66mpg today

Non-Technical Nissan QashQai chat. Mk2, Mk3
Nightshade
Posts: 29
Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2015 1:55 pm

Post by Nightshade »

I guess self driving cars/lorries/public transport and fuel drying up will sort it. We'll all be going at the same speed with predetermined risk averse gaps - or it'll be taken over by drones and doing most things remotely with AI coded robots, so no need to travel. :) 56 mph is still a boring speed
Leicestershire, UK - 1.5diesel Tekna Pan Roof in Nightshade

gvmdaddy
Posts: 2245
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2014 11:28 pm

Post by gvmdaddy »

This post has shot off at a tangent away from its original intention to discuss fuel economy and is now seemingly going down the argumentative route about safe/unsafe speeds.
Just to be clear, in the UK there are NO minimum speeds allocated to roads on a day to day basis. Not on A roads, B roads, dual carriageways or motorways. The road signs indicate MAXIMUM speeds allowed and is not obligatory to drive at those speeds. It is in fact written in law that exceeding these speeds is illegal.
The lowest maximum speed applies to HGVs and towing vehicles and is 10mph less than the limit for other road users.
Additionally many companies voluntarilly restrict or regulate their own vehicles to even lower speeds to make greater savings on fuel. In most cases they are restricted to between 50 and 56mph and usually have a sign on the back of the vehicle to indicate this to other road users.
It is quite legal to drive at speeds well below the indicated maximum, however it is possible to attract the attention of the police if your speed was excessively slow and impeding other road users. This would be very difficult to enforce on a motorway if you were driving in the inside lane, as theoretically you are not holding anyone up as they still have another 2 or 3 lanes to make faster progress. However, if you were crawling along in the second or third lane, restricting others progress, then you could well be charged with either dangerous driving or driving without due care an attention.
The same would apply to driving on a dual carriageway.
To summarise, driving at any speed up to the indicated maximum is legal. Driving excessively slowly may be regarded as driving without due care and attention but this is discretionary. Driving at any speed above the maximum limit is automatically illegal but police can display a little discretion.
Just because you 'drive for a living' doesn't make you a safer driver. If anything it puts you at greater risk of complacecy, tiredness, risk taking and lack of empathy towards those that dont feel totally comfortable on roads that are unusual to them.
rod9669
Posts: 166
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2015 10:53 pm

Post by rod9669 »

Bros wrote:
RVW wrote:
rod9669 wrote:56 on a motorway and 50 on a dual carriageway is dangerous driving as far as I'm concerned. Sorry

I tend to agree with statement.
If you were taking your driving test in a car, you would probably FAIL because you are not what they say is,
" not making due progress". In other words your driving to slow!
It is however all dependant on the prevailing conditions on the road.
I do not agree, firstly you would not be on a motorway during your test so that's bollocks.
10mph under the speed limit on a dual carriage would also not fail you, maybe 20mph under would.

uummmhhh,

You are aware that the speed limit, for a car or car derived van, on a dual carriageway is 70mph? so 50mph is 20mph under?
rod9669
Posts: 166
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2015 10:53 pm

Post by rod9669 »

gvmdaddy wrote:This post has shot off at a tangent away from its original intention to discuss fuel economy and is now seemingly going down the argumentative route about safe/unsafe speeds.
Just to be clear, in the UK there are NO minimum speeds allocated to roads on a day to day basis. Not on A roads, B roads, dual carriageways or motorways. The road signs indicate MAXIMUM speeds allowed and is not obligatory to drive at those speeds. It is in fact written in law that exceeding these speeds is illegal.
The lowest maximum speed applies to HGVs and towing vehicles and is 10mph less than the limit for other road users.
Additionally many companies voluntarilly restrict or regulate their own vehicles to even lower speeds to make greater savings on fuel. In most cases they are restricted to between 50 and 56mph and usually have a sign on the back of the vehicle to indicate this to other road users.
It is quite legal to drive at speeds well below the indicated maximum, however it is possible to attract the attention of the police if your speed was excessively slow and impeding other road users. This would be very difficult to enforce on a motorway if you were driving in the inside lane, as theoretically you are not holding anyone up as they still have another 2 or 3 lanes to make faster progress. However, if you were crawling along in the second or third lane, restricting others progress, then you could well be charged with either dangerous driving or driving without due care an attention.
The same would apply to driving on a dual carriageway.
To summarise, driving at any speed up to the indicated maximum is legal. Driving excessively slowly may be regarded as driving without due care and attention but this is discretionary. Driving at any speed above the maximum limit is automatically illegal but police can display a little discretion.
Just because you 'drive for a living' doesn't make you a safer driver. If anything it puts you at greater risk of complacecy, tiredness, risk taking and lack of empathy towards those that dont feel totally comfortable on roads that are unusual to them.
"Driving for a living" makes me more aware of what is happening around me - traffic in front, BMW/Merc/Audi drivers behind, Citreon Picasso drivers etc.

passed my test in 1985, no points, last (no-fault) accident was in 1998 (that's just jinxed me!) Drive 25-30k / annum.

"Professional" drivers are less likely to be involved in incidents than commuters / Sunday drivers

(I promise, that's my last contribution, or I'll start a new thread)
brianthelian
Posts: 97
Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2015 3:03 pm

Post by brianthelian »

shouldnt common sense prevail instead of quoting the legality? does any one in britain know ythe law that you should give way to a heavier vehicle? and vehicles comeing uphill etc. there are quite a lot, mostly derived from horse and cart era but are common sense.
brian
gvmdaddy
Posts: 2245
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2014 11:28 pm

Post by gvmdaddy »

rod9669 wrote:
gvmdaddy wrote:This post has shot off at a tangent away from its original intention to discuss fuel economy and is now seemingly going down the argumentative route about safe/unsafe speeds.
Just to be clear, in the UK there are NO minimum speeds allocated to roads on a day to day basis. Not on A roads, B roads, dual carriageways or motorways. The road signs indicate MAXIMUM speeds allowed and is not obligatory to drive at those speeds. It is in fact written in law that exceeding these speeds is illegal.
The lowest maximum speed applies to HGVs and towing vehicles and is 10mph less than the limit for other road users.
Additionally many companies voluntarilly restrict or regulate their own vehicles to even lower speeds to make greater savings on fuel. In most cases they are restricted to between 50 and 56mph and usually have a sign on the back of the vehicle to indicate this to other road users.
It is quite legal to drive at speeds well below the indicated maximum, however it is possible to attract the attention of the police if your speed was excessively slow and impeding other road users. This would be very difficult to enforce on a motorway if you were driving in the inside lane, as theoretically you are not holding anyone up as they still have another 2 or 3 lanes to make faster progress. However, if you were crawling along in the second or third lane, restricting others progress, then you could well be charged with either dangerous driving or driving without due care an attention.
The same would apply to driving on a dual carriageway.
To summarise, driving at any speed up to the indicated maximum is legal. Driving excessively slowly may be regarded as driving without due care and attention but this is discretionary. Driving at any speed above the maximum limit is automatically illegal but police can display a little discretion.
Just because you 'drive for a living' doesn't make you a safer driver. If anything it puts you at greater risk of complacecy, tiredness, risk taking and lack of empathy towards those that dont feel totally comfortable on roads that are unusual to them.
"Driving for a living" makes me more aware of what is happening around me - traffic in front, BMW/Merc/Audi drivers behind, Citreon Picasso drivers etc.

passed my test in 1985, no points, last (no-fault) accident was in 1998 (that's just jinxed me!) Drive 25-30k / annum.

"Professional" drivers are less likely to be involved in incidents than commuters / Sunday drivers

(I promise, that's my last contribution, or I'll start a new thread)
Seeing as you've promised not to comment further, I'll give you the same courtesy and make this my last word on this post also.
Your points and claims are delusional at best.
Given the time you've been driving I suggest you've just been extremely lucky, that's all.
Your comment that 'professional' drivers are less likely to be involved in accidents.....I would suggest that they are more often than not the cause of accidents that they manage to drive away from unscathed as most of the time they don't even notice that an accident has occurred.
I'll put a wager on you getting stopped for speeding before anyone else on the forum is stopped and prosecuted for driving too slowly.
benchmark
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2016 7:53 pm
Location: West Yorkshire

Post by benchmark »

brianthelian wrote: does any one in britain know the law that you should give way to a heavier vehicle? and vehicles comeing uphill etc. there are quite a lot, mostly derived from horse and cart era but are common sense.
I thought it was courteous to do so, but not set in law.
rod9669
Posts: 166
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2015 10:53 pm

Post by rod9669 »

gvmdaddy wrote:
rod9669 wrote:
gvmdaddy wrote:This post has shot off at a tangent away from its original intention to discuss fuel economy and is now seemingly going down the argumentative route about safe/unsafe speeds.
Just to be clear, in the UK there are NO minimum speeds allocated to roads on a day to day basis. Not on A roads, B roads, dual carriageways or motorways. The road signs indicate MAXIMUM speeds allowed and is not obligatory to drive at those speeds. It is in fact written in law that exceeding these speeds is illegal.
The lowest maximum speed applies to HGVs and towing vehicles and is 10mph less than the limit for other road users.
Additionally many companies voluntarilly restrict or regulate their own vehicles to even lower speeds to make greater savings on fuel. In most cases they are restricted to between 50 and 56mph and usually have a sign on the back of the vehicle to indicate this to other road users.
It is quite legal to drive at speeds well below the indicated maximum, however it is possible to attract the attention of the police if your speed was excessively slow and impeding other road users. This would be very difficult to enforce on a motorway if you were driving in the inside lane, as theoretically you are not holding anyone up as they still have another 2 or 3 lanes to make faster progress. However, if you were crawling along in the second or third lane, restricting others progress, then you could well be charged with either dangerous driving or driving without due care an attention.
The same would apply to driving on a dual carriageway.
To summarise, driving at any speed up to the indicated maximum is legal. Driving excessively slowly may be regarded as driving without due care and attention but this is discretionary. Driving at any speed above the maximum limit is automatically illegal but police can display a little discretion.
Just because you 'drive for a living' doesn't make you a safer driver. If anything it puts you at greater risk of complacecy, tiredness, risk taking and lack of empathy towards those that dont feel totally comfortable on roads that are unusual to them.
"Driving for a living" makes me more aware of what is happening around me - traffic in front, BMW/Merc/Audi drivers behind, Citreon Picasso drivers etc.

passed my test in 1985, no points, last (no-fault) accident was in 1998 (that's just jinxed me!) Drive 25-30k / annum.

"Professional" drivers are less likely to be involved in incidents than commuters / Sunday drivers

(I promise, that's my last contribution, or I'll start a new thread)
Seeing as you've promised not to comment further, I'll give you the same courtesy and make this my last word on this post also.
Your points and claims are delusional at best.
Given the time you've been driving I suggest you've just been extremely lucky, that's all.
Your comment that 'professional' drivers are less likely to be involved in accidents.....I would suggest that they are more often than not the cause of accidents that they manage to drive away from unscathed as most of the time they don't even notice that an accident has occurred.
I'll put a wager on you getting stopped for speeding before anyone else on the forum is stopped and prosecuted for driving too slowly.

:lol: Really? We'll have to agree to disagree as I'd have thought the people driving at 56 would have been "witness" to more accidents than me and my type
Nightshade
Posts: 29
Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2015 1:55 pm

Post by Nightshade »

I think (although not entirely certain) mathematical probability would dictate if someone is driving 30k miles a year against a 'Sunday driver' doing 5k, statistically they have the probability of an accident exactly the same but given their time spent on the road, its more likely the distance driver would have more accidents over time given they'd be on the road 6 times more often ( net of speed differential 80mph+ : 56mph, of course) :) - and almost definitely be an Audi, BMW or MB drive (or aspire to be one) ;)

My regular M42 commute involves miles of being behind 'elephants racing' every day - still, keeps the average speed around 56/60 and fuel consumption in the high 60s without being considered dangerous by speedier drivers, professional, or otherwise.
Leicestershire, UK - 1.5diesel Tekna Pan Roof in Nightshade
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