Police Ticketed a Woman for Driving Too Slow. How Slow? 10 MPH on a Highway!

Police officers gave Stephanie Cole, 58, a ticket for driving too slow on an English motorway (highway for us Yanks). How slow? Try 10 mph!

When police caught her there was a sign on her car which read: "I don't do fast. If I'm too slow for you DON'T hoot just overtake!" [...]

She had been travelling from her home to a Staples stationery store when she was arrested by police on 30 August.

"I really didn't want to go on the motorway, but I desperately had to go to Staples for an ink cartridge," she said.

"I don't know any other way to get to it so I went that way," she added.

When officers stopped Mrs Cole, she told them she had "no confidence" on the motorway.

Because there isn't a minimum speed, the cop gave her a ticket for "driving without reasonable consideration." Link


Good! They should have taken her license away, too! Driving 10MPH on the freeway is not only dangerous, but incredibly stupid and annoying. I would sit behind that lady and hold my horn down for ten minutes before driving my car right over hers.
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"I really didn’t want to go on the motorway, but I desperately had to go to Staples for an ink cartridge"

What an emergency!
...
If she doesn't do fast, then she should take the bus. She's putting other people in danger
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In the US (at least in Michigan) there is a minimum speed of 45mph. The only times you can drive slower than that are when conditions like weather make it unsafe to go faster.
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My friend got pulled over and ticketed in Cleveland for going 55 in a 65. He drives a huge Lincoln Towncar and was in the right lane. everybody else was going around him, as he had no problem with being passed. apparently, if a cop drives up behind you, regardless of whether their lights are on or not, you have to move over to let them pass. my friend stayed in the right lane and waited for the cop to pass him (not knowing this ridiculous law), but instead got pulled over for going too slow and failing to get over into the middle lane. he got pulled over again that day for going too slow, but was not ticketed. now, i can understand why the woman in this article was pulled over.. she could have hurt somebody. but my friend was doing nothing wrong.
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I think it is 45mph for all US highways. It is the same everywhere I have been. Most people ignore the 65 or 70mph speed limit and go 80-95mph. If you are going 45mph you are a sitting duck and 10mph you are basically dead once you are rear ended.
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um, if you're technologically advanced enough to need an ink cartridge, then just order the replacement cartridge ONLINE! then all you have to do is walk to your front door to pick up the package. sheesh.
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Wow....

In Texas (or at least North Texas), there is no minimum speed limit. However, I do believe one can get a ticket for reckless driving if going THAT slow.

A few years ago I was driving from a small unnamed town in North Texas (near the OK border) to Arlington which required me to take I35W through Fort Worth. At the time my car had a problem (don't remember now what it was) that would cause it to overheat and the engine shut down if I went over 55 mph (I got rid of it soon afterward since I couldn't afford to get it fixed). No one drives that slow through Fort Worth (unless an accident has the highway down to stop and go traffic). Although I stayed in the right lane, there were still people still people honking at me and flipping me off (not all Texans follow the state motto...lol). Of course, I drove through the really heavy traffic areas with my hazard lights on (so it was obvious something was wrong with my car) unless I had to switch lanes or make a turn.

I'm sure if I had gotten pulled over, the officer would have been understanding, but it was hell driving so far being forced to go so slow. If my car had been doing it before the trip I wouldn't have made it, but the problem only started halfway through. Oh well. I do kinda miss the car though...it was my first even though it was a piece of crap.
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It is odd that she has to re take her driving test, considering that the test doesn't include motor/free way driving it would seem a pointless exercise.

I have thought for a long time that there should be a separate test for motorway driving.

For those who don't want to drive on a moor way they should be able to take a lower test and be restricted to low powered cars,say a low kilowattage output.

They should be required to display this status and benefit from much lower insurance premiums and road tax.

Say a sliding scale where the smaller and cheaper you got the more economical.

It would get a lot of people out of big cars that they didn't want or need, and keep the crazies off the motorway

Oh yeah that's the other bit,you'd have to pass a separate test to ALLOW you on the motorway.

Please remember that the speed limit in the UK is 70mph and that is routinely ignored and everyone drivees at about 88mph.

So if you pass the full test you get a red number plate say, and if you pass the runabout test you bet a blue one.

simple non?
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Minimum speed limit is a confusing concept.

You can qualify it all you want that it applies only when the situation allows it. But invariably, some stupid jerk would still plow at that speed during bad weather and cause an accident.
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So what colour plate would our car have? My wife's unlikely to attain the "higher" grade plate, but having spent five years as a driving instructor and another five training minibus drivers I shouldn't have trouble qualifying.

The reason she was ordered to take her test again is simple - it's the option which is available and least likely to cause the law to be regarded as an ass. Magistrates can't remove licences permanently, but they could impose a long ban (which would have had lots of people up in arms about her being a poor old dear) or nothing, which would have been too lenient. This way he's passed the buck to the examiner and kicked the problem into touch. If she's safe enough to pass a test she can drive, if she isn't she can't.

Oh, and of course, many test centres are near 70mph dual carriageways, which are often indistinguishable from motorways apart from the colour of the road signs. Driving tests often use such roads.
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