Zokes, NOTHING excuses reckless overtaking. It doesn’t matter if the person in front is doing 10mph (people on bikes frequently do this on derestricted roads, not sure if you’ve noticed). The only people encouraging accidents are those overtaking.
At which point did I mention that I was encouraged to recklessly overtake? One of the key rules in the highway code is to be courteous to other drivers. I know several people who failed their driving tests for driving ‘too slowly’ on an NSL stretch of road. Putting those two pieces of information together, most people would conclude that driving too slowly and not ‘making progress’ is not only demonstrating a sub-standard level of driving ability, but is also being extremely discourteous to other road users.
The key difference between bikes and slow drivers is that cars can, and should, be travelling at a speed suitable for the conditions. 30 mph on an open NSL road is not a suitable speed unless the weather dictates otherwise, and regardless of the rights or wrongs, the very reason those signs exist is to point out that others may take unnecessary risks in order to carry on their journeys impeded. I know they shouldn’t, but by driving at such low speeds in your sanctimonious, self righteous (or more probably, daydreaming / nervous) little bubble, it encourages people to make rash decisions. As I said above, these slow drivers are usually the same people who then either try to race you whilst overtaking or sit there flashing their lights at you afterwards, whereas if they’d just driven at a sensible speed to start with, then there would never have been a problem. I’d rather met a mountainbiker who’s focussed on adrenaline driving back from a trail than a granddad who has little concept of the fact he’s even in a car, let alone driving it. Living in North Wales, most of the crashes I’ve seen seem to be caused by the latter, not the former. Obviously if Smee were ever to have an accident, I’d feel sorry for him, mostly because he’d never be able to face his own sanctimonious little face in the mirror in the morning…