Discussion
How's about this then. The Oxford ring road used to be mostly NSL Dual carriageway. A fatal head on occurred last year (tragically killing various young people) a mother has now been prosecuted for dangerous driving. She managed to cross the grass central reservation that is about 10 feet wide and hit a student head on.
Anyway, they have installed concrete central barriers and REDUCED the speed limit to 50!
FFS the road is safer than it ever was.
Guess what happens now. A lot of people (myself included) still treat it as an NSL road as it is perfectly safe, whereas others (quite rightly too) stick to the 50mph limit. SO now you have two sets of drivers driving at completely different speeds and the road is WORSE!
Genius.
Anyway, they have installed concrete central barriers and REDUCED the speed limit to 50!
FFS the road is safer than it ever was.
Guess what happens now. A lot of people (myself included) still treat it as an NSL road as it is perfectly safe, whereas others (quite rightly too) stick to the 50mph limit. SO now you have two sets of drivers driving at completely different speeds and the road is WORSE!
Genius.
I was absolutely ASTONISHED today to drive from Winnersh to Farnborough, an intra- urban Berkshire journey of about 10 miles, on NSL roads nearly the whole way (via Bracknell/Sandhurst/Camberley). And it was great !
Not a single "Why the
is this a 30?" section. Don't suppose that'll be possible for much longer. This is creeping death for the NSL, and will hurt even more when the new penalities included in the Road "Safety" Bill come into effect. Does anyone provide a national monitoring service for these orders? Is there anything that can be done other than looking in the local papers? This is a national issue being perceived as local...
It's all part of the plan to slow traffic down, in the misguided belief that the roads will miraculously become safer.
Newport (where I live) now has a "Southern Distributor Road" taking traffic from M4 J26 in the east, through the industrial areas, to M4 J28 in the west. It's dual carriageway all the way, well separated from any residential or pedestrian areas. It replaces what was mostly a single carriageway NSL road.
Guess what! the highest speed limit on any stretch of that road is now 50MPH, and anywhere within a mile or so of roundabouts or traffic lights is limited to 40 or even 30MPH.
Even the new bridge across the Usk is now subjected to a 30MPH limit - in spite of the original 50MPH signage still being there, just painted over or covered up. I can't believe the limit was reduced on safety grounds - it's obviously the work of some jobsworth in the highways department.
OK, rant over - I feel better now
Newport (where I live) now has a "Southern Distributor Road" taking traffic from M4 J26 in the east, through the industrial areas, to M4 J28 in the west. It's dual carriageway all the way, well separated from any residential or pedestrian areas. It replaces what was mostly a single carriageway NSL road.
Guess what! the highest speed limit on any stretch of that road is now 50MPH, and anywhere within a mile or so of roundabouts or traffic lights is limited to 40 or even 30MPH.
Even the new bridge across the Usk is now subjected to a 30MPH limit - in spite of the original 50MPH signage still being there, just painted over or covered up. I can't believe the limit was reduced on safety grounds - it's obviously the work of some jobsworth in the highways department.
OK, rant over - I feel better now
hertsbiker said:
Here we go again. Stortford to Sawbridgeworth in Herts. Used to be nsl. Farewell old friend. You'll be missed.
And all this just to make the bus companies seem a viable alternative to private vehicles.
Can they really keep doing this?
TBH although I am dead set against automated enforcement, herts SCP are fairly generous with the tolerance on their cameras (take it from one in the know)...
Is this the road that already has a couple of newish gatsos on it? that comes out at the ford garage in harlow or am I getting mixed up?
Dont live all that far from sawbo or stortford but rarely find myself out that way..
Mr Biker,
One of the main things I've found since having a bike is that speed limits aren't quite so relevant as long as you ensure you are observant.
Take the big gixxer out, keep your eyes open and do what the you like before they stop us riding bikes full stop.
Phill
>> Edited by phillvr6 on Friday 5th May 22:34
One of the main things I've found since having a bike is that speed limits aren't quite so relevant as long as you ensure you are observant.
Take the big gixxer out, keep your eyes open and do what the
you like before they stop us riding bikes full stop. Phill
>> Edited by phillvr6 on Friday 5th May 22:34
outnumbered said:
I was absolutely ASTONISHED today to drive from Winnersh to Farnborough, an intra- urban Berkshire journey of about 10 miles, on NSL roads nearly the whole way (via Bracknell/Sandhurst/Camberley). And it was great !
Not a single "Why theis this a 30?" section. Don't suppose that'll be possible for much longer.
Berkshire does seem to be a bit less inclined to drop limits just for the hell of it - there's plenty of roads up in the north of the county that I similarly can't believe have retained their current limits, given all the comparable (or even better quality) stretches of road in neighbouring counties that have been totally neutered with new limits. Having some decent NSL roads on my doorstep is almost enough to make it worthwhile living in (though only by a matter of about 50 yards - the Bucks/Maidenhead border is tantalisingly close!) Slough...
It's been happening around here (Somerset) for several years now.
Some sections along the A38 have gone from NSL to 40 or 30, which was unacceptable to most drivers with more than an ounce of common sense, and they chose to drive faster along smaller routes to avoid the new silly limits. After many complaints from people living on the newly created rat runs, they raised the A38 limit upto 50!
This is the level of do-gooder incompetence we are dealing with and paying for.
Some sections along the A38 have gone from NSL to 40 or 30, which was unacceptable to most drivers with more than an ounce of common sense, and they chose to drive faster along smaller routes to avoid the new silly limits. After many complaints from people living on the newly created rat runs, they raised the A38 limit upto 50!
This is the level of do-gooder incompetence we are dealing with and paying for.
OK, its been happening everywhere, Councils reduce speed limits cos of one bad accident and they have to been seen to be doing something. The belief they have is that reducing speeds will reduce the number of accidents. We all know that this works on the assumption that accidents only happen above the speed limit. I have posted on here a quote from Kent and Medway Scamerashi* that if they reduce the thershold on their gatso, they will increase the number tickets (read money ), but may not reduce the number of accidents. 
The fact, is complining about it on here, AFTER the speed limit signs have gone up is too late. You need to scan the local paper, (dont depend on the council sticking signs up on posts about changes (I have yet to see one!)), phone the local highway dept of the council and ask if they are planning any limit changes/road design changes etc etc.
However, even doing this, as I do, you still face an up hill task, as the council strongly believe that reducing speed WILL reduce accidents. Until this is totally and utterly disproved we will lose the battle.
I have logged the council against 3 speed limit/humps changes (60->40mph A227 Meopham Kent), (60->30mph with new roundabout and extension of the 20mph into the old 60mph Cobham Kent), A 40mph on the NEW A226 road by Gravesend football club, (Why 40mph?? there are no buildings on the road, and its widely ignored!). Plus the installation of speed humps,(I even fly'ed the houses to warn them).
All of these still happened.
The only one that I'm thankful did happen is the Council saw sense and installed another steet light at Culverstone school on the new zebra crossing they installed.(The road has no other street lights).
So for those people who want to do something- stop complaining on here and get down to you council and batter them with your mails and generally pi** them off about there stupid speed limits/humps.
Rant over....
I must calm down, I must calm down.
), but may not reduce the number of accidents. The fact, is complining about it on here, AFTER the speed limit signs have gone up is too late. You need to scan the local paper, (dont depend on the council sticking signs up on posts about changes (I have yet to see one!)), phone the local highway dept of the council and ask if they are planning any limit changes/road design changes etc etc.
However, even doing this, as I do, you still face an up hill task, as the council strongly believe that reducing speed WILL reduce accidents. Until this is totally and utterly disproved we will lose the battle.
I have logged the council against 3 speed limit/humps changes (60->40mph A227 Meopham Kent), (60->30mph with new roundabout and extension of the 20mph into the old 60mph Cobham Kent), A 40mph on the NEW A226 road by Gravesend football club, (Why 40mph?? there are no buildings on the road, and its widely ignored!). Plus the installation of speed humps,(I even fly'ed the houses to warn them).
All of these still happened.
The only one that I'm thankful did happen is the Council saw sense and installed another steet light at Culverstone school on the new zebra crossing they installed.(The road has no other street lights).
So for those people who want to do something- stop complaining on here and get down to you council and batter them with your mails and generally pi** them off about there stupid speed limits/humps.
Rant over....
I must calm down, I must calm down.
DrDeAtH said:And get a good lawyer you'll be done for kerb crawling as well if you see what I mean this is not hinting at nefarious habits
i think its about time i employ a man with large red flag to walk in front of my vehicle. it may just pre empt the new road safety laws.....
Laterz......
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