Bad driving on some of Britain’s best roads has led to crackdowns in the form of speed limits and cameras
A reader writes to ask if I could recommend some good driving roads on his way to and from Wales. And I will, by direct message, but not, if you will forgive me, online, because advertising driving roads widely (even though I know I’ve done it) is almost universally a bad idea.
It’s a shame, because one wants to share the love, no? Like an amazing restaurant: my goodness, you must go there. But some roads are just so well known that for all of the sensible drivers and riders, there will be a few who drive and ride badly and let us all down.
Early one morning recently, a farmer stopped to shout at me while I was in a car park cleaning a Lamborghini because he assumed I was going to spend the day driving on local roads like a pillock, which is what some visitors do. I wasn’t, but while I tried to explain this, slightly hurt at being yelled at, I understood his annoyance.
We don’t share where this road is – it’s just good for photography – but people do, so drivers go there, some drive dangerously and it wouldn’t even be on my private ‘recommended’ list. One day they will drop the speed limit and install cameras.
It’s not the first time we’ve been accosted on a job. A few years ago, we were going to take photos on a collection of roads known as ‘the Evo Triangle’. A local heard an Aston Martin with a loud (albeit standard) exhaust and stepped out to stop a colleague, who wasn’t driving like a berk so didn’t run her over, to shout at him.
I get her frustration. That this route is known by name shows the root of its problem: it was broadcast and lots of people ended up going there, and while most car people are sensible, some are not, so now there are average speed cameras along it.
As there are now on the A272 between Petersfield and Winchester, which I remember reading about in magazines when I was a kid.
It’s not just car magazines that over-attract drivers, among them bad drivers, to good roads. Visit Wales advertises the Black Mountain Pass as ‘one of Britain’s best roads’ on its ‘Highways to Heaven’ webpage. “Also known as ‘the Top Gear road’, after Jeremy Clarkson was filmed driving it, ”it announces for all to see, “this swooping mountain pass is a favourite with car magazine test drivers, bikers and motorists – and, consequently, the local bobbies.”
It was so over- and badly used – three people died and 37 were injured between 2013 and 2023 along it – that authorities lowered the speed limit and installed average speed cameras. Which somebody has since cut down.
When I’ve written about Scotland’s beautiful North Coast 500, I’ve had correspondence from locals who don’t own B&Bs or cafes so see no financial benefit from the route’s popularity but do get tired of bad driving. Not necessarily fast or loud driving but also slow driving in motorhomes that are too big for the roads.
I can well believe that tourists defecating in verges near your home gets a little tiresome too. The NC500 website has ‘Common Sense Guidance’ pages, but there will always be a minority who decide not to have it.
As with so many things, it’s the idiot minority that lets us all down. A man was arrested last month for walking home from his allotment while carrying a gardening knife. The assumption was that he might use it on more than just his carrots. He wasn’t going to, as most of us wouldn’t, but because of a few who might, he found himself in custody.
We all know the feeling of being judged by the actions of a few. We will all have had class detention because of one numpty who threw chalk at a teacher. It felt inherently unfair then but probably proved a valuable life lesson: I now know that every sign, every camera, every limit exists because of an idiot who doesn’t know or doesn’t care that you shouldn’t do something.
The answer, when it comes to roads, is to find the good ones with the fewest idiots. For me, that means driving alone, noting and remembering good stretches of road, which doesn’t always mean great scenery, and which are lesser known.
Nearly all of us can find some locally if we try. They’re worth seeking out. And when you find them, for heaven’s sake keep quiet about it.
Source: Autocar
