LocostBuilders - powered by XMB

Speed limit on country roads to be cut...

flak monkey - 9/3/09 at 12:33 PM

Like its going to make the least bit of difference....

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/03/09/speed-limits-on-country-roads-are-to-be-cut-to-50mph-115875-21183691/

dinosaurjuice - 9/3/09 at 12:40 PM

from article:

"But when you compare that to the fact we are killing 3,000 people a year on our roads, it would be irresponsible not to do something about it."

someone i know (he lent me an engine crane) died of MRSA last year, along with the other 3499. one week after he was given the all clear from a brain tumour.

[Edited on 9/3/09 by dinosaurjuice]

[Edited on 9/3/09 by dinosaurjuice]

David Jenkins - 9/3/09 at 12:46 PM

I also noticed a headline in the Metro (London freebie paper) this morning - motorists will soon face speed cameras without any form of warning (e.g. no longer painted yellow, etc.)

No idea how accurate that claim is...

phoenix70 - 9/3/09 at 12:46 PM

Talk about idiots, they put all these speed cameras up, that are forcing a certain type of driver to use the rural road rather than the main road, now they are going to reduce the limit (which face there is no way they will be able to enforce, unless they put more cameras up)

What about give motorist something back, by upping the speed limit on motorways and duals to 80 or so.

Its about time they admitted that it isn't the speed thats the problem, but the ability of the drivers that's the problem.

Cheers

Scott

[Edited on 9/3/09 by phoenix70]

Agriv8 - 9/3/09 at 12:47 PM

It will make little difference IMHO.

but it will
increase revenue speed camera's( oh these will be point to point devices )
save money as the road surface will not need to be maintained ( not that it anyway )

why not increase the standard of driving rather than tar us all with the same brush.

[Edited on 9/3/09 by Agriv8]

flak monkey - 9/3/09 at 12:58 PM

It is totally unreasonable in my opinion. Talking about cutting the speed limit on over 2/3 of the uk's roads and speed accounts for 'only' 29% of accidents.

What's the likelihood that those people speeding excessively which resulted in an accident would have been slowed down by a reduction in the speed limit?

Cut in carbon emmissions? Thats rubbish as well. Most modern cars are set up to be most efficient at 60-80mph.

I am just waiting for some politician to bring up fitting point to point speed cameras on all the major roads.

Its getting silly. Blame the motorist for everything... All the political parties are the same. I reckon if someone started up a party to support motorists they would get a lot of support.

If I get half the chance I am outa here...

hughpinder - 9/3/09 at 01:02 PM

"Ministers say it will improve safety on single-lane rural roads, where they believe there is a particular problem with speeding cars overtaking."

So if you reduce the speed limit, the 'speeding cars' will catch up with even more cars and overtake even more times.....
Perhaps they should ban overtaking!

Seriously though, I am amazed how many people now overtake me on blind bends and approaching the brows of hills - It used to be rare (and I dont drive slow - obviously not exceeding 60 officier). I probably do emergency brakes 5 or 6 times a year to let people in who have completely misjudged their overtaking point, and it has reached the point where I can see far enough ahead to know the're not going to make it. Last year I nearly had a nasty accident as the bloke coming towards me and overtaking a queue, while going up a hill over a blind summit, decided that he could make it past another 3 cars and an artic after I saw him (with pulling in places between each). He smashed the side of his car into the artic trailer rear wheels, the bonnet was torn off and thrown over the top of my car. I was effectivly stationary on the grass as close to the hedge as I could get, and he still only missed me by a couple of inches. He didn't bother to stop.
I dont believe this will make any difference to the accident figures.
Hugh

hellbent345 - 9/3/09 at 01:04 PM

same here, this country is going from bad to worse. As soon as i get my degree im out of this sh*thole. And i hope my feelings are shared by most other people, and we show them our feelings with our feet. Where would the jobsworths be without the taxes coming from the ordinary man? no fu*king where that where.

mr henderson - 9/3/09 at 01:27 PM

quote:
Originally posted by hellbent345
As soon as i get my degree im out of this sh*thole.

So where are you planning to go? Do tell us, as I am sure there will be plenty here who would like to know where this magic country with jobs and no speed limits is

John

smart51 - 9/3/09 at 01:27 PM

quote:
Originally posted by flak monkey
It is totally unreasonable in my opinion. Talking about cutting the speed limit on over 2/3 of the uk's roads and speed accounts for 'only' 29% of accidents.

.. and of those 29% I've have thought many are people doing 90 in a 60 or doing 60 but in the snow.

quote:
Originally posted by flak monkey
Cut in carbon emmissions? Thats rubbish as well. Most modern cars are set up to be most efficient at 60-80mph.

No, that's rubbish. It has nothing to do with "set up". A car uses more engery to cover the same ground at higher speed. The faster you go, the worse MPG you will do. Inefficiencies at low speeds mean there is a broad peak MPG for your car, it may be around 20 MPH or around 40 MPH but it is safe to say that above 50 MPH, every increase in speed will increase fuel consumption per unit of distance.

On the brighter side, every authoritarian measure Brown's government introduce will make them less popular and so more likely to lose the next election. Not that the greasy weasle of the other lot will be any better.

adithorp - 9/3/09 at 01:44 PM

"...As soon as i get my degree..."

Can we assume from that that your not one of these?

"...taxes coming from the ordinary man? ..."

adrian

sucksqueezebangblow - 9/3/09 at 01:51 PM

It will increase road deaths. 50 limit = more overtaking by frustrated drivers= more head on smashes = more deaths.

cd.thomson - 9/3/09 at 01:55 PM

quote:
Originally posted by adithorp
"...As soon as i get my degree..."

Can we assume from that that your not one of these?

"...taxes coming from the ordinary man? ..."

adrian

I would assume that in the future he'll be in a high tax band and will be paying back his student loans well above the rate of inflation. 3 years of reduced taxation (remember he still pays car/fuel tax on the topic of driving) compared to paying more tax than the average individual for the rest of his life

Mr Whippy - 9/3/09 at 01:57 PM

It doesn’t make any difference how efficient your car gets, if its going twice as fast it will always use at least 4 times as much energy, usually a lot more. You can't get round that.

It also means that cars that are tested at 35mph are also subject to four times as much energy in a 70mph crash. That’s why I'd say the speed limit shouldn't be raised, even on motorways as if you did then almost all crashes would be fatal. The brakes and handling of modern cars may be vastly better than in the past but no cars been built yet to make a 70mph crash survivable, far less a 80 or 90mph one.

Do you not remember this

60 mph crash test

[Edited on 9/3/09 by Mr Whippy]

02GF74 - 9/3/09 at 02:35 PM

errr, have you not asked yourself where the money to fund the failed banks is going to come from?

MikeRJ - 9/3/09 at 02:49 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
It doesn’t make any difference how efficient your car gets, if its going twice as fast it will always use at least 4 times as much energy, usually a lot more. You can't get round that.

Right, but the efficiency of a petrol engine is not constant!

Mr Whippy - 9/3/09 at 03:14 PM

quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ

quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
It doesn’t make any difference how efficient your car gets, if its going twice as fast it will always use at least 4 times as much energy, usually a lot more. You can't get round that.

Right, but the efficiency of a petrol engine is not constant!

It doesn't matter if it’s a petrol engine, jet or a rocket traveling in space. Just a law of kinetic energy that’s all. Even if the engine was at the same optimum rpm at both speeds (say with gearing designed for each speed for a test) it would still be using at least four times a the fuel at twice the speed. Add the air resistance also going up four times and the tyre drag being doubled.

My main point is that crashes at normal country road speeds, the 60mph limit now, are usually not survivable by even modern cars, especially if its into oncoming traffic or tree's etc

rf900rush - 9/3/09 at 04:17 PM

We will be screwed more and more until enough of our people do something else other that complain. (just like I'm doing now).

And I think we can all be pushed alot more before we break.

mark chandler - 9/3/09 at 05:13 PM

They tried to exend the 30mph limit down my road to 40mph, outside my house and the police objected so the council gave up.

The gist of the police report was as we cannot enforce the limit then there is no gain in extending the zone.

So will this make any difference, NO!

mr henderson - 9/3/09 at 06:58 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mr henderson

quote:
Originally posted by hellbent345
As soon as i get my degree im out of this sh*thole.

So where are you planning to go? Do tell us, as I am sure there will be plenty here who would like to know where this magic country with jobs and no speed limits is

John

Just in case Hellbent missed this question last time he was here, I thought I would ask it again

(I think I know what the answer is, though)...........nowhere

flak monkey - 9/3/09 at 07:00 PM

There are a lot of good oportunities if you have the appropriate qual's overseas. Australia and New Zealand are crying out for engineering graduates and professionals.

David

mr henderson - 9/3/09 at 07:05 PM

quote:
Originally posted by flak monkey
There are a lot of good oportunities if you have the appropriate qual's overseas. Australia and New Zealand are crying out for engineering graduates and professionals.

David

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_in_Australia

http://wikitravel.org/en/Driving_in_New_Zealand

flak monkey - 9/3/09 at 07:09 PM

quote:
Originally posted by smart51

quote:
Originally posted by flak monkey
Cut in carbon emmissions? Thats rubbish as well. Most modern cars are set up to be most efficient at 60-80mph.

No, that's rubbish. It has nothing to do with "set up". A car uses more engery to cover the same ground at higher speed. The faster you go, the worse MPG you will do. Inefficiencies at low speeds mean there is a broad peak MPG for your car, it may be around 20 MPH or around 40 MPH but it is safe to say that above 50 MPH, every increase in speed will increase fuel consumption per unit of distance.

Okie dokie. I of course know that more speed requires more energy its an irrefutable principal of physics!

What I meant was most modern cars achieve higher fuel economies on a fastish motorway cruise than stuck behind someone doing 40-50mph - due to they way most people drive in this situation. Take my mini as an example, a decent journey averaging 60-70mph sees the fuel efficiency up at 40mpg. Most of what I get out here stuck behind someone dawdling along at 40-50mph I am lucky if I get 30mpg (an no thats not because I overtake every one of them)

Its all down to how the fuel map is set up in the cars. They have an incredibly lean (16:1 or even higher in some cases) cruising rpm, which is deemed to be 60+mph in top gear so you get higher mpg and therfore less carbon emmisions as on the same journey at 50mph in the same gear (you will have used more fuel to cover the same distance).

You can of course get around this in your style of driving, by keeping the engine in that peak efficiency rev range. But how many people know where that is? I bet *most* people think the higher gear you are in the better and let their engines labour and use more fuel than if they changed down a notch....

David

flak monkey - 9/3/09 at 07:16 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mr henderson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_in_Australia

http://wikitravel.org/en/Driving_in_New_Zealand

Yep, pretty much the same as they are over here at the moment. 60 on normal roads, 70 on motorways and 30 in built up areas. Also a darn sight less speed scameras.

Its not just the constant attacks on the motorists that makes people angry. Its the build up of lots of different things which push people to leave.

Granted many countries are in the same position at the moment with the 'global economic crisis' but when things look up there are better places to be than the UK, with less tax, higher standard of living, a more laid back/friendlier culture etc etc.

At the end of the day its down to what you as an individual wants. There are patriots who still think Britain is Great but we have become such a diluted version of what we were it really doesnt matter any more. We seem to be happier to stand up and say 'look at us arent we such great failures' rather than 'look at what we have done well' which really annoys me the most. Its this negativity, which is perpetrated largely by the media, which depresses everyone.

The UK is a joke TBH, it would be nice to see it turned around (and maybe in my lifetime it will be) and made great at something again. We just need to stop pandering to some of the PC rubbish, start making our OWN decisions on whats best for OUR economy and building the country back up.

Well that was a ramble!

Back to the main point, it would be nice if they stopped picking on motorists like we are criminals and to blame for everything which is wrong in the world and start giving us something back.

I reckon if someone had the guts to start up a political party supporting motorists they would get a lot of support.

David

[Edited on 9/3/09 by flak monkey]

mr henderson - 9/3/09 at 07:28 PM

quote:
Originally posted by flak monkey

I reckon if someone had the guts to start up a political party supporting motorists they would get a lot of support.

Been going since 1992, are you in it?

http://www.abd.org.uk/