Mobile speed check

James_B.

George_Michael wrote: »

So on a road with a 30mph limit at 3am you can see and process everything between your vehicle up to about 120 metres ahead? (and that distance is assuming that your reactions haven't been slowed by listening to music, talking etc)

I'd really hope that anyone who can't process 120m ahead is not allowed on the roads!

Similarly, if you are honestly unable to react quickly just because you have music playing the it's perhaps a good idea to seek out some advanced training.

Happychappy

James_B. wrote: »

I'd really hope that anyone who can't process 120m ahead is not allowed on the roads!

Similarly, if you are honestly unable to react quickly just because you have music playing the it's perhaps a good idea to seek out some advanced training.

Ummm I would doubt many look as far as 120 mtr in front ?

JustinR1979

Happychappy wrote: »

Ummm I would doubt many look as far as 120 mtr in front ?

Many stick to 37mph no matter what, so they don't need to!

George_Michael

James_B. wrote: »

I'd really hope that anyone who can't process 120m ahead is not allowed on the roads!

Similarly, if you are honestly unable to react quickly just because you have music playing the it's perhaps a good idea to seek out some advanced training.

I didn't state that people wouldn't be able to process what was 120m ahead.
What I did question was whether JustinR1979 would be able to see and process everything between the front of their car up to a distance of 120m safely. (bearing in mind that he stated that he would be driving at up to 80mph).

Surely if you see something a small way ahead and you glance at it, you must lose focus on what it further ahead. Even if this glance only takes one second, the car will have travelled roughly 35m.

And you've misquoted again in your second comment.
I didn't state that people wouldn't be able to react quickly if listening to music.
What I did state is that they might not be able to react as quickly if listening to music or talking to someone else.
Do you honestly believe that someone who is having a conversation with a passenger or is heavily engrossed in listening to music will have exactly the same reaction times as someone is only concentrating on the road ahead?

JustinR1979

Sounds to me like 70 is way too fast on any type of road.

James_B.

George_Michael wrote: »

Surely if you see something a small way ahead and you glance at it, you must lose focus on what it further ahead. Even if this glance only takes one second, the car will have travelled roughly 35m.

That's really not how it works. You can take in and process more than one object at a time.

I motorbike across London every day, and if I could only look at one thing at a time I'd either never make any progress, or would be dead. Pedestrians backing towards the road, a parked car's wheels pointing into the carriageway, a gap in the traffic ahead where someone's letting a car across, a cyclist exiting the pavement at speed, and so on, you need to take in the whole of this as you go, plus lane restrictions, traffic lights, zebra crossings, etc.

As to the music thing, you are moving the goalposts now. You have shifted from listening to music to "heavily engrossed" in it. Again, I'd hope that no-one gets so "heavily engrossed" in music that they can't also concentrate on the road.

I'm not trying to be facetious here, but I honestly can't see where you are coming from. You are projecting an image of a timorous, confused person, peering over the wheel with tunnel vision; the sort of driver who responds to a passenger speaking by turning to face them before answering. I know that these people exist, but they really aren't the norm.

Car_54

JustinR1979 wrote: »

Sounds to me like 70 is way too fast on any type of road.

Quite right. What we need is a man with a red flag to walk in front.

George_Michael

James_B. wrote: »

I motorbike across London every day, and if I could only look at one thing at a time I'd either never make any progress, or would be dead. Pedestrians backing towards the road, a parked car's wheels pointing into the carriageway, a gap in the traffic ahead where someone's letting a car across, a cyclist exiting the pavement at speed, and so on, you need to take in the whole of this as you go, plus lane restrictions, traffic lights, zebra crossings, etc.

But could you motorbike across London at 80mph in the dark and still be 100% confident that you would be able to take in everything that would be in your stopping distance?

I know that he wasn't talking about driving through London, but what JustinR1979 stated was:

So at 3am on the way to work down wide empty country roads with no side roads, driveways, pavements or anything, I'm meant to stick to 30? I guess that is too fast because it's dark, maybe 25 is more suitable?
Even at 80 I can stop within the distance I can see to be clear at some points of these 30/40 roads.

ado

There's always loads of moaning about the police 'taxing motorists' by using speed cameras to catch them speeding, but how many speed cameras are there in comparison to the millions of miles of roads in the UK? The chances of getting caught by a GATSO let alone a manned speed camera/car is tiny no matter what type of road or circumstances. A few people will be caught on so called 'safe roads' but again their numbers are tiny in comparison to the numbers who will speed on the same roads. Be aware of speed limits whether you agree with them or not and if you want to speed then also be aware of the punishment and the chances of getting caught.

droopsnoot

JustinR1979 wrote: »

How do you feel about lorries sticking to their 40mph speed limit?

I'm not entirely sure I understand the question. If I'm stuck behind one when I'm trying to make progress, then it would be frustrating, of course, but if I was hit by one that was doing 65mph when it should have been doing 40, I'd be complaining that it was going to fast and "someone should have done something".

I wasn't preaching earlier, nor getting on a high horse, or anything like it, just responding to a single specific point - are you expected to stick to the speed limit where it seems inappropriate? Yes, you are. I share a lot of your frustration - it seems that whenever a road is straightened and widened, the speed limit is dropped when you might feel it more appropriate to have raised it. We've got a local road that was dropped from 60mph to 40mph while we waited for a by-pass to be built, because it was a busy road. Now the by-pass has been built for ten years, the local road is still 40mph.