Safe Speed Forums

Our local council wants to reduce a NSL road to 50MPH. I went along to the council offices to view the order and here is the best (worst) excuse I have ever heard.

"The existing lighting columns are very close to the edge of the carriageway which cause potential hazard to the road users at national speed limit, by reducing the speed limit to 50MPH, this will alleviate the potential risks of accidents on the road."

Obviously they are frightened of the lamposts jumping out into the road and people not being able to stop fast enough at 60MPH....

Joking apart though , this is their only reason for reducing a speed limit on a road that has been NSL since it's construction (early 80's I would say), I've never seen an accident on it and the lamposts are just the same distance from the kerb as any other road.

I will be objecting.

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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.

How about the road near me I've mentioned before that had the speed limit lowered to a mess of , and (reserved for the most dangerous bits) because of the "poor road surface".

When the road was thoroughly resurfaced, the limits stayed.

where is this one, Graball?

I'll look out for it next time I'm on family duties

It's the link road between priorslee (M54 junction 4 /A5) and the clocktower roundabout at Donnington.

Watch out for those nasty lamposts just waiting to jump out at you....

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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.

Those poles carrying the are soooo dangerous that we need to reduce the limit to 30.

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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

But as we all know, there’s something much more dangerous. if there’s one thing you don’t want to hit, it’s a tree.

So I guess where there are trees at the road side it should be or In other words everywhere should be

How about air bags around trees and lamposts I should write to the dept of Health and Paranoia about it…

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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.

Surely it is easier to remove the trees. That would also prevent boys from climbing them and throwing sticks to collect conkers.

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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

What’s the difference between going past a lamppost at 60 mph and the millions of vehicles which every day safely pass each other in opposite directions on A roads, sometimes within inches.

It’s the equivalent of hurtling towards each other at 100+ mph yet no-one worries about it but ohhh.. mind that ‘dangerous’ lamppost.

What kind of organ grinder keeps coming up with these stupid ideas and what clowns in power keep listening to them

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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.

hmmm i think it was commented a while back that the a444 was gaining some apparently pointless armco that hadn't been needed for the past 12years (the cost of it was questioned).
the ring road in coventry has also gained some armco and impact absorbers around it......

fortunately and possibly because of this..? the speed limit hasn't changed. (apart from the pointless drop from NSL to 50 on the section just before J3)

Let's hope that very other council in the country doesn't get wind of this one, just think, the perfect excuse to reduce all speed limits where people may have to travel within a few feet of, a tree,lampost or ...... another vehicle.....

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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 would call the level of risk de minimis

"The term "acceptable risk" describes the likelihood of an event whose probability of occurrence is small, whose consequences are so slight, or whose benefits (perceived or real) are so great, that individuals or groups in society are willing to take or be subjected to the risk that the event might occur.

The revealed-preference approach assumes that society, through trial and error, has achieved a nearly optimal, and thus acceptable, balance of risks and benefits. The expressed-preference approach uses opinion surveys and public consultations to obtain information about risk levels warranting mitigation action.

Although regulatory authorities are reluctant to define a precise level of acceptable risk, lifetime risks in the order of one in a million have been discussed in regulatory applications of the acceptable risk concept. This level of risk is considered to be de minimis, an abbreviation of the legal concept de minimus non curatlex (the law does not concern itself with trifles*)."

*Oh yes it bloody does!

If you compare the level of risk or likelihood of hitting a lamppost to other potential hazards it is surely negligible. I don’t fear hitting any inanimate object, I fear a stupid or irresponsible driver hitting me with their vehicle.

_________________
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.