Beeping when over the speed limit (misidentification of speed limit).

TooManyPoints

Looking out of the window didn’t help me avoid a speeding ticket on a long country road with the only 30 mph sign on the approach to a roundabout on a bypass.

Unfortunately, councils are not required to place reminder signs in a 30 limit.

It would have helped you if you had been aware of the law.

Not only are they not required to install 30mph reminders; it is unlawful to do so. The default 30mph limit applies to "restricted roads". These are roads with a system of street lighting and the lamp posts provide the reminder. The only sign required is the "terminal sign" at the beginning of the stretch.

Only if there is no street lighting are 30mph reminders required. As well as that a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) is necessary for the limit to be enforced in those circumstances. One is not required for "restricted" roads.

Okell

Frozen_up_north said:

Use the Waze phone app to display a map and speed limit on your car screen. Waze is free and they are quick to change their mapping when a speed limit is changed, you submit the details and they review it within a couple of weeks...

Perhaps I simply don't understand how it works, but if it works as you have explained then I'd have to say I'd be very reluctant to rely on a system that reviews speed limit changes "within a couple of weeks".

What use is that?

Mildly_Miffed

TooManyPoints said:

Looking out of the window didn’t help me avoid a speeding ticket on a long country road with the only 30 mph sign on the approach to a roundabout on a bypass.

Unfortunately, councils are not required to place reminder signs in a 30 limit.

It would have helped you if you had been aware of the law.

Not only are they not required to install 30mph reminders; it is unlawful to do so. The default 30mph limit applies to "restricted roads". These are roads with a system of street lighting and the lamp posts provide the reminder. The only sign required is the "terminal sign" at the beginning of the stretch.

Only if there is no street lighting are 30mph reminders required. As well as that a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) is necessary for the limit to be enforced in those circumstances. One is not required for "restricted" roads.

Indeed. It's trivially easy to tell the speed limit within a couple of hundred metres on ANY road.

Are there reminders? Yes? That's the limit.
No reminders, but are there streetlights? Yes? 30 - unless in Wales, then it's 20.
No reminders or streetlights, so count the carriageways. One? 60. Two? 70.

That's it. That simple. We all knew this for our driving tests...

prowla

My BMW's speed limit identification is not something I would rely on

In particular, I was driving along a 30 mph residential road yesterday and the car was telling me the limit was 80 mph!

It can also miss signs or recognise ones from the wrong road at junctions.

TooManyPoints

In particular, I was driving along a 30 mph residential road yesterday and the car was telling me the limit was 80 mph!

If I was you I'd ask for my money back!  

flaneurs_lobster

Forgive my ignorance of these things - is the car detecting/deducing the speed limit by using a camera to read road signs / look for street lights or are the limits predefined, downloaded and applied by GPS like Waze etc.

Frozen_up_north

Okell said:

Frozen_up_north said:

Use the Waze phone app to display a map and speed limit on your car screen. Waze is free and they are quick to change their mapping when a speed limit is changed, you submit the details and they review it within a couple of weeks...

Perhaps I simply don't understand how it works, but if it works as you have explained then I'd have to say I'd be very reluctant to rely on a system that reviews speed limit changes "within a couple of weeks".

What use is that?

It’s a darn site better than most other satnavs that require you to download a huge file every few months. Given the thousands of road signs, temporary speed limits, etc. it does a superb job of trying to keep the map data updated. It is updated in a few seconds for user input for roadworks, broken down vehicles, etc.

Best of all it’s completely free and supported by Google.

Okell

Frozen_up_north said:

Okell said:

Frozen_up_north said:

Use the Waze phone app to display a map and speed limit on your car screen. Waze is free and they are quick to change their mapping when a speed limit is changed, you submit the details and they review it within a couple of weeks...

Perhaps I simply don't understand how it works, but if it works as you have explained then I'd have to say I'd be very reluctant to rely on a system that reviews speed limit changes "within a couple of weeks".

What use is that?

It’s a darn site better than most other satnavs that require you to download a huge file every few months. Given the thousands of road signs, temporary speed limits, etc. it does a superb job of trying to keep the map data updated. It is updated in a few seconds for user input for roadworks, broken down vehicles, etc.

Best of all it’s completely free and supported by Google.

Isn't it simpler to just look out of the windscreen and look for clues as to what the speed limit is?

As @TooManypoints said, be on the lookout for streetlights and those big round signs with numbers on them.

(I ought perhaps to reveal that, unlike my wife, I've never relied on satnav.  But, again unlike my wife, I've never got lost either...)

wongataa

flaneurs_lobster said:

Forgive my ignorance of these things - is the car detecting/deducing the speed limit by using a camera to read road signs / look for street lights or are the limits predefined, downloaded and applied by GPS like Waze etc.

The car reads the road signs.

Wyndham

Okell said:

Frozen_up_north said:

Okell said:

Frozen_up_north said:

Use the Waze phone app to display a map and speed limit on your car screen. Waze is free and they are quick to change their mapping when a speed limit is changed, you submit the details and they review it within a couple of weeks...

Perhaps I simply don't understand how it works, but if it works as you have explained then I'd have to say I'd be very reluctant to rely on a system that reviews speed limit changes "within a couple of weeks".

What use is that?

It’s a darn site better than most other satnavs that require you to download a huge file every few months. Given the thousands of road signs, temporary speed limits, etc. it does a superb job of trying to keep the map data updated. It is updated in a few seconds for user input for roadworks, broken down vehicles, etc.

Best of all it’s completely free and supported by Google.

Isn't it simpler to just look out of the windscreen and look for clues as to what the speed limit is?

As @TooManypoints said, be on the lookout for streetlights and those big round signs with numbers on them.

(I ought perhaps to reveal that, unlike my wife, I've never relied on satnav.  But, again unlike my wife, I've never got lost either...)

But to return to my original point, the car now reads the road signs and tells me if it thinks I'm over the speed limit - even when it has made a mistake. Yes, I want to keep looking out to see, I want to still be able to read the road (and I think every driver should know how to do that). But the technology is moving on so much with cars that it's harder and harder to ignore.

On the old car I used the sat nav for somewhere new. It was a separate unit, that I had to remember to take with me. On the new one, it's all built in. I think it's called progress!