Average Speed

[No, for once this isn’t about the fuckwits who can’t drive properly with average speed limits/cameras on the M1]

A couple of times in the last week, I’ve witnessed something a bit different when following other drivers on the more rural roads around me.  It’s people who seem to stick to a speed, regardless of what’s going on around them.

There’s a few winding roads near me on key routes – A-roads to get me to see the parents, for example. They’re decent roads, but with absolutely no way to safely overtake when you’re following a fuckwit, crane, HGV etc. – which can make those roads… somewhat wearing.

In this case, I was behind a silly bastard who was sticking to 45mph like shit to a blanket. The road is national-speed-limit, and perfectly doable and safe at 60mph, but no, 45 it was.   Then we get to a village on the road, the speed limit goes down to 30 (for good reason – it’s good a big-ass set of bends in the middle, as well as everything else) including the flashing warning signs if you exceed that. But no, silly bastard still sticks to 45.   So we’ve gone from too-slow to too-fast, without him moving a muscle.  That takes some skill, I suppose.

I’ve seen a couple of other drivers since with the same mind-set, and it’s no less frustrating or weird when you see more than one person doing it.

What I can’t work out is whether it’s pig-headedness (“I’ll get where I need to go at 45, it’s a fine speed”), ignorance (“I don’t care about anyone else, I’m going at my speed”) or just a complete lack of awareness of their surroundings, so they don’t even see the signs, or the line of cars in the mirror.

I just don’t know. They’re bloody scary to follow though…