The car can do highway speeds even if the driver can’t
A woman banned from driving for seven days after traveling at speeds of less than 10mph on the motorway told Reuters on Friday: “that road’s my nemesis.” Stephanie Cole, 58, of Fishponds, Bristol, straddled the hard shoulder and inside lane as she dawdled along a stretch of the M32 near her home last August.
In the back window of the car was a sign which said: “I don’t do fast, please overtake“.
Cole admitted driving without reasonable consideration at North Avon Magistrates’ Court on Friday and was told she would have to take another test at the end of the ban.
“I didn’t intend getting onto the motorway, but all of a sudden I found myself on it and I could not get off,” she told Reuters after the hearing.
There is a Disabled Drivers Association in the UK. Regulations have long recognized the needs of – and restrictions on – disabled motorists.
Oh For The Love Of …..
MS or not there is no reason to be driving at walking speeds. You either drive with the flow of traffic or you take a taxi/bus/have neighbor’s kid drive. If you think driving at speed is scarry, then wait until that car at speed runs into the back of you.
My friends wheelchair can go faster then that!
If she was that scared of the road then she should have taken mass transit. That’s a disregard to motorists. no pity.
With all the big rigs on I-35 going 80 mph, this would be known as a speed bump.
Having an old friend in NZ who abandoned a life time of driving (at 93 years of age) because of harassment from road punks, I can sympathize with the elderly lady mentioned in the article. We built roads for these people, not for big-riggers and boy racers.
Driving too slowly is just as dangerous as driving too fast.
#6, 58 is not elderly, I hope.
straddled the hard shoulder and inside lane as she dawdled
Hmmm. I like the sound of that, but the context is all wrong.
#8 – Was that one of those electric dawdles?
I don’t know about NZ but in the US the phrase “big-riggers” would be taken to mean Tractor-Trailer rigs (18 wheelers).
If that is what you mean then the roads were in fact built for them.
#10. We in NZ once had a railroad that worked, and took over 90% of all heavy long distance traffic, roads here were made for cars, paid for by my gasoline tax. We are now paying to have our highways enlarged and strengthed to accommodate 18 wheelers, most operated as negative tax leverages. I guess we’re all beginning to look alike.
With the speed limit of 70MPH in the UK (and the vast majority of motorists doing in the region of 80) a 10MPH motorway motorist is extremely dangerous as no-one expects to be closing in on someone at 60+MPH on a motorway – it is just as dangerous (if not more so) than someone doing 60MPH over the speed limit. I know this area well having lived in Bristol for a number of years, and it is an incredibly busy motorway running into the centre of town. You don’t accidentally turn onto this road! There are MANY alternatives for the motorway averse, if she can’t read the big blue signs then she needs more than a repeat driving test! and if she is that afraid of driving then really she should not be driving. Not to mention the question of why she had to drive out of town to Staples when I know of many stationary stores on her doorstep that would have provided what she needed!
In the US the Federal Highway system was built for the Military to move tanks and Troops. That’s how they were able to justify Federal spending on Highways. We (people)just get to use them. Railroads are to slow to more stuff that is moved by Tractor-Trailer. At least here in the US. We still use them to move large loads but allot of times Tractor-Trailers are cheap or/and faster.
Driving is a privilege that was abused by this woman. She has no business driving on public roads. Driving slower than traffic is a serious hazard. I’ve run into people trying to merge on the freeway at 30 MPH while traffic is going 80+. Those are the people George Carlin talked about when he said that each person should get to shoot one person each year.
10 mph would be near ‘light speed’ compared to the traffic in San Francisco this morning… anything over 2 mph would be driving too fast for conditions.
They need to permanently revoke her license and throw her in jail for a few days if she does it again. I know that sounds harsh, but disabled or not, she is putting people’s lives at stake.
Heck she is almost as bad as the people who are confused because they don’t know what to do and still keep up their cell phone conversation.
#16 – Esteban – …throw her in jail for a few days if she does it again. I know that sounds harsh, but disabled or not, she is putting people’s lives at stake.
Yeah, she’s a terrorist. Some time in the sun would do her good.
[Duplicate comment. – Deleted. – ed.]
God my 59 year old mother drives faster then that.
#12,
Not to mention the question of why she had to drive out of town to Staples when I know of many stationary stores on her doorstep …
sure, but did they have Bic Stick Pens on sale?
The M32 is a nasty stretch of road, but like mmaddock said hardly unavoidable. Most of the roads in and around Bristol (and all cities I guess) are busy. Trucks drive all over the place. I wonder how this lady coped on the road at all.
I don’t feel particularly sorry for her, but this is a better outcome than her being broad sided by a big truck or pooped on by a nefarious road pigeon at night.
#21
oh yes, all the colors of the rainbow…
I do feel sorry for her. Being disabled I know how much of your life is constrained and being able to drive around is one of the few opportunities we have to go out and do things that everybody does. Granted, driving at such low speed on that stretch of motorway was highly dangerous. However, I think that they should have showed a bit more leniency towards her and perhaps given her support in the shape of motorway-driving lessons. Instead, she’ll have to retake the test which is just ludicrous as her fear of high speed roads will most certainly remain. We don’t hear of many disqualified dangerous drivers being forced to retake the test….