Being overtaken when doing the speed limit

SV · 19-10-2008 01:57AM

Overheal wrote: »

Oh, thank god, a Guess! Well that settles it for me. So when you mistake that pothole for a puddle and drive right through it going 160kmph have one of your loved ones send us a written retraction from the funeral home.

because you assume i'll crash?
You assume I don't know what to do in a situation like that? good chap!

oh and http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-407521/Only-20-road-accidents-caused-breaking-speed-limit.html
"Accidents were far more likely to be caused by drivers failing to pay attention and making mistakes, or pedestrians not looking properly." Turned out to be a fairly ****ing good guess ey?

:rolleyes:

g'man. oh and that one is based on actual statistics..not a couple of **** sitting down and scaring people into going 1mph over the speed limit.

JimmyCrackCorn! · 19-10-2008 01:59AM

Overheal wrote: »

Oh, thank god, a Guess! Well that settles it for me. So when you mistake that pothole for a puddle and drive right through it going 160kmph have one of your loved ones send us a written retraction from the funeral home.

And how would the resuld be different at 120km or even 100km. Modern cars arnt crash tested over 30mph.

Inappropriate use of speed kills yes.

Its just a silly argument that speed is what kills everyone on our roads. Last year how many drivers had alcahol in there system in fatal incidents. Many other reasons lead to fatalities. It is very easy to put speed as a factor in an accident because a vehicle is moving > 30mph your already at a speed that is capable of killing you.

Its not just one factor its many. Speed can be used sensably but saying that overtaking someone in a 60km zone @ 70km is going to cause devistation and carnage is just misguided.

Overheal · 19-10-2008 02:40AM

ClioV6 wrote: »

oh and http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-407521/Only-20-road-accidents-caused-breaking-speed-limit.html
"Accidents were far more likely to be caused by drivers failing to pay attention and making mistakes, or pedestrians not looking properly." Turned out to be a fairly ****ing good guess ey? :rolleyes:

Your interesting article intrigues me genuinely. Perhaps we could discuss this over a drag race next thursday? In the interest of safety though lets forgo the traditional pre-game drink-off.

JimmyCrackCorn! wrote: »

Inappropriate use of speed kills yes.

Under what conditions are we talking about here? I can see the temptation to speed on the motorway, but I lived in Clare: there aint nowhere in Clare where you feel safe driving at the posted speed limit. One lane roads, fecking tractors, blindspots everywhere.

19-10-2008 02:45AM

The hint may be in the use of the words "Inappropriate use of speed" the legal limit may be 80kmh, but anyone with an ounce (30 ish grammes) of sense knows that you can't get around that bend at over 40kmh.

You can easily be killed on the road when driving below the speed limit!

JB04 · 19-10-2008 10:16AM

ClioV6 wrote: »

2 points in exchange for getting on my own side of road quicker and not risking a crash is 2 points I could live with.

Get your 2 points. Get them 6 times, and then you will not have to worry about how quick it takes to get back to your side of the road. There is nothing wrong with overtaking, if you can do it legally, safely and without exceeding the speed limit.

19-10-2008 10:23AM

Overheal wrote: »

Oh, thank god, a Guess! Well that settles it for me. So when you mistake that pothole for a puddle and drive right through it going 160kmph have one of your loved ones send us a written retraction from the funeral home.

bit over the top?

Saruman · 19-10-2008 10:24AM

What really bugs me is the 80kph brigade.. you know the drivers that stick to 80kph no matter what the speed limit is. Could be 100kph clear straight national road and they hold everyone up at 80kph forcing people to overtake them. Then when they drive through a town where the speed limit is 50kph.... do they slow down? Of course not.. they sail through at 80kph believing themselves in this bubble of righteousness for holding up all the drivers who want to go faster than them for the last 20km.

h_baby · 19-10-2008 10:30AM

Saruman wrote: »

What really bugs me is the 80kph brigade.. you know the drivers that stick to 80kph no matter what the speed limit is. Could be 100kph clear straight national road and they hold everyone up at 80kph forcing people to overtake them. Then when they drive through a town where the speed limit is 50kph.... do they slow down? Of course not.. they sail through at 80kph believing themselves in this bubble of righteousness for holding up all the drivers who want to go faster than them for the last 20km.

Yes, this drives me crazy. My mother is guilty of this. Goes at 70-80kmph and does the same going through villages at that are 50kmph! She never realises it until she's passed the village!!

Blazer · 19-10-2008 10:35AM

Wertz wrote: »

You're hindering the progress of following drivers...what speed limit they choose to travel at is none of your concern, particularly if they're overtaking or attempting to overtake you (it may be of some concern if they're the type of asshole that likes to sit 2 metres from your rear bumper).
This attitude of "Oh I'm doing 120kmph and all those naughty people behind me flashing their lights can just ease up on the juice and stick to the limit" is going to cause accidents on the motorways and DCs...blocking the overtaking lane by not clearing it once you're past the vehicle(s) on the inside leads to tailgating, frustration and undertaking in the inside lane.
If I or anyone else decide to break the limit then it's not for anyone else (except the gardaí) to take us to task. Doing 140 or 150kmph when conditions are safe and the traffic is right (ie no-one sitting in the outside lane) isn't dangerous...it's dickheads merging at half the speed limit, those who fail to indicate whilst changing lanes and lorry drivers with their limiters switched off who are a lot more likely to cause an incident (like the one on the M1 at Dunleer on wed morning which more or less closed the road for 2 hours).
Yopu mention you just passed your test recently, hence you're now allowed out on the mway legally...even though you've never driven on it before and haven't been coached in how to do so...it's best that you follow the RotR and obey lane etiquette, instead of worrying abot what other drivers choose to do with their cars...

+1 A good sensible post there...I'll share my road with you anyday

samhail · 19-10-2008 10:46AM

What i thought was absolutely legend one day.
It was a while back and not 100% sure where it was. perhaps on the road down to limerick from dublin.
there was a truck about 2 or 3 cars in front of me, and i could see that there were at least another 2 trucks in front of him, with the car in the middle of them.

The road was quite wide, single lane both ways, had a painted partition (the squiggly lines) in the middle the size of a lane. It was S-Bends all the way for the past few miles, and S-Bends for the next few miles.

All of a sudden this truck is in the middle partition overtaking all the cars, all the trucks... i was like good god !
Obviously the truck driver knew the road inside out.

I stayed well behind !

sinlessgunner · 19-10-2008 11:04AM

I drive a jap import but I am a safe driver, I'm no boy racer I obey speed limits and I'm courteous to others but for some reason, and its always always men in their 40's, people driving Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar, Porsche.....list goes on, think that I should be driving at the speed of light. It never happened in my other car (a renault megane) but now they stick up my a**e, flashing and beeping when I'm driving at the speed limit! One guy actually stuck his finger up at me when he overtook me driving at about 140kmph on a 80kmph stretch of road.

When on a road where a person can't overtake and one of these idiots starts flashing I actually slow down even more. Why should my life be put in danger by a mid-life crisis hit gobs***e blinding me because I refuse to break the speed limit!!

Rant over

Morrisseeee · 19-10-2008 11:12AM

interesting post 'sinlessgunner'
My experience is seeing people doing 150/160kmph every moring/evening on the dual-cabbageway. I've seen plently of incidents of road-rage because of this, drivers move out to SLOW down the 'Eddie Irvines' of this world, meanwhile 'Eddie Irvine' is flashing/beeping/fingering etc, its THEIR road afterall !!!!!!!

dreamer_ire · 19-10-2008 12:02PM

Anyone who has ever driven on motorways in France will have seen a lesson is the proper utilisation of the overtaking lanes. My experience from last year was that no one uses them unless they are overtaking and as soon as they have they pull in. It doesn't matter if they are going to overtake another vehicle in a few minutes they pull in. I think many of our drivers could take a lesson from this.

Wertz · 19-10-2008 12:16PM

JB04 wrote: »

If you need to exceed the speed limit to overtake, then you shouldn't be overtaking.

Sorry but IMO that's complete horsesh*t.
Someone doing 10 k under the limit is holding following traffic up...but the road being travelled may only have smaller opportunity windows for a safe overtaking maneuver, be it because of bends or continuous white lines or whatever...on a single carriageway national or secondary route, the inherent danger is being on the wrong side of the road for a momnet longer than is necessary, NOT being 20kmph above the limit for 10 seconds. By getting up to 120-130kmph, you clear the slower car and can pull in more quickly, THEN lay off the juice (or brake if you prefer). By this means you also allow more cars to take their opportunity to overtake, rather than having to leave it until the next safe/legal place.
I don't cross white lines, or hatchings, but I hvae absolutely no problem increasing my speed when it is LEGAL to overtake on that stretch of tarmac.
I'll happily tell the judge the same, I'll happily take my points and my fine....but I will not put myself and others at risk by drving on thwe wrong side of the road at the posted limit and I hope to god I never meet you coming the other way if you are...

Morrisseeee · 19-10-2008 12:26PM

Ahem.......would those drivers who have NEVER broken the spped limit, please stand up !!!!!
Eh..... look at that, there's nobody standing up..........

Captain Slow IRL · 19-10-2008 12:41PM

JB04 wrote: »

There is nothing wrong with overtaking, if you can do it legally, safely and without exceeding the speed limit.

Have you driven on many "N" or "R" roads?

In Ireland?

Dudess · 19-10-2008 12:55PM

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Ahem.......would those drivers who have NEVER broken the spped limit, please stand up !!!!!
Eh..... look at that, there's nobody standing up..........

Oh believe me, they're probably still in bed - there's a handful of them all right who insist they wouldn't even do 62 or 63 mph on a quiet dual carriageway (speed limit 60 before anyone barges in with the usual incorrect "eh... the speed limit on the dual carriageway is 70 :rolleyes:" comments - that's the motorway, dudes!

).

Boskowski · 19-10-2008 12:58PM

First of the OP should'nt get obsessed with what others are doing but should rather mind his own business unless these others are endangering him. Period.
I you do get annoyed by someone overtaken you while you doing the speed limit so that this other one must clearly break the speed limit so what? Have you some sort of control issue? Where I come from a lot of people seem to have this policing hobby streak in them to the extent of 'us' havin a bit of a reputation for that. And it's not a positive reputation.

On some of the other comments.

Some of you are advocating the speed limits being too low. IMHO that's rubbish. In general people think they are a lot better drivers than they really are. A lot of you guys go back to an era in this country where you now have a driving license that you obtained by simply drivin for several years as a completely untrained driver. You never had safety training and you never had to listen to lessons on the most basics fundamentals of the physics of driving. Still you think you're great drivers. Needless to say almost 100% males. Hate to break the news you're most likely not, far from it. Especially when your advocatin higher speed limits. Clearly shows to me you haven't a clue.

Irish roads are bad (bar the most recent developments) and the Irish standard of driving in general is awful. People are liable to do anything here, one reason why I just wouldn't ride a bike here although I consider myself an experienced enough biker. It's just suicidal here. People are oblivious the most basic rules of the road like right of way for pedestrians, watching out for cyclists & bikers, indicating, going to the far right in your lane when turning right rather than blockin the entire road. I could go on for hours. Irish people as a generalized whole a very, very bad drivers. It's not their fault but their governments. A car is potentially a very dangerous weapon and the whole L driver concept is completely ridiculous.

Most of the Irish roads actually have way too high speed limits due to the fact that the speed limits were blindly applied by road 'class' rather than being an actual match to that particular stretch of road. It's ****in ridicolous, you have 100km/h signs 50m from entering 2 hairpin bends with no further warning, that kinda stuff. Most country roads are not fit whatsoever for 80 km/h. And lots of stretches of road that are deemed National Roads are no way fit for 100km/h either. The few miles of proper motorway where you could actually up the limit are miniscule compared to that.

On top you should not only take into account how good you and your car are (or most likely 'think' you are) but how well you could deal with the unexpected and with the fact that even if you are that good most of the others are clearly not and that makes well up for it.

On all roads but the newest roads the speed limits are either ok or should be lowered. The whole L driver thing should be completely abandoned. Then the road deaths would actually come down.

tech77 · 19-10-2008 01:16PM

Dudess wrote: »

Oh believe me, they're probably still in bed - there's a handful of them all right who insist they wouldn't even do 62 or 63 mph on a quiet dual carriageway (speed limit 60 before anyone barges in with the usual incorrect "eh... the speed limit on the dual carriageway is 70 :rolleyes:" comments - that's the motorway, dudes! ).

Eh, the DC 100kph translates into (approx.) 62.5mph not 60mph.

That 2.5mph is important to me, believe me-

-If i'm going to rigidly stick to a DC limit (gardai on road/fear of getting more points etc) it may as well be the full 62.5, not 60.
Squeeze all the mph out of it as possible (legally).

SV · 19-10-2008 01:21PM

Overheal wrote: »

Your interesting article intrigues me genuinely. Perhaps we could discuss this over a drag race next thursday? In the interest of safety though lets forgo the traditional pre-game drink-off.

Ah good chap, good way to concede there without making yourself look like a total ****ing idiot.

JB04 wrote: »

There is nothing wrong with overtaking, if you can do it legally, safely and without exceeding the speed limit.

Yeah..you seem like a fairly inexperienced driver if you reckon that's a valid statement..either that or a bit stupid.

19-10-2008 02:16PM

JimmyCrackCorn! wrote: »

Fantastic. This is the two wrongs make a right argument.

Its wrong to speed but its ok to lane hog because of some self richous belief. I love it. Thats jsut made my night that has.

Read the thread properly - The OP was talking about a single lane road, so why should he have to move over if he's doing the speed limit??

Let me f*cking tell you all something, 5 years ago I was in a car, about to turn right out of a junction, as the car I was in made the turn, the car coming from the right decided to pull into the hard shoulder, even though he was driving the speed limit, to allow a truck who was putting pressure on him to overtake, the truck driver put his foot down to overtake and hit my car on the wrong side of the road, killing my two children.

I'd like you to this of that next time you think speeding and overtaking won't harm anyone.

sam34 · 19-10-2008 03:39PM

ClioV6 wrote: »

That's not up to you to decide what I should be doing on the road

thats true, our laws dictate what speed people should be doing on the road, and how they should be behaving. taking the decision that you are above the law and can drive how you like because you/your car can handle it, leaves you open to penalties and prosecution. good enough for you, imo.

ottostreet · 19-10-2008 03:50PM

IMO, there are two types of "exceeding the speed limit"...there is "speeding" and "inappropraite speed". i drive very sensibly in congested areas, urban areas, and in more cramped roads. BUT, on the open road, i drop the hammer, and can regularly be found cruising at 85-90mph. ive been caught speeding. like a fool, i forgot to slow down driving through a notorious garda watch point, and was caught. i put my hand up. BUT, was what i was doing dangerous? no. clear road. could see about a mile ahead. extremely wide. and i was the only car. ah well. the whole attitude of "well 62.5mph is the speed limit. any more, and god will wreak his vengeance (?!) is RIDICULOUS. confident, assertive driving and correct use of procedure at junctions, roundabouts, and driving on motorways without this social stigma attached to "speeding" will reduce deaths. i don't, for one moment, condone inappropriate speed though. by which, i mean 80kph in a town, or hooring it around a car park. how often are the people who drive 20-25000 miles a year crashing? after all, these are the ones speeding. but, according to the government, its LEARNERS that are the problem. interesting...

AlmightyCushion · 19-10-2008 04:25PM

Deleted User wrote: »

If this was aimed at me I really think you are one sick b*stard.

It seemed like a general statement aimed at noone in particular.

Also he says.

confident, assertive driving and correct use of procedure at junctions, roundabouts, and driving on motorways without this social stigma attached to "speeding" will reduce deaths

Given your description of what happened to you above, I can't see how the driver use the correct procedure at that junction which leads me to believe that it wasn't aimed at you.

SV · 19-10-2008 04:27PM

sam34 wrote: »

thats true, our laws dictate what speed people should be doing on the road, and how they should be behaving. taking the decision that you are above the law and can drive how you like because you/your car can handle it, leaves you open to penalties and prosecution. good enough for you, imo.

Yep, that's grand by me.

Just don't think it's anything to do with you whether I am prosecuted or not.

ottostreet · 19-10-2008 04:28PM

Deleted User wrote: »

If this was aimed at me I really think you are one sick b*stard.

no. this was not aimed at you. i apologize sincerely if there appears to be anything malicious, its completely unintended.

19-10-2008 04:35PM

ottostreet wrote: »

no. this was not aimed at you. i apologize sincerely if there appears to be anything malicious, its completely unintended.

slight overreaction on my apart, sincerest apologies!

19-10-2008 04:40PM

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Given your description of what happened to you above, I can't see how the driver use the correct procedure at that junction which leads me to believe that it wasn't aimed at you.

Just to clarify, the driver of my car used exactly the correct procedure, he took the right turn with plenty of time - the problem was that as he arrived on the other side of the road, the overtaking, speeding, truck was now on the wrong side of the road, leaving us in his path.

I'm guessing you meant to say can rather than can't in that statement?or maybe you meant the driver who pulled into the hard shoulder....
hmmmm, maybe i'm being slighty oversensitive here!

ottostreet · 19-10-2008 04:44PM

i didn't read the last few posts, which ive just done. i feel terrible now. my statement about children was more in reference to that simpsons-style satire. ill edit that.

AlmightyCushion · 19-10-2008 04:45PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Just to clarify, the driver of my car used exactly the correct procedure, he took the right turn with plenty of time - the problem was that as he arrived on the other side of the road, the overtaking, speeding, truck was now on the wrong side of the road, leaving us in his path.

I'm guessing you meant to say can rather than can't in that statement?

When I said driver I meant truck driver/other driver not the driver of your car, probably should have clarified that a bit better. I doubt they followed the correct procedure. Anyways, I'm sorry to hear about your loss, I can't imagine what it would be like to lose a child.

Being overtaken when doing the speed limit

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