Speeding/Congestion

[toonmilo]

Does anyone agree with my view that part of the reason there is too much congestion on the road is that too many bloody people drive too god damn slow!!! Too many times i get stuck behind some muppet doing 40 in a 60 zone and i can't overtake him cos its a bendy road. Or even if its in the dark, the car in front does'nt put his main beam on so i can see if its possible to have him!!! My question is, do you think drivers who drive well below the speed limit ought to be punished as much as someone who drives say, 44mph in a 40 zone??

[Loosehead]

I agree, there is in fact an offence of driving to slow and in some places there are minimum speed limits but I doubt if anyone has ever been prosecuted.

I've seen some old buffer doing 30 on dual carraigeway and the absolute rolling road block it causes. Trucks and coaches trying to overtake, much more dangerous than speeding.

Another reason there is congestion is that so many people stop at roundabouts when they don't have to, I mean it's almost as if they are not allowed to look until they get there!

[toonmilo]

Good Call Loosehead. The Roundabout situation is so annoying, you can see if nowts coming from way back, so just go go go!!!!!

[undercovers]

i still think driving slowly is less dangerous than speeding - with the exception of motorways. Though annoying its not really then end of the world, and i don't think it will affect congestion as this is sheer bulk of numbers

[Cockney_si]

Personally I stick to speed limits and drive safe but others tend to go the go slow route.

Most modern cars can far out-brake even the longest stopping distance in the highway code and they have no problem swiftly reaching the legal speed limit.

You can fail a driving test or get a fine from a police officer for 'not keeping up with the flow of traffic'.

Speed limits are the law and if you stick to them all well and good, the highway code says to adjust your driving as per weather and such like.

Also lots of congestion is caused by narrow roads and mini roundabouts (how many folk forget how they work???!!!) that causes 'bottlenecks in the system'.

[Didwot]

Strangely the opposite is true. Roads can accomodate more cars travellilng at slow speed than at high speed. This is because (absent tailgating) the vehicles have to be further apart.
What causes the problems on main roads are vehicles travelling at disproportionately different speeds, and inconsiderate use of road space (the man who owns the middle lane) or the two HGVs who take it in turns to pass one another because one goes 1mph faster than the other up the hill and 1mph slower down, and of course bad road design, (eg too many junctions on the M25)
How about adding people who make no, or misleading, signals to the list of culprits.

[sddsddean]

The reason trucks seem to take ages to pass each other is that all the various safety campaigners got their way and we are limited to 90kph (56mph). Of course, all limiters are not quite the same so you slowly catch someone else up. In a way its stupid. Motorways are by far the safest roads and we are limited (even though the actual speed limit is 60mph). It would be far better if someone could come up with a limiter that worked in 30mph zones, where speed is much more of an issue. I believe this is on the cards using GPS technology (God help us!).

[Gef]

The speed limit is exactly that - the top speed which is legal. It does not mean that you have to drive at that speed.

[cockneyexile]

ssdean what wheels are you driving buddy? If like my self you drive an iveco truck look for the km button on the dash.  Bring your speed down to 30 mph and push the km button in the truck will become limited and will not allow you to exceed 30mph until youm press the button again. Alternitavely if you have cruise control you can set this to 30mph whilst in a 30 zone. ps my unit is an 04 stralis

[lethologica]

I've been stuck many times before behind an old woman doing 30 (20 up hills, how painful is that?) in a 60 speed limit in the rush hour yet I'm unable to overtake because of oncoming traffic and a bendy road!!

I think there should be some way of banning people from driving at peak times, such as rush hours and friday afternoon/evenings before a bank holiday.

Yes I do realise that that's unreasonable, but so is having uncompetent drivers driving cars.

[Tim Baxter]

So, picking up from all the posts,

Yes on your driving test and in general driving the Highway Code requires you to drive to the speed limit as long as all conditions allow. You will be given a serious error (fail) if you unreasonably hold up traffic.

There have been cases (very, very rare) when drivers have been prosecuted for driving too slowly, I think the last one was earlier this year when a body drove for miles at 15mph.  The enforcement of this speed requirement by the police seems to have gone out of the window together with so many other traffic offences.

I don't agree with the assessment that more cars can fit on a road at slower speeds.  How many cars in a given distance at a given speed?  In good weather there should be 2 seconds between cars.  At 60mph there should be 176' clearance, plus the length of your car, call it total 190'.  So in a mile of road you should have 1760*3/190=28 cars each completing its transit in 60sec.  At 30mph there should be 88' plus car length=102'.  So in a mile of road 1760*3/102=52 cars each completing their transit in 120sec.  So in 2mins it's 56cars @ 60mph and 52 @ 30.  In an hour 3,360 cars @ 60 and 3,120 @ 30.  Difference of 240/hr or 4 cars/min.

In order to improve the general standard of driving how would you all feel about having to retake your driving test every 5 years?  Should learners be taught and tested to a higher standard?  How many of us would pass a higher standard of test?  (HGV drivers already do, so why not the rest of us?)

[lethologica]

I would be quite happy to retake my test if the advantages included removing muppets from the road.  However it's just not practical is it?

[Impret-Sir]

I agree toonmilo, happens all the time, also its anoying when you see a load  of cars all bunched up together on the motorway doing exactly 69 MPH, then you see at the front of the group a police car doing 70, no-one wants to overtake them so congestion builds up behind them mile after mile, happend to me just last weekend on the M3

[sddsddean]

cockneyexile, I used to drive a DAF95 when I was on artics, but now drive a DAF 85CF 8 wheel tipper (54 reg) which has cruise control and a trip limiter so you can set it to 30mph (or whatever) so you can drive normally up to, but not over, the limit you set. Has your Iveco still got one of those poxy twin split boxes or are you on semi automatic? I never could get on with a twin split!

[cockneyexile]

semi auto. thankfully.  Know what you mean about the split though thankfully dont have this box.

[hedgehog661]

You should drive up to the speed limits IF and only IF the circumstances are safe, as has been covered. To drive at less in such circumstances shows poor attention levels on the part of that person and is also inconsiderate, that person is also going to cause frustration, road rage and other vehcles are likely to take mis calculated risks. Tim has said correctly about stopping distances etc, and to summerise it is probaly more important to keep a safe stopping distance than the actual speed itself, given safe circumstances.( I am not saying break the speed limit) In ANY given situation the hazard perception skills are the most imprtant, these along with the control skills go hand in hand, even the best person in the world with great control skills is useless without hazard perception.

What do we do about it? well retraining/testing would be nice, but attitudes first. we must all recognise that we can all improve, and that not everybody wants to nor has he desire to be a good driver from whatever reason, we must accept this and make allowances for this, then we areselves are on the right road.(excuse the pun)

[callisto]

well you lot can i take the side of someone who passed their driving test on fri 13th may 2005 . Under instruction we were told to use the correct speed limits weather permitting at all costs obviously you get braver the more confident you become but yes i have to say it even us P platers as we are known have been caught out by the sunday drivers snailing ( oops better not show road rage just yet) , the idea of driving is to stay safe and confident i was taught and after 7 attempts and being free on the roads i for one intend to stay within the law .