Uk speed limits your thoughts!

[Throttled]

I think I should be allowed to go faster because I am such a good rider/driver. That should not be applied to idiots who should have to drive/ride about in vehicles with yellow spots on the me to show they are not allowed over the speed limit.

See, fast and safe.

[Smokin Joe]

In general I think they are about right.

[TC1474]

The problem we have these days is that deciding what limits are put in place is now down to a democracy of 1

Until a few years ago, the local Highways had to consult with the Police. The Police would look at the accident stats for that section of road, then the 85% percentile check would be done, enforcement issues would be looked at, and an agreement would be agreed as to the best way forward, which may be to increase, reduce or keep the limit as they were.

However, once the requirement to consult the Police was removed, the Highways decided that they were suitably qualified to decide what limits went where, and even though there were no known problems or there may be issues enforcing certain limits, they would act alone rather than in consultation, and in many cases the Police were opposed because there simply was no justification for lowering the limit.

And that is how it remains to this day.

Many experienced traffic cops disagree with many of the limits imposed by the local authorities, and as has been mentioned, in some cases the lowering of the limit has actually caused an increase in crashes, but they have to enforce.

Traffic engineers with degrees are far better qualified to decide what is an appropriate limit than a traffic cop who actually investigates the cause of the crashes and has to clear up the mess made by the Highways.

Go back to the old system, and we might actually strike a better or at least more acceptable balance.

[cyberwolf]

we have speed limts in the uk

[numptyspence]

On the whole they are right but motorways are too slow and should be more like 100 but not with the massive allowance the police let people get away with now

Urban areas are fine and 30/40 and schools/ hospitals with 20 or lower fine by me.

ex 60 roads now being 50. Get them back to 60

[fullscreenaging]

The problem we have these days is that deciding what limits are put in place is now down to a democracy of 1

Until a few years ago, the local Highways had to consult with the Police. The Police would look at the accident stats for that section of road, then the 85% percentile check would be done, enforcement issues would be looked at, and an agreement would be agreed as to the best way forward, which may be to increase, reduce or keep the limit as they were.

However, once the requirement to consult the Police was removed, the Highways decided that they were suitably qualified to decide what limits went where, and even though there were no known problems or there may be issues enforcing certain limits, they would act alone rather than in consultation, and in many cases the Police were opposed because there simply was no justification for lowering the limit.

And that is how it remains to this day.

Many experienced traffic cops disagree with many of the limits imposed by the local authorities, and as has been mentioned, in some cases the lowering of the limit has actually caused an increase in crashes, but they have to enforce.

Traffic engineers with degrees are far better qualified to decide what is an appropriate limit than a traffic cop who actually investigates the cause of the crashes and has to clear up the mess made by the Highways.

Go back to the old system, and we might actually strike a better or at least more acceptable balance.

 

Very interesting TC. Thanks for that information. It all makes sense now.......everything always looks better on paper.......

[TC1474]

A little story for you.

Not long before the sighting of speed limits was deregulated and the local authority were no longer required to consult the Police. my Sgt asked me to accompany him to a Highways meeting as he wanted to get approval for a camera to be sited on the approach to a school where there had been a lot of crashes, some of them catastrophically with kids involved.

At this this time, which must have been late 80's early 90's the cost of each camera was around £17,000 and was sin the days when the cameras carried real film and had to be loaded each time a site was to go live, but the location of the live camera changed daily..

My skipper made the case for the camera to the committee, in particular the chairman of the committee who approved the finance.

The chairman was very pensive and said that he and his committee would approve the camera we wanted if Barry (My Sgt) would approve a camera being placed outside this Councillors house.

Now, where this chap lived was subject to a 30 limit and there had been no problems with speed because the nature and width of the road naturally prevented any excess speed, and there certainly had not been any crashes there in decades.

So Barry made the point that there was no justification, but this Councillor made it clear that unless we approved the camera outside his house, he would not approve the camera we were after.

So, it was agreed and we got the camera we wanted.

As we walked out, Barry said to me in a whisper, "he might approve the finances, I approve what cameras are active!"

From that day to this, the camera outside this Councillors house has never had any film or even been active and still remains there as a rusting pole with a fading yellow box on top.

That gives you an idea of how local authorities work and think now.

[YamahaWolf]

I think that some roads do have low speed limits and should be higher but I think in the most part the speed limits are ok.

[Iano]

In Oxford there are quite a few 20 mph limits, I guess this is the way things are going in built up busy areas, takes a bit of getting used to holding your speed down in these zones but generally the faster you go the less time there is to react, there is some wild driving in the UK, as elsewhere I suppose, these characters seem to get away with it for the most part, I'm not sure how.

I wasn't that aware of speed limits I am ashamed to say until the guy next door but one came a cropper on his bike and I thought of doing some IAM training, it is a bit school teacher but I've improved enormously since