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20mph residential speed limit (replacing 30mph)
- Thread starter 413x
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It isn't about being able or not able to drive 20 in a 20, but some vehicles definitely haven't been optimised around doing prolonged 20 limits. Pretty much all the automatics I drive you have to spend quite a bit of time relative to 30 limits paying attention to your speed to stay within the limit due to where the power is and isn't.
Associate
It's amazing that modern cars are so refined and yet many of them seem to have a very specific issue with being driven at 20mph.
Ironically it is easier to hold 20 in an automatic in sport than normal driving mode as it will hold in gear longer :s
None of my automatics are optimised around 20s though - the Qashqai had a nice plateau around 30 where you've got some power/accelerator input to play with, whereas at 20 it becomes far more binary especially the CVT rubber banding comes into play around there so you are having to guess a bit how much to use the accelerator and how much to ease off before the speed change actually happens.
Deleted member 266365
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Deleted member 266365
Stop buying automatics then!
Or we could have sensible limits.
Deleted member 266365
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Deleted member 266365
In residential areas 20 IS the sensible limit. If you cannot see that then you are the problem.
Some are perfectly happy, my Jaguar XE is auto & perfectly happy at 20mph (Although it uses loads more fuel) as I can just stick the speed limiter/cruise on, however the Wife's Peugeot is manual & a bit of a pain to drive at 20, it's a smaller engine though & clearly wasn't designed for it with the gear ratios it has & lack of torque.
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Already done to death in this thread - there are areas where 20 is appropriate, widespread use of 20s not so much.
There is only so much you can solve people unable to drive for **** and/or stupid with speed limits before you are just penalising other people for no actual good reason.
Also as mentioned before these 20s that people are complaining about are being implemented for the wrong reasons, based often on faulty/selective studies, etc. pretty much every study cited for theses 20s stops after 3 years because if you go to the source of the data they are using the benefits don't actually hold up despite looking promising in the 1-2 years after being implemented.
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Deleted member 266365
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Deleted member 266365
Sigh!
Associate
What you really mean by this is "where drivers think 20 is appropriate".
Deleted member 266365
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Deleted member 266365
The speed limit is the speed limit. I can follow it and so should you. If you don't like the speed limit then go through legal process to get it changed, until then stop whining about it on here and stick to it!
Not responding anymore. You can carry on banging on about it but you are howling at the moon.
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I deal in what actually makes a difference and I don't like people implementing things roughshod based on an agenda, often an irrational anti-motorist one based more on trying to penalise and inconvenience those they consider the "enemy" rather than intended to make a real difference or worse something which seems to happen quite a bit lately a militant approach masquerading as good intentions which is actually intended to inflame the situation so as to try and make more of a case for the changes some want to see.
Get a grip - plenty of evidence on these forums I stick to limits, especially in residential/built up areas and have a low tolerance for people speeding in them (I'm less concerned on the open road). I'm going to be vocal about limits being blanket applied for the wrong reasons especially when incorrect blanket use of these limits reduces the effectiveness of these limits in places where they are implemented for very good reasons like school zones, etc.
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What I mean is places where there are good reasons to have a different lower limited to further reinforce that people need to drive extra carefully in those areas.
Until 20 is enforced by GPS/black boxes etc I'll carry on (as do the vast majority my way) at the old speed limits.
30 in the bigger main road areas and a 20ish speed around schools and in city centres.
20mph is still deeply unpopular here. But the same speed cameras still exist. Sure it's breaking the law.
Even the police drive to the old speeds, at least round here. In fact it probably annoys them more as they are permanently on the road.
Fortunately still sensible around where I live, 2x 20 limits through the school zones and one where the road layout through the village isn't suited to modern traffic.
Associate
What have speed limits got to do with how carefully people should drive? You're suggesting people don't need to drive as carefully where the limit is 30?
That's a pretty compelling argument in favour of 20mph limits.
Common sense prevails.
Its not even blanket here. You'll be in town and have to keep an eye on the 30 to 20 changes if you're sticking to 20.
Ita incredibly frustrating driving at 20 in what is clearly over thr top location. It happens sometimes that you'll get one person driving 20 with a huge queue of cars behind them. But I'm actually surprised how little the 20mph limit is observed.
I thought by now most would. But absolutely not the case!
You seem to have things quite mixed up there.
But specific use of lower speed limits can be used to reinforce the need to pay specific attention - everyone should drive carefully but it is possible to maintain a higher level of attention for shorter spans (simply human nature) and pay more attention for specific hazards related to a specific area like children running out in a school or residential zone.
When you start slapping 20s in everywhere that reduces the effectiveness of those limits in specific areas where they are more appropriately used.
Most studies have shown in the longer run the average speed in blanket 20s creeps back up to around 26-28MPH while average speed in 30s is 31. Most longer term studies have shown fatalities of pedestrians reduces quite a bit for the first 2-3 years but then returns to what it used to be in the longer run while cyclist fatalities generally doubles after a few years, probably due to a mixture of the lower limits slightly encouraging more people to cycle and the lower traffic limits making it harder for vehicles to pass cyclists, etc. resulting in more incidents.