Safe Speed Forums

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

It is rarely (If ever, arguably) acceptable to Speed!

It is frequently acceptable (Though illegal) to exceed the posted limit!

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

The very word 'speeding' is a meaningless term; it tells us nothing useful. You are either driving safely or you are not. The word should be banished and replaced with DWDC and then enforced with common sense.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

If you have to ask that question, you wouldn't understand the answer.

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Only when ideology, prejudice and dogma are set aside does the truth emerge - Kepler

'Speeding' is generally applied to being over the posted limit.
Speed = Cambridge Dictionary here
Speeding = here
Speed (verb) = here

It would be hard to find anyone that at no time ever exceeds the posted limit ever.
We know too that all surveys show that the majority of people admit to 'speeding' or going faster thatn the posted limit.
How many people though travel over the speed limit when it is unsafe to do so?
Looking at the accident stats., we know that only 6% of accidents have speed as a factor not a cause.
We know too that millions of motorists are being penalised for 'speeding'.
So is this obsessive-ness with 'speed' justified, not in my opinion.
So what does cause accidents - lack of attention and distraction.

So if speed is not necessarily 'dangerous' then how can we judge and manage risk to ensure that if we are to go faster than the speed limit how to do so safely? (Please note that in no way does Safe Speed advocate breaking the Law in any way).
To get to the truth and comprehend real world states we need to look at what happens to analyse it.
So how do motorists learn about speed and distance judgement. As they become more experienced they judge better about distances and safe environments just to start with. Motorists learn to about behaviours of other road users and to in turn learn how to act.
So when a distance presents a safe environment and they go over the posted limit safely and no one is placed in any danger that safe action is repeated. Equally experience, and good judgement can help those to slow when environments become more dangerous too. If many motorists are already getting this behaviour right is it correct to penalise those that are otherwise safe?
If policies make criminals out of the (otherwise) law abiding motorist are we gaining better motorists or worse.
If policies fail to appreciate the 'right' road safety measures then what are they missing - properly dealing with inattention, distraction and frustration problems ... We know these are the biggest problems so how might 'speeding' penalties address them if at all ?

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

From the time we're first able to walk, we start learning to slow down or stop when we see something we're not too sure of. It's almost instinctive to slow down for danger - which doesn't mean that it's always the most appropriate thing to do, but everyone does it, so it's the norm by which to judge aberrant behaviour.

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Only when ideology, prejudice and dogma are set aside does the truth emerge - Kepler

Indeed and part of what we learn about driving / riding, is the size of our vehicle which becomes an extension of that early understanding of spacial awareness.
That expected behaviour helps all road users to understand predictable behaviours, and also where some also make those assumptive mistakes too.
Being prepared for those that don't always do the (expected) 'right thing', is important, but to also give consideration for advanced behaviours which might be misunderstood too.

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

As I was told when I was learning to drive, you should be considering everything around you. What you can see, what you can't see and what you may see and that should then determine your speed and positioning. If you have to do an emergency stop then you have failed in observing and considering one of these. In fact if you think about it, for any accident to happen one of these has been overlooked by one or more of the parties involved. Therefore if accidents are to be reduced these are the main items to concentrate on. Get these right and the speed will be correct for the condition automatically.

The problem with that approach is that it can lead to the conclusion that the only safe speed is zero. For example you are driving past a queue of people at a bus stop. Any one of them could step out directly in front of you giving you no chance to stop. Your positioning is constrained by an HGV in the lane to your right.

Pragmatically you have to accept the possibility of an accident, adjust your speed so that the damage would be minimised and be prepared to do a perfectly justified ES.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Or you could stop until the HGV moved to allow you room to pass safely.
However, the pragmatic approach is the one normally adopted, as we recognise that, as most people are not suicidal, it's highly unlikely that one of them is going to step out.
But, in the highly unlikely event that it does happen, we want to be going very slowly in order to minimise the damage. The trade-off here is that by going slowly, we're allowing more time for something to happen, thus making the highly unlikely event a bit less highly unlikely.

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Only when ideology, prejudice and dogma are set aside does the truth emerge - Kepler

Not only that but IME, the slower you are going, the more likly it is that somebody will step out inappropriatly!

People dont generally step into the path of (Or pull out infront of) "Speeding" cars. It is the slow ones that they step/pull out infront of!

(My Analysis; People/drivers look before "Jumping" as it were, They initially assume oncoming cars are fast and wait. If they are fast, all well and good actually. But if they are slow they wait, they then get frustrated/confused about how long they are waiting and then (sometimes) change their mind and make their move right at the last moment when infact there is now no longer a reasonable safety margin to cross or pull out. I would be interested if anybody else has made similar observations)

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

Yes, I've noticed it.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

So have I. And, from the pedestrian point of view, it is really annoying waiting for a slowly moving car to pass. Especially, as often happens, it turns off into a side road before it reaches you. Without signalling, of course, since there is nobody there to benefit from the signal - only a pedestrian.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Ah yes, an IAM member. (waits for flak)

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

As a pedestrian is another road user and the signal would be of use then it should be given. The no signal rule only applies if you would be talking to yourself.

Knowing the intentions of motorists certainly makes crossing the road a lot easier.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

I agree, I cross a busy road, near a roundabout, weekly, it would be nice if motorists turning left into the road that I wanted to cross, signaled their intention.

saw a muppet on a mini island today, firstly he wasn't indicating, secondly he was waiting when he should have been going and I think that his hesitation was caused by the other motorist on the island not indicating left (which would have allowed him to proceed), the irony of all this is, the guy waiting probably didn't realise that the other persons lack of indicators inconvenienced him but he was just as guilty as the first party. If only these muppets realised that if everyone folowed the rules, life would be much simpler for everyone, especially themselves.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.