Is it national go-slow weekend or WTF is going on?

Yesterday on the First Bimble Of The Year on the Duc, I got stuck behind
cagers doing 40mph in a (60) NSL more than once. Not for long though...

This afternoon I took the RX over to Hastings to go check out a Rover
P6[1] and everybody on the road seemed to be a fully paid-up member of the
40mph everywhere club.

Has the NSL been sneakily lowered to 40mph and I haven't noticed?

[1] Rather rough it was.

 

It's happening everywhere. For months I've noticed NSL speeds dropping
towards 40mph and very few seem to cruise over 80 on motorways anymore.
In town, 20mph isn't uncommon.

I can only assume a combination of propaganda and fear of cameras is
really starting to take hold. The only thing that surprises me is how
quickly it's happened and how widespread it is.

 

ogden scribbled on the back of a napkin:

Ah, so it's not only me then. I still get up to BMW 80 (that's slower
than, say, Honda 80) in the morning on the way to work and still "flow"
(as in, I get overtaken by plenty of cars so I look like a good bunny)
but I noticed that I seem to be overtaking more and more cages at that
speed.

Well, in London they dream of places where you can do 20mph but around
here there seems to be an unofficial blanket 40mph limit in place,
dropping to 25mph indicated if you're near a camera.

That matches my observation. Anybody else seeing this as well?

 

One word, sheeple. Gets my goat.

 

Yep. And those that do 35 in the outside lane of a dual carriage way in
a built up area will *not* move over for those of us who want to do
45-50. I find myself undertaking more often than I used to.

 

I thought it was my imagination - out by bike today, and despite
deliberately taking more care than is my usual wont (this was the
first time on the road since my broken hand showed signs of
knitting), I noticed that a lot of cars were dropping behind faster
than I'd normally expect. Ye gods, an Audi TT driver even tried to
move over to let me past!

Have a few weeks confined to four wheeled transport meant I've
missed something? Or is it just winter blues not fully evaporated
from CO2 poisoned drivers' airways?

No doubt they'll be back to the usual murderous lack of care as the
air warms up.

 

You're obviously missing something.

I've noticed **** all difference. There are still plenty of cars doing

There are also plenty of cunts in cars driving as badly as ever.

 

Yes. I hurled down the M1 and round the M25 to Heathrow the otehr
night. Fair enough, everybody was doing (40+10%+2) ~45mph through the
M1 roadworks with the SPOD cameras on duty, but the general average
after we cleared that was down to ~70, rather than the 85 I expected.
Round the M25 at 21:00, again I'd expect to travel at ~85, but the
norm was sub-80, closer to an estimated 70 in most cases.

What really fucks me off is the mentality of the cunts that travel at
50 on NSL A roads and *brake* to ~35 when they see a camera. Them,
and the gimmers that seem to have immunity to everything and travel at
45 /everywhere/.

This is all camera shyness, I'm sure.

 

Ah yes, those cnuts. They've been around for a while, though, but I agree
with you that it seems to be getting worse. There's a camera between here
and Ashford city centre in a thirty. People used to do 35, then brake down
to 29 and accelerate again but recently I noticed that they're braking
down to about 20 before accelerating again. Quite a noticeable change
given that I've lived here less than a year.

That seems to be the norm these days, especially when coupled with road
positioning that makes it hard to overtake.

Well, I thought about it but a lot of the driving you see also seems to
demonstrate a complete lack of awareness as to where they are and what the
current speed limit is. Oh well, maybe that's just increasing the camera
shyness. It certainly doesn't make driving cross country any more pleasant.

And that's before you get to one of the cunts who are pulling a horsey
trailer at 25-30 in an NSL, followed by a queue of about 30 cars. But they
still can't be bothered to do the polite thing and pull over to let people
go past despite plenty of opportunity.

Of course they could also be attempting to conserve fuel...

 

That rather irritates me, too.

And another thing: I'm sure the number of twats driving at night without
switching on their lights is increasing. I reckon it's because modern
cars illuminate their instrment displays night and day.

Time was you might see one darkened twat trundling through suburbia per
week. Now it's more like one or two per day. Or night.

Thank heavens the evenings are getting lighter.

 

The Older Gentleman scribbled on the back of a napkin:

Well, they have to compensate for the Saxo boyz who drive around with
their fog lights on all the time.

 

In which case they ought to try riding the bloody horse.

 

I don't call that excessive - the faster you get away from London,
the better. I used to find that 90 was a better speed.

It's just that the pace of life up north seems to have become a bit
more leisurely than I recall. Which could be due to approaching
Alzheimer's, I'll admit.

 

The Older Gentleman scribbled on the back of a napkin:

Too delicate, the horse. Probably made by Ducati, hence the trailer.

 

I was on the M25 on Saturday, and pretty much everyone was doing 85-95
or so.

 

I went through there last night. M25 VSL was set at 50. I was cold,
wet, tired and bored. so I amused myself with 50, 100+, 50, 100+
through them.

When they're replaced with avg speed cameras that particular diversion
will be denied me ...

P.

 

So you're saying that the conclusion you've drawn from little/anecdotal
evidence is that there's been no change in driving habits?

 

GungaDan wrote

He can say what he likes, if I were drawing conclusions (and I recall I
did just that) from my little bit of "eye witness" evidence it would be
precisely the opposite. I was rather blown away by how well the cages
were behaving amongst themselves and how freely the traffic flowed as a
result of it.

 

You're getting very bitchy in your middle age....

 

The Older Gentleman scribbled on the back of a napkin:

Yeah, sorry. It's this work thing that's getting to me, plain and
simple[1]. I hate working weekends, done one already this month and
have another two to look forward to in the next four weeks. I'm fucking
knackered and I had hoped that I could do more with the Easter break
than spend it flat on my back...

[1] Hence the re-appearance of a certain alter ego.