HeadingNorth Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I doubt very much that its a measure of the true figure of the problem. You're quite right, it is not a true measure. It's physically impossible to cause an accident by driving slowly. The true measure is zero, always has been, and always will be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMozzy Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 They can be stopped by the police for "not making good progress" I think it's called. I was going to say that except I thought it was "failure to make adequate (or possibly appropriate) progress". Keeping up with the flow of the traffic, basically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eater Sundae Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Uneccessarily slow driving causes danger on the roads. Statistically accidents are far more likely to occur during overtaking. The slower you drive, the more people are going to overtake you. It's not rocket science. It has been mentioned several times that if people only overtake when it is completely safe, then it isn't dangerous. What about the fact that it is rarely 'completely safe' to overtake? So what you slow drivers are actually saying is that you have the god given right to dictate what speed everyone unfortunate enough to be caught behind you should go at, and if this egocentric behaviour causes an accident, that is nothing to do with you? A more rational view is, if you don't feel safe to drive at, or near to the speed limit, when there are no obstructions on the road, this indicates some impairment on your part, and you should not actually be on the road at all. The decision where, when and how to overtake is the responsibility of the overtaking driver. If they are unable to do this safely, this indicates some impairment on their part, and maybe they should not actually be on the road at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eater Sundae Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 They can be stopped by the police for "not making good progress" I think it's called. Particularly if they're forcing HGVs into the middle lane. I see a lot of heavy plant machinery from this company on the motorway twice a day. Their vehicles can't do more than 30mph but apparently this is allowed. It causes major congestion and some very silly and dangerous lane changes from some drivers. If cars travelling at, say, 40 on a clear motorway were regarded as a safety issue, then surely the police would be pulling them for this 'not making good progress'. We do not see reports of such things happening, so it is pretty safe to assume it is not a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluePolo Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I find it annoying when I'm stuck behind someone doing 40 on a 60 limit road, only for them to speed up to 60 as they approach the only place where the road widens out to two lanes, so the only way to overtake would be to go over 60. A prime example of the type of road this happens on is the A61 going north out of Sheffield after the Huddersfield turn off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longcol Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I find it annoying when I'm stuck behind someone doing 40 on a 60 limit road, only for them to speed up to 60 as they approach the only place where the road widens out to two lanes, so the only way to overtake would be to go over 60. A prime example of the type of road this happens on is the A61 going north out of Sheffield after the Huddersfield turn off. You seriously need to learn to overtake properly if you need to do more than 60 to overtake a car doing 40 on that stretch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FullBean Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Typical example of Daily Mail deliberate distortion and wrong headed analysis. This 'report' claims that 143 accidents a year are caused by slow driving. There is no indication given as to whether or not these are serious, or involve any injury, death or damage to vehicles. However, an earlier report from the same paper tried to downplay the fact that breaking the speed limit is a factor in over 7000 accidents, and that driving too fast is in over 15000. In that piece they tried to claim this as proof that speeding isn't very dangerous, and claimed that speed cameras should be scrapped! Even using their own statistics, which they provide no further evidence for, then we can see that driving too slowly causes less than 100 times fewer accidents that driving too quickly. In other words - the Daily Mail will report whatever it likes, whether or not the evidence supports it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alchresearch Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 If cars travelling at, say, 40 on a clear motorway were regarded as a safety issue, then surely the police would be pulling them for this 'not making good progress'. We do not see reports of such things happening, so it is pretty safe to assume it is not a problem. It does happen, my uncle got stopped about 10 years ago. I think the number of lorries on the motorways puts people off from driving slow though, it can be quite intimidating to be boxed in by lorries on three sides. Personally I wouldn't do less than 55 but generally follow the flow speed of the traffic in lanes 2 and 3 rather than choosing a particular speed. I've got a very efficient diesel car so MPG doesn't bother me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L00b Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 You seriously need to learn to overtake properly if you need to do more than 60 to overtake a car doing 40 on that stretch.You need to read BluePolo's post again, methinks I find it annoying when I'm stuck behind someone doing 40 on a 60 limit road, only for them to speed up to 60 as they approach the only place where the road widens out to two lanes, so the only way to overtake would be to go over 60. I overtook 3 this morning on the A57 (Worksop > Jct 31). 17t lorry, catering van, silver C4. All at 40 or less, on a 50-limited, wide, clean, mostly straight, clear road in clear weather. What is wrong with people? At least, for once, it wasn't a Kia Picanto, Toyota Aygo, Vauxhall mini-box-on-wheel-thingymajig or Nissan Micra If it's to get better MPG, just leave the car at home and use public transport Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkey Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 The decision where, when and how to overtake is the responsibility of the overtaking driver. If they are unable to do this safely, this indicates some impairment on their part, and maybe they should not actually be on the road at all. People who cause accidents overtaking dangerously are subject to the law, including driving bans and imprisonment. And so it should be. If cars travelling at, say, 40 on a clear motorway were regarded as a safety issue, then surely the police would be pulling them for this 'not making good progress'. We do not see reports of such things happening, so it is pretty safe to assume it is not a problem. On the other hand, the 40mph numpties who needlessly create congestion by causing lorries to puill into the middle lane - which in turn causes other vehicles to pull into the fast lane - get clean away with it. Congested motrorways (and other roads) are more dangerous than free moving ones, therefore if you are needlessly causing congestion, you are increasing the risks for other drivers. End of! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.