M32 40mph limit, 6000 caught in 15 days

[saaby93]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-39748...
What did they expect when they put a 40mph limit on a motorway?

Apparently it's been like it for 3years to mend the central barrier

3 years???

Highways England said the 40mph limit was needed to protect drivers and workmen repairing the barrier
"Speeding can have fatal consequences. It endangers the lives of other road users and the lives of those working on the M32 improvements..
No accidents were reported in the article

However
A Highways England spokeswoman said the cameras were due to be removed by the end of May.
What about the 40 limit?

Edited by saaby93 on Tuesday 16th May 19:31

[CoolHands]

6 fasaaaand killers on the loose! Maniacs! Thanks heavens for the safety cameras keeping us alive

[anonymous-user]

Won't you think of the children, speed kills, no really it does, honest....

[gazapc]

The limit has been there since 2014 due to a 'defective central barrier'. They only got around the fixing it this year and installed the cameras to 'protect the workforce'. While I'd agree this was sort of necessary while work was goin on the fact it stayed like that for 3 years just made people completely ignore the limit and desensitise them to the risks.

The 40mph limit will stay due to the metrobus folly. The cameras will go (for the meantime, i'd expect they will be back). Even the highways authority admitted the 85th percentile speed was close to 55 mph. During rush hour you can't get much over 40mph anyway but entering Bristol at 8am on a sunday morning it is a crazily low speed to be doing.

[GrumpyTwig]

yonex said:

Won't you think of the children, speed kills, no really it does, honest....

Of course, that's why every F1 race kills 10,000 children. I say we ban all forms of movement beyond gently shuffling ones feet as anything else is suicidal.

[anonymous-user]

GrumpyTwig said:

Of course, that's why every F1 race kills 10,000 children. I say we ban all forms of movement beyond gently shuffling ones feet as anything else is suicidal.

It's the only responsible thing to do. Fairly chilling that people drive over the speed limits.

[covboy]

saaby93 said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-39748...
What did they expect when they put a 40mph limit on a motorway?

Apparently it's been like it for 3years to mend the central barrier

3 years???

Highways England said the 40mph limit was needed to protect drivers and workmen repairing the barrier
"Speeding can have fatal consequences. It endangers the lives of other road users and the lives of those working on the M32 improvements..
No accidents were reported in the article

However
A Highways England spokeswoman said the cameras were due to be removed by the end of May.
What about the 40 limit?

Edited by saaby93 on Tuesday 16th May 19:31

Got this for 18 months on the M5 between J1 & J2 while they repair the elevated section ( It is a contra-flow setup though)

[funkyrobot]

As I've said many times on here before, look how the figures are being used.

Is it so hard for people just to do the limit there?

You can use as many excuses as you like to disagree with the limit being 40mph. However, it is 40mph and if you exceed it you risk being a statistic that someone will use to justify even more reductions.

When will people learn? Saying things like if we all slowed down they would reduce it anyway is pointless. The alternative method of carrying on speeding and getting caught doesn't seem to be working.

[Hackney]

funkyrobot said:

As I've said many times on here before, look how the figures are being used.

Is it so hard for people just to do the limit there?

You can use as many excuses as you like to disagree with the limit being 40mph. However, it is 40mph and if you exceed it you risk being a statistic that someone will use to justify even more reductions.

When will people learn? Saying things like if we all slowed down they would reduce it anyway is pointless. The alternative method of carrying on speeding and getting caught doesn't seem to be working.

I agree, everyone speeding plays into their hands, but so does doing nothing except obeying the speed limit.
No doubt they'd be able to claim a reduction in deaths / accidents / emissions / wars / famine etc as a result of everyone driving at 40

The issue here is that so many people are either ignoring or are unaware of a speed limit that it's become a nonsense.

The ultimate question is, what's their aim: to reduce speeds or to raise fines.
Based on the figures, in this case, it looks like the latter

[amancalledrob]

Hackney said:

I agree, everyone speeding plays into their hands, but so does doing nothing except obeying the speed limit.
No doubt they'd be able to claim a reduction in deaths / accidents / emissions / wars / famine etc as a result of everyone driving at 40

The issue here is that so many people are either ignoring or are unaware of a speed limit that it's become a nonsense.

The ultimate question is, what's their aim: to reduce speeds or to raise fines.
Based on the figures, in this case, it looks like the latter

This does actually make a perverse sort of sense. If everyone obeyed the limits, speed cameras wouldn't fund themselves. The result could be no speed cameras and sensible speed limits, who knows

[funkyrobot]

amancalledrob said:

Hackney said:

I agree, everyone speeding plays into their hands, but so does doing nothing except obeying the speed limit.
No doubt they'd be able to claim a reduction in deaths / accidents / emissions / wars / famine etc as a result of everyone driving at 40

The issue here is that so many people are either ignoring or are unaware of a speed limit that it's become a nonsense.

The ultimate question is, what's their aim: to reduce speeds or to raise fines.
Based on the figures, in this case, it looks like the latter

This does actually make a perverse sort of sense. If everyone obeyed the limits, speed cameras wouldn't fund themselves. The result could be no speed cameras and sensible speed limits, who knows

It's something I've wondered for a while, and usually you will be shot to pieces on here if you mention it.

Personally, I stick to all speed limits. I like my licence being clean, I don't want to give the system any of my time and money, I agree with quite a few speed limits, and I would be a massive hyprocrite if I constantly exceeded the limit.

Thing is, as someone who sticks to the limit, it's interesting to note just how many drivers you are 'holding up'. I can pretty much guarantee that when doing 30 mph on my local roads, I will have someone zoom up behind me and then either overtake or drive up my chuff to try and move me out of the way.

I think so many people now either do not care about speed limits or do not notice them. The evidence is in articles like the one in the OP. With so many people driving like this, you can see why some love the revenue it generates.

[HughiusMaximus]

Hackney said:

Based on the figures, in this case, it looks like the latter

You also need to be careful on the managed motorways on the Bristol stretch of the M4 / M5.

The variable speed cameras operate even when there is nothing indicated on the gantries!

Bristol has been anti car for a while, no idea if they have any influence on the M4 / M5 speed cameras though...

[7795]

Pick a spot of armco that need replacing, erect speed camera and the fines pay for the work that needs to be done to armco. I kinda like the thought process there...!

[voyds9]

funkyrobot said:

As I've said many times on here before, look how the figures are being used.

Is it so hard for people just to do the limit there?

You can use as many excuses as you like to disagree with the limit being 40mph. However, it is 40mph and if you exceed it you risk being a statistic that someone will use to justify even more reductions.

When will people learn? Saying things like if we all slowed down they would reduce it anyway is pointless. The alternative method of carrying on speeding and getting caught doesn't seem to be working.

Sheeple

[caelite]

funkyrobot said:

As I've said many times on here before, look how the figures are being used.

Is it so hard for people just to do the limit there?

You can use as many excuses as you like to disagree with the limit being 40mph. However, it is 40mph and if you exceed it you risk being a statistic that someone will use to justify even more reductions.

When will people learn? Saying things like if we all slowed down they would reduce it anyway is pointless. The alternative method of carrying on speeding and getting caught doesn't seem to be working.

Or the other alternative method of just popping your plates off like about 40% of the private vans rolling up the A9 at 70mph now do

[funkyrobot]

caelite said:

Or the other alternative method of just popping your plates off like about 40% of the private vans rolling up the A9 at 70mph now do

Or some handily placed dirt on the numberplate. Shiny, clean van, but dirty numberplate.

[Venturist]

funkyrobot said:

As I've said many times on here before, look how the figures are being used.

Is it so hard for people just to do the limit there?

You can use as many excuses as you like to disagree with the limit being 40mph. However, it is 40mph and if you exceed it you risk being a statistic that someone will use to justify even more reductions.

When will people learn? Saying things like if we all slowed down they would reduce it anyway is pointless. The alternative method of carrying on speeding and getting caught doesn't seem to be working.

Your argument is flawed because ANY speed limit is a risk/benefit tradeoff. If everyone did 40, all it takes is someone to point out that it'd be even safer if everyone did 30, and all of a sudden can end up in hysteria about all the lives it's needlessly taking.
You can always be safer, right down to simply leaving the car parked on the drive and never going out. It's a race to the bottom.

[funkyrobot]

Venturist said:

funkyrobot said:

As I've said many times on here before, look how the figures are being used.

Is it so hard for people just to do the limit there?

You can use as many excuses as you like to disagree with the limit being 40mph. However, it is 40mph and if you exceed it you risk being a statistic that someone will use to justify even more reductions.

When will people learn? Saying things like if we all slowed down they would reduce it anyway is pointless. The alternative method of carrying on speeding and getting caught doesn't seem to be working.

Your argument is flawed because ANY speed limit is a risk/benefit tradeoff. If everyone did 40, all it takes is someone to point out that it'd be even safer if everyone did 30, and all of a sudden can end up in hysteria about all the lives it's needlessly taking.
You can always be safer, right down to simply leaving the car parked on the drive and never going out. It's a race to the bottom.

Right. Because so many people being caught speeding is really making a difference, isn't it.

[Venturist]

funkyrobot said:

Right. Because so many people being caught speeding is really making a difference, isn't it.

I think you've missed my point - agreed it's not making a difference, because through overzealous implementation people have got desensitised and disinterested in speed limits and now don't respect them. QED.
There's a level of risk that - through measurable behaviour, not empty words - society is evidently happy to accept. By setting the bar significantly lower than that, no matter how noble the intention, you pretty much ensure non-compliance and a continuing downward spiral of loss of respect for the limits.

Having recently driven across Germany the contrast is striking - the frequent de-restricted sections mean that when a speed limited section arrives, by and large people are happy to conform to it, because you have faith it's there for a good reason - and it usually is. Then as soon as the hazard is passed, the limit is promptly lifted and people are free to get on with their business again.

I'm not advocating removing speed limits on UK motorways as I just don't think our driver population could cope without massive carnage, but I think we would do well to stop pretending that all these blanket excessive limits are actually productive in the broad sense.

[BertBert]

I never stick to speed limits. Sometimes I'll be over, sometimes under. But I never have the objective of sticking to the limit.

funkyrobot said:

Personally, I stick to all speed limits.