows us to decide whether it's OK to break speed limits. I have been involved in an accident, where the other driver was speeding, and have seen some good mates being seriously injured on their bikes through winding it back too much. So I have a sterner outlook on speeding. Driving fast cuts down your reaction time, thus increasing the danger to yourself and other drivers etc. - period. That's before you factor in any other detriments, such as road conditions etc. You may be under the illusion that you are experienced enough to handle the excess speed, but that's probably because you simply haven't been caught out yet. A&E's are full of people who thought they could handle the excess speed, and that is arrogance as far as I am concerned. Also stupid too. Where selfish comes into play is when a driver causes injuries to others because of their bad driving habits. I don't speed, because I don't need to. What's the point? With traffic congestion as it is nowadays, you don't end up getting there any faster anyway, so why take the risk. I think there are two types of speeder, the impatient one and the boy racer. I'll stick to the limit myself
It's not speeding in general that's the problem, it's just plane idiot drivers. Idiot drivers pulling out in front of you, cutting you off, following too close, running red lights, generally aloof of what they're doing, etc, are the real problem. I usually just go with the flow of traffic, which generally in the US is 10mph above the posted limit. Sometimes doing the limit is dangerous as it causes bad drivers to speed up or cut someone off to get around the slower car. Most accidents I see are from people not paying attention, or being a general idiot, than speeding.
K well good for you. Exactly. I have never witnessed anyone 'almost causing an accident' because of speed. Ever. It's always been because of stupid maneuver or lack of attention. If you ask me, old people are a hundred time more dangerous than anyone else on the road.
