Safe Speed Forums

Leafing through the latest weekly edition of the Maidenhead Advertiser, I found no fewer than three articles about our "dangerous roads", and what was being done to remedy the situation. The main one concerned a stretch of the A308, where a woman had been struck by a lorry and injured. The speed limit on this stretch is and it's a single carriageway road. I use it myself quite often, and I have never had a pedestrian cross in front of me.

No sooner has the accident report gone to press when up go the cries for a new speed limit.

Even though the limit is 60, it would seem unlikely that a lorry would have been able to reach this speed. Besides, if the woman was struck by a lorry at 60, she would most likely have been killed. And, a lorry travelling at that speed would be making considerable noise. But... no analysis of the accident was published, and despite that, there's a reference to an online petition where readers can vote for a new (lower) speed limit without having a full understanding of the facts.

If as some have suggested, the road needs to be crossed by people walking horses or other animals to fields the other side of the road, why not introduce a puffin crossing? Traffic would have a green light most of the time.

But no. A new speed limit is what we're likely to get, and of course most people will ignore it. And as happens so often, the real root cause of the accident will be ignored. Since becoming a two-wheeler, I am left in no doubt of the cavalier attitude of many pedestrians when crossing roads where special care needs to be taken.


The other articles - some residents in Cookham Dean want the "killer signs" to be replaced by signs. And the reason? None really. Just... because...

This country is at the point where they don't need ANY excuses to lower the speed limit but even the flimsiest, most ridiculous reason is guaranteed a lower limit. It won't stop the accidents, most of the accidents round me are on roads that have been dropped from nsl to 40MPH and the reason that the accidents keep happening is because of poor junction lay out and the fact that the white lines haven't been repainted for many years and people can't see the lanes when filtering to turn right any more.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

I doubt the wailing, teeth-gnashing illiterati are aware that the lorry would already have been limited to 40mph on a single carriageway anyway. So, lowering the limit serves what purpose?

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Regulation without education merely creates more criminals.

I passed frustration and proceeded to amusement, with respect to silly speed limits.
I proceed down 20 limits/zones at 15 mph.....the van is quite happy at 15...but 20 is either revving or labouring. I suppose I should go at 20 in a low gear and smoke a bit ?
The buses are being shaken to bits, every truck going over humps leaves a pile of dirt and the scrap exhausts are getting to be a road problem in themselves.
NSL 60 ?
Single carriageway ?
Surely trucks should be at a maximum of 40 ?
Or have I missed another silly_law_change ?
Let's face it. People are ignorant and [very] easily led.
Our local polos' are too intent on their own names being published to make sense, or anything else. All you have to do is trot-out another "world doom" story to get people on another bandwagon.
Meanwhile, I read that the pistes of the world are brimming-over with snow. But I CLEARLY remember being told, not 5 years ago, that within a few years it would be too hot for snow to fall in europe !
The police arrest an opposition mp for doing his job (a world exclusive, doing his job) and the gov minister (in charge of the police) knows nothing about it ?
Yeah: Other one, pull it.
The politicians, local and national, feed the social gobs with crap and wait for the demands of more restrictions, on everything from porn to speed limits.
We now have laws to protect the ignorant from their ignorance, which restrict the thinkers but fail to protect the ones who need it.
Children get killed, and worse, by those who should protect them; while those paid to protect them hold conferences to explain their inability to do what they have been [well] paid to do ?
This isn't the fall of society, it's the total demolition of social structure.
Whatever happened to democracy ?

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

Hear, hear. What did happen to democracy? It's a fact that the majority no longer have a say on road policies. I wouldn't be at all suprised if they don't just blanket cover the uk with a 40mph speed limit. It won't cause the accident rate to drop, probably increase it dramatically, but the idiots in power can't see that.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

The "idiots" in power do see that.
But since people think that "they" are doing it to make us slower, people are not thinking of the more sinister aspect of unbridled restriction/s.
Soon we are going to see the ultimate insult, cars will be speed limited while public transport vehicles will be able to go faster, in their own lanes.
Then private vehicles will be unable to transit within select areas, either at anytime or at select[ed] time/s.
Then they will be unable to go anywhere within town limits.
At the same time, we will be "allowed" to own said vehicles, but not allowed to use them. They will, of course, have to be paid for.
The "idiots" in power are unconcerned at the accident rate, more deaths is quite possible what they want anyway (ultimately).
You need to shift your thought processes into another dimension. Theirs.
They do not think as you (or I) do. Their thoughts are 20/40/60 years in the future.
Like the people planting trees now, they will not be alive to see the fruits of their labour....but their plans will still be followed.
the "idiots" in power are not idiots. The ones "in power" are not even elected. The ones who are run the country are unelected and omnipotent.

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

That is the silliest argument I have heard for ages Complaining that planners are looking beyond tomorrow and considering the effect on our children and grandchildren rather than pandering to old men's immediate gratification. The whole failure of parliamentery democracy is that it leads to terrible short term thinking. We might not agree with all their plans but we should be grateful that there are people in power whose horizons stretch beyond the next election. Just as we should be grateful that we have an unelected upper chamber to protect us from the excesses of the elected dictatorship in the lower house.

If, in 1948, the powers-that-be had been thinking 20/40/60 years ahead we might now have a decent transport infrastructure instead of the dogs breakfast we do have.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Again, you think not.
Parliamentary democracy is a nice concept (let me know when it arrives) but you assume that the people elected are the ones doing the running of the country.
The short term issues, like the economy, are unmanageable anyway since they depend on "market forces" which are so changeable.
The long term issues, such as population growth, need a long term planning.....which elected politicians are not that interested in.
It's why we have a civil service.
You know, the ones who RUN the country ?

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

I’m reminded of something Dr Dean Edell used to say regarding how if a new medicine isn’t working there are three possible outcomes to defend its continued use: -

If it isn’t working, you didn’t use enough
If it remains the same then the medicine arrested the condition
If you got better then it’s ‘proof’ that it worked

Hmmm…

If the cameras aren’t working we’re obviously not using enough of them
If the KSI stats show no improvement then the cameras must have arrested the condition
If the KSI figures go down then it’s ‘proof’ that they are working.

I guess Government Nero will continue to play with their liars, (opps, lyres ), while ever more lives are needlessly wasted looking at the wrong evidence in a sick experiment using the public as guinea pigs.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.