20mph speed limits - are they actually enforceable

Monkeymatt said:
Usain Bolt completed 100 meters in 9.58 seconds which gives him an average speed of just over 23 mph. Taking into consideration that he is a professional athlete who has trained all of his life along with him not needing to bring his lunch, wallet, keys etc. with him and that he was ony travelling a really small distance, somehow I don't think we are going to see a surge of runners in Bristol.. :rolleyes:
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It's a hyperbole dear. ;)
 
Can't say I've noticed any drivers paying attention to the new limits but tbh on the streets I use you can rarely go above 20mph.

Lets just hope they don't copy Plymouths example any further and start using specs to enforce low limits.
 
They've had the 20 limit in Bedminster and surrounding areas since I moved down here, no one adheres to the limits, Traffic Cars included!

I can't comprehend the need for prioritising such schemes instead of diverting the funds towards services that can help people, Mental health and Elderly care are just two that can always utilize more funding. Bristol prides itself as some sort of Utopian wonderland made up of critical-save-the-planet-thinkers but it still has all the hallmarks of the Middle England which it detests. Residents want this 20 limit as they perceive the motor vehicle as a danger to human life, not appreciating the comparative saftey UK roads have to the rest of Europe and wider world.
 
kiwi said:
They've done this in part of Brighton and Hove recently. I normally drive about 20 down my road as there's cars parked both sides and anyone could open their door. What is ridiculous is making main roads 20, especially when they're bus routes. Are you telling me that all bus journeys are now significantly slower?!
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Journey times, congestion and pollution will all go up. DfT predict a doubling of a car ownership from 2003 levels, the Mayor of Bristol wants to steer Bristol to being car free, somethings going to give...
 
Freefaller said:
The 20mph zones around our way are littered with bumps - so you HAVE to do less than 20mph if you value your suspension / back.
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Same by us and its a nightmare! :mad:

Also having a honda civic dont help, bump, scrape, bump scrape. You should see the underside of our car at the front its a mess! :(
 
At first I thought this was quite slow, but I'm not sure it would make a difference in peak times.

More likely to die if you get hit at 30mph. I guess that's the basis for it.

Hit by a car at 20 mph, 1 out of 40 pedestrians will be killed. 97% will survive
Hit by a car at 30 mph, 2 out of 10 pedestrians will be killed. 80% will survive
Hit by a car at 35 mph, 5 out of 10 pedestrians will be killed. 50% will survive
Hit by a car at 40 mph, 9 out of 10 pedestrians will be killed. 10% will survive.
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Participant said:
Quite, and the further you travel the less your average running speed will be, making Monkeymatt's point even more accurate.

Of course this is all irrelevant, since the original point about getting rid of your car if you live in Bristol was made in jest.
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this is where the Frankie boyle comes out of me and says all pedestrian commuters should be allowed free steroids lol :smilieface:
 
Nitefly said:
At first I thought this was quite slow, but I'm not sure it would make a difference in peak times.

More likely to die if you get hit at 30mph. I guess that's the basis for it.
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If everyone had to do 5mph, even less people would die. Why is the limit 20 and not 5?

I presume we've given up on the idea of getting pedestrians not to step out in front of cars in the first place.
 
Energize said:
You can run faster than 20mph, might as well sell your car if you live in Bristol then.

The only saving grace is the fact that speed limits don't apply to bicycles.
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I honestly thought you were wrong so i looked it up and it turns out you were right. However, you can get charged with "furious cycling" :D
 
Around here we have 20 limits by schools, which is sort of circular logic as children getting hit outside schools doesn't really have anything to do with speed, the problem is children are stupid as **** and believe they cannot die so walk/run out in front of cars, fencing the pavement off apart from a designated crossing would be a much better solution to the problem.

On a lsightly related note I do sometimes wonder how many people have been hit by cars because the drivers didn't see them step off the curb as they were so focused on their speedo and/or lining up for a speed hump, the more we try to make things safer the more dangerous they become.
 
ubersonic said:
Around here we have 20 limits by schools, which is sort of circular logic as children getting hit outside schools doesn't really have anything to do with speed, the problem is children are stupid as **** and believe they cannot die so walk/run out in front of cars, fencing the pavement off apart from a designated crossing would be a much better solution to the problem.

On a lsightly related note I do sometimes wonder how many people have been hit by cars because the drivers didn't see them step off the curb as they were so focused on their speedo and/or lining up for a speed hump, the more we try to make things safer the more dangerous they become.
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LOL reminds me of those "hit me at 40 and I'll probably die but hit me at 30 and I'll probably live" adverts. I always used to think "well if you didn't run out between two parked card (as depicted in the advert) in the first place you wouldn't have been hit at all".
 
The 'Hit me at xx' quotes seem a bit misleading though. Do they mean actually hitting the person at that speed, or the person running out when you're doing that speed?

I'd imagine in quite a few cases there will be some braking involved, so even in a 30mph zone most incidents would have a collision speed below 30mph so the above statistic seems a bit meaningless then.
 
Curious as to whether George's posturing about speed cameras coming back on will actually lead to anything.

Latest I've heard is that George wants to, and the police force tried to buy the cameras from the council, who refused as they see it as a waste of money.

Bristol/Bath/Sommerset's switch off is excellent as it shows how little affect speed cameras have on anything safety related.
 
Bristol post has published yet another story about people planning to ignore the new 20mph unless its enforced.

They seem to have an agenda to get cameras installed as they have published the same non story several times now. All because of a study from UWE showing that people tend to drive at the same speed as others, shock horror!
 
I've always regarded "20 'zones'" as being "we'd really like you to do 20mph here, kthxbye" rather than actual 20mph limits.

A proper 20mph limit would be a red circle with 20 inside it. Most "20 'zones'" I've seen are a black circle with 20 in it, and the word "zone" underneath it - I see this as a recommendation rather than a rule.
 
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