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  • Speed Limits and Average speed cameras

    #1
    Not sure this "story" has not got much airtime but check out the news and you will see a couple of things.
    Goverment are pushing 20mph in town on all roads.
    Installing rings of averaage speed cameras upto 15 miles apart measuring point to point speed regardless of route.
    8 london bouroghs are brining in these measures next years
    Pushing for a 50 for the national speedlimit for single carriageways (which makes sense if you ask me)

    The reason I bring this up today is because I saw a story on the bbc news and it says:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8415351.stm
    "But safety experts say deaths are still not falling fast enough, partly because of poor driving."

    I laughed becuase if the goverment think that speed has any really to do with saving peoples lives they are dilusional. They say it exactly its "poor driving" that kills not speed. Of course we can go on and on about kids dont get killed at 20 but they do at 30mph etc etc but if you are now fearful of going above 20 mph at all times because of average speed cameras then you will constantly be staring at your speedo and not in front of you. When you do hit those children because of it, in an accident that is caused by the distraction of keeping your speed down the safety campaigners will get a warm feeling inside because they werent killed, completely missing the point that the accident was caused by the enforcement in the first place.

    Does anybody know why they dont just make speeding impossible? For example fitting a speed limiter that adapts the speed to the road. My gps does it today but cant affect the cars speed.
    Its simply arbitary way to make money.

    What do you think?
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  • #2
    I agree about poor driving, there really is some shocking driving at the moment, no lane discipline no regard for other road users etc etc.

    Add to that the fact that 'traffic calming' has the opposite effect and you find that most people in their cars are tired, stressed, annoyed and unlikely to make rational decisions and you have a recipie for disaster.

    why the road planners cant make traffic flow better rather than trying to impede progress i will never understand.

    Comment

    • #3
      bachi, you make a very good point.
      You know the mini humps, how much concentration are you expending trying to line the wheels up to go over it centrally if you have a stiff or low car? Well if your doing that your not doing much else. like looking out for cyclists or kids! also it may send you into the middle of the road!

      Bachi, watch out as camden as bringing in the 20 zone with average speed cameras in 2010!

      Comment

      • #4
        Originally posted by Harsh View Post
        I agree about poor driving, there really is some shocking driving at the moment, no lane discipline no regard for other road users etc etc.
        Don't get me started on middle lane hoggers! Some days I think I have tourettes syndrome.

        I was a passenger in a car that hit 2 children. We were in a cul-de-sac and only doing about 15mph when these 2 little girls ran out from behind a van. It was the street we lived in and we knew the kids. We also knew kids and dogs have a habit of running into the street there, hence the slow speed.

        Nobody blamed us for the accident, in fact the kids parents sent them round to apologise for scaring us. Yes, they were fine, they were knocked over and one of them required 4 stitches to the back of her head but it gave them such a shock that they will never run in the road again.

        Now, I know running kids over is an extreme way to teach them road safety but my point is why isn't anyone teaching them?? All those Green Cross Code and Charlie Says adverts have been replaced by ones designed to shock motorists into driving slower but, as you say, slower doesn't mean safer.

        The other issues were the fact that the van was parked overhanging the pavement so we couldn't see them till they were in the road and that they were home alone, unsupervised at 5 and 6 years old!!

        Comment

        • #5
          Fiona good point also, how many reckless pedestrian actions or reckless cyclyists become car drivers fault, probably most of them?

          I'm sure on your travels in asia like india you must have seen how careful cyclists are, becaseuse its size that wins there. In the UK the cyclysts hides behind the the oposite rule that says if you hit a cyclist it showhow seems to be automatically becomes your fault.

          Can I raise another thing, the speed limits in the UK are semi decriminator for motorway speeds, but not at slow speeds. Whats the stopping distance of a 40 tonne lorry from 30mph vs porsche 911 with the yellow ceramic brakes at the same speed?

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