Who else drives fast?

[KiltyCol]

In pleading my innocence with a colleague "I try to keep to the speed limits". My colleague replied "Yes, but you don't half reach them fast".

I am not that interested in top speed, but give me a superb 0-60 time and WOW!

[AussieAdam]

On Thursday last i was driving at around 26-27mph in a built up area on my side of the road when some prick came down the road in the opposit direction at about 40mph. At the last momment he swerved and hit me full on.

As a result my car has been written off. One of my children and my wife are in neck braces. The other one has a broken arm. The firebrigade took two hours cutting my car to bits to free my leg which has three fractures and a broken foot. Police say that its incredible we got out alive and that in 9/10 cases they would have expected at least one fatality.

Now are having to go through the nightmare procedures of processing claims against the other driver and spend time of work recovering from our injuries. My oldest daughter is smack in the middle of her exams and with the rauma we have suffered it has to affect her chances of good grades. Our whole life has been f*cked up because of the incompetance of aomeone who could not stick to the speed limits.

Morons like Noxious and VampireMistress( Speed is good? - You stupid cow - what kind of S*** is that ) make me puke. Noxious rides a motorbike and its t**** like him that show no regard for other road users that should be put in jail and be banned from the roads.

Bikes are difficult enough to avoid when they come through the middle of the traffic and it would be impossible to avoid one doing 100mph.

These lowlife have no respect for other road users and think only of themselves - You can never get through to them how pathetic they sound in their posts. But then perhaps by driving at speed they think they are someone special, maybe they think they are really cool and someone to look up to.

Its thanks to a jerk like Noxious and VampireMistress I almost lost my life and had my family wiped out.

[KiltyCol]

Much as I like performance cars, I do go very carefully in built up areas and where it could cause a risk to others.
Give me a wide road with National speed limit, no pedestrians around, a clear all round view and no one coming the other way - then I will put my right foot down. It's a matter of using power responsibly. If you want fun driving fast, several motor manufacturers do track days, where you can buy a ticket and drive high performance cars fast round the race track without any risk to others. They are good fun.

[AussieAdam]

Now THAT kitty is a different ball game and I have no probs with that at all..In fact if the opportunity presented itsself and I had instruction I would love to take a high performance car round a track at full pelt

[Tea Girl]

I ride a motorbike and it staggers me everytime I go out to see how many road users are completely thoughtless and stupid on the road. I don't ever exceed the speed limit in any built up areas... ok on a national speedlimit open and clear road I might have a bit of a blast, I admit to that.... and I avoid filtering through traffic, mainly for my own safety.

I make every effort possible to be as safe as I can possibly be on the road... I really wish others would do the same.

Adam, I am so sorry to hear about what happened.. .. I wish you and your family a very speedy recovery hun

[Guest]

[AussieAdam]

and how do you know I dont............

[Tea Girl]

[Strandy]

On roads that will bear it, particularly motorways, I have no problems with speed per se. BUT ... at higher speeds, you need MUCH more empty road in front of your bonnet. AND YET the majority of high-speed merchants seem to think that the faster they go, the LESS clear space they need in front of them.

Oh so many accidents are blamed on people "driving too fast" ... whereas in fact, they should be blamed on them driving too close for their speed. And the regular advice we get in adverse driving conditions is "slow down" whereas in fact it should be "open out". Our motorways will support 70mph quite safely in pretty shitty conditions, provided you are able to maintain teh enlarged safety zone required because of the increased braking distances on wet roads ... AND YET, once again, so many drivers seem to bunch up rather than open out the moment the conditions deteriorate.

So much so that in poor conditions I often get off the motorway, because other drivers make it simply impossible to drive safely (I really don't LIKE people pulling in three car lengths in front of me after overtaking, even in good conditions. But in adverse conditions, it's just downright dangerous. But there's nothign I can do to prevent it!)

[KiltyCol]

[AchilliesShield]

I agree that speeding in built up area's is bad and should not be condoned.
However i'm also the first to admit i have a very heavy right foot, but i belive there is a time and a place for everything so if i'm on a motorway or country road and there are no other people around i've been know to hit the 140-150mph mark.
I have been driving for over 15 yrs and can honestly say that i have seen far more accidents and damage caused by hesitant drivers unsure of their own abilities, unobservant people to busy chatting to their friend next to them or on the phone, certain ladies (no offense) who spend more time putting their makeup on in the rearview mirror than they do on the road.
Then of course we have the whole dui brigade but thats a no brainer imho.
So just because some one likes to drive fast doen't mean that they are a W****r or a bad driver, the decisions they make on the road are what decides that judgement whether they be speed freaks or sunday drivers.