How much do you think about speed and limits when you drive?
Discussion
For the most part, I stick to signs that have numbers on. Some of my behaviour is pretty bad on NSL roads but for bikers that's probably not unusual. I don't understand why our speed limits make so little sense, though. In France, for the most part, it's 90kmh on rural roads, 50kmh in town, 110 on the motorway if it's wet and 130 in the dry, with 90 zones passing slip roads. Works really well.
Here, it's just an unholy mishmash of 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and down the road from me there's even a part of the A21 which was NSL and is now 60, as if that's even necessary since it's single carriageway!!
It seems we just reduce limits rather than educating drivers or improving road design. I've even seen traffic calming measures with bunches of flowers tied to them, which probably says more than I ever could, and with much greater eloquence
Here, it's just an unholy mishmash of 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and down the road from me there's even a part of the A21 which was NSL and is now 60, as if that's even necessary since it's single carriageway!!
It seems we just reduce limits rather than educating drivers or improving road design. I've even seen traffic calming measures with bunches of flowers tied to them, which probably says more than I ever could, and with much greater eloquence
When a police instructor friend was giving me advanced instruction the rules he set were all 30 and 40 limits were observed without fail ,50 limits were very very rare back then in rural Bedfordshire and the instruction in them and NSL was catch the car in front and overtake if safe , he also taught me defensive driving which at times was at odds with the "racing" line, but has saved me in many situations when meeting inattentive motorists .
I am unnerved by many drivers in towns these days who insist on sitting about 3ft from my rear with the offside about 2" from the centre line but they have no intention of ever overtaking and are rarely paying attention to the road ahead but just relying on the brake lights of the car infront , it does surprise them that my truck slows quite rapidly if I late brake when empty .
I am unnerved by many drivers in towns these days who insist on sitting about 3ft from my rear with the offside about 2" from the centre line but they have no intention of ever overtaking and are rarely paying attention to the road ahead but just relying on the brake lights of the car infront , it does surprise them that my truck slows quite rapidly if I late brake when empty .
matsoc said:
While I was living in France first and in Germany I had become quite careful about speed cameras, I was caught several times, typically in urban areas in Germany while more often on secondary roads in France. Now that I came back to my hometown in Italy I rarely care about speed limits. In Italy there are very few controls and typically in the same spots. To get to work daily I take a road in an industrial area, in theory the limit is 30mph but average speed there is 60+
In the parts of Italy I have driven, you come to a different speed limit roughly every 100 metres sometimes (no exaggeration)... I think most people give up on speed limits in those places because of that!Near where I live (Bedfordshire) you now see lots of sequential speed limits (30, then a buffer of 40 for 100m, then NSL) because people weren't slowing down until they got to the 30. Ruins it for those who like to experience longitudinal g's when they reach the derestrictor in the other direction, and those who can't fathom lifting off before the limit reduces still speed into the 30mph bit.
I am of the "never speed in residential/urban areas but give it hell in the wilderness (conditions and sightlines permitting)" ilk. I get a few morons doing 70ish down my residential road every night and honestly wonder if we need *shudder* speedbumps
donkmeister said:
In the parts of Italy I have driven, you come to a different speed limit roughly every 100 metres sometimes (no exaggeration)... I think most people give up on speed limits in those places because of that!
Yes, I live in the hill above Turin and there a lot of inexplicable limits in this area. There are some fixed cameras everybody knows about and some speed controls with mobile cameras but since 2011 they are signaled with mobile road signs 150m before and anyway are always placed in the same spots. donkmeister said:
Near where I live (Bedfordshire) you now see lots of sequential speed limits (30, then a buffer of 40 for 100m, then NSL) because people weren't slowing down until they got to the 30. Ruins it for those who like to experience longitudinal g's when they reach the derestrictor in the other direction, and those who can't fathom lifting off before the limit reduces still speed into the 30mph bit.
I am of the "never speed in residential/urban areas but give it hell in the wilderness (conditions and sightlines permitting)" ilk. I get a few morons doing 70ish down my residential road every night and honestly wonder if we need *shudder* speedbumps
Yes, me too I try to be as careful and slow as possible in residential areas. If speed bumbs are in place in Italy the limit must drop to 19mph (30kph) or below. I don't like them but in some spots are necessary. I am of the "never speed in residential/urban areas but give it hell in the wilderness (conditions and sightlines permitting)" ilk. I get a few morons doing 70ish down my residential road every night and honestly wonder if we need *shudder* speedbumps
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