Let's take it as a given that EVERYONE WANTS TO ARRIVE AT THEIR DESTINATION SAFELY and then look at the various attitudes towards use of speed that we see commonly on the roads.
Firstly, you've got those drivers who value shorter journeys and arrival times in their definition of good use of speed. Those drivers want to arrive on time and often describe themselves as driving "safe but fast"
At the other end of the scale, there is the "slow drivers are good drivers" types, who need little prompting to remind you that there is a difference between "a limit" and a "target" and appear NOT bothered about arriving on time
There's even a group, that I like to refer to as the "forty fivers", who seem to swap between the other two ends of the scale, driving at 45mph on the rural roads and dual carriageways because "speed kills" but then continue at 45mph through 30mph speed limited areas
From a professional point of view, what is good use of speed?
Well, for me it's very simple to put into words in one sentence...
You should drive as fast as you can as long as you don't exceed the posted speed limit and can always stop CALMLY within the distance of road you can see to be clear
If you think about it, it's an almost perfect rule of driving and as such, it is sometimes referred to as "The Golden Rule Of Speed" - if you can stop calmly within the space you can see if clear in front of you, then you shouldn't, in theory, ever be able to crash!
I say "in theory" because obviously things do change as we drive down the road and there is always the potential for something to happen that you genuinely didn't expect. I don't like to go down the "expect the unexpected" route here, because by definition, if you expect something then it isn't unexpected, but...
No matter how good you think you are, nobody is perfect and we will ALL be caught by surprise from time to time!
Give the Golden Rule Of Speed some thought and you can see how well it will fit into your driving. There are three component parts:
"Drive as fast as you can" - helps you to meet your objectives of getting there quickly
"As long as you don't exceed the posted speed limit" - keeps you on the right side of the law
"Can always stop calmly within the distance you can see to be clear" - this is the bit that really does the trick! It means that you can always stop easily, having taken into account weather and road surface conditions along with local issues such as parked cars or overgrown hedges. This bit of the Golden Rule means that you should never have to do an emergency stop, but of course, on the assumption that none of us are perfect, we are well placed to deal with those moments of surprise.
The Golden Rule Of Speed...
"Drive as fast as you can, as long as you don't exceed the posted speed limit for the road and can always stop calmly within the distance you can see to be clear"
