What's the speed limit past your house, and is it a problem?
Discussion
I live on a loop so basically a big cul-de-sac as far as access is concerned. It's currently 30 and in fact is the only speed limit on my whole commute which hasn't been reduced since I've had my current job. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being reduced to 20 at some point; couldn't care less either way personally but our house is set well back from the road, I can imagine it'd be more pleasant for the people living right on the road if it was a 20 limit.
I'd certainly far rather have a 20 limit than speed bumps!
I'd certainly far rather have a 20 limit than speed bumps!
Grayedout said:
Complained to the council and asked about speed bumps but was told there had not been a reportable accident so they won't do anything.
So looks like somebody has to get hurt before the council will do anything! Crazy.
How do you suggest they prioritise their meagre budgets? So looks like somebody has to get hurt before the council will do anything! Crazy.
Their annual road safety budget will be sufficient to fix only a small number of evidenced black spots. Spending that money instead where people perceive there to be a problem (but objective evidence says there isn't) is just never going to happen.
kambites said:
I live on a loop so basically a big cul-de-sac as far as access is concerned. It's currently 30 and in fact is the only speed limit on my whole commute which hasn't been reduced since I've had my current job. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being reduced to 20 at some point; couldn't care less either way personally but our house is set well back from the road, I can imagine it'd be more pleasant for the people living right on the road if it was a 20 limit.
Why would it be more pleasant?First off if it looks like a 30 road and they put a 20 limit on it most people will still treat it like a 30 limit
Cue loads of frustrated people who cant understand why traffic speeds didnt drop below 20
Second, if you have no accidents now, as people become less cautions youre likely to have an accident every now and again maybe a pedestrian stepping out in front of a bus - its a 20 limit I thought it would stop
More pleasant
saaby93 said:
hy would it be more pleasant?
Cars are considerably quieter at 20 than 30. You may be right that people would ignore it, but I'm not sure that's the case. I suspect a lot of people are lying in bed listening to cars going past thinking "wouldn't it be nice if this was quieter" but still driving at 30 themselves. Because pretty much everyone who uses the road lives on it, I suspect speeds would genuinely fall if they dropped the limit.
The only safety benefit I can see to dropping the limits would be to the idiots who cycle on it in the dark with no lights but obviously slowing the cars down isn't really the solution to that one.
Edited by kambites on Monday 20th March 08:29
kambites said:
Cars are considerably quieter at 20 than 30.
Not really? engines are still running. How knobbly are your streets?What's usually the problem is a noisy manhole cover and that's fixable
kambites said:
You may be right that people would ignore it,
I didn't say they would ignore it, they take it into account. Most speed limits are in effect advisory, they should tell you what most other people think is appropriate (and works out safest for everyone) for that type of road. Wrong limit for wrong road not best idea. That's why we have different limits for different roads
kambites said:
The only safety benefit I can see to dropping the limits would be to the idiots who cycle on it in the dark with no lights but obviously slowing the cars down isn't really the solution to that one.
It's unlikely to turn out to be a safety benefit - probably the oppositeEdited by saaby93 on Monday 20th March 08:36
saaby93 said:
kambites said:
Cars are considerably quieter at 20 than 30.
Not really? engines are still running. How knobbly are your streets?kambites said:
saaby93 said:
kambites said:
Cars are considerably quieter at 20 than 30.
Not really? engines are still running. How knobbly are your streets?kambites said:
They're pretty smooth as tarmac roads go and there's no services running under them so no man-hole covers (and no patches due to repairs) but the huge majority of noise is still non-engine related. I'd say the volume of an average car doing 20 down our road is around half that of the same car doing 30.
Good job we dont have pesky horses using the streets going clip clop clip clop all day long There's a convenience balance between living next to a road and people using it
saaby93 said:
There's a convenience balance between living next to a road and people using it
Yes but in this case they're the same people - the road doesn't go anywhere I'd say more than 90% of vehicles that use the road are residents. Actually we do get quite a few horses on our road; I have absolutely no idea why given it's in the middle of a suburban housing estate.
NSL, but it's a dead end lane that ends a few feet beyond my fron hedge.
Occasionally you get cars zoom past (obviously lost) then reverse up much more slowly. And the odd mountain biker even though it's a footpath, not a bridleway, at the end. But they usually end up coming back once they find out its a swamp.
Occasionally you get cars zoom past (obviously lost) then reverse up much more slowly. And the odd mountain biker even though it's a footpath, not a bridleway, at the end. But they usually end up coming back once they find out its a swamp.
Our road became a 20mph about 6 months ago, there's a primary school 200m further up from us. However, it is a cut-through for those avoiding the centre of town, so very few observe the 20. Added to that there are only signs indicating the 20 zone at one end of the road, so I guess, those going up the road at 20+mph are breaking the law, whereas those coming down the road at 21-30mph are not...? I do observe the 20 limit (I live here after all), but am regularly tailgated 
My house is on a single track road - so cars rarely do more than about 15-20 past it.
The main road through the village off which my road spurs off is 30mph - reduced from 40mph a few years ago.
This was apparently done to stop people speeding and to reduce the risk of serious accidents - despite none having occurred in living memory on this wide, straight, good visibility stretch of road.
The main road through the village off which my road spurs off is 30mph - reduced from 40mph a few years ago.
This was apparently done to stop people speeding
and to reduce the risk of serious accidents - despite none having occurred in living memory on this wide, straight, good visibility stretch of road.Cul De Sac, the problem drivers are delivery drivers for Amazon etc, always on a mission, and some of the neighbours, one guy who always has Range Rovers goes past too fast, there is a bend, he shouldnt need to to brake for it. I went to have a word with one bloke a few doors down, all the kids were out playing and he goes past very fast in him Omega (while ago) and I was sweeping the drive, I walked down and politely asked him to slow down when there are kids about, he started threatening me with the Police as I was coming at him with a broom ! silly tosser i was holding a broom as I was sweeping, just take your telling off and try to not do it again, but plays the victim ?
My road was reduced to 20mph last year which was pretty pointless as it's a cul-de-sac, but the 20 zone now extends to the main road and includes full-width roads with very few parked cars. This means that it is ignored by pretty much everyone - the council have said they can't afford speed bumps so they've just put signs up, a complete waste of time Whatever happened to driving to the road conditions?
Whatever happened to driving to the road conditions?J4CKO said:
one guy who always has Range Rovers goes past too fast,
There's always a discussion to be had about what is 'too fast' Ask if a police coming through on blue lights is 'too fast'
It'll depend how carefully theyre driving 'too fast'
With statistical error in mind, the ones going 'too slow' but the world will be ok, can be as much of a problem
Heartworm said:
Council has asked the builders of our estate to remove the pavement and has had them replaced with grass, the theory being that people walking on the road will act as traffic calming :@ So people pushing buggies/wheelchairs are having to use the road, terrible idea.
This will be the same superb logic that decided reducing visibility on the approach to roundabouts is a good thingjayemm89 said:
This will be the same superb logic that decided reducing visibility on the approach to roundabouts is a good thing
I thought that was a bloody stupid idea when they did it to some of the roundabouts around here, but now it's been up a year or so it has to be said that it does actually seem to have worked. The number of near-misses and minor accidents seems to have absolutely collapsed and I think the overall traffic flow has actually improved, although that might be unrelated. 40 these days.
Over a decade ago it was NSL and was frequently slowed by minor accidents, a few majors with air ambulance attendance and the occasional fatality.
Campaigning by locals reduced it to 50 for a few years and then mysteriously over night it was dropped to 40 with the introduction of a speed warning display.
It takes a little longer to get out the drive but it is far safer when returning home now; more than a few times before I've had the car behind almost checking out the boot contents.
A drop to 30 let alone 20 won't ever occur due to the volume of traffic.
Over a decade ago it was NSL and was frequently slowed by minor accidents, a few majors with air ambulance attendance and the occasional fatality.
Campaigning by locals reduced it to 50 for a few years and then mysteriously over night it was dropped to 40 with the introduction of a speed warning display.
It takes a little longer to get out the drive but it is far safer when returning home now; more than a few times before I've had the car behind almost checking out the boot contents.
A drop to 30 let alone 20 won't ever occur due to the volume of traffic.
barpilot said:
mysteriously over night it was dropped to 40 with the introduction of a speed warning display.
Some change like that warning people of whatever the hazard is, probably changed the collision rates When they change two things at once it's difficult to be certain which was the game changer
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