50mph National Speed Limit!!

fabs said:
Unfortunately a bus pass doesn't get you very far without a bus and there aren't enough of those for the number of people who need to use them as it is.
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Excuses.
 
whitewash said:
where do you stop though? surely we;d all have to take HGV licenses so we can get an idea of the reduced visibility that a class 1 has, drive tractors so we understand the inherent dangers in tractor driving, etc

personally i have no desire to ride a motorbike, or infact a moped, i like motorbikes but i never wise to own or ride on one, however i always keep an eye out for bikers, give them room etc, so really why should i take a cbt?


i agree with the rest of your post though, speed isnt a problem when the conditions are fit for that speed.
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I'm probably saying that because taking my bike test two years ago has given me a different and improved (IMHO) perspective on driving and road use as a whole, and I think it would benefit people.

KayJay, you can't uninvent personal transport. Personally, the attack on the car by governments/environmentalists/the media is really starting to annoy me. I want to be able to go anywhere I want, when I want to without being made to feel guilty about it. I would use public transport if it was up to anything like a reasonable standard in this country. If you live in London or any other big city, public transport is a viable option. Anywhere else it really isn't.

As an example, to get to work on the bus (a journey of approx 2.5 miles every day for me) would cost me at least £2.40. This is to get me from a bus stop 200 yards from my house to a bus station 500 yards from my place of work. Or for about 70p in fuel I can drive from my house, listen to any music I want at any volume I want in privacy, to a parking space 10 yards from the entrance to my office. Which am I going to choose?
 
I know, I was just poking a bit of fun. I don't think we need to uninvent the car, progress is the name of the game in terms of motoring, but that's a different argument.
 
Totally different argument entirely, and one I agree with. I don't agree with the way it's going, but I'm unfortunately not a car engineer.
 
fabs said:
To be replaced by what exactly? :thinking:
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HOVER BOARDS!!!!

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There was a guy on GMTV this morning who lost his daughter in an accident on a country road and he reckons a 50mph limit would save her.
The driver was doing 75 was drunk and had been taking Canabis and Extasy.
We have got to discuss such things logically because knee jerk reactions such as this from a grieving parent,and I cannot imagine as a father of 2 daughters what he must be going through,add nothing to the debate
 
CaptainPenguin said:
There was a guy on GMTV this morning who lost his daughter in an accident on a country road and he reckons a 50mph limit would save her.
The driver was doing 75 was drunk and had been taking Canabis and Extasy.
We have got to discuss such things logically because knee jerk reactions such as this from a grieving parent,and I cannot imagine as a father of 2 daughters what he must be going through,add nothing to the debate
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That's not a speeding issue that's a drunk-driving issue - no matter what the speed limit, that bloke would have been going at 75mph...

Watch the TV shows roll out dozens of so-called 'examples' as to why this is a 'good thing'...

I used to travel regularly by Public Transport up to London and I for one would rather pay any amount of money in tax, fuel, congestion charges etc to NOT have to do so ever again...the railways are dirty, smelly and foul...at peak times you can't even sit down...often you're surrounded by people who've never heard of soap and water and we're expected to pay for that? Ri-iiiight... No thanks...
Public Transport, until it is properly funded and subsidised by Govt is rubbish in the UK...travel on the Dutch Public Transport system and you'll see what I mean...until there is a viable alternative to car travel for commuters and road haulage for goods, then roads are our best option...
 
Arkady said:
That's not a speeding issue that's a drunk-driving issue - no matter what the speed limit, that bloke would have been going at 75mph...

Watch the TV shows roll out dozens of so-called 'examples' as to why this is a 'good thing'...

I used to travel regularly by Public Transport up to London and I for one would rather pay any amount of money in tax, fuel, congestion charges etc to NOT have to do so ever again...the railways are dirty, smelly and foul...at peak times you can't even sit down...often you're surrounded by people who've never heard of soap and water and we're expected to pay for that? Ri-iiiight... No thanks...
Public Transport, until it is properly funded and subsidised by Govt is rubbish in the UK...travel on the Dutch Public Transport system and you'll see what I mean...until there is a viable alternative to car travel for commuters and road haulage for goods, then roads are our best option...
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Move to Scotland :) We've got great public transport. Apart from the ****heads in the East End of Glasgow.
 
KayJay said:
Move to Scotland :) We've got great public transport. Apart from the ****heads in the East End of Glasgow.
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If I'm prepared to walk for 40 minutes to get to the bus stop, or I could use my car instead. Anywhere outside the major towns and cities, public transport is a joke :(


And Arkady is right when he mentions the other passengers with a phobia of soap and water.
 
KayJay said:
Move to Scotland :) We've got great public transport. Apart from the ****heads in the East End of Glasgow.
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Oh Please...:cuckoo:
When was the last time you tried to go on a job by Public Transport? Cameras, tripod, studio lights, laptop? How do you get all that stuff from your home to the bus stop or railway station? Or from there to the shoot-venue?
Fine if you're a just a student, but in the real world, public transport doesn't cut it when trying to make deadlines...
If I went on a job in London, I'd know pretty much to within a 10-minute window how long my travel times were going to be at a given time of day...try doing that with Public Transport...
 
singlespeed said:
If I'm prepared to walk for 40 minutes to get to the bus stop, or I could use my car instead. Anywhere outside the major towns and cities, public transport is a joke :(


And Arkady is right when he mentions the other passengers with a phobia of soap and water.
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Indeed. I travel into London all the time for TP meets and would never dream of driving in. Transport in London can be a bit of a joke at times, but compared to getting around outside of it, it's an absolute dream.
 
Blapto said:
I wrote to my MP recently about Clause 152 of the Coroners and Justice bill with my concerns about the impacts on privacy and data protection. There was a lot of public pressure and it has been removed.

Democracy does work, sometimes, when people get involved.
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I did that too! Didn't know it had been removed though, awesome :thumbs:
 
Arkady said:
That's not a speeding issue that's a drunk-driving issue - no matter what the speed limit, that bloke would have been going at 75mph...

Watch the TV shows roll out dozens of so-called 'examples' as to why this is a 'good thing'...

I used to travel regularly by Public Transport up to London and I for one would rather pay any amount of money in tax, fuel, congestion charges etc to NOT have to do so ever again...the railways are dirty, smelly and foul...at peak times you can't even sit down...often you're surrounded by people who've never heard of soap and water and we're expected to pay for that? Ri-iiiight... No thanks...
Public Transport, until it is properly funded and subsidised by Govt is rubbish in the UK...travel on the Dutch Public Transport system and you'll see what I mean...until there is a viable alternative to car travel for commuters and road haulage for goods, then roads are our best option...
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The point is that they were rolling this poor guy out to support the reduction of the National speed limit when the events of his daughters death had nothing to do with the speed limit
 
fabs said:
Indeed. I travel into London all the time for TP meets and would never dream of driving in. Transport in London can be a bit of a joke at times, but compared to getting around outside of it, it's an absolute dream.
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There is another part of the Uk called "Outside London" and from personal experience public transport in most of it is rubbish
 
CaptainPenguin said:
The point is that they were rolling this poor guy out to support the reduction of the National speed limit when the events of his daughters death had nothing to do with the speed limit
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Yes I understood that perfectly...hence my response...
 
Do away with speed cameras altogether, thecheapest way to restrict speed is by the use of speed humps and rumble strips. Advantage? well no speeding tickets, low maintenance guarranteed speeds , less police-council-court time. that would make motorists happy- allow police to carry out more important investigations and less paperwork for everyone.

Now why didn't the government think of that?

Realspeed
 
The national speed limit doesn't affect me.............I drive a landrover :lol:

Have to say though that I am fed up to the back teeth of the government money making schemes. We should be allowed to call a general election if we are unhappy. After all, they are supposed to represent us.

I say we push for a general election now :lol:
 
Public transport is a joke around here, it takes my eldest son 1.5 hrs to get to college. I can get him there in 20 minutes by car and that includes dropping his younger brother off at school on the way.
My son hates the bus as invariably some large woman instead of sharing the seat, sits on him.
I hate public transport and will use my car for what ever journey, even paying £25 for parking is worth it not to have to suffer public transport. Besides as Akardy says it is so much easier to transport belongings/equipment around.
 
this government will be telling us when to breathe in and out next, also i read they wont be changing road signs due to cost. how the hell are you supposed to know the new limit if its not posted
 
Arkady said:
I'll stay in Germany..ta v much...

We have: large amounts of unrestricted Autobahn; very few speed cameras; 70mph speed limit on 'A' roads; hardly any traffic compared to UK...
and some seriously spectacular roads...

As I recall the UK has: rubbish roads; rubbish M-Ways; speed cameras every 45 yards and congestion is reaching saturation point...
oh and not forgetting tree-huggers that kick/spit on your car if it's not an effing Prius!
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went touring on a bike last year, I have relatives In Germany, and yes, the roads were amazing, we have stupid speed limits over here, much better on the continent especially Germany!!
 
realspeed said:
Do away with speed cameras altogether, thecheapest way to restrict speed is by the use of speed humps and rumble strips. Advantage? well no speeding tickets, low maintenance guarranteed speeds , less police-council-court time. that would make motorists happy- allow police to carry out more important investigations and less paperwork for everyone.

Now why didn't the government think of that?

Realspeed
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There are several roads with speed bumps in my area which are useless. One road which has a limit of 30mph it's possible to drive over them alot faster in comfort. The others have these pathetic square bumps in the middle of the lanes, my car (MK2 Mondeo) is wide enough to straddle these and just clip them with the inside of the tyres so no need to slow down.
There is only one calming measure that works round my way and that is a contraflow where only one direction has priority all the time. The reason it works, they put it on a bend, so the non priority traffic has to slow down just to edge forward to see if it's clear. Mind you I've seen a few near misses where drivers haven't stopped.
 
realspeed said:
Do away with speed cameras altogether, thecheapest way to restrict speed is by the use of speed humps and rumble strips. Advantage? well no speeding tickets, low maintenance guarranteed speeds , less police-council-court time. that would make motorists happy- allow police to carry out more important investigations and less paperwork for everyone.

Now why didn't the government think of that?

Realspeed
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A couple of reasons against speed humps (traffic calming humps)-
Increased polution due to accelerating/braking between humps.
They impede the emergency services, especialy ambulances with patients.
Ones which are narrow enough to only affect cars, don't work in practice as people just straddle them without slowing down, especialy 4x4s, vans and LGVs.

Rumble strips in a residential area are sure to annoy the residents due to the increased noise. Why on earth would humps and rumble strips make the motorist happy. The roads are in a **** state without adding more lumps to them.
 
mountains said:
. how the hell are you supposed to know the new limit if its not posted
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Ah but thats the point, new lower speed limits, no signs to say where they have been implemented mobile and other cameras ready to catch the inadvertently speeding motorists and "ignorance of the law is no defence" Its a win win for the powers that be and lose lose for the motorists

Cynical me? no not a chance
 
singlespeed said:
A couple of reasons against speed humps (traffic calming humps)-
Increased polution due to accelerating/braking between humps.
They impede the emergency services, especialy ambulances with patients.
Ones which are narrow enough to only affect cars, don't work in practice as people just straddle them without slowing down, especialy 4x4s, vans and LGVs.

Rumble strips in a residential area are sure to annoy the residents due to the increased noise. Why on earth would humps and rumble strips make the motorist happy. The roads are in a **** state without adding more lumps to them.
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Not to mention the sport I've seen pizza delivery boys on my road doing (as well as the occasional scrote on a scooter) of trying to see how much air they can get over the hump...

The people who have posted suggesting pubic transport is a viable alternative (even in London) need to realise a number of things.

1) It's unreliable, I have been late getting into work on many occasions due to "signalling problems" in the past
2) It's unpleasant, especially in the summer when it gets a bit ripe
3) It's unhygenic, the air down in the underground makes an ideal breeding environment for bacteria and the like, I have caught more colds when using the underground than I have commuting by motorbike in the middle of winter. (I used the underground for about a month overall the past year to commute all other times has been by bike).
4) It's slow, the only direct route from home to the office is by using the district line and that takes about 1 hour 20 (when including walking at each end) whereas the bike takes me 30-40 minutes. (And that's without riding like I stole it).

There is the only plus I can think of, I haven't been knocked off the train causing serveral grands worth of damage to my pride and joy.

That's in London where it is considered to be "reasonable" to use pubic transport.

Outside of the M25 (yes there is such a place, there are some fantastic roads out there) the transport is somewhat worse from what I gather.

I don't see how reducing the speed limit is going to make any difference to the idiots driving around at silly speeds anyway.

Since I've started riding a motorbike (about 2 years ago now) I've come on leaps and bounds in terms of road awareness.

Things that in my opinion would make the road a much safer place;

Teach children how to cross the road again rather than to just put the onus on road users to slow down. (Let's face it kids don't seem to have a damn clue these days) As a side note only an idiot drives at silly speeds around school opening / closing times anyhow.

Put more police on the roads, marked, as you'll instantly notice more people paying attention to driving safely.

Clamp down hard on dangerous / drink / drug drivers - These aren't noticed by speed cameras, but will be by police officers

That's just a start.

As to speed limits, vehicles these days are so much more capable than when the speed limits were introduced. There are bends on NSL roads which say Max speed X (These are ADVISORY before people jump down my throat about it) when I know perfectly well having been down that stretch they can easily be taken at X + N (N being variable, in some cases 10mph, in others I know about i've taken at more like 20mph entry speed over the ADVISED limit).

The driving test is somewhat of a joke, in particular for motorcyclists. When I passed the test I had a basic grasp of the vehicle controls and could manage riding around at the speed limit at a limited competancy. Having been out learing from others (one being a race instructor) and going out on track I have improved significantly, and my awareness has risen by quite a bit though I know I still need to work on this.

From when I passed my car test i remember this to be roughly the same case.

*I have not mis-spelt public transport, I really don't like it.
 
matty said:
if people were taught to drive properly in the first place it wouldnt be a problem. Oddly we used to have the safest roads, but since speed camera and traffic calming sillyness took off we have gone done to 6th in europe..go figure
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Ah well, that proves it then.....speed cameras must be evil;)
 
matty said:
if people were taught to drive properly in the first place it wouldnt be a problem. Oddly we used to have the safest roads, but since speed camera and traffic calming sillyness took off we have gone done to 6th in europe..go figure
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jerry12953 said:
Ah well, that proves it then.....speed cameras must be evil;)
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Or lots of the bad drivers from Europe have migrated here :thinking:


Being as so many rural accidents happen in the late evening, usualy by inexperienced drivers, why isn't there more emphasis put on night time training and testing for younger drivers, especialy as they can generaly aford and want more powerful cars than people passing a test 15-20 years ago?

My first car was a D reg Maestro 1.3L, which I had for 3 years and a huge mileage, without any crashes. wheras the £3K price tag nowadays can get some very quick cars made from tinfoil :shrug:
 
realspeed said:
Do away with speed cameras altogether, thecheapest way to restrict speed is by the use of speed humps and rumble strips.
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We already have them.

They're called the appallingly bad roads that we pay all this money for in taxes and fines to keep fat-t**ts in parliament in their cushy positions.

I nearly fell in a pot-hole this morning whilst out of my push bike, it was that deep. I'm all for paying for what I get but when I do not get value for money I moan like stink....

We've had speed cameras for years and where's all the money gone that they generate??? not in to public transport or the infrastreucture that supposedly supports it that's for sure. :bang::bonk::thumbsdown:
 
Get rid of all speed humps, install more speed cameras.
Why should people who do not speed have to negotiate humps in the road?
If you exceed the speed limit you are breaking the law.
If you think that the law is wrong do something to get it changed.
 
Suvv said:
Get rid of all speed humps, install more speed cameras.
Why should people who do not speed have to negotiate humps in the road?
If you exceed the speed limit you are breaking the law.
If you think that the law is wrong do something to get it changed.
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Better to put them where they can be most effective i.e schools, hospitals, etc.

Why should those of us who enjoy breaking the law be penalised so others can feel all 'holier than thou'...

If you think the Law is wrong, begin an armed insurrection...
 
Arkady said:
Better to put them where they can be most effective i.e schools, hospitals, etc.

Why should those of us who enjoy breaking the law be penalised so others can feel all 'holier than thou'...

If you think the Law is wrong, begin an armed insurrection...
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I agree with the first bit about location.

But maybe you're just going ever so slightly over the top with armed insurrection? :cuckoo: :lol:

Personally I'd prefer logical political pressure within a democracy. It does take longer than revolution but it's a lot less messy.

cheers
 
At least they cannot stop me getting to 50 as quick as possible :) (yet)
 
Arkady said:
Oh Please...:cuckoo:
When was the last time you tried to go on a job by Public Transport? Cameras, tripod, studio lights, laptop? How do you get all that stuff from your home to the bus stop or railway station? Or from there to the shoot-venue?
Fine if you're a just a student, but in the real world, public transport doesn't cut it when trying to make deadlines...
If I went on a job in London, I'd know pretty much to within a 10-minute window how long my travel times were going to be at a given time of day...try doing that with Public Transport...
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Yeah, cos everyone is a photographer and has a tonne of **** to lug around. Right... Works fine for me. 5 minute walk to the train station from home, 2 minute walk from the station to office. Train schedules to clients are pretty good too. If we get stuck then it's the taxi. I guess if you live somewhere that public transport isn't good then it's not going to work for you, that's why I said move to Scotland, semi seriously, because as far as my experience goes public transport isn't that bad. If it ain't working for you keep using your car.

Also, you carry that gear with you ALL the time? If so then I can see the argument for not wanting to use public transport, but I can pretty much guess that the majority of working people do not need to carry that amount of equipment, if any, around at all times. A satchel does me fine for what I do.
 
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