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Not really. We do not know the EXACT speed most accidents happen at.
OK, so it was ambiguous - it seemed as if you were suggesting in the first instance that most accident speeds were fairly well known, and then in the second instance that most accident speeds weren't fairly well known. Now I see the point you were trying to make, your earlier comments make more sense. Thanks.
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When someone says "I was travelling at 27 miles per hour", depending on context and the way they say it can seem very suspicious. Such suspicious answers are fairly common.
Thanks again, it's these little details which make all the difference in interpreting your earlier comments!
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I don't see the problem with local authorities using their judgement in deciding on a speed limit. You think drivers should use their judgement as to what is safe, but the people who administer the roads should not do this?
No, but I DO think that the road authorities need to be singing from the same songsheet unless there's a very good reason for a local deviation from national policy. I'm not so much bothered about one county setting the limit on a particular type of road to 50 and the neighbouring county setting the limit on a comparable stretch of road to 40, although I'd like to see an end to this as well. I'm more concerned about the inconsistencies which lead to, for example, one county applying a 40/50 limit on a stretch of dual carriageway which is near-motorway standard (i.e. 3 lanes, grade separated junctions, central barrier and no pedestrian access), when other counties are quite happy to leave their less-well-engineered duals at NSL.
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Exactly. Which is precisely what's happening in reality.
So you are pro what is happening right now then?
Absolutely not!
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You seem against local authorities deciding upon local speed limits, but you want speed limits to vary depending on circumstances?
Yes, provided that the baseline limits are set consistently and we don't simply slap a variable limit system on top of the existing inconsistencies. Otherwise you could end up with a scenario where, even in ideal conditions, the raised limit on one stretch of road could still be lower than the normal limit on a comparable stretch of road in another county.
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So you think this should all be administered by national government, and local government should have no control over the speed limits of their own transport system?
Basically, yes. If it's deemed legal to travel at x mph on a stretch of road in one county, it should also be legal to travel at x mph on a comparable stretch of road everywhere else in the UK. It may be necessary for the national agencies to delegate road categorisation to the local authorities in some cases, although checks should take place to ensure the locals aren't taking the piss by placing a road in a lower limit category just for the sake of having a lower limit.
And if that sounds like a lot of work, then that's because it probably is. But the speed limit system we have at present is in a right mess, with limits creeping downwards on a county by county basis with no clear justification and, so it seems, no co-ordination between neighbouring counties. If we don't have a major overhaul of the entire system, then sooner or later what little consistency we still have in setting limits on a national basis will vanish.