MP calls for speed limit cut
Read speed limit signs in kilometres, she says
70kph?
MP for Llanelli Nia Griffith wants UK speed signs to be read in kilometres rather than miles, thus cutting the speed limits on all of Britain's roads by nearly half. The aim is to save money -- no new signposts to put up -- and energy, as we'd all drive really slowly. Griffiths also claimed it would make the roads safer.
PistonHeads thinks this is a great idea. Since no-one would obey such a crazy, unpoliceable change in the limit, especially on Britain's safest roads, the motorways, people would travel at the speed at which they find most comfortable.
On most motorways, that settles down to about 90mph. The result would be no more accidents than before, despite officially speeding by twice the limit.
It would provide a concrete demonstration that enforcing fixed speed limits, regardless of the conditions, is truly pointless. Then maybe we could move on towards a more realistic speed limit policy.
Maybe?
As said before, lock him up for a long time!
!!!!!
As for 43mph being economical, has she ever driven a car? My experience of all the cars I've driven has been that either they can't pull 5th/overdrive top comfortably at less than 45-50mph, can pull the gear but labour unecessarily, or they're automatics in which the torque convertor doesn't lock up until you're doing 50-ish.
They don't magically get linearly more economical the slower you drive!
With the number of outbursts in this manner, I am beginning to give some serious consideration to the view mentioned before on Pistonheads, that what they're really worried about is the fact that I, along with most car owners, could jump in my car now and be almost anywhere in the country by the end of the day, a situation which is entirely abhorrent to some of the control freaks at the reins.
And in other news: -
The MP for Llanelli Nia Griffith, was left red faced today when a joke news story that was meant for April 1st was released on a top UK motoring forum.
The 'gag' was that motorists should drive at almost half the current speed limits, and was actually an ironic attempt to point out how stupid and arbitrary a lot of current limits are - but this was wasted on many people due to the stupid and arbitrary nature of most MPs.
As for 43mph being economical, has she ever driven a car? My experience of all the cars I've driven has been that either they can't pull 5th/overdrive top comfortably at less than 45-50mph, can pull the gear but labour unecessarily, or they're automatics in which the torque convertor doesn't lock up until you're doing 50-ish.
They don't magically get linearly more economical the slower you drive!
I don't get this dim-witted simplistic notion from non-driving politicians that the slower you drive, the less fuel you use. Is that why the 'urban cycle' always returns very low mpg figures and 'highway mileage' is the highest?
And then there's that sad excuse that 70mph is some kind of 'tipping point' for fuel economy - no it isn't, it's merely the motorway speed limit and you've found another excuse to make money.
Fuel economy at speed depends on different things that vary from car to car - weight, fuel type, induction method, engine configuration, transmission type, aerodynamic drag coefficient, which way the wind's blowing, whether the aircon's on, how many electronic devices the car's running, which gear the driver chooses to be in, how much luggage is being carried - and I'm sure there are many more.
But no, the politicians ignore all that and say that if you go over 70mph on a motorway you kill the planet. Oh, right-o then
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