Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms How slow is too slow?

aren't these the drivers & journeys that will soon be in a self-driving car?

Will

Yes. Last month I was driving down the M5 and I saw something I have never seen before. The outside lane was full of cars nose to tail as far as I could see and there wasnt a single vehicle, not even one, in sight in the inside two lanes.

Maybe our british queuing instinct had triumphed - we feared than undertaking would be seen as queue jumping maybe.



Its odd really. We arent allowed to undertake or to hog the middle or outside lanes. But there are no traffic police to enforce these regulations. Why then do we mostly not undertake but we do lane hog?



No. The big change since the 60s when we moved from reasonably empty roads to full ones has been that all strata of society and both sexes now have cars. In my youth, blue collar factory workers didnt have cars and whats more mostly lived within walking distance of their place of work. Few women had driving licences and most stayed at home anyway. My mother had three brothers, all skilled labour. None of them had a car in their family. All their multiple offspring and grandchildren have cars now.

Surely if factory workers are to blame, they'd be in the factories and not clogging the roads all day and night?

Basically he was talking BS. There is no fixed distance when you can move into right lane.

Thats Laindon traffic officers (Sergeant) for you

Impossible to overtake safely - so no, the following drivers were not at 'fault'. If an inconsiderate driver is holding up half a mile of traffic, he/she should pull over.

I don't disagree that slow drivers should pull over when there is an opportunity to do so to let traffic past. I would contend that a road in which it is impossible to overtake safely anywhere is probably not capable of supporting traffic moving at 50-60mph.

I suspect what might have been actually happening here was an example of what is to my mind the worst form of driving, where someone drives very slowly though bendy bits, but then speeds up when the road straightens out, preventing people from overtaking.

I have no problem whatsoever with people driving slowly, there may be a million reasons why it's the right speed for them, but this 25mph through the bends/50mph on the straights nonsense is extremely frustrating.

There's a specific road near me that is often dogged by slow drivers.

The road does have opportunities for overtaking but when the first car is slow, and the second car has no intention of overtaking and drives closely behind the first, the result is a long queue of frustrated drivers.

I like to think I'm a considerate and patient driver but following such drivers at 35/40 mph for miles would tempt anyone into taking risks.

One reason why the Plus 8 is so rewarding, it is easy to overtake the typical modern driver who proceeds at 45mph on a 50 mph limit that was, until last year, a "national limit" road.
The only problem with "ballistic" overtaking, motorcycle style, is that it frightens the driver of the car being overtaken as it seems these people don't use their mirrors, so have no idea that I'm there.
I now mostly drive with headlights on and flash main beam before overtaking....

The study finds that older drivers, who represent 15 percent of all licensed drivers, cause 7 percent of all two-car accidents (both fatal and nonfatal).Jul 6, 2007

There must be some falling off in ability for some people over 60 but this does not necessarily make them unfit to drive does it?