Speed traps could be replaced with "fairer" cameras.

Pssst

I would remove the speeding technology from urban roads (i.e gatsos etc) and leave urban road policing to traffic police with increased useage of unmarked cars to catch speeders and other traffic offences.

I would then apply speeding technology to motorways such that the maximum speed would be 75mph


I would have this policed using average speed technology.

I would also increase the number of motorway patrols in unmarked cars to trap imbeciles using camera technology to bring about fines,points and/or prosecutions.

I think that motorways have been severely neglected and that it is truly miraculous that there are not more deaths on our motorways. It is easy to experience outrageous speeds,poor lane discipline ,idiots not using slip ons/offs correctly i.e ariving at the slip on and driving directly onto the mway without driving down its length to assess and fit in safely etc etc,the list goes on..

Generali

anewman wrote: »

Speed limits are actually a bad thing IMO as they give the impression that that speed is safe no matter what, when in actual fact you need to take care to adapt your speed as appropriate to the conditions. I can think of numerous national limit single track roads where you're guaranteed to die travelling at 60mph.

Are you arguing for no speed limits or improved speed limits?

tomstickland

I believe the 85th percentile method of setting limits worked well.

Generali

tomstickland wrote: »

I believe the 85th percentile method of setting limits worked well.

What's that please, tomstickland?

tomstickland

Pssst wrote: »

I would then apply speeding technology to motorways such that the maximum speed would be 75mph

I think that motorways have been severely neglected and that it is truly miraculous that there are not more deaths on our motorways. It is easy to experience outrageous speeds,poor lane discipline ,idiots not using slip ons/offs correctly i.e ariving at the slip on and driving directly onto the mway without driving down its length to assess and fit in safely etc etc,the list goes on..

What's so special about 75mph though? On empty motorways you can safely travel faster than that. I've spent about 15 years doing so.

Altarf

tomstickland wrote: »

Something that actually focusses on the problem, not insults the intelligence of the other 99.99% who use the road.

OK so how do we address the problem of those drivers

tomstickland wrote: »

Now, ideally, this would be an attitude and education based thing.

And once you have achieved that can I have the moon on a stick as well.

tomstickland wrote: »

The road layout itself might not be ideal.

So what do you want to do with this straight road with a T junction, stick a roundabout in or what? Is this going to be better than a speed limit.

tomstickland wrote: »

Declutter the roads of their pointless signs, but use warning signs where there is a real risk. So a "dangerous junction" sign.

So the speeding idiot who doesn't notice the car about to move out is going to pay attention to a sign. Optimistic doesn't come into it.

tomstickland wrote: »

We need to move away from the lazy assumption that "accidents just happen". One or both parties will have made a mistake.

Correct, the idiots speeding past the car trying to pull out and the person pulling out misjudging the speed of that driver.

tomstickland wrote: »

I detest the hang wringing and laziness associated with the calls that "something must be done" and the resulting inappropriate solutions.

But you seem to be hang wringing about the one solution that would have some success for this problem.

tomstickland

Seeing that a speed limit is just a load of signs, why does one saying "40" produce any more effect than one saying "dangerous junction!"?

My objection is to the spreading malaise of lower limits on roads that have functioned satisfactory for 99.99% of the population for decades.

Shock horror, junctions can be dangerous.

That doesn't mean that lowering the limit on a bit of straight A road will have any benefit whatsoever.

Not that many take any notice anyway.

The psychology has been studied and documented previously. For example, the change in actual traffic speeds is a very weak function of posted speed limit. Road width and visibility has a much greater effect. As does removing signage and road markings.

Altarf

Fewer dead people seems a pretty good measure.

tomstickland

How does putting up some signs reduce the number of dead people?

Altarf

tomstickland wrote: »

How does putting up some signs reduce the number of dead people?

If the problem is that people are going past a junction at an inappropriate speed when a car waiting to pull out, then reducing the speed of vehicles going past the junction (irrespective whether there is a car waiting to pull out or not) will alter the number of deaths at the junction.

And if your next argument is that introducing a speed limit will not reduce speed, then the obvious solution is a camera. Which takes us back to post 1.