Safe Speed Forums

I’ve seen 10 mph signs, and I think 5 mph ones on rare occasion, so I was surprised to see an 8mph at road works the other day for the workers It doesn’t equate to a round figure in the metric system, my first thought, so I’m baffled as to why this strange number and how they came to legitimise it?

It comes across to me like someone is pretending to have done extensive research, as though it’s an exact science, when in fact most likely it’s just another figure someone’s plucked out of thin air. (The origin of every limit?). It’s also made me think about all limits and how by some strange phenomena the safety aspect, as dictated to us all, coincides with increments or multiples of 10 everywhere? How and why is this?

I’ve heard in the past that these limits are meant as a ceiling; the science, research or theory they purport to have done means ‘up to but no faster’. But true safety can’t possibly work that way; that it just so happens to be 30 in one place and then leap to 40. Or the 60 limit has now dropped like a stone to 40 even though nothing in the area has changed since the road was built and no accidents have ever occurred. It’s whimsical, plain and simple.

To put it another way, if proper research is done and they find that a better or more suitable limit for a given area would be 35mph it’s strange that it’s either raised above that to 40 or, more likely, dumbed down to 30. And of course if that same area, which is deemed safe to do 35 but it’s dumbed down, (because we simply can’t produce 35mph signs), then you can be prosecuted for doing 35mph on the basis that it’s dangerous. They tell you this so they must be right - right?

Of course this is all a nonsense anyway in reality because the ideal speed for any given stretch depends, or should depend, on the prevailing circumstances which can be all manner of numerical figures. But try telling that to some people...

For anyone old enough to remember old money and how things were rounded up, I wonder what would happen to our limits if they had to be changed to metric.

Would the ‘safe’

become a sign of 48.28 Kmh
become a sign of 64.37 Kmh
become a sign of 80.46 Kmh

No, of course not! Safety is about nice round figures and always going slower. So, unless you’re the man who thought of the 8 mph sign, I suspect they would dumb it down as follows. The new ‘safe’ limit signs become: -

40 Kmh = 24.85 mph
60 Kmh = 37.28 mph
80 Kmh = 49.71 mph (Quite close to the old one at least unless, on a whim, they dumb it down to 70 Kmh = 43.49 mph


Of course they may choose to increase some limits if they want to follow Europe’s example. Perhaps I shouldn’t be so cynical...

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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.

Unfortunately, Tone, the world is now being run by idiots who'se only practical skill and real life experience comes from a computer screen. Some bright spark who has probably never sat behind the wheel of a car, has done a computer programme which works out the max speed you can hit someone without doing major damage and just like the guy in DCB's example of not letting learner overtake anything faster than 12MPH, just doesn't realise that most speedos won't read 8 or 12 MPH....DOH!

It's not just road safety though look at the design of modern cars where you have to strip them down to replace cheap, ever failing parts, like light bulbs.

it's not just Automobile related either. Have you ever tried fitting/servicing one of those superdooper new toilets that look great in a bathroom showroom and hide all the pipes (what pipes?) (but of course it's not plumbed in or working in reality), they are a nightmare to fit and totally impossible to service without removing it totally and making a lot of mess.
So there you have it mate. Practical skills, built up over decades, mean for nothing if a computer programme says you can do it differently...the computer always knows best.

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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.

Aint that the truth Grab; it’s rife!

On that very same theme I have a friend who has been subjected to this same kind of b t

I’m going back about two years now but he’s a postman and I’ve seen the size of the mail he delivers. I can tell you it’s not something a triathlete could do easily! The regulations surrounding what he should legally carry went out the door years ago.

The image of Mr Posty whistling his way along and stopping to say good morning to folk while sporting his little sack of letters hasn’t happened for about two decades or more! I’ve told him many times to get the press involved or a program like Panorama to blow the whistle on this crap, but he’s a quieter person than me. He’s a decent and honest man, so while others burn the junk mail consisting of glossy thick mags, he always delivers the lot.

So anyway, a program the management used recently showed them that their assessment of what they should be doing, using some ‘intelligent’ route software, at an average of 5mph, (yes, that’s 5 MPH dressed up like a packhorse!), he should have ample time to do it during the working day. The program shows it, so it must be true. (That’s twice I’ve used that expression lately).

These same management a-holes who have never been a postman themselves couldn’t do in one week what he does in one day are telling him how to do his job more efficiently because their program says it’s feasible and knows better than my assiduous and conscientious friend who’s done it for years!

There’s an American philosopher, (name escapes me now), who said “if you want to know about the job ask those who are doing it”. That line of thinking also went out the door years ago...

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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.

I did post on a local piece of road ,where local politilicios had deemed that was NEEDED a road with a limit. This was on main raad leading into town . WHY/OH WHY it was chosen ,is beyond reason. But now, we've got Plastic cops(with camersas), PCSO with nothing better to do than do speed checks on this road. Meantime, we've got folks doing kami kazi stundt on this road. A 20 limit ,with kami kazi folks - deffo a recipe for nasties. And then ,I take dog into park ,where I dodge two louts on bike at what I consider excessive speed careering across park, texting to mates. I now wonder if next visit to park ,I should be carrying walkning stick. +

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on