boxst

Hello

On my route to work which to start with is through the countryside suddenly lots of 50 mph speed limits have appeared.

Does anyone have any idea why? The roads are relatively safe etc... and it just seems like a complete waste of effort to reduce the limit by 10 mph.

Steve

Paul3446

I think it may be because the government is full of w*nkers.

But I could be wrong.

SVXNUT

Money, and revenue generating.!!!!!.

Paul3446

Nanny state!

LanCat

Local authorities have been "given" the opportunity to review speed limits on their roads between now and 2011.

It's also now them who receive revenue from the cameras and not the police.

Don't expect many of them to increase limits.

cster

I think it is just the way things are going.
If you look at France 90 kmh is the max on single carriageways regardless.
Here, dual carriageways in urban areas are going the same way (ie 50 mph).
Lets face it, there are plenty of motorists here who seem to have trouble doing 60 mph on motorways, let alone B roads.
This gives rise to overtaking for those with the audacity to do so.
There seems to be large numbers of older drivers about who look like they have learnt to drive in their middle age, and basically are useless. Perhaps the limits are being "dumbed down" to get everyone to pootle about at their speed?
Just my opinion.

andy97

iTrader: (1)

It's 50 + 10

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Its part of the masterplan. Max speed for any road will be 50mph unless you pay.

boxst

Unless you pay to use a private road perhaps, certainly not pay to go faster.

I was worried by the 'pay as you drive' tolls that was mentioned in the budget. I thought that is what tax on petrol was about ...

Steve

Leslie

There is no law to compel you to drive at the legal speed limit. A driver is entitled to drive at less than the speed limit if he wishes as long as it is not so slow that he is creating an unecessary obstruction. Many do not wish to drive at 60 mph and the RTA is arranged to allow them not to drive faster than then they feel is safe for the circumstances.

You have to accept that the roads were built to allow people to travel in safety and not for driving on flat out everywhere for your personal enjoyment. I also find it frustrating having to follow slower drivers too at times but have to accept it as a fact of life and develop a bit of patience. When you get a good bit older I imagine that however you feel about driving at the moment, you will find yourself driving more slowly most of the time.

It is far more risky to overtake these days on single roads because of the speed of traffic approaching you on a clear road. No better illustration than the bloke who recently caused the deaths of 7 people on the A429 doing just that! Yes I know he had been convicted of bad driving previously!

It is undeniable that because of the greatly increased weight of traffic on roads these days, driving is no longer the pleasure that it used to be and no one regrets that any more than I do.

Les

scoobynutta555

Around here previous 50's are now 40's. Some stretches of dual carriageway have gone down from 70 to 50, madness. The excuse of 'casualty reduction' is plastered everywhere on pointless signs all along these routes.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

They were proposing that the inner lanes of motorways would be restricted to 50mph, with the outside lane being for up to 70mph if people were prepared to pay extra per mile for their pollution.

loony toon

iTrader: (4)

Think the goverment should be spending our tax money on the roads instead of the fat cat polititions who seem to have no limit as to what they spend OUR tax money on !!!!!!!!

Out of the 60 billion plus they take from us each year for road tax petrol tax etc only 5 billion is spent back on the roads !!!!


Maybe they should get off there ***** and actually go out and drive the roads they are taxing and then warrant the extra money and revenue generated by there actions.

The goverment dont know what they are talking about unless it comes to riping off the public !!!!!!!

Leslie

Can't say fairer than that!

Les

GC8WRX

It gets better for some of us.

Our local plod have given control of the parking fines to the council as of may this year, that means when there were 2 wardens for our area, there will be 20, and they have a target of 8 "contraventions" a day each, and they even patrol on sundays!
PLus the council is trying to get money to install cameras to catch people out with minor offences, such as straying into a yellow box at a junction, or turning left at the stupid junction that says you cant, but EVERYONE does! and parking on double yellows for 1 min while you get a paper in the morning!

Why the new enforcement, it can only be for revenue, or things would stay as they were!

Leave us the **** alone, WE ARE NOT CASH COWS, STOP RIPPING US OFF!

cster

I hear what you are saying.
Personally I don't tend to speed and have no points on my license etc.
Driving a Subaru is all about going around corners for me
I'd rather overtake some one going slow rather than at speed anyway.
My main bugbear are drivers who stop at every junction and roundabout, and then look to see what is going on, whereas if they bothered to open their eyes and keep moving, it would be safer and better for all. I'm sure you know the type.
People who drive without using their mirrors or any regard to the highway code I could do with out as well.
BTW I am old already.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

Usually if they drop a speed limit a speed camera might be going up! Catch more people that way

GC8WRX

And they never put massive signs up saying theres a change in the speed limit, they just change the number in the road sign from 50 to 40, so hopefully no one notices. and of course there will be mobile cameras there at peak times to catch out all the "criminals".

*******!

Leslie

Can't disagree with any of that. And yes cornering is far more satisfying than just high speed in a straight line

Well maybe like me you learned to use your mirrors very regularly to check for speed cops following you to check your speed if you are old enough to remember the good old days before radar/laser speed cams etc

Les

Leslie

We have had a number of roads with 20 mph limits now which is quite unecessary on those particular roads and it just encourages motorists to break the law. Those sort of limits are fair enough in the right place but quite ridiculous where it is not necessary.

Les

dpb

Only 1 more step - satellite controlled ( from no 10 ) nose to bumper distance controlling and we might as well all get the bus , if you can find one

Tam the bam

Dual carriageway here has been reduced from NSL to 50 (even though there has rarely ever been a serious accident on it) and there are speedtraps on it regularly, most of the vehicles sit close to each other between 40-45 mph in the inside lane (getting on at a slip road can take ages sometimes as very few people use the outside lane now). Most of the surrounding roads are down from NSL to 40s too now, finding a NSL road here now is very very rare!

Oh and our safety camera squad have just got themselves a sh!tload of new mobile tax guns, looks like I'll have to concentrate more on the speedo rather than the road now

PeteBrant

You do realise the local government and government are not the same thing?

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

M20 to be 50mph...
(its only a few junctions to start with, but you can be assured that they will be a "success" and rolled out)

PistonHeads Headlines

PeteBrant

Here's an idea, don't buy a house next to a ****ing motorway you thick bitch. The motorway has been open for 40 years so it's hardly sprung out of nowhere.

Tam the bam

pmsl

Sounds like the ******** who bought houses near our speedway track and they are now campaigning to get it shut.. *******, they knew it was there before they bought their bloody houses.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Happens all over the land. Allegedly involves a back hander to a councilor to get planning permission for something so close to a noisy venue. Then they get "people to move in". Some of these "people" are of course investors. They then successfully campaign for closure and make a mint.

Which of course leads to further money making opportunities. Since the noisy venue is now closed, other land can now have residential planning permission...for the right price

This happened loads to my parents when they wanted to build their own home. Countless times they came across land that they wanted to build on, only to be refused. Then, amazingly, a few months down the line a "selected" developer got the plot. In the end a councilor turned to my parents and said "do I really need to spell this out....if you want permission I need £10k and you can have it" (or works very similar, my mum was fuming and just refused to pay).

stilover

Because speed kills children playing in the middle of the road.
Because speed kills the enviroment.

Abdabz

It's a frequently argued point that motorists should not be cash cows and one we hear time and time again from the public and some ineffective pressure groups, but in fairness, all the examples you use above are all clear cases of driving badly or illegally. The not so "innocent" motorist can cease to be said "cash cow" when the not so "innocent" motorist re-educates itself to drive in accordance with the highway code (the book we all subscribed to in order to pass our tests).

Somewhere along the way, all these people who "turn left at stupid junctions where it says you cant but every one does", all these people who speed or park on double yellows "for 1 min" etc have all got either stupid, arrogant or lazy and cannot for one minute complain about being punished for it.

The only target on innocent motorists, are the drivers who keep getting hammered for increased road tax (which rises every year on the back of lies bout climate change) and insurance (which rises every year in a large way because of the compensation culture scumtards falsely claiming for injuries etc)...

The reason for reducing the speed limit probably is a a "cash cow" incentive but that's just because the only people who will be fined are the donuts who break that new speed limit intentionally or are too stupid, arrogant or lazy to maintain a legal speed...

Stop feeling victimised for gods sake people! Start driving well, in accordance with the law and then they cant "get you"... You can win this war by driving properly

Good driving - it's the future

HTH

Leslie

Torquay have done the same and NCP run the parking bit now. They are totally unreasonable and people are getting "done" for stupid things where before there used to be a bit of understanding between parking wardens and the motorist and things used to run perfectly smoothly.

As you say its all down to money and we are the poor saps who get rooked right left and centre!

Les