Good discussion on speed limits (blanket 50 etc) on Guardian.

tomstickland

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/27/speeding-road-safety

Nice to see something a bit more considered than the knee jerk responses this topic usually brings out.

Hintza

I prefer this one:-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/5219580/20mph-its-about-cash-not-crashes.html

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

What the government knows about road transport I could shove up my !!!! and use to clean my bowels out. Its a prelude to road charging, nothing more.

Doozergirl

There are lots of comments about how speeding doesn't cause a great number of deaths, but we aren't necessarily talking about speeding are we? There must be plenty of deaths caused by people who aren't speeding under current legislation that wouldn't die if people were generally driving slower.

Reducing limits further won't stop speeders from speeding. But it will slow the majority of us down and perhaps stop the number of injuries caused by driving faster.

A born Londoner, you can't travel faster than 20mph in most places and it's honestly innapropriate to drive at 30mph in many back streets as they are so built up and rammed with parked cars and virtually everywhere is populated with kids.

I don't think my car would like driving at 20mph though! 50mph is probably appropriate on country roads; in my new more country-like location cars in ditches is a way of life. I'm not an avid supporter of reducing the speed limit though, but I do appreciate the sentiment behind it. I drive faster than I should on the motorway, I feel like the outside lane is more often the safer lane

tomstickland

I was thinking more about some of the very wide A roads near to me that are totally fine at 60mph.

BillScarab

tomstickland wrote: »

I was thinking more about some of the very wide A roads near to me that are totally fine at 60mph.

Surely those are the ones that won't be changing. I thought the proposla for reducing the national speed limti to 50mph included leaving some 'safer' roads at 60mph.

Lemonade_Pockets

Interesting article and some interesting commentary below it.

I for one won't be adjusting my speed regardless of whether the limit become 50mph or 5mph. That is because i firmly believe that i drive at a speed which is appropiate for the circumstances - a sign on a stick won't influence this judgement. My accident record i.e 0 is testament to that as is my license which is currently clean. Unless they cover the country in those infernal average speed camera's in which case i will most probably emigrate.

*Cue having a massive accident and a speeding ticket on my way home tonight.

tomstickland

BillScarab wrote: »

Surely those are the ones that won't be changing. I thought the proposla for reducing the national speed limti to 50mph included leaving some 'safer' roads at 60mph.

"Surely" indeed. What do you expect?
They've inverted the rules so that every road is now very dangerous and should be 50 except for special circumstances.
What I expect that means is that everything will be 50 and anyone who suggests that 60 is reasonable will be accused of being Clarkson/ child killer etc


More discussion:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/news/article6136213.ece

tomstickland

See this too:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1174266/Tables-turned-speed-trap-operators-caught-camera-hiding-sign.html
ex 60 limit, now 30 limit, on an A road, on a hill.

jimpix12

I would never read, let alone even consider for a moment, anything that Peter Preston writes.

This government is obsessed with statistics, numbers. They are focusing on speed as opposed to dangerous driving.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

Doozergirl wrote: »

There are lots of comments about how speeding doesn't cause a great number of deaths, but we aren't necessarily talking about speeding are we? There must be plenty of deaths caused by people who aren't speeding under current legislation that wouldn't die if people were generally driving slower.

Reducing limits further won't stop speeders from speeding. But it will slow the majority of us down and perhaps stop the number of injuries caused by driving faster.

A born Londoner, you can't travel faster than 20mph in most places and it's honestly innapropriate to drive at 30mph in many back streets as they are so built up and rammed with parked cars and virtually everywhere is populated with kids.

I don't think my car would like driving at 20mph though! 50mph is probably appropriate on country roads; in my new more country-like location cars in ditches is a way of life. I'm not an avid supporter of reducing the speed limit though, but I do appreciate the sentiment behind it. I drive faster than I should on the motorway, I feel like the outside lane is more often the safer lane

Road safety isn't so simple. Set a speed limit too low for the road and you will have frustrated drivers. Some less experienced drivers will then resort to risky manoeuvres to continue at a suitable speed, such as poorly-conceived overtakes, or tailgating.

Speed is something that can be easily measured, and it therefore becomes the focus of most people's attention. Safe driving can't be measured by anything but human experience - the trouble is, that experience (police) costs money.

3000 deaths per year is a paltry figure. A good portion of that is a result of stupid pedestrians walking into the road without looking. Another sizeable chunk are drivers not paying enough attention to the road.

You want better road safety? Improve the standards for all road users. Lowering the speed limit is the most !!!!ing stupid idea I've ever seen.