Best way to travel 5 miles to a train station?

You carry a detector?

No you just said
"According to my GPS, that translates to around 55kph on the speedo."

That's 33mph. Unusual for a speedo to be out in that direction.

You fitted significantly larger tyres? The difference between worn/unworn
tyres of the same type is only 1%.

Things you say don't stack up.

 

As ever, you miss the point. It was more dangerous than had you been
doing 30. Oh, and illegal.

Guy

 

Because society, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that 30
represents and acceptable balance between progress and risk.

Guy

 

Is the French rate still higher? The French have recently achieved
startling reducitons in death rates through increased traffic
enforcement.

Guy

 

As well as cameras for absolute offences, yes. Unfortunately the
Daily Mail won't allow a single policeman to be diverted from the real
work of guarding Middle Britain's video recorders in order to save
lives on the roads.

Guy

 

However all roads with a 30 limit are not equal so driving at the legal
limit represents different levels of danger in different locations , not to
mention times , days , weather etc.

It is perfectly possible to be more dangerous driving at 30 legally on one
road , than 40 in a 30 zone on another road


--
Alex

YZF 600

"I laugh in the face of danger"

"Then I hide until it goes away"

www.upce.org.uk
www.drzoidberg.co.uk

 

Same way as it always did, same way as it always will.

No, you are mistaking "possibly maybe once perhaps" for "quite
frequently".

And really persuade them that car drivers own the road. Great idea, I
ownder why nobody thought of that before? Alternatively you could try
getting them out on the road son bikes and give them a tangible
appreciation of how scary cars are.

But the law doesn't require the car to be made of marshmallow, while
it does require it to be driven within the speed limit.

Fear of detection plays a part in deterring most crime. If you could
kill your worst enemy and be absolutely sure you would not get caught,
would you not even be slightly tempted? How about if you could rob a
bank and be certain of not being caught?

Because good road sense is the foundation of good driving habits,
whereas promoting the idea of the car as king of the road is not. A
problem first identified over half a century ago.

Testopsterone poisining tends to wear off with age, yet people still
drive like numpties. Just look at the pent-up aggression of Vectra
Man tailgating on the M6. I have watched these types cutting in and
out of lanes in congested traffic, sometimes they might make up as
much as three or four car lengths in half an hour without more than a
few dozen near misses.

The real problem is people pretending that it's the rules which are
wrong rather than breaking them. There seems to be a substantial
minority who are still fighting the long-lost fight against imposition
of speed limits.

Indeed, for example by remembering that not everybody on the roads has
a steel safety cage around them, and slowing down for their sake.
Dream on.

For example by teaching them road sense as cyclists, where they will
gain a much greater appreciation of the dangers careless driving poses
to others, without posing significant risk themselves. Who knows, it
might even get teenagers off the pavements and into the road where
they belong.

Guy

 

Accident implies unpredicatbility. Most car crashes are perfectly
predictable, just not inevitable. That's why official bodies are
tending away from using the word "accident" these days, to remind
people that actually they can avoid crashes if they try hard enough.

Let's blame everybody else, shall we? Strange how the solution is
always for someone else to do something,

Guy

 

Up to a point, Lord Copper. Offences like causing death through
dangerous driving were introduced because juries refuse to convict of
manslaughter even in the most egregious cases. Something about
turkeys not voting for Christmas, I think.

Guy

 

Indeed. But less risk at 30 than 35mph.

Indeed. But less risk at the limit than above it in each case.

I just wonder why some poeple have sucha huge problem with obeying the
limit. I can't say it causes me any trouble.

Guy

 

Just zis Guy, you know? says...

It's not a phobia for me. Whilst I whole-heartedly agree with the 30 mph
speed limit in residential areas and where there are schools, the
current speed limits were imposed when a normal family saloon car was a
Mk1 Ford Cortina with drum brakes all round and virtually no concessions
towards safety. What our govt seem to fail to realise is that technology
has moved forward in leaps and bounds. I can probably stop my bike in
less distance from 150mph than you could stop a Mk1 Cortina from 70mph.

But I suppose that as long as the govt can screw money from us for
breaking speed limits in NSLs then we're never likely to see things
change. Until they do I'll just continue to break the law whenever I
feel like it.

 

Lozzo wrote:

It fails dismally to screw any money from me for this. I'm not a great
fan of taxes on stupidity (including the lottery as well) but it is
important to recognise that they _are_ totally voluntary.

James

 

How fast does a 4x4 go in reverse, large engine or not? And he'll be
changing direction dramatically involuntarily if he's racing backwards with
his large engine at full throttle, unless he's some sort of driving god.
Over a couple of hundred yards, I'm surprised he got anywhere near them
without sticking it in the ditch.

They were probably gobsmacked. If they'd perceived that they were in actual
danger, they'd have fucked off into the hedge or the nearest garden or
whatever, no problem. But hindsight is a wonderful thing.

 

Well yes )

Things never are equal though, that's the problem. If (and we're talking
human nature here) people concentrate better when they're going slightly
faster, an accident may not happen in the first just place because they're
being more attentive.

To be honest, even though it pains me to say it, I wouldn't advocate
deristriction of Motorways.

I think you're in a fairly small minority there - well assuming you don't
mean, read the paper, talk on the phone and generally daydream, which is
what most people appear to do when they're not being stimulated enough by
their driving

S'funny that because those figures (12.5% caused by excessive speed) are
from the TRL system of reporting - but without the spin. The report itself
is all about how to accurately record the contributory factors of accidents-
you know, so that more can be prevented.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_rdsafety/documents/page/dft_rdsafe
ty_028073.pdf

As to not having any idea what proprotion of accidents which are caused by
excessive speed actually occur below the speed limit, I'd have thought it's
absolutely crucial to your argument. If they all happened below the speed
limit, for instance, then speeding would actually be a safer way to travel.
Anyway, apparently, only Avon & Somerset police make the distinction and 70%
of those deemed to be caused by excessive speed occurred at below the speed
limit. So that's 3.4% (assuming average figures for A&S) due to excessive
speed _over_ the limit. Good eh?

 

| Patrick Herring () gurgled happily, sounding much like they
| were saying :
|
| > Isn't it also about the ability of other people to predict where
| > you'll be in n seconds, which is why 35 in a 30 is dangerous.
|
| Besides the fact that 35 is hardly light speed, and thus not exactly
| difficult to predict the future path; and besides the fact that 35 in a 30
| is not exactly completely unknown... What other people? There were none. No
| peds, no other cars.

OK, I was thinking of the situation in general and the way the limit
sometimes looks like drivers are supposed to become suddenly
incompetent over a particular speed. In general you have blind bends,
side roads with parked cars obscuring the sight lines, etc etc, and
being able to predict, to a useful degree, the behaviour limits of
other cars is, er, useful.

 

Not so.

They were introduced in 1933 (when you didn't even need to pass a test to
get a full licence to drive a Model T, or Austin 7 - or even what then
passed for a heavy good vehicle).

 

[ ... ]

Only by people who cannot remember when they were unrestricted (within easy
living memory).

 

JNugent says...

I think you'll find the NSL was introduced in the early 60s after a high
speed run up the newly built M1 by an AC Cobra was bandied about the
national press. Prior to this we did not have a national speed limit and
any speed was acceptable on out of town roads. Either way, they are
hopelessly outdated, much the same as our politicians.

HTH.

 

No, I wear a pair of eyes.

Maybe. But it is.

Standard fit is 135 15 ZX Michelin. They're more-or-less unavailable.
It'd been on 145 XZX Michelin. They're more-or-less unavailable.
It's now on 145 Firestone, which are a slightly lower sidewall profile.
Therefore the speedo slightly over-reads.

 

True, but we're talking about 30.