“What speed should I be doing?”
It is one of the most common questions I am asked by learner drivers, and the answer isn’t always as simple as looking at the nearest speed-limit sign.
If you’re on your driving test, you can potentially get into trouble at both ends of the scale. Drive too fast and you could exceed the speed limit or be travelling too quickly for the conditions. Drive unnecessarily slowly and you can start delaying other road users and demonstrate a lack of appropriate progress.
So when I teach speed, I encourage my pupils to think about three things:
Safe. Legal. Progress.
And importantly, I consider them in that order.
1. Is my speed safe?
This always comes first.
The speed limit tells you the maximum speed legally permitted. It doesn’t necessarily tell you the speed you should actually be travelling.
In fact, DVSA’s own guidance to driving examiners makes an extremely important point:
Speed limits are not target speeds.
That’s exactly how I teach driving.
Imagine you’re travelling along a residential road with a 30 mph speed limit. There are cars parked closely along both sides of the road.
Someone could step out from between those cars. A child could run into the road. A vehicle could emerge from a driveway. Somebody could open a car door.
It may be perfectly legal to drive at 30 mph, but that doesn’t necessarily make 30 mph appropriate.
So I would slow down.
The Highway Code specifically recognises this, advising drivers to drive slowly and carefully on residential streets where pedestrians, cyclists and parked vehicles are likely to be encountered.
Safety always comes first.
Could you stop within the distance you can see to be clear?
There is another question I encourage drivers to consider:
Could I stop safely within the distance I can see to be clear?
This is a really useful way of thinking about speed.
Imagine you’re approaching a blind bend on a country road with a 60 mph speed limit.
Sixty might be the legal maximum, but that doesn’t remotely mean you should necessarily be travelling at 60.
If you can only see a relatively short distance around the bend, you need to choose a speed that would allow you to stop safely if you suddenly discovered a stationary vehicle, cyclist, pedestrian, horse or another hazard around it.
The same principle applies to narrow roads, brows of hills and other places where your view is restricted.
The question isn’t simply:
“Am I below the speed limit?”
It’s:
“Am I travelling at a speed that allows me to deal safely with what I can see?”
2. Is my speed legal?
Once I’ve established that my speed is safe, the next consideration is whether it’s legal.
The speed limit is an absolute maximum.
You don’t get an allowance because you’re overtaking. You don’t get an allowance because you’re travelling downhill. And you certainly don’t get an allowance because the driver behind you wants to go faster.
On a driving test, I would never recommend deliberately driving over the speed limit on the assumption that there is some unofficial tolerance.
There isn’t a useful number that you should be working with.
In fact, DVSA’s guidance to examiners specifically says that the tolerance for exceeding the speed limit should be quite small.
The simplest solution is therefore not to speed.
I often recommend driving just below the limit
Personally, I often encourage my pupils not to try to sit precisely on the speed limit.
For example, on a clear road with a 30 mph limit, I might suggest travelling at around 28 or 29 mph.
That’s not a DVSA rule. It’s simply a teaching technique that I find works well.
Trying to hold the speedometer precisely at 30 mph gives you very little margin. The road starts going downhill, you inadvertently add a fraction more accelerator, or your attention quite correctly moves towards a developing hazard and suddenly your speed can creep over the limit.
Travelling at 28 or 29 mph gives you a small margin without meaningfully delaying anybody.
But there is an important distinction here.
I’m suggesting 28 or 29 in a 30, not 20 in a 30.
Driving significantly below the limit simply because you’re frightened of speeding creates a different problem.
3. Am I making appropriate progress?
This is the third part of my rule.
Safe. Legal. Progress.
“Progress” is actually the terminology used by DVSA when assessing your driving test. Examiners consider whether you’re driving at an appropriate speed and whether you’re displaying undue hesitation.
Let’s imagine you’re doing 20 mph on a road with a 30 mph speed limit.
Is that wrong?
Not necessarily.
I’d ask:
Why are you doing 20?
If you’re passing closely parked vehicles, approaching a blind junction, dealing with pedestrians or responding to some other hazard, 20 mph might be entirely appropriate.
But what happens when the road opens up?
There are no pedestrians. There are no parked vehicles. Visibility is excellent. The weather is good.
Now look in your mirror.
There’s a queue developing behind you.
At that point I want you to think:
“Why am I still doing 20?”
If there isn’t a good reason, and it is safe and legal to travel faster, you should consider increasing your speed.
DVSA specifically identifies driving unnecessarily slowly and holding up following traffic as examples of faults associated with progress.
This is why “slower is safer” isn’t necessarily good driving.
Appropriate is safer.
Don’t allow the driver behind to choose your speed
There’s an important distinction here.
If another vehicle appears behind you, that doesn’t automatically mean you should speed up.
Suppose you’re travelling at 20 mph in a 30 mph limit because you’re passing a genuine hazard.
The driver behind might be impatient. They might get very close. They might desperately want you to go faster.
That’s their problem.
Safety comes first.
Likewise, if you’re doing 28 or 29 mph in a 30 and somebody wants you to do 35, their impatience doesn’t change the speed limit.
But you should still be aware of them.
If seeing traffic behind you makes you realise that you’re travelling at 20 mph on a completely clear 30 mph road for no particular reason, that’s useful information.
Don’t let another driver dictate your speed, but do remain aware of how your driving is affecting other people.
How do I know what the speed limit actually is?
This is another area where learner drivers frequently make mistakes.
I’ll occasionally ask a pupil:
“What’s the speed limit here?”
They’ll look around and say:
“It looks residential, so I think it’s 20.”
That’s not how I want them determining the speed limit.
In England, one of the most important things learners need to understand is the relationship between a system of street lighting and the 30 mph limit.
Generally, if you’re travelling on a road with a system of street lighting, the limit is 30 mph unless signs tell you otherwise.
So don’t simply look at houses and think:
“Residential equals 20.”
Instead, look for the evidence.
What signs have I passed?
What road markings have I seen?
Is there a system of street lighting?
What was the last speed limit I entered?
Why aren’t there 30 mph repeater signs everywhere?
This is something learners can find confusing.
They enter what they believe is a 30 mph road and then wonder why they aren’t seeing little 30 mph signs every few hundred yards.
On an ordinary street-lit 30 mph road, you generally shouldn’t expect 30 mph repeater signs.
The street lighting itself is an important indication of the limit.
This makes recognising a system of street lighting an important skill rather than simply waiting for another sign to tell you what speed to do.
What is the difference between a 20 mph limit and a 20 mph zone?
This is another distinction worth understanding.
A 20 mph limit and a 20 mph zone both impose a legal maximum speed of 20 mph.
A 20 mph zone isn’t really a 30 mph road where somebody is merely recommending that you travel at 20.
The legal limit is 20 mph.
The difference is largely in how that lower speed is communicated and encouraged.
A conventional 20 mph limit will normally rely more heavily on speed-limit signage.
A 20 mph zone is designed so that the road environment itself also encourages lower speeds. You might encounter speed humps, raised areas, chicanes, road narrowings, 20 mph roundels or other traffic-calming features.
The important thing for the driver is that once you’ve entered the zone, you need to remember that you’re in it.
Don’t rely on seeing another speed-limit sign every few moments.
You may turn into several different roads and still remain within the same 20 mph zone.
I encourage my pupils to mentally acknowledge a change of speed limit when they see it:
“I’m entering a 20.”
“I’m entering a 30.”
“I’m entering a 40.”
It sounds incredibly simple, but consciously processing that information makes it much less likely that you’ll forget the limit two minutes later.
Learn the difference between entering a limit and being reminded of it
You’ll also notice different sizes of speed-limit signs.
As a useful general rule, the larger terminal signs indicate that you’re entering a new speed limit.
Smaller repeater signs remind you of a speed limit that’s already in force.
Understanding the difference helps enormously with planning.
And there is one particularly important rule I teach:
Lower speed limit ahead? Slow down before the sign.
Higher speed limit ahead? Accelerate after the sign.
Imagine you’re travelling in a 40 mph limit and can see a 30 mph sign ahead.
You shouldn’t pass the sign at 40 and then start braking.
You need to anticipate the change and reduce your speed so that you’re at no more than 30 mph when you enter the new limit.
Now reverse the situation.
You’re travelling at 30 mph and can see a 40 mph sign ahead.
You don’t start accelerating towards 40 because you can see the sign.
You’re still in a 30 mph limit.
Pass the sign first. Then, assuming it’s safe, start increasing your speed.
Don’t let gravity control your car
One of the most common situations where I see learners inadvertently speed is downhill.
A pupil might be comfortably travelling at 28 or 29 mph on a level road.
The road begins descending and, without them really noticing, the car starts travelling at 30, then 31, then 32.
At that point, gravity is controlling the speed of the vehicle rather than the driver.
Good drivers anticipate this.
If you can see that the road is about to descend, think about what’s going to happen before it happens.
Ease off the accelerator and, where necessary, use the brakes progressively to maintain the appropriate speed. Depending on the vehicle and situation, appropriate gearing or regenerative braking may also help you control a longer descent.
Don’t wait until you’ve already exceeded the speed limit before deciding to do something about it.
Good speed management is proactive, not reactive.
Be particularly careful when overtaking cyclists
Another situation where I frequently see pupils inadvertently speed is when overtaking a cyclist.
The thought process is understandable.
They’ve committed to the overtake and now want to get past the cyclist promptly, so they accelerate.
But overtaking doesn’t suspend the speed limit.
If you’re in a 30 mph limit, the maximum is still 30 mph.
You also need to give the cyclist sufficient room. The Highway Code advises leaving at least 1.5 metres when overtaking cyclists at speeds of up to 30 mph, and more space at higher speeds.
That leads to a much better question than simply:
“Can I get past?”
Ask:
“Can I complete this overtake safely, legally and with sufficient clearance?”
If the answer is no, don’t overtake.
Remain behind the cyclist until a suitable opportunity appears.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with waiting.
The weather can change the appropriate speed without changing the speed limit
Another important concept is that the same road doesn’t necessarily have the same appropriate speed every time you drive along it.
Imagine a road with a 40 mph speed limit.
At two o’clock on a dry summer afternoon with excellent visibility, travelling somewhere close to the limit might be entirely appropriate.
Now imagine exactly the same road on a dark winter evening in torrential rain.
The sign still says 40.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean 40 is appropriate.
The legal limit hasn’t changed.
The conditions have.
Your speed should respond accordingly.
The same applies to fog, ice, standing water, darkness and anything else that reduces visibility or increases the distance you need to stop.
Don’t spend the test staring at your speedometer
All of this doesn’t mean you should spend your driving test obsessively watching the speedometer.
Quite the opposite.
Your primary attention needs to be outside the vehicle.
You need to be looking far enough ahead to recognise bends, junctions, pedestrians, parked cars, cyclists, changes in road conditions and speed-limit signs.
Make regular, brief checks of your speedometer, particularly when circumstances make a change of speed more likely.
For example:
- after entering a different speed limit
- after accelerating away from a junction
- when travelling downhill
- after leaving a slower or more hazardous section of road
- when overtaking
- when the road opens up and you’re beginning to make more progress.
With experience, you’ll develop a much better feel for the speed of the vehicle and won’t need to rely entirely on looking at the speedometer.
Your speed should be continually changing
Perhaps the biggest misconception is that there is one “correct” speed for an entire road.
There isn’t.
Imagine you’re travelling along a road with a 30 mph limit.
The road is initially wide and clear, so you’re travelling at around 28 or 29 mph.
Ahead, you notice parked cars and pedestrians.
You reduce your speed.
You pass the hazard and the road opens up again.
Check your mirrors, reassess the situation and smoothly increase your speed.
A little further ahead you approach a blind junction.
Reduce your speed again.
Then the road opens up.
Increase it appropriately.
That’s good driving.
Your speed isn’t determined solely by the number on the sign. It continually responds to what is happening around you.
So, what speed should I drive on my driving test?
If you ask me:
“What speed should I be doing?”
my answer is:
The appropriate speed.
First, establish the legal speed limit correctly.
Then ask:
Safe
Can I deal safely with the road and hazards ahead?
Could I stop safely within the distance I can see to be clear?
Legal
Am I within the speed limit?
Have I correctly identified what that limit actually is?
Progress
Given the conditions, am I travelling at an appropriate speed?
If it’s safe and legal to travel faster, am I unnecessarily delaying anybody?
That’s the thought process I want my pupils to develop.
If the limit is 30 mph and conditions are excellent, I might recommend around 28 or 29 mph rather than trying to sit precisely on 30.
If the limit is 30 but parked cars and pedestrians make 20 more appropriate, do 20.
If the hazard disappears and you’re still doing 20 on a clear road while a queue develops behind you, reassess your speed.
If you’re approaching a lower speed limit, achieve that speed before entering it.
If you’re approaching a higher limit, don’t accelerate until you’ve entered it.
If you’re travelling downhill, don’t let gravity choose your speed.
If you’re overtaking a cyclist, don’t exceed the speed limit simply because you want to complete the manoeuvre quickly.
And if somebody behind you wants you to drive faster than is safe or legal, don’t allow them to dictate your driving.
The examiner isn’t looking for somebody who can blindly follow the number written on a sign.
They’re assessing whether you can recognise the speed limit, understand the hazards around you, select an appropriate speed and make safe and reasonable progress.
That is why I teach speed using three simple words:
Safe. Legal. Progress.
Learn to make those three judgements consistently and you’re doing something much more important than learning how to manage your speed for a driving test.
You’re learning how to choose the right speed, on the right road, in the right conditions — for the rest of your driving life.