Why do people think it acceptable to break the Speed Limit.

There is such an obsession with speed, it's just because it's easy to prove and the do gooders get a kick out of condemning it whilst I'm their ivory towers.

Yes doing any speed outside a school or similar is completely stupid.

Is doing 120 mph down some of the rural roads where I live where there is NOTHING around. Your only going to kill a deer, or yourself.

There are far more dangerous things people can do whilst driving, texting on phone, doing make up etc. us some people just have lower mental capacity and therefore inferior drivers but there is no test for that right.
 
Armageus said:
Clearly not, but it would make sense for some sections of motorway to be upgraded at least, instead of being based on laws set in the 60s or whatever - practically everyone seems to travel faster than 70 anyway
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I agree actually - with increases in vehicle safety there’s no reason you couldn’t make the fourth lane of certain motorway sections a higher limit. I don’t think any party would campaign on it though…
 
Speed is fun but not always appropriate. Context is key.

Going to bet that OP has a slow/rubbish car. Likes to police other drivers “I’m doing 70mph in the outside lane of the motorway” type. Call it a gut feeling.
 
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The OP’s question assumes the speed limit is always appropriate for the road/traffic conditions. That’s one of the reasons why I like the French system which has a higher limit on motorways and good weather and much lower ones when it’s wet or bad conditions. Poorly set speed l8mots just breeds contempt.
 
I find slow drivers hogging overtaking lanes (because there's no such thing as a fast lane, they're for overtaking) to be dangerous.

I'd be interested to know how many speeding accidents are caused by other drivers driving badly or slowly.

Having said that I'll only speed if overtaking for a short distance if it's safer than not.

Mind you I've also had a lot of fun on the autobahn in the past. No matter how fast you go there your rear view is quickly filled with someone even quicker.

Time and a place
 
More police and police cars patrolling. I live not far from a roundabout and some nights you can hear people drifting round it. This might last 10-15 mins as they drive off turn around and come back and do it again

300m to the other side of the roundabout is a police station. I never hear any sirens as they come to catch those doing it.

I don't want to live in some dystopian police state but if people need to second guess if there is a police car round the corner or they are being watch it and they will get punished. It would stop lots of people breaking the law like speeding
 
Penfold101 said:
I agree actually - with increases in vehicle safety there’s no reason you couldn’t make the fourth lane of certain motorway sections a higher limit. I don’t think any party would campaign on it though…
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Completely disagree, people are so clueless in this country it would be carnage. I’m talking about the morons that think just because they use their indicator, they can cut you up or the ones that manoeuvre before using their mirrors. People can’t even drive in the correct ******* lane, almost every day driving home from work people do 60 to 65mph in the outside lane of a motorway or dual carriageway when the inside lane is empty, no lane discipline at all
 
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Finners said:
More police and police cars patrolling. I live not far from a roundabout and some nights you can hear people drifting round it. This might last 10-15 mins as they drive off turn around and come back and do it again

300m to the other side of the roundabout is a police station. I never hear any sirens as they come to catch those doing it.

I don't want to live in some dystopian police state but if people need to second guess if there is a police car round the corner or they are being watch it and they will get punished. It would stop lots of people breaking the law like speeding
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Or you could move.
 
Bear said:
Completely disagree, people are so clueless in this country it would be carnage. I’m talking about the morons that think just because they use their indicator, they can cut you up or the ones that manoeuvre before using their mirrors. People can’t even drive in the correct ******* lane, almost every day driving home from work people do 60 to 65mph in the outside lane of a motorway or dual carriageway when the inside lane is empty.
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Why not set the limit at 55 then, same as the lorries? 40 would be even safer!

Or just make everyone take the train…
 
Armageus said:
If we're going to go there with why people think it's acceptable to break the speed limit, can we also go with why people think it's acceptable to drive too slow?

Looking at people who do 40 on a 60 mph road when there is no reason to drive slower (e.g
bad weather), forcing everyone else to overtake, therefore also increasing risk.
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These people also tend to drive 40 when they get to a heavily built up 30 mph area
 
Penfold101 said:
Why not set the limit at 55 then, same as the lorries? 40 would be even safer!

Or just make everyone take the train…
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Yeah because they are the options aren’t they. Faster 4th lanes or take the train :rolleyes: Faster limits works in the main in places like Germany because they have decent lane discipline, in the UK they dont
 
The other thing is, there are occasions where it is the other way around.

When I'm driving through plenty of 30's, and there are times when I feel that 30 is too fast for the conditions and I will drive slower.
 
Bear said:
Yeah because they are the options aren’t they. Faster 4th lanes or take the train :rolleyes: Faster limits works in the main in places like Germany because they have decent lane discipline, in the UK they dont
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But 70 is, by coincidence, the exact right speed limit?
 
A point that I find interesting is that those most obviously speeding also appear to be the ones that most typically try to intimidate cars in front with inappropriate breaking distances (I’m my opinion, far more dangerous than speeding), never let anyone out and are the most likely to ignore things like parking restrictions.

It’s as though as part of saying “I’m too important to not speed, which means that I can ignore other rules as I see fit”. That’s my issue.
 
Penfold101 said:
But 70 is, by coincidence, the exact right speed limit?
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It’s what people are used to and have been over the best part of 60 years. People expect someone in the outside lane to come past at 70ish and make judgement on that when moving into the outside lane. People aren’t used to judging distances a lot faster than that
 
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BUDFORCE said:
Is doing 120 mph down some of the rural roads where I live where there is NOTHING around. Your only going to kill a deer, or yourself.
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It's reckless, and your driving should not be unduly endangering wildlife. Just because you have done 120mph down a road doesn't mean it's safe. Maybe a lot of the time nothing happens, but when you do get an incident, the fact you're going so fast makes it much worse. You should also be slowing down in areas where there are deer.
 
Speed limits should not be enforced simply by applying the limit. I would say the limit is there to prevent reckless speed. For example, 75 on the motorway is fine, it's not reckless or dangerous. Technically you're breaking the speed limit, but you're driving is still fine and safe. The 70 limit prevents say 80+, which does start to get unnecessarily dangerous.

Where more needs to be done is the reckless driving, where people have no thought whatsoever for other people's safety, e.g. 80 in a 30. This needs the long prison sentence. There needs to be a much better deterrent.

Also, a penalty of a driving suspension is often ridiculous, because whoever was driving often won't have a licence anyway.
 
Howling said:
How do you think I, and doubtless I'm not the only one, got to that opinion?



Address literally any of the points about messaging and enforcement? You going "just obey" is clearly not going to work (as shown by the fact you're complaining people aren't obeying); at least my response is constructive in addressing why there's an issue and how things got to the point they are. Fixing it is a case of addressing what the issues were in the first place. (I didn't even mention having sensible speed limits in place, but that's probably a lesser issue than my previously addressed grievances). You started the thread and asked for thoughts so.....
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OP doesn't want a constructive conversation. OP wants validation.

@op learn to change the things you cannot accept or accept the things you cannot change. No one is going to do it for you.
 
HoneyBadger said:
Speed is fun but not always appropriate. Context is key.

Going to bet that OP has a slow/rubbish car. Likes to police other drivers “I’m doing 70mph in the outside lane of the motorway” type. Call it a gut feeling.
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Your "Gut Feeling" would be completely wrong actually.
 
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