Safe Speed Forums

After talking about this road being "a catastrophe waiting to happen" and talking about hard shoulder, larger laybys and an overnight secure truck stop you would think , Oh he's talking some sense.

Then he, Ch Supt Geraint Anwyl, chairman of the National Roads Policing Intelligence Forum, states he wants, guess what?


Yes, you're right, it's the answer to all safety problems, the relatively new cash machine,

the introduction of north Wales' first "average speed over distance" control.


This would pick up motorists speeding up and down Rhuallt Hill in Denbighshire, which he calls an accident blackspot

Now would,nt regular flashing signs be a better idea to draw attention to speed rather than have people working out I can go so fast for this long and slow for this and then they all do it at different areas and lo and behold more crashes.


Full story on

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/7131767.stm

They just keep reminding me to stay out of Wales

Well flashing signs would be better than what is proposed but even they are distracting, 'cause the whole idea of flashing signs is to distract you! To draw attention to speed rather than hazards.

Seems the piggy bank mentality still pervades over real safety with the present policy incumbents.

Hi, I don't mean ones that flash the speed all the time at you I mean the ones that come on to remind you when you pass or approach that you are exceeding the limit and then stop until the next vehicle activates it.

Yes, I know the ones you mean; we have some close to where I live.

Trouble is, some drivers treat them like Gatsos and still pull on the anchors even if they are driving at the correct speed already. Driver passes by at the correct speed and the sign flashes. Result panic. Flash not caused by said driver but by someone following in a supposedly faster vehicle (perhaps only doing the limit in any event, the signs are not that accurate) that is likely to plough into the back of the panic breaker.

I have seen the signs near us flash with noting moving towards it other than tree branches waving in the wind (or was it me walking towards it!) Perhaps it's a good job it isn't a Gatso or I'd get a ticket for walking to fast. On the other hand, often it doesn't flash at all to some vehicles passing well over the limit. One word sums these up... useless. And of course they are paid
for by the local residents driving up council tax. One has to ask how and why should a local councillor be able to have these signs put up solely at his/her whim and fancy without any local consultation or formal planning consent with notices in the paper etc.

Another of these flashing signs is next to my turning advising of a cross road junction. I see it lit when nothing is on the road at all! All it does is unnecessarily distract me as I turn out onto the road.

God help us, we've managed for over a hundred years without these things flashing. Are they really necessary to make the roads safer? Do they actually make the roads any safer? Given that they panic the law abiding and ignore the law breakers they are little short of useless, if that.

Further, a flashing sign may well distract a driver enough for him/her to not notice a driver pulling out of their driveway. This has happened by our nearby sign.. the said councillor immediately blamed speeding, of course, and promised more flashing signs only he wasn't aware of the facts. It was a vehicle exiting a driveway run into by a passing vehicle, right next to the flashing sign. No speeding involved at all.

Photo of location here:
http://www.scarborougheveningnews.co.uk ... 3382975.jp

only this was of another accident at the same spot the previous year.

Wise words JK. I think you'll like it here! Please consider joining, if not straight away.

Flashing signs are certainly more honest than cameras, not to mention more effective at making drivers obey the speed limit in the general area, but they're overused and often in the wrong places, and further emphasise the misguided obsession with the number in the circle. It doesn't help when they're set to flash at a speed below the limit (presumably deliberately, although I don't know how the speed is actually set).

It would help if they were put on crowded high streets and outside schools, rather than in places where the speed limit is unreasonably low. One such place is on the A4 eastbound just after the Hammersmith flyover in west London. The limit changes to 30mph, despite the road being a well-aligned 6-lane dual carriageway with pedestrians fenced off. It's such a ludicrous limit that no-one respects it, and even when police cars are around people are happy to do 40mph (the police cars also do at least that speed). I've never seen that level of defiance anywhere else (and I think it's quite heartening TBH). As a result of so many people not thinking of the children, the sign is flashing constantly, and this of course undermines respect for flashing signs (not to mention speed limits) everywhere. Same old.

(Tellingly, when they first put a flashing sign there, they put in a 40mph one by mistake.... )

_________________
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"The freedom provided by the motor vehicle is not universally applauded, however: there are those who resent the loss of state control over individual choice that the car represents. Such people rarely admit their prejudices openly; instead, they make false or exaggerated claims about the adverse effects of road transport in order to justify calls for higher taxation or restrictions on mobility." (Conservative Way Forward: Stop The War Against Drivers)