Too many people speeding so we need to reduce the speed limit

[GuzziPaul]

A Green Party member wants the national speed limit cut to 50mph and 20mph in town, because of the empty roads people are speeding then crashing and putting a strain on the NHS. https://www.transport-network.co.uk/Spe ... mits/16603

This idiot believes haveing a lower limit will stop all those people speeding and therefore not have a crash She doesn't mention how this new lower limit will be enforced just that we won't need to change any signs because it will be a blanket limit. She is a silly lady.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

She is an idiot.
I assume she has some statistics that show this increase in accidents in the last 3 weeks?

[Dutchman]

My own anecdotal evidence is that people appear to be driving more carefully than usual as no one wants to get in an accident go to hospital etc

[GuzziPaul]

I am a Traffic Enginneer and the industry/local authorities have been providing central government with traffic flow data to help with planning. Overall traffic flow is down 75% which is something we independantly noticed in Cambridgeshire. But as you would expect traffic speed is up. Thats only becuse congest is down so rather than queuing you can now do 30mph in the morning peak and 70mph on the motorway. Have a look on Google Maps (who have also been providing data) and many cities now have traffic flows green when it would normally be red.

[MrLongbeard]

My own anecdotal evidence is that people appear to be driving more carefully than usual as no one wants to get in an accident go to hospital etc

My observation too, I didn't speed at all yesterday, not because I was worried about accidents, but due to the reduced traffic I stand out more so more likely to get a pull.

[Horse]

She is an idiot.
I assume she has some statistics that show this increase in accidents in the last 3 weeks?

Talking yesterday to someone from Highways England. Traffic substantially down, but speeding up.

I posted several days ago in the Coronavirus thread about this, one police force nabbed someone at 124 in a 50.

In his live Fb broadcast, Spin mentioned that bike fatalities don't seem to be reducing in line with the drop in traffic flow.

[exportman]

Less driving
Less traffic
=
Less attention
=
More incidents

I have witnessed some appalling driving/riding recently

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

My own anecdotal evidence says people are driving faster due to clear roads, they're also assuming that they're the only person on the road so not looking properly at junctions and generally not concentrating, but whether this has led to more accidents, I don't know, but since I'm only going to work and the supermarket, it's a very limited number of roads that I'm seeing.

Got a work trip to Cambridge on Thursday - so I'll get 100 miles of new data

[exportman]

I have never really understood the logic behind reducing speed limits, to impact incidents unless the road has a large number of the incidents occur with vehicles travelling within the posted limit.

If the cause is identified as exceeding the speed limit then reducing the limit will not impact it. If the culprit was willing to break speed limit A then they will certainly break speed limit B if it is lower. All it would appear to do is frustrate generally law abiding drivers and probably result in more vehicles exceeding the posted limit.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I think the thinking is that it will reduce most peoples speed, not necessarily reducing the number of incidents but reducing the effect of that incident.

[exportman]

I think the thinking is that it will reduce most peoples speed, not necessarily reducing the number of incidents but reducing the effect of that incident.

But only if the majority incidents are within the existing speed limit. If the speed limit was 40 and the culprit was doing 80 will a 30 speed limit or as some councils seem to be doing a 20 limit stop the speeder doing 80 I think not.

Limits should be set appropriate to the road environment.

Todays record on the M62 around Manchester was 129 mph. That was most probably in appropriate. Most drivers in the UK would not expect a vehicle to be travelling that fast. They would not make sufficient observation to know a vehicle was approaching them at that speed.
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[Gimlet]

My own anecdotal evidence is that people appear to be driving more carefully than usual as no one wants to get in an accident go to hospital etc

Not round here they haven't. There's been marginally less traffic about than usual for any given time of day, but not much. On minor roads the hazards have got worse. There's gaggles of kids in pushbikes (none of them observing social distancing - I guess they think they can't die from from C19 so who cares).

I've ridden round a bend to find a teenager on a bicycle wobbling towards me on the wrong side of the road texting on his mobile. Masses of dog walkers round bends wandering all over the place, dogs running free. And people in Landrovers and tractors again on the wrong side of the road or straddling the white line because they think they've got the place to themselves.

I expect for a lot of people these selfish and atrocious habits will stick when normal life resumes and they won't snap out of it until they cause an accident.
Beware morons are among us and a crisis often brings out the dickhead in people.

[Jody]

Surely the best way to stop people from speeding is to INCREASE the speed limit ??!!

[WelshDragon]

From our limited observations on the main road near us (had to use it on our daily exercise walk when it was too muddy cross country), vehicles were seriously doing way above the 40 speed limit, something that was pretty much observed before!

[Nordboy]

From our limited observations on the main road near us (had to use it on our daily exercise walk when it was too muddy cross country), vehicles were seriously doing way above the 40 speed limit, something that was pretty much observed before!

Same here, we have a 40mph road without pavements, you could walk in the road previously but the speed of the traffic makes it too dangerous now. Can't take the dog for a walk unless i chuck him in the car and drive to a safer spot. I'd estimate (being a professional witness and all that ) that some of the traffic is travelling at double the speed limit

[WelshDragon]

From our limited observations on the main road near us (had to use it on our daily exercise walk when it was too muddy cross country), vehicles were seriously doing way above the 40 speed limit, something that was pretty much observed before!

Same here, we have a 40mph road without pavements, you could walk in the road previously but the speed of the traffic makes it too dangerous now. Can't take the dog for a walk unless i chuck him in the car and drive to a safer spot. I'd estimate (being a professional witness and all that ) that some of the traffic is travelling at double the speed limit

It’s really weird why they do that. Do you reckon people think that there are no cops about or is it that they actually aren’t thinking at all and that’s the problem?

[exportman]

Drivers Sheep mode.

The are not used to not being in traffic. They feel the need to catch up with any vehicle they can see if they can't see any they panic and rush forward, trying to find a vehicle to follow.

Many drivers never experience empty roads they don't know how to deal with them, don't know how to read the road and drive to the environment.
If you took a test in central Manchester area you have few roads with a limit of more than 30 and most you would do well to make 20.

[Nordboy]

From our limited observations on the main road near us (had to use it on our daily exercise walk when it was too muddy cross country), vehicles were seriously doing way above the 40 speed limit, something that was pretty much observed before!

Same here, we have a 40mph road without pavements, you could walk in the road previously but the speed of the traffic makes it too dangerous now. Can't take the dog for a walk unless i chuck him in the car and drive to a safer spot. I'd estimate (being a professional witness and all that ) that some of the traffic is travelling at double the speed limit

It’s really weird why they do that. Do you reckon people think that there are no cops about or is it that they actually aren’t thinking at all and that’s the problem?

I just think that people are driving quicker due to their assumption that there’s little or no risk due to the lack of traffic/ other road users/ cops etc.

That, of course has potentially serious consequences!!

[WelshDragon]

Just heard on Jezza Vine that there has been a huge increase in the number of speeding fines issued.