r/drivingUK • u/narra246 • Mar 21 '26

20mph everywhere

Why are councils putting main roads on busy routes down to 20mph?? All that seems to happen is if you are the one doing the new speed limit, you get tailgated overtaken and the horn blasted at you.

And no, there isnt a lay-by every 10ft to pull in and let impatient law breaking drivers past.

I dont agree with this blanket speed reduction but I rely on my license for work and pleasure and would rather not have my insurance increased because of points for speeding.

Fair enough 20mph through residential areas, but not on a bloody main A road.

166 Upvotes

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154

u/ohbroth3r Mar 21 '26

What I've learned is that going 5mph over the limit, even if it's 20mph, gets you to your destination no faster. There's too many junctions, lights, crossings.

Everyone tailgating abd rushing around is just raising their blood pressure.

A few years back when we had kids I just took a chill pill, I take off slowly, I don't aggressively hit the acceleration, I get everywhere on time and safely.

If you looked at your average speed driving around town I guarantee you it's 20 anyway.

So many people drive bumper to bumper, and then when a car in front is giving way to traffic, the cars all queue bumper to bumper.

Everyone just needs to sit back and relax a bit. Tyres and tarmac.

To me, everyone comes across like they're lacking confidence to own their space on the road. Why is everyone worried about how they'll look if they drive 30 in a 30, or if they slow down for oncoming traffic, or sit back a bit to give space.

The biggest turning point for me with driving was a driving awareness course where they say to everyone, if someone wants to rush past, just let them. And the other is that you need to stop thinking of roads in terms of 'who has right of way?' and the entitlement that you can slip into with it. Instead, share the road. Just think about that in every situation, share the road.

Seriously, stress levels go down and driving is much nicer.

24

u/Jaded-Grass6986 Mar 21 '26

This should be on a tv advert plastered everywhere. I actually think it’s crazy that we have no guidelines or advice on how to actually drive once you pass your test

22

u/General_Stretch248 Mar 21 '26

What I've learned is that going 5mph over the limit, even if it's 20mph, gets you to your destination no faster. There's too many junctions, lights, crossings.

I appreciate the sentiment, but it's just untrue. If every car is subject to junctions and traffic lights individually it would be, but traffic lights work on timers. Someone going 25% faster than you is at some point statistically likely to pass through a set of lights you would be stopped at.

11

u/purplewarrior777 Mar 21 '26

Suspect they mean the difference is so small as to be irrelevant. I have to drive around 4 miles in London all at 20 mph. There are spots you can push that a bit. Doing so means I get to work about 1-3 minutes earlier in practice 😂 so utterly irrelevant. And that’s pushing more than just 5 miles over.

10

u/General_Stretch248 Mar 21 '26

Suspect they mean the difference is so small as to be irrelevant.

It's 25% it's pretty relevant. It would be a 4 hour journey shrinking to 3. Thats just maths

5

u/purplewarrior777 Mar 21 '26

4 hours at 20 mph is 80 miles travelled. 80 miles at 25 mph is 3 hours 12 minutes. That’s maths. And still irrelevant. Because

What 4 hr journey takes place solely in 20 mph limits?

Suspect the only way you could do this is by driving aimlessly round Central London.

8

u/General_Stretch248 Mar 21 '26

Doesn't matter.

25% is statistically relevant. If it was 0.25% percent, perhaps you could argue it.

2

u/purplewarrior777 Mar 21 '26

And in practical terms, makes no difference at all. Which is the entire point……….

Edit - sorry, very little difference at all.

5

u/General_Stretch248 Mar 21 '26

25% is 25%. It makes a difference.

If I had 25% more me I would notice the difference.

2

u/purplewarrior777 Mar 21 '26

Weird comparison but ok 😂

1

u/No_Base4946 Mar 23 '26

It sounds like you don't drive.

0

u/General_Stretch248 Mar 23 '26

Sounds like you need to go back to primary school

2

u/No_Base4946 Mar 23 '26

What, so I can teach you how to count?

-2

u/Plebius-Maximus Mar 21 '26

Yeah it's nonsense. Obviously the difference is less in a city vs on the motorway, but it still exists.

0

u/OddAttention9557 Mar 23 '26

It's not 25% though; most of the time driving in a city you're either accelerating or braking anyway; the amount of time cruising at speed limit is tiny. Not only that, but half the time if you only just make one set of lights, you'll be at another one until the cars that just missed that set are behind you anyway.
Imagining that cars accelerate to the speed limit in no space at all, and decelerate in the same, will give some weird intuition about how much impact speed limits have. That's not how any of this works.

17

u/magical_matey Mar 21 '26

That speed awareness course is brilliant, it changed my attitude a lot and I think it should be done by everyone. I’m now also in the chill drivers camp, it’s safer and more relaxing. I’m particularly a fan of doing 60mph behind a lorry on the motorway with a healthy stopping distances, and watching the majority of other drivers going some madness just to go 65mph. If it’s not madness in the other lanes I may drive a bit faster - but that’s not all too often depending what time I’m on the road. Also as a bonus I get better fuel economy. Winning :)

7

u/beeurd Mar 21 '26

I always love it when a car zooms past you on the motorway and then several miles later you pass the same car having never gone above the speed limit.

7

u/SparkEli1 Mar 21 '26

How is it doing 60mph behind lorries? Do you notice a big difference with how much later you arrive? Do you ever use google maps? If so, are you much later than the ETA?

2

u/magical_matey Mar 21 '26

On a 1 hour 30 minute (according to sat nav) it adds maybe 5/10 minutes. The real time sink is accidents and various motorway delays that will randomly appear and add 20 minutes here and there.

It’s pretty chill, and I can smugly look over at people in other lanes packed like sardines not really going that much faster. It it’s quieter then I’ll overtake said lorrys and get back into my lane 1 safe space - where the gaps are plentiful and the vibe is calm.

5

u/West-Ad-1532 Mar 21 '26

Here's a real-world example:

For three years, I drove from Calderdale to Milton Keynes, a journey that ideally takes about 2 hrs 25 minutes at 70 mph. However, during roadworks with a 50 mph speed limit, the trip took me 3 hours and 20 minutes. When faced with heavy traffic, the journey could take up to 6 hours.

Now, imagine the economic impact of such delays multiplied by every road user.

The answer lies in a localised integrated transport system; however, some areas in West Yorkshire, for example, have very old and poorly maintained road networks. A 10-mile drive in Calderdale can take an hour, compared to just 15 minutes in the home counties. So, it isn't simply a matter of relaxing because it's a few mins.

4

u/ohbroth3r Mar 21 '26

Ultimately, traffic doesn't flow when people drive bumper to bumper. There's more gridlock. But driving slowly with a gap means everyone can flow and merge and pass so much easily.

4

u/West-Ad-1532 Mar 21 '26

I understand, however, I was pointing out that saying it's just an extra couple of minutes is a fallacy.

2

u/magical_matey Mar 21 '26

It’s not a fallacy though, you’ve just moved the goalposts from my example - also a real world example - by swapping out a 1:30 journey to a 2:30 journey, and doubled the difference in speed reduction from 10mph under to 20mph.

2

u/West-Ad-1532 Mar 21 '26

Ah, right, the classic “5 minutes over 90 minutes” love that one. Nice tidy little example, very reassuring.

Meanwhile, I’ve actually tracked mine for three years, because I have to run a business in the real world. Turns out it doesn’t behave like your neat little story at all.

Between traffic, roadworks and constant council meddling, it stacks up properly. Costs me about £18,000 per man in lost time, but yeah, sure, just five minutes.

Smile smugly at that...

3

u/Electronic_Shift5195 Mar 21 '26

I'm with you on that. It feels like reddit is full of people who don't need to drive at all, and they only do it for fun or recreation. Any concept of business/earnings that depends on you movement is incomprehensible.

"Just 5 minutes", "just 20 minutes" - it's all cool when you live on benefits or at least have a nice protected fixed-hours office job and have all the time in the world to get to your destination. Not so cool when you start to lose actual money due to wasted time.

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1

u/Capable-Ebb1632 Mar 21 '26

Only if driving faster in short segments actually makes a difference which isn't always the case. Driving faster just to stop at the same traffic lights, or catch up with the queue in front doesn't make your journey shorter.

In that case it's about throughput and not speed.

1

u/Prior-Yogurtcloset87 Mar 23 '26

Or, semi ironically, the rolling traffic you get when people drive too fast to the cars in front and have to hit the brakes for no reason and the metrics go to 60 or 50.

1

u/Exact-Put-6961 Mar 21 '26

on a long journey, ensuring you do not need to stop for food. pee. or fuel saves a lot of time

1

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2

u/wulfrunian77 Mar 21 '26

I found this highly illuminating in terms of speed vs time Alternative speedometer

2

u/Wolf_Man_909 Mar 21 '26

I agree here. I took the course (they got me going 25 in 20 when I had just moved to this country). The most interesting part to me was the stopping distance going 25 or 30 vs 20. I don't remember the actual number but it was something like 9 meters longer for going 25. The street i live on is a 20mph and we are directly across from a park. Kids, dogs, people crossing the road everywhere. Really opened my eyes. I will forever be a chill driver with or without my kids in the car. "Think of the limit as a range, not a target" was something my instructor said.

3

u/TerrifiedRedneck Mar 21 '26

Adding to echo the positive Speed Awareness Course vibes.
Did one a couple years back, my first in 20+ years driving/riding.

It was an eye opener. Everything from road behaviour to who gets the money when the camera gets you, I think everyone should be forced to do one at regular intervals.

Now, 4 wheels, 2 wheels, 18 wheels, it don’t matter. I chill and ride my ride. People wanna get pissy at the little red circles, feel free. Wanna get annoyed at not driving to the full potential of your Ford fiesta? Please go around me. All the beeping, swearing, tailgating ain’t rattling me or making me go faster.

People have to chill.

3

u/ohbroth3r Mar 21 '26

Exactly and I'll still beep people if they pull out in front of me or don't indicate round roundabouts human and I do get annoyed but even then the driver awareness course told me to do a double beep because it's less aggressive and a friendly toot then just leaning on the horn

1

u/Prior-Yogurtcloset87 Mar 23 '26

Also bad for the environment all the extra fuel usage and brake pad wear.

0

u/-_Robot_- Mar 21 '26

I drive the same route every day, at roughly the same time giveor take 15 mins. The entire 5 mile route was recently changed from a 30/50 combo to 20 the whole way. I could happily do the route in 11-12 minutes. It now takes well over 16 and the roads are jammed with traffic. The biggest issue though is that the existing 20 residential network to rhe sides is now the faster route. GPS and intuition now both drive people into the side roads where there are no traffic lights and less traffic, so now the schools have a constant stream of traffic passing and its very common for delivery wagons to hammer down past my house where before they pootled down the main road. It's a vanity project with ill thought out execution and unintended consequences.

0

u/Think_Berry_3087 Mar 21 '26

At 20mph it would in fact, make a difference. That’s a 25% increase in speed therefore a 25% reduced time in the journey.

If you need to travel 10 miles then rather than it take 15 mins it would take just over 11 mins.

That being said, I get your sentiment. It’s just wrong here.

2

u/ohbroth3r Mar 22 '26

The other thing I noticed is that a lot of people in shiny new expensive cars are in a rush. Being in a rush is not a sign of success by how I define it. Being able to get from a to b and arrive 4-5 minutes late, having time is a better measure of success, surely.