The RAC says the findings of a new survey highlight just how unnerved many drivers – especially those who live in towns and cities – are by Britain’s rural roads.
More than half of those who responded to the survey, carried out by the RAC in partnership with Ageas, say they find using narrow country roads stressful, a figure that rises to 76% for drivers who live in urban areas.
The two biggest causes of stress, according to the survey, are the difficulty of squeezing past other vehicles in tight spaces (62%) and the fear of colliding with another vehicle head on (61%).
More than a third (36%) meanwhile say they think the default 60mph limit on country roads is just too fast to begin with.
Meanwhile, 30% of respondents admit to deliberately steering clear of narrow country lanes and are prepared to take a detour of 16 miles (or 25 minutes) to avoid them.
Simon Williams, RAC breakdown spokesman, said: “With unprecedented numbers of drivers on the UK’s roads this summer, more and more people will find themselves squeezing down narrow country lanes to reach beaches and popular countryside spots.
“These figures show just how uncomfortable many drivers are doing this, especially those who are used to wider city roads with much better visibility.
“For any driver less confident with tackling rural lanes the message has to be to plan a journey properly before setting out, and drive at the right speed according to the nature of the road, even if the official limit is 60mph.
“We’d also advise not becoming too reliant on a car’s sat-nav – while ducking off a main road to shave off a few minutes might seem like a good idea, if you’re then faced with having to carefully negotiate a tractor and queue of vehicles coming the other way, any advantage is soon lost.”
We have a problem in this country that the government sets national limits that are inappropriately high for most roads and then loads the burden of setting the correct lower limits to the local traffic authority. Whether they do will depend on a great many factors that are often unassociated with the safety of road users across the transport mode spectrum. This applies to both most rural roads with a 60mph national limit and urban/village roads with a national 30mph limit. This idea of setting the national limit for ideal conditions which only exist on a minority of roads is illogical. It is a process that is not fit for purpose.
The solution is for a national 20mph limit for restricted roads and a national 40mph limit for unrestricted roads. Then local authorities can set the minority of roads requiring exceptions where a different speed limit is appropriate.
Rod King, Lymm, Cheshire
0
Having been brought up in rural Warwickshire I find no problem with rural roads. It helped that I was aware of the busy seasons for farm vehicles and also when there were likely to be animals on the roads (e.g.after milking time) but I do agree with Honor about problems some drivers have with reversing.
One thing I believe would help would be for the rest of the country to follow Scotland’s example of regular well signed Passing Places along single lane roads. Drivers would need to remember they are passing places and not parking places.
Robert Bolt, St Albans
+5
Some good advice in this article and avoiding rural roads and lanes you find tricky is a sound strategy. Living in rural Wensleydale I would add that one major cause of stress is the difficulty many drivers have with reversing their vehicle on a single track lane for any distance to reach the nearest passing place. A skills issue? Or should sat navs offer a non-reversing route option that excludes single track lanes altogether?
Honor Byford, Wensleydale, North Yorkshire
+9