This story is doing the rounds at the moment – every version stems from some “research” by confused.com. Translated into English, that means they asked a few people what annoyed them most and then put the answers into a spreadsheet. It’s hardly “research”, but it still makes interesting reading. I’ll link to a blogged version, because all the others appear to be insurance companies trying to get in on the act.
In a nutshell, 60% of those questioned said slow drivers were the biggest cause of stress on the roads, and 45% of those admitted to dangerously attempting to overtake to get past them.
Department of Transport data show that 143 accidents a year are directly caused by slow drivers. Of course, those are the tip of the iceberg – how many more near misses occur due to the same cause?
There are now calls for “slow speed cameras” to be installed, or even slow lanes for these people.
There are plans for £100 spot fines for careless driving, including driving too slowly, to be introduced this year. Minimum speed limits already exist on some motorways.
Personally, I’d welcome it. However, the problems are much bigger than just making it an offence – there’s no point forcing people who can’t drive properly to drive faster. They’re bad enough as it is.
In my opinion, if someone is pulled over for driving too slowly then they should have their licence suspended and forced to take a driving improvement course of some kind.