Is this what we have to look forward to New driving law will see 'new kinds of problems arise' as default speed limits slashed (msn.com)
Quite a few small villages in Scotland are now 20mph, i don't have any problem with that, infact i welcome it
I do but with caveats. To my mind in pure residential areas through housing estates, past schools etc then absolutely but if it's the main thoroughfare through the village or the main road then 30 still seems appropriate as at the lower speed noise would be greater and pollution more due to lower gears and higher revs, added to which the risks are not quite the same
Err yes I "agreed" with this quite sincerely but when are we going to get the open bits like the isle of man? Is it all now about inefficient progress.... even if going to work ....... or don't people do that anymore? Just asking!
Lower gears and pollution Reminds me of my M1 days around J31... 50 speed limits in place on a 70 motorway for "pollution monitoring" when traffic was flowing freely... WTF..... I need to get to work in order to pay taxes for to fund all this bullshit!!!
I'm not sure what you mean about open bits? in Scotland the 20mph is only going through small hamlets/villages or like in my home town near schools and the like, maybe it's different in England?
What I meant by that is that there are plenty of villages that can be a mile or so long which has a main road running through. There are not necessarily a large amount of houses on that road but obviously are in the housing estates capillaried off the main road. Unless there is a reason such as a school on that main road then I don't feel it would benefit from the lower speed limit but the housing estates would
You would be seriously hacked off if your main commute was through a 20 all the way adding a ton of extra time to the journey. Be interesting to see if google maps starts sending people further but quicker routes and therefore more pollution.
I mean @Dougie D 20 limits are a good idea around schools etc when there's an obvious need but then when are the unrestricted bits coming to aid progress and aid mental wellbeing I think the Isle of Man has it right, a 30mph is a 30 limit and it's rightly enforced. Over the mountain it's open limits with no top speed restrictions but you still have to observe the highway code, solid white lines etc.
All of the 20mph limits I have encountered have been enabled for an obvious reason and are not overly lengthy. So I don’t have a problem. However, living in a small town on the main drag from the M1 to SantaPod just 10 miles up the road you can see why we don’t have unrestricted roads. All boy racers in their cars and this is not a biased opinion but a statement of fact. The place for speed induced adrenaline is the track, not the roads.
All of the 20mph limits I have encountered have been enabled for an obvious reason and are not overly lengthy. So I don’t have a problem. However, living in a small town on the main drag from the M1 to SantaPod just 10 miles up the road you can see why we don’t have unrestricted roads. All boy racers in their cars and this is not a biased opinion but a statement of fact. The place for speed induced adrenaline is the track, not the roads.
Wales is set to become the world's first nation to adopt a national 20mph speed limit, one example is a road near me had the national speed limit, this reduced to 50, then 40 and is now 30, if my local authority went down the same route then it would reduce to a 20mph limit, these limits are not solely for residential areas with schools, old peoples homes etc etc, it will include rural villages that have small numbers of houses, no schools or other vulnerable people, some do not have any side roads or other hazards, and are a very short distance. The main reason for the Wales introduction is to encourage more people to abandon vehicles in favour of a more sustainable form of getting from A to B, road safety is also cited as reducing collisions. Personally I think by adopting a 20mph limit it will increase pollution dramatically, rush hour traffic will build up to such slow moving traffic that congestion will be inevitable, hence more pollution. It is the 20mph national speed limit that is the worry here, other areas are planning to follow.
I was reading the full story on it and the artcle raises concerns that pedal cyclists will end up moving faster than cars. One day the penny may drop for the person in charge of this sort of decision making. They will hopefully leave their office or home and visit Amsterdam. Then realise that instead of installing some painted ad hock cycle lane that is full of debris, that purpose built segregated cycle lanes work and the model around roundabouts over there also works as does around traffic lights. Thus far I have not read a single article that appears to address or take cyclists seriously.
I was riding through quite a long road in an empty village south of Edinburgh last week. It comprised of a house, about 2 miles of 20mph, then another house, another mile of 20mph then national speed limit. What you get for broad brush thinking without dealing with specific problems. Seems to be a feature of politics today. As for public transport. It's expensive, inconvenient and inhospitable. Having used it in the winter because it wasn't safe to ride I acquired more diseases than in my whole working life. This before C19. Thankfully I no longer need to go into London. I also recently opted for the train to the airport instead of parking the car there. It made me 1.5 hours late. I missed the flight. An important flight for my work.
Sorry can't leave this alone... Wales is a beautiful country, As I understand it they are having a real problem with depopulation and tourism is a significant element of their economy. Also highly rural, ie. not much in the way of much public transport, thanks Mr Beeching. Interesting choices they are making it seems.
