Safe Speed Forums

I disagree with your disagreement which I'm sure you'll disagree with.
The example offered by Thatsnews was perhaps a little extreme, but nonetheless having traffic respect a speed limit in a residential area is helpful, generally speaking, in permitting pedestrians to safely negotiate the road without having a crossing installed which will bring the traffic to a complete stop so that, perhaps, one person can get across. And that was an extremely long sentence

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Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical, liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

You bet I agree with your suspicion that I’ll disagree with the disagreement of our disagreement (did I get that right )

I’m not so sure the example Thatsnews gave was extreme, it was certainly valid and I replied to it. Perhaps you could suggest another example?


You haven’t dealt with patents

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

It was extreme in as much as it gave a near 'worst case scenario' in terms of the mobility of someone trying to cross a road. Speaking more generally, I stand by what I said with respect to the speed of the traffic and the opportunity it gives for people to cross the road without the need for some sort of intervention.
In theory we could have NSL conditions along all roads provided nobody ever wanted to cross them, or pull out of junctions tucked away around around corners etc etc.

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Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical, liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the idea that we need to have slower speed limits on streets where people want to cross more. Sure, on quiet residential streets we generally have a 30 limit and you can cross pretty much any time you like without significant wait. If the road is busy, however, then the speed of the traffic isn't really going to make crossing that much easier, and a zebra or pelican crossing would make much more sense than forcing drivers to go slower so that they can jam on the anchors quicker when someone gets fed up of waiting to cross and steps out.

It seems to me that zebra crossings are the ideal for the situation being debated. Low-cost compared to a lights-controlled crossing, suitable when there is only a occasional crosser or two, and not time restricted, so drivers are not held up when there are no crossers, and slower crossers are not unduly rushed by the phase of the lights.

I agree with this.
Portsmouth council had a lucid moment not long ago. They replaced the traffic lights just south of Commerical Road Precinct with a heap of zebra crossings. The congestion has greatly abated and pedestrians don't have to wait at all and can take thier time to cross if need be. Unfortunately the council undid their good work by needlessly creating a stupidly dangerous pinch point just south of it (near the Civic ofices) - see here.

Surely providing a specific engineering solution to the problem: "people find it hard to cross the road at a particular point" as opposed to the sledgehammer-to-crack-a-nut approach restricting the speed of all vehicles 24/7 for the whole stretch of the road is exactly what "this campaign" is all about?

A lot of people will have little sympathy with the idea that drivers should be able to travel at 44mph on a 30mph road, thats all I was saying.

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Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical, liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

I'm not sure if we got our wires crossed. I'm one of the former in your description (so long as the road is residential or an otherwise vulnerable one). My point was that echoed by JTB and malcolmw.