old people doin 19mph and i get the points!!

[redbaron]

slow drivers with a total lack of any awareness are an all to common hazard. Nothing is done to tackle the problem cos speed kills you know.

A lack of it in many cases.

[Tom_vRS]

My feeling is that should you speed you should tolerate being prosecuted.

However, when overtaking, the speed limit still applies. But as a rule of thumb, I feel that if its safe to overtake without exceeding the speed limit, then it is acceptable to exceed the speed limit to increase the safety margin further. I do not think it is acceptable to exceed the speed limit to make an overtake that otherwise wouldn't be possible. I hope that makes sense.

However, I can seldom think of how 50 in a 30 is justifiable at all. Had it been 35, maybe 40 I feel I may have been able to sympathise some more.

19 in a 30 maybe intolerable to some, including myself - depending on circumstances of course. I would however not be aggresive, or tailgate, or indeed overtake unless I was 100% confident that is was safe and acceptable to do so. Unaware of your circumstances I cannot comment on whether this was so...

I certainly feel though that there is not enough enforcement of driving dangerously and similar offences. Speeders seem an easy target. I for one feel that virtually every car (not towing) that can be overtaken by a lorry at 56mph on a motorway should, at the least be warned that their actions are dangerous. Same goes for middle laners! :thumbdwn:

[metalangel]

How long had he been driving at 19mph for? I drove through North Wales a lot recently (in a Sprinter van) and saw a lot of people going a bit under the limit, but nearly as many people doing STUPIDLY DANGEROUS THINGS like trying to push the slow ones faster by tailgating, or overtaking with the tiniest of margins against oncoming traffic (basically, if he'd fudged his gear change, he wouldn't have gotten back over in time)

I drove the M4 back from London between Xmas and New Year, and spent a large portion of my time in Lane 1 (usually in 2 or 3 overtaking, but I fancied a change) and felt quite happy and a lot safer - I made sure I was going 70, though.

[johnjohnhealy]

slow drivers with a total lack of any awareness are an all to common hazard. Nothing is done to tackle the problem cos speed kills you know.

A lack of it in many cases.

But if you crash at 19mph you are considerably less likely to kill or be killed than if you are doing 50mph' date=' so in effect yes speed can kill.

I agree with your lack of awareness point, but slow drivers being a hazard? dont see that really - 30 mph is the [i']maximum[/i] speed, not the speed you must drive at.

Dont get me wrong here, I dont drive like the pope - but I respect other peoples ability to make their own decisions about what is the correct speed to be driving at considering the conditions. if I dont agree with their decisions I wait patiently for them to turn of or await a suitable and safe overtaking opportunity.

Quite simply we are talking about impatience here - nothing else, if you are getting annoyed by someone who in your opinion is driving too slowly then you are being impatient, if your impatience leads you to make a dangerous manouvre or indeed as in this case get a speeding fine then surely by being impatient you are the worse driver and have no-one else to blame except yourself.

[Rob Arnett]

Putting this case on one side and ignoring speed camera scenario...super slow drivers do drive me insane.

Normally they have a 5.0litre under the bonnet as well.

Buy a milk float

Do they do a milk float with a 5.0 litre then? I'd have one.

Seriously though, they do drive me mad also, along with "40mph everywhere oldman" I've been stuck behind old people who do 40mph in a 60mph area who then still do 40mph when the limit drops to 30mph

Rob

[Podwin]

I've been stuck behind old people who do 40mph in a 60mph area who then still do 40mph when the limit drops to 30mph

Rob

That's my Mum & Dad

[Rob Arnett]

See that person who drives at 40mph everywhere........................................that's your mum and dad that is. :P

[Mort]

OK, considering that having people blatting along at VMax into oncoming traffic is fairly obviously not a Good Thing, how would you change the existing legislation so you could have an enforceable means of permitting people to exceed a posted speed limit while overtaking?

If it's a fixed camera on a single carriageway, it won't get you at any speed if you're going through it in the wrong direction, will it?

It's the fact that it was a mobile camera with someone operating it that he was caught. Maybe you could just tell the mobile camera operators to exercise sound judgement as to whether the overtaker was just or not? Make it a kind of 'acceptable breaking of the speed limit for the situation' clause?

Just a thought. I'm sure it's harder than that in real life.

[lozgti]

Just an aside

Stupidist thing I have ever seen.Policeman screaming down the road lights,siren etc,slowing down to 30 speed camera area,crawling through at 30 (lights/siren still going) then accelerating off like a nutter.

Drives like the rest of us then through these areas:rolleyes:

[robmawer]

If it's a fixed camera on a single carriageway, it won't get you at any speed if you're going through it in the wrong direction, will it?

This is correct...

It's the fact that it was a mobile camera with someone operating it that he was caught. Maybe you could just tell the mobile camera operators to exercise sound judgement as to whether the overtaker was just or not? Make it a kind of 'acceptable breaking of the speed limit for the situation' clause?

However, should it for the mobile camera operator to exercise judgement? Much like traffic wardens, if an offence has been committed, they have to issue to appropriate charge - otherwise they become the law, and if they don't like the look of your face you'll get a ticket, or if you're blonde and leggy then you'll get away with it...

Therefore discretionary laws are a Bad Thing.

If these issues were sent to court for review, you'd also need to have inarguable definitions of what constitutes an overtake manouevre, and at what speeds these can be carried out, and all the extraneous circumstances surrounding it.

Otherwise, if you didn't want to sit in a queue of traffic, you could use the excuse of overtaking to do 120mph down the other side of the road...as there would be an exemption for the speed limit for this.

Would be horrendously complicated to enforce with any degree of fairness.

Rob.

[LittlePaul]

We overtook a guy doing 20 in a 30 past a speed camera by doing 30. He looked most miffed!

[lozgti]

and if they don't like the look of your face you'll get a ticket' date=' or if you're blonde and leggy then you'll get away with it...

Rob.[/quote']

You are assuming a male operator Rob.Could be a Catherine Zeta Jones lookalike who takes a shine to you:)

True though

[Verr_Err_Ess!]

OLD PEOPLE WHO DRIVE AT 19 MPH SHOULD BE DRAGGED OUT OF THEIR CARS AND SHOT ON THE SPOT!

John.

[mdk1]

OLD PEOPLE WHO DRIVE AT 19 MPH SHOULD BE DRAGGED OUT OF THEIR CARS AND SHOT ON THE SPOT!

:rofl:

[flyingscot]

Just out of interest, did you need to do 50mph to get past. If you were doing 29mph, you could according to the back of a fac packet calculations, be past in 3 seconds.

[Mavrik]

Couple of thoughs here

First off, the guy was doing 19mph, OK thats fine, the speed limit is just that, a LIMIT not a TARGET, perhaps he knew of the scamera van ? perhaps he had some other reason ?

Secondly, what happened to your observation ? if you had a straight road to pass the car (which I assume you did) then you should have seen the scamera van, what if it wasnt a scamera van but a bus load of kids pulling out ?(I know, kids....the usual one for the antis, but hey why not) would you have been able to slow down quick enough ? (obviously not coz the camera got you and you didnt see it)

Thirdly, why did you need to go to 50mph to overtake? you could have passed at 30mph, and if not due to oncoming traffic, then you should have stayed put

you did the crime, now do the time and stop whinging

[mikejay]

sorry been away, it was the cost road in conway and it was 11am on a sunday mornin. not built up with houses and it was a stright road. im not sayin i shouldnt get the points because of the speed. im just commenting on how lashed of you feel when you get done for for one moment that was brought on by someone else. its not as if i go tear arsin around everywhere at 50! this is the first brush with the law in 10 years of drivin.

[Chavyboy]

Agree 100% with Mavrik 30mph is a maximum and as said not a target, road conditions etc need to be taken into account. Maybe he could see a pot hole coming up or maybe he could see a big puddle of water ahead and didn't want to aquaplain across it saying all this though not maintaining a speed limit along the flow of a road can cause issues as well.

Also the stopping distance at 50 MPH is 175 feet, the stopping distance at 30mph 75 feet so if someone was to step out in front of you a hundred feet away they would be alive at 30mph, at 50mph they would have no chance.

[LouisTsui]

chances are if the man was old he just applied for a licence and got it with no test....

Joel

Can they really do that??? This is scary...

Louis

[ScoobyChris]

Can they really do that??? This is scary...

I think he means that if he was old enough to start driving before the formal test was introduced, when he started driving all those years ago, he could just apply for a licence. I'm sure there can't be that many people of that age still driving on our roads? :confused:

Chris

[DGW]

The driving test was introduced in Britain in 1935. Anyone who took the test in that year at the age of 16 - if that was the minimum age then - would be 87 now.

[Dr_Pepper]

The driving test was introduced in Britain in 1935. Anyone who took the test in that year at the age of 16 - if that was the minimum age then - would be 87 now.

A bit random here but while this may well be true, you don't have to be 87 to be driving without passing a test. My grandad, a who drove tankers during the war, was taught to drive in the army aged 16, and never took a test. He's not yet 80, 78 I think, and I suspect there are a lot of people in this situation.

On this case, I have to agree with others who've said I don't think it's necessary to do 50mph to overtake someone doing only 19. Sorry but 35 - 40 I can understand but not 50 in a 30 zone to be honest.

[heresmo]

Thats the point i was getting at' date=' if you did overtake at 30 and at the time it was safe to do so, yet unforseen circumastances meant that the fact you were doing 30, an accident happened, then you would be in the wrong....

I dont for one minute believe any law is written with real world intent. Its only written with the statistical evidence presented in front of them.... I bet if these statistics took into account, for example, how many pedestrians that were killed ACTUALLY "stopped, looked and listened" then we would know a more real world figure.[/quote']

:confused: Forgive me, but I think in the real world we all try to drive safely, according to road conditions rather than statistical possibility of error - though sometimes we fall foul of the law, reasonably or otherwise.

Mo

[blades]

nice to see the do gooders out in force why aren't they all out on the thames saving the whale !! The question was about slow drinving not the wrongness of what Mike had done. Whats next for you lot ban the Vrs as it does more than 70mph (oops sorry none of you own them)

[Jules59]

Dont lose your rag with old people. We will all suffer that fate. Modern standards of living mean we will all live longer. The problem is that we will live longer being very old and not longer being young.

Because tax payers in this country are not prepared to pay the taxes a government needs to setup and run an affordable and desirable public transport system we will never have such a system and old people will be forced to drive if they want to go anywhere even if they would rather not drive. Old people, are usually fully aware of the failing physique, slower reaction times, poorer visual acuity and tend to drive slower because they are being sensible and are generally trying to avoid accidents.

Young drivers have high insurance premiums because they have more accidents and kill more people.

Who are the worst drivers?