“@accom - What has the car they drive got to do with it, you sound like a Audi driver to me, with little respect for other law abiding road users, I try to avoid speeding and quite often get rude gestures from other road users clearly wanting to break the speed limit.
If you where to pull out in front of me depending on you car I might just be a bit slow on the breaks and give you a bit of a dent and an increase in YOUR insurance premiums just to boot.
The main thing is I don't want my son to grow up without a mother or father because of some irresponsible pr1K!”

“Someone has already correctly pointed out that there are more overly slow drivers around here due to there being lots of elderly people. I think another reason for impatient driving is the knowledge that there are no dual carriageways (apart from the small bit on the way to Braunton with a stupid 40mph limit). So if you are waiting to pull out and you see either a Vauxhall Meriva/Zafira, a Rover 25 or a Nissan Micra coming, people will want to pull out to turn left, because they know these cars almost ALWAYS go inconsiderately slowly and are completely oblivious to the 20 car queue behind them, and they know there are no overtaking places for the next 10 miles. Whereas in most parts of the country, you are never more than a few minutes away from a dual carriageway or motorway, so it doesn't matter if you let a slow person past as you know you will be able to get past soon.”

“Accom I see your point about drivers that exaggerate lane manouvers, thus confusing drivers at the 9 o'clock road. However shouldn't they give way to their right on roundabouts? We are all human so make mistakes, but it gets on my gripe when drivers don't use their mirrors, bad lane discipline and using their mobiles when driving round roundabouts. How do they change gear? No-one answer that Please!!!!!!!!”

“OK maddogwoman, I have to put my hands up and say I have sometimes straight-lined roundabouts when I'm the only person on the road. For example, the Abbotsham roundabout when you are going in either direction between Hartland and Bideford; both ways are fast, straight bits of road, and once I get to the roundabout and see there is no other traffic anywhere, including behind me wanting to turn right, it's not dangerous. Also applies on the 2nd South Molton roundabout going towards Tiverton. That being said, I would never ever do it if there was any other traffic around. Also a risk of literally clinging to the very left of the roundabout to go straight on, in an exaggerated manner, is that people on the 9 o'clock road may think you are actually going to turn left (regardless of no indicator) due to your exaggerated road movement, so may pull out in front of you.”

“Seems like we have a few bad drivers on here who think they are better than they really are and are just trying to blame others.”

“Agree with the comments about bad roundabout drivers, I see this on the Lake roundabout frequently. Also why do drivers "straight line" roundabouts? Whenever I turn right on roundabouts, there is always soon loon who is driving straight ahead and nearly takes my passenger side off as they whizz through. Surely if you are driving straight ahead you stay in the left hand lane, unless otherwise indicated. Many drivers seem to forget the Highway Code when they pass their test.”

“Completely agree about the new Lake roundabout - why do cars coming from the TIverton direction come onto the roundabout when people are already on it, turning right from Barnstaple towards Bideford? This also happens every single time I use it. Just because it's got two 'straight on' lanes, doesn't mean the rule of giving way to the right doesn't apply!”

“Yet again, we're going with this "speed kills" rubbish. Speed doesn't kill - bad driving does.

Some examples? OK, Let's take Lake Roundabout at the bottom end of the Western Bypass. Most roundabouts see plenty of misuse, but this one is by far the worst, mostly I believe because it is the only multi-lane roundabout in north Devon. I most commonly drive from the new bypass and turn right towards Bideford. I would estimate that 80% of drivers coming from the Link Road heading straight on towards Bideford completely ignore the Give Way lines and just drive straight onto the roundabout without looking, often causing traffic already on the roundabout to take evasive action. Are they obeying the speed limit? Yes - they're well under the 60mph limit. Will they cause an accident? Definately - speed is not the issue here, but bad driving.

Another one. If I cruise along the link road at 70mph, the chances are I will not have an accident. If I drive along the link road at 70mph (or less, for that matter) whilst tailgating, braking and accelerating heavily, crossing double while lines and cutting people up, the chances are that I'll have a very serious accident, of which we've seen far too many on the link road. Again, speed is not the issue, but the dangerous manner of the driving.

Even just looking on the related articles immediately below this comment box on my screen prove something. "Teenage driver loses job after risky overtake", "Young driver mounted kerb, court told", "Lorry driver arrested after travelling wrong-way on A380", "Texting teenager responsible for deadly highway pile-up". All serious driving incidents, and not one is to do with speed. A quick Google search shows that, at most, 5% of road accidents are caused by speeding, which means that 95% are caused by something else. Should we not be looking at that 95% to reduce fatalities on our roads?

Another problem is the rediculously slow speed limits appearing on our roads. 40 on the dead straight A361 between Ashford and Chivenor, 40 over the Bideford Bridge, 30 over the New Taw Bridge for goodness sake - the road wasn't even open before the speed police got their hands on it! Artificially low limits like these cause people to disrespect speed limits, and the critical safety reasons for setting a speed limit have gone out the window. People see them much more as an inconvenience now rather than a safety feature. For example, could you raise the 40 limit on the A361 at Ashford to 60, but build a roundabout at the Ashford Garden Centre junction? This removes that dangerous junction, and makes the limit much more realistic and therefore more respected - which could even potentially reduce speeding in the 30 limits in Wrafton and Braunton as that is what people would expect and respect?

I will suprise everyone now by saying that I am a young, male driver. I'm 24, have been driving 6 years and, despite everyone's stereotypical and quite frankly offensive thoughts on people in my age group, I have not had any accidents, have had no speeding tickets, and have never been pulled over by the police. I drive about 12,000 miles a year and pay less than £500 a year in Insurance on a 2 litre car, so whilst I've not been on the road for as long as some, I do still know what I'm talking about!”

“Agree with Talkmon and Accom. I had the privilage of driving behind one of Mr Owens "safe & courteous" drivers last night who kept a steady 40mph ( limit is 30 ),through South Molton and then slowed down to a virtual stop when another car ( of which there were several),came the opposite way. I think the main issue is North Devon is an area in the UK that people like to spend their retirement ,therefore we have a glut of this type of driver.
By the way I also have no points and clock up 35 - 45 k miles a year on UK roads.
Also disagree with Mr Owen regarding drivers not pulling over. I have experienced several drivers pulling over in front of me over the years as if they know themselves they are not fit to be driving or are simply flustered by the line of traffic that 's behind them. Beware the panama hat on the rear parcel shelf people it usually signifies a testing time of your patience.”

“I personally have no points on my license but even if I did i would still be able to comment if people pull out infront of me not using there mirrors or don't indicate correctly or the most annoying motorist who drives around with fog lights on constantly!”