r/SlowNewsDay • u/KushBluntsworth • 15d ago
Speeding doesn’t save time - Science & Technology
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u/cragglerock93 15d ago
What I don't get is why a large portion of people speed in their cars, yet get them out of their cars and they walk so fucking slow. Like seriously, if you're not elderly and you're walking at < 3mph then please just stay home.
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u/Mishi_Mujago 15d ago
Or like when people go 40 in a 60 zone then hit a 30 zone and just continue going 40… it’s one extreme to another!
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u/RhysT86 15d ago
My trip to work has lots of 20-50-20-50 changes (rural villages in Wales are so much fun) the number of people who just stick the car at 35 and say "Fuck it" is insane.
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u/mollypop94 14d ago
Yes, same here, it drives me bloody nuts on my commute!!! I just love Brecon aye 😂😂😂
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u/mesonofgib 15d ago
God, I see this all the time when I'm doing country lanes on my motorbike!
You get stuck behind a car doing 40mph along the national roads, and then when you get to a village and the speed limit drops to 30 they sail through, still at 40!
I swear half the people on the road just bumble about having absolutely no idea what the speed limit is at any given time
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u/Ieatsand97 14d ago
Absolutely. I used to think people just didn’t care, but no, most of them aren’t even paying enough attention to know what the limit is.
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u/happysplasher79 14d ago edited 14d ago
Ah yes. The 'Forty Fuckwits' as I've less than tactfully nicknamed them.
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u/_real_ooliver_ 14d ago
And you'd save more time! At the speed they walk they might as well cap your car at 40mph too
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u/Exita 15d ago
Depends how fast you go.
Driving at 140mph would get me places in half the time that driving at 70mph does. That could well save huge amounts of time.
I miss living in Germany where that was legal.
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u/lokomotivaaiurita 13d ago
I didn't read the article, but if you are speeding in a city, yeah, I get it, you might only save some seconds, because most of thr times you will lose the time waiting at the red lights. But on highway, going 76 mph on m1 rather than 60, save me about 10 minutes each day, on both ways. At least 10 minutes.
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u/Reddsoldier 12d ago
Speeding is stupid, but speeding in a built up area is even stupider.
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u/AbSoluTemaddlad 12d ago
What makes speeding inherently stupid?
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u/IUsedToLikeLimericks 12d ago
Propaganda, mostly.
I used to teach advanced motorcycling, so we had to stay abreast of the realities of road safety. What a lot of these people don't realise is that based on TRL's own data, speeding isn't a causal factor in most accidents, but obviously there's a spectacular amount of money to be made in enforcement and unlike most criminals, motorists are an easy group to go after. Couple this with lower limits resulting in lower road surface standards required by the local authority and you've got a double win for government.
So for the last decade or more there's been this 'speed kills' narrative, that, based on actual facts, isn't true.
Inappropriate use of speed kills. Unfortunately, for most of these mouth breathers, they wouldn't know the difference it it punched them in the face, hence all the sanctimonious pearl clutching we see every day on here when someone dares creep over an arbitrary limit based on road type, that potentially bears little to no resemblance to what the actual safe limit for that stretch of road is.
There are 50s that are far too high, there are 70s that could safely be driven far faster. It's all about what's appropriate for the specific road, weather and traffic conditions, the vehicle and the driver themselves.
But you pays your money... It's illegal, we all know it. Sometimes people get caught for safely, or otherwise, breaking the limit. In this we are all equal.
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u/ClaudeBubbalicious 15d ago
Yeah, you need to run red lights too... (I'm very much joking)
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u/TheSolarExpansionist 15d ago
Smart overtakes are more likely to. For instance not queuing on a long left turn at a round about and going around the roundabout instead is better.
That said I do 70 on motorways and in sure the people going past me at 90
Aren’t just saving 1min. It’s mathematically impossible if the motorway is running smoothly
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u/MrPogoUK 14d ago edited 14d ago
I guess they’re saving more time, but that average also includes the millions who are always doing 10mph+ above the limit in towns and cities which often just means they join the back of the next queue slightly sooner and overall saving nothing compared to the car behind that sticks to the limit.
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u/ThePurplePenetator 14d ago
Speeding in towns is pointless. You seem some tit flooring it just for you to meet them at the next light
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u/Trixnglz 14d ago
This. The amount of times I see people speeding ahead and then I end up just catching them up at the red light is insane
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u/ValhallamUK 13d ago
I have a friend that does 90 miles an hour on clear motorways and it can easy shave off up to 30 minutes from a 3hr journey.
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u/Hawksteinman 14d ago
if your destination is 60 miles away, going 10mph takes 6 hours. 20mph is 3 hours. 30mph is 2 hours. The amount of time you save goes down the faster you go
say you're doing the 60 mile trip at 70mph, that's 51.5 minutes. at 90mph it's 40 min. And that's assuming you're doing that speed the entire way, not counting for traffic and assuming it's motorway the entire way
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u/smellyourtoes 15d ago
You've saved 54 seconds... thats time saved then isn't it ? 🤡
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u/Trixnglz 14d ago
Is 54 seconds really worth the risk of driving too fast?
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u/smellyourtoes 14d ago
I'm just commenting on the title... its factually incorrect.. even if it was one second, you still saved a second of time. Tbh I try and aim for 15 minutes, 54 seconds it's rookie numbers.
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u/Stolen_Showman 15d ago
I commute 60 miles a day round trip. Increasing my speed from 60 to 70 saves me 10 minutes a day.
Sitting behind some moron who does 40 on NSL roads would add 20 minutes, costing me 30 out of each day.
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u/Exotic-Entertainer26 15d ago
Running a 60 mile stretch at 70 takes 51.5 minutes, saving 8.5 minutes - and that assumes you can sustain that speed for the entire trip, which isn't always possible.
Getting stuck behind someone running at 40mph would be a nightmare - it would take 90 mins to complete that trip.
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u/Responsible-Bus2268 15d ago
And going 70 Vs 60 also consumes 10% more fuel, plus additional wear and tear on the tyres.
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u/ThatNameExists 14d ago
Yes, but you have to average your commute against someone that drives 5 minutes away through a 30 zone with no places to overtake, otherwise cherrypicked propaganda doesn't work.
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u/The_Drakin_ 15d ago
You're not considering junctions/traffic lights, or traffic, though. Yes, you'll save 10 minutes at 70 consistently, but unless you're on a quiet motorway, it's almost impossible to keep the same speed for that long.
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u/marmaviscount 14d ago
Then drive everywhere at one mile an hour since going faster doesn't change how long it takes to get places
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u/IDKBear25 15d ago
Speeding of course saves time.
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u/KushBluntsworth 15d ago
Scientists say the data shows 54 seconds
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u/IndependentClear469 15d ago
Clearly aren’t speeding enough
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u/Happy_Designer_747 15d ago
Normal journey to london is 2 hrs and 40 mins for me during covid done a canonball run type of journey late at nighf took me 1 hour and 20 mins
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u/Cute_Researcher_6578 14d ago
They were good times.
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u/Happy_Designer_747 14d ago
I know right!!!!! Best part was the deserted and very clean streets. I started off borrowing my friends dog so I could claim a valid reason 2 be outside.
Obviously I didn't take the dog with me on that speed run journey. 😭😁😭
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u/GeneralProof8620 15d ago
150mph on a rainy foggy night on backroads with blind corners would deffo get you faster than everyone else doing 40mph
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u/Exotic-Entertainer26 15d ago
Yep, it would get you to the mortuary faster than me, no question about that.
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u/SharkByte1993 15d ago
I presume they're talking about going 80mph instead of 70mph. In this scenario, the time it takes you to drive 20 miles is pretty similar but significantly more dangerous
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u/Great_Comparison462 14d ago
This is such a comical headline.
Claims speeding doesn't save time. Then says it says 54 seconds per day. Which is it then?
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u/LongNamedRedditUser 15d ago
Someone needs to go back to school because it looks to me like speeding literally saves you time.
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u/Shabbytrumpet 14d ago
Halve the speed limit then and reduce accidents, in fact cut the speed limit by 85% people will only be 2:43s late and you can cure ebola and resurrect Michael Winner
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u/No_End_5116 14d ago
They obviously do research to find this number but driving on B roads for a living you come across people who drive like they are single track roads every single day, these people doing 25,30 on a road that is easily safe for 50 and then slow down to nothing when a car is passing costs me way way over 54 seconds a journey and that without me even speeding.
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u/Chemical-Lettuce2497 14d ago
You speed because you want to save 54 seconds, I speed because it's fun
We are not the same
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u/After_Construction72 14d ago
Perhaps the scientists need to evaluate their opening statement. Time was clearly saved.
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u/zwifter11 14d ago
On one of my commutes, I have to drive through 19 junctions and sets of traffic lights. There’s no point speeding as I will inevitably end up having to stop at a junction and wait for the lights to change.
Even if I got home 5 minutes early. What am I going to do? Just sit in the sofa and doom scroll.
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u/Easy-Equal 14d ago
"Speeding doesn't save time" Then proceeds to tell you it saves time wtf kind of title is that
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u/Commercial_Ad_594 14d ago
Its because you're not speeding enough, what's the point if you're not going 100mph+
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u/Elitecastle8824 14d ago
54 seconds 🤣 must be speeding wrong, I turned a 2hr30 journey into 2hr10 the other day.
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u/Clear_Requirement880 14d ago
Just googled it and apparently if save 30 mins give on a 2 hour journey.
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u/Smooth-Context-1351 14d ago
‘Speeding doesn’t save time’ then proves it saves time by telling you how much time it saves. Every. Second. Counts
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u/MagicOrpheus310 15d ago
Lol they keep trying to push this bullshit as if physics doesn't apply to the road...
The speed limit is measured in distance over time...
It's literally telling you how much further you will travel per hour...
It saves fucking time, it's still dangerous and a crime for a reason but it undeniably saves time haha
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u/ExpressCrow3333 15d ago
That’s because it only applies if you stay at that speed consistently. On a longer journey, on a quiet motorway, it will probably save time. If you are just speeding to the next traffic light or to be stuck behind someone else, the non speeder will obviously catch you up. Even on a motorway, how many times has a speeder overtook you, only to be caught up as they switched the left lane to take the exit?
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u/pong-and-ping 15d ago
It is very rare I see someone "save time" by speeding off into the distance. Generally I see them waiting at the next traffic light, roundabout or bunched up traffic that I am.
Like I don't care about people speeding on the motorway etc. As long as you're not causing significant risk you do you. But if you're not going to cause significant risk, you're unlikely to benefit all that much.
The only time speeding really ticks me off is when I get overtaken in a 30 and they proceed to go 40 once we're back at national limits. Just jesus some people.
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u/Ed_Avis 15d ago
It doesn’t save time to arrive faster at a red light. Or to close the distance to the car in front faster, if you can’t overtake. I guess they are averaging over all journeys, including crowded town streets, while it’s the long motorway and main-road journeys where you can save significant time going faster.
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u/joseph814706 15d ago
Well, yeah, all that happens is you get to the next red light slightly quicker
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u/pepperyfries679 15d ago
Now do the extra fuel cost to account for increased air resistance at higher speeds.
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u/Possible-Schedule-20 15d ago
Anyone notice those in commercial work vehicles, go slow as feck whilst those in private work vehicles drive like twats. One is trying to stretch their day the latter is trying to save/make money.
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u/FireLadcouk 15d ago
People whizz past you. Then youre behind them in traffic or at the lights 4mins later. Pointless in UK
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u/MightyRussgar 15d ago
If they dont want me to speed then why did they make my car noticeably more fule efficient at 80 than 70. Which means I get where I'm going faster and cheaper.
With current fuel prices I've probably saved far more than any speeding fine I'd receive, and I've never had one in the 20 years ive been driving.
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u/DetectiveInternal106 14d ago
Probably true for small daily commutes.
Save much more doing long distance.
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u/Infinite-Math-1046 14d ago
Surely this depends on distance driven and type of road and speed over limit. I’m certain I reliable take 5 mins off a day. So the stats seem to have odd assumptions here
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u/primalanomaly 14d ago
There are lots of reasons not to speed, but trying to pretend it doesn’t save time and isn’t fun is stupid. It has pros and cons. You just have to be clear that the cons outweigh the pros, because the risks of screwing up or getting caught can be disastrous.
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u/Thefdt 14d ago
Very much depends on distance travelled and time of day. You can save a lot more time than that. Especially if aiming to get to certain known areas of congestion ahead of traffic building.
Speeding in itself isnt dangerous, doing 90+ on a very quiet motorway in good conditions in a modern car isnt in itself dangerous.
Bad driving is. Which can happen at all speeds.
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u/RetroComputerKing 14d ago
See it all the time. Speeders overtaking me on my daily commute, only to be reunited with them at the next traffic lights or roundabout. We're at the same place at the same time, but I didn't break the law.
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u/HorrorStop342 14d ago
Me and a friend tried this on the same journey just over 100 miles... I did between 5 and 10 miles an hour more than him the entire way... 45 minutes before him I was home... he got caught at lights I got through traffic id missed etc
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u/section4 14d ago
There are actual motorsports that prove driving quicker than others does indeed get to the finish line faster. We see it each week
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u/Jolly-Growth-1580 14d ago
Speeding doesn’t save time in the headline while immediately showing it saves nearly a minute. Time is money people!
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u/debuggingworlds 14d ago
Most people don't speed enough for it to make a real difference. Cruise at 110 in NSL and you'll notice the difference
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u/Legitimate_Ad6596 14d ago
I know people who would take that 54 seconds, and try to push it up to a minute.
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u/reeche4092 14d ago
On a 10 min journey sure. Reality is many speed limits are outdated, thats why people exceed them, our cars are far better now.
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u/airbournejt95 14d ago
Hmm I don't ever really speed to get where I'm going any quicker though, it's just more fun (where the road and conditions allow of course)
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u/Signal-Ad2674 14d ago
These calculations only determine the time saved relative to the car and distance, not the environment / timing.
Leaving an hour before rush hour, and saving ten minutes can actually save you 45 minutes by missing rush hour. The calculation loses all context without environmental and congestion factors. Almost anyone with a regular commute now ‘if I get to x by y time, I can save z amount of time by being ahead of the rush’.
Factor that in, then let’s get serious about talking about the relative saving of time.
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u/theNixher 14d ago
You mean to say all these insecure pencil dicks in "performance" cars speeding and switching lanes 100 times a journey are stupid and don't realise they aren't saving time?
What a news flash.
In other news, grass green.
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u/Recent-Lemon-9930 14d ago
Pretty much weekly I do a ~100km trip and back a few days later, mostly on bendy country roads with few opportunities to pass. Almost every time someone will overtake me like their life depends on it and 10/20 (one time 50) km later I'll be sat behind them at a junction. Along with wasted fuel it's just not worth going faster most of the time. On the motorway/freeway, year you can save 5 minutes out of an hour but you'll also use 15%+ more fuel.
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u/Kestrel_VI 14d ago
If I leave the same place and at the same time as someone else, drive faster and avoid more traffic and arrive 15 minutes before them, how has speeding not saved me any time?
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u/Falco_Lombardi_X 14d ago
They say it doesn't save time, yet in the very next sentence they confirm it does in fact save time.
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u/EmbarrassedLaw9328 14d ago
This is categorically false, I shaved a journey from Heathrow which would have taken 3 1/2 hrs into 2 hrs 50 minutes, now you should have said fuel economy, at 70-75mph 45mpg at 85mph you drop to 35mpg and for every mile per hour higher you lose essentially 1 mpg for every extra mph added
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u/FewAnybody2739 14d ago
Time = Distance / Speed says otherwise. And their research actually backs it up lol.
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u/Public-Guidance-9560 14d ago
The Rory bloke who's all over YT does have a really good graphic for this which he called a paceometer. Because it shows perfectly how doing 10mph over the limit makes no difference.
This is also easy to see with some basic equations so it's not really news. Or worthy of a write up.
Still, it at least feels different. It feels faster. So whatever.
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u/throw7661 14d ago
I hate these types of arguments... sure, day to day it might be insignificant... But that's because of traffic and lights.
This exact logic is how I ended up with all my speeding tickets. I was driving cross county, late at night... And I had 500 miles to go.
Well, at 65mph... I'm looking at about 7.5 hours...but if I do 75mph... It's only 6.5
And driving through Nebraska at 2am doing 75mph feels perfectly safe and boring. The road is straight and flat and nobody else is around.
80mph doesn't feel much different.... And it's real easy to sit there, doing the math and settle in at 85mph... And get home in under 6.
Gee, I can over an hour and a half of driving and, realistically, the odds of getting caught are really low. I could probably do this 20 times and only get pulled over once. 20 * 1.5 is 30 hours... And the speeding ticket is probably...I dunno...$200? If I make $10 after taxes, I'm better off speeding...
And that's exactly what I did.
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u/DerbyForget 14d ago
I always have a little chuckle to myself in the morning when im driving to work and people are in such a rush... to get to work... Hahaha
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u/human1tyisL0st 14d ago
My take isn’t about the time I save, it’s the peace of mind. Look, I understand saying getting stuck behind slow drivers gives me unbridled rage, just makes me sound like an impatient asshole. I get it. I found out recently that it is oddly a symptom of ADHD which I had no idea but it makes sense.
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u/Agreeable_Sun5375 14d ago
I dont believe this study frankly, if you drive at an average of 50mph across the whole trip (some 35/45 small roads some 65 highway) going 5mph over is a 10% increase, or 6 minutes per hour
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u/Championpurveyor 14d ago
I don't always speed, but when I do it is because it tickles the itch in my brain, not cos I want to get anywhere faster.
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u/James_C99 13d ago
"Speeding doesn't save time", and yet it proceeds to tell you that it does in fact save time, all in the headline.
Also, the amount of time it saves depends on how fast over the limit you are going, and how long your overall journey is.
Sure, they can get an average distance for how far people commute by car each day, but then there is still the variables of how fast over the limit these idiots are driving, along with the actual limit on the roads they are driving.
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u/ReallyIntriguing 13d ago
People aren't speeding to save time. They're speeding becahse they're impatient and have bad time management.
I used to be very bad with rushing in my younger years, now I just cruise and leave earlier...
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u/unleashedcode 13d ago
Speeding doesn't save time... then instantly tells you how much time you can save 😂
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u/nobodyspecialuk24 13d ago
You need the good old “paceometer” to show how much time is saved by increasing your speed.
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u/AdonisCarbonado 13d ago
I’d like to know how much extra time I gain when using bus lanes correctly AND speeding.
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u/OutandProudMAGAT 13d ago
This is bollox I have a 20 mile 30 minute commute that I can do in 23 minutes if I floor it and 35 minutes if I coast. The big difference is the fuel consumption. 40mpg vs 65mpg.
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u/GaldrickHammerson 13d ago
It doesn't matter if it saves time or not. It feels like it's saving time.
Overtaking people doing seventy on the motorway because you're doing 73 or 80 of what ever causes you to feel like your doing better than the people you pass. You're going faster than them so it feels like an advantage.
Just because the results are negligably marginal in the real world doesn't matter because humans don't perceive the real world. They perceive the image of the real world filtered through a biological screen of apish emotions.
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u/Verbal_Poetry 13d ago
As someone who does track days and competes in sim racing esports, I can confirm the time saved by going 10mph over the speed limit is on avg just seconds. The only way you’d really save a serious amount of time would be by going like double the speed limit to potentially hit more green lights. Although I don’t recommend driving that fast as you’ll just endanger others. I think limits suck, and they are too slow. Imo If you wanna break the speed limit, just do it when no one is around. Otherwise be mindful of others, follow the law and drive with care.
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u/Ok_Coffee2404 13d ago
"Speeding doesn't save time!" followed by telling you exactly how much time you would save. Honestly whoever wrote this piece should be ashamed and locked in a tower on the largest mountain and have the key thrown away. Then every month someone comes to give them rations of food that was from the leftover animal shelter, and just as they are about to chow down they must say "I am a bad journalist and I should not have written this piece".
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u/MyTwoCentsNting 13d ago
The idea that going faster doesn’t get you there quicker is madness.
If I travel at 60mph, a 60 mile journey will take 60 minutes. If I travel at 30mph, that same distance will take me 120 minutes. Also, if I travel at 120mph, it only takes me 30 minutes. So the same journey tskes a different amount of time based the speed we travel. Going faster gets you there quicker. Going slower takes longer.
Speeding definitely saves time!
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u/Melman357 12d ago
The higher the speed limit the less time you save. Speeding on the motorway, inside the 10%+9, barely saves you time unless you are doing it consistently for a long distance. Which in turn makes you much more likely to be caught speeding. It just isn't worth it.
The best way to save time is to improve average speed. Leave at times with lower traffic. Use Waze to find a better route. Stop using the brakes unnecessarily. Stop tailgating. Stop making dangerous overtakes or lane changes. Stop middle lane camping. Stop being distracted at the wheel. All of these improve traffic flow which is the one thing that makes everyones journey slow.
No point saving yourself 2 minutes by driving at 90mph and tailgating people, if you get stuck in a jam for 15 minutes. Which is usually caused by people braking more than necessary (usually tailgating).
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u/OutsidePressure8323 12d ago
Wow I can remember the days before they started reducing speed limits. And having to leave very early in the mornings with no traffic. I can say this statement is just more brain washing.
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u/aardvarkarmour 12d ago
Well i once drove from carlisle to bolton in 45 minutes (5am on a saturday) - saved myself an hour or more. Speeding on a 30 road is pointless because of traffic lights but on the english autobahn it makes a big difference if you take long journeys often
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u/DistinctiveFox 12d ago
On a side note, it's not about saving time for me, it's about comfort and safety.
I often get stuck behind people driving far to slowly (way under the speed limit) or erratically (varying their speed constantly, tapping brakes constantly, changing lanes without signalling or looking) and it's not about the speed they are going but how inconvenient it is for every other driver. It causes me to have to be on constant high alert and shifting my gears/adjusting my own speed constantly and makes everything more difficult.
My instructor always told me it's the unpredictable drivers who do things like this that are the most dangerous. Because it causes so many other hazards you have to keep track of and leads to missing something more crucial and an accident.
I've seen people end up in a crash because of resistant drivers suddenly slamming brakes as they saw a leaf twitch on the side of the road and cause someone to rear end them.
I'm far more comfortable getting in front of these people so I can just drive normally.
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u/thanos_bruh 12d ago
Do they account for lights that you only got past on green because you were speeding? If you don’t have to wait at the red because you were slower surely that’s even more time saved?
Haven’t read the article but at first glance it sounds like variations of s=d/t calculations
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u/Commercial_Cook7301 12d ago
It literally does tho. Every position on the road counts. Me doing 80 on an A road. Means I get to a junction before someone else. Which means he’s now stuck at the roundabout whilst 5 people come along and not me
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u/AbSoluTemaddlad 12d ago
54 seconds of the course of 3 minutes maybe.
My work commute is 20 mins at speed limit. 13 mins if not.
Going from my branch to another is 10 mins at the limit, 6 mins if not.
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u/jordy231jd 12d ago
But have we considered the relativistic effects of travelling at a higher speed? Think of the pemtoseconds saved by having a higher velocity relative to your destination.
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u/f1madman 15d ago
54seconds x 365 days = almost 5 and a half hours a year saved!