Why are we going backwards?
Discussion
Or rather why are we getting slower?
My commute takes in a good mix of roads. Some rural A roads, some dual carriage way, a bit of motorway. But a large portion is the rural A road and it isn't just the one route, I can take multiple routes, which is very good for boredom. But I've noticed over the years roads being knocked down from NSL to 50, some even get a second round and end up at 40. I've noticed 30 and 40 zones be extended and just recently they've reduced a particularly lovely section of road down to 50 from NSL. And I just can't see the reasoning.
Now this section of road is very wide. Lots of tarmac, wide lanes essentially made for ease of overtaking slow lorries, lots of space, very well sighted, actually good road surface, no sharp turns: it's all sweepers. Never in my nearly 10 years of driving it have I seen an accident. So why has it been made a blanket 50? who was asked and what were their reasons? Ironically, there was an accident the other day; after they'd been and put the new signs up!
The only places I do see accidents on my route are junctions; poorly sighted, or too much going on in a small space, most of these are well within all the "slow zones" too. There is one particular set of junctions, in a 50 zone, that have had numerous bad accidents including deaths. Nothing is done about these. That particular junction could do with digging up and something better being put in place - or even traffic lights! But they can reduce all the limits on roads that simply never feature in any accident statistics.
Cars are so capable now and yet we're going slower than ever; its either masses of traffic or people in the council-who seem to think you'll suffocate if you venture over walking speed - are systematically lowering all the speed limits!
My commute takes in a good mix of roads. Some rural A roads, some dual carriage way, a bit of motorway. But a large portion is the rural A road and it isn't just the one route, I can take multiple routes, which is very good for boredom. But I've noticed over the years roads being knocked down from NSL to 50, some even get a second round and end up at 40. I've noticed 30 and 40 zones be extended and just recently they've reduced a particularly lovely section of road down to 50 from NSL. And I just can't see the reasoning.
Now this section of road is very wide. Lots of tarmac, wide lanes essentially made for ease of overtaking slow lorries, lots of space, very well sighted, actually good road surface, no sharp turns: it's all sweepers. Never in my nearly 10 years of driving it have I seen an accident. So why has it been made a blanket 50? who was asked and what were their reasons? Ironically, there was an accident the other day; after they'd been and put the new signs up!
The only places I do see accidents on my route are junctions; poorly sighted, or too much going on in a small space, most of these are well within all the "slow zones" too. There is one particular set of junctions, in a 50 zone, that have had numerous bad accidents including deaths. Nothing is done about these. That particular junction could do with digging up and something better being put in place - or even traffic lights! But they can reduce all the limits on roads that simply never feature in any accident statistics.
Cars are so capable now and yet we're going slower than ever; its either masses of traffic or people in the council-who seem to think you'll suffocate if you venture over walking speed - are systematically lowering all the speed limits!
Speed has been the easy whipping boy - easy to tax, better driver focus and better driver training would make more sense but not easy to implement.
Driver skill is poor and there are ever increasing numbers of drivers. There are too many drivers cruising around thinking of many other things in their busy lives….i guess we need them to be moving slower if we cannot make them concentrate on improving every drive they take?
Driver skill is poor and there are ever increasing numbers of drivers. There are too many drivers cruising around thinking of many other things in their busy lives….i guess we need them to be moving slower if we cannot make them concentrate on improving every drive they take?
I'm sure I've read somewhere before that roads with lower speed limits (design speeds) have lower maintenance requirements than those with higher limits. Therefore by lowering the speed limit the council can get away with spending less on road maintenance.
For cash strapped councils (that'll be all of them!) it's an easy way to try and balance the books. I mean they could remove the 17%+ pension contributions for new council employees, but that would be inhumane, right!
For cash strapped councils (that'll be all of them!) it's an easy way to try and balance the books. I mean they could remove the 17%+ pension contributions for new council employees, but that would be inhumane, right!
The real problem though is when they reduce that NSL 60 single carriageway road to 50 and its then clogged up by f
kwits doing 40 as there st scared of being anywhere near the speed limit.
Wife and I are on holiday in rural Yorkshire this week and have done around 300 miles of driving. Without doubt the most frustrating thing is sitting at 35-40 mph roads that were undoubtedly 60 until recent times.
The result, long cues of 10-20 cars all getting pissed off. Half of them sat nose to tail with no intentions of overtaking but making it impossible for anyone competent enough to actually overtake from doing so.
fk it’s been frustrating to say the least to get anywhere making decent progress and it’s not even the summer holidays,
kwits doing 40 as there st scared of being anywhere near the speed limit.Wife and I are on holiday in rural Yorkshire this week and have done around 300 miles of driving. Without doubt the most frustrating thing is sitting at 35-40 mph roads that were undoubtedly 60 until recent times.
The result, long cues of 10-20 cars all getting pissed off. Half of them sat nose to tail with no intentions of overtaking but making it impossible for anyone competent enough to actually overtake from doing so.
f
k it’s been frustrating to say the least to get anywhere making decent progress and it’s not even the summer holidays,Pretty much as above, and also keeps emissions down because doing 40 will save the planet. Kind of why I don't get the love for performance cars anymore, you can lose your licence in 2nd gear in most of them, and pootling behind some Honda jazz on the Derbyshire b roads isn't my idea of fun.
Speed limits are in place to cater for the lowest ability drivers. Snake pass and road between Buxton and Macclesfield has speed cameras everywhere too as bikers are unable to stay upright, so they've ruined it for the rest of us.
Speed limits are in place to cater for the lowest ability drivers. Snake pass and road between Buxton and Macclesfield has speed cameras everywhere too as bikers are unable to stay upright, so they've ruined it for the rest of us.
I was driving on a wide road through an industrial area outside Alta Fulla, Spain, a couple of weeks back. The speed limit is 30 km/h, I have no idea where the speed cameras are, so I decided to exceed the speed limit by 5km/h. A queue of cars built up behind me in no time, the driver behind me was a metre off my bumper and clearly displeased/producing excessive spittle whilst shouting.
It’s an interesting, but not uncommon, situation… where a speed limit is ignored by pretty much every driver.
It’s an interesting, but not uncommon, situation… where a speed limit is ignored by pretty much every driver.
Riley Blue said:
Make something other than speed your focus and bring the enjoyment back to driving. 
This Buy a car that's still good to drive at reasonable speeds.
I still love and enjoy driving. Who knows why limits come down. It can be due to a myriad reasons but I can't be arsed to worry about it.
Zero Fuchs said:
Riley Blue said:
Make something other than speed your focus and bring the enjoyment back to driving.
This Buy a car that's still good to drive at reasonable speeds.
I still love and enjoy driving. Who knows why limits come down. It can be due to a myriad reasons but I can't be arsed to worry about it.
I have a Renault Twizy, that makes speed limit driving a bit more interesting as it struggles to break the 50 limits but it doesn’t have the range.
The last 6 weeks I have been driving my mother in laws Citroen C1 1.0. It is a bit more interesting to thrash about and do semi legal speeds but I do miss my comfy and powerful V8 Rangie on the bumpy roads and it isn’t fun like my Boxster on an open B road.
Puzzles said:
Yep a lot of roads near me have been reduced even though nothing has changed.
One long stretch went from 60 to 40, now you’ll mostly do the 4 or so miles at 35mph max.
That’s progress eh?
This is the main problem. Reducing the speed limit is fine if there are problem areas where crashes occur frequently. Whilst the limits aren't a target, too many drivers will see a 40mph limit and drive at 30mph, especially if there is a speed camera along that road. But then their 30mph drive is in reality a true speed of 27-28mph in a 40 zone. And if there is a hill, their reaction isn't sufficient to maintain 30mph and their speed will drop even lower to 20 odd mph.One long stretch went from 60 to 40, now you’ll mostly do the 4 or so miles at 35mph max.
That’s progress eh?
Councils/LAs/Highways get money to "improve" roads and junctions and they will implement the plan even after consultation. When they advertise a scheme it's as good as done and dusted. So roads get cleansed and sanitised by restricting roadspace and limits.
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