Safe Speed Forums

I was addressing this particular problem. Not every settlement with over 50 people has a steep hill running out of it.



Who is saying that?

It is not that excessive speed (under or over the limit) is never a problem. The point is that cameras are never the best solution, and in many cases are no solution at all.

Of course the best solution would be a combination of road improvements (real improvements, not white paint and humps) and driver education.

That's only one particular feature. Plenty of real-world villages on main roads could easily be driven through at 60+ if considering only the physical road configuration and not the level of development.

And why is it an enormous burden to drivers to slow to (roughly) 40 or 30 for a short distance when passing through a town or village?


You appear to be.


In the example I gave, road improvements (i.e. installing roundabouts) would have solved the problem, but actually delivered a worse outcome than cameras.

If I lived in a village on a main road that had a 40 limit (which some would argue should be a 30 anyway) I would not think it acceptable if 100 vehicles a day passed through at 60+. I would also think this posed a serious safety problem. What would you do about it?

By the way, I deliberately didn't place a school in this hypothetical village.

Regards,

Peter

_________________
"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

I don't know, perhaps because they are poorly trained in the first place. Or they feel speed limits are set by scattering smarties on a map? Or a bit of both.


I don't see how, and I am not.


I wouldn't buy a house there.

A single speed camera on the approach will only slow traffic as it passes that camera.

SPECS would have an effect over the entire length but the villagers will object to the unsightly gantries. Bear in mind you'll need one set at each end and a couple in the middle to catch people who either turn into or out of the side road.

A roundabout would only slow traffic for a short distance either side.

Traffic calming would cause more noise and pollution, and inconvenience the local population.

The only real solution is to reroute the major road. Leaving the village on a dead end. Ideally this would be done as part of an upgrading of the entire road, taking in any other such settlements. You can't do them all overnight and we should have been working on it for the last 20 years but it will be far quicker than implementing a decent driver education program.



Building a school on this hypothetical road would be pretty silly wouldn't it?

By the way, what would you do?

In this case we are talking about a properly set speed limit, not a political one. The question is why some licensed drivers choose to completely ignore such limits.


But it would prevent the "blast through at 60" approach - likewise the other suggested solutions.


As stated before this isn't a realistic option for a 5000 VPD road through a village where the speeding problem isn't general, just a small percentage of idiots.


In most cases the schools were there when the only traffic was horse-drawn.


Firstly, get the coppers out at weekends and in the mornings and evenings.

And, if there really still were 100 VPD going through at 60+, reluctantly put in a Gatso on each entrance 150 yards or so past the speed-related message sign.

Regards,

Peter

_________________
"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed