Driver banned for being too slow

[Boris Sprinkler]

IMO idiot shouldn't be driving. She's a danger to herself and others.


I don't drive BTW.

 

[cybertect]

North Avon Magistrates' Court had previously heard that Mrs Cole's GP had been treating her for "fear of driving" for the past three-and-a-half years.

UK Driving Test marking system criteria, as used by examiners

http://www.learnerdriving.com/l2d_dt_markingsystem.html

DRIVING AT A SPEED APPROPRIATE TO THE ROAD AND TRAFFIC CONDITIONS:

- Crawls along at slow speeds on clear roads.
- Makes no attempt to achieve maximum speeds for the road when safe to do so.
- Reduces speed excessively when the conditions do not merit doing so.

She'd fail on any of these three points.

 

[bi0boy]

Should not be on the motorway except under exceptional circumstances, as the law has said. Just felt the ban was a bit on the harsh side. The retest I can agree with.

The ban was required in order to mandate a retest, which is why it was so short.

 

[Geri]

Sorry - should have read the thing properly. So she's got MS and is obviously going to lose her license.

Oh well she's stuffed.

She could have driven down Fishponds Road, Stapleton Road and past Old Market and approached Staples from the other side.

 

[gentlegreen]

She could have driven down Fishponds Road, Stapleton Road and past Old Market and approached Staples from the other side.

Yep - but you have to turn round Old market roundabout now and come back up - no right turn into Midland road now.

Quite honestly if that teeny stretch of the M32 freaks her out, she's not fit to be on the road. I find it's getting on the motorway from the slip road that's the difficult bit.

 

[trashpony]

She could have driven down Fishponds Road, Stapleton Road and past Old Market and approached Staples from the other side.

You could offer to go with her next time and show her the way

 

[Gromit]

I doubt it is geuinely dangerous in the left hand lane. Just a bit inconsiderate.

No it is dangerous. Very dangerous.

Someone doing 10mph can lead to someone into causing a pile up whilst trying not to crash into the back of them or trying to get around them.

High speed pile ups are often fatal.

Banning her makes complete sense to me. If she can't handle a motorway then she shouldn't be on the roads.

 

[soulman]

She was impeding the flow of traffic.

 

[Geri]

You could offer to go with her next time and show her the way

We'd end up going all around the houses, as being a cyclist I pay no attention to one way streets!

 

[moomoo]

Sorry, not clear where 'defensive driving' comes into this- I'm not talking about people screaming around the motorways.

Errr, are you taking the piss or do you really not know what defensive driving is?

 

[beeboo]

The ban was required in order to mandate a retest, which is why it was so short.

exactly - you can hardly have a re-test if you've still got you're licence!


Doing 10mph on a motorway is without question endangering other road users.

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

I doubt it is geuinely dangerous in the left hand lane. Just a bit inconsiderate.

I nearly hit someone doing 20 in the left hand lane. Its extremely difficult to judge how fast a very slow moving car is moving. I could see it moving sure but it still came up VERY fast.
Fortunately the police pulled the car pretty much immediately.(the police car had been behind me) I almost had to swerve into the hard shoulder and Id only been doing around 55=60.The traffic in the middle lane was going much faster.
Its bloody lethal travelling that slowly on a motorway and its right shes been banned

Do you drive DD? Its certainly mroe than inconsiderate. Its potentially a pile up situation

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

Sorry - should have read the thing properly. So she's got MS and is obviously going to lose her license.

Oh well she's stuffed.

Her GP should be made to account for not reporting her illness and 'fear of driving' to the DVLA as they should have done.

 

[untethered]

All things being equal, driving at 10mph is a perfectly safe thing to do. If more people did it there'd be a great deal fewer accidents every year.

The lady in question needs the services of a psychologist, not a magistrate and a driving instructor.

 

[Gromit]

All things being equal, driving at 10mph is a perfectly safe thing to do. If more people did it there'd be a great deal fewer accidents every year.

Yeah why don't we just go back to the days of the horse drawn carriage where it took you days to travel to London from Cardiff. It was much safer then.

Oh wait I know why. Its called progress.

 

[untethered]

Yeah why don't we just go back to the days of the horse drawn carriage where it took you days to travel to London from Cardiff. It was much safer then.

Oh wait I know why. Its called progress.

It's called technological progress. I'd question whether it's social or environmental progress.

 

[Gromit]

It's called technological progress. I'd question whether it's social or environmental progress.

Getting a dying patient to a specialist hosital in another county in time to save their life? Not progress.

Having more time to spend with your friends & family because it isn't being wasted traveling.

There is admittidly an environmental cost but we'll crack that sooner or later.

 

[untethered]

Getting a dying patient to a specialist hosital in another county in time to save their life? Not progress.

You can cherry-pick beneficial situations but on balance the whole thing is pretty dismal.

Having more time to spend with your friends & family because it isn't being wasted traveling.

People tend to take a time- rather than distance-determined view of how far they'll travel for work, etc. Being able to go faster simply means they go farther, not spend less time.

There is admittidly an environmental cost but we'll crack that sooner or later.

You will keep us posted, won't you?

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

All things being equal, driving at 10mph is a perfectly safe thing to do. If more people did it there'd be a great deal fewer accidents every year.

The lady in question needs the services of a psychologist, not a magistrate and a driving instructor.

But all things arent equal.. thats why we have increasing numbers of bike lanes, for those who do move at around 10mph to be safer themselves and less of a danger to other road users than if they travel in the middle of the road.

So no, in itself travelling at 10mph isnt a dangeous thing to do so long as you arent on a main road or a motorway in which case you have an absolute duty to drive in a manner which doesnt make you a danger to other road users

 

[ymu]

It's called technological progress. I'd question whether it's social or environmental progress.

Not being a primitivist, I'm not going to consider the logic of abolishing modern transport in favour of horse and cart.

However, doing a long journey at 10mph uses a lot more fuel than doing it at normal motorway speeds. I don't know if 55mph is still the magic number for modern cars, but it was the most economical speed in the 1970's. I believe it was the oil crisis that prompted the US to make that the national speed limit.

Socially - having grown up in a tiny village with no daily bus service - yeah, they've had a huge positive impact. I remember the mobile grocers that used to come by in the 1970's with a selection of tins and a limited selection of veg. It was a lifeline for the village when not so many could afford a car and there was no village shop. And not so long before that, kids left school barely able to recite their times tables because the school was a room with 5 kids of different ages. And everyone ended up marrying the boy/girl next door because ... well who the fuck else is there?

 

[geminisnake]

Her GP should be made to account for not reporting her illness and 'fear of driving' to the DVLA as they should have done.

That fear of driving bit was what worried me tbh. If you are that scared of driving hand your bloody licence back

 

[danny la rouge]

A tad harsh

10 mph on a motorway is a danger to the lives of others. Dangerous driving, by definition. So, no, not harsh.

If you came up behind her on a busy motorway at 65, say, with nowhere else to go, (remember, this obstacle is all but stationary, and if the middle lane is busy you don't have the luxury of waiting for a space), you'd have to break hard, and risk people behind you running into you.

Just as idiotic as driving too fast, or any of the other dangerous things thoughtless people do on the roads.

 

[untethered]

However, doing a long journey at 10mph uses a lot more fuel than doing it at normal motorway speeds. I don't know if 55mph is still the magic number for modern cars, but it was the most economical speed in the 1970's. I believe it was the oil crisis that prompted the US to make that the national speed limit.

You're starting from the assumption that the journey is in itself necessary. Most journeys are done because they're possible.

Socially - having grown up in a tiny village with no daily bus service - yeah, they've had a huge positive impact. I remember the mobile grocers that used to come by in the 1970's with a selection of tins and a limited selection of veg. It was a lifeline for the village when not so many could afford a car and there was no village shop. And not so long before that, kids left school barely able to recite their times tables because the school was a room with 5 kids of different ages. And everyone ended up marrying the boy/girl next door because ... well who the f- else is there?

Perhaps the answer would be to have that local bus service that was missing, or indeed, live in a town or city where population denisity would make more congenial lifestyles easier to access without personal motor transport.

I don't suppose you'd like to say what's wrong with marrying locally, would you? In practice, just about everyone marries someone from their social circle, whether it's circumscribed by geography or any other factors.

 

[beeboo]

If you came up behind her on a busy motorway at 65, say, with nowhere else to go, (remember, this obstacle is all but stationary, and if the middle lane is busy you don't have the luxury of waiting for a space), you'd have to break hard, and risk people behind you running into you.

exactly - and as others have said it is difficult to judge other people's speed on the motorway.


When traffic suddenly slows down in congested situations, you've got the benefit that all traffic is decelerating at the same time, and you are alerted by brake lights. A vehicle only moving a 10mph on an otherwise uncongested motorway is a totally different thing.

 

[danny la rouge]

When traffic suddenly slows down in congested situations, you've got the benefit that all traffic is decelerating at the same time, and you are alerted by brake lights. A vehicle only moving a 10mph on an otherwise uncongested motorway is a totally different thing.

Yup.

 

[ymu]

I don't suppose you'd like to say what's wrong with marrying locally, would you? In practice, just about everyone marries someone from their social circle, whether it's circumscribed by geography or any other factors.

There's nothing wrong with marrying locally. It's just I'd not have had a lot of choice. Two boys my age in the village, and one of them moved away when I was 12.

 

[mattie]

Errr, are you taking the piss or do you really not know what defensive driving is?

Eh? I know exactly what is meant by defensive driving - I query how driving defensively eliminates human fallibility.

 

[david dissadent]

It is legal to cycle or drive a tractor on a dual carrageway with a central reservation, yet these roads have a maximum speed limit of 70mph and normaly have far less visibility in terms of sharper corners, no hard shoulder and so on.

How come they are not total death traps?

 

[david dissadent]

- I query how driving defensively eliminates human fallibility.

It does not eliminate, you mearly take more responsibility for trying to anticipate problems.

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

It is legal to cycle or drive a tractor on a dual carrageway with a central reservation, yet these roads have a maximum speed limit of 70mph and normaly have far less visibility in terms of sharper corners, no hard shoulder and so on.

How come they are not total death traps?

They are... there are plenty of accidents which happen on them, and country roads with a limit of 60mph.
I reckon every poster here who drives could name their local deathtrap blackspots.
On a road I drive in Somerset ( I think its the A37 between Shepton mallett and bristol) they advertise the fact that over 350 people have been killed or injured in crashes in just 5 years.