Just went to reset the trip computer on the car and there was a little item that said miles driven, time driven and average speed as well as fuel consumption.

Average speed was 19 mph over the past 1500 ish miles which yesterday included a fast as legally possible drive to France including a nice fast bit on the Autoroute. 85 in the Korando is plenty fast enough for me most of the time...

Traffic congestion in Essex is as bad as I have evr seen it.

That is hilarious and shocking at the same time Orb!. I wonder what the average speed would have been 50 years ago, even 75?

Had to make a few trips from Peterhead to Inverness last year thanks to SWMBO's granny having health scare. It is an awful road and I was dismayed, though not surprised, to learn one trip averaged 30mph :-(

Just went to reset the trip computer on the car and there was a little item that said miles driven, time driven and average speed as well as fuel consumption.

Average speed was 19 mph over the past 1500 ish miles which yesterday included a fast as legally possible drive to France including a nice fast bit on the Autoroute. 85 in the Korando is plenty fast enough for me most of the time...

Traffic congestion in Essex is as bad as I have evr seen it.

I suppose it's as much a symptom of how full our country is and the poor state of the infrastructure (not just pothole, but roads always being dug up for one utility or another) as it is where you live and the type of driving you do. My car has a similar feature and it has always been nailed to 40mph throughout its life.

But then a good deal of my driving has been on freer-flowing roads (NE & central Herts, Cambs), often national speed limit / dual carriageways, with some urban driving mixed in, and a good bit, at least in recent years, out of the busy times of the day (which are more numerous [now including lunchtime) and longer than was the case 10 years or so ago).

One thing I've found that helps me is via my cycling across the same area and into the western portion of Essex - I now know a good deal of the country lane routes quite well as alternative routes (and which to avoid) in the event of hold-ups on the main routes, without having to dig out my phone for the satnav - which won't tell me which country lanes are single track or are heavily potholed, flooded, etc...

Planning routes often on Google Maps helps to look at alternatives - for both bike and car.