Driving under the speed limit

M94

In my opinion driving under the speed limit creates dangerous situations and almost always results in tailgating or other types of aggressive driving. You can see it every day, people overtaking dangerously on 1 lane roads because for some reason some people drive under the speed limit. Now I am not sure about this rule in Ireland during the driving test but I know that driving slower than 10 km/h of the posted limit results in a driving test failure reason being disrupting the flow of traffic in many other European Union countries. What is your opinion on this?

endacl

My opinion? You should relax.

CiniO

I have no opinion.
Never tried it.

Isambard

please, not again.

PucaMama

It's a speed limit. Not a target. Drive at it or up to 10km under it.

Mental Mickey

M94 wrote: »

In my opinion driving under the speed limit creates dangerous situations and almost always results in tailgating or other types of aggressive driving. You can see it every day, people overtaking dangerously on 1 lane roads because for some reason some people drive under the speed limit. Now I am not sure about this rule in Ireland during the driving test but I know that driving slower than 10 km/h of the posted limit results in a driving test failure reason being disrupting the flow of traffic in many other European Union countries. What is your opinion on this?

Pointless thread. Speed limits are called such - shock horror - for a reason.

durtybit

M94 wrote: »

In my opinion driving under the speed limit creates dangerous situations and almost always results in tailgating or other types of aggressive driving. You can see it every day, people overtaking dangerously on 1 lane roads because for some reason some people drive under the speed limit. Now I am not sure about this rule in Ireland during the driving test but I know that driving slower than 10 km/h of the posted limit results in a driving test failure reason being disrupting the flow of traffic in many other European Union countries. What is your opinion on this?

My opinion is if someone else is driving like a dick, this does not give you a free pass to drive like a dick ...

FortySeven

Drives me insane. Constantly stuck behind people doing 70 in 100 areas.

I view it as a selfish driver robbing me of 30% of my time.

It's infuriating and forces manouvers like overtaking which I would rather not have to make. I'm not alone in this. On my commute there will be a queue of cars waiting to go head on into traffic to pass these time wasters.

paddydone1

:rolleyes:

M94

endacl wrote: »

My opinion? You should relax.

I am not the only one when you see these cars you see like a train of 20 cars behind them.

durtybit

FortySeven wrote: »

Drives me insane. Constantly stuck behind people doing 70 in 100 areas.

I view it as a selfish driver robbing me of 30% of my time.

It's infuriating and forces manouvers like overtaking which I would rather not have to make. I'm not alone in this. On my commute there will be a queue of cars waiting to go head on into traffic to pass these time wasters.

Cop yourself on nobody FORCES you to do anything, you make bad decisions based on whats presented to you

maximum12

It depends. There is often no reason to drive under the limit.

However, 50 is often too fast for residential areas, particularly when there are a lot of parked cars.

M94

durtybit wrote: »

FortySeven wrote: »

Drives me insane. Constantly stuck behind people doing 70 in 100 areas.

I view it as a selfish driver robbing me of 30% of my time.

It's infuriating and forces manouvers like overtaking which I would rather not have to make. I'm not alone in this. On my commute there will be a queue of cars waiting to go head on into traffic to pass these time wasters.

Cop yourself on nobody FORCES you to do anything, you make bad decisions based on whats presented to you

What about the bad decisions to drive 20-30 km/h under the speed limit. As I have said it is punishable in other countries and you fail the driving test so why is it acceptable here?

durtybit

M94 wrote: »

What about the bad decisions to drive 20-30 km/h under the speed limit. As I have said it is punishable in other countries and you fail the driving test so why is it acceptable here?

Whats that got to do with your decisions

average_runner

FortySeven wrote: »

Drives me insane. Constantly stuck behind people doing 70 in 100 areas.

I view it as a selfish driver robbing me of 30% of my time.

It's infuriating and forces manouvers like overtaking which I would rather not have to make. I'm not alone in this. On my commute there will be a queue of cars waiting to go head on into traffic to pass these time wasters.

Keep doing that and you will have no time left

The Backwards Man

If the motors forum recently is representative of the general mentality of the average Irish motorist, then the sooner private vehicles are banned off the road the better.

M94

maximum12 wrote: »

It depends. There is often no reason to drive under the limit.

However, 50 is often too fast for residential areas, particularly when there are a lot of parked cars.

Talking mainly about the 80 and 100 km/h roads where you see every day driving at 60 in 80 roads and 80 in 100 roads.

FortySeven

durtybit wrote: »

Cop yourself on nobody FORCES you to do anything, you make bad decisions based on whats presented to you

The same drivers also stick to 70 when passing through 50 zones.

Life forces me to overtake. I don't have those extra minutes to spare. The queues of cars behind these slow drivers clearly show that the vast majority are travelling at a higher speed.

To be honest, the problem in this country is not that there are drivers moving slowly and more the lack of dual carriageways on heavily used commuter routes.

M94

durtybit wrote: »

M94 wrote: »

What about the bad decisions to drive 20-30 km/h under the speed limit. As I have said it is punishable in other countries and you fail the driving test so why is it acceptable here?

Whats that got to do with your decisions

It causes me to be late for work as you can't predict the time it takes to get there. This results in wasting your time every day and wasting your life driving for longer while you could be doing other more productive things.

durtybit

FortySeven wrote: »

Life forces me to overtake. I don't have those extra minutes to spare. The queues of cars behind these slow drivers clearly show that the vast majority are travelling at a higher speed.

Give me a break

So you would be willing to possibly kill someone or yourself for the sake of a few minutes or waiting to safely pass

durtybit

M94 wrote: »

It causes me to be late for work as you can't predict the time it takes to get there. This results in wasting your time every day and wasting your life driving for longer while you could be doing other more productive things.

So you blame other drivers for your getting to work late. How about you leave 30 mins earlier than normal or an hour earlier than normal.

ThisRegard

M94 wrote: »

almost always results in tailgating or other types of aggressive driving. You can see it every day, people overtaking dangerously on 1 lane roads because for some reason some people drive under the speed limit.

What, the people driving below the limit jump from their cars, gun in hand, while still moving, land in the passenger seat and force the drivers to do these things?

The only thing making the decision to do these things are the drivers themselves, and if they can't wait to safely overtake, they are the problem.

M94

durtybit wrote: »

FortySeven wrote: »

Life forces me to overtake. I don't have those extra minutes to spare. The queues of cars behind these slow drivers clearly show that the vast majority are travelling at a higher speed.

Give me a break

So you would be willing to possibly kill someone or yourself for the sake of a few minutes or waiting to safely pass

Would rather they drive at the speed limit and there would be no problems. You have to try and remove the source of the problem before resorting to other options and the source is the slow drivers creating large tailbacks.

The Backwards Man

M94 wrote: »

Would rather they drive at the speed limit and there would be no problems. You have to try and remove the source of the problem before resorting to other options and the source is the slow drivers creating large tailbacks.

I wish we could remove the source of the problem too.


That's not me agreeing with you by the way. . .

durtybit

M94 wrote: »

Would rather they drive at the speed limit and there would be no problems. You have to try and remove the source of the problem before resorting to other options and the source is the slow drivers creating large tailbacks.

Source of the problem is you are leaving yourself without enough time to get to your destination. These things are not factored into your travel time.

M94

durtybit wrote: »

M94 wrote: »

It causes me to be late for work as you can't predict the time it takes to get there. This results in wasting your time every day and wasting your life driving for longer while you could be doing other more productive things.

So you blame other drivers for your getting to work late. How about you leave 30 mins earlier than normal or an hour earlier than normal.

Of course if they drive the speed limit I wouldn't have to leave my house earlier time is money. The slow drivers are the cause not me if they weren't driving slowly everyone would happy. Driving under the speed limit should be punished same as driving over the speed.

FortySeven

durtybit wrote: »

Give me a break

So you would be willing to possibly kill someone or yourself for the sake of a few minutes or waiting to safely pass

You're assuming I'm passing dangerously. Not so. I am a very careful driver and would never dream of allowing my frustration to dictate how I drive. I don't tailgate, I don't pass irresponsibly, I wait until it is safe.

Attempting to label me a potential killer to make a point is a stretch. I find it frustrating is all. I have sat in a queue of 50+ cars moving at 50kph for many miles on a road with a 100kph limit. All because some guy in a van decided the speed limit on that road for himself that day. I missed my kids school concert because of him.

Why should we have to put up with it?

FortySeven

durtybit wrote: »

So you blame other drivers for your getting to work late. How about you leave 30 mins earlier than normal or an hour earlier than normal.

When you drop the kids to school at 8.30 and start work at 9?

I still say this is not really a driver issue. More an indictment on poor road provision. Those hard shoulders on main roads are pointless and should be second lanes.

ThisRegard

I think it's time for an IQ test be introduced before people are allowed apply for a licence.

X6.430macman

I agree 100% with the op. Test my patient to the limit, and what annoys me most of all is that most of them say 'must be in an awful rush' yes believe it or not people have places to be and things to. Going off topic here now but I have respect for tractor/truck drivers as they may be slowing you up but a tractor doing 40/50k is flat out and at least s/he is making an effort.

nanook5

During the driving test , you are marked on progress on the straight and a driving instructor will tell you to try stick to as close to the speed limit so that you don't get marked on this . So yes , people should drive at the limit unless road conditions or otherwise make it unsafe to do so .

average_runner

FortySeven wrote: »

You're assuming I'm passing dangerously. Not so. I am a very careful driver and would never dream of allowing my frustration to dictate how I drive. I don't tailgate, I don't pass irresponsibly, I wait until it is safe.

Attempting to label me a potential killer to make a point is a stretch. I find it frustrating is all. I have sat in a queue of 50+ cars moving at 50kph for many miles on a road with a 100kph limit. All because some guy in a van decided the speed limit on that road for himself that day. I missed my kids school concert because of him.

Why should we have to put up with it?

Or its a problem with speed limit for that road?

X6.430macman

ThisRegard wrote:

I think it's time for an IQ test be introduced before people are allowed apply for a licence.

So then 'smart' people get licenses when they would hardly drive a nail and 'stupid' people wouldn't get licenses even though they may have been driving since they could reach the pedals

M94

average_runner wrote: »

FortySeven wrote: »

You're assuming I'm passing dangerously. Not so. I am a very careful driver and would never dream of allowing my frustration to dictate how I drive. I don't tailgate, I don't pass irresponsibly, I wait until it is safe.

Attempting to label me a potential killer to make a point is a stretch. I find it frustrating is all. I have sat in a queue of 50+ cars moving at 50kph for many miles on a road with a 100kph limit. All because some guy in a van decided the speed limit on that road for himself that day. I missed my kids school concert because of him.

Why should we have to put up with it?

Or its a problem with speed limit for that road?

Example is N2 which is a straight road with absolutely no curves and you still get drivers driving 70 or 80 and the speed limit on that road is 100

average_runner

X6.430macman wrote: »

So then 'smart' people get licenses when they would hardly drive a nail and 'stupid' people wouldn't get licenses even though they may have been driving since they could reach the pedals

Shouldn't be driving till your 16

M94

I have also forgot to mention that the drivers driving under the speed limit are the ones who don't show indicators and don't check their blind spots. One of these ''safe'' slow drivers cut me off 2 weeks ago almost causing an accident.

average_runner

M94 wrote: »

Example is N2 which is a straight road with absolutely no curves and you still get drivers driving 70 or 80 and the speed limit on that road is 100

70 is slow in fairness. But plenty of idiots out there, the ones that use their phone, the ones that drink and then the middle Lane drivers

X6.430macman

average_runner wrote:

Shouldn't be driving till your 16

A bit of field driving before than does absoltely no harm. Gets the madness out of young lads and know how to do it when it comes time

FortySeven

average_runner wrote: »

Or its a problem with speed limit for that road?

Speed limit is fine. 90% of drivers have no issue making progress. The road needs development. At peak times it resembles a train line with breaks where one of these slow drivers dictates the limit. It needs to be a dual carriageway to allow for everyone's need.

darlett

Overtaking lanes is the answer for many roads. Works well in other countries to keep things moving. Sticking with what I'm familar with, the N5 from Longford to Castlebar is a lottery depending on you end up behind. Very very wide road with hard shoulders as wide as many a country lane. There's a single example of an overtaking lane about 5 miles west of Strokestown so its not something we can't do or are unaware of.


Won't have to be continuous, just every so often, say 15kms or whatevers suitable. Generally if people are moving a long at 80km in 100km you can wait for a reasonable chance, but its the thought of been stuck behind a line of traffic on a 2 hour road trip that makes some people take reckless chances.

Let people do the speed their comfortable with of course. If some old timer doesnt want to go near the limit of 100km thats ok but some people have schedules too.

What many people do(and if I've someone on more urgent business than myself behind me I'll do likewise) is use the hard shoulder. Hazards, lights flashed, best of luck. Let people go about their business. But some people either don't check their rear view mirrors or perhaps don't feel comfortable to do this. Is it even legal? Not sure.

average_runner

FortySeven wrote: »

Speed limit is fine. 90% of drivers have no issue making progress. The road needs development. At peak times it resembles a train line with breaks where one of these slow drivers dictates the limit. It needs to be a dual carriageway to allow for everyone's need.

Dual carriageway will annoy you more, as you will have one in the slow Lane and another in the overtaking lane

9or10

FortySeven wrote: »

The same drivers also stick to 70 when passing through 50 zones.

All of them?

Life forces me to overtake. I don't have those extra minutes to spare. The queues of cars behind these slow drivers clearly show that the vast majority are travelling at a higher speed.

Oh sorry you're a fireman?

yes there

People who drive more than 10per cent below the speed limit on 100 and 80k roads are disgusting creatures. Pull in and let the queue of cars behind you pass you inconsiderate excuse of a human.

X6.430macman

yes there wrote:

People who drive more than 10per cent below the speed limit on 100 and 80k roads are disgusting creatures. Pull in and let the queue of cars behind you pass you inconsiderate excuse of a human.

You have won this thread

Montgolfier

The problem is infrastructure large cities have busy commuter belts. Slow drivers are usually too nervous to drive on (as they usually get blown out of it for poor driving).

So the slow country man drivers stick to quieter country roads, there they can drive at their leisure.
Unfortunately Ireland doesn't have any standard of infrastructure or planning. So all the leisure drivers are sharing the same routes as the busy commuters. Best to just leave earlier.

Allinall

yes there wrote: »

People who drive more than 10per cent below the speed limit on 100 and 80k roads are disgusting creatures. Pull in and let the queue of cars behind you pass you inconsiderate excuse of a human.

Take a chill pill and leave earlier.

ThisRegard

yes there wrote: »

People who drive more than 10per cent below the speed limit on 100 and 80k roads are disgusting creatures. Pull in and let the queue of cars behind you pass you inconsiderate excuse of a human.

So you're saying 89 and 71 respectively is too slow? This thread is bringing them all out of the woodwork.

Henry Ford III

Driving a bit under the limit is fine imho.

Driving way under it, and creating a long snake of traffic behind you however isn't.

yes there

average_runner wrote:

Or its a problem with speed limit for that road?

Or maybe if everyone drove near the speed limit like they are supposed or if not pull in and let people who are pass you. Simple manners is all people are after.

M94

ThisRegard wrote: »

yes there wrote: »

People who drive more than 10per cent below the speed limit on 100 and 80k roads are disgusting creatures. Pull in and let the queue of cars behind you pass you inconsiderate excuse of a human.

So you're saying 90 is too slow? This thread is bringing them all out of the woodwork.

Of course. In Germany people drive 200 and I am sure there is less accidents as their driving test is much more difficult and people are considerate of others.

FortySeven

9or10 wrote: »

All of them?



Oh sorry you're a fireman?

I'm comfortable in the knowledge that a large queue of cars behind someone is representative of the driver in front being the problem.

There's really no need to take this to extremes. My opinion is valid wether I'm a fireman or a humble parts advisor. We all have deadlines.

I'll say it again. Provision of suitable roads is the problem. The hard shoulder serves what useful purpose?