How much respect do you have for speed limits?
Discussion
In the light of all the various threads on the endless reduction of limits, how much respect do you have for speed limits? When I started driving (only 5 1/2 years ago) I stuck to every limit religiously and on the whole thought that most limits were sensible and well considered. Now with the endless crusade to reduce the entire country to walking pace there are so many pointless and stupid limits being introduced that I have completely lost any respect I once had for any limits (not that I would ever speed, think of the kittens).
It used to be that if a road was a 40 limit then there was usually some decent reason for it and hence I would have no problem sticking to 40 if I came across such a limit. Now that chain of logic is completely broken, there is more often than not no reason at all for the limits hence I now don't assume there will be any practical reason to travel at the posted speed until I see it for myself.
It's like with any rules, if they are reasonable, sensible, logical & I can understand how they benefit people then I am inclined to respect and obey them. When the rules become oppressive and pointless (rules for the sake of rules if you will) I lose respect for them and am inclined to ignore all of them even if a few of them were originally sensible. It's like the basic crying wolf situation really, tell me there is danger when there isn't enough times and eventually I will ignore you even when there is danger.
In the hypothetical situation where one was to pay no heed to any limits and just drive sensibly to the conditions (which could be over or under the numbers on the poles), the risk of being caught seems fairly low as there are practically no traffic police on the roads, fixed cameras are easy enough to avoid so the only real concern would be scamera vans which tend to lurk in predictable places and could be viewed as an occupational hazard of driving.
So where do you stand on limits?
PS: Before the PC brigade descend to denounce me as an insane kitten-murderer, I actually drive fairly conservatively. I think that 30mph through villages & <30mph through small residential roads is fine, 70mph on the motorway is not unreasonable and I would leave the NSL at 60mph.
It used to be that if a road was a 40 limit then there was usually some decent reason for it and hence I would have no problem sticking to 40 if I came across such a limit. Now that chain of logic is completely broken, there is more often than not no reason at all for the limits hence I now don't assume there will be any practical reason to travel at the posted speed until I see it for myself.
It's like with any rules, if they are reasonable, sensible, logical & I can understand how they benefit people then I am inclined to respect and obey them. When the rules become oppressive and pointless (rules for the sake of rules if you will) I lose respect for them and am inclined to ignore all of them even if a few of them were originally sensible. It's like the basic crying wolf situation really, tell me there is danger when there isn't enough times and eventually I will ignore you even when there is danger.
In the hypothetical situation where one was to pay no heed to any limits and just drive sensibly to the conditions (which could be over or under the numbers on the poles), the risk of being caught seems fairly low as there are practically no traffic police on the roads, fixed cameras are easy enough to avoid so the only real concern would be scamera vans which tend to lurk in predictable places and could be viewed as an occupational hazard of driving.
So where do you stand on limits?
PS: Before the PC brigade descend to denounce me as an insane kitten-murderer, I actually drive fairly conservatively. I think that 30mph through villages & <30mph through small residential roads is fine, 70mph on the motorway is not unreasonable and I would leave the NSL at 60mph.
With the increase in on board cameras in other cars I probably go a bit slower when there are other cars around and make sure I do cleaner overtaking, lucky there are still plenty of quiet roads near me still but often 60 would be too fast on large sections of those anyway. One of my main reasons for getting another convertible being you can enjoy it going slower too.
In urban areas posted 30s and 40s I will stick to.
20s I treat with utter contempt (I see no need for these things; the sort of nobs that got them implemented in the first place ignored the 30 that was there before, they are sure as hell not going to abide by the 20 the rest of us have had to suffer), and also anything that used to be NSL that's been "creeping 30/40/50d". I'll drive to the conditions.
20s I treat with utter contempt (I see no need for these things; the sort of nobs that got them implemented in the first place ignored the 30 that was there before, they are sure as hell not going to abide by the 20 the rest of us have had to suffer), and also anything that used to be NSL that's been "creeping 30/40/50d". I'll drive to the conditions.
I drive to the conditions. If it's pissing down on the motorway to the extent where I can't see properly I'll slow to around 55-60. If it's clear I'll stick the cruise on 80.
To me, the 70mph limit on motorways is getting too low as 99% of the cars on the road can do at least 90, why not make it 80 and lets be honest, 99% of people do 80-100 on the motorway anyway so it's just a technicality now.
30mph in residential zones I understand and stick to, not avidly glaring at the speedo, but get to about 30 and plod along at the same pace, glancing at the speed. 40's the same, 5's the same NSL's the same unless I'm overtaking then I will exceed it to make sure I can pass safely with enough time to get back in.
the 20mph brigade are just trying to force drivers off of the road to allow buses and cyclists free reign, when in reality, if none of us drove for a year (not that it would work at all) but the government would come to a crippling halt.
No Car Tax
No tax on insurance
No Vat on fuel
No fuel duty on fuel
If all of the motorists in the UK did this at once, the government would run out of money in 15 minutes.
To me, the 70mph limit on motorways is getting too low as 99% of the cars on the road can do at least 90, why not make it 80 and lets be honest, 99% of people do 80-100 on the motorway anyway so it's just a technicality now.
30mph in residential zones I understand and stick to, not avidly glaring at the speedo, but get to about 30 and plod along at the same pace, glancing at the speed. 40's the same, 5's the same NSL's the same unless I'm overtaking then I will exceed it to make sure I can pass safely with enough time to get back in.
the 20mph brigade are just trying to force drivers off of the road to allow buses and cyclists free reign, when in reality, if none of us drove for a year (not that it would work at all) but the government would come to a crippling halt.
No Car Tax
No tax on insurance
No Vat on fuel
No fuel duty on fuel
If all of the motorists in the UK did this at once, the government would run out of money in 15 minutes.
Mr SFJ said:
why not make it 80 and lets be honest, 99% of people do 80-100 on the motorway anyway so it's just a technicality now.
This will never ever happen. I've predicted that it will be reduced to 60 (or maybe even less) within the next few years. Mark my words.Anyone remember that proposal a couple of years ago where they were on about raising the limit to 80 on motorways, but imposing a lot more 20 limits in urban areas? I guessed correctly on that one too; we'd get the 20s but the 80 would get mysteriously shelved.
Monkeylegend said:
Mr SFJ said:
and lets be honest, 99% of people do 80-100 on the motorway anyway so it's just a technicality now.
I think you will find that is not actually true.The 99% I agree with my daily commute is all Mway and at 80 I am far from the fastest vehicle on the road
Technicality? Well when one is so blessed as to see a Police car on the road I don't really see much lessening of speed some do come down from 90-100 to 80 to pass but thats it
I have respect for them in villages or where I can understand them, what I struggle with is the limits that have gone from NSL -> 50 or 40 with no clear reason other than speed kills. It's actually meant my attitude towards speeding has changed from NSL is the only limit I'd normally break to actually breaking the 40 and 50 limits too where they are just madness.
I guess the quick answer is I have no respect for the limits anymore other than in town.
I guess the quick answer is I have no respect for the limits anymore other than in town.
30's, most definatly. 40's, yes, 50's yes on the most part...thre are some stretches I frequent were traffic will be at 60 mph. its safer for me to go with the flow, NSL, mostly. I dont tend to exceed 80 mph, unless I feel a faster speed to complete an overtake will be a safer option.
To be frank my whole opinion was smashed to bits yesterday evening. I was driving home, thinking about cooking dinner, listening to the radio and probably half a dozen other things we going through my mind - I'd guess I was doing about 20mph because it was pretty busy - nose-to-tail on the other side coming away from the city, but nothing in front of me on mine - but I'd not long turned a junction and I was coming up to a zebra crossing - but I don't usually consider the actual limit unless theirs a camera or Police car about.
Anyway, I saw a flash of something out-of-place in the corner of my eye and covered the brake, the something was a tiny little girl of about 2 walking between the cars on the other side and she plonked herself on the road in front of me, I can't remember braking but my car felt like it was going to do an endo. I stalled and jumped out of the car to try to grab her but I must have scared her because she started running, thankfully a lady who'd seen what had happened on the other side was out like a flash with her arms out starched, the kid ran straight to her. Her panicked parents arrived on scene about 90 seconds later, crying their eyes out.
I haven't been able to sleep properly since and it was a 'good news' story really, I'd seen her in plenty of time, I never got that close, I had 10m to spare thanks to a combination of quick reaction from years of trying to kill myself on mountain bikes, ABS and massive modern brakes meant 'no harm done', but it's done a huge number on me, what if I'd been doing 30, even a bit more, it's quite a wide road, what if I'd been looking at the radio - I've got a stupid overly-complex 'driver interface' thing and sometimes I know I spend too much time fecking about with it, changing from MP3 to radio takes too long, I know I shouldn't but I do. Anyway, I don't think I'd ever be at fault - a tiny girl who didn't know any better got away from her folks somehow and ran into a busy road - everyone's worse nightmare - but how could I live with myself??
I can't say how speed limits play in all of this, I think this is probably just the first thread that sort of met my need to get it off my chest - but my stance was always "drive to the conditions" and of course that's still true, but in the lower speed roads, right-now today, I don't think you can use that as an excuse to exceed them, not when there's stupid people, drunk people, old people and kids all sharing them with you. No one is as good as they think they are behind the wheel.
Anyway, I saw a flash of something out-of-place in the corner of my eye and covered the brake, the something was a tiny little girl of about 2 walking between the cars on the other side and she plonked herself on the road in front of me, I can't remember braking but my car felt like it was going to do an endo. I stalled and jumped out of the car to try to grab her but I must have scared her because she started running, thankfully a lady who'd seen what had happened on the other side was out like a flash with her arms out starched, the kid ran straight to her. Her panicked parents arrived on scene about 90 seconds later, crying their eyes out.
I haven't been able to sleep properly since and it was a 'good news' story really, I'd seen her in plenty of time, I never got that close, I had 10m to spare thanks to a combination of quick reaction from years of trying to kill myself on mountain bikes, ABS and massive modern brakes meant 'no harm done', but it's done a huge number on me, what if I'd been doing 30, even a bit more, it's quite a wide road, what if I'd been looking at the radio - I've got a stupid overly-complex 'driver interface' thing and sometimes I know I spend too much time fecking about with it, changing from MP3 to radio takes too long, I know I shouldn't but I do. Anyway, I don't think I'd ever be at fault - a tiny girl who didn't know any better got away from her folks somehow and ran into a busy road - everyone's worse nightmare - but how could I live with myself??
I can't say how speed limits play in all of this, I think this is probably just the first thread that sort of met my need to get it off my chest - but my stance was always "drive to the conditions" and of course that's still true, but in the lower speed roads, right-now today, I don't think you can use that as an excuse to exceed them, not when there's stupid people, drunk people, old people and kids all sharing them with you. No one is as good as they think they are behind the wheel.
deeen said:
No respect for speed limits; I just keep an eye on them because I have enormous respect for my licence. 
Pretty much. I like my licence the way it is. I need to drive for work purposes. I don't get how there are still people doing 10+ mph over the speed limit and not expecting to be caught by hidden cameras or other devious means.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff