READ BEFORE COMMENTING, I CAN TELL SOME AREN’T! It’s a SUSPECTED STUDENT DRIVER with stickers from Amazon! (I can’t change the title)
This was awhile ago, no weather conditions, and was a sunny day in Texas: a state known for speeding, so definitely not safe to be going that low under the speed limit imo. I honestly was not irritated by the situation either.
I stopped behind this car at a red light/intersection that had multiple student driver stickers (the stickers you buy off Amazon, it was not an actual driver’s ed car, also does not mean it is an actual student driver). As the light turns green, they accelerate very slowly and I’m like "they’re a student driver, just be patient" especially since there was a turn coming up and I assumed that they might’ve been turning. They did not turn, and stayed a solid 30mph instead of the 45mph that was clearly displayed on the road signs. After a few minutes, no turns coming up, no effort to accelerate, and causing some traffic, I tapped my horn to try and signal for them to speed up. They did not, so I passed them when I finally could and went on my way to my dad’s house. Told my dad what happened and he said I shouldn’t have honked because it was rude and I needed to remember I was once a nervous student driver. I’m honestly confused of if I did something wrong, because my intentions were to just try to help, but maybe it came off the wrong way.
Edit: For the people saying be patient, I waited 5-10 mins and didn’t tap my horn until after someone almost crashed into me for going so slow on a busy road. I could not pass because of the steady stream of cars in the other lane. I also gave them the benefit of the doubt that maybe they would eventually speed up. Once they didn’t, and the other lane cleared up, I passed them. I honestly was not irritated by the situation, I was actually just trying to signal to speed up.
NAH
I mean, I get being impatient, and at least you didn’t lay on the horn or road rage or flip them off.
But obviously you didn’t help the situation. Better an overly cautious new driver with time to grow out of it than one who drives like speed limits and other people don’t exist.
NTA they shouldn’t be going under the limit especially not by that much, they are going to cause an accident doing that
Thank you! I was hoping someone would say that.
Agreed. This person wasn’t in an instruction car, they just had a bunch of those “I’m scared of driving” (aka Student Driver, Please Be Patient) stickers. If this person had had an instructor in the car, they would have been told to speed up to meet traffic and/or had points docked during an exam. This wasn’t someone learning to drive, this was someone driving hazardously.
NTA.
Honking once makes you NTA. You didn’t exactly try to run them off the road. They need to travel close to the speed limit.
NTA in my country anyway, we’re also taught that going too slow is its own road risk. For exactly the same reason as you experienced. I would say a solid 1/3 under the limit too slow.
This is assuming they had ROOM to do so, anyways. Safe tailing distances and all that.
Going far below the speed limit is directly illegal in my country, with allowance for special circumstances like ice and snow of course.
I believe the law is based on judgement by the police, if it inhibits normal traffic, or is a danger to others. The fine is about 80€.
NAH. Reasonable for a quick tap of the horn to help that driver realize they’re doing something unexpected or unsafe. There is no minimum limit, so the student driver isn’t doing something illegal or technically wrong and may have very valid reasons for going slowly. But they are doing something unexpected and being predictable is basically the #1 rule of safe driving.
Texas doesn’t have a blanket minimum limit but it DOES have a law against going so slowly that you impede traffic (TTC § 545.363) which was what was occurring here. So yes, they were doing something that is both illegal AND technically wrong.
NTA. Speed limits are posted for a reason. If you’re going lower than the posted limit by that much you’re impeding the flow of traffic you’re not being safe.
NTA.
We were all learners once. We should have all learnt to drive at the speed limit safely.
If a learner can’t drive safely at the speed limit, they shouldn’t be driving on main roads.
As someone who’s also taught other people to drive, I’d expect them to get honked at if they’re going under the speed limit.
I can understand slow set offs, sudden braking, swerving, stalling, whatever. But they must learn to drive at the legal speed limit to avoid becoming a danger to themselves.
NTA They were disrupting the flow of traffic if there were cars building up behind them. I went to drivers Ed years back and I still remember my trainer telling me that I would get points knocked off my score if I wasn’t paying attention of my speed and being mindful of the cars around me. Don’t lay on your horn but a small honk after 10 minutes of that is honestly a pretty acceptable reminder.
NTA. I remember when I was learning and I was going 5km/hr under the speed limit. My instructor pointed out the limit was 50, and I said “I know, I’m going 45.” Got a little sheepish when I realized his point was not that I was being unsafe because of speeding, but rather that I was a) irritating everyone around me and 2) impeding the flow of traffic. And that was for 5km/hr lol.
Obviously laying on the horn would be an asshole move, but tapping your horn is fine, imo. If a student driver needs to go 15mph under the speed limit, they should not be on roads that busy yet. It doesn’t make them an asshole, but their instructor was irresponsible.
Going too slow *is* dangerous, and they should not have had their student drive in an area that they were so unequipped to navigate safely.
Edit: Just want to point out, while I was going 5km/hr, under the limit, the driver in the post was going **25km/hr** under.
NTA people are way too sensitive to honking. This is how they learn, if you’re that anxious on the road then you shouldn’t be driving.