Safe Speed Forums

I disagree slightly - you can't trust drivers to use their judgement. Maybe you and I can, but not everyone can.

And I know speed limits are not supposed to be targets, but on the whole they are, and a road (not dual carriageway) is safer when all the traffic is doing the same speed because overtaking on such roads is generally a dangerous manoeuvre.

I disagree with a lot of the actual limits themselves though, and also feel they should be variable according to road conditions (both on and off the road). And they must step in 5s not 10s. (In the USA they step in 5s, the rest of the world by 10km/hr which is approx 6.25mph).

I think we're in a transitional stage anyway and with technological improvements, they will be able to monitor traffic in a less discriminatory way than Gatsos - eg they may be able to automatically track a vehicles movements and prosecute based on this hard evidence in court if they were actually driving carelessly or dangerously. Would be particularly useful in cases of accidents.

UK limits on public roads step in 10s because legally speedos are only required to be calibrated in 10s. It's that simple.

Please don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying that speed limits are bad -- just that they should be advisory and not mandatory. Exceeding a marked speed limit should most certainly be a factor in the assessment of whether a motorist was driving carelessly or dangerously, but it should never be the entire picture.

WRT speed limits becoming targets: in the '60s and '70s speed limits were reasonable maxima given the capabilities of the vehicles of the day. Frequently it was dangerous to travel at the speed limit and motorists used of their own judgement. For example, it was common for cars to travel at about 50mph in the (then) 70-limit of single carriageways.

However, todays cars are capable of much higher speeds in safety. Road holding and braking have both improved. Notwithstanding that, speed limits have reduced. The national speed limit has reduced from 70 to 60, many zones have had their limits reduced by 30 or even 40 mph. We now even have 20 mph zones.

Such low limits mean that (given no traffic or adverse weather) it is rarely dangerous to drive at the speed limit in a modern car. So, it is hardly surprising that motorists consider that a speed limit declares that speed to be safe even when actual road conditions dictate otherwise. IOW, motorists are no longer inclined to use their own judgement and (IMO) that has to be bad news for road safety.

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Will