Country roads are pretty dangerous at speed regardless what the signs say. All sorts of animals can wander out, cyclists or other vehicles suddenly appearing around blind corners etc.

I tend to do under the speed limits on the narrow country lanes that have just a single lane with no pavements, especially in the van. It cracks me up when people approach with speed and have to slam on their brakes and end up scratching their nice Range Rovers to try and squeeze through. I don’t know why they do it? Just slow down.

From the Highway code

Rule 2, for pedestrians: "If there is no pavement, keep to the right-hand side of the road so that you can see oncoming traffic. You should take extra care and
be prepared to walk in single file, especially on narrow roads or in poor light
keep close to the side of the road.
It may be safer to cross the road well before a sharp right-hand bend so that oncoming traffic has a better chance of seeing you. Cross back after the bend."

Rule 206, for drivers and riders. "Drive carefully and slowly when ... approaching pedestrians on narrow rural roads without a footway or footpath. Always slow down and be prepared to stop if necessary, giving them plenty of room as you drive past."

I was told by a Traffic Cop once that it's a speed LIMIT not a target. Always drive to the road conditions regardless of limits. It was a looooong lecture but he let me off speeding :laugh: it was a long time ago though, now they just stick a fine and points on you

:clap1:

The amount of cyclists i see head to toe in dark clothes is mental

Its should be illegal not to use a bike and wear a fluorescent jacket

madness

Yeah it’s nuts. I always pack my reflectives and head torch if I’m out hiking in case I have to walk back along a country road in the dark.

If you cant hear or see a car coming on a country road you shouldnt be out the house.

Electric cars freak me out on country roads. They are impossible to hear until last second

A starled pheasant does the same to me.

Hahaha without bloody fail, every time :laugh:

Happened to me not to long ago. Worse thing was I was getting attacked by a wasp at the same time. Didnt half get the heart pumping, luckily I didnt have my wellies on or I'd have shat them.

:joker:

No one is cornering at 60mph on a country road and it's perfectly fine/safe to do 60 on a straight stretch where you can see the road ahead. Apply caution when you can't see the road ahead due to a corner, hill, bad weather or whatever but that's just... driving... and applies on any road.

If it wasn't safe to do national speed limit on country roads, they wouldn't be national speed limit, and indeed some roads have a 40 or 50mph limit in place for that very reason.

…it’s also being mindful of roads that it’s obvious there’s no pavement been given for a pedestrian and being aware there could be pedestrians using and blind corners etc where you might not see them from a distance…it’s just making those sort of allowances which are quite common in more rural/village areas etc…

Absolutely, some of the speed limits on these kinds of roads are ridiculous especially when you factor both pedestrians and the fact that a lot of these roads are not really wide enough for two cars to comfortably pass each other at any type of fast-ish speed (over here anyway and I'm sure it's similar in the UK)

The issue is though really, you might as well make these roads (proper rural roads) national speed limit and trust that drivers can drive them safely, because sticking a sign on them means absolutely nothing in a rural area -- the limit is unenforceable and people will drive the roads how they want to drive them. Realistically there are not going to be police on the roads (or often... anyone at all...) and the logistics of setting up and maintaining speed cameras on every stretch of rural road is not realistically possible.

There we go!

Just been on the country roads of Fife. On a long stretch of road (2 lanes) car
in front doing 40 so coast clear I over took, as I re-entered my lane at
around 50 a large male Pheasant ran right infront of me and I could do
nothing and I hit it full on. When i arrived at the the next wee town to turn right a
lady stood chatting on the path waved at me to stop "you have a dead
Pheasant stuck to the front of your car!"


Its head went via my reg plate and jammed into the air vent, I would not free
it so I had to use my Swiss army knife and saw its head off to free the body.
When I got the auction I had to grapple under the front and pull the head
free and out. It did a wee bid of vent damage and I need a new reg plate lug
and nut.

:rolleyes:

it's all about driving safely. So if its a long straight wide road with no likely obstacles, drive at the speed limit. Everything else, reduce your speed so you know you can deal with anything unexpected safely