The Cure For Speeding

[Admiral Valdemar]

Going slower!

No really. Go slow. Much slower.

10mph motorway driver given ban

A woman has been banned from driving for seven days after she drove along a motorway at speeds lower than 10mph.

Stephanie Cole, 58, of Fishponds, Bristol, repeatedly braked as she straddled the hard shoulder of the M32.

When police caught her there was a sign on her car which read: "I don't do fast. If I'm too slow for you DON'T hoot just overtake!"

Mrs Cole, who admitted driving without reasonable consideration, was also ordered to take another driving test.

Magistrates said they took into consideration the fact that Mrs Cole has multiple sclerosis.

When officers stopped Mrs Cole, she told them she had "no confidence" on the motorway.

She had been travelling from her home to a Staples stationery store when she was arrested by police on 30 August.

"I really didn't want to go on the motorway, but I desperately had to go to Staples for an ink cartridge," she said.

"I don't know any other way to get to it so I went that way," she added.

"I think it was one of those things you do by mistake and that's exactly it was, I was on there by mistake.

"It just felt awful. I didn't know what to do. I panicked and turned to jelly inside and I didn't know what to do."

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.

Andrew Howard, from motoring organisation the AA, said there had been calls for a minimum as well as maximum speed limit but enforcement of this could be tricky.

"It's something that's often talked about but really is hard to do on a practicality basis.

"We know that there are lots of times when the weight of traffic, for example on a motorway, means that you can get nowhere near the proper speed limit, you may even have to stop, and obviously if there was a minimum speed limit there would be a lot of confusion when that happens."

Ah, many a time I've had to venture on to the M6 to get my sorely needed stationery whilst abiding the speed limits.

[FSTargetDrone]

Sounds like she needs to take a bus. Even driving to a local bus stop would be better than trying to drive on busy roads if she is afraid to.

Anyway, I've seen "Minimum" speed signs, exclusively on highways, but not frequently. Usually it's 45 MPH minimum.

[Stark]

This shit happens anyway here. They need to book rubbernecking tards and the kind of bogan 'oh no a cop car on the side of the road let's drop to speed limit -15 for no reason because we fear the police' a lot more, though.

[Broomstick]

In the US, minimum speed on the interstate freeway (which may or may not be the equivalent to what this lady was on) is 45 mph. Someone, even stooooopid Americans understand that's in normal conditions - in poor weather or backups of course you do slower. Sometimes much slower.

That said - if she's that afraid of driving SHE SHOULDN'T BE DRIVING. End of story. My oldest sister had a crippling driving phobia, and eventually she surrendered her license - and that's in the US where lack of a license it quite crippling. It wasn't malice or incompetence (in the usual sense), it was panic-attack inducing oh-god-I'm-having-a-heart-attack FEAR. What finally convinced her to stop driving entirely was the day her brain decided passing out was preferable to continuing to drive in such a fearful state. Fortunately, no harm done to anyone, and only minor damage to the vehicle, but that was the last time she got behind the wheel until the day she kill herself.

[Molyneux]

This shit happens anyway here. They need to book rubbernecking tards and the kind of bogan 'oh no a cop car on the side of the road let's drop to speed limit -15 for no reason because we fear the police' a lot more, though.

I'd say that habitual speeders are more of a danger to other drivers, though.

Slow drivers are annoying. Driving at the speed limit when everyone else on the road is going fifteen to twenty MPH faster than you is fucking scary.

[Darth Wong]

I'd say that habitual speeders are more of a danger to other drivers, though.

I suspect that any deviation from average traffic speed is unsafe, whether it is positive or negative. After all, a slow driver forces other cars to make a lot of lane changes, which tend to lead to accidents and/or severe congestion.

The difference is sheer magnitude. It is not uncommon to see someone driving at easily 40 or 50 km/h above the speed limit. It is almost unheard-of to see someone driving at 40-50 km/h below the speed limit.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

The problem is judging distance. When someone is driving that slow, the closing rate can be incredible, and the number of rear-end accidents is proportionally very high when people are puttering along on the freeway. Going 5mph over the speed limit is likely safer than going 5mph under the speed limit; they're both equally dangerous the faster or slower the deviant driver is going, however.

[Rye]

The low-end speed you're supposed to go on UK motorways in normal conditions is 60mph, which is the national speed limit on country roads. 70mph is the limit for average speed, though. So assuming you were travelling at 70 and then some idiot is tottering along at 15 mph, it might as well be a vindictive obstacle dropped by someone on an overpass.

[Starglider]

Ironically fear of driving is about the most rational phobia you can have. Driving kills more humans in developed countries than any other voluntary activity. The risk on any single journey is still relatively low, but it's much, much higher than the risk of serious harm from most other phobias (e.g. flying).

[Darth Wong]

Ironically fear of driving is about the most rational phobia you can have. Driving kills more humans in developed countries than any other voluntary activity.

Just FYI, according to the CDC, alcohol abuse kills roughly 80,000 people in the US per year: approximately twice the yearly average for driving fatalities which usually hovers somewhere around 40,000. Of course, there is some overlap between those two figures.

[Gil Hamilton]

Simple. Link those automatic speeding cameras to machine gun turrets. Anyone travelling above or below the speed limit by more than 5 mph gets sprayed with bullets. These will be set up at engineered curves in the road so the now pilotless vehicle will drive straight off a ramp into State Approved Alligator Swamps. Speeding problem solved.

[Darth Wong]

Here in Ontario, we recently started up a new regulation where anybody speeding by more than 50 km/h can have his car impounded on the spot. All they have to do is replace "impounded" with "taken to the wrecking yard" and they'll have a much more powerful deterrent against the most aggressive drivers.

[Sea Skimmer]

Just FYI, according to the CDC, alcohol abuse kills roughly 80,000 people in the US per year: approximately twice the yearly average for driving fatalities which usually hovers somewhere around 40,000. Of course, there is some overlap between those two figures.

Quite a bit in fact, around 40% of US vehicle related deaths are the result of drunk drivers. However that rate is way down from what it used to be, in 1982 it was 60%, while the total number of people killed each year has been relatively static since that date at a little over 40,000.

[FSTargetDrone]

Here in Ontario, we recently started up a new regulation where anybody speeding by more than 50 km/h can have his car impounded on the spot. All they have to do is replace "impounded" with "taken to the wrecking yard" and they'll have a much more powerful deterrent against the most aggressive drivers.

For first-time offenders? That would be ideal. Along with impounding the vehicles of drunk drivers, but that's another story.

[Thunderfire]

The difference is sheer magnitude. It is not uncommon to see someone driving at easily 40 or 50 km/h above the speed limit. It is almost unheard-of to see someone driving at 40-50 km/h below the speed limit.

In my area(northern bavaria , germany) slow driver are more common. They often forget what a "End of speed limit" sign sign means. The speed limit on our country roads here is 100 km/h and I encouter drivers in the 50-60 km/h range more often that driver who drive at 150 km/h or more.

[Enforcer Talen]

Simple. Link those automatic speeding cameras to machine gun turrets. Anyone travelling above or below the speed limit by more than 5 mph gets sprayed with bullets. These will be set up at engineered curves in the road so the now pilotless vehicle will drive straight off a ramp into State Approved Alligator Swamps. Speeding problem solved.

Real world situation - aggressive drivers in Iraq make the marines very nervous, and tend to get shot.

Hasnt changed their driving style, that I saw.