Save money - reduce speed by 5% of the speed limit and improve your Mpg.

wealthsaver

I have put much thought to the current price of fuel for road vehicles in this country. As an individual who commutes a reasonable distance to my workplace, I am acutely aware of the recent increases.

My point is can a temporary 5% reduction in national speed limits have the following effects.

Reduce fuel consumption therefore reduce demand for fuel from the pumps due to better efficiency. Reduced demand may put less price pressure on the fuel. I think fuel boycotts are an emotive and pointless action but lets do the next best thing.
Vehicles will produce proportionally lower emissions which is a useful side effect.
Motorists will possibly experience smoother traffic flow.
Road safety - speed kills.

The last point is particularily poignant. Every day recently on my drive to work I have seen serious road accidents on the A road which leads to my local motorway or i rue the evidence of the aftermath of incidents (Broken fences, lopsided barriers or signs and lamps, debris on the road like bumpers, numberplates and glass.)

If a temporary 5% reduction in speed limits is not feasible, perhaps a
national publicity campaign could be initiated to encourage voluntary
reduction in speed by motorists. Road freight hauliers know the benefit of operating their fleet at for example 56 or 60 Mph.

Check your tyre pressures also!

ohreally

wealthsaver wrote:

My point is can a temporary 5% reduction in national speed limits have the following effects.

Given the number of roadusers who are apparently ignorant of the NSL anyway how do you seriously expect any reduction to be implimented? Couple that with the number of drivers who during working hours are not themselves paying for the fuel i.e. their employers are picking up the tab you can realistically only expect private motorists to consider this.

michaels

hmm - based on the number of hours people spend in their cars, if this amount was increased by >5% (the impact of your suggestion), the number of hours wasted on a single day would be immense - if this time was costed as low as £5 per hour it would come to some astronomical figure - per day...

rchddap1

My current car has a MPG indicator...and when I started to drive it I realised how much fuel I was wasting by driving fast. These days I tootle along at 50 to 60 miles per hour and I usually get between 70 and 80 MPG (occasionally more). If I do drive fast I in general only get to work 5 minutes quicker...and as its only work...I drive more 'economically'

skintchick

wealthsaver wrote:

Road safety - speed kills.

No it doesn't. Inappropriate speed kills, and that can be inappropriately high OR low.

What kills more often than 'speed' is carelss driving, drivers who don't pay attention to what is going on, drivers who don't read the road ahead and react accordingly early enough, and especially drivers who shouldn't have been allowed to drive in the first place.

I knew when I opened this post that it would be a thinly disguised attempt to persuade people that 'speed kills'.

If that were correct, people would be dying on motorways in large numbers on a regular basis, but that isn't what actually happens.

The phrase is lazy, and wrong.

Personally I'd rather see a campaign aimed at re-testing all drivers every couple of years to ensure a high standard of driving on the roads.

I'll give you one example - I have three points. I got them driving at 49 in a 30 zone that used to be, and still should be, a 50 zone as it is a main road. I chose to drive at that speed. I just didn't know they'd put some film in the camera!

My friend, who lives on that very road, opposite the speed camera that snapped me (one offence in 13 years of driving) has NINE points. Her response? I got those because I didn't notice how fast I was going, I wasn't really paying attention. On THREE occasions!

SHE is dangerous - she doesn't pay attention when in charge of a quarter of a tonne of metal (or thereabouts), not even with her kids in the car. I am safer, because I always know exactly how fast I am going and adjust my driving to the road and weather, and take into account other relevant factors.

Speed doesn't kill - bad drivers kill.

wealthsaver

skintchick wrote:

I knew when I opened this post that it would be a thinly disguised attempt to persuade people that 'speed kills'.

Your opinion is welcome. My main point is about saving money by driving at or slightly below motorway and dual carriageway speed limits to economise on fuel consumption. I did consider leaving out the comment you find to be inappropriate.

Speed doesn't kill - bad drivers kill.

You have more chance of surviving a road traffic incident at lower speed - fact! Also so do other road users.

http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/statistics.htm

quote: At 35mph you are twice as likely to kill someone as you are at 30mph

wealthsaver

rchddap1 wrote:

My current car has a MPG indicator...and when I started to drive it I realised how much fuel I was wasting by driving fast. These days I tootle along at 50 to 60 miles per hour and I usually get between 70 and 80 MPG (occasionally more). If I do drive fast I in general only get to work 5 minutes quicker...and as its only work...I drive more 'economically'

Do you have a diesel car? You echo my sentiments exactly. Reduce your speed and save - Will help a little during these times of £1 per litre.

rchddap1

Yup its a diesel. I've actually been driving more slowly for quite some time.

pinkfluffybabe

skintchick wrote:

No it doesn't. Inappropriate speed kills, and that can be inappropriately high OR low.

What kills more often than 'speed' is carelss driving, drivers who don't pay attention to what is going on, drivers who don't read the road ahead and react accordingly early enough, and especially drivers who shouldn't have been allowed to drive in the first place.

I knew when I opened this post that it would be a thinly disguised attempt to persuade people that 'speed kills'.

If that were correct, people would be dying on motorways in large numbers on a regular basis, but that isn't what actually happens.

The phrase is lazy, and wrong.

Personally I'd rather see a campaign aimed at re-testing all drivers every couple of years to ensure a high standard of driving on the roads.

I'll give you one example - I have three points. I got them driving at 49 in a 30 zone that used to be, and still should be, a 50 zone as it is a main road. I chose to drive at that speed. I just didn't know they'd put some film in the camera!

My friend, who lives on that very road, opposite the speed camera that snapped me (one offence in 13 years of driving) has NINE points. Her response? I got those because I didn't notice how fast I was going, I wasn't really paying attention. On THREE occasions!

SHE is dangerous - she doesn't pay attention when in charge of a quarter of a tonne of metal (or thereabouts), not even with her kids in the car. I am safer, because I always know exactly how fast I am going and adjust my driving to the road and weather, and take into account other relevant factors.

Speed doesn't kill - bad drivers kill.

I entirely agree with you. I would be far happier if there were police patrolling the roads catching people on phones/eating/smoking while driving than putting up a camera to catch people doing 33mph in a 30mph zone to appear as though they are doing something.

There are more people than ever before driving dangerously on motorways - driving under the speed limit and then almost causing crashes as cars swerve to get past. Also those middle lane hoggers who have no idea of what motorway driving is about. I think you are right about retesting, but I also think it would be a good thing if after passing the driving test, everyone was made to have 5 motorway lessons and a short test. Particularly as a lot of driving these days is motorways, and people are put on the roads unequipped to deal with it.

I am not a perfect driver, I too have thee points on my licence from driving at 83mph in a 70mph zone. I know I would have appreciated motorway lessons when I first passed my test.

mrbadexample

wealthsaver wrote:

Your opinion is welcome. My main point is about saving money by driving at or slightly below motorway and dual carriageway speed limits to economise on fuel consumption. I did consider leaving out the comment you find to be inappropriate.


You have more chance of surviving a road traffic incident at lower speed - fact! Also so do other road users.

http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/statistics.htm

quote: At 35mph you are twice as likely to kill someone as you are at 30mph

The full quote on speeding from the website:

Speeding

Speeding is not just inconsiderate driving - it contributes to the 36,000 serious injuries and 3,000 deaths that occur on Britain's roads each year
More than two thirds of all accidents in which people are killed or seriously injured happen on roads where the speed limit is 40mph or less
At 35mph you are twice as likely to kill someone as you are at 30mph

a) "Speeding contributes to...." carefully doesn't say how much. 0.01% is a contribution. I believe the actual figure is 7.3% of accidents are caused by excessive speed. Most accidents are due to driver inattention, as skintchick says.
b) "...on roads where the speed limit is 40mph or less" this refers to the type of road, not the speed being travelled. What this actually says, is that faster roads are statistically safer, which is correct.
c) "At 35mph you are twice as likely to kill someone as you are at 30mph" Again, no mention of the circumstances. I think it refers to cars hitting pedestrians, but it doesn't say so. If a car hits another car, the extra 5mph certainly will not double the death toll.

This is a typically ambiguous "lets make it sound like what we want to say regardless of the facts because we need to justify the huge amount of cash we make from speed cameras, even though they contribute nothing to road safety" government statement.

Plus, a 5% speed reduction (i.e. 70mph to 67.5mph) would make such a tiny difference as to be insignificant. A reduction from 70mph to 60mph does, however, make quite a substantial difference. If you want to save fuel, drive nice and gently, avoiding harsh acceleration, do 60 instead of 70, have your car serviced etc.

Regards,

MBE