graball wrote:
weepej wrote:
An individual driver driving down a road is in no position to judge the road as a whole
No EXPERIENCED driver judges the road as a whole, only the immediate few hundred yards ahead that is visible.....a lollipop judges the road as a whole...what makes the most sense, a human experienced driver judging the road ahead, that he can see, for the conditions at the time or a lollipop placed there by someone, who may never have even driven the road....I know who I trust most.
Speed Limits are required to be clear and help to provide a predictable expectation of potential hazards along each road, the road's style and appearance also goes towards helping road users estimate road expectations.
Whilst road users should drive /ride so that they can stop in the distance that they can see to be clear this is coupled with a host of additional road and surrounding area and environmental information that all helps the road user to establish conditions and help anticipate the road conditions and expectations.
The attempt should always be to try to safely look as far ahead as you can and then 'scan back down the road' (in approximation and conditions allowing) and scan about (etc), and during these scans we assess and make risk management and condition judgment decisions.
Being safe and not having any accident is of paramount importance for every trip and every mile that we travel.
When road speeds are set and conditions imposed by authorities they take on this 'road style guidance' that imposes set preconceived ideas to all road users. When this concept is altered it sets up unknowns and changes the balances thus leaving road users less prepared and having to work harder to fully and properly assess all road environments.
So when road speeds start to become arbitrary the balance and predictability is altered and the road user has a hard job to judge and manage risk as well and hence why it is so very important that safe and appropriate speeds are set initially and then all later enforcement is proportional and also appropriate.