Viewing 40 posts - 81 through 120 (of 132 total)
  • max 50mph on roads coming next year
  • aracer
    Free Member

    The motorway 50mph’s are there to protect their workers on the job as well as slowing us drivers down to cope with the lane change/unusual cercumstances.

    Yes, but did you read my post where I was complaining about 50 limits at weekends just protecting the cones (and in recent cases I can think of with no lane changes or chicanes)? Anyway that was just an example of an unnecessary limit – also near me there is a 50 limit on a previously NSL road which was purportedly brought in because people were doing 70+ but not actually having crashes (road is was perfectly safe at 60 or even 70)!

    Edit: ah, I see you did – at which point I’ll comment that (unlike most) I slow down when there are people working in the road even if there is no reduced speed limit – though if there were no average speed cameras I’d ignore 50 limits protecting cones.

    Christowkid
    Free Member

    aracer:
    Yes I see your point and do agree.
    I seem to currently be writing before reading – apologies!
    I think it’s time for a knap…..
    take care
    Q

    sootyandjim
    Free Member

    Can I just point out I have no axe to grind against speed cameras, I’d just rather see any extra money plowed into road safety schemes used to target other dangers than the relatively minor one that is speeding.

    druidh
    Free Member

    sootyandjim – Member

    Can I just point out I have no axe to grind against speed cameras, I’d just rather see any extra money plowed into road safety schemes used to target other dangers than the relatively minor one that is speeding.

    Wot he said

    CountZero
    Full Member

    There is a stretch of dual carriageway going into Bath on the A4, the Batheaston bypass. From the very beginning it has had a 50 limit, (why), and a speed camera. The camera was put in place before it was opened, because the rules say one can be installed within a two Km radius of an accident black-spot. That black-spot was Batheaston, which is very narrow, and had terrible traffic issues, which the bypass was supposed to alleviate, but they used Batheaston as an excuse to put in a camera on a perfectly safe road. Purely political. They also reduced the speed limit on Chippenham’s bypass, Pewsham Way, from 60 to 50, after a fatal accident. The incident involved a mother turning around to scold on of her children, then swerving across the road into the front of a truck. Neither vehicle was travelling at more than 30mph, so how can the reduction in the limit be justified? Again, a purely political decision.

    fauxbyfour
    Free Member

    I drive a car that can do just under 3 times the NSL. That doesn’t mean to say that I do 200 mph everywhere, in fact I almost never break the speed limit. But in Germany, ohhh boy hold onto your knickers!!!

    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    Great, good for you, hope you dont kill anyone

    stufield
    Free Member

    Its bad attitudes, lack of training, responsible behaviour that kills people on the roads, the billion spent to put in an average speed camera network could be better spent else where to have an equally if not better impact on saving lives – cycle network that actual makes average person consider it a form of transport rather then a sport helps cut obesity and strain on NHS.

    I fear this is just another attempt to raise more cash or give people so many points that they save emissions by banning the vast majority of drivers.

    I think you should have to have a re-test every 5 years and lose license if you fail.

    Cars are getting safer every year and their ability to drive at 50 mph+ is light years away from when NSL was introduced, training and personal responsibility (life for death by dangerous driving etc..)

    crikey
    Free Member

    Cars are getting safer

    Yes, but they are still driven by f**kwits.

    I’m an ITU nurse, I see people who get hit by cars, I see people who get thrown out of cars that crash.

    More penalties, more custodial sentences, more effort to make the stupids who think it’s ok to speed pay for that stupidity.

    Speed cameras are only a tax on the stupid.

    crikey
    Free Member

    …and if you need to get there quicker, get up earlier!

    stufield
    Free Member

    Crikey, I know what its like to lose someone in a car crash my Dad died in a crash when I was 17.
    I simply don’t believe that by having a lower speed limit or a speed camera on the road where he crashed that he’d be here now.

    Speed cameras are a tax on he stupid true, but they penalise the majority because of a minority,
    I drive 30-40k a year and have done for the last 15 years, I haven’t been stopped by the police ever, I’ve never got any points. I’ve tried to improve my skills and am prepared to take responsibility for my actions when I sit behind the wheel. I do not speed as a rule but there have been times when I’ve exceeded the NSL. I don’t believe that reducing the NSL on single carriage-way roads will have a dramatic impact on road safety. This can only come from better training and a change in attitudes towards other forms of transport.

    There are many other large numbers of deaths each year from groups that could be saved for more easily and for less money, stats for 2007 – 15k from Mental & behavioral disorders…

    Improving the health of the nation, by getting people out of their cars to walk or cycle will benefit more people and RTA stats then a mandatory 50 limit.

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    Speed cameras are a tax on he stupid true, but they penalise the majority because of a minority,

    How do you work that out? cos the majority are too stupid to see cameras? ‘cos the majority speed and thus break the law?

    I find all the bleating on here about speed cameras laughable – they are not a tax nor a revenue raising device – they are a way of catching lawbreakers.

    Now don’t get me wrong – I enjoy speeding as much as many others and almost certainly have speeded far more than most on here – but if / when I get caught I don’t bleat about the unfairness of it. You know what the speed limit is, you know what the penalty for speeding is. If you can’t do the time don’t do the crime!

    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    they penalise the majority because of a minority

    I actually dont agree with that I think the majority break the speed limit but are too stupid to realise how dangerous and over estimate their driving ability.

    stufield
    Free Member

    I think you’re stupid to get caught by a camera as you’re obivously paying attention to what’s going on outside the window, they’re big things with bright yellow stickers on them… if you can’t see a camera how can you say you’d stop for a kiddie in the road

    solamanda
    Free Member

    WTF. So yet again the stupid government are relying on legislation and cameras to solve an issue that really requires better training and traffic police.

    I will barely get out of 4th gear, so will use more fuel on roads perfectly safe to drive at 60 or more.

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    Regarding the earlier argument about “put a big spike on the steering wheel and everyone will drive safer”.

    I think that was suggested by John Adams in his book “Risk” and the point was that it would not reduce the number of accidents. It would just reduce the speed everyone drove at.

    He used it to illustrate the concept of risk compensation. His point was that every “safety” improvement tends to actually get swallowed up as a performance improvement (i.e. people feel safer so they drive faster). There is a level of risk which is generally accepted and it’s very hard to get away from that.

    bland
    Full Member

    Er i cant be arsed reading all the tosh on here but it sounds like a cash cow to me.

    Before you know it private companies will be given the right to issue speeding tickets, just like parking tickets and then we will all be screwed, except those with james bond style revolving number plates.

    Oh and the owner of this private cash cow company is probably sat with his dick up a lords ass right about now!

    Rant over

    Sandwich
    Full Member

    Should make this redundant 😕

    AndyP
    Free Member

    Before you know it private companies will be given the right to issue speeding tickets, just like parking tickets and then we will all be screwed, except those with james bond style revolving number plates.
    Even those of us who don’t speed?

    Oh and the owner of this private cash cow company is probably sat with his dick up a lords ass right about now!
    Sitting. If you’re going to rant (feebly), learn English first.

    sootyandjim
    Free Member

    More money for policing offences other than speeding. Thats policing, requiring police officers rather than a yellow box that takes pictures of a small stretch of road occasionally.

    mountaincarrot
    Free Member

    Fast cars are dead. R.I.P. It’ll do us all good in the long run. (Carbon emissions hat on).

    Solamanda..”I will barely get out of 4th gear, so will use more fuel on roads” – Rubbish.

    Actually there is a whole new sport here. It’s MPG. Since I got a ticket, and accepted that driving extremely carefully is the only way to go. There is a whole new challenge. You can discover a completely unexplored layer of frustration to vent off at when someone pushes up your arse, whilst you ignore them and accelerate pitifully slowly from 30MPH in 5th. People cornering too slowly and and anything else which makes you touch the brakes will be sworn at. Draughting lorries on the motorway can raise plenty of adrenaline, and is equally as dangerous as driving at 75MPH on a country road.

    Driving slowly needn’t be dull.

    Meanwhile, long live fast bikes, ride as hard as you like – and feel smug.

    solamanda
    Free Member

    Solamanda..”I will barely get out of 4th gear, so will use more fuel on roads” – Rubbish.

    My car won’t comfortably sit in 5th up moderate hills at just 50mph but it’s fine at 60.

    hugorune
    Full Member

    Blah blah blah…I hate cars and live in the city…blah blah blah

    I got bored reading this after the first page so sorry if anyone else has come along with a sensible arguement to this.

    I was going to quote some stats linking speed with accidents but since you’ve all made your minds up already – why bother.

    Ever driven up the M74 north of penrith to glasgow at 70mph? interesting.

    Hairychested
    Free Member

    Down my end of the A316 we have those average speed cameras set at 30mph. Policing what? Cones, more cones, even more cones and… another load of cones. Everybody seems to be taking smaller local roads as they can get there (wherever that is) more quickly. People are annoyed and as soon as the restriction ends and you’re on the M3 it seems nobody drives at less than 90mph. I was doing 70 the other day (maybe just under) and was overtaken as if I were a stationary object. Police? What Police? Cameras were treated as a joke. Floor the accelerator, drive at any speed you want/can, see a camera, slam on the brake, drive under the current limit, floor the accelerator again. Repeat till the end of your journey.
    50mph won’t change anything if no Police in patrol cars or on superfast motorcycles are about. We all break the rule, don’t we? Otherwise how would you know if your car can top a tonne?

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    it’s odd, under most circumstances this forum seems to think “its a privelage to drive not a right”

    But try to enforce that with speed cameras and suddenly its your right to do 70 on a B-road?

    And as for the speed only causes a small number of accidents. 28% of road fatalities are the result of excessive speed.

    35% of fatal accidents were the result of “loss of controll” which presumably wouldn’t happen if you were at a sensible speed (i.e. taking a hairpin bend on a UC road at 59mph may not be sensible).

    hugorune
    Full Member

    28% of road fatalities are the result of excessive speed.

    what percentage of these are within existing 30/40/50 speed limit zones.

    Can the remaining be broken down into Motorway, A road and B roads?

    35% of fatal accidents were the result of “loss of controll” which presumably wouldn’t happen if you were at a sensible speed (i.e. taking a hairpin bend on a UC road at 59mph may not be sensible).

    That’s a bit of a sweeping generalisation – loss of control can be a rseult a wide range of things of which speed would only be a tiny fraction.

    Statistics can be used to prove anything.

    It’s just moving us another step closer to a nice friendly totalitarian regime. Have a nice day now.

    miketually
    Free Member

    Has this been reported anywhere else other than in The Times?

    IanMunro
    Free Member

    It’s just moving us another step closer to a nice friendly totalitarian regime. Have a nice day now.
    Given that the roads already have speed limits, i don’t quite see how either making the limit higher or lower moves us any closer to a totalitarian regime.

    porterclough
    Free Member

    Bring back the man walking in front with a red flag, it’s the way forward!

    Seriously though, I don’t see how making overtaking more likely is going to contribute to safety.

    hungrymonkey
    Free Member

    didn’t alastair darling say on top gear that the ‘profit’ from speed cameras was about the same as what simon cowell pays in income tax per year? and if thats so, its bugger all. hardly a cash-cow…

    i’d have thought that having 50mph speeds on motorways during road works was because there is the possibility that throughout the time there are road works, the location of the cones may change, as the works evolve? therefore changing the speed to match each stage of the road works would just cause more confusion, esp on long term road works.

    dunno if i explained that properly.

    as for the new speed limit and cameras, i dunno, looks expensive, and seems a little daft, but i don’t drive, so i don’t care.

    oh, and as TJ said (iirc) people shouldn’t complain when they get caught speeding – fines ARE a tax on the stupid. you know when you’re doing it…

    remember, you have a license to drive, NOT a right.

    aracer
    Free Member

    Ever driven up the M74 north of penrith to glasgow at 70mph? interesting.

    Not sure I understand your point – is there some issue with driving that slowly along the M74?

    28% of road fatalities are the result of excessive speed.

    Total rubbish. For a start, very definitely not the “result of” speed – maybe speed is a factor, but it’s nowhere near 28% it’s even a factor in according to the police’s own stats. Where exactly did you pluck that figure from, and what evidence is there for it?

    sootyandjim
    Free Member

    28% of road fatalities are the result of excessive speed.

    30mph can be excessive on a motorway if its covered in snow. ‘Excessive speed’ is a vague term when used to justify traffic policing without the use of traffic police, just the same as the term KSI (Killed or Serious Injured).

    BTW, what percentage of that 28% also involve drink, drugs or already having broken some other law (stolen car then pursuit, etc)?

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    those numbers are the ones ont he DfT website (google to find the report).

    Presumably “loss of controll” covers thing slike over enthusiastic cornering, driving too quick in the wet, etc etc, i.e. stuf that wouldn’t happen at lower speeds.

    sootyandjim
    Free Member

    Does ‘lower speeds’ refer to speeds lower than the speed limit or speeds suitable for the conditions?

    aracer
    Free Member

    those numbers are the ones ont he DfT website (google to find the report).

    Maybe you could help me out, given you’re the one quoting the number, and presumably got it from somewhere? Googled and didn’t find anything. Though if it’s what I suspect, it will be a figure made up by adding in factors which aren’t actually excessive speed, but they would like to think might be, just as you are…

    Presumably “loss of controll” covers thing slike over enthusiastic cornering, driving too quick in the wet, etc etc, i.e. stuf that wouldn’t happen at lower speeds.

    Don’t you think if it really was excessive speed they’d have said so, given they had that as an option?

    porterclough
    Free Member

    Presumably “loss of controll” covers thing slike over enthusiastic cornering, driving too quick in the wet, etc etc, i.e. stuf that wouldn’t happen at lower speeds.

    All things that have nothing to do with the speed limit.

    Unless you are advocating driving at the same speed at all times. Which would explain the people who you see doing 40mph all the way over the snake despite the 50 signs then carrying on at 40mph in Glossop despite the 30 signs.

    A better law would be to ban sat navs IMHO – the modern day equivalent of the flat cap, when you see the lit up screen in the car in front you just know they aren’t looking where they are going never mind having the faintest inkling what their mirrors are for.

    MoreCashThanDash
    Full Member

    Speed alone is not a killer, inappropriate speed is the problem. If speed was the problem and anyone was serious about the issue, vehicle power/speed would be limited by law.

    jam-bo
    Full Member

    have any original points of view been added to this since about post 10? i can’t be arsed to read it all?

    Hairychested
    Free Member

    Right, how about better training instead? When I did my licence I never needed to know how to drive on a motorway, after dark or when it’s seriously wet. My mate had his test cancelled as it rained heavily on the day. He still drives his Polo on the A40 from London westwards at the maximum speed of 40mph as he’s too scared to go higher. Safe driver?

Viewing 40 posts - 81 through 120 (of 132 total)

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