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Sorry if I am covering old news here, and it's rather long, but I feel compelled to speak out on the issue of speeding. I'm new to 'Safe Speed' and don't know where to post anything for maximum viewing on this subject: -
Why-O-Why don't 'we' look around the world and see how things are done better/wiser? Outside schools, these days we often have a 20 MPH limit, whether children are present or not. In California, where I worked for two years, they have a sign which states; '40 MPH, 25MPH when children are present'. If you are caught doing so much as 2 MPH over the limit when children are present you stand to get a ticket. Good common sense. (And 'we' think the Americans are dumb).
I work for the NHS, in Rehabilitation. The last thing I want to do is hurt or kill someone and yet I speed every time I use the roads. So why is my record impeccable after 32 years of driving and riding? Because, like most good drivers, I'm looking at the road conditions and situation or as a police friend of mine would say, "if you're constantly looking at your speed and other road furniture, you're probably not concentrating on the road as much as you should". Good common sense again I think.
The hypocrisy surrounding speeding irks me to the point of nausea. Everybody speeds; doctors, couriers, firemen and even mom taking little Johnny to school. (It's always Johnny for some reason) I see it in the UK and on my travels around the world but the UK seems to be the most excessive and obsessive about speeding and cameras. It's not uncommon to follow a police car and see they too exceed the limit whilst very obviously not an a call but they are no more a threat to the public than I am.
You name him or her, they all speed and I get sick and tired of hearing someone say that they never do. It's nonsense! If these very same people who claim never to exceed the limit were followed as they go about their journey, at some point they would go over the limit. I should say I am referring to those who go actually use the roads to get somewhere, not those who only ever go on a trip to the local shops or shuffle in traffic to get to a place of work they could well get to quicker by push bike. I feel especially sorry for those who have to do a great many miles per year through their work, which they do in perfect safety year after year but stand a much higher risk of being 'done'. This group are probably safer than most for all their experience!
Let's just state something obvious here: By definition, if you are so much, (or so little), as one mph over the limit you are effectively speeding and I, for one, wouldn't want to be a passenger in the same vehicle as someone so obsessed with how fast they are driving that they are constantly checking their speed. I think they are far more of a danger than someone who is paying less attention to their speedometer and more attention to the road.
So why don't we tell it as it is? It is not just speed which is the demon on our roads so much as the inappropriate use of speed. What is infinitely more important to my mind is that we drive according to the conditions and within our own limitations.
I'd like to submit two possible scenarios. Picture it if you will:
1) You are travelling on a road with a 30 MPH limit on a clear or sunny day. You are travelling uphill and there's absolutely no-one around or any parked vehicles. You are alone, alert and have 20/20 vision. The vehicle you're in has ABS braking, and the tyres are new.
2) You are travelling downhill on the very same road at a time when it is overcast or dark. It is raining and there are pedestrians going about their business while hanging on to their umbrellas. There are some cars parked by the roadside and you haven't had an eye test since you passed your driving test umpteen years ago, so things aren't quite as sharp as they should be. Maybe you have also had a drink, but nothing which would put you over the legal limit. Your car doesn't have ABS and the tyres are just about legal. Your partner is chatting to you over the radio and the kids are noisy; playing-up in the back.
By law, you could be doing exactly the same speed in either case on the very same stretch of road but which situation is safer? The difference in both potential danger and overall stopping distance is massive and yet it's a 30mph limit in either direction regardless of the conditions. So far as I am aware, these speed limits have never been based on a worst case scenario so I assume that we have always been given the responsibility to take all these factors into account and adjust our driving according to the conditions.
If it were me, I personally may be doing in excess of 30mph in the first instance but considerably less in the second, or better still I may take a taxi. The simple point I am trying to make is that I am using my good judgement, (a risk assessment as it is known), which is what all good drivers do, all of the time!
There's a very good reason why insurance goes down with age and I'm certain it's not just because the older, or safer sex, do not speed. They are less of a risk on our roads quite simply because they are safer drivers and surely this what we all want? If you have a careless, irresponsible or foolish person behind the wheel you are still going to have accidents and fatalities even if they were forced to abide strictly to every limit! I know because I sometimes get to see them and the heart ache it causes to both them and their loved ones.
So then, the day we can put the emphasis on bad drivers, as opposed to simply targeting speed and making money from speed cameras, then perhaps we can address the real problem of how to make our roads safer. I wish we would get away from the fallacious argument that anyone who simply speeds is some kind of egotistical maniac with a total disregard for the law on a selfish mission simply to get somewhere as fast as possible.
When I was learning to drive I was always told, and still hold it to be true, that driving demands 100% concentration. I am proud of the fact that I have an impeccable safe driving record and I want to keep it that way. We should not, therefore, become paranoid about speed or have our eyes distracted from the road any more than absolutely necessary which includes not having to constantly keep our speed in check.
I am old enough to remember how things used to be: If you were careless enough to get caught speeding by a police officer who was pursuing you, depending on the prevailing conditions and your speed, (and if you were respectful towards the officer), you may just get off with a warning. It would certainly shake you up! It made you think about your driving and afterwards you would realise that perhaps you're not as vigilant or careful as you thought you were. If you were prosecuted you weren't exactly happy about it but at least you didn't feel any sense of injustice for not being observant enough. It was effective and you had a greater respect for the law than some machine which serves only as a money-making distraction.
I think the whole speeding issue and how it is tackled today absolutely makes for terrible relations between the public and the police, and also for the integrity of our political system. For most of us, the only time that the law-abiding public are ever likely to get into hot water is on the subject of speeding. With the continuing obsession and proliferation of camera's and speed traps, before long there will be just two types of motorist out there: those who have been caught and those who are yet to be caught - and how will society function then?
Big Tone
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Big Tone. That's a heck of a first post.
I don't see very many drivers driving at the speed limit, on any type of road, on snow!
Big Tone.
WAY TO GO .. FELLA! 
