Me neither, I had a weeks holiday in Wales driving from St Davids in the South all along the coast to Porthmadog / Criccieth so experienced the 20mph zones and it didnt bother me at all
20mph residential speed limit (replacing 30mph)
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Me neither, I had a weeks holiday in Wales driving from St Davids in the South all along the coast to Porthmadog / Criccieth so experienced the 20mph zones and it didnt bother me at all
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I'm a bit confused about that. I couldn't see any comments in the report about reducing speed limits and attempting to identify related trends. Which bit was that in?
What I read was that 62% of all fatalities had "at least one speed related factor", e.g. chart 5.
Well, I suppose some speed will be involved as you have to be moving to have an accident lol
Within the report, it talks about most fatalities including one of the three speed related variables:
- Breaking the speed limit
- Driving in an aggressive manner
- Driving at an inappropriate speed
Note that it doesn't talk about whether an RTA was caused by speed, rather the outcome from RTAs.
It draws from data that has yearly numbers which is useful to look at wider trends.
On that note - many of the most serious accidents involved people driving under the influence (in recent years 18-30% of fatal road incidents involved drink or drugs as a contributing factor) or with complete disregard for the law, etc. you can't do much about those by reducing speed limits alone even though you can mitigate the severity and frequency of some type of accidents.
I'm starting to think quite a few people are quick to blame speed because they can console themselves that they drive within the speed limit and absolve themselves of any onus of improving their standard of driving by blaming "those speeders".
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If you genuinely believe that, then no wonder we have different views regarding speed limits.
On a positive note, we've just had 20mph speed limits added onto our estate/area. Where we live has a lot of people on foot, not many straight roads, a lot of parked vehicles (great for obscuring visibility of people/kids/dogs) and lots of traffic.
When it's busy you won't get much over 20mph anyway. When it isn't, people will just ignore it and go 30. 20mph is a farce.
The road which runs by me got reduced to 30 from 40 and before that 50 and then average speed cameras installed. Did absolutely nothing to stop the local chavs in their fart machines. The locals know where the 3 cameras are, so they go slow through the first one and bomb it down the road until they turn off (which is probably before the next one). No one gets caught. Police used to do speed checks but since cameras were put up they haven't.
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I am starting to - I'm on several Facebook groups where there are discussions of local problem spots on the roads which have hit the local news recently due to either recent accidents or proposed action due to past accidents so I can compare opinions to how the person drives in some cases.
There is a similar thing with on the road parking through some of the villages near me which narrows the road so 2 cars can't easily pass - the residents claim they do it to stop the boy racers tearing through - all it does is cause chaos during busy times of day when speeders can't speed anyway and then forces people to have to deal with reckless drivers head on through the narrow parts at quieter times when there is nothing to stop them...
If they haven't had someone scrape their cars then they are lucky.
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Doesn't seem to happen that often but it does happen - can't say I'd want to leave my car parked in that kind of place. Mostly though the underlying reason seems to be they want to park outside their house despite most of them having an allocated parking spot or garage, etc. elsewhere.
Rroff, I’m just thinking through your comment.
Just to clarify, are you suggesting the some drivers who keep to the speed limit complain about speeders, partly because they are otherwise poor drivers and that the existence of the speeders absolves them of responsibility?
Just to clarify, are you suggesting the some drivers who keep to the speed limit complain about speeders, partly because they are otherwise poor drivers and that the existence of the speeders absolves them of responsibility?
Yep same near me. There are 3-6 bedroom houses some with drives big enough for at least 3 cars, yet they park on the road and obscure junctions and all sorts. I've seen the result of a few collisions overnight.
After watching my neighbour's wife struggle to reverse a car in to their drive, maybe it's a training issue.
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I've seen a few people locally (typically of a certain age group) who in response to a few problem areas coming under investigation* have been calling for average speed cameras, make comments along the lines of "those of us sticking to the speed limit are usually overtaken at speed by others" and get angry at anyone who suggests there might be other factors than speed causing these incidents. Those I know typically have a poor standard of driving often late reactions due to nattering to their passenger or eating while driving, etc. etc. have no idea how to overtake cyclists and while they claim "sticking to the speed limit" it is more along the lines of never exceed 25 in a 30, 30 in a 40, generally do the speed limit in a 50, 10-15MPH below the limit in 60s and 70s - while I wouldn't call it unreasonably slow it certainly isn't what I'd calling sticking to the speed limit and isn't surprising many drivers get impatient when behind them and it is appropriate and safe to do the speed limit or at least the best part of and hence getting overtaken a lot.
* For example https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/news/new-safety-measures-planned-for-a30-after-recent-fatalities
Well one option would be to take away their grounds for complaint and not speed.
If some of us set an example of obeying road laws, whilst still driving precisely and politely, maybe we can set a positive example?
After all, one of the most important roles of a parent/older generations is to lead by example.
If some of us set an example of obeying road laws, whilst still driving precisely and politely, maybe we can set a positive example?
After all, one of the most important roles of a parent/older generations is to lead by example.
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You still seem hung up on that - most people passing them probably aren't speeding (other than when overtaking them) it is just their perception, you can't fix people who have no interest in abiding by the rules by abiding by the rules, it might have a very slight overall effect but it won't fix these problems.
Which unfortunately doesn't really work with the realities we've made for ourselves with modern life - also that forces some people to be driving who'd otherwise choose not to be, some of whom may struggle with the skills required for driving.
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It was slightly tongue in cheek for those 'perfect' people wanting to set the best examples to the rest of us
If only that was viable in the UK, where public transport outside of london is useless and more expensive than running a car. The government want to force people out of cars, but there is no alternative. If you don't work in the same town as you live, you can't get to work without a car.
But also you have to drive in 2nd gear at 20mph in a lot of cars, so it's not going to make the air cleaner and it's going to make more noise.
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