SupermanVsSnowman wrote: ↑22 Dec 2021, 11:18pm
Mike Sales wrote: ↑22 Dec 2021, 3:19pm
SupermanVsSnowman wrote: ↑22 Dec 2021, 8:00am
. I'd be going insane if I was forced to do 20 in a car. Just leave it at 30.
Would you please try to explain exactly what you find so unpleasant about relaxing a bit and taking things easy?
It might help to understand why so many drivers break speed limits and make risky overtakes rather than slow down.
This sort of driving makes the roads more intimidating for everybody.
20mph is excessively slow. There are places where you would drive 20 or lower such as car parks or past schools. For general main roads through villages 30mph is generally sufficient.
On an open road, forcing drivers to go slowly is very frustrating for many people. Frustrated drivers are more likely to act irrationally. I do not condone driving in an unsafe manner. I believe there is a balance to be achieved between allowing people to drive faster and being safer on the road. Currently it is being unfavourably tipped towards making people drive slower when not always necessary.
Would you please try to explain exactly what you find so unpleasant about relaxing a bit and taking things easy?
Being tailgated. This was my number one most hated behaviour on the road. As a motorcyclist, if I needed to brake hard then I could end up with a wheelchair while the motorist behind ends up with a dent in his bonnet. This was common in wet conditions where I had to reduce my speed accordingly. Those yellow god dammed avg speed cams are unable to pick this sort of behaviour up. They can generate a fine for someing doing 58mph on a 50mph stretch of motorway. This is what grips my dung. Speed is only one factor, and it isn't usually the biggest one either. Where there is little risk of a driver causing harm to anyone else, I say leave them speed on.
The biggest hazard to me as a cyclist (and when I was a motorcyclist) are drivers lack of awareness, impatience at junctions and roundabouts and general arsiness. Speed alone is rarely an issue for me yet that is the issue that is the most widely enforced. I'm not saying it should be ignored completely. I am saying more enforcement is needed tackling bad driving in general.
Excessively slow!!
You do not answer my main question. Why is it so onerous, so frustrating to drive a little slower? This impatience is at the root of many dangerous manoeuvres by drivers. It would contribute to road safety to know why so many drivers speed, and are so reluctant to wait for a safe overtaking opportunity.
You make the ABD (Association of British Drivers) false dichotomy between excess speed and dangerous driving.
Excess speed
is dangerous driving. It increases reaction distance, braking distance and kinetic energy in any collision and so is more likely to kill or maim.
Good driving is leaving room for mistakes, yours and others. If a child runs out in a 20mph zone, you will have more chance of avoiding hitting him/her, if you ease off the accelerator.
Speeding convictions correlate with accidents.
Tailgating is indeed a nasty habit. Such drivers should learn to take it easy too. Breaking the law yourself is not a good response. If anything it will confirm them in their bad habit. The usual advice with bullies is not to give in to them.
Likewise to allow those frustrated by having to behave with consideration for others to ignore their safety is a poor course of action.
Speeding vehicles enforce the supremacy of the motor. They drive more vulnerable users off the road and make the public highway a reserve for the less vulnerable and more dangerous.
Please, conciously ease off your accelerator. Relax and make the road a more friendly place.
And again, why do you and other drivers find driving more slowly so irksome?
You seem to take it for granted such behaviour, which increases road danger, is understandable, natural and exusable.