Guess how many...

[A Place of Light]

Originally Posted by Del Lardo

Can you point me towards an article? I'd be interested in having a read..

Several have been referenced over at the blue place on many occasions.
Search ye olde motors forum for ye shall find what ye seek.

Originally Posted by Del Lardo

For me I tend to cruise at 80mph because I can comfortably process what's going on around me. At 60mph the lack of effort required is actually an issue for me as my mind starts to wander and I lose concentration.

So you're incapable of paying sufficient attention at speeds around the 60mph mark?
Do you think this is acceptable and also do you also think it would stand as a plausible defence in a court of law?

[Del Lardo]

Originally Posted by A Place of Light

Several have been referenced over at the blue place on many occasions.
Search ye olde motors forum for ye shall find what ye seek.

Having vowed never to return to the blue place I may struggle to find them

Originally Posted by A Place of Light

So you're incapable of paying sufficient attention at speeds around the 60mph mark?
Do you think this is acceptable and also do you also think it would stand as a plausible defence in a court of law?

Not incapable but certainly not comfortable. I'm not talking about a built up motorway here with loads of traffic around where there is more than enough going on to keep me interested but a free flowing motorway where you can comfortably drive at 70 mph until your progress is impeded by someone who is driving below the speed limit. It's also something that I'm aware of so I can do something about it unlike a hell of a lot of drivers who seem to live in their own little world.

As for a plausible defence in court, I very much doubt it but if my inattention was the cause of an accident and it went to court I'd do what I've always done when I have gone to court, tell the truth and if necessary take the punishment. I hasten to add that both times I have been to court I told the truth and was found Not Guilty, the 2nd time it cost a CSO his job.

[A Place of Light]

Originally Posted by Del Lardo

Having vowed never to return to the blue place I may struggle to find them .

That is a shame, as once you learn to filter away the dross you are left with a wide base of knowledge.

Originally Posted by Del Lardo

Not incapable but certainly not comfortable. I'm not talking about a built up motorway here with loads of traffic around where there is more than enough going on to keep me interested but a free flowing motorway where you can comfortably drive at 70 mph until your progress is impeded by someone who is driving below the speed limit. It's also something that I'm aware of so I can do something about it unlike a hell of a lot of drivers who seem to live in their own little world.

This is an interesting turn of phrase that you use.
It's limit, not a target.....yet you seem to imply that anyone who is not travelling at the very least at the posted limit is a hindrance or they're doing something irresponsible as they're "getting in your way".
If you do a couple of timed runs you will soon learn that the average motorist is fooling himself that he is gaining anything more than a matter of minutes by travelling above the posted limit, unless his journey is free of traffic jams and it covers 100+miles.

[Del Lardo]

Originally Posted by A Place of Light

This is an interesting turn of phrase that you use.
It's limit, not a target.....yet you seem to imply that anyone who is not travelling at the very least at the posted limit is a hindrance or they're doing something irresponsible as they're "getting in your way".
If you do a couple of timed runs you will soon learn that the average motorist is fooling himself that he is gaining anything more than a matter of minutes by travelling above the posted limit, unless his journey is free of traffic jams and it covers 100+miles.

I was taught that unless there are adverse conditions like bad weather, obstructions etc you should always aim to drive at the speed limit. You do 25 in a 30 on your test and you will pick up a fault unless there is a damn good reason for you to be doing that speed. I have taken that lesson on and use it on the motorway and drive at 70mph when it is safe to do so. If people want to tootle along at 60mph then go for it but when they are doing it in the outside lane of a motorway then they are hindering the progress of other vehicles where the driver chooses to drive at the legal speed limit in the same way that someone driving at 25mph in a 30mph zone is hindering the progress of the drivers behind them.

My experience of 100k+ miles of motorway driving is that most inattentive driving comes from those pootling along at 60mph in the middle lane in their own little world*. At the same time the most aggressive driving comes from those who are barrelling along at way over the speed limit. Neither style of driving is safe IMO.

As for the time saving argument... I drive from Cambridge to the Heathrow area most weeks which is ~70 miles on the motorway. If I drove at 70mph it would take me 1 hour. If I drove at 60 mph it would take me 1 hour & 10 minutes. So over the course of a year at 60 mph I would spend another 17 hours in the car for no good reason. That's 17 hours a year where I can be discussing interesting things with you on BD!






*I have a cracking anecdote about a Rover, a Lotus, a Policeman and a camera if anyone is interested.

[LeperousDust]

Originally Posted by Del Lardo

*I have a cracking anecdote about a Rover, a Lotus, a Policeman and a camera if anyone is interested.

Go for it.

APoL do you actually drive ?

I generally don't speed per se, apart from driving to and from uni/home because i can literally save 2 hours a journey, it costs me a bit more in fuel granted, but i'm willing to pay that to not have to spend the extra 2 hours in my car. Likewise i'd pay the train to go faster if i could! I'm personally not a fan of the random arbitrary speed limit.

[Garp]

Originally Posted by Del Lardo

I was taught that unless there are adverse conditions like bad weather, obstructions etc you should always aim to drive at the speed limit. You do 25 in a 30 on your test and you will pick up a fault unless there is a damn good reason for you to be doing that speed.

Taught the same thing here. As far as I recall the Institute of Advanced Motorists teaches the same too. My driving instructor routinely hammered in the phrase "promote the flow" along with his other classics like "drive to what you see to be clear" (i.e. blind corner, go carefully; straight & clear road, go to speed limit.)

Off the top of my head, a car engine is most efficient at 55mph. It's the main reason why speed limits in the US are set at 60, and have been ever since fuel shortage a few decades ago.

According to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_ec...conomy_studies on modern engines the most efficient speed is now around 65mph.

[cheets]

Originally Posted by Fayshun

Had 3 in 2005, now off my licence, in nearly 20 years of driving.

I didnt want to boast but i will

But I do little driving.

But I have had the odd venture into untold territory

[cheets]

Originally Posted by Del Lardo

I was taught that unless there are adverse conditions like bad weather, obstructions etc you should always aim to drive at the speed limit. You do 25 in a 30 on your test and you will pick up a fault unless there is a damn good reason for you to be doing that speed. I have taken that lesson on and use it on the motorway and drive at 70mph when it is safe to do so. If people want to tootle along at 60mph then go for it but when they are doing it in the outside lane of a motorway then they are hindering the progress of other vehicles where the driver chooses to drive at the legal speed limit in the same way that someone driving at 25mph in a 30mph zone is hindering the progress of the drivers behind them.

My experience of 100k+ miles of motorway driving is that most inattentive driving comes from those pootling along at 60mph in the middle lane in their own little world*. At the same time the most aggressive driving comes from those who are barrelling along at way over the speed limit. Neither style of driving is safe IMO.

As for the time saving argument... I drive from Cambridge to the Heathrow area most weeks which is ~70 miles on the motorway. If I drove at 70mph it would take me 1 hour. If I drove at 60 mph it would take me 1 hour & 10 minutes. So over the course of a year at 60 mph I would spend another 17 hours in the car for no good reason. That's 17 hours a year where I can be discussing interesting things with you on BD!






*I have a cracking anecdote about a Rover, a Lotus, a Policeman and a camera if anyone is interested.

I was taught very briefly that if you are not gaining on the car in front stay in the "slow lane" if you are catching up on someone you need the middle lane to over take, the 3rd land is just a misconception, we should have a land for lorries and 2 lanes for cars, and a button in cars that if a car is in the 2nd cars lane can be blown up if they are not over taking the car fast enough.

If everybody could overtake and pull it would be a great world but it aint, I hae being in the "slow lane" but its the closest lane to the hard shoulder if god forbid anything happened.

[Del Lardo]

Originally Posted by LeperousDust

Go for it.

Seeing as you ask so nicely.....

Driving up to my parents a few years ago when I still had my Lotus I was going along a dual carrageway at bang on 70mph and came up behind a Rover 800 doing 60mph in the inside lane. I pulled into the outside lane to overtake and as I closed to 2 second gap behind him I noticed two things, that there was a roundabout ~800m ahead and that the Rover was drifting from the left to the right hand side of his lane (no indicator). I decide that he is going to change lanes so lift off the throttle (due to low inertia in Elise it's like tapping the brakes in a normal car) so my speed reduces and I can maintain a safe 2 second gap.

As predicted he starts to change lane and as he is half way across the right hand indicator finally comes on and 10ths of a second later the car jerks violently to the left (he'd finally checked his mirrors and **** himself finding a car there). The change in direction was so violent that I thought he was going to loose control of the car and was already covering the brakes by the time he was back in the inside lane.

He remains in the inside lane so I pass him to a barrage of shaken fists and flashing lights and I continue on my journey thinking nothing more of it.

10 days later I'm working from home and I get a knock on the door. I answer it to find a Policeman there who tells me that I have been reported for trying to ram other driver off the road and that he would like to speak to me about it. After I'd had a little chuckle to myself (which he didn't seem to like) I inviting him in for a coffee and a chat.

He told me that a very respectable member of the community (never found out what though I suspect ex-Police, Magistrate, Mason as it's nigh on impossible to get the Police to act with evidence let alone with no evidence) had reported me for trying to ram him off the road on the [road] on Saturday [date]. I pointed out that any contact with another car in a Lotus would result in several thousand pounds worth of body work damage due to the fiber glass construction but alas logic wasn't working and he spent 10 minutes trying to convince me to admit to something that I hadn't done.

After 10 minutes I was bored so I told him to piss or get off the pot (obviously I phrased it slightly better) and he agreed that the conversation should act as a warning. I told him that as I had done nothing wrong I did not accept his warning and that I would be contacting his Sergeant if any further insinuation was made. He agreed to leave it at that and that's when I had my fun.

I asked him if he wanted to know what would have happened if it had ever made it to court and he looked a bit confused so I opened my laptop and showed him a video of the entire incident. I'd bought a new bullet cam a few days before the incident and had been using the trip up to my parents to soak test it. You could clearly see my speedo reading 70mph leading up to the incident and the whole dangerous manouver.

I told him that he was more than welcome to a copy if he wanted to pursue the respectable member of the comunity for wasting Police time or dangerous driving but he didn't seem particulary interested, thanked me for my time and left.

Alas I lost the video in the great laptop theft of 2008 I used to enjoy watching it to cheer myself up.

[Will]

There's no such thing as the "slow" lane.

I seldom do 70 on the motorway. I drive within the conditions of the road, and the traffic density, and the area where I'm driving. Around schools I slow down, in built up areas I slow down (usually because the roads are full of bumps and are **** anyway). On big open roads I seldom stick to the limit, on motorways I seldom stick to the limits, on fun twisty country roads I drive in a spirited fashion to enjoy the roads. I don't worry about my speed, I concentrate on what's going on around me - my observation skills are really very good, my driving skill is above average but in the UK that's not hard to achieve, however I will say that I do have very good anticipation and observational skills - that comes with riding a motorbike.

I make my choices when I ride/drive and if I get caught then as long as it's by a policeman in a car able to offer some discretion if any is required then that's fine, what I abhor is all the automated systems which do nothing to make people safer.