20mph limit all over Putney?!
Discussion
When did this happen? Since moving away 5 months ago I've not been back for a while, had to go back today and shocked to find it's now 20mph from the moment you're off the A3 and all the way through to the bridge and beyond, and the same the other direction.
This is absurd, especially at the top of the hill leaving Putney where I was done last year doing 40+ as it was a 30......had that been now I'd have been in big trouble!
Anyone else seen this? Do you think it's ridiculous or are you all for this trend of turning the whole of London in a 20 zone?
This is absurd, especially at the top of the hill leaving Putney where I was done last year doing 40+ as it was a 30......had that been now I'd have been in big trouble!
Anyone else seen this? Do you think it's ridiculous or are you all for this trend of turning the whole of London in a 20 zone?
Yup all of Bristol is 20. Although with the road works, cycle lanes, bollards , unbroken white lines, bus stops in the middle of the road, closed roads , new one way systems , unnecessary detours , new student apartments everywhere and up coming clean air zone you get nowhere near 20 anyway. It’s almost like the councils want us to walk everywhere or annoy motorists by driving one of those stupid electric scooters.
Edited by oldaudi on Monday 29th March 16:23
It’s happening all over London. We have it pretty much everywhere in Islington now. The idiot Khan is trying to get us all back to the Stone Age. It’s fair enough in built up areas but on some of the wider roads it ridiculous. If you try to stick to the limit you constantly get honked or overtaken by muppets in hatches. As you say, even the BiB don’t bother on the bigger roads.
Chubbyross said:
It’s happening all over London. We have it pretty much everywhere in Islington now. The idiot Khan is trying to get us all back to the Stone Age. It’s fair enough in built up areas but on some of the wider roads it ridiculous. If you try to stick to the limit you constantly get honked or overtaken by muppets in hatches. As you say, even the BiB don’t bother on the bigger roads.
Yeah it really does baffle me that as Putney opens up to 3 lanes at the top of the hill, you're expected to crawl along at 20!! You just feel like you're holding everyone else up if you stick to it. Chubbyross said:
It’s happening all over London. We have it pretty much everywhere in Islington now. The idiot Khan is trying to get us all back to the Stone Age. It’s fair enough in built up areas but on some of the wider roads it ridiculous. If you try to stick to the limit you constantly get honked or overtaken by muppets in hatches. As you say, even the BiB don’t bother on the bigger roads.
Isn’t it done on a council by council basis? Khan only controls TfL and the red routes. I thought everything else was done via the relevant council?
All over Richmond Borough. Drives me nuts.
Plus loads of drivers now dawdle along at 15mph and when they hit the odd 30mph, they don't speed up.
I'm sure when I passed my test a long time ago, I was told that an overtake needed to be quick and safe but now you have numpties in cars overtaking a cyclist doing 19 yet the car driver refuses to go over 20 even if they are now on the wrong side of the road.
I have even changed to a much slower smaller engined car and it's driving me mad.
Maybe it's the comparative lack of traffic thanks to Covid that makes the 20 limit so frustrating. Once it's gridlock traffic again we probably won't notice unless you are on a motorbike or its 2am in the morning.
Plus loads of drivers now dawdle along at 15mph and when they hit the odd 30mph, they don't speed up.
I'm sure when I passed my test a long time ago, I was told that an overtake needed to be quick and safe but now you have numpties in cars overtaking a cyclist doing 19 yet the car driver refuses to go over 20 even if they are now on the wrong side of the road.
I have even changed to a much slower smaller engined car and it's driving me mad.
Maybe it's the comparative lack of traffic thanks to Covid that makes the 20 limit so frustrating. Once it's gridlock traffic again we probably won't notice unless you are on a motorbike or its 2am in the morning.
valiant said:
Isn’t it done on a council by council basis?
Khan only controls TfL and the red routes. I thought everything else was done via the relevant council?
As far as I know it applies to all 32 boroughs unless the road is otherwise governed/has a specific limit set (i.e. the 30 and 40 zones).Khan only controls TfL and the red routes. I thought everything else was done via the relevant council?
croyde said:
All over Richmond Borough. Drives me nuts.
Plus loads of drivers now dawdle along at 15mph and when they hit the odd 30mph, they don't speed up.
I'm sure when I passed my test a long time ago, I was told that an overtake needed to be quick and safe but now you have numpties in cars overtaking a cyclist doing 19 yet the car driver refuses to go over 20 even if they are now on the wrong side of the road.
I have even changed to a much slower smaller engined car and it's driving me mad.
Maybe it's the comparative lack of traffic thanks to Covid that makes the 20 limit so frustrating. Once it's gridlock traffic again we probably won't notice unless you are on a motorbike or its 2am in the morning.
Annoying it maybe, but yes an overtakre needs to be quick and safe but unfortunately it still needs to be within the speed limitPlus loads of drivers now dawdle along at 15mph and when they hit the odd 30mph, they don't speed up.
I'm sure when I passed my test a long time ago, I was told that an overtake needed to be quick and safe but now you have numpties in cars overtaking a cyclist doing 19 yet the car driver refuses to go over 20 even if they are now on the wrong side of the road.
I have even changed to a much slower smaller engined car and it's driving me mad.
Maybe it's the comparative lack of traffic thanks to Covid that makes the 20 limit so frustrating. Once it's gridlock traffic again we probably won't notice unless you are on a motorbike or its 2am in the morning.
Kew Rd is infuriating. Made narrower now with separated cycle lanes but a lot of cyclists prefer the road and a lot of cars won't overtake as it means doing 22mph.
I was going down there late one Sunday night and was doing 27 when a big fat PCSO appeared from behind some trees with a handheld speed gun.
It's been a few weeks so I guess he didn't get a reading but to be called a speeder at 27 on an empty road, the utter shame.
I do seem to spend all my time looking at my Speedo and the GPS for real speed and traps, rather than looking where I am going and actually driving.
A number of times I have had a patrol car up my ass as I religiously stick to 19mph. I'm sure I can feel their frustration as they do get close almost willing me to go quicker.
Then I'll get a ticket.
I've started using the cruise control for 20mph! Problem is that my car has a tiny engine and is a manual so even in cruise it's labouring in the higher gears or revving to high in the lower gears.
Driving in town is getting ever more miserable.
I was going down there late one Sunday night and was doing 27 when a big fat PCSO appeared from behind some trees with a handheld speed gun.
It's been a few weeks so I guess he didn't get a reading but to be called a speeder at 27 on an empty road, the utter shame.
I do seem to spend all my time looking at my Speedo and the GPS for real speed and traps, rather than looking where I am going and actually driving.
A number of times I have had a patrol car up my ass as I religiously stick to 19mph. I'm sure I can feel their frustration as they do get close almost willing me to go quicker.
Then I'll get a ticket.
I've started using the cruise control for 20mph! Problem is that my car has a tiny engine and is a manual so even in cruise it's labouring in the higher gears or revving to high in the lower gears.
Driving in town is getting ever more miserable.
I am probably unusual amongst petrol heads in accepting the argument that cars choke cities and thinking that in urban spaces 20 mph limits make sense on many roads. It is suggested that local authorities have anti car agendas. If they do, why shouldn't they? There are reasonable environmental and safety arguments for reducing car use in cities. Is car use being made inconvenient on purpose? Yes it is. Because reasons.
I still enjoy driving, but I do that out of town, where there are still plenty of uncrowded and fun roads to be found. I also still collect speeding tickets from time to time, but I try to do all my speeding only on purpose, not by accident, and not in 20s and 30s.
As far as I know, the speed cameras in London 20mph zones operate at 25mph, so if you are being overtaken by hatchbacks, they may slow down once they've had two or three tickets. I used to enjoy whizzing around London, especially at night, when it was still possible to do so, but that hasn't been much of a thing for years now. Times change, and we change with them.
My main beef about traffic policy is local variance. I think that London-wide policy would be preferable to the present borough by borough system ( think that TfL sets the limits in the central area, but boroughs set limits in outer areas, but I'm not sure), and outside London county by county variations can be a bit of a pain.
PS: IIRC, the average speed of traffic in central London has been something between 8 and 12 mph for the last hundred years or so anyway, but I haven't checked that.
I still enjoy driving, but I do that out of town, where there are still plenty of uncrowded and fun roads to be found. I also still collect speeding tickets from time to time, but I try to do all my speeding only on purpose, not by accident, and not in 20s and 30s.
As far as I know, the speed cameras in London 20mph zones operate at 25mph, so if you are being overtaken by hatchbacks, they may slow down once they've had two or three tickets. I used to enjoy whizzing around London, especially at night, when it was still possible to do so, but that hasn't been much of a thing for years now. Times change, and we change with them.
My main beef about traffic policy is local variance. I think that London-wide policy would be preferable to the present borough by borough system ( think that TfL sets the limits in the central area, but boroughs set limits in outer areas, but I'm not sure), and outside London county by county variations can be a bit of a pain.
PS: IIRC, the average speed of traffic in central London has been something between 8 and 12 mph for the last hundred years or so anyway, but I haven't checked that.
Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 30th March 10:11
Here's a blurb about the TfL policy in the central area. The policy appears to reflect an ongoing change from a certain tolerance that motor vehicles will be allowed to do a certain amount of damage because they bring so many benefits, to a position of not tolerating or hardly tolerating any downsides from motor vehicles.
https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/fleet-industry-ne...
We can probably all argue all day about attitudes to risk, acceptance of risk, zero harm, personal choices, and all that.
https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/fleet-industry-ne...
We can probably all argue all day about attitudes to risk, acceptance of risk, zero harm, personal choices, and all that.
Breadvan72 said:
I am probably unusual amongst petrol heads in accepting the argument that cars choke cities and thinking that in urban spaces 20 mph limits make sense on many roads. It is suggested that local authorities have anti car agendas. If they do, why shouldn't they? There are reasonable environmental and safety arguments for reducing car use in cities. Is car use being made inconvenient on purpose? Yes it is. Because reasons.
I still enjoy driving, but I do that out of town, where there are still plenty of uncrowded and fun roads to be found. I also still collect speeding tickets from time to time, but I try to do all my speeding only on purpose, not by accident, and not in 20s and 30s.
As far as I know, the speed cameras in London 20mph zones operate at 25mph, so if you are being overtaken by hatchbacks, they may slow down once they've had two or three tickets. I used to enjoy whizzing around London, especially at night, when it was still possible to do so, but that hasn't been much of a thing for years now. Times change, and we change with them.
My main beef about traffic policy is local variance. I think that London-wide policy would be preferable to the present borough by borough system, and outside London county by county variations can be a bit of a pain.
PS: IIRC, the average speed of traffic in central London has been something between 8 and 12 mph for the last hundred years or so anyway, but I haven't checked that.
This, pretty much. Although I don't enjoy the luxury of driving to and from a country seat;) I still enjoy driving, but I do that out of town, where there are still plenty of uncrowded and fun roads to be found. I also still collect speeding tickets from time to time, but I try to do all my speeding only on purpose, not by accident, and not in 20s and 30s.
As far as I know, the speed cameras in London 20mph zones operate at 25mph, so if you are being overtaken by hatchbacks, they may slow down once they've had two or three tickets. I used to enjoy whizzing around London, especially at night, when it was still possible to do so, but that hasn't been much of a thing for years now. Times change, and we change with them.
My main beef about traffic policy is local variance. I think that London-wide policy would be preferable to the present borough by borough system, and outside London county by county variations can be a bit of a pain.
PS: IIRC, the average speed of traffic in central London has been something between 8 and 12 mph for the last hundred years or so anyway, but I haven't checked that.
In most of London I only drive now when there is no sensible alternative. Car is not the default choice it once was, and driving is not really much fun. Or at least not as much as it was 20yrs ago.
I do regret the passing of the car era in some ways, but recognise tha there are pressing reasons why car use has to be cut and they apply to me just the same as everyone else. Besides, when you are not in a car (most of the time) there is no doubt that London is a much nicer place to be when there is not much traffic and less pollution.
Car is mostly kept for longer trips out of town, and I do still enjoy that kind of driving. Bike, walk or public transport everywhere else, in that order of preference.
Edited by dontlookdown on Tuesday 30th March 10:29
Breadvan72 said:
I gave up cycling in London when I was in my thirties as, despite having quite a high appetite for dangerous sports, I felt that the risk was too high. Now I am in my fifties but central London roads favour cyclists much more than they used to, and I might get back onto a bike.
You should, things have moved on a fair bit for bicyclists in the capital. Back in the day when it really was dangerous to cycle round the smoke, those who were on bikes never complained about it much (or possibly the danger was part of the appeal). Now hordes of peeps are pedal powered and it is really pretty safe, but the internet rings with self-righteous protest every time a taxi does a slightly close pass. C'est la vie I guess.
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