Drivers told to follow simple rule to decide what speed you should drive at | Personal Finance | Finance

Drivers have to keep their eyes out for speed limit signs so they can adjust their speed to the legal limit but there are other factors that should also affect the speed you should drive at.

Paul Barker, editor of Auto Express, has shared his thoughts on how to set your speed depending on where you are. He said there is a basic principle to follow at all times: ” The key thing motorists should always remember is to drive to the conditions, rather than the posted limit.

“Weather, particularly fog, ice and wet weather mean driving at the speed limit would be perfectly safe in the dry – be it 30mph or 70mph – but dangerously irresponsible when conditions are treacherous.

“Likewise, driving past a school at 30mph or 40mph in the middle of the night is a very different proposition to 3.30pm when children are pouring out of classes and not necessarily paying attention to what is around them.”

He explained that drivers need to be mindful of factors that can change, such as the weather and the road conditions where they are.

He warned strongly against just sticking to the speed limit: “Blindly following the posted limit is the peak of bad driving, and being under the limit is no defence in the case of a collision.

“If you can see a road is badly maintained, then reducing speed to prevent car damage is one example, as is encountering something like a cycling event on a country road or backing off near a playground, before even considering the dangers created by the weather.”

Turning to the question of what speed to drive at in bad weather, Mr Barker said to remember the rule that you need to be able to see far enough ahead so you can come to a stop or to take action if there is a problem ahead.

He urged motorists: Drivers need to take responsibility. It’s bad driving rather than bad weather that causes collisions. There is no speed that is safe; 30mph can feel too fast on a motorway if thick fog has descended, and the maximum speed limit becomes irrelevant if other conditions render it excessive.”

He gave an example of where you may want to drive well below the speed limit; on a national speed limit country road at 60mph, you would be ill-advised to drive at this speed through bends if it was icy.

Driving too fast may put yourself and others at risk, but there are some cases where it can be dangerous to drive too slowly.

Mr Barker said: “There are times, especially on higher-speed roads, where driving too slowly can be hazardous.

“On a motorway or dual carriageway, a vehicle driving at significantly below the speed trucks and larger vehicles are travelling, for example, can cause problems if drivers coming up behind them don’t anticipate the speed differential and, at best, have to take sudden avoiding action.”

When asked if there are any cases where you can drive above the speed limit, Mr Barker said that as a regular driver, you are never allowed to do this.

He warned: “Not even to get out of the way of emergency vehicles, where you are still expected to follow the highway code completely. Emergency vehicles with trained drivers, and only when on emergency calls, are the only vehicles allowed to exceed the speed limit.”