An epidemic of insanely slow drivers

An epidemic of insanely slow drivers

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Discussion

hammo19

6,406 posts

211 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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We followed a piss head driver for a good 5 miles late last night driving a silver Ford Tourneo. 22 mph in a 60 mph zone wheels across the white line moving back and forth. Small country roads so no way to overtake. They were either pissed or drugged up.

KTMsm

28,860 posts

278 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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DonkeyApple

62,535 posts

184 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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I do sometimes wonder whether drink driving has gone through the roof or whether it's a meteoric rise in medicated drivers or just a large number of minds ceasing to function efficiently during Covid but meeting someone on the road who is displaying all the signs of being under the influence does seem a daily occurrence now And in broad daylight not just the Sunday lunchers and last orders punters. The late turn ins, the over responses, everything just being done 2-3 seconds later.

The chances of ever being stopped for drunk driving are pretty much non existent and it's a law that is only enforced by people's own morality, few people on medication will be paying any heed to avoiding using heavy machinery and vast numbers of people now seem to be consuming anti depressants (20% of adults using during a year!!) and a huge number are on other potentially impactful NHS medications. Less legal stuff may be becoming more popular among drivers but with next to no human road policing there aren't really any viable stats.

So maybe driving under the influence has quietly been making a big comeback in multiple parts of society?

swisstoni

19,841 posts

294 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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119

11,793 posts

51 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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philrs03

243 posts

111 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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KTMsm

28,860 posts

278 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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Unreal

7,048 posts

40 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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I used to do a lot of motorway driving but now it's pretty rare so it was interesting to do a few hundred miles recently and compare it to how it used to be.

I was surprised by the number of people adhering strictly to the limit. On the surface this would seem like a good thing but it leads to glacial overtakes and very frustrated faster drivers. I found this a complete contrast to my previous experience where the range of speeds was much wider. Impossible to tell if people are being antagonistic or just unaware but cooperation seemed in pretty short supply.

theplayingmantis

5,027 posts

97 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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biggbn said:
....It was a beautiful day...beautiful weather,..
Oh ben and you nearly had us if it wasn't for these 2 porkies wink 2 beautiful days in a week? was the rain only drizzle rather than torrential?


theplayingmantis

5,027 posts

97 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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740EVTORQUES said:
DonkeyApple said:
Going to depend on whether you were holding others up or not. If the road is empty feel free to drive at 5mph or hoon it into a deer on a blind corner but if there are fellow road users being impeded then you just help them pass. It's not the speed but the etiquette that matters.

As for whether to hand the license in, absolutely. No self respecting person goes to a Cornish rental off season. It's still hypermiling in the Cotswolds until late May!!! biggrin
rofl

No safe passing points for quite a while (Cornish lanes) so the options were me driving faster than I wanted to (being unfamiliar with the roads) or the locals driving slower than they normally do.
Not wanting to suffer DAs wrath wink being a weekender/or longer at times, rather than a holidayer or indigenous, I'm curious where your holiday let was that you had to drive a long distance on lanes with no opportunity to pull in if you had a queue of traffic behind.

MightyBadger

2,970 posts

65 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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theplayingmantis

5,027 posts

97 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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Unreal said:
I can count the number of times someone has pulled over to let traffic past on the fingers of one hand. I think it's one of those things only PHers do/don't do, like they're the only people who never tailgate, never cut corners or object to being overtaken.

Two separate farm vehicles yesterday with probably half mile tailbacks ignoring spots where they could pull in. These are locals so they know where they could stop but instead built up a wall of frustrated drivers behind them. People at intervals along the queue risking head on by trying multiple overtakes. Taycan driver if it was you that I had to help out by not getting driven into - get some bloody driving lessons.

Semi-fortunately I was going the the other way, but earlier in the day, no traffic about and I catch one of these people who drive in the right hand lane of a two lane road when there is virtually zero traffic. Just why? It just has to be some ghastly Audi suv thing doesn't it? So I arrive on the scene in the left lane, pull out behind, no tailgating. Does he pull over? Does he fk. Puts his foot down. Far, far more common occurrence than dawdlers. Like the farm vehicles, obstructive and provocative.
why not just calmly and quietly, quickly undertake, being extremely vigilant that hes not gonna suddnely wake up/'punish' you. it really is the calmest, and sadly, increasingly safest option (given the tirals oand tribulations of forming a queue, build up of other tailgaters behind etc)

theplayingmantis

5,027 posts

97 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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740EVTORQUES said:
heebeegeetee said:
biggbn said:
Had a wonderful blat yesterday, almost 300 miles, average speed 63 mph door to door so was at the naughty end of the dial for a good few miles. Wee car averaged 58mpg, zero dawdlers, zero angst or problems. Best drive I've had in a while
What car would that be? That's a bloody good mpg figure for such a high average speed. I'm intrigued. ??
You could of course do the same in a performance EV, needing one 10 minute top up to reach the 300 mile range amidst the 4.7 hours of driving (adding only 6% of the time) and achieved the equivalent of around 180mpg, even factoring in expensive public charging…

Edited by 740EVTORQUES on Sunday 21st April 10:31
'Performance' (one assume you mean high powered, plaid etc.) evs are somewhat soulless and anodyne to most car 'enthusiasts', unless of cause you don't have the mean's for more than one car, hence the need for a 'performance ev'.

i like ev's but a 'performance' one is complete waste of time and nonsensical in most scenarios, whilst ICE is still available for those of us who enjoy driving.

theplayingmantis

5,027 posts

97 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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I was overtaken in a residential road at 30 on Friday night (around midnight) dropping a friend off after dinner, a bald man with a long beard, in a lexus SUV EV. not sure why as i was doing an indicated 30, which in that car is a 28/29 depending on waze/google. possibly a poster on here!

trumpton7291

200 posts

18 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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theplayingmantis said:
I was overtaken in a residential road at 30 on Friday night (around midnight) dropping a friend off after dinner, a bald man with a long beard, in a lexus SUV EV. not sure why as i was doing an indicated 30, which in that car is a 28/29 depending on waze/google. possibly a poster on here!
As they said on my (court mandated) speed awareness course when someone enquired about being overtaken while doing the speed limit: "It's THEIR problem."

Unless you're the traffic police just let them past as probably safer than tailgating you.

biggbn

27,173 posts

235 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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theplayingmantis said:
biggbn said:
....It was a beautiful day...beautiful weather,..
Oh ben and you nearly had us if it wasn't for these 2 porkies wink 2 beautiful days in a week? was the rain only drizzle rather than torrential?
smile hey man, it does happen!!

theplayingmantis

5,027 posts

97 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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trumpton7291 said:
theplayingmantis said:
I was overtaken in a residential road at 30 on Friday night (around midnight) dropping a friend off after dinner, a bald man with a long beard, in a lexus SUV EV. not sure why as i was doing an indicated 30, which in that car is a 28/29 depending on waze/google. possibly a poster on here!
As they said on my (court mandated) speed awareness course when someone enquired about being overtaken while doing the speed limit: "It's THEIR problem."

Unless you're the traffic police just let them past as probably safer than tailgating you.
i did. didnt bother me, was slightly bemusing however and unsafe given the potential for pheads to be staggering around (it wasnt solely residential road i should be clear, a few flat roofed pub types along the road as well).

earlier said chap had beaten no one else off in a race in his own mind at a set of lights. he then was in the wrong lane at a another set which was why i came to be ahead of him by chance. i think some cars provoke strange actions from some people.

Foss62

1,402 posts

80 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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theplayingmantis said:
I was overtaken in a residential road at 30 on Friday night (around midnight) dropping a friend off after dinner, a bald man with a long beard, in a lexus SUV EV. not sure why as i was doing an indicated 30, which in that car is a 28/29 depending on waze/google. possibly a poster on here!
Is that just an anecdote or a complaint? If the latter then I personally would not complain about it if not personally inconvenienced in any way - it’s up to them. If on the other hand they were also moaning about you as an insanely slow driver and claiming you shouldn’t be on the road, then I would take a less charitable view.

M4cruiser

4,421 posts

165 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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I was reading up on driving in Spain, and this caught my eye:-

"You may exceed the speed limit by 20km/h to overtake a slower vehicle outside built-up areas, except on motorways and dual carriageways. "

That would seem to help some posters on here!

popeyewhite

23,007 posts

135 months

Monday 22nd April 2024
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Want to see full on self-righteous fury? Nip past a dawdler that's been deliberately holding everyone up as they slow for a 30. Oh my. I actually felt the need to double back and pull in behind them again. How can anyone get so worked up?