[Apial]

The title of this post is little tongue in cheek, but there is a serious aspect to it too.

The Government is proposing a blanket 40 mph limit on all the countries "B" roads. I guess that this includes the thousands of "unclassified" roads that exist around the country too.

As all MINIs are fitted with more than gears 1 and 2, that means you. In Lincolnshire 90% of the roads will be affected under the proposals. Even some tractors wil have to slow down!

This legislation would have serious consequences for all car owners. We would be in the ludicrous position where the average family banger would be capable of doing 2.5 X the speed limit. Buyers would want cars with 30 bhp or less.

The future of cars such as the MCS would be brought into doubt as buyers would be reluctant to pay for performance that was totally unusable.

Journey times would increase to 19th century levels.

I for one, would have been prosecuted for riding my bicycle at over the speed limit on several occasions, had this limit applied during my youth.

So just exactly how serious is this proposal, as April 1st is bit too far away for this to be a joke?

[3GGG]

Why don't they just bring back the man with the red flag in front of the vehicle?

[Apial]

Quote:

Originally posted by 3GGG
Why don't they just bring back the man with the red flag in front of the vehicle?

They already have done.

His name is TONY BLAIR.

[eBrit]

Quote:

Originally posted by 3GGG
Why don't they just bring back the man with the red flag in front of the vehicle?

Now let's be realistic....How many cameras will they deploy on these thousand twisting roads? ...and if you can't spot Mr Plod on your tail in the 'Vast Green '...there is no hope.

Remember, the French (and general European) motto ..."Rules are there to be broken"

And let us JUSTIFY ourselves...."The man with the red flag" was run over and killed by "Rocket" !!!!!

What a happy note on November 5th

eBrit

[3GGG]

Quote:

Originally posted by eBrit



Remember the French (and general European) motto ..."Rules are there to be broken"

What a happy note on November 5th

eBrit

Yes,

"Laws are for the guidance of wise men and the blind obedience of fools"

[eBrit]

Quote:

Originally posted by 3GGG
Why don't they just bring back the man with the red flag in front of the vehicle?

Originally posted by Apial
They already have done..... His name is TONY BLAIR.

Originally posted by eBrit
And let us JUSTIFY ourselves...."The man with the red flag" was run over and killed by "Rocket" !!!!!

WELL...that's an interesting thought

eBrit

[Gee4orce]

Some of the drivers I get stuck behind seem to think that this law already applies....

[NickG]

I think it's a good point, as I have got older/more mature, the speed at which I drive through towns/built up areas has decreased to where it is either at or below the speed limit, while on the motoway when conditions allow I am happy to drive at 95mph. Where problems occur is when roads that don't warrent a reduction in speed get them, and then worse are enforced with gatsos or similar.

My local authority has a policy of allowing communities to determine their own speed limits, what this means is that the parish councils are able to dictate the speed limits. No offence to anyone who sits on a parish council but I'm sure they are not representative of the population as a whole, certainly not of motoring enthusiasts.

So what were 60 limits become 30s with only the odd farm house alongside the road, the 30 generally get ignored by everyone, so it is extended outside the hamlet, and usally preceded by a long 40 limit in an attempt to get people to slow by the 40, the result being that in the rural area where I live all the villages will soon be joined by 40 limits anyway, and these are fairly major roads, and most have fields on both sides.

I would love to see some statistics on how the reduction in speed limits and therefore increased journey times adds up in terms of man hours spent travelling, pre increases.

Phew, rant over got a bit carried away there sorry.

[Dom]

Why can't they stop hassling us and catch some real criminals??

Dom

[NickG]

Real criminals don't give them 60 quid to spend on coffee and donuts when they get caught.

[Gee4orce]

Good point - surely the likelihood of an accident is directly proportional to the amount of time spend driving, and only indirectly related to the speed at which you are driving !? It's the severity of the accident that's affected by the speed.

[AntH]

Studies have shown that reducing speed limits can INCREASE the average speed of traffic...

A minority observe the new limit, while the majority were at least showing some sort of respect to the old limit. Result: people get frustrated driving at 28mph along a straight, empty piece of road, pull out, overtake, then put their foot down to make up lost time. Result: increase in average speed. This also applies to sections of road AFTER speed cameras....

[R1]

Better sell the R1 then and buy a pushbike! .............NOT!!

Stuff 'em!!!

[Wul]

I did a quick search on the web and came up with this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...19/nsped19.xml

Looks like it could be a real possibility!

What a Nightmare!

[chiph]

Quote:

Originally posted by AntH
Studies have shown that reducing speed limits can INCREASE the average speed of traffic...

A minority observe the new limit, while the majority were at least showing some sort of respect to the old limit. Result: people get frustrated driving at 28mph along a straight, empty piece of road, pull out, overtake, then put their foot down to make up lost time. Result: increase in average speed. This also applies to sections of road AFTER speed cameras....

In the US, the highway engineers try and set the speed limit to the 80th percentile of traffic. Of course, then the politicians then call up: "Mrs. Rosewater, one of my most important constituents, says cars are flying by her - can you lower the limit near her house?"

Chip H.

[Mini_me]

Quote:

Now let's be realistic....How many cameras will they deploy on these thousand twisting roads? ...and if you can't spot Mr Plod on your tail in the 'Vast Green '...there is no hope.

So you have never been to the part of Germany where I live then?

10 years driving in the UK without ever being caugth going too fast despite passing many many cameras - fixed grey ones, hand held radar guns, etc - and being followed on many occasions by a patrol car, or passing them on the motorway.

1 year in Germany. 3 photos of of me in a Mini travelling above the limit !!

1. exiting a village, after the last buildings started to accelerate onto a country road, mistakenly thinging I must have been past the sign indicating the village bounry (and therefore the end of the 50kmh limit. Discovered a new typ of speed camera that I've never seen in England (about 1/2 to 1/3 of the size of the cameras inthe UK, grey and set on a v small tripod on the ground.) Was busy trying to figure out what it was when it flashed at me.

2. just outside of a village in a 70kmh limit, open country road. An inocent looking car parked in a layby. A Camera hidden inside the car flashed at me as I went past at about 80 kmh.

3. Virtual repeat of no. 2 but in a different spot a couple of days after I got the S and hadn't realised that without even trying I had already exceeded the speed limit by 10 kmh.

Many people think that Germany is that place to be with a performance car. I'd have to dissagree unless you use the unlimited streches of the autobahns. If only they would apply the logic that allows that to some of the country roads aswell!

[Gee4orce]

What's even more worrying is the new number plate recognition cameras that can work out your average speed over a long distance. No fooling those things.

If this 40mph legistation goes though, my journey to work will take about 90 minutes. I regularly drive the same sections of road, and I judge my speed depending on the road and weather conditions and my driving ability. I know the road like the back of my hand - probably better - and could drive it blind. I usualy drive it at about 80-90mph on the faster sections (where there are no pedestrians). I always drive at 30mph through the villages (where there are still no pedestrians because it's about 6:30am).

What ****es me off no end are the idiots that potter along at 50mph for no good reason. Then, when they reach one of the villages on the route - they still potter along at 50mph ! These are the people who should receive points and eventually a ban. They are the danger. They are still half asleep and don't even realise they are doing 20mph+ over the speed limit, and then don't realise that they are enciting people into poor overtaking maneuvers because of their slow driving on the open road.

[FatBob]

Where I live in the U.S. (New Mexico) we have long distances between towns. Its not uncommon to drive 100 miles and not see much of anything. The police tend to be concentrated around towns so there is not much worry about speed limits within reason. Most limits are 65 MPH on rural highways and 75 MPH on the interstates. I guess I need to be thankful that I live in one of the least populated states in the U.S.

FatBob

[Apial]

Mr Blair is really clever with his incremental policies, ie if you shuffle the goal post only 6" nobody will notice, and then he shuffles it another 6". After 5 years the posts have moved about 30 miles, but nobody has noticed.

So what will be the next change? Taxed to enter towns, taxed to leave town, taxed extra to drive in fast lanes, an extra environmental tax to pay for car parking, more tax on fuel, and why not an even bigger tax on insurance. Of course I musn't forget the Company Car tax. Those goal posts are already moving at 5gm CO2/km per 1% tax extra per annum. Got that?

Well the speed limit is just another piece of political engineering to make you all pay more as your poliitical memory only lasts 2 weeks.

Please don't think that I wish to encourage carnage on the roads "Death Race 2000" style. So far all these clever cameras in my County have produced 30% more injuries and 10% more deaths. They are just a token gesture because there are no real Policemen left to control anything. The real nutters are still behind the wheel. Their punishment should be the removal of their airbags and seatbelts.

Rant over.

[BruceK]

It's easy to criticize from afar, but I'm not trying to do that in this instance - I'm just trying to understand the thinking on UK's taxation policies.

Here's my question: My understanding is that currently more than 80% of the price of petrol in the UK is nothing but added tax, making the cost per liter one of the highest in the world. Most of that tax goes goes to the NHS, right?

So have any politicians actually thought about reducing the level of government services (or reducing government waste) in exchange for reducing taxes for the citizens? Does anyone in the UK want to see less, rather than more, government as an alternative to constantly increasing taxes? Would this be an idea that would find a following?