A BBC article ( www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52370352 ) reports that
Recent incidents across the UK include:
Seven people were killed in crashes in London since 20 March - including three motorbike riders and a cyclist
Gloucestershire Police said two people had been killed in separate crashes. It also recorded one motorist at 74mph in a 30mph limit and another at speeds of up to 122mph on the M5
GMP said it had caught more than 6,200 drivers breaking speed limits since lockdown began on 23 March. The force recorded a driver doing 115mph on a 40mph road and one reaching speeds of 129mph on the M62
A man was recorded above 130mph on the A90 between Peterhead and Ellon, Aberdeenshire, on 12 April.
A driver was stopped in Sudbury, Suffolk, travelling at 80mph in a 30mph limit with no insurance and no driving licence
Speeding has doubled on Lincolnshire's roads under the lockdown despite a reduction in the amount of traffic by two thirds, police said
While it's irresponsible of people, I doubt the numbers come close to "normal" times. I suppose people are being opportunistic what with the less busy roads.
Having only driven about 12 miles since the start of the crisis I've not seen any myself though I do cross a bridge over the A329M on one of my daily walk routes and some cars seem to be going pretty quickly. (I could also guess that the amount of cars as a proportion of all traffic is increasing but that's based on 30 second observations every few days sp hardly scientific!!)
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Having only been out twice since lock down, it's hard to say but from the little I've seen people seem to be keeping to the limit by and large. Traffic is down, at a guess, by 50% so a fair bit of opportunity to put your foot down. Although having said that I've not been on any major A roads or mways in weeks. So no idea what they are like.
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20 yds from the side of my house is an A road - lots of accidents so a 40 mph limit applies between the 2 villages. Most of the time 40mph is adhered to.
Since lockdown there have been quite a few giving their cars a "run" / Italian tune-up.
During the day traffic levels are way down - it's 6am - 7am / 10pm - 11pm that we have some speeders not many but you can hear the speed, you do not need to see them.
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I am still working a few times a week so I have done about 200 miles since lockdown and I would say that aside from a few idiots, people are being far more sensible than usual, speeds are down and people not really 'pushing on' during rush hour, such as it is. Really quite pleasant!
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As I'm still doing my daily commute at 6.30am I'm unfortunately experiencing the complete opposite to you guys!
Mondays usually start out quite but now by mid-week the drive home is far busier compared to traffic levels pre-lockdown (cars plus white-vans/builders trucks).
Bad drivers are either taking advantage of the clear roads or are just more noticeable, I usually come across several types, the 'I'm going to drive at 21 mph in whatever zone regardless of traffic numbers', the 'tailgaters on a completely empty road', most annoying and dangerous are the drivers thinking they are the only ones on the road... cutting corners/white lines/T junctions, driving down the middle of the road and almost being surprised when a car come comes towards them.
I know we’ve had several big accidents around the hospital which have caused disruption for staff getting in.
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A couple of weekends ago, I did a grocery run to my parents just outside Oxford (40 miles away). They are both self isolating, and were unable to get a home delivery slot, so there was no other reasonable option.
Between J4a and J7 on the M40, on 'our' side of the carriageway, we counted 9 other vehicles.
5 of them were driving in the middle lane with no other vehicles in sight (apart from ours).
No excuse whatsoever.
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They've just re-surfaced the pavements down my road with nice, new, smooth tarmac. So every cyclist out for their daily exercise cycles on the pavement. There's no traffic on the road for chrissake!
Don't get me started on the electric scooters using it, even saw a hoverboard yesterday.
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>> 5 of them were driving in the middle lane with no other vehicles in sight
>> (apart from ours).
>>
>> No excuse whatsoever.
On an empty motorway, I wont use the inside lane. My excuse(s) is
1/ Why not, if there is no one else on the road it matters not a brick which lane you are in.
2/ you have more options if stuff goes TU
3/ The inside lane is rutted to uncomfortable by lorries.
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Oh well, at least you seem to have thought about which lane you are going to use, unlike many who seem to be in their own world.
I do think...
Excuse 1 is fine until someone else appears, which can be sometimes fairly quick (depending on your relative speeds of course).
Excuse 3 is true on a small amount of bits of motorways but not that many really and should only apply on empty/v. quiet roads
The ones who get my goat are those who mimse in lane 3 next to empty lane 1 & 2 thereby creating a rolling road block.
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>> Excuse 1 is fine until someone else appears, which can be sometimes fairly quick (depending
>> on your relative speeds of course).
Given my average speed on the motorway, unlikely.
>> Excuse 3 is true on a small amount of bits of motorways but not that
>> many really and should only apply on empty/v. quiet roads
Try the continental lorry routes, part of the inside lane on the M20 are unusable to private cars.
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>> Try the continental lorry routes, part of the inside lane on the M20 are unusable
>> to private cars.
>>
They're fine if the car has decent suspension and proper tyres.
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"Spurrinnen" as the Germans call them.
They're absolutely appalling if you're driving a vehicle with a wider track at the back than the front (e.g. a motorhome).
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I think a few of us on here have fessed up to "making progress" on the currently empty motorways, but yeah 115mph in a 40 is just sheer madness.
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150mph
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-52395309
Actually if it really was a fully deserted road and his car and skills were up to it, it probably wasn't so dangerous - but rules are rules...
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I have only been back in the UK since Monday afternoon after seven weeks away and I had to drive back from Stansted Airport to Manchester. Apart from the lack of car traffic, there was nothing unusual about the trip. Having heard about speeding drivers being caught I kept my maximum to a GPS indicated 75mph and averaged 60mph over a 210 miles trip which included a pit stop.
But in the last two days driving on local motorways and trunk routes around Manchester I have seen some totally stupid driving. Lots of weaving in and out of lanes, at high speed and bullying cars to "get out of my way!". I was trying to check on the ethnicity of the drivers to add gristle to my own prejudices, but frankly all the idiots I saw were white males between 25 and 40.
With the lack of traffic, there is no need to speed to acheive a better than average journey time.
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>>there is no need to speed to acheive a better than average journey time.
Good luck trying to teach the muppets the difference between top speed and average speed.
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There was a major RTA last week that Miss Z had to help deal with including a couple dead.
Speeding and racing apparently.
Another was a woman who crashed /tboned another car whilst well over the limit.
Despite the quieter A&E departments, the police, fire, ambulance services and hospitals still need to pick up the pieces.
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>>Despite the quieter A&E departments,...
>>
I had to call the paramedics in the middle of the night last night and the previous night.
My ancient neighbour was on the bedroom floor and to weak to get into bed etc.
The paramedics arrived within 30 minutes both times and sorted the immediate problem.
They said the nunber of calls certainly is way down on the pre Covid days plus it was the low traffic levels that allowed then to make such good progress between calls.
( Cogs are turning to properly address the support my neighbour needs. )
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Not in my experience. We are just as busy, not seeing our base, other than for our 30 minute break, in our 12 hour shift.
The first few weeks was nothing but ? Covid-19 jobs. Recently, the regular callers have obviously got bored so have started to reappear.
As for driving standards, I went out yesterday to do our weekly shop. Was nearly taken out twice on the 4 mile trip to Tesco. One by an Audi A1 overtaking a cyclist on a blind bend - she just drove at me on the wrong side of the road. The second, a Fiat 500 who overtook me on a dual carriageway then dived into the gap between me and the car in front, then slammed on, al because she wanted to turn left at the next roundabout. I assume she didn't plan well enough to just drop back and slip in behind me. Or she just didn't care.
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Do you wear a helmet camera, or are you tempted to? All sounds very reportable, if you are of that persuasion.
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If that was a question for me.... I wasn't on a bike. I was in my wife's little Citroen C3.
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Ah, yes, sorry Dieselboy.
So. Do you have a dashcam, or intend to get one?
I looked into dashcams but read a whole bunch of stuff about your car being broken into to get the camera, which seemed offputting. Then I happened to mention the idea of getting one to the neighbour, who entirely unprompted said his mum had bought two and on both occasions someone broke into her car to steal them.
So haven't really pursued the idea.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Fri 1 May 20 at 12:51
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Yes, I have a Nextbase in my car. My wife's C3 has an inbuilt dashcam so the eejit drivers will be on there.
I've never worried about my Nextbase being stolen. I have never taken it out. Suppose I've just tempted fate there....
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I jist droved from St Austell to Camelford (bout 50 miles) and the roads weren't that quiet TBH.
Plenty of walkers about, bit dodgy forrem really, 'specially with old geezers flying about in Subarus.
Talking of which, t'was good to give the ole 2ltr boxer a workout - they drive sooo well on these 'ere lanes and go round corners like they are on rails. Better (mucho) than the stodgy Honda CRV I had before.
Orf out again tomorrow - looking at owses see, yes I know I'm not 'sposed to but, I'm from sowf lunden and didn't get from a one bedroom 11th floor council flat down the Elephant, to a 'quintessential Cornish country cottage' without breaking a few rools.
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Driving standards during lockdown - sooty123
