Drivers who cruise under the limit

coolbeans

nicholi wrote: »

I generally try to drive as close to the speed limit as is possible as long as it is safe to do so. (ie speed limit of 100kph speed limit between Ennis and Lahinch not safe) The "it's a limit, not a target" are technically correct. However as my Dad (who used to put up around 50,000 plus miles per year once pointed out, you just never know why someone is driving so fast and it's not out place to judge them without knowing the full facts (that the guards job), the other thing is that if there is some muppet tailgating you, why not let him off away from you, where his or her driving will no longer be an immediate threat to you or the other passengers in your car. It might seem selfish but to me it makes sense, I don't think I've a death wish on the roads but if someone else does they're not taking me with them. Don't see the point in trying to hold someone up if they are in a hurry, they could have a genuine reason to be in a hurry (eg sick child in hospital etc)

hope this makes sense

Makes a lot of sense to me. If an asshole does come up behind you it's simply nonsense for me or anyone else to slow him down. Let him off. Unless you're a cop it's not your job to enforce the rules of the road and in attempting to do so you're making the road a more dangerous place.
The amount of times I've heard of wannabe cops 'tapping the brakes' in an attempt to enforce the limits vigilante style is unbelievable.
Imagine if you do tap the brakes and he runs into the back of you. All of a sudden we've got a crash on our hands and it's partially your fault.

Three simple rules: Common sense, courtesy and awareness of surroundings.

Dolph Starbeam

coolbeans wrote: »

Makes a lot of sense to me. If an asshole does come up behind you it's simply nonsense for me or anyone else to slow him down. Let him off. Unless you're a cop it's not your job to enforce the rules of the road and in attempting to do so you're making the road a more dangerous place.
The amount of times I've heard of wannabe cops 'tapping the brakes' in an attempt to enforce the limits vigilante style is unbelievable.
Imagine if you do tap the brakes and he runs into the back of you. All of a sudden we've got a crash on our hands and it's partially your fault.

Three simple rules: Common sense, courtesy and awareness of surroundings.

IO do agree with most of what you said but i don't think it would be my fault, well not all my fault if i was been tail gated really badly. I drive a mr2 and am by no means a "boy racer", i just love cars. But at least 2 times a week iget puntos, saxos, starlets, all sorts up my hole looking for a race or for whatever it is those nitwits do it there spare time, there is nothing i can do, normally i just brake and slow down so they can go around and not crash into me. It is one of the most annoying things i find on the roads....

Steve

Here we go again:

If anyone believes it is safer to drive at 80kph and hold everyone up then please read read page 89 of ROTR which says:

Avoid driving too slowly
In normal road and traffic conditions, keep up with the pace of the traffic flow while obeying the speed limit. While you must keep a safe distance away from the vehicle in front, you should not drive so slowly that your vehicle unnecessarily blocks other road users. If you drive too slowly, you risk frustrating other drivers, which could lead to dangerous overtaking.

Steve

LFCFan wrote: »

Whatever about driving below the limit on a good road, what really grates on my nerves is the drivers who can't keep a consistant speed.

Worse are the drivers that slow to 60kph at the merest hint of a bend in the road - always on a solid white line. When the road straightens out again they accelerate to 100kph again just in case you want to overtake them.

andrewh5

LFCFan wrote: »

There are so many inexperienced and bad drivers on our roads.

Including bloody learners who are driving unaccompanied!!

I don't care if it isn't their fault that they haven't got a test date. They shouldn't be driving unaccompanied full stop!

Roll on June - let's hope the govt doesn't bottle it & postpone the law change (again)!

astraboy

Slow drivers are frustrating to say the least! Those that claim it's never safe to move over to the hard shoulder should not be on the road. It's safe to do so on many roads I travel. If you are not aware that there is a car, a pedestrian or an artic parked in the hard shoulder and you cannot move over, you should not be on the road. If it is safe to do so, then move over, you are showing basic consideration to other road users. If you can afford to potter along 20kph under the limit fine, but I do the limit or over it when its safe. Acting high and mighty at 80 in a 100 only leads to people taking risks due to YOUR actions. Have some basic consideration and awarenesses of whats going on around you, or get off the road. My 2cents.

D_murph

astraboy wrote: »

Slow drivers are frustrating to say the least! Those that claim it's never safe to move over to the hard shoulder should not be on the road. It's safe to do so on many roads I travel. If you are not aware that there is a car, a pedestrian or an artic parked in the hard shoulder and you cannot move over, you should not be on the road. If it is safe to do so, then move over, you are showing basic consideration to other road users. If you can afford to potter along 20kph under the limit fine, but I do the limit or over it when its safe. Acting high and mighty at 80 in a 100 only leads to people taking risks due to YOUR actions. Have some basic consideration and awarenesses of whats going on around you, or get off the road. My 2cents.

X2 ^. you would swear the way some people on here say that to pull into the hard shoulder momentarily is like jumping into a minefield with loads of hidden traps and cars appearing out of nowhere or something :rolleyes:

fact is that on a long straight stretch of road on a single lane main road its too easy to let a person out if you dont feel like driving the limit. its your prerogative but dont try to enforce it on others either FFS.

of course if these slower drivers were able to drive in the first place, they wouldnt have to do so :rolleyes:

the speed limit is there because its a safe speed for all drivers (good or bad) to drive at and if you cant even do that, then you should get off the road altogether. its that simple.

jaggiebunnet

astraboy wrote: »

80 in a 100 only leads to people taking risks due to YOUR actions.

Utter bollocks

They are taking risks because of THEIR actions - no one has a gun to their head saying you need to overtake this guy.

I don't disagree that folk should do the speed limit - I get pissed off at the 80 drivers as much as the next man.

astraboy wrote: »

but I do the limit or over it when its safe

perhaps you should be doing the job in the RTA seeing as you come specially equipped to know when it is safe to break the law and speed.

Steve

jaggiebunnet wrote: »

Utter bollocks

So you're saying ROTR are wrong then?

unkel

nicholi wrote: »

you just never know why someone is driving so fast and it's not out place to judge them without knowing the full facts (that the guards job), the other thing is that if there is some muppet tailgating you, why not let him off away from you, where his or her driving will no longer be an immediate threat to you or the other passengers in your car. It might seem selfish but to me it makes sense, I don't think I've a death wish on the roads but if someone else does they're not taking me with them. Don't see the point in trying to hold someone up if they are in a hurry, they could have a genuine reason to be in a hurry (eg sick child in hospital etc)

Great first post. Welcome to boards.ie, nicholi!

astraboy

jaggiebunnet wrote: »

Utter bollocks

They are taking risks because of THEIR actions - no one has a gun to their head saying you need to overtake this guy.

I don't disagree that folk should do the speed limit - I get pissed off at the 80 drivers as much as the next man.




perhaps you should be doing the job in the RTA seeing as you come specially equipped to know when it is safe to break the law and speed.

You are putting them in that position with your selfish actions, not being aware there is traffic waiting to overtake behind you and you should facilitate that

As for the speed limit, Well I travel the roads I travel more then the guys that make the speed limits. In case you had'nt noticed, speed limits are made out on maps in council offices, not buy people travelling out to the road and judging what is a safe limit. I will continue to do a safe speed when I am on the road. If I'm on a large straight stretch of national secondary road and I go 10/20 KPH over the limit shoot me, I'm not hurting anyone. I'm fully aware of whats going on around me. Now, if you can explain why 100KPH is fine, but 110KPH is not (other then "its the law" ****e) then I'll leave you off on your high horse. :rolleyes::rolleyes:

cyclopath2001

D_murph wrote: »

X2 ^. you would swear the way some people on here say that to pull into the hard shoulder momentarily is like jumping into a minefield with loads of hidden traps and cars appearing out of nowhere or something :rolleyes:

It's against the law to drive on the hard shoulder. It's also questionable if you're insured while doing it. Quite understandable that people don't want to do it.

astraboy

cyclopath2001 wrote: »

It's against the law to drive on the hard shoulder. It's also questionable if you're insured while doing it. Quite understandable that people don't want to do it.

GOOD GRIEF! Have you read the thread!? Its in the ROTR that you CAN pull over to facilitate other drivers behind you. I'm not sure what insurance company you are with, but the hard shoulder is part of the road structure and you are insured on it. You'd swear a bear is going to leap out onto your car if you pull over for 10 seconds when safe to do so to allow someone to overtake. The ignorance on this thread is astonishing.

coolbeans

cyclopath2001 wrote: »

It's against the law to drive on the hard shoulder. It's also questionable if you're insured while doing it. Quite understandable that people don't want to do it.

Look, for the second time it's not against the law to drive on the hard shoulder. I've addressed this already. Read my previous posts on this thread. You're not helping this argument.:mad:

Look up page 60 of the Rules of the Road. It's available online. Just google it.

D_murph

astraboy wrote: »

GOOD GRIEF! Have you read the thread!? Its in the ROTR that you CAN pull over to facilitate other drivers behind you. I'm not sure what insurance company you are with, but the hard shoulder is part of the road structure and you are insured on it. You'd swear a bear is going to leap out onto your car if you pull over for 10 seconds when safe to do so to allow someone to overtake. The ignorance on this thread is astonishing.

i know what you mean :rolleyes:. sad really but it explains a lot of the behaviour that this thread is about though.

worse than that type of ignorance is the type of driver that deliberately thinks that they have the god given right to slow traffic down because they actually think theyre helping road safety :rolleyes:. get a life FFS!!!!!!!!!

astraboy

D_murph wrote: »

i know what you mean :rolleyes:. sad really but it explains a lot of the behaviour that this thread is about though.

worse than that type of ignorance is the type of driver that deliberately thinks that they have the god given right to slow traffic down because they actually think theyre helping road safety :rolleyes:. get a life FFS!!!!!!!!!

I know, plenty of holier then tho types on here! The fact is the majority of slow drivers are dangerously unaware of their surroundings and are more dangerous then faster drivers.

cyclopath2001

coolbeans wrote: »

Look, for the second time it's not against the law to drive on the hard shoulder. I've addressed this already. Read my previous posts on this thread. You're not helping this argument.:mad:

Look up page 60 of the Rules of the Road. It's available online. Just google it.

Why not try the Irish Statute book? The RoTR is not law.

You must drive on the roadway, a hard shoulder is not part of the road. That's the law.

Making mis-informed statements without checking law is not going to help either.

astraboy

cyclopath2001 wrote: »

Why not try the Irish Statute book? The RoTR is not law.

You must drive on the roadway, a hard shoulder is not part of the road. That's the law.

Making mis-informed statements without checking law is not going to help either.

Ok, so in the highly highly unlikely situation where you are pulled over by a cop for showing consideration for other drivers, you explain to the cop how in the ROTR it says it is ok to pull over to the hard shoulder. I seriously seriously doubt you would be pulled over no. 1, but you would hardly be prosecuted. What exactly is your issue with showing common sense on our roads?

coolbeans

cyclopath2001 wrote: »

Why not try the Irish Statute book? The RoTR is not law.

You must drive on the roadway, a hard shoulder is not part of the road. That's the law.

So you're implying that driving on the hard shoulder in an attempt to let others pass is illegal? Well that's total bollox. Total and utter bollox.
Using your rationale the ROTR are completely irrelevant and we should all have a copy of the Irish Statute Book instead.

Cyclopath please refer me to where it says that using the hard shoulder to let others pass is illegal in the ISB. By the way the difference between a rule and a law is that the former is inflexible and the latter is open to interpretation in a court of law.

D_murph

cyclopath2001 wrote: »

Why not try the Irish Statute book? The RoTR is not law.

You must drive on the roadway, a hard shoulder is not part of the road. That's the law.

Making mis-informed statements without checking law is not going to help either.

really? well thats it so...........

next time i see someone showing consideration for other drivers by doing this im calling the guards on them :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

never going to make any progress on this matter in this country if this is what we have to wade through on the way there :rolleyes:

GTC

Let me please clear up this godawful mess.

ON SINGLE LANE ROADS
You may use the hard shoulder for short periods of time to let another car pass.

You may not use the hard shoulder for extended periods, such as around a left turning bend (obviously) or accross a junction.

ON DUAL-CARRAIGE-WAYS
You may not use the hard shoulder for any reason other than breakdowns/accidents.

You must drive in the Driving Lane (Left lane) unless you are overtaking at good progress.

You must not use the overtaking (right) lane unless you are overtaking at good pace.

SOMETHING TO NOTE

As a member of the Garda Traffic Corps, I am not loathe to issue summons or fines for failing to yield where an individual remains in the overtaking lane while not making adequate progress.

I hate people who drive under the speed limit and hold up other traffic, and refuse to use the hard shoulder on single lane roads where safe to do so. I would love to see a new penalty points offence for not making adequate progress or similar.

The worst offenders are the selfish ones with the "I'm perfectly entitled to" mentality. It just sreams selfishness and willful ignorance.

We have issued summons and tickets for those who use the overtaking lane on motorways. HGVs are not allowed to use the overtaking lane, period, where the limit is above 65 kph, except in extraordinary circumstances.

And God help you if you don't move over for an emergency PSV, whether single lane or dual-carraigeway. You are not that important or significant.

astraboy

GTC wrote: »

Let me please clear up this godawful mess.

ON SINGLE LANE ROADS
You may use the hard shoulder for short periods of time to let another car pass.

You may not use the hard shoulder for extended periods, such as around a left turning bend (obviously) or accross a junction.

ON DUAL-CARRAIGE-WAYS
You may not use the hard shoulder for any reason other than breakdowns/accidents.

You must drive in the Driving Lane (Left lane) unless you are overtaking at good progress.

You must not use the overtaking (right) lane unless you are overtaking at good pace.

SOMETHING TO NOTE

As a member of the Garda Traffic Corps, I am not loathe to issue summons or fines for failing to yield where an individual remains in the overtaking lane while not making adequate progress.

I hate people who drive under the speed limit and hold up other traffic, and refuse to use the hard shoulder on single lane roads where safe to do so. I would love to see a new penalty points offence for not making adequate progress or similar.

The worst offenders are the selfish ones with the "I'm perfectly entitled to" mentality. It just sreams selfishness and willful ignorance.

We have issued summons and tickets for those who use the overtaking lane on motorways. HGVs are not allowed to use the overtaking lane, period, where the limit is above 65 kph, except in extraordinary circumstances.

And God help you if you don't move over for an emergency PSV, whether single lane or dual-carraigeway

Well said.:) I'm sure the "perfectly entitled" brigade will be along to defend their ivory towered position soon.

Steve

At last, some sense. Thank you GTC.

D_murph

astraboy wrote: »

Well said.:) I'm sure the "perfectly entitled" brigade will be along to defend their ivory towered position soon.

without a doubt :rolleyes:. these types just dont know when to quit from what ive seen on here.

im sure you know who i mean

astraboy

D_murph wrote: »

without a doubt :rolleyes:. these types just dont know when to quit from what ive seen on here.

im sure you know who i mean

Ya I have an idea!:D Glad to see common sense is still alive and well in some people anyway.

coolbeans

D_murph wrote: »

without a doubt :rolleyes:. these types just dont know when to quit from what ive seen on here.

im sure you know who i mean

Ahhh...clarity.

stepbar

I think a solution to all this would be implementing a 2 + 1 road layout on existing roads. TBH 2 + 2 is simply not feasible on most national primary roads unless you upgrade. Unfortunatly the NRA have decided to stop constructing 2 + 1 roads which is fair enough but it doesn't mean that they should stop using it as a road layout. On another point, the amount of people who have said they would pull over for no one is shocking. It's childish and not smart.

D_murph

coolbeans wrote: »

Ahhh...clarity.

not sure what to make of that but i agree with what you have been saying on here actually so i wasnt having a go off you there.

hogging the right lane of a dual carriageway/motorway or not being aware that they are causing an obstruction to the flow of traffic is stupid.

deliberately doing this is just plain ignorant :mad: but we have had a few that bragged about this on here in the past :rolleyes:

cyclopath2001

GTC wrote: »

Let me please clear up this godawful mess.
ON SINGLE LANE ROADS
You may use the hard shoulder for short periods of time to let another car pass.

You're making it up. That's not the legal position. It's urban myth.

It says no such thing in the Acts nor any statutory instrument.

The only time you may use the hard shoulder is when pulling over and coming to a stop..

As a member of the Garda Traffic Corps you should at least state what is law and what is administrative practice.

But, should anything go wrong, the law is what will be applied. Drivers must remember that.

astraboy

cyclopath2001 wrote: »

You're making it up. That's not the legal position. It's urban myth.

It says no such thing in the Acts nor any stutory instrument.

The only time you may use the hard shoulder is when pulling over and coming to a stop..

OK man. You keep puttering along at 80 in a 100, frustrating those behind you and acting the ignorant maggot refusing to move over when its safe for a few moments. Glad to be sharing the roads with people like you.:rolleyes: Who gives a crap what the out of date act says, its in the ROTR and is plain common sense! Your position(and arrognace) perplexes me to be honest.