Narrow country lanes to be 20mph

Ectophile

peter_the_piper said:

Its not rubbish if you are one of the parents picking up their child, assuming its Hurst Green you are talking about.

I totally understand why the locals don't want their kids squished on the road.  It's rather unfortunate that we have a major trunk road passing right by a school.

ontheroad1970

TBagpuss said:

I don't thinkthat a blanket rule is appropriate. I could see the argument for lowering the national limit to 30mph for single track roads, but I also think that thre are a lot of road which don't have a white line up the middle but where it is safe to go at a higher speed, becasue there is good visibility (including beong able to spot pedestrians and cyclists.)

I live in Somerset - there are a lot of single track roads on the levels where it's flat as a pancake and you can see other road users for miles - the speed it is safe to drive is very different to lanes in the foothills of the Mendips where you may be lucky to be able to what's on the road 50 yards ahead of you due to hedges and teists in the road 

There already is a blanket rule.  NSL.

Ditzy_Mitzy

Ectophile said:

Jenni_D said:

[Deleted User] said:

B0bbyEwing said:

peter_the_piper said:

Thoughts?

Yeah I have a thought. Who's going to stop people from doing what they want?
Is there going to be a copper on every country lane bend? Doubtful. 

Like with the Covid we would really like it if you stopped at home and any other ruling brought in, unless someone is going to make it happen then people will do as they want.

It certainly wont change the way I drive. 

Depending on which way I come home from work, I may or may not take country roads. In some sections I'll be at 70mph if I'm in a rush home. Some will say that's not safe but they'd be saying it not even knowing the road or the conditions I'm talking about. Did I say I'd do it when there's cars everywhere?

Whenever I approach a bend that I can't see around, 20mph is probably actually the top end of what I'd be doing. Reason being is I don't trust anyone else. There's way too many "I know these roads like the back of my hand" people around. Yes, so do I, but knowing them inside out doesn't mean I can see around a corner. Many a time I've nearly been wiped out as I've been crawling round a corner & someone has been coming round on my side of the road & they've had to swerve to miss me. That's another thing I do - I always hug left when going round a bend, again because too many idiots take bends in the middle of the road. 

All in all, it wont change how I drive. I drive to the conditions of the road. If it's a long straight & nobody else is around & visibility is good then yeah there's every chance I'll break the speed limit. If I can see other cars around then no I wont, I'll go slower. If i'm going round bends then regardless of the conditions, I am creeping. 

You don't seriously think that the police will pass up this opportunity, do you? They will have a blitz with mobile speed traps on country roads as soon as the new rule comes in. Lots of unsuspecting drivers who haven't even heard about this new rule, or who like you think that it's unenforceable.

Unless there are relevant speed limit signs at the proscribed intervals then any 20 limit won't be legally enforceable.  

Unless the government changes the law.  30MPH speed limits in urban areas don't have repeater signs.  So they could pass a law that single track roads don't need them either.

That's because the 30 limits referred to are in a built up area, which is denoted by street lighting.  Repeater signs are necessary where street lights are not fitted.  Single track roads, generally, are neither lit nor in built up areas so would require 20 mph limit signs to be fitted.  Total waste of time and money.  

Jenni_D

And as I said a few days ago - without them then any such limit is not legally enforceable.

DanDare999

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

Ectophile said:

Jenni_D said:

[Deleted User] said:

B0bbyEwing said:

peter_the_piper said:

Thoughts?

Yeah I have a thought. Who's going to stop people from doing what they want?
Is there going to be a copper on every country lane bend? Doubtful. 

Like with the Covid we would really like it if you stopped at home and any other ruling brought in, unless someone is going to make it happen then people will do as they want.

It certainly wont change the way I drive. 

Depending on which way I come home from work, I may or may not take country roads. In some sections I'll be at 70mph if I'm in a rush home. Some will say that's not safe but they'd be saying it not even knowing the road or the conditions I'm talking about. Did I say I'd do it when there's cars everywhere?

Whenever I approach a bend that I can't see around, 20mph is probably actually the top end of what I'd be doing. Reason being is I don't trust anyone else. There's way too many "I know these roads like the back of my hand" people around. Yes, so do I, but knowing them inside out doesn't mean I can see around a corner. Many a time I've nearly been wiped out as I've been crawling round a corner & someone has been coming round on my side of the road & they've had to swerve to miss me. That's another thing I do - I always hug left when going round a bend, again because too many idiots take bends in the middle of the road. 

All in all, it wont change how I drive. I drive to the conditions of the road. If it's a long straight & nobody else is around & visibility is good then yeah there's every chance I'll break the speed limit. If I can see other cars around then no I wont, I'll go slower. If i'm going round bends then regardless of the conditions, I am creeping. 

You don't seriously think that the police will pass up this opportunity, do you? They will have a blitz with mobile speed traps on country roads as soon as the new rule comes in. Lots of unsuspecting drivers who haven't even heard about this new rule, or who like you think that it's unenforceable.

Unless there are relevant speed limit signs at the proscribed intervals then any 20 limit won't be legally enforceable.  

Unless the government changes the law.  30MPH speed limits in urban areas don't have repeater signs.  So they could pass a law that single track roads don't need them either.

That's because the 30 limits referred to are in a built up area, which is denoted by street lighting.  Repeater signs are necessary where street lights are not fitted.  Single track roads, generally, are neither lit nor in built up areas so would require 20 mph limit signs to be fitted.  Total waste of time and money.  

Or a simple change in legislation.

Jenni_D

DanDare999 said:

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

Ectophile said:

Jenni_D said:

[Deleted User] said:

B0bbyEwing said:

peter_the_piper said:

Thoughts?

Yeah I have a thought. Who's going to stop people from doing what they want?
Is there going to be a copper on every country lane bend? Doubtful. 

Like with the Covid we would really like it if you stopped at home and any other ruling brought in, unless someone is going to make it happen then people will do as they want.

It certainly wont change the way I drive. 

Depending on which way I come home from work, I may or may not take country roads. In some sections I'll be at 70mph if I'm in a rush home. Some will say that's not safe but they'd be saying it not even knowing the road or the conditions I'm talking about. Did I say I'd do it when there's cars everywhere?

Whenever I approach a bend that I can't see around, 20mph is probably actually the top end of what I'd be doing. Reason being is I don't trust anyone else. There's way too many "I know these roads like the back of my hand" people around. Yes, so do I, but knowing them inside out doesn't mean I can see around a corner. Many a time I've nearly been wiped out as I've been crawling round a corner & someone has been coming round on my side of the road & they've had to swerve to miss me. That's another thing I do - I always hug left when going round a bend, again because too many idiots take bends in the middle of the road. 

All in all, it wont change how I drive. I drive to the conditions of the road. If it's a long straight & nobody else is around & visibility is good then yeah there's every chance I'll break the speed limit. If I can see other cars around then no I wont, I'll go slower. If i'm going round bends then regardless of the conditions, I am creeping. 

You don't seriously think that the police will pass up this opportunity, do you? They will have a blitz with mobile speed traps on country roads as soon as the new rule comes in. Lots of unsuspecting drivers who haven't even heard about this new rule, or who like you think that it's unenforceable.

Unless there are relevant speed limit signs at the proscribed intervals then any 20 limit won't be legally enforceable.  

Unless the government changes the law.  30MPH speed limits in urban areas don't have repeater signs.  So they could pass a law that single track roads don't need them either.

That's because the 30 limits referred to are in a built up area, which is denoted by street lighting.  Repeater signs are necessary where street lights are not fitted.  Single track roads, generally, are neither lit nor in built up areas so would require 20 mph limit signs to be fitted.  Total waste of time and money.  

Or a simple change in legislation.

You think anything related to government organisations is simple?  

peter_the_piper

If drivers drove at a sensible speed in relation to the size of the track then a speed limit would not be needed. As it is too many go too fast in to the conditions.

The_Unready

Just to provide a bit more background on my earlier comment, this report provides some shocking statistics:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-pedal-cyclist-factsheet-2020/reported-road-casualties-in-great-britain-pedal-cycle-factsheet-2020

"Averaged over the period 2015 to 2020:

• an average of 2 pedal cyclists died and 83 were seriously injured (adjusted) per week in reported road casualties.
• 
  
• 56% of pedal cycle fatalities occurred on rural roads compared to 29% of traffic

That's 4,420 cyclists KSIs on average every year for the last 5 years!

Despite these stats it's always been a mystery to me that every motorist you speak to thinks that they are perfect drivers and that it's everybody else who's causing the collisions!

Jenni_D

And yet it's the urban cyclists who seem to disregard traffic rules more often but they appear at lower risk than their rural counterparts.  

The_Unready

Jenni_D said:

And yet it's the urban cyclists who seem to disregard traffic rules more often but they appear at lower risk than their rural counterparts.  

Indeed, it must be really frustrating for all the permanently-indignant Daily Fail readers when they see how many KSIs and general carnage is caused by your traffic rule-disregarding urban cyclists.

Oh, wait a minute....... 😉