Wales 20mph limit starts Sept 17th - a heads-up

[Robmac]

Thats already in the pipeline rob and was talked about some years back, problem is if in danger and require to accelerate out of trouble you cannot do so, hence its been held back by protesters and motoering groups, rightly so.

I'm not saying take away any torque or power Trev, just restrict the top speed.

Vehicle speed is relative to other vehicles, accelerating to get out of trouble in a built up area could be a recipe for disaster.

 

[Robmac]

Surely the technology exists to restrict vehicles to speed limits by use of a simple sensor in the car, possibly linked to GPS. Instant ban and huge fines/jail for anybody interfering with or removing the sensor. Of course that would take away a source of revenue for the authorities though.

Having said that, I would only like to see that in place for built up areas.

Incidentally. I'm not expecting many to agree with this post!

 

[colinm]

I'm not saying take away any torque or power Trev, just restrict the top speed.

Vehicle speed is relative to other vehicles, accelerating to get out of trouble in a built up area could be a recipe for disaster.

We now have £36k hatchbacks with 0-60 of 3.7secs, and unlike Ferrari's etc it's very easy to achieve, a recipe for disarter imo.

 

[Robmac]

We now have £36k hatchbacks with 0-60 of 3.7secs, and unlike Ferrari's etc it's very easy to achieve, a recipe for disarter imo.

I see what you are saying, but with a sensor they wouldn't be able to achieve 60 in a built up area.

The same sensor could be used to take a car out of 'sports mode' in a built up area.

 

[Glandwr]

Surely the technology exists to restrict vehicles to speed limits by use of a simple sensor in the car, possibly linked to GPS. Instant ban and huge fines/jail for anybody interfering with or removing the sensor. Of course that would take away a source of revenue for the authorities though.

Having said that, I would only like to see that in place for built up areas.

I think that's in the pipeline for countries that are in the EU. Read somewhere that there is a date set for new cars sold to have that capability, date might already be here.

Be interesting to see if our car industry that has aspirations of exporting to the EU will have that disabled for those it sells here ?

 

[Glandwr]

We now have £36k hatchbacks with 0-60 of 3.7secs, and unlike Ferrari's etc it's very easy to achieve, a recipe for disarter imo.

Accelerating in a powerful EV can be frightening! Much quicker than an internal combustion engine.

 

[trevskoda]

I'm not saying take away any torque or power Trev, just restrict the top speed.

Vehicle speed is relative to other vehicles, accelerating to get out of trouble in a built up area could be a recipe for disaster.

Problem is if a car/truck etc pulls out on you or whatever then two choices, brake or put the boot down, thats why motoring organiseations oppose the restriction.

 

[colinm]

Accelerating in a powerful EV can be frightening! Much quicker than an internal combustion engine.

I have a 43y.o. ice car that can do 0-60 in 6secs, but it needs a degree of skill to achieve that, meanwhile I've driven an EV which can do that with no skill whatsoever.

 

[Robmac]

Problem is if a car/truck etc pulls out on you or whatever then two choices, brake or put the boot down, thats why motoring organiseations oppose the restriction.

Not sure if you should ever put the boot down if a car pulls out in front of you Trev!

The only advantage I can see of having power to get out of the way is if you pull out in front of some body, in which case in a built up area the initial power to accelerate would still be there. Or out on the open road overtaking somebody in which case it wouldn't be a problem either.

 

[Robmac]

I have a 43y.o. ice car that can do 0-60 in 6secs, but it needs a degree of skill to achieve that, meanwhile I've driven an EV which can do that with no skill whatsoever.

My last bike would do 0-60 in 3.2 seconds. I soon realised I wouldn't be doing that very often if I wanted to stay alive.

Great pushbike that was. (ok it was a motorbike).

 

[trevskoda]

Not sure if you should ever put the boot down if a car pulls out in front of you Trev!

The only advantage I can see of having power to get out of the way is if you pull out in front of some body, in which case in a built up area the initial power to accelerate would still be there. Or out on the open road overtaking somebody in which case it wouldn't be a problem either.

Sterling moss said the differance between an amiture and a pro is the amiture goes for the brakes where a pro goes for the throttle.
If im on a road and some truck is going to pull in from the right and cut me up then if im near the cab im putting the boot down.

 

[colinm]

Sterling moss said the differance between an amiture and a pro is the amiture goes for the brakes where a pro goes for the throttle.
If im on a road and some truck is going to pull in from the right and cut me up then if im near the cab im putting the boot down.

Was that before or after the crash that put him in a coma?

 

[Robmac]

Sterling moss said the differance between an amiture and a pro is the amiture goes for the brakes where a pro goes for the throttle.
If im on a road and some truck is going to pull in from the right and cut me up then if im near the cab im putting the boot down.

That would be extremely dangerous in the local high street Trev.

Race conditions are somewhat different.

 

[Norfolk NewBoy]

We were taking the dogs out for their morning run a couple of days ago. On a 50 mph dual carriageway
a big BMW flew past us at around 80 mph dangerously cut in to the LH lane and took a bend at a stupidly high speed. Shortly after, we caught up to him at traffic lights and followed him through the 30 mph limit until he turned into a large school grounds. So it seems like he was a Teacher and about an hour late for work. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have morons teaching our youngsters.

Simple answer more speed cameras and fixed penalties by post.

The vast majority of teachers who I know (and I know a lot) don't drive big BMWs.
And the number of teachers who get to work an hour late is also pretty low.

So is it possible that morons exist throughout the population and that some of them have a (legitimate?) reason to drive into a school campus? Who knows, it might be a parent summoned because their child has had a serious accident or a leader of commerce rushing to give a talk to pupils about being prepared?

Gordon

 

[mariesnowgoose]

Most of you guys should be restricted to driving dodgems.

I’m with @Nabsim - car and camper will happily sit at 20mph no bother.

And I’m sure there are plenty of people whose relatives and friends have been squished by vehicles bombing through their villages and towns who will disagree with all the speed merchants (you can’t all be off-duty emergency services drivers, shirley…?! ) and will welcome the speed reduction in their neighbourhoods

 

[trevskoda]

That would be extremely dangerous in the local high street Trev.

Race conditions are somewhat different.

Still i dont like being squashed, high street or not, mind you i dont do high streets.

 

[Robmac]

Still i dont like being squashed, high street or not, mind you i dont do high streets.

I think that's the point Trev.

The likelyhood of getting squashed are somewhat diminished at 20mph.

 

[Nabsim]

Not sure how stats would go re damage to people at 20mph rather than 30mph. Vehicles these days are designed to crumple so should be much safer to pedestrians. I always remember being told that at 30mph a head impact can spin the brain in the skull but don’t know if was helmet propaganda or medical fact. Always stuck with me though even though all my crashes were over 30mph and I don’t think my brain spun.

I just don’t really care these days, doesn’t bother me if it says 20, 30, 40 etc, I am rarely in a hurry so just trundle along. To me it’s more important that it’s clear what speed you should be doing, these that change every 100 mgrs are more of a problem.

 

[Robmac]

Not sure how stats would go re damage to people at 20mph rather than 30mph. Vehicles these days are designed to crumple so should be much safer to pedestrians. I always remember being told that at 30mph a head impact can spin the brain in the skull but don’t know if was helmet propaganda or medical fact. Always stuck with me though even though all my crashes were over 30mph and I don’t think my brain spun.

I just don’t really care these days, doesn’t bother me if it says 20, 30, 40 etc, I am rarely in a hurry so just trundle along. To me it’s more important that it’s clear what speed you should be doing, these that change every 100 mgrs are more of a problem.

They say that you are 5 times more likely to die if hit at 30 rather than 20 Neil so I tend to take 'their' word for it whoever 'they' are. I reckon that the chances of hitting somebody are lessened at 20 though, the stopping distance obviously decreases. That's why I would be in favour of the 20 limit in the right places.

I've no interest in speeding either especially in built up areas, there was one recently near my local where a car hit a pedestrian and police estimate he was doing almost 70 in a 30 zone - obviously the pedestrian didn't survive but speed cameras would have probably prevented this. That's an extreme example though.

You are right about changing speed limits ever 100 metres or so, designed to catch motorists out and earn money.

 

[TeamRienza]

A substantial number of roads (right up to A road classification) in N. Ireland which have schools on or near them have temporary 20 mph signs equipped with Amber lights. When the lights are flashing the lower limit is in force. Obviously these are activated at times when pupils are entering and exiting the school. The rest of the time the normal limits apply. Naturally a lot of these are in urban areas where the normal limit is 30 mph. Fully approve of this system.

Davy