Suitable speed on NSL single track roads?

[04smallmj]

I live in an area which has a lot of these type of roads and I spend a lot of time driving on them for work. I was wondering what sort of stopping distance people give themselves on these roads. I try to give myself double my stopping distance because it's what Roadcraft suggests and I don't trust people not to come around corners too quickly. It does feel very slow though (although I might be leaving a larger distance than I think). I have a video, but unfortunately I didn't meet a single driver during the 20 minute drive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NjCbU5zT8g

I also usually put my headlights on on these roads during anything other than sunny weather, and in shaded areas when it is sunny, but I rarely use the horn. How about you guys?

[Horse]

Might depend on what and who might come the other way. Since you can't know that, it might be prudent to allow for the worst case that could be expected.

So, what might that extend to? Turbo nutter Evo driven by a yob who's having a bad day and has misjudged the corner?

You might need to allow for more than 50:50 stopping.

[triquet]

We have a lot of these in Oxfordshire and I also regularly drive these sort of roads in France (Normandy). You simply can't lay down hard and fast rules about these. Tall banks and hedgerows are part of the problem, but you can encounter oncoming traffic, farm machinery, horses, cows, wild boar (yes really). One of the problems is that many of these minor roads have fallen off the radar as far as speed limits are concerned, and are so are technically NSL's.

I don't believe that it's realistic to expect to go much better than 40 if grass is growing down the middle, no matter how the IAM "progress imperative" might push you. In harvest time you can encounter seriously lumbering bits of machinery: if you meet a combine on one of these roads there's buggerall you can do except back off to the next field entrance. Other things that might give you clues are mud on the road, cowpats or horse droppings ...

[TheInsanity1234]

I've only watched the first 2 minutes, and already, I think you're going quite a bit quicker than I would.

Not because I think your speed is unsafe, your braking distances are rather generous at places, so that's lovely. The issue is: POTHOLES! I'd be chugging along at 5 mph because of the number of potholes I've seen in the first 2 minutes alone

But in terms of safety etc, I think your speed is fine. You can't allow whoever's coming in the other direction 100% of the gap between you and them when you meet to brake, purely because you'd have to be at a standstill, or even reversing.

As a result, just take it easy around the corners, and be prepared to stand on the brakes if necessary

[sussex2]

How old are you?

[Horse]

horse droppings ...

My post wasn't that bad, was it?

[triquet]

horse droppings ...

My post wasn't that bad, was it?

Chuckle

[04smallmj]

Interesting thoughts .

Triquet - Yes it's interesting that the speed limits haven't been changed on them for decades, I would have thought that they would be reduced by now, considering the changes to other speed limits.

Recently cut hedges could be a good observational link too. One of my colleagues noticed that only one side of the road's hedges were cut, but we didn't come across any tractors. I suspect that the hedge on the other side belonged to someone else.

TheInsanity1234 - Thanks haha! Yeah, they are quite bumpy, I think I'm getting used to them though. Or maybe I'm used to driving the work vehicles on them . They are off-road vehicles though, and give me a better view of the road (Hilux and Defender). On a side note, I got a Defender stuck in a sand dune last weekend while at work haha .

Sussex2 - I am 22 years young.

[Carbon Based]

I got a Defender stuck in a sand dune last weekend

Good effort, but do you really get paid to mess around on a beach at the weekend?

[trashbat]

OP, what do you know about the limit point technique?

[04smallmj]

I got a Defender stuck in a sand dune last weekend

Good effort, but do you really get paid to mess around on a beach at the weekend?

Thanks haha. Yeah I do, I'm working as a beach ranger at the weekends, so I look after the beach and the sand dunes behind it. I'm a full time volunteer ranger Monday to Thursday somewhere else which isn't as interesting

[04smallmj]

OP, what do you know about the limit point technique?

I understand the concept of it and use it a lot, I learned it in my driving lessons and have read the Roadcraft pages of it quite a few times. I don't find it easy working out stopping distances though really.

[7db]

Not watched video.

Worth bearing in mind that the most terrifying moment for an oncomer to appear is not when you are right in the loss of vision, but actually before you start braking for it. Brake much earlier on single-lane hazards than you would on wider one.

[7db]

Watched the video. Used to spend my summers at Westward Ho! watching the lighthouse blinking on Hartland Point so I recognise some of those places. Always hard to tell from a video.

Very good variation in speed as you'd expect on a narrow road. Great respect for junctions. Could get going a little sharper when the vision opens up. Hard to see if you're using the width of the road such that it exists to extend the view. The road is less than 2 car widths -- you might as well be offside as nearside. Previous comment still holds about earliness of slowing down. You aren't slowing for the limit point, you're slowing for half-way to the limit point. Hard to retrain your brain into that mode.

[true blue]

I've not watched the full things, but have dipped in and out of it. Your speeds appear reasonable, on the conservative side once the view opens up out of a bend.

You could put your foot down in those places, but it's a compromise between pace, economy and driver comfort on a rough road.

Importantly, you seem to be slowing for poorly sighted junctions, (the shaft of light across the road is a remarkably clear advance warning of them!) the tighter corner sections etc.

One of the maxims I use on such roads is 'imagine meeting yourself coming the other way'. If you want to press on, you need better vision to justify the speed. Tempered, of course, with common sense and an expectation of how the locals may drive.

I'm not a big user of the horn where there are occasional cottages/animals etc., but I do consider it when the character of the road changes (e.g. a narrow humpback bridge on a road otherwise wide enough for 2 cars to pass side by side comfortably.

If you think Devon's roads are tight, try the far end of Cornwall! They're similar in width, but one in three hedges hides a granite wall...