Do you speed or know why others speed?

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pdp76@reddit

I won’t speed in built up areas. Anything can happen, car pulls out, pedestrians stepping out etc. if you’re unable to stop you’ll be up shit creek.

Rural roads I know i will sometimes be going faster then the NSL. On motorways and duals, if you can I’d be doing about 80/90.

Weirdly though, at 6am on my way into work I find the majority travelling 10/15 mph under the 40 speed limit. Annoying !

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Maybe it's just my car but 80mph+ feels unstable and harder to control to me, even on a empty motorway. I sometimes creep up to 75 but any more than that and I feel like I have to actively concentrate harder on the act of driving if that makes sense, rather than being on autopilot

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poacher5@reddit

I know from experience on the Autobahn that my car is rock solid stable and steerable with one finger up to 140mph+. It's your car, or your maintenance.

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Sister_Ray_@reddit

but you have to concentrate harder at those speeds right? That's what I don't like. Much prefer to cruise at 70 and be on autopilot

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Medium_Lab_200@reddit

Sounds like you need the wheels aligning or new tyres.

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dylacomp@reddit

What car is it?

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Guerrenow@reddit

Yeah a bit but not stupidly

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Pearsepicoetc@reddit

Sometimes you have to.

Overtaking a lorry on a two lane motorway? You can have about 30 seconds until a car comes flying up behind you at 90 then brakes harshly right on your bumper flashing its lights because it wants past.

Overtaking a lorry at 76 can be a LOT safer than overtaking it at 70.

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i_sesh_better@reddit

The cars that flash when you’re stuck behind a queue on the right on the motorway are the worst. We all want to pass this elephant race, not just you!

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Caligapiscis@reddit

I probably shouldn't, but when someone does this I make sure to take a good long time to get back over. Got to make sure you have a decent bit of distance of the lorry you overtook before you get back into the left lane, y'know.

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NITSIRK@reddit

Ah yes, the careful, multiple, mirror, signal, then finally drift slooowly over, thanking them with a wave just to rub it in 😂

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Sister_Ray_@reddit

If they've not aggressively undertaken you already by that point

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LuDdErS68@reddit

Is there a difference between aggressive undertaking and plain undertaking?

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Leading_Study_876@reddit

Oh yes.

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FlakyPianist8030@reddit

Yea just depends on scenario, I only undertake if the roads empty but there’s a driver going 10 under the limit on the right lane not moving

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oktimeforplanz@reddit

I did this and then the guy tried to kill me by cutting in front of me at a distance of definitely less than one car length and slamming on the anchors and it was a race between me and my car's automatic emergency braking. So I tend to resist the urge to be petty now.

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donkeymonkey00@reddit

This is why I will 100% get a dashcam when I get a car of my own. Some people are downright fucked in the head.

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oktimeforplanz@reddit

Word of warning - dashcams make everything look less dramatic than they actually were in the moment. The field of view makes things look further away than they really are, plus they're not usually at your eyeline either. I showed someone the video of that guy and they were like "it's fine???" Eh no I couldn't see below his number plate from the driver's seat!!! I'd have been too fucking close if I was parked behind him! And this was at 70mph!

But yeah people are sometimes insane behind the wheel and it's wild.

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donkeymonkey00@reddit

Good point. Can't they be placed like eye-level between the door and the dash or something like that?

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oktimeforplanz@reddit

No, that's probably not legal. It'd block your view and I think the view from the camera itself would be garbage. You ideally want It high on the windscreen and centered for maximum visibility. Anywhere else and you end up with your view blocked by the pillars or the dashboard. The point isn't to prove exactly what you saw but what happened.

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davehemm@reddit

I always assume these people want me to slow down a bit, the more they flash must mean they want me to slow down a bit more ;)

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Adjective_Noun0563@reddit

if you're slowing down in the right lane of the motorway to make a point you're more dangerous than people speeding tbh

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ThrivingforFailure@reddit

If they are right up behind you and aggressive, then dropping the speed slightly from say 75 m is actually safer no?

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Adjective_Noun0563@reddit

closing the distance between yourself and the clearly irritated person willing to risk their lives to be 1m closer to their destination seems safer than just accelerating into open space or moving left?

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ThrivingforFailure@reddit

Accelerate to brake the speed limit because someone is impatient and dangerous? I think that is somewhat counter intuitive. Although I have done that before also

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Adjective_Noun0563@reddit

counter intuitive doesn't mean wrong 😂 the number is arbitrary to safety. that's the whole point of this thread. you can have right of way or be in the right but you can still get dead as a result.

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Milkym0o@reddit

Had one flash me multiple times because I joined a queue to pass a lorry that i was rapidly closing in on. He had easily about 10 car lengths behind me when I moved over, but because he couldn't do 85mph right into the back of the queue, he flashed me multiple times.

Fuck it then, behave like that and I'll be bang on 70mph and pass the next 3 lorries ahead to prove a point.

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Gone_For_Lunch@reddit

Meh, if I’m already overtaking at 75 and some impatient bellend doing 90 is flashing at me he can just learn to wait.

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EmmaInFrance@reddit

It's even worse when you're overtaking in the outside line at 90, both the middle and inside lanes are chocka, but you're making progress and passing plenty of cars, yet you still get that bellend in his Audi or BMW, or these days, Tesla, flashing his lights at you!

I'm so glad that I don't have to drive that often on UK motorways anymore!

We do get the exact same bellends over here, in Brittany, of course, but unless you're near a big city, the roads are usually much quieter, so you can usually just find room to pull over briefly and let them get caught by the speed camera that you know is 3 minutes diwn the road :-)

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Life_Put1070@reddit

I mean, I can't blame the BMW/Range Rover/Mercedes behind me for thinking I'm slow. I'm only doing 90 in a 50.

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V65Pilot@reddit

Nah...because they know it's there...so they drive at 100mph, and slam on the brakes just before the camera, and they usually slow down to about 5 under...

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Most_Imagination8480@reddit

That's not a time when you have to. I would never speed up to accommodate that. I'm gonna stay consistent and predictable. They can go fuck themselves

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Pearsepicoetc@reddit

Not about speeding up for the people behind you, more about spending less time alongside the lorry. Getting past and away and avoiding any nonsense.

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poundstorekronk@reddit

As a lorry driver, more people need to take note of this. DO NOT CRAWL PAST US. Do the manoeuvre at a decent speed. The more time you spend along side us the more dangerous it is.

Google search a trucks tyre blowing out.... You do NOT want to be driving past when that happens!

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V65Pilot@reddit

Especially if you are on a motorcycle......happened to me. Holy shit.....literally.

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poundstorekronk@reddit

Then you are very lucky! They go off like a bomb!

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V65Pilot@reddit

Sitting at a traffic light. "BOOM"! and the carcass flew by just in front of me....

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originaldonkmeister@reddit

I actually saw the car in front of me taken out by an exploding lorry tyre on a Belgian autoroute. I was in a convertible, roof down, so very glad I wasn't one car in front.

Also driving a small two seater makes you very keen not to loiter in blind spots; even though I drive something ridiculously big now I whince if the car in front slows down after I've started overtaking a lorry.

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shanep92@reddit

I agree with this sentiment - the one time I got caught speeding I was overtaking a wagon 🤦🏼‍♂️😂

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smackdealer1@reddit

Whenever someone tailgates, reduce speed. Then when they speed up to overtake accelerate.

Gets them every time.

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PudWud-92_@reddit

If someone ever flashes me like that to get past I just make sure I’m going exactly 70mph. They can wait, wankers.

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AE_Phoenix@reddit

Everyone thinks their speeding isn't stupid, until they hit someone.

To clarify, I also push the limit when the roads are open and it's night, so I can see any oncoming vehicles by their headlights. For some that's the limit, for others "stupidly" just means not on a motorway.

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billsmithers2@reddit

So what about the stupid cyclist without lights?

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General_Miller3@reddit

If you can’t see them, they don’t exist

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LoveBeBrave@reddit

I’d be impressed if a cyclist was speeding.

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A_Roll_of_the_Dice@reddit

At night is the worst time you could pick, though... very hard to see some things until it's too late -- debris, tires, broken down vehicle with no lights, pedestrian/cyclist in dark clothes, animals, etc.

Be wiser about it. Empty open roads, daylight, long line of sight, no hidden driveways..

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nickspeeed@reddit

Never...

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foreverlegending@reddit

As long as it's safe to do so yeah

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rob-c@reddit

Just out of interest, why do you think you get to decide when it’s ‘safe’ to drive above the speed limit?

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Select_Grocery_1667@reddit

Some humans have something called common sense

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EchoesofIllyria@reddit

Common sense would suggest an awareness that public roads and surroundings have almost limitless variables that are outside of your control and knowledge and that without that you can’t just expect any situation to be safe for speeding.

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SmugDruggler95@reddit

Ah yes, the arbitrary numbers picked 90 years ago take all of this into account perfectly and render you safe from having to make your own decisions

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EchoesofIllyria@reddit

Tbf I don’t think I said that

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SmugDruggler95@reddit

No what you said was that there are too many variables for common sense to be viable.

Which would require you tk believe the roads haven't evolved in 90 years and the original speed limits were unquestionably decided upon

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EchoesofIllyria@reddit

Yeah that’s not a good logical connection. May I, for example, add the variable of people. (Just one of many variables). How long do you think it takes for a person to unexpectedly step out in front of you?

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Apidium@reddit

Surely those people are the ones who went though the process of picking the limit?

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BrieflyVerbose@reddit

That process happened 60 years ago. Our technology has significantly improved since then.

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eww1991@reddit

Great so going at the same speed is still deemed adequately fast enough and now it's even safer than ever before

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baildodger@reddit

Great so going at the same speed is still deemed adequately fast enough

Except for the countries who’ve decided that it’s ok to drive faster than the UK limits.

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eww1991@reddit

That's nice for them, although 120kph is only about 75 mph, so the difference on travel times over an hour is 7 minutes at best assuming constant top speeds. Is it worth updating a whole load of systems and marginally reducing safety all to allow people to go that tiny bit faster, especially when the existing systems for monitoring that have those sort of differences expected as an existing margin of error.

If we went to 80 that's a 14% increase in speed, so maybe you might shave down 10 minutes of travel times on a really good day. But all the existing systems, including most modern cars with speed limiters, would need updating. It's an awful lot of effort for minor gains and (given this would be motorways which are some of the safest roads) minor safety decreases.

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Vivid_Way_1125@reddit

Yeah but that’s the point. It doesn’t reduce safety.

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eww1991@reddit

It does slightly, but it also only increases speed slightly too and next to no impact on journey times. All for a lot of expensive admin. If we were going to spend that much on changing everything we'd be better off lowering it to 60. Boost to safety, reduced emissions and much better traffic slow at a slight increase to journey times

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Vivid_Way_1125@reddit

No it doesn’t. The autobahn proves that. There was also an argument about this with motorcycles, and then they found that actually it’s low speed and around town where accidents happen.

Fast moving motorways are safe, and removing speed limits actually reduces incidents. You can see this in practise when you get stuck in a slow average speed check on a motorway. All the vehicles get bunched up and everyone is playing my dodgems, then to get to the higher speed limit and everyone spreads out again and you can chill out.

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eww1991@reddit

Absolutely with you on towns being more dangerous, same as between crossroads and roundabouts, the less crossing traffic the safer it is. I wasn't saying the safety factor was significant, all the traffic in the same direction and there are no perpendicular intersections. Crashing at 70 Vs 80 is probably going to be marginally more fatal.

But the gains in journey time are also near irrelevant.

Emissions and energy usage however would be significantly higher, as would the administrative cost of implementing it. There's no real gain to be had Vs the cost.

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BrieflyVerbose@reddit

Adequately fast enough if you've got the reaction times of a fucking pensioner.

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eww1991@reddit

Adequately fast enough for any potential road user then. Put it another way I'd bet money everyone knows someone they think should absolutely not be driving, let alone at 80mph.

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GarrySpacepope@reddit

Pretty sure the limits were picked when brakes were made out of wet paper bags. Abs was just a twinkle in Mrs anti-locks eye etc.

There's plenty of times where doing lower than the limit is all that is safe. I'm pretty sure 80 on an empty motorway is fine.

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Apidium@reddit

And my neighbours daughter thinks 110 is fine.

I trust standardisation a lot more than expecting eveyone to not be a fucking idiot because it's the fucking idiots who are the most instant that they aren't dumb as rocks.

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v2marshall@reddit

He said ‘most’ have common sense, not all

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EmmaInFrance@reddit

French motorways have a top speed limit of 130 kph, which is approximately equivalent to 80 mph.

I learnt to drive over 30 years ago, and for my first 15+ years as a driver in the UK, before moving to France, I drove cars that didn't have cruise control, let alone any of the fancy safety features that mpst modern cars have today.

For the first 10 years, I drove older cars that didn't even have assisted steering, and one of those was a tank-like Volvo 340!

But I could still parallel park it in tight spaces, on the street of terraced houses we lived in, in the Meadows in Nottingham :-D

The first car that I ever bought myself, in the late 90s, was a B reg Austin Maestro for £250.

Even that old banger was more modern - with better designed bumpers for safety, plus it had seat belts - than the design of the cars that were around when the dpeed limits were set!

Personally, I do like to go faster, especially when I know the roads very, very well, and I can anticipate any possible dangers very easily.

I also like to put my foot down on a beautiful day, like today, on an empty or almost empty road, through rural France, and I really enjoy the driving!

I was also taught to be an assertive driver, and to progress quickly, even when staying under the speed limit.

And yes, there are still also days when I am chill and I take my time.

ADHD certainly also plays a role and I definitely don't go as far over the limit as I used to pre-diagnosis and treatment nearly 10 years ago.

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kickassjay@reddit

Plus most of Europe have higher speed limits to account for modern times. A lot have 75/80mph then you have the auto Bahn

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Select_Grocery_1667@reddit

I’ll actually agree with you yes they did! However technology (ABS being the main one) has moved on so much in cars now that it could be increased. But I know it will never happen

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rob-c@reddit

Car weight has gone up, in-car distractions have increased, amount of other people sharing the road has increased, understanding of damage of particulates has improved…

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Select_Grocery_1667@reddit

Weight has increased but stopping distance has still drastically reduced

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rob-c@reddit

But a veritable speed limit would mean you are still sticking to the limit at that specific time, not deciding for yourself.

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MorningToast@reddit

I think this is the main point here. Make the limit at and everyone will do 95.

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Wd91@reddit

Does data actually bear that out?

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MorningToast@reddit

No idea but wouldn't human nature be enough to guarantee this?

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Wd91@reddit

Tbh, no, i don't personally think so.

I might be naive, and i might be completely wrong, but i generally feel people are overall quite good are driving according to road conditions rather than driving according to an arbitrary number + 20%. If data proves me wrong then so be it.

It does seem like the kind of thing that has probably been studied, maybe someone has data.

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A_Roll_of_the_Dice@reddit

Tbh, no, i don't personally think so.

And you'd be correct, too.

u/MorningToast -- here's some data from testing:

While previous research indicates little difference in most speed characteristics following a speed limit change, the effects on driver compliance are significant. For example, raising the speed limit by 5 mi/h (8 km/h) can increase compliance from 30 to 70 percent when the new limit is based on the 85th percentile speed. Conversely, lowering the speed limit by 5 mi/h (8 km/h) can decrease compliance from 70 to less than 50 percent.

Further to this, raising the speed limit by 10-15mph only tends to increase the average speed by 3-5mph.

There are several additional studies on this, but I don't want to flood the message with a ton of links.

Basically, what they generally show is that drivers tend to have a "comfortable speed" that is influenced by several factors, mostly amounting to perceived risk of prosecution/enforcement, perceived risk of the environment/road design, peer pressure, and belief/trust in signposted speed credibility.

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MorningToast@reddit

I'm glad you feel that way about society, it's refreshing. I'm really not sure though. I think people will just push and push because they always read a little leeway in the rules.

I think it may come down to this notion that because they've never been in a major accident they think they're amazing drivers who are fully in control of their surroundings. A ridiculous idea when you're flinging two tonnes of metal around and everyone you share the road with is autonomous.

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bonjourmiamotaxi@reddit

Yep, exactly. Because everyone believes that they would use their common sense to simply decide not to get involved in a collision.

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Select_Grocery_1667@reddit

I’m glad you understand now

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blither86@reddit

Fair and I'm fine with speed limits sticking at 70 but an interesting point of science: weight doesn't increase stopping distances because it increases tyre traction which means improved braking. On the downside it means if you do crash you're imparting more energy into whatever you hit..

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rob-c@reddit

I didn’t say weight did increase stopping distance.

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blither86@reddit

True. I perhaps incorrectly thought it was implied as stopping distances are one of the main considerations regarding speed.

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rob-c@reddit

No worries

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skilledbiscuit1@reddit

I think that would depend on limits of grip, I might be wrong but once the limit of grip has been passed wouldn't a heavier object travel further.

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blither86@reddit

I think the additional weight would still help the tyres but that's an interesting point. Fortunately most vehicles (and I imagine particularly heavy ones) have ABS these days so it's less of a concern.

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Crafty-Warthog-1493@reddit

People tail-gating is commonplace...

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MeltingChocolateAhh@reddit

People's ability to stay awake on the road and their average hazard perception hasn't improved though.

People's tyres will still blow out on the motorway too. That's far more dangerous at 80 than 70.

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Dizzy_Media4901@reddit

No they won't

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A_Roll_of_the_Dice@reddit

Surely those people are the ones who went though the process of picking the limit?

🤔 you have seen some of our country lanes, haven't you? A number aren't fit for 40, never mind 60. That's why they trust us to use discretion and appropriate speed for the conditions -- it literally sets out that expectation in the highway code.

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jsteveho@reddit

As someone who lives near national speed limit country lanes, the speed limit isn’t really a good indication of an appropriate speed to travel. Driving a steady 60 down there would certainly result in a collision, but if they instead set it to a blanket 30 people would be ‘speeding’ since there are stretches where 45-50 is perfectly safe.

Also look at Germany with the Autobahn yet lower rates of fatal vehicle accidents. Speed itself isn’t what’s dangerous.

In reality, distracted driving is far more dangerous than typical speeding yet most modern cars have an iPad right next to the steering wheel.

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Apidium@reddit

That's why it's a maximum limit. Not a demanded speed. You always need to drive to the conditions.

I suspect most would argue having assessors out to check every rarely travelled country road to set a lower speed is likely a waste of goverment resources

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jsteveho@reddit

It’s actually a very well travelled section of road as it joins a number of smaller villages with a larger commuter town.

All I’m pointing out is that speed limits can be set pretty arbitrarily. If you can ‘drive to the conditions’ and understand 60 down a lane isn’t safe, you can also surely determine that doing 40 on a stretch of duel carriageway with no junctions and no other traffic probably is safe, even if the speed limit is actually 30 (another road in my town!)

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CassetteLine@reddit

Speed limits are often nonsensical.

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ImBonRurgundy@reddit

They pick a single limit for the road no matter the conditions. In truth, a 4 lane motorway at 3am is far safer than a dual carriageway at rush hour. Yet the speed limit for both is 70mph

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Thats_a_BaD_LiMe@reddit

Unfortunately even the biggest idiots think that their judgement is "common sense" so it doesn't really mean anything

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rob-c@reddit

Common sense would tell you trust the limit applied by trained professionals, save fuel and not risk paying a speeding fine etc

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Linfords_lunchbox@reddit

I'm boiling this down to 'it's easier not to think for myself and do as I'm told'

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rob-c@reddit

No, it’s being humble

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Select_Grocery_1667@reddit

Why are you telling me I don’t break the speed limit, you’ll see I’ve already posted say what happened when I did

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deathmetalbestmetal@reddit

Do you ever decide to drive below the speed limit for safety reasons? If not you're a terrible driver. If you do, then clearly you understand that individuals are able to make certain safety judgements.

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rob-c@reddit

The limit is the maximum perceived to be safe when the conditions are perfect. Why do you think you know better is the question.

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Dizzy_Media4901@reddit

It was an arbitrary number created in the 60s because of accidents in the fog.

Fast forward to now, cars are safer, tests are more stringent, and the speed limit is pointless.

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rob-c@reddit

“The speed limit is pointless”. We have a winner everyone!!! 😅

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Dizzy_Media4901@reddit

It is pointless because it is arbitrary.

Make a new speed limit, based on the huge amounts of data we now have.

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rob-c@reddit

All speed limits are arbitrary and none are based on data?

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Dizzy_Media4901@reddit

No, the 20 mph ones are pretty solid.

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deathmetalbestmetal@reddit

So you've accepted that individuals who are qualified to drive are qualified to make certain safety judgements about the appropriate speed to drive at.

What are the things that the people that set speed limits decades ago 'know' that ordinary drivers don't? What bits of information do they hold that ordinary drivers do not use when deciding to drive less than the speed limit. Or indeed, a lower speed than the maximum possible speed they could be travelling?

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flimflam_machine@reddit

Individuals can make judgements to be more safe than the rules require, they can't make judgementsbtobbe less safe than the rules require. You're drawing an entirely false equivalence.

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deathmetalbestmetal@reddit

Your first sentence simply doesn't make any sense, and there's no false equivalence. You're confusing what's permissible and what makes sense conceptually. We legally say that a person is not allowed to use their own judgement to travel at higher speeds than the limit, but there's no conceptual barrier for their using the very same considerations they use to travel at a speed below the speed limit, to travel above the speed limit, and determine that it's safe.

The speed limit is not some magical number that splits things into metaphysically safe and unsafe.

I asked a very simple question in the comment you replied to. What bits of information do those that set the limit hold, that ordinary drivers do not use when deciding to drive less than the speed limit?

And let's be clear here; I'm not advocating for the abolishment of speed limits; I'm arguing the case that it makes complete sense to say that individuals can determine what a safe speed to drive at is, regardless of what the limit may be.

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flimflam_machine@reddit

What bits of information do those that set the limit hold, that ordinary drivers do not use when deciding to drive less than the speed limit?

In general the answer is "the risk presented to other road users but a vehicle travelling at a given speed, plus the knowledge that even bad drivers think that they're good drivers."

The point is that we don't allow people to use their judgement decide that the posted limit is too low because we have no way of testing every individual to see whether their judgement is sound. You can't trust only the people who actually have good judgement, you have to trust everyone and that's obviously a non starter because there are so many idiots out there (all of whom think that they're not idiots). If someone decides to go slower than the limit then the result is reduced risk, which (all other things being equal) is a good thing. If they decide to exceed the limit then the result is increased risk.

You position boils down to "there's no difference between reducing and increasing risk", which is obviously insane.

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deathmetalbestmetal@reddit

In general the answer is "the risk presented to other road users by a vehicle travelling at a given speed, plus the knowledge that even bad drivers think that they're good drivers."

This isn't an answer. You can't just say 'the risk', because 'the risk' is what most people consider when choosing what speed to travel at.

What things do those who set speed limits consider that individuals do not consider when they choose to drive lower than the speed limit on the basis of safety? What things do they use to determine this risk that road users do not?

The difference is that those setting the speed limits do so at a macro level. They look at what a reasonable maximum safe speed would be given all manner of potential circumstances on a given road. A road may be given a lower speed limit because of the likelihood of, for example, children crossing it. But the safe speed of the road at any given moment depends on whether there are actually any children crossing it, and individuals are by-and-large perfectly capable of understanding that. Which is why for example most would travel slower on an NSL single carriageway if they could see children.

The reason for the driver going 30mph on a 60mph road (where children are rare) because there are children involves the same considerations that mean a road that would otherwise be 60mph is 30mph because children crossing it are common. There's no false equivalence then to say that if there are plainly no children on that road, a driver could perfectly well determine that 60mph might be safe. There's nothing wrong with the speed limit at all, and my view is that it should still be observed, but it doesn't magically make going 60mph metaphysically unsafe.

The point is that we don't allow people to use their judgement decide that the posted limit is too low because we have no way of testing every individual to see whether their judgement is sound.

Yes. Perhaps read the last paragraph of the comment you've just replied to.

We have speed limits because there are those on the road incapable of determining what's safe and what isn't, and we have those that need to be deterred from doing things that they know full well to be unsafe.

Neither of these things are any barrier to the claim that it's perfectly possible for an individual to determine what a safe speed is. Most drivers in fact will be capable of this. The speed limits are not a magical split between safe and unsafe. They're a balancing act, a method of deterrent for those that lie outside the normal bounds of capability or wilfully disregard safety, and a guide, they're not a replacement for a person's ability to determine what's safe.

You position boils down to "there's no difference between reducing and increasing risk", which is obviously insane.

It doesn't boil down to anything of the sort. Please try to understand what I'm actually saying, not what you think I'm saying.

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flimflam_machine@reddit

Your argument is nonsense though because it can simply be iterated up ad infinitum. If we trust people to make their own judgements on a safe speed what's the ceiling on that? 80? 90? 100? Or should there be no limit?

If your argument doesn't actually justify changing anything what's convinced you that it holds water?

The difference is that those setting the speed limits do so at a macro level. They look at what a reasonable maximum safe speed would be [in perfect conditions].

FTFY

This isn't an answer. You can't just say 'the risk', because 'the risk' is what most people consider when choosing what speed to travel at

Not the subjective risk; the objective risk. Years of data about the fatality of collisions indicates what speed we should allow drivers to go to minimise death and injury while allowing them to actually get around. One of the major problems is that by making cars safer (for the occupants), quieter, more comfortable and more capable we've reduced the subjective risk at any given speed. Add into that the apparent belief that "I'm a good driver, it will never happen to me" and it's obvious why we don't allow people to drive at a speed that feels safe to them

it's perfectly possible for an individual to determine what a safe speed is

And it's also demonstrably possible for them to horribly misjudge it. We know this because people get killed on the road due to excessive speed. That's why we don't extend that privilege to anyone and we insist that people drive no faster than the limit.

They're a balancing act, a method of deterrent for those that lie outside the normal bounds of capability or wilfully disregard safety, and a guide, they're not a replacement for a person's ability to determine what's safe.

They are a balancing act and they are also an upper bound on the speed below which drivers can exercise their judgement as to what's a safe speed. It's not complicated, lots of laws have upper bounds (noise levels, pollution levels, contamination levels in food etc.) bur there's nothing to stop people doing things more safely than those limits require.

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deathmetalbestmetal@reddit

I simply stopped reading after your first point. We do allow people to use their own judgement up to a certain threshold and I have repeatedly told you that I think speed limits are needed.

I think there's little point continuing this argument if you're going to simply ignore what I'm actually writing and make things up. You've done it in every single comment.

[-]

teerbigear@reddit

I think there's little point continuing this argument if you're going to simply ignore what I'm actually writing and make things up. You've done it in every single comment.

As I read through your endless arguments with these people I cannot help but wonder why you have bothered. I think most people assume responses written in that way disagree with them, but you never actually do. This is the argument in a nutshell:

It opened on:

Just out of interest, why do you think you get to decide when it’s ‘safe’ to drive above the speed limit?

And you start asking

Do you ever decide to drive below the speed limit for safety reasons? If not you're a terrible driver. If you do, then clearly you understand that individuals are able to make certain safety judgements.

Then you all write chapters and chapters.

Then you end on:

I think speed limits are needed.

Which is exactly the point they were making in the first place. Speed limits are needed because the "you" in their first comment cannot be relied upon to self identify as competent.

Is there some nuance I'm missing here? Why did you argue with them if you agree with them?

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A_Roll_of_the_Dice@reddit

The difference is that those setting the speed limits do so at a macro level. They look at what a reasonable maximum safe speed would be [in perfect conditions].

FTFY

No, they don't. They judge it based on expected conditions. Not in perfect conditions.

In perfect conditions, there'd be no children near or on the roads, there'd be no other traffic, and there'd be maximum grip and visibility, meaning that most roads within cities would have 40mph or 50mph limits. They don't, though -- they have 20 or 30 limits because they expect traffic, and children, and less than perfect grip with some things blocking your view sometimes.

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A_Roll_of_the_Dice@reddit

If someone decides to go slower than the limit then the result is reduced risk

That is not objectively true. It's entirely situational. A single individual going slower than everyone else is actually just as dangerous as someone speeding, especially if on multi-lane spaces.

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rob-c@reddit

As another person has said the first part of your post is a false equivalence.

As for the second part, do you apply that logic to all fields of study? You are a passenger on the plane, so you advise the aviation engineer on who fast it should fly?

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deathmetalbestmetal@reddit

As another person has said the first part of your post is a false equivalence.

And as I've explained elsewhere, this is confused nonsense.

As for the second part, do you apply that logic to all fields of study? You are a passenger on the plane, so you advise the aviation engineer on who fast it should fly?

Passengers aren't qualified to fly planes. Drivers are qualified to drive.

This is a very, very funny attempt at a gotcha from someone accusing me of a false equivalence.

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rob-c@reddit

It was hyperbole to sum up what I thought about your argument. That answers the first part too.

Look up how speed limits are determined. If you are saying that you’ve taken all of those into consideration and done the relevant research for every road you drive on, I think you’d be lying.

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deathmetalbestmetal@reddit

It was hyperbole to sum up what I thought about your argument.

No it wasn't; it was embarrassing nonsense.

Look up how speed limits are determined.

Telling me to look something up is not an argument.

If you are saying that you’ve taken all of those into consideration and done the relevant research for every road you drive on, I think you’d be lying.

Again, which things are taken into consideration that the ordinary driver does not, when deciding to drive lower than the speed limit?

It's a very simple question, and the fact you won't answer is so, so telling.

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rob-c@reddit

Not only do you think you know more than highways experts, you also think you know more about someone’s intended meaning. I wonder if your overconfidence on Reddit extends to your driving habits 🫣

Apologies about asking you to look it up. I forgot you already knew it all 😅

Here are a few of the factors used:

history of collisions road geometry and engineering road function composition of road users (including existing and potential levels of vulnerable road users) existing traffic speeds road environment

If this is how the maximum is determined it is therefore a representation of the best conditions for that stretch of road. The road can only get more hazardous, not less.

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deathmetalbestmetal@reddit

Not only do you think you know more than highways experts,

What makes you think that?

history of collisions road geometry and engineering road function composition of road users (including existing and potential levels of vulnerable road users) existing traffic speeds road environment

These are all macro-level considerations that determine the likelihood and potential severity of an accident occurring on the road, not things that determine the safety of the road at a given instant.

If this is how the maximum is determined it is therefore a representation of the best conditions for that stretch of road. The road can only get more hazardous, not less

This is plainly false. Roads by schools for example have much stricter speed limits because of the likelihood of children crossing. But whether it's safe to travel at 20mph or 40mph is determined by whether or not there are actually any children present at the time. We set the 20mph to be cautious and ensure we can punish people who do not drive safely when children are present, but this doesn't mean that it is magically always unsafe to exceed the 20mph limit.

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MarrV@reddit

Or the road has not been assessed, which a lot of the lanes in the country fall into this category.

Trying to do 60mph on those roads is a quick way to find out how wrong your statement is.

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pwx456k@reddit

While people do break limits based on a false perception of safety very often, it’s worth remembering that the limit is not a target and the safe speed for the conditions present can vary tremendously, so deciding what speed is ‘safe’ is something we all have to do every time we get behind the wheel. I’m sure lots of people I saw trundling along at 70 on the M62 in blanket fog a few months ago were presumably happy they were not breaking the limit.

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Asoxus@reddit

Some people are safer drivers than others.

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rob-c@reddit

Sure. But of course that’s got little to do with going above the speed limit.

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pwx456k@reddit

Red line aside, you asked how people get to decide what is ‘safe’. I’m pointing out that judging what is safe is an essential driving skill.

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rob-c@reddit

Yes, within the 0mph and the speed limit.

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pwx456k@reddit

Speed limits themselves are often surprisingly arbitrary, but rather than repeat myself this comment sums up my attitude to them.

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rob-c@reddit

I think we are in agreement over going above the limit.

People seem to be using the ‘well I decide how far under the limit to go, so I should be able to decide how far over I go as well’, and I just don’t think that’s true, or relevant.

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A_Roll_of_the_Dice@reddit

It's entirely relevant. If you can be trusted to judge the safe and appropriate speeds for an area of road based on several factors, that counts for both positive and negative discrepancies.

If you can't tell what is safe above x based on several factors, then how can you be trusted to adequately assess what is safe below y?

You're either capable of judging the environment or you're not.

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usernamepusername@reddit

It 100% is a target, I absolutely hate that saying and it’s mostly used by people who aren’t competent enough to safely drive at a reasonable speed.

Obviously if there are factors meaning the limit isn’t safe, I don’t need to list them, it’s fine but you should always be aiming to do the speed limit otherwise.

It’s both a limit and a target.

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Psycho_Splodge@reddit

The limit is very much a target where it's safe to do it. Friend failed his first test for not getting to the limit quick enough.

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pwx456k@reddit

This is ‘failing to progress’ and is not the same thing at all.

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NoisyGog@reddit

I’m not the one replying to, but since I share a similar mindset, I thought I’d offer my two cents.

If I can see a good distance ahead, there’s barely any curves, few if any hazards, and road conditions are good, I’ll often creep above the legal limit.
In not saying it’s the right thing to do, just talking through my mindset.

On longer journeys, it does add up a little bit at a time.
For example, I often drive three or more hours for work. A 5mph difference in average speed doesn’t feel like pushing anything into a dangerous area, but after three hours I’m fifteen miles further along - that equates to about 25 minutes* where I can chill, have a sandwich, and walk a bit to stretch my legs and get some fresh air before starting work.

*I work in Wales, and the average journey speeds between north and south are in the 35-45 mph range, realistically. We’re not talking motorway cruising here!!

Conversely, If I’m covering huge distances, say up to Scotland, I’ll tend to just cruise along at traffic speed. Mentally I think, it’s going to take pretty much all day anyway, so may as well just stay relaxed and cruise along without stress.
When I was younger, I did tend to rush everywhere, but mellow out over time.

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rob-c@reddit

I get it, but the limit has potentially been put in as much for the curves as it has for the straights/amount of hazards - so again, why do you think it’s up to an individual to decide it’s suddenly safe to exceed the limit.

And the time saving has nothing to do with it safety either.

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NoisyGog@reddit

the limit has potentially been put in as much for the curves as it has for the straights/amount of hazards - so again, why do you think it’s up to an individual to decide it’s suddenly safe to exceed the limit.

You’re just making an assumption there.
I’ve already given my reasoning.

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rob-c@reddit

Yes, but your reasoning is based on you thinking the limit only applies to the corners apparently 🤷‍♂️

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NoisyGog@reddit

It’s not though.
I’m not sure you understand how a national speed limit works or applies.

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Spank86@reddit

Just out of interest why do you think you get to decide its safe to drive at any speed?

Safety is an illusion, its all just different levels of risk.

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rob-c@reddit

Because I have gone through the government recognised system to gain a licence that says I capable of doing so within the stipulated rules of the road. I haven’t done the same for making up my own rules.

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Spank86@reddit

Implying the government is a competent entity to decide anything.

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rob-c@reddit

I going to assume you don’t actually think anarchy is a better system.

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Spank86@reddit

I think there's instances where rules are essentially arbitrary and that just because an entity picks a number it doesn't make it the correct number.

Clearly since speed limits "all" end in 0s there's an element of picking a number that seems broadly reasonable going on.

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rob-c@reddit

What if they’ve rounded up?

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Spank86@reddit

Then we're all in the shit anyway by your logic?

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A_Roll_of_the_Dice@reddit

😂🤣 I think you rebooted his brain with that one

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rob-c@reddit

Apologies, I should have added the /s

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Spank86@reddit

You mean this entire thread started seriously? I may have miscalculated.

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Browneskiii@reddit

Speed limits are designed for cars years and years ago, we could in theory go 80 or 90 on normal roads and be safe, but people are stupid.

Doing 70 in a 60 isnt going to hurt anyone. The majority of the time when someone is speeding (when they're not 18 and new to driving) is because they're confident in their abilities and know how their cars work.

I'd be much safer around someone going 70 than someone going 40.

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Emergency_Mistake_44@reddit (OP)

I'm sure doing 70 in a 60 can and probably does hurt people as much as kill them.

I get what you're trying to say (I think) but surely you'd rather have a collision at 60 than 70 given the choice? And certainly 40 instead of 70 to use your other example.

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pwx456k@reddit

I have some sympathy with this (the stopping distance in a Porche 9/11 or indeed a Ford Mondeo is very much not the same as an Austin Allegro, if indeed you could get one to stop). Nonetheless roads, junctions etc. are built with certain performance expectations and sheer traffic volume in mind and these are key limiting factors. Another one is psychological; we all have to know the rules other road users are playing by to drive safely. We can’t see around the corner, but we know which side of the road someone coming around will be on. If you’re closing a gap at 100mph and someone pulls out in front of you because they were expecting you to be doing 70ish, that’s as much your fault as theirs. Similarly you can do 120 on an Autobahn if you like, because other drivers know the rules in that situation.

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rob-c@reddit

This has to be one of most baffling and contradictory arguments ever 😅

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gridlockmain1@reddit

“Yeah I’m basically Lewis Hamilton actually so I’m allowed to break the law yeah?”

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rob-c@reddit

The amount of people who think that because they’ve spent years speeding, that they are someone capable of driving like that is worrying. It’s way more likely they just got lucky.

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Browneskiii@reddit

In what way? A lot of people drive fast because they know they can drive at that speed, the same as when people drive 40 in a 60 because they're terrified of driving, they're driving to what they know they can do.

People racing and doing 100+ is stupid, but going slightly above the limit isnt an issue.

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rob-c@reddit

You started by saying people are stupid, then went on to say that they are confident in their driving. Could that confidence be misplaced by any chance?

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_sheffey@reddit

We’re trusted to decide when it’s only safe to travel below the limit, why not the same for over?

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flimflam_machine@reddit

Because many people have terrible judgement so we limit the hazard that they create through the application of traffic laws.

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rob-c@reddit

Because the limit is in place for the road in perfect conditions - it’s the maximum. Obviously.

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_sheffey@reddit

Yeah a long straight flat road with clear line of sight - anything above 30 must be completely reckless.

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rob-c@reddit

I’m not pretending to know otherwise

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atsevoN@reddit

Where I live we have a stretch of road that is a 20mph limit, nothing in sight except for a few trees either side of the road, no houses, schools, junctions, no history of accidents, absolutely nothing, it’s basically completely straight, so they decided 20mph is absolutely the right speed for that road, probably because a squirrel may be crossing the road once every 17 days

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gridlockmain1@reddit

Yeah personally given my inability to see in every direction, around corners and into the future, I just outsource this decision to somebody else

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Greggs-the-bakers@reddit

I saw this comment and grabbed some popcorn as I know the pearl clutchers will be out in force in the replies

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EpicFishFingers@reddit

Which is why "it's just a forum you can be honest" is disingenuous

Nobody is going to wade in and admit to flooring it everywhere because they'll get dogpiled by people talking shit to try and rile them up, as is the case every time on reddit.

So why would anyone bother with that grief? 🤣

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LuDdErS68@reddit

I regularly state that I break the speed limit every time I drive.

I don't care about internet points.

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EpicFishFingers@reddit

It's the 80+ bait replies trickling I over thr following hours and days, deliberately misinterpreting your point, that I cba with anymore.

If I cared about the karma then I'd delete my downvoted comments and probably double my karma instantly. But the downvoted comments attract wayyyy more attention, and abuse

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LuDdErS68@reddit

Agreeing with the hive mind is clearly more important than honesty in many cases.

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VadimH@reddit

Nobody is going to wade in and admit to flooring it everywhere

I am him. I speed regularly, but not crazily in built up areas. I might occasionally do 40 in a 30, if it's a big & wide road with good visibility to give me time to stop. I also do up to 100 on A roads that I know, as long as there aren't many cars about.

Had one speeding ticket in 12 years of driving, doing 36 in a 30 - motorbike camera was waiting a pointed at the verge where speed dropped from 40 to a 30. Was my first year of driving, first car (£400 Suzuki Swift lol) and nothing since.

Also, had 2 accidents and two near misses in my first 2 years driving. Both accidents weren't my fault but the near-misses were. Again, nothing since then.

I speed not because I'm in a rush, but becasuse it just feels right. If I were doing 60 on a dual carriage way/motorway like I see so many doing - I think I'd be a danger to everyone around me due to falling asleep from boredom. At least when I'm speeding I am 100% alert.

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EpicFishFingers@reddit

Good effort, I don't have time to deal with the idiots trying to trust my words when I post the "against the grain" point of view any more, so I tend to avoid it (depending on how I feel)

Even now, your well reasoned reply which contributes to the discussion had attracted a downvote, and could still get dogpiled yet, unfortunately. Reddit is just polarising bait at this point, nowhere near a discussion forum nowadays

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VadimH@reddit

Aha yep, thankfully I've been on reddit so long I'm way past the point of caring for upvotes - so can say whatever I want 🤣

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Select_Grocery_1667@reddit

It’s never safe! 😂

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rmulberryb@reddit

It isn't safe to drive at all. 😂 Join them in the corner.

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Nine_Eye_Ron@reddit

Driving is the #1 most dangerous thing I do in my life and I cycle to work.

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Select_Grocery_1667@reddit

This is why I never go to hospital, do you know how many people die in hospital!

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Fantastic-Mistake578@reddit

Same reason why I own 10 guns, in case some maniac tries to sneak a ladder into my home

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HypedSub-@reddit

I personally find my pet snake a good enough deterrent for that

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Select_Grocery_1667@reddit

Just to let you know I got the joke 😂

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foreverlegending@reddit

Shall do..sorry

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tyson_calm@reddit

Okay, no judgement? Yes constantly, if it’s safe and a straight road I’m familiar with I’m doing 5-10mph over the speed limit. On the motorway I do 80 to overtake if the conditions are dry and it’s not busy.

Please don’t murder me Reddit.

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purplepatch@reddit

On the motorway - yeah, sometimes. In town, never. On country roads - depends.

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slade364@reddit

I do love a natiomal speed limit, single lane, winding country road!

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mb271828@reddit

Yeah this hammers home how absurd some of these speed limits are. My only speeding ticket has been for doing 35 in a 30 as the road left a town and was 50m away from turning into a NSL on a winding country road. Yeah the limit is the limit, and I'd crept over in anticipation of the new limit approaching, but don't come at me with nonsense about safety when I'm no longer in a residential zone and in 10 seconds you're quite happy for me to do 60 with far less visibility and room to manoeuvre. Its nothing to do with safety at that point, its just an arbitrary line somebody has drawn on the road, and I'm only guilty of being on the wrong side of it.

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OurSeepyD@reddit

I think it's worth pointing out that the National Speed Limit isn't the limit because someone deemed it appropriate, it's that the road hasn't been assessed and signs haven't been put up. I assume it would be too much effort and would cost too much to manage every single road in the UK.

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meophj@reddit

Almost exactly what happened to me last week. Never felt so disdained with the rules.

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CamVPro@reddit

10ft high hedges either side

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MoreUnderstanding745@reddit

There's two types of people, ones that like to make good progress and ones that doddle

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BaseballFuryThurman@reddit

I don't speed, but people do it because they're impatient and assume they'll get away with it and won't hurt anyone. Most of the time they're right, so they're not going to stop. Personally I'm not inept when it comes to planning journeys so I never need to go above the speed limit.

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lavayuki@reddit

impatience and road rage, stress and being late for something are a few reasons people speed

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VastYogurtcloset8009@reddit

First thing in the morning, EVERYBODY is speeding around me. I set off for work about 620, start at 715, and it's a 20-minute drive, so plenty of time. There's no need to rush in a panicked state. People either absolutely love work and can't wait to get there or they're late af

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ChewpapaNeebrae@reddit

I seem to have the opposite issue: everyone on the road this morning was driving at 45mph on 60mph roads.

Drives me absolutely crazy. WHY DON'T PEOPLE DRIVE TO THE CORRECT SPEEDS???

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Mysterious_Use4478@reddit

IIRC, instructors used to advise going under the limit, as you’re less likely to have an incident. “It’s a limit, not a target”.

But now, as there are so many more drivers on the road, they say to drive as close to the speed limit is possible when the conditions are good. I’d imagine this is to prioritise traffic flow in general.

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Affectionate-Cost525@reddit

Depends on the roads.

I live just near the dales. Half the roads I have to drive for work are NSL but you'd be fucking stupid to actually try and "drive as close to the speed limit" even if driving conditions are good.

NSL just means that no one's trying to enforce a slower speed limit, doesn't mean it's safe to go at 60. If it's your first time driving down half the roads near me I'd always recommend slowing it down a little just because the amount of close calls I see on a regular basis is insane.

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Mysterious_Use4478@reddit

Oh yeah, I was thinking of normal roads tbh. Tiny country lanes you definitely need to drive to the conditions.

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Khaleesi1536@reddit

The worst is being stuck behind someone who’s terrified to go above 45/50 on a slip road onto an NSL road - put your foot down before you cause an accident ffs

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V65Pilot@reddit

Slip roads have stop signs at the end of them.....

At least it seems that way, judging by the amount of people I see stop on one.... If I know the limit of the road I'm joining, I'll try to accelerate to about 5 over, because it's faster to bleed the excess speed off than pick up more, so you can merge properly.

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Mission-Raccoon979@reddit

I find this common. They don’t even try to adjust their speed when there is a transition, e.g from 50 to the National Speed Limit. Or when it goes down to 40. Just a constant 45.

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SecTeff@reddit

Yea the amount of times you get stuck behind someone doing 40 on a 60mph zone only then you go into a village and you slow down to 30 and they just carry on at 40.

Some people have coconut brains

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trigodo@reddit

Or you overtake them and they madly flash their lights 🤦‍♂️

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CartoonistNo9@reddit

Yeah regularly. There’s a half mile road near me with a slight curve to it, it’s regularly quiet and it’s a 30. Similarly on my commute there’s a near empty B road I can get the foot down on.

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BigDumbGreenMong@reddit

I think speeding isn't as bad as it used to be - I remember about 20 years ago it felt like everybody on the motorway was pushing it close to 90mph, sometimes more.

These days it feels like most people stick to the limit.

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No_Translator8317@reddit

I think the amount of speed cameras and average speed checks everywhere nowadays plays a part

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Jcw28@reddit

And the sheer volume of traffic!

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BrieflyVerbose@reddit

That's an English problem. Those numbers significantly drop off when you're in Wales and Scotland.

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Jcw28@reddit

But then I'd have to be in Wales or Scotland!

(Just kidding, I know they have some lovely places.)

I do want to drive the North coast 500 at one point, or the A9.

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shampoo_moustache@reddit

You'd have a death wish if you attempted the NC500 at 90mph 🤣

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Jcw28@reddit

Definitely wouldn't be doing that! I live by a rule of doing an appropriate speed for the road, not necessarily what the speed limit says... Sometimes that means going over, sometimes the limit is right, and then you have those unclassified roads that get slapped with NSL by default but it would be suicidal!

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mrbullettuk@reddit

Kerching. There are a lot of roads with artificially low limits which they then stick a speed camera in the middle of. One near me, used to be 70, now a 50. No houses, no junctions, no history of accidents. Drive that at 50 and you’re the slowest one there. I saw a copper doing well over 50.

Another road, a 40 where that feels way too fast. Semi residential, narrowish, lots of junctions.

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Flyawaymoss9747@reddit

Underrated comment. People too often treat the speed limit like a target, they don’t exceed it or drop below it, which leads to knobs doing 30 down a tiny road with parked cars on either sides which a kid might just step out of between or people who sit in a blind spot instead of swiftly and safely overtaking someone because they can’t be bothered to change their cruise control

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notouttolunch@reddit

The numbers of motorways significantly drop off when you’re in Wales or Scotland too!

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ProfessorYaffle1@reddit

Probably also the number of vehicles with adaptive cruise control -less likely to have the spped creep up without really noticeing, and maybe also smoother traffic geenberally so fewer people getting frustrated and wanting to go speeding past a slower or inconsistent vehicle.

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justbiteme2k@reddit

That and the cost of fuel is stupidly high nowadays, it's too expensive to speed!

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EdmundTheInsulter@reddit

This is true. On the A1 last week, almost full length of it, most people don't speed and a lot that do are around 75 GPS. I was mainly overtaking at 70gps

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nali_cow@reddit

Giraffe-lengths per second?

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Silly_Triker@reddit

So basically the speedometer in the car runs around 2-5mph slower than GPS, the car speedo is calibrated to run slower on purpose. With everyone having a digital display + Sat Nav in their car, this makes the discrepancy easy to spot

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Impressive_Bed_287@reddit

Yeah. I used to regularly do "quite a bit" over 80 up & down the M1 commuting to and from work. Probably explains how I nearly blew up the fucking diesel engine on my focus. These days I'm older, less inclined to take risks, there are more speed cameras and would like to keep my car on the road without needing to spend a bloody fortune on it.

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Erewash@reddit

Around that time, I used to commute from Sheffield to Loughborough. 30 minutes door to door on a good day, blasting down the M1. Occasionally someone would even overtake me…

Couldn’t do it now – traffic density and cameras and not being young and stupid enough would stop me.

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RugbyEdd@reddit

In my area I think very few people do. I tend to just stick on cruise control on the motorway and its rare anyone is going the same speed as me. Either 60 or 80 seem like the most common speeds lol

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SunsetHaze@reddit

It's a lot harder when the lanes are blocked by people doing under the limit half the time

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nobodyspecialuk24@reddit

I noticed this too, a few years ago when fuel prices shot up barely anyone was speeding. Before then, lane 3 was a near constant parade of cars doing 85+, now it’s not that common.

Since having an EV with adaptive cruise control I just set it to 70 and rarely go above that, unless there’s an elephant race going on or some idiot, I want to get away from.

It’s hardly made a difference to my journey times, efficiency is higher.

It’s more interesting to pass lorries and slow traffic before going back into lane 1 rather than cruising down lanes 3 at 85+, rarely getting into lanes 1 & 2 because you’re passing someone again.

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zone6isgreener@reddit

That's because idiots drive at 70 blocking cars from passing more often than not.

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OdinForce22@reddit

That's because idiots drive at 70 blocking cars from passing more often than not.

They're not idiots if they aren't going over the speed limit.

If they're middle lane hoggers, then they are idiots regardless of speed, but people driving at 70 omand doing everything else right aren't idiots.

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zone6isgreener@reddit

If they are impeding traffic then they are.

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MorningToast@reddit

How are they impeding traffic if they're in the right lane or overtaking at the speed limit? If they're just sat in the middle or outside lane doing 70 with nothing stopping them from moving over then yeah, they're shit drivers. But calling them idiots for driving at the speed limit is daft. Surely you can wait 20 seconds to go back to breaking the law and leave them in peace?

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zone6isgreener@reddit

reread my first comment, this works a lot better if you engage with what was actually posted.

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GrabASnickersHun@reddit

The whole point is that you can't impede traffic if you're at the limit.

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OdinForce22@reddit

Urm, no. They're are not the idiots. The idiots are those who think they are entitled to pass at a speed higher than the limit.

If I'm doing 70mph, there is a lorry doing 56 in lane 1, and a car doing 65 on lane 2, I'm going into lane 3 to overtake and I'll stick to 70mph.

If someone has to slow down from speeding to the limit because I'm overtaking on the limit, that ain't my problem.

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zone6isgreener@reddit

I can only suggest you re-read my opening point.

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OdinForce22@reddit

I can only suggest you re-read my first reply to this that responds directly to that point.

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zone6isgreener@reddit

My previous comment applies. Your poor reading comprehension got you frothing, that's on you.

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SallyNicholson@reddit

I'm guessing everybody speeds at times. Whether it is intentional or unintentional depends on how often and how much over the limit they go.

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Mr-Najaf@reddit

I have and do but not excessively. Maybe 5 over. What bugs me is if I'm doing the limit of 30, and someone pisses pasf me at 50, only to be sat next to me again the roundabout. We'll done dickhead, you got far

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North-Village3968@reddit

Because I have to rush to work to earn my bread crumbs, then rush home to enjoy the 2 hours I get to myself to go to bed and repeat. That would be why.

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FailNo6210@reddit

To be fair, if you are travelling at 80 in a 70, you'll save 12.5% of the time. So if it would take you 25 mins at 70, you'll save about 3 minutes. It's not a huge saving, especially when comparatively, the force (based on kinetic energy transfer) if you hit something at 80 instead of 70 is 31% greater.

The consequences scales with the square of the speed; the reward doesn't.

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FailNo6210@reddit

When you speed, the time you save is relative to the speed (v=d/t)

When you crash, the impact (energy transfer) is relative to the speed^2 (E=1/2mv^2).

That's why we got the "If you hit me at 20mph, there's an 80% chance I'll live. If you hit me at 30mph, there's an 80% chance I'll die.

Because the energy transfer is 30^2/20^2 = 9/4, meaning the car going 30mph has 2.25x more kinetic energy. (The energy transfer is roughly equivalent to force, assuming similar impact dynamics).

People don't recognise that and think them saving a few minutes isn't as risky as it is. They don't know that the consequences scale dramatically and so consider the 5-10 mph above the speed limit isn’t going to make a dangerous difference.

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pikantnasuka@reddit

People speed because they are selfish, arrogant and entitled

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Clothes_Chair_Ghost@reddit

It all depends on where it is. But I never go more than 10 over in the countryside but only on roads I know I can do it safely. Otherwise it’s no more than a few miles over but never in town.

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heartthump@reddit

If I am overtaking on a dual carriageway and just need to get past someone then I will go the necessary speed to get past them quickly, even if that means going 10-15mph over

If it’s a residential road or single lane country road then I do my best to stick close to the speed limit but in all honestly I do have a “lead foot” (as my driving instructor once put it) and will go 5mph over the speed limit without even realising it. Obviously I slow down for speed cameras and speed bumps when they appear

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Dunny2k@reddit

If the person you’re overtaking is going the speed limit then you wouldn’t need to speed to overtake them? Fair enough if they’re doing 50 in a 60, but if they’re doing 60 in a 60 then you don’t and shouldn’t overtake them.

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Adjective_Noun0563@reddit

nah the operative word in that person's comment was "quickly". there's no benefit to hanging in the blind spot & side winds of a huge lorry and (increasing congestion on the road) by sticking to 70mph on the over take.

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Dunny2k@reddit

Lorries only go 56, so you can easily overtake them at 70. There’s no reason to go beyond that.

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Adjective_Noun0563@reddit

Ah yes all lorries can only go 56 even though they're actually limited to 60 and some of them are limited to 70, and for some reason all of their speedos are miscalibrated to the exact same degree and every car speedo is perfectly calibrated. Plus every other vehicle on the road is perfectly stable at 70 too so there's never any cause to overtake someone religiously stuck at 66 in the middle lane, and if you do, it's better to take 30 seconds about it instead of 5. It's all just a product of mine and the other commenter's respective imaginations!

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Dunny2k@reddit

No lorry I’ve ever seen on the road has ever gone faster than 60, it’s illegal for lorries to go over 60 on a dual carriageway or more anyway. Well yeah middle-lane hoggers are a huge issue in this country but that’s a whole other conversation to have! If they’re going 66 like you say then going bang on 70 is enough to overtake them in a few seconds.

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Adjective_Noun0563@reddit

not very observant then are we

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FehdmanKhassad@reddit

cars report speeds differently for various reasons. so your 60 might be someone else's 57. Anyway, you are not the police

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Dunny2k@reddit

Actually I am the police 😂

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beejiu@reddit

Why are you overtaking if you need to speed up to do it?

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Psycho_Splodge@reddit

Cause it's safer to pass quicker

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SecTeff@reddit

It’s safer to sit back and not overtake.

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Adjective_Noun0563@reddit

it's safer to walk everywhere but we can't all be taking two weeks to get to Canterbury

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SecTeff@reddit

We are likely saving much less time then we think by overtaking lots. See https://www.hiroad.com/blog/driving/how-much-time-does-speeding-actually-save

If you have to break the speed limit to overtake someone they are likely not going that much slower than the speed limit or you aren’t overtaking somewhere very safe to do so.

Must of us on Reddit waste far more time commenting then any of us would save speeding to overtake someone

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Psycho_Splodge@reddit

Possibly, but it doesn't mean it's unsafe to overtake.

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ConsistentCatch2104@reddit

You must be one of those that tries to pass another car at 1 MPH faster. Taking 5 minutes to complete the overtake! Your type are very annoying. Go from a free flowing lane 3 to a queue of 20 cars in seconds.

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beejiu@reddit

Well I don't overtake cars "just to get past" in the first place. Generally I'm probably overtaking 5mph (busy traffic) or 10mph (less busy). Speeding up just to get past, only to then slow down again is bad driving.

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HypedSub-@reddit

They probably could overtake at 70, but it would take much longer to do so than overtaking at 75. Especially if you have someone on your ass in the third lane then going that 5mph faster then moving over is safer.

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HankHonkaDonk@reddit

Well they aren't going to slow down are they?

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beejiu@reddit

No doubt they'll hit the brakes as soon as they've merged back in, slowing everyone else down. Nothing worse.

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Colloidal_entropy@reddit

You're on a dual carriageway, provided you're actually passing the vehicle to the left there is very little need to speed up, and absolutely none to exceed the limit.

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SWLondonLady@reddit

This is how I got my one speeding ticket. And there I was thinking I was being safe by getting into free space quicker.

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Silly-Fox-9421@reddit

Damn that's unlucky. I was over taking a lorry on a dual carriageway and there was a guy right up my arse. I was just about to accelerate over 60 (driving a van) when a speed van started to appear as I got closer to the front of the lorry. Glad I held my nerve!

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animalwitch@reddit

I was over taking a lorry, that was overtaking another lorry on the M5 going towards Plymouth. There was a prick of a speed bike on one of the bridges. I was going probably 80 and had a Land Rover right up my arse which wasn't helping.. It's the only time I'd ever had points on my license to date, and I take pleasure in knowing they also got a ticket 😂

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sideone@reddit

will go 5mph over the speed limit without even realising it

Do you have cruise control? You can set it for the speed limit and not worry.

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boddle88@reddit

Clear motorway or A road yes, but i actually always sit at the speed limit but will have a blast sometimes

30s and 40s I am really disciplined to be fair as I drive a decent commute on a sketch A road and have seen accidents and keen not to be one

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Airborne_Stingray@reddit

Yeah, everyone's got somewhere to be. Stop acting the saint.

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Emergency_Mistake_44@reddit (OP)

I wasn't.

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Airborne_Stingray@reddit

aM I wEiRd 4 dRivNg ThE sPeEd LiMiT

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Emergency_Mistake_44@reddit (OP)

I wasn't.

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ouzo84@reddit

Because people don't leave enough time to get where they are going.

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Nine_Eye_Ron@reddit

Only by accident.

Most drivers will accept the risk to themselves and others and exceed the speed limit., it’s commonplace but I don’t think it’s right.

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Nikolopolis@reddit

If you are doing it by accident you are not driving with due care and attention.

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Nine_Eye_Ron@reddit

I try my absolute upmost to drive within the law and pay attention at all times.

I struggle to think of any time I have been out driving and not made at least one mistake that would get me a minor in a test at least.

I hate driving, I suck at it but it’s a necessity of life.

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ITAW-Techie@reddit

Have you never had a bad day where you didn't drive with due care and attention?

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FenderMike@reddit

10% +2 right?

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Nine_Eye_Ron@reddit

Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone.

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NoisyGog@reddit

Just because something is illegal doesn’t make it morally wrong, either.

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Nine_Eye_Ron@reddit

That is so true, all around the world!

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ViridianKumquat@reddit

10% + 2 is still illegal, just not enforced.

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meophj@reddit

That’s the guidance but not the rule everywhere

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WhatYouLeaveBehind@reddit

Not everywhere.

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prettyflyforawifi-@reddit

Damn, I've always been doing +3... oops.

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EdmundTheInsulter@reddit

Err, probably not since it's still speeding.

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Sudden-Possible3263@reddit

I did, I bought a less powerful car because of it, this one won't creep up, I wasn't doing it intentionally, the car was a bit to powerful, now this one struggles to overtake but there's no more risk of speeding. I need my car for work

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4321zxcvb@reddit

As I’ve got older I’ve tended to stick to the speed limit and feel happier for it.

I’ve also attended 2 speed awareness courses which does kind of hammer the point home.

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WhatYouLeaveBehind@reddit

These should be mandatory for everyone every 5 years I think.

People honestly don't realise how dangerous it is.

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LuDdErS68@reddit

People honestly don't realise how dangerous it is.

Because it demonstrably isn't very dangerous.

Unless there's data I've never seen.

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WhatYouLeaveBehind@reddit

This is why sitting the course is useful.

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LuDdErS68@reddit

Accident causation data collected by the police says that speed above the posted limit is the cause of less than 10% of crashes.

https://www.nimblefins.co.uk/cheap-car-insurance/top-causes-car-accidents-uk

So, what important data are the police hiding from the public, only to be released when you attend a course?

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4321zxcvb@reddit

Agreed. I feel I learnt more in these courses about driving than when i passed my test.

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Iz-zY1994@reddit

Yes I agree, they should be the older version that was longer, too, the new version isn't as good imo.

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affordable_firepower@reddit

I got caught for the first time earlier this year. did the course.

I have noticed that as I have got older (now mid 50's) that I speed less and less.

I often get overtaken in a 30 zone in the few hundred yards before it becomes a 50 zone on my way to work. I can't believe that people are so eager to get to the next traffic queue

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Eddbrit89@reddit

No. I've drove a van for the best part of 15 years, just got used to going 60. I even had a jaguar ipace and the guys at work would make jokes about it never being used as I still drove it like miss daisy

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Emergency_Mistake_44@reddit (OP)

I'm the same, used to drive a delivery van restricted to 62, it just feels the norm.

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FlakyPianist8030@reddit

Think the reasons differ for everyone, some people have busy schedules, some have a heavy foot, multiple reasons to speed (not saying they’re right) but some speed limits are a joke too. Also some people like cruising in their cars and some enjoy going fast in their cars

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MoleDunker-343@reddit

Most people on the road these days are just dense.

It’s the people merging on to the motorway at 47 MPH and the people that sit in the middle lane at a steady 70 MPH and never switch lanes according to traffic movements that cause the most problems.

Then you’ve got the people that sit in the fast lane for miles going 80, most likely because of the aforementioned people hogging the middle lane.

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Akash_nu@reddit

Taking a weekend trip to Devon and I literally just experienced some crazy speeding situation on A303. 🤦🏻‍♂️

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DM_Me_Your_Girl_Abs@reddit

My car has adaptive cruise control, and that really is the life.

I drive so many different cars, and the ones that have it on a Motorway drive are so much more relaxing

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Affectionate-Cost525@reddit

I struggle to trust cruise control half the time. No chance I could ever trust adaptive 😂

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Akash_nu@reddit

Adaptive cruise control is a life saver. You have to try it out.

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Davski88@reddit

Surprised anyone was able to speed on the 303. I'm usually stuck behind a tractor for about 85 miles.

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notouttolunch@reddit

You took the first exit then?

I took someone to see stone henge. I said it wasn’t worth paying to see so I’d drop her off as I joined the queue, give her chance to take some pictures and see her at the other roundabout. The plan worked beautifully - she was waiting for me at the other end!

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Davski88@reddit

Surprised anyone was able to speed on the 303. I'm usually stuck behind a tractor for about 85 miles

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Blkf1nger@reddit

Haven't done speed in a long time.

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meowrowlow@reddit

I've got a prescription and take it 3 times a day

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LochNessMother@reddit

I can’t wait! One of my pieces of evidence (to myself anyway) is how I processed amphetamines differently from my friends. Being able to sleep on speed is not normal.

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KarateGirl1021@reddit

Just took mine this morning too.

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Davski88@reddit

How many years sober? Or did you move onto other drugs?

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Blkf1nger@reddit

Got addicted to crumpets.

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V65Pilot@reddit

Crumpet addiction is no laughing matter.

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jtr99@reddit

A tale as old as time...

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daddy-dj@reddit

Nice one, bruvva

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LuDdErS68@reddit

I likely break at least one speed limit every time I drive. From my experience, pretty much everyone does. I laugh at the usual comments on FB "speed trap alert devices" from people who, in all likelihood, break the speed limit often.

I don't care about others' opinions of speeding and don't care why other people do it. I'm concentrating on my driving.

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Select_Grocery_1667@reddit

I once did 71mph on the motorway. I felt awful I saw a police car at the service station so went and told him… I was filling in the paperwork and I said I was white English, he arrested me and threw me in jail!

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bluemoon191@reddit

I was driving home last year after a weekend away and me and a friend both passed a marked local police car doing about 75MPH+ (GPS) the guy didn't even do anything.

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Select_Grocery_1667@reddit

That was very dangerous of you!

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bluemoon191@reddit

The officer clearly didn't think it was dangerous enough to stop me or report to a roads policing unit, I was on the same motorway for miles after that.

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Khaleesi1536@reddit

r/woooosh

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bluemoon191@reddit

You can never tell these days.

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Select_Grocery_1667@reddit

No everyone else can you just never could!

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bluemoon191@reddit

I mean, I could say I went 200mph, it doesn't make it true.

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Select_Grocery_1667@reddit

You can never tell these days

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Panenka7@reddit

On way round it is to set up a Go Fund Me and have gullible people pay your way through life off the back of it.

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Pedantichrist@reddit

I drive with blue lights and sirens.

If I go at 90, to a job 18 miles away down the main road, it takes about 18 minutes (12 minutes if I magically started at 90 and never had to slow down) as opposed to about 20 minutes at 60.

By the time I get the stuff out of the back and knock on the door, I probably am taking about 20 minutes instead of 22, and I am hyped and there is a much higher chance of something happening that shows us down or stops us.

Blue lights are amazingly useful in town, so I can go 30 when everyone else is going 5, and to keep going and make progress, but speeding is not the benefit.

Learning that has slowed me right down in my normal vesicles. Speeding is not actually getting you anywhere notably faster.

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LostCtrl-Splatt@reddit

Stuck on a local road which is basically a straight road for like 8 miles. Max speed 60mph behind someone going 30. And the other side backed up because of a breakdown or another slow driver. I'll speed when I get the chance to get to work on time. If on the motorway there is usually no need.

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CobblerSmall1891@reddit

Because I like to.

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YouSayWotNow@reddit

Nope. The only time I might consider doing so was to drive someone with very serious health emergency to hospital and only if that was going to be faster than waiting for an ambulance. Or to try and stop sometime from committing suicide. That kind of really truly genuine emergency.

Little else is frankly ever as urgent as people make out, most of the time they are most too self important. Even attending a wedding or funeral isn't really justification for risking injury to self or others.

So I don't give a fuck why others speed, the only reason I would have any personal sympathy for would be even it's genuinely life or death stuff.

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Critical_Boot_9553@reddit

I drive in accordance with the conditions, the environment I am in and with consideration for my state of alertness and driving ability. I often treat posted speed limits as advisory especially NSL and motorway limits.

Before you jump on me, I’m not the knobhead that will skittle you or your kids outside a school, and I promise I’ll not be the one to spook you when crossing the road in the town centres, but on an open road in the right conditions I’m getting from A to B as quickly and safely as I can - one of my advanced driving assessments described it as “making progress” - I’m not aggressive behind the wheel and I own some fast cars that are comfortably capable of double the national speed limit. Speeding does not kill, despite what roads policing units would like you to believe. I’ve been driving like this for over 30 years, accident free, points free and speed related fixed penalty fine free (did pick up several for driving into places I shouldn’t have in Italy - but not speed related).

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RequirementCool3788@reddit

I will never understand the need tbh, I would rather drive more safe and take the extra few minutes than speed about and put myself and others at risk

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v2marshall@reddit

The limits were set long ago and cars are safer. You get there a little faster.

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BirchyBaby@reddit

Haha! Nice try, bobbies! Not getting me today!

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TheAlbertBrennerman@reddit

I would say 95 percent of people speed. Maybe higher. Not all the time but deffo sometimes.

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Silver-Appointment77@reddit

I hate people flying around. Its like last week coming into my town. Single laned road and traffic all just slowly moving and some dick decided to over take me into incoming traffic. Almost caused a head on crash and a car running into the back of me when I hit the brakes on to let him in. And that as far as he got. No further.

He got in front of me, but i thought why the fuck did you do that? he overtook the car behing me, and me, in his rush. And yes it was a man in his mid 30s. Im sure he had a death wish.

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cubbearley@reddit

Yeh safe to do so and 10% over true. So 83 in 70 mph

I dont know if I'm just comfortable doing it. But even the police have done it along side me as long as you follow proper road rules

Keep left overtaking and such

Sometimes if it's super clean on a straight ill just go mental and send it

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misschanandler__bong@reddit

no, i passed my test recently and i don’t see the point tbh

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ReallyIntriguing@reddit

I speed if it's safe to do so, as in 30 in a 20 etc, 99% time I'm at or under the limit. I never tailgate.

Others speed everywhere, they leave late, rush, tailgate and drive aggressively with no result from their outputs, end of right behind them or at the lights next to them.

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nstiger83@reddit

If there is a lot of traffic and/or pedestrians... no.

If it's late at night on a dual carriageway or motorway and there is no one else around for miles... absolutely.

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El_Scot@reddit

I live in a city, and feel there's a lot of pressure to speed here. I try to be within a certain margin (35 in a 30, 45 in a 40), but even then, you get people overtaking you/tailgating you for going slow.

I will accept that pressure in an area where you're more likely to have people around, but if it's a really straight section of road with no pedestrians around, it feels less risky.

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Hambatz@reddit

Yep I was I bit of an idiot missed the odd 40 down to 30 switch up and have often very dangerously been clocked at the heady heights of 34

200 quid later and the permanent anxiety of losing my job I just go at 20 everywhere now I think it’s for the best

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prustage@reddit

I always see It a sign of insecurity. Hey, I may have no friends and no sex life but I CAN GO FASTER THAN YOU!

Its also a kind of fake bravery. The speed limit is 70 but I can drive 80 AND IM NOT EVEN SCARED!

I dont hold with the idea that people are saving time by going faster. Doing 80 rather than 70 means you only save a few minutes on a one hour journey

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TheHumanTrout@reddit

The difference speeding makes to the time it takes you to get somewhere is measured in seconds. Its either the speed limit or 100 over, otherwise it pointless

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Fureniku@reddit

Around town? No, there's no point speeding anyway. You'll get to the next traffic lights 3 seconds earlier and have to wait anyway.

Motorway? Yeah, because going 80 instead of 70 adds up and can shave a good 10 mins off your journey if you're going a long way.

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The_JimJam@reddit

7 and a half minutes quicker if you average 80 instead of 70 over a full hour

Doesn't really seem worth it to me. Plus the fact that due to traffic you likely won't actually be averaging 80 for that full hour. And 80 takes up a fair bit more fuel than 70

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Adjective_Noun0563@reddit

maybe it depends on the roads I drive on but around by me the motorways during traffic boil down to left lane 50, middle lane 65, right lane you're getting flashed at 80. if you can brave that right lane it's quite a bit quicker.

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tomelwoody@reddit

It is 100% worth it.

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V65Pilot@reddit

Agreed. Now, back home? Yeah. absolutely worth it if I was in my work truck, with 90 gallons of fuel in the tanks.... I usually had to pee before I needed fuel. Hell, my motorcycle had a 7.something gallon tank, I'd set my cruise at 80, activate the headlight modulator and just cruise for hours. Cars would move over when they spotted me

coming up in their mirrors. The paint job helped a bit......., 😁

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BiggieSnakes@reddit

Ten whole minutes! Think of the activities!

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Dunny2k@reddit

But that’s literally illegal you know? And you’re saving a mere 2 minutes, not 10.

[-]

strasxi@reddit

‘But that’s 🤓’

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Dunny2k@reddit

Got a hard man over here

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CassetteLine@reddit

Let’s not pretend that doing 80 on a motorway is risking your life. You undermine the whole argument exaggerating like that.

The added risk of doing 80 instead of 70 is trivial.

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Thestickleman@reddit

In town no

Elsewhere then depends. Nice A or be road where everyone else is to terrified to do over 40mph so I'm overtaking and having abit of a blast or driving late at night.

On the motorway I do as well but generally not enough to get into trouble again unless the road is empty

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shyshyoctopi@reddit

Nah, not worth it to save a few minutes. Driving is dangerous enough without increasing the forces any more. In residential and country areas I want to be careful of animals, cyclists and pedestrians. On the motorway I want to not increase my chances of dying.

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Spottyjamie@reddit

My estate is 20 yet 50-60 is the norm ffs

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PatserGrey@reddit

Every single day, considering the road that leads to ours was reduced to 20mph last year which is stupidly slow. It was fine at 30 if they just enforced it with a camera or two. Now it's 20 and they still don't enforce it. I feel bad for the black box young drivers that have to stick to it, painful to watch.

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geeered@reddit

Do you measure your speed with a GPS? Your speedo likely over-reads. I'm regularly doing exactly 70mph in my largish van on the motorway and going past most people.

Go back a couple of decades and it'd be not uncommon that I could be doing 90mph on the speedo on my motorcycle and be on the inside lane and having someone go past me in the middle lane and someone else going past them in the outside lane

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meophj@reddit

I sometimes go slightly over the limit but literally last week I got caught doing 35 in a 30 so I’ll probably have to think again about that.

However, I do think people will be less inclined to speed if roads had more appropriate speed limits and were designed better - anecdotally there is a road near where I live which has a speed limit of 40 but is the most perfect, clear, beautiful 60 road I’ve ever seen. Makes no sense why it’s 40.

If you go further down the road you end up going through a town which has recently changed from 30 to 20. Again, it’s the most de facto standard 30 road you can imagine (most people here speed and still drive 30). And when they don’t you get bottlenecks through the only route to the nearest city.

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Large-Lettuce-7940@reddit

rarely. to say ive never gone over the limit would be a lie, but i dont do it on purpose

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Cute-Cauliflower4248@reddit

Controversial take here: I speed whenever I can just because I have an Alfa and like driving fast.

Never stupid speeds or speeding in residential areas or near schools. Around 40 normally on a 30 road or just under. Never really more than that. Slow down for speed cameras when I know they’re there.

Another thing is I never speed in a strange place I’ve never been. If I know the roads, then I’m more likely to put my foot down.

I’m sure everyone has put their foot down on the motorway at some point just to see what their car can do. Did 120 on the M1 one time but chickened out and slowed down.

I think the speed limit should be above 70 personally but too many fuckwits in this country who wouldn’t be sensible about it.

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Medium_Lab_200@reddit

Not as much as I used to. Twenty or thirty years ago it was easy to do 120-140mph for big distances on the motorway, especially at night. Probably more if you had a car or motorcycle with the capability to do so.

Nowadays I will do 85mph sometimes and once in a blue moon I’ll whack it up to 140 or so just to blow the cobwebs away. Most of the time I’m at 65mph on the motorway though because it’s easier.

[-]

RugbyEdd@reddit

I can take a guess at the second question for you: To get where they're going faster. In some cases maybe just for the thrill of it.

[-]

noddyneddy@reddit

I have two triggers. Or I should say used to- as I get older I calm down. One was stress and anxiety over work. I used to drive for work and was constantly stressed about making it to appointments on time. The second was I love the feel of driving a powerful car fast, clear roads, a lot of bendy swooping turns, great weather and good rock music. That one was harder to kick!

[-]

SaltyLilSelkie@reddit

They recently changed the speed limit near me on a country road from NSL to 40/50mph. There’s no reported accidents, it’s not a hot spot, it drops back to 30 for the only village along that stretch and there are hardly ever pedestrians. It’s perfectly safe to drive along there at a higher speed as long as you’re paying attention to the road like you should be. I resent the speed limit and sometimes creep over it.

What annoys me most is the slow pokes who STILL only drive at 30mph along the whole stretch even though the road has been assessed. They don’t even have to make their own decisions now and they still can’t drive at a decent speed. I drive around my local country roads every day multiple times and constantly come across dickheads that can’t drive over 40mph. I probably do drive a bit too fast but they definitely drive too slowly.

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rob-c@reddit

Apologies, I should have added the /s

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Preacherjonson@reddit

I generally don't speed in 20 and 30 zones. I might touch ten miles over in other limits but it all comes down to weather and traffic conditions.

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Choccybizzle@reddit

I speed in places I know and feel comfortable. 35ish in a 30 type of thing, nothing that daft. I also leave for work around 5am when I’m on a day shift so I feel that I can add a few mph on the way there. I rarely speed on the motorway though, don’t know why.

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BarnabyBundlesnatch@reddit

Depends what you mean by speed, 100 in a 30? Fuck no. 35/40 in a 30? Yeah, probably.

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a_boy_called_sue@reddit

I live on. 30mph dual carriageway with no speed cameras. It's a racetrack

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_redcourier@reddit

Not really. I was on a speed awareness course not too long ago for going auto pilot and not adhering to most places being 20mph in Wales rather than 30 in England.

So now I’m more careful with it and I don’t have to worry about getting a letter through the door again.

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TorchKing101@reddit

As I age, and my reaction speeds fade, not so much. However I bought an EV which I thought would slow me down because of range anxiety, but it's so cheap to run, and really fast, that it's brought back the speed monster a bit.

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Valuable-Wallaby-167@reddit

On the motorway yes if I'm honest, but not more than what seems to be standard.

Otherwise I try not to, not saying I never edge over but I will slow down when I realise. Realistically unless you're speeding a significant amount for a significant distance it's not going to have any real impact on your travel time.

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rubys_arms@reddit

I walk fast, I pass people on escalators - basically if I'm going somewhere, anywhere, I go there fast. So unfortunately I tend to speed when I drive. I don't mean to, but if I'm not super vigilant it just happens. Not by a stupid amount, but I'm usually above the speed limit unless I'm in a built up area. I also get very stressed when people tailgate me so I tend to drive too fast then, even though I know they're in the wrong and not me.

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notouttolunch@reddit

This is honest, but weird 😂

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NochMessLonster@reddit

Yes because I’m terrible at timekeeping and I’m always running late.

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badger906@reddit

My gf thinks the throttle is a switch. It’s either on or off. So she will cruise up to 90 and then back down to 70, rinse and repeats. She has zero points on her licence and I’ve no idea how

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notouttolunch@reddit

I don’t speed intentionally.

Sometimes the speed creeps up or I allow nature to slow me down in a change of speed limit.

If there’s a particularly irritating vehicle blocking the left hand lane or something like that I may speed a little to make sure I get away from them. But we’re talking indicated 75 instead of 70.

I’m quite a relaxed person when people around me aren’t being stupid; driving or otherwise.

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Justboy__@reddit

They think they’re such great drivers they’ll never crash but they’re also simultaneously too moronic to figure out that they’re not really gaining very much time to make it worth it.

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Fearless_Tea_662@reddit

I think it depends massively on where you are. On dual carriageways and motorways where the limit is 70, the vast majority of people do speed a little bit, and it isn't particularly unsafe. 80 in a 70 is very different to doing 40 in a 30.

Personally I'm a learner driver and one of the hardest things for me is doing the speed limit exactly - so in a 30 I am trying to be not 27, not 32, but 30, the whole way, it's actually harder than you'd think it would be when you don't drive.

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Nooms88@reddit

Yes on empty dual carriages ways or motorways I'll regularly set my cruise control to 80-85mph, I have a modern car and I don't perceive any risk to doing to. It's safer doing 90mph on a clear day, empty dual carriageway, good visibility than doing 60mph in the pouring rain, even on an empty road.

I understand why the rules are there, but honestly if you ever get caught speeding, you weren't paying enough attention and shouldn't be doing it.

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Organic_Armadillo_10@reddit

My parents do speed a little, but not by much.

I prefer to stick to it. Even when overtaking I hate going over the limit just incase I get caught. But usually speed up to pass then back to the limit.

And hate it when I'm driving the max speed limit or just over it, and have people up my back annoyed at me.

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fearlessfoo49@reddit

Oh to hell with the downvotes, I’m going to be honest:

Driving in a “spirited” way, which includes clutches pearls breaking the speed limit, is fun. It’s more engaging, interesting and I’ll say it again, fun.

As long as you’re not putting others in danger, this is not a problem.

Yes, there are speed limits. A few things on them: 1) in most cases, these are arbitrary limits put in place with zero research or consideration for the surroundings 2) other than smart motorways, speed limits never take into account conditions 3) they have to cater to the lowest denominator, I.e. thick people.

If you don’t want to speed, that’s fine. In fact, please don’t if it makes you so uncomfortable. I’ll leave you alone if you leave me alone - we’re not doing each other any harm, so live and let live.

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jsteveho@reddit

Sometimes I wish we had unrestricted motorways. Then I imagine the carnage of some idiot ‘safely’ doing 60-65 in the middle lane like always and I reconsider 😭

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fearlessfoo49@reddit

We have smart motorways, surely we could set up minimum speed limits in sections of clear road in good conditions?

Also don’t think it’d be hard to use said cameras for middle laners too

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jsteveho@reddit

We could do all of this but sadly I doubt they will. They’re too busy making great decisions like removing and then reinstating hard shoulders.

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Deviant-Oreo@reddit

I do tend to speed, simply because I find driving fun and of course, when it's safe to do so and move over if someone's pushing limits further than mine and also not tailgating someone who's overtaking but at the limit.

Also I like minmaxing time even if it's by a minute or two.

I wish I could take my car to Germany though.

I also feel with modern cars and their safety features- driving at 70 feel alittle sluggish.

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Kickstart68@reddit

99% of drivers speed - just the amount that varies.

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EdmundTheInsulter@reddit

I no longer speed due to technology and my belief that it saves little if any time and uses more fuel.

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Antique_Surprise_763@reddit

What do you mean due to technology? Speed cameras?

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CassetteLine@reddit

Probably also cruise control.

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CassetteLine@reddit

I’ll speed fairly frequently. If it’s a road I know well enough, am confident it’s safe enough to do so, and am confident there won’t be cameras, then why not?

If I’m driving it’s because I’m trying to get there. Getting there faster is better.

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Bennetsquote@reddit

The UK speed limits are archaic and frustrating, modern cars can handle much better, as its with the majority of other countries, London's blanket 20mph, a roads 30mph, or motorways 70mph are all ridiculous. I got a speeding ticket the other day for doing 36 in a 30, 4 am going to the airport when the roads are fully empty, that is not even fast in daylight. anyways.

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lordrothermere@reddit

Obviously not, as that would be illegal. But I imagine that if I were to, it would be in national speed limit areas and would probably be for the enjoyment of going fast.

But I really wouldn't know.

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CodeToManagement@reddit

I speed a bit on the motorway or dual carriageway but not in heavy traffic and not in towns etc

Main reason is I’m driving along on a clear road there’s not really a difference between doing 70 or 80 in terms of safety if it’s clear and there’s good visibility.

Sometimes il do it because everyone else is and it feels safer to keep up than stay in the left lane where people are going slow and then trying to find a gap to move out to overtake

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vminnear@reddit

I don't tend to until I get to a 20mph zone and then it's really hard not to.

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verminV@reddit

Yup. Not often or by much, but 35 or so in a 30 with nobody about in the evening.... I never do more than 5-10mph over and only if its obviously safe to do so and on roads I know well.

Anywhere else, I stick to them. Never know where a pesky yellow box is lurking to give me some points and a fine.

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RobertTheSpruce@reddit

Sometimes, when I want to get where I'm going faster.

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QwertyWarriorR@reddit

I used to get worked up, I still do sometimes, but then I remind myself of something I read... probably on Reddit....

Why somebody else is in a hurry, is none of my business.

Let them go.

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yearsofpractice@reddit

Hey OP. 49 years older than old married father of two here.

I don’t speed because I’m a dreary old fart. Only time I do so is on motorways to keep up with traffic so as not to cause anyone else to brake or avoid me.

My wife speeds because she likes driving fast. She’s currently hobbled as she’s got points on her licence from getting caught.

My only pearl-clutching when it comes to speeding is in urban areas - my GCSE maths taught me that kinetic energy goes up with the square of the speed, so a car doing 30mph has over twice the kinetic energy as one doing 20mph. The transfer of kinetic energy is what damages humans when they’re hit, hence my support of 20mph urban areas.

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Vehlin@reddit

NSL I just drive to the conditions, so slow on windy country lanes, 75-80 on a dual carriageway and 80-85 on a motorway unless weather or traffic suggest otherwise. I always stick to numbered speed limits however.

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homelaberator@reddit

Impatient with poor impulse control and a low tolerance for others.

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WorldlinessLeast3036@reddit

At least your self-aware. Most actual bad drivers don't know they're bad drivers

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saswir@reddit

Limit + 10%, always unless conditions necessitate driving slower

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CalamityHol@reddit

I live in South Wales, where a bunch of 30mph limits have been reduced to 20mph.

In general I don't speed or condone speeding, but I mostly disregard the 20mph limit unless I'm driving near a school or down a street. It's difficult to maintain such a slow speed!

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TheYorkshireGripper@reddit

On the motorway I go a bit quicker than usual, but on the roads there's no point, you don't actually get anywhere any quicker and just risk getting a speeding fine.

I can't even begin to tell you the amount of times I've seen some chavvy pleb driving like a moron in a Fiesta, pretending to be Dom Torretto and then end up at a red light 3 cars behind them.

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topher2604@reddit

I don't see the need to rush but I tend to be a little over the limit much of the time. On motorways in Europe I normally drive at the speed limit, which is generally 130kmh (about 80mph), which works fine over there, so I do that here too when the traffic allows. I got signalled to slow down once by an unmarked police car when I was doing 97, so I try not to go crazy now.

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Mrfunnynuts@reddit

Upside of speed - save an extra 5 minutes of time

Downsides of speed - points, fine, insurance increase

I'm a "always at the limit" driver, if it's 70 I'm going 70 and I will be overtaking and stuff to accommodate that.

But I don't speed.

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DrainpipeDreams@reddit

With a 20mph speed limit on the majority of urban roads in Wales, it's hard not to, although I mean by a few mph, not the extra at least 20 that someone did as they overtook my as we passed the purely decorative speed camera near my home.

It seems that nobody wants to go at 20mph, so you always end up with a massive tail of cars following in your wake. It gets tiresome.

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GodOfThunder888@reddit

A lot of roads in my area should probably be 40 mph. This is what everyone was driving when they were 30 mph, now they've gone down to 20 mph and people are still driving 40 mph. The worst thing is, council people hiding in the bushes snapshotting people going over the limit... I try to stick to the limit, but it's impossible to do so. I get 20 mph within busy towns, but driving from Town A to Town B can sometimes be 20 mph for the full duration even though the type of road doesn't per se warrant it. When everyone is driving 30-40 mph, and you're the only one going 20 mph because it's the actual limit is also dangerous

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DrainpipeDreams@reddit

It may be slightly dangerous but the person who is not exceeding the speed limit is not the one causing the danger from a legal perspective.

There are many roads around Cardiff that did used to be 40, which are now 30. Thankfully, they're not 20. There are roads through industrial estates which are 20, which is just a complete nonsense when the idea was to protect residential areas and schools.

Roads between towns that are now 20, because there's a house every few hundred metres, it's also nonsense.

Just because I try to stick to the limit, doesn't mean I agree with it. And everyone surely thinks "who's ever going to know?" when speeding in an area with no known speed cameras, but then I think of those TV shows where the police are doing forensic studies of accident scenes, or the fact that so many people now have dash cams which show the speed at which they are travelling, and I figure that the insurance company would very likely find out, if there were an accident, and it might void the claim!

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SpudFire@reddit

Those 20 limits are horrible. You spend a lot of time looking at the speedo and it's really difficult to find the right gear to be in without it sounding like you're killing your engine and gearbox.

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DrainpipeDreams@reddit

I'm fortunate that my hybrid has an automatic gearbox so I don't need to feck about with gears (my last car it probably would have been a comfortable gear 2, as it only had a little engine) but the constantly looking at the speedo is universal (well, universal to those at least trying to stick to it. All others use a close study of the bumper, or the car interior, of the car in front, to manage their speed!)

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Mission-Raccoon979@reddit

I find it just so difficult stick to the 20 mph limits in Wales! My car just sounds happier at a bit more.

Mind you, when I go to England, 30 mph in built-up areas seems like breakneck speed!

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DrainpipeDreams@reddit

It does seem really weird doing 30 in England in residential areas now. I often find that you can't even do 30 due to either parked cars, pedestrians or just how generally busy it is, anyway.

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random_username_96@reddit

I only speed on motorways, and even then only up to 75mph max - I'll do this to overtake quicker (like, if they're going 68 and I'm going 70, it's going to take a while, and there might be busy sliplanes where it's helpful for everyone to be able to move over), to get past someone who keeps going fast-slow-fast-slow, that sort of thing.

I will also speed if I know the signs are up for no reason e.g. a pointless 50mph section ahead of roadworks beginning.

I never speed in residential areas or along winding country roads. Just as importantly, I don't think my reaction times defy statistics and so ensure to keep the appropriate distance from other vehicles as much as possible.

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Specialist_Emu7274@reddit

On motorways and dual carriages when it is safe to do so yea, probably max 15-20 over though plenty of people still overtake me. In towns/cities I probably do go a few miles over (it’s very easy to do) but not on purpose and slow myself down.

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newtobitcoin111@reddit

Nice try officer!

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DennisTheConvict@reddit

I'm Wales everyone speeds, because only the politicians thought 20mph limits everywhere was a good idea.

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11theman@reddit

Yeah. Top end limit should absolutely be 90.

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umstra@reddit

I'll chill at 73-75 in a 70 zone

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LordMogroth@reddit

Yes on motorways. No on other roads. Although I'll admit that it is often hard to stick to 20 and so easy to creep up to 30 thinking your going really slowly.

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RatzzFace@reddit

I tell you who speeds.

The people who you can just see the top of their heads because they have set up their car seats like a formula one car, even though they are driving a fucking shite BMW. They will also often add a "loud fart box" to their exhausts, for ... well, just noise I guess.

They look like knob heads, drive like knob heads, and probably are knob heads.

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overcooked_biscuit@reddit

Yes I speed but it is contextually and I stick to the limit in town and built up areas. An example of where I go over the limit is the stretch of dual carriage way close to my work, it has been turned into a 50mph stretching for half a mile as they're building new houses. The issue is the development is still flat land with nobody going on or off site via the dual carriage way, there is a work entrance 2 miles on the other side of the development. The limit was introduced to slow down traffic for when people eventually move in as they will eventual be additional a slip road. The road has been a 70mph road for decades and it is no safer or dangerous today as a 50mph limit road.

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Fun-Membership-9795@reddit

Depends , time and a place really , I did over 120mph down a 50mph country lane last week but it was clear straight for 1mile+ with nobody oncoming that whole way and very early morning, on the regular I stick to the speed limits though , patience and distraction is the biggest issue on our roads, speed just makes the damage worst

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eroticdiscourse@reddit

Now the speed limit is 20mph here I find myself doing 30mph rather than where I was doing say 40mph in a 30 before

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MauriceDynasty@reddit

Happily stick to the speed limit most of the time, however I do try and overtake trucks in a timely manor. I hate watching someone overtaking a lorry going 1 mph faster than it, it's so unsafe. Far better to overtake at 75 in my opinion quickly and be done with it.

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GenericNinjaFight@reddit

I tend to not speed as the time you gain by speeding drops off significantly after 65 - 70mph. I do like to accelerate quickly up to the limit though.

Plus more often than not if im doing 70 in the left lane and a car passes me at 90+ I end up seeing them at the next set of lights or roundabout anyway. To me its not worth it.

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WJC198119@reddit

Everyone speeds nowadays, I do a little but not to a great extend ie I'll do 35 in a 30 kinda thing

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paintbinombers@reddit

Having lost my license for speeding, it’s like I’m chasing miss daisy now. I don’t care if someone’s doing 75/80/90/whatever, if I’m driving correctly and have to pull out, overtake and get back in all whilst doing 70, I will. I’ll always make sure that I’ve got the room and time to do so, rather than the usual bell piece manoeuvre of just thinking indicators are magic wands and pulling out into fast moving traffic.

But having the freedom taken away, and almost losing my job because of it. Nope, no point.

For clarity purposes, I was caught doing 120+ on the M6 at 02:30 in the morning. Just me, and for about 10 minutes it was nice and empty, 2 Lorry’s passed, and 1 silver Audi a4. Until I noticed the (at the time these weren’t common) xenon headlights in my wing mirror. They followed for about 3 minutes then the blues came on. Live and learn.

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LordCheeseOnToast@reddit

Stick to left. Drive at the limit when there's no fog or heavy rain and you won't have an issue.

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OrderWooden@reddit

Only on the motorway

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delicious_brains818@reddit

Some roads just don't feel like they're to be driven at the sign posted speed. One near me is a big stretch of road, about a 20-minute walk top to bottom, and it's mostly just grassland with a couple houses and 1-2 side roads. It's sign posted as a 20 but driving 20 you're left wondering what obstacle or accident are you actually avoiding? Most people speed and anyone doing 20 are prone to be overtaken.

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Sitsey01@reddit

Not always, but if I do it's only around 10% of the limit. 80 max on the motorway if it's safe.

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dazed1984@reddit

Yes. I drive a lot when the roads are empty.

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ForeignSleet@reddit

Unfortunately I drive an mx5 and anything above 70 feels like the car is about to shake apart, and also the only way I could injure someone with it would be to hit them around the head with it

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Sunset_Red@reddit

I speed up only if I'm overtaking a lorry, or sometimes a bloody middle lane hogger whose going 45mph on a motorway because they're on their phone.

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Joshorod@reddit

It feels like literally everyone does 40 in 30 zones around where I live, Including me because the last thing I was is someone in a beemer up my arse trying to overtake me in between town and my destination over 5-10 mph

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gogybo@reddit

If I'm on the motorway I'll do about 75 as standard, maybe 80 if I'm in the right lane and am passing people. Residential areas however I stick to the speed limit.

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Chimpy20@reddit

I will go a few percent over on a motorway, tbh I speedos tend to underread anyway so I'm probably not evening actually going over the limit, but everywhere else I stick to the limits. I do accelerate briskly though, people that slowly pull away at traffic lights and hold the drivers up behind them is infuriating!

But yes I see people drive around above the speed limit all the time. I think people know there's rarely any speed cameras so they may as well go the speed they want to!

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ampersssand@reddit

I've been driving less than a year, but that's how I was taught to pull away from lights. Reasoning my instructor gave is that slowly coming up to speed is safer, more fuel efficient, less wear on the car and creates space on the road for others to merge. It comes under ecosafe driving on the test and he stressed that you can fail for not doing well there

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Chimpy20@reddit

I can see the point, but getting more cars through eases congestion a little bit which I think is just as important for helping air quality and reducing travel times.

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ampersssand@reddit

Yeah, I see your point, but I guess that depends on the junction. There's plenty where I live where you're just joining the queue for the next set of lights 20 seconds later, but there's a whole bunch of side streets with no traffic lights so rushing up will just prevent others from merging. So the congestion is just being moved along. I think we can all agree the amount of cars is the real problem, but public transport is terrible so it's not going to get better any time soon.

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AutoPanda1096@reddit

My local area went 20mph recently and people still bomb along our suburban roads, getting to the next traffic light that much sooner.

The people who slow down and play by the rules, which is most, probably aren't going to be the ones causing accidents

The ones that don't care, don't care...

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SecTeff@reddit

I personally don’t speed. I’ve been driving 20 years and I’ve not had a single point on my license.

The extra forces involved are not worth it if you do have a crash and when you look into it you really don’t save much time.

Presides i waste so much time on Reddit the idea of saving 10min on a drive is farcical

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DaVirus@reddit

Yes. Because it seems to me British roads have made up speed limits that in no way reflect what the road can actually safely allow.

Lanes around farms with no visibility? 60mph limit mate!

Straight lines with clear visibility, 2 lanes and basically no traffic ever? Randomly 20 mph.

It's stupid. I drive at the speed I feel safe.

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justbiteme2k@reddit

I'm what they call a leapfrog speeder.

On a long motorway journey, with cars spread out a bit, I'll speed in-between them, slowly overtake one 8 get close, then zoom off again to I reach the next vehicle.

No recklessness involved regarding corners or getting too close.

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SwanBridge@reddit

Occasionally, but not often and when I do I tend to stick to the "10% plus 2" rule which is the usual rule of thumb for not getting pulled over by the police. I'll use my judgement based on traffic and conditions, and similarly will drive below the speed limit a lot of the time based on that, i.e. flooded roads, snow, ice, fog, animals on the road. I don't like speeding, particularly excessive speeding, but I would be lying if I said I never did it.

My commute to work is a short section of motorway followed by A & B roads. It goes through the countryside and it is national speed limit for most of it, but even on a good day there aren't many sections where you can go 60mph for a sustained period. The only bit where I regularly speed is a short section of dual carriage way where the limit is 40mph but everyone speeds over it which ironically makes obeying the actual limit more dangerous than speeding as other drivers don't pay attention or don't expect you to slow down and nearly end up rear-ending you.

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shabang614@reddit

Q Qxqx3x

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Jaraathe@reddit

Not anymore. When you slow down you usually find that you catch up to those doing the speeding at lights, etc…unless they’re driving like they want to die. Better to save petrol and feel less frantic, I find.

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Jcw28@reddit

I'll let you into a secret - it's not always about saving time. Sometimes it's just nice to make good progress rather than being stuck behind that person dawdling at 10-15 below the limit. Staring at the back end of someone who is either slow / unconfident / lost is not a good place to be, I would rather have the open road ahead of me and be able to go at my own pace. I also don't care too much about saving fuel. If I sit at 60 or I sit at 70 it isn't making a huge difference to my consumption so I might as well go that bit quicker and feel like I'm making more progress.

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Dunny2k@reddit

That’s a childish mentality. I’m guessing you’re 18/19?

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Jcw28@reddit

How is it childish to not want to be stuck behind people going an inappropriately slow speed for the road? I'm not suggesting people to perform rash overtakes on a person doing 60 on a 60 road, but if you're doing 45 and the road is an easy 60 I'm definitely going to be looking out for my opportunity to get past.

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Jaraathe@reddit

We’re literally talking about people speeding. If you’re driving within the limit, you’re not speeding.

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Jcw28@reddit

That's a fair point, I've ended up on a different track of discussion about "why do people overtake when you end up catching them at the next lights" which doesn't necessarily always involve speeding.

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Jaraathe@reddit

As I said, I used to speed too, so I get it. Speeding does cost lives though, and speed limits are set up for that reason. A bit of patience goes a long way.

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Spank86@reddit

Im bored.

I maintain an almost permanent low level of boredom with life when I'm not either travelling st extreme speed or have the possibility for catastrophic injury..

I stave it off at the weekends with my hobbies but in the week I'm in one of 2 states, bored, or half asleep. So I'm usually either found above or below the speed limit.

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Free_Ad7415@reddit

Honestly, I don’t speed, ever.

Speed kills- I also walk and cycle mainly and know how horrible it is be to close passed by speeding cars.

So I just don’t do it.

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Violet351@reddit

My entire town is only 20mph so most people still do 30. My road is long and straight and they had to put speed bumps in because people were doing 60-70mph down it. There’s no off road parking so there’s often people trying to park and it’s a main route to a local school so there’s regularly pedestrians walking down the street or crossing the road. There’s been some serious accidents because of it. One guy’s car ended up on its side because he lost control when he got to the roundabout.

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scientifick@reddit

I used to speed a bit more, then I got an EV and their efficiency drops off a cliff after a certain speed. Unlike ICE cars they are less efficient at 60+mph, so I find myself just going as fast as the eco mode lets me. On road trips it makes a difference because it can mean the difference of whether an extra charge is needed along the way.

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Zanki@reddit

Sometimes, but not by a crazy amount. Empty long road, can see for miles, no speed cameras, sure. Never in an area where there's pedestrians or in medium/heavy traffic. I'm always mindful of people pulling into my lane as well.

My boyfriend speeds far more than me in areas he shouldn't speed. It's a losing battle with him on that. Luckily his car has damn good breaks because his close call would have been my car hitting a person if I tried driving around like that (my car has a huge breaking distance).

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AutisticCorvid@reddit

The honest and short answer is: yes.

The longer answer is:

I don't speed in places where there's a speed other than the NSL except in a couple of rare circumstances. For example, there's a stretch of road in the local city that's right on the edge (on the coast) where you don't tend to get any pedestrians. It's a really wide road (pretty much double the width of normal roads), with good visibility, and pretty much everyone speeds along there so you end up feeling like you're actually causing a dangerous situation if you don't. So, while it's a 30, I will do maybe 35 along there (and I don't mean 35 on my speedo - I know what the under-read percentage is on my speedo).

I will sometimes speed on the local country roads if the conditions are good, it's not busy, the road is wide with good visibility, and I don't have my kids in the car. Even so, we're talking like 65mph rather than 60. If I catch up to someone who's driving slower, I slow down and keep a good stopping distance.

Similarly, on dual carriageway or motorway, I have been known to go at 75, or even 80 when the conditions are right. Especially if that's the speed of others around me and it keeps traffic flowing.

Of course, there are occasions when I unintentionally speed because I haven't noticed that I've crept up a bit and am going at e.g. 32 in a 30. I don't really believe there are many drivers who have never had that happen, though. I tend to keep a fairly close eye on my speed, though, so when this happens it's generally for a couple of seconds.

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flimflam_machine@reddit

and I don't have my kids in the car.

Well as long as they're safe that's ok then.

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AutisticCorvid@reddit

If I didn't think the way I was driving was safe, I wouldn't do it. It's more about the example I'm setting for them.

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jake_folleydavey@reddit

Sure, we might save a few lives… but millions will be late!

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DashersUK@reddit

Many years ago I had the opportunity to ride out with ex-police motorcyclists. Their take was about conditions and not speed. The example they gave was while it was technically legal to do 30 mph outside a football ground at 2:45 on. Sat afternoon, it was probably not wise to do so and you should therefore drive based on the conditions, they regularly ride at 140+ but when it’s safe to do so for them and others around them Look at the Highway Code stopping distances a modern car can both accelerate to the speed and brake to a stop within the stopping distance indicated. I would argue that a modern car at 100 is far safer than a morris minor, for example, at 70

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ImBonRurgundy@reddit

Why do I speed?

1) I like to arrive at my destination sooner 2) driving fast is much more fun than driving slow.

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JamesH93@reddit

I used to consider "10% + 2" to be the speed limit and drive accordingly. Since switching to EVs I will still occasionally go 1-2 mph over the limit according to the speedo, though I know one of my cars overestimates by more than this generally. Will generally stick to 65 mph on the motorway as it tends to work out in terms of range Vs journey time. Generally I think even minor speeding is a net negative, as in exchange for potentially saving a couple of minutes you are risking having a much more stressful journey and the consequences for getting caught are not worth it.

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Least-Entrepreneur23@reddit

"I'm making record time! If only I had somewhere to be"

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AxeWieldingWoodElf@reddit

I do speed on motorways and back roads but never in a 30 or residential 40. 80 is a comfier speed to travel. Depends what mood I’m in though, if I’m tired or just feeling a bit steady then I’ll go the speed limit but if I’m enjoying my car or got a 5/ 6 hour drive then you bet I’ll be putting my foot down.

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swordofthecross@reddit

30 and under or residential area - stick to the speed limit 40/50/60 - 10% over 70 - 85mph

All according to road conditions, traffic flow, safety etc.

For me it’s just wanting to enjoy the fact my car can be quick sometimes, but also that the 70 limit was introduced in the 60s and isn’t really fit for purpose anymore (not that that’s really my call!)

Cars have changed incredibly since then, 0-60 in my car is less than 5 seconds.

Braking distance at 70mph in the 90s was something like ~400ft? Now it’s nearer 250ft.

I love driving, love the feel of the road and the chance to let loose a little.

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sideone@reddit

but also that the 70 limit was introduced in the 60s and isn’t really fit for purpose anymore

There's a lot more traffic and a lot more distractions than the 60s, and we're all driving much heavier cars.

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deathmetalbestmetal@reddit

Cars are dramatically safer than they used to be, so the weight is irrelevant.

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sideone@reddit

so the weight is irrelevant

Physics hasn't changed.

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deathmetalbestmetal@reddit

No, you're confused. The fact that cars are heavier now is irrelevant to the point you were trying to make, because regardless of this fact, cars are dramatically safer than they used to be. The increase in weight, which would normally be a bad thing because of physics, hasn't resulted in less safe cars.

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sideone@reddit

True, but raising speed limits would only cause more death and injury, made worse by vehicles weighing more than when the law was introduced. Higher speeds would mean more energy to dissipate in a collision.

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deathmetalbestmetal@reddit

raising speed limits would only cause more death and injury

All laws are a balancing act. Were the speed limits too high when they were set? Were they too high 20 years ago? Ten years ago? Are they right now? If they're right now, then does that mean that in 10 years when cars are even safer, the limits will finally be too high if they don't change?

made worse by vehicles weighing more than when the law was introduced.

This doesn't make sense. Cars are safer even accounting for their weight, than when the laws were introduced. Increasing the speed limits would not be proportionally worse than at the time they were set because of increased car weights, because cars are safer than they were then. I'm honestly not sure how you can't see this.

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swordofthecross@reddit

All very true, but even the heavier cars have generally better stopping braking distances due to developments in brake technology etc.

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sideone@reddit

Better brakes don't help when someone's posting to TikTok

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swordofthecross@reddit

Yeah I don’t disagree but that’s obviously outrageous behaviour so not really sure what point you’re making?

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sideone@reddit

My point is

there's a lot more cars on the road
people are more distracted now than in the 60s

I can't see any major benefit from raising speed limits when you will increase injury and deaths on the roads and increase pollution just because people "love the feel of the road and the chance to let loose a little".

I don't want people letting loose when I'm transporting my children around, go to a track if you want to be loose.

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Mail-Malone@reddit

Not for twenty five years or so. Used to drive 60,000 a mile a year, when you get to nine points on your licence it really focuses your mind to stay within the limit.

Also it’s not necessary to speed, even more so these days with sat-nav that will tell you your ETA and guide you along the quickest route at all times.

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Pr6srn@reddit

Nine is a lot, yes.

For a period in my 20s, I had eleven.

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Mail-Malone@reddit

Yea, three more and I’d have lost my licence.

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1CharlieMike@reddit

What I don't understand are the people who speed on the estate I live on with their own children and grandchildren play out in the road.

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wunderspud7575@reddit

I don't. I did when I was young and stupid. These days I lean heavily on my car's speed limiter. Travelling at or below the limit has enabled me to avoid really nasty collisions 3 times in the last 4 years.

There really is no point speeding. You end up saving perhaps a few tens of seconds off your journey time, because mostly all you achieved is getting to the next traffic queue quicker. Risk/benefit doesn't make any sense.

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Forward-Leopard-3194@reddit

Be fast but not the fastest

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turkishhousefan@reddit

On the motorway because I don't have adaptive cruise control and the motorway is usually insufferable otherwise.

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swapacoinforafish@reddit

The only time I do is when I'm on a hill in town that's 20mph and my car physically can't go that slowly up the steep incline without stalling. Or maybe more the 5mph in the Tesco car park. Other than that, no.
I hate when I see others speeding so can't justify doing it myself on normal roads.

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Left-Steak2819@reddit

Not really, might put my foot down on a straight just to enjoy the fact my car can be quick.

But generally I'm way past the point of wanting to drive everywhere quickly

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Zealousideal-Habit82@reddit

I gave it a boot full on Sat evening on an empty stretch, think it's first time in 20 years I've done so or had the opportunity. Most motorway drives now are done on cruise control unlike the 90's in my Supra.....

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UncleSnowstorm@reddit

I only speed on motorways and certain dual carriageways; ones that are basically 2 lane motorways with no crossings and wider slip roads, not the ones with tight junctions on either side.

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reddit_MarBl@reddit

Time, money. Causes people to do lots of silly things.

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Anxious_wank@reddit

I do the speed limit, it isn't worth the risk of losing my license, a privilege that I need and respect, but I feel stuck in the middle.

Constantly being caught up to/tailgated at the speed limit, and constantly being forced to do 10-20mph under the speed limit by a driver infront.

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ThePlasticHippy@reddit

I did a speed awareness course not long ago and I like to think I’m more sensible now, I do still find the speed creeping up sometimes my car is relatively new and it’s quite frightening how easy it is to drive fast without it feeling overly fast.

I ride a motorbike too no comment on that except the universe has sent me a few signs to watch my speed.

I don’t condone people absolutely flying but I think a big reason for it is that there are so many road works constantly with speed limits being dropped to 50 for 10’s of miles at a time, that people just get so pissed off with the inconvenience of it that when they are out of the works they put their foot down.

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TheArkansasChuggabug@reddit

Do agree speeding is a bit of a problem but I do like to put my foot down a bit on an open road.

I drive safely and am aware of the roads I'm on, and rules of thebroad. I absolutely would not go past 80mph on a motorway but if it's clear, id probably hit it. I think where the problem stems is 2/3 lane motorways (certainly 3) when you have lorry overtaking lorry, one doing 61mph and the other doing 61.1mph.

Or, people who sit in the middle lane and do anywhere down to 40mph (yes, have experienced this). If people knew to move into the left lane rather than dilly dally about in the middle, I think way less people would speed because people would be in the correct lane to be able to move about. It's people who are totally oblivious to either the rules of the road or what's going on around them.

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MahatmaAndhi@reddit

Not in areas where people are likely to be walking and/or crossing. On dual carriageways and motorways, I'll sometimes go over a bit. But when Google Maps is running, the GPS speed is about spot on anyway.

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CheekyYoghurts@reddit

I have my adaptive cruise set to 10% above the limit. Never had a ticket and I can relax my feet almost the whole time.

Highly recommended

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NorthernSoul1977@reddit

I live rurally and there a few quiet stretches of straight road with no, junctions or pavements, where I absolutely floor it. We lease an EV and the torque is such fun that I jsut can't help it. It cuts out at 90mph, but the acceleration you can feel in yer baws, man...

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Benificial-Cucumber@reddit

I don't any more after a speeding ticket drove the point home, but in the past I'd be known to speed on roads where the natural flow was higher than the posted limit. It was less a case of trying to go faster and more a case of not trying to limit my speed. The cliché response would be that I only speed safely and when the conditions allow but we all know that's a cop out.

Nowadays I only speed in 20 zones, when I'm in traffic, and that traffic is also speeding. I'm a biker and I have to prioritise not being an obstacle to the braindead idiots around me, because if someone's not paying attention and rear-ends me I get a dent in my skull instead of my bumper.

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Nemo_3rd_line@reddit

I'm fairly tall so I walk fast any but my school (proper old school place) had daily lessons about always walking on the left, how to walk at pace and be aware of others, where to stand out of the way if unsure etc etc. It was weird doing french and looking out at dozens of pupils in the yard walking around a makeshift street or corridor. Very Monty Pythonesque.

I do get infuriated these days by the increasing number of people who walk slow, take up the entire pavement, can't walk straight and zig-zag all over the show or standing in doorways, entrances or exits. The latter makes me want to literally explode with rage.

As for driving, I do tend to stick to the limit but I do not wholly agree with the nationwide 20mph speed limit everywhere it has been imposed. I do stick to it though. I understand it in built up areas like main town centre streets, or housing with cars parked up on both sides of the street or near schools. It makes sense.

But there are areas near me where it's a long wide two or three lane, fairly remote road in the middle of nowhere but still within the M25, no houses, no shops, no schools, footpaths and cycle paths have barriers to separate them from cars. Yet the limits range from 20 to 60 in the stupidest places. 60 when it's not straight, and has sweeping curves but then once it evens out, it's 20 and you hit a wave of slow moving traffic.

Other way around I would understand but ive seen a lot of roads all over England where the 20mph limit has been imposed unnecessarily and it's raised accidents because people get angry, frustrated and take chances. I agree with it but needs better implementation.

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CongealedBeanKingdom@reddit

Because they are more important than everybody else and they need us all to know.

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Intruder313@reddit

No.

I drive at the speed limit, except on Motorways where I do 66-67 (in Lane 1 of course because I also don't lane hog).

Others do it because they keep getting away with it I guess.

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longpolepete@reddit

I’ll only speed on B roads that I know well, at night when nobody is about, and only like 15-20 over the limit, I’d like to get home and wouldn’t put others at risk

Around town and on the motorway and stuff I’m very strict

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No-Cicada7116@reddit

Most are too lazy to get up 5 minutes earlier

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VagueNostalgicRamble@reddit

No, not really.

I had a bike license initially and used to ride recklessly. Looking back, I cringe at how stupid I was.

Many, many years later, I've had my car license for over 20 years, haven't ridden a bike since, and have never had so much as a point on my license.

If I'm driving somewhere, it's either a work thing or my family is in the car with me. I'm not risking getting pulled over and being late for the work thing, and I'm not endangering my family for the sake of a few minutes.

I tend to use cruise control as much as possible.

There's a stretch of motorway near me that has been reduced to 40mph for a really long time and I hate it because so many people just carry on at 70. It feels dangerous to not speed most of the time. I also see a lot of people ignoring the new 20 limits on residential roads which is even worse imho.

There are sections of road I use regularly that have variable limits and are often set to 40 because of roadworks, which means the speed cameras are also set to 40. I'm not risking it but I've nearly been taken out a few times by some idiot who's decided they've got more important things to do than slow down a bit.

Conversely, there's a couple of roads with 50 limits where 95% of people drive at 30 for some reason. No idea why.

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nj813@reddit

If the road conditions suit. It's when you see people weaving through traffic and willingly putting other drivers in danger with dangerous overtakes i wonder wtf is wrong with some people

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Linfords_lunchbox@reddit

The world is full of stupid people.

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Saw_Boss@reddit

Depends entirely on the road, the area etc.

Motorways I tend not to by far. I set cruise control around 73 and it's never triggered any of the cameras on the M1 or M6. That's just more convenient.

But otherwise, it depends on the road and such. A decent road that I know well, with no cameras or bumps, and Ill probably end up 10mph at most over. Country lanes, I pretend I'm Colin McCrae and see how it goes.

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RemoteMysterious1862@reddit

Got a black box so can’t speed. Annoys other drivers for some reason that I’m doing the speed limit.

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Elegant-Mission-4470@reddit

Are you doing the speed limit or a few under to try to appease the box? People driving 37 on their speedo in a 40 while the rest of the traffic is doing actual 40 is a 5mph difference and only one vehicle is doing the speed limit

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Psycho_Splodge@reddit

Usually because I've been doing sixty down road X for the last twenty years and the council have come along and dropped the limit. Or where the speed limit is clearly wrong for the road. But never excessivley. Not like the nutters doing 90 through an housing estate.

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tomdob1@reddit

Used to speed when I was younger and had a daily commute. Now that I am older and drive less, I find that when I start speeding I become more impatient with other drivers. So now I chill at the speed limit and I get far less annoyed at other drivers. Not caring about being 10 minutes later really makes a difference in mindset.

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BrieflyVerbose@reddit

I've been driving for 20 years and I don't think there's been very many days of those 20 years where I haven't broken the speed limit.

It's also quite dependent on things. I don't speed with others in the car with me. I'm not gonna be blasting down the road at 4/5pm when everyone is driving home. But I still may creep over now and again. If it's 1am down a North Wales B road that I know like the back of my hand then there's no way in hell I'm sticking to that 60mph

0 points, I had one speed awareness course about a year ago.

At the moment all our 30 zones are now 20. I don't do 20 unless going past schools so I'm technically worse. It looks like a lot of these roads are going to be reviewed once again and some changes are starting to be reverting back to 30.

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Ok-Train5382@reddit

Going fast feels good? I guess the same reason people go on rollercoasters.

My car is a shit box that can barely get to 80 on the motorway so I can’t say I spend a lot of time speeding around now. But shooting down the M20 at 2am around 120mph in my old car was quite thrilling.

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redunculuspanda@reddit

These days with adaptive cruse control not so much. There are a few very long wide 30s around me that should be 40s where I might go a little over.

Bigger issue around me is people driving 30 or 40 in a 60.

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msully89@reddit

I've had my fair share of motorbikes over the years, and I'd be lying if I said I'd never speeded on them. In the car however, no. Don't see the point, I'm never in a rush to get anywhere.

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Ok_Resident3556@reddit

It seems I am one of very few people on the roads who doesn’t speed. However I’m not smug about it and feel like I am a better driver for it. I don’t speed because I have some pretty bad anxiety related to driving anyway, and while it try to aim for the speed limits because I don’t want to be holding people up too much (going ridiculously slow is just as risky as going too fast) I’m never really comfortable driving at all, never mind going fast. I do it because I pretty much have to get to work, but o will walk distances a lot of people would not consider reasonable walking distance to avoid driving!

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paunnn@reddit

Motorway yes. Residential never because of kids or cats running in.

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OdinForce22@reddit

No, I don't speed.

Former police officer who was trained as a blue light driver but I still will not do it. I've seen far too many road deaths in my time.

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deathmetalbestmetal@reddit

Here's a question for you. Why do the police seemingly do absolutely nothing about inattentive drivers? The ones that don't indicate, or can't use lanes/roundabouts properly, sit in the middle lane etc.

Speeding is a contributory factor in only a very small number of casualties, and yet it feels like it's the only driving transgression that seems to get any attention from the police.

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OdinForce22@reddit

I'm not in the police anymore so I can't answer with ascertainty.

In my own experience however, I dealt with a lot of traffic offences when I didn't have something else as a priority.

For instance, I could be on my way to an incident that isn't class as an emergency, but was pretty time pressing. I'm wouldn't be in a position to police the roads effectively at that point as something else took precedent.

There just aren't enough officers to deal with everything and tbh, some officers just don't like dealing with traffic matters.

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throwthrowthrow529@reddit

I drive at a speed I deem reasonably safe given the conditions.

If im on a flat road, wide paths, no parked cars either side, no speed bumps then I can be doing above 30 comfortably.

Change that road to speed bumps, rows of parked cars and narrow paths then it’s going to be more like 25/30.

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Apidium@reddit

Which is why road design is way more important than signs. Ultimately it doesn't matter how comfortable you are sitting in your car to someone you mow over and if they will survive or die.

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throwthrowthrow529@reddit

It’s just risk management and observation.

I doubt people pay as much attention as I do, I’m looking under cars for feet, I’m looking in reflections of windows etc. phone is nowhere to be seen. Every move I make I’m checking blind spots. I know what cars behind me and if it’s not there anymore where is it?

Most people barely indicate, definitely don’t check blind spots. These people really need speed limits.

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Mail-Malone@reddit

Good to know those speed bumps do their job then, sounds like we need more of them though.

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throwthrowthrow529@reddit

Speed limits are good, someone once told me in relation to rules “50% of the population are below average intelligence”.

Some people don’t need rules, some people do.

I’ve been driving 12 years, never had a crash, had maybe 1/2 close calls in that time. Never had a ticket, never been pulled over. Maybe I’m a good driver, maybe I played too many video games as a kid and have good reactions.

We don’t need more speed bumps please! They’re so inconvenient 😂

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Panenka7@reddit

No, it's not just you. The only time that I ever go past a limit is because sometimes on a 'smart' (debatable name) motorway, the speeds are completely impractical, either based on traffic flow or because it changes from a national speed limit to a 40 as your going down a hill and it's dangerous to slam on the brakes to make it.

To me, tailgating is the absolute worst, though. I regularly see people travelling 60-70 mph not more than a couple of meters from someone's bumper and/or swerving in/out of lanes without using indicators or waiting until a gap exists. It's appalling, to be honest.

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pwx456k@reddit

Managed motorway (and average speed check limits on anything with multiple lanes) are annoying because lane discipline completely breaks down. You can be in lane 3 several km before your exit with no opportunity to move over because all the traffic is moving as one.

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Panenka7@reddit

The ones that are impossible for me to follow are when the gantry says '40' across all lanes, because there's a queue to exit, but you're going ahead. Then they'll be a national speed limit less than 100 meters after because you're past the junction. Technically, you should go at 40 until the sign, but it's actually dangerous because everyone accelerates and you risk someone rear ending you.

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Apidium@reddit

Unless you are 18. I don't know why anyone speeds. You might kill someone. You might total your car. You might get a fine.

For what benifit? You don't get there all that much faster (folks driving legally will catch you at the lights anyways).

If you want to experence your cars ability to floor it go to a track and do it there. They have open days all the time and the fee is lower than your insurance will be if you hit something.

I don't understand why folks sitting comfortably in a seat they picked in a car they can customise to their comfort seem to be in such a massive hurry to get out of it but the fact they might kill someone just to feel a vroom under their arse is something i don't think a society should be having any patience with.

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Competitive_Ring82@reddit

I don't normally speed, and use cruise control on fast roads to stay at or below the limit. It clearly annoys some other drivers when I'm overtaking slower traffic and they are briefly stuck doing the speed limit. It's so sterotypical but far too common to have some idiot BMW driver on your bumper because you're stopping them doing 90+ on the motorway.

I recently helped out with a scout camp, and drove 200 miles at the pace of the minibuses, limited to just over 60mph. It felt really slow, but it didn't actually take that much longer overall. The difference in fuel efficiency was huge, I'm tempted to keep driving this way. Should save a decent chunk of money, and I won't be overtaking as often, so I won't get into conflict with the BMW (+Audi, etc...) drivers.

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Jose_out@reddit

I'll generally not go over 10% more than the car's speedometer. I also drive with Google maps on which seems to be more accurate of the actual speed. 77mph on the car for example is 73/74 on Google.

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meowrowlow@reddit

Yes, because the 4-hour drive to my parent's home is utterly agonising on my joints, and the threat of imminent death keeps me awake and aware.

All my crashes have occurred at under 5mph

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DM_Me_Your_Girl_Abs@reddit

I don't speed as much as I used to.

But I still do it.

I drive really cautiously in 20 zones, or if I'm in a residential area in general.

My speeding has gone down since I've had a son, and I think about me not wanting some dickhead speeding down my street.

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Chicken_shish@reddit

it's more interesting than driving slowly.

It wastes less time.

With the right car, booting it is fun.

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cmdrxander@reddit

I usually set the cruise control to about 73, which the GPs shows as 70. I don’t normally need to go any faster to overtake.

IMO it’s not really worth speeding to save ~10 minutes on a 3-4 hour journey.

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Weird-Statistician@reddit

I find it hard to do 70 on the motorway tbh. I think most modern cars sit more comfortably at 80 and I think the motorway limits should be looked at. Unlikely to happen.

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deadlocked72@reddit

I never speed in towns or villages. I will occasionally do some very light speeding on the motorway, on fast quiet A roads I will enjoy my cars abilities if visibility and the conditions allow. I live in south Scotland, there are some highly entertaining routes, some of which are really good fun if you try and maintain the speed limit, some lend themselves to a bit of speeding. All of them need thinking about, some people drive with no consideration for others or the laws of physics. Many don't realise all that energy has to go somewhere when things go wrong, I've seen enough horrors to understand that.

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Annual_History_796@reddit

Depends, do you mean 33 in a 30 or 50 in a 30? There are levels.

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Redira_@reddit

Yes, all the time, but I pick the time and place carefully and don't overdo it.

Big open road with no traffic, no junctions, and good weather? I'll have a bit of fun.

Going through town with pedestrians, traffic, junctions, and parked cars? I'm at the speed limit or less.

People like to act as if all speeding ever is the biggest baddest thing since Hitler, but it's obviously not, and you can safely speed if you choose the right time and place.

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MelPejicsLeftFoot@reddit

I’m speeding right now as I reply to this post ✌️

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Juniper2324@reddit

People who leave at 6 are rushing to beat traffic

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Monkeyboogaloo@reddit

Generally not.

But I used to do a lot of early morning motorway driving too and from Lancashire/London and I would drive at 80 pretty much the whole time. Except the M6 toll road...

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ovine_aviation@reddit

If the conditions permit then yes. Love my little Mini and enjoy a spirited drive but never at the expense of other's safety. That being said, me having a bomb about the Norfolk roads is hardly equivalent to Lewis Hamilton. One man's speed is another's dawdle.

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HelloW0rldBye@reddit

Although I someone's try to up my mpg, so 67 to 72 on motorway, of in just going local I'll cruise 80 to 100 on motorways, burst up 120.

I love to enjoy b roads but you'd be lucky to get over 60 on a national speed limit now a day's, so that's within the limits.

I did some B road over takes recently which felt nice, but people really shouldn't do 30 to 40 on a national speed.

Only roads I don't speed are A roads but that's cause they're most likely to have speed cameras.

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LifeMasterpiece6475@reddit

Problem is there are some roads where the speed limit is too low and others where it is too high.

I know a roads where you can legally do 60 but only a lunatic would, then there's another road that used to be 60 no street lights, without a pavement or cycle lane. At that time it was an A road.

Some years ago after the bypass was built a lot of money was spent on it, now big wide pavement & cycle lane also street lights. But they've reduced the speed limit to 40 in the middle and 30 at each end. No new houses etc but its now a B road so it's up to the council, not the highways. There's also a lay-by where the police sit with their speed cameras, that might just be a coincidence of course.

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slade364@reddit

Never in a 30, or school zone, not usually in a 40.

If it's a dual carriageway or motorway, usually I'll drive about 75-80. If its quiet I might reach 90.

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PreparationHealthy37@reddit

Only in Wales

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SpudFire@reddit

I used to drive at just over the limit all the time. 32/33 in a 30, 75 on a motorway.

I realised I rarely got anywhere any quicker as junctions, traffic lights and congestion usually brings everybody back together. Even if you do get somewhere a bit quicker, it's only a tiny amount of time saved.

It's so much more relaxing not speeding. You don't have to give much thought to speed cameras, especially mobile speed camera vans which might not show up on the satnav. Less likely to catch up with the car in front and get frustrated at them going slow, even if they're driving at the speed limit.

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take_01@reddit

Nice try officer ;)

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HereticLaserHaggis@reddit

Speed limit + 10%

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Qyro@reddit

I speed when I can, not because I’m in a rush, but because I enjoy driving faster. I’m never reckless though, always taking the conditions of the road and traffic around me into account, and I’ll only grow impatient behind you if your speed is taking the piss (like sticking 10mph below) and/or you refuse to simply keep up with the traffic in front of you.

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UnexpectedRanting@reddit

I stick to the speed limit everywhere aside from I’ll do a cheeky 72/73 on the motorway. Had a black box for 2 years and the habit stuck

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e-pancake@reddit

never unless it’s an accidental couple mph

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Dazzling-Landscape41@reddit

Do I exceed the speed limit? Yes, everyone has at some point, and if they haven't, it's because they have a black box. Do I speed excessively, not intentionally, although it's very easy to do in an X5 and I have found myself at speeds I wouldn't usually do on more than one occasion, normally on empty, quiet motorways.

If anything on the local roads, I've usually got someone on my bumper because I'm doing the speed limit.

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CraigTheBrewer12@reddit

I don’t tend to speed, I like to just cruise along with my music on, just enjoying the drive, however I don’t dawdle along, I drive to the speed limit and conditions as appropriate. I know someone with a performance car and they constantly speed and race other road users, he’s already had a serious crash with his kid in the car but it doesn’t deter him, likely nothing will unless he loses his licence or causes serious harm to himself or another road user.

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Sionnach-78@reddit

Used to do lots of speed in the 90s , never really hear about it these days .

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Neo-Riamu@reddit

I do not speed as I use a speed limiter but I do work with someone who can complete any deliver route 1 hour quicker then anyone else.

We at first thought he was dumping stuff but customer would let us know if they were not getting their deliveries.

The. We thought he was taking shortcuts turns out no.

Then the vans were fitted with trackers anywho he literally drives around 100MPH wherever he can no matter the road.

He is now limited to how often he goes out In a van.

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Wiltix@reddit

When I was young and stupid yes.

But now, what’s the point in speeding, speeding increases risk of accidents and has the added benefit of potentially being caught and fined.

I use to me one of those knobheads on the motorway that would sit a 75-80 changing lanes and barely going in the left hand lane. I found this to be pretty exhausting. I now just sit at 70 and move over to over take but then I drop back down to 70 and move across again.

It’s amazing how much easier motorway driving is when you do it properly.

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redmanshaun@reddit

No. I've done been driving for 2 years yet so can't be doing with any points.

I have once or twice on a clear motorway not long after passing to experience going abit faster. Not for long though. Didn't fancy risking a crash or points/fines.

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Reg_Vardy@reddit

I think it's because they would like to get somewhere more quickly.

The philosophers of Reddit may have more insight into the matter than I.

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