Hello TSM. I think, but am not certain, this is the first time I've responded to any of your posts. I read (almost) everything on the board, try to answer genuine questions where I think I can help, and generally offer a different perspective to propositions/statements that may otherwise be seen with closed minds. I tend to not get drawn in to what I see as posting styles that are heated and often filled with emotion. To do so in my experience is typically counterporductive.
the sensible majority wrote:
sorry, but all things considred, if a driver is not comfatable driving at a speed near the limit, or not capable the should NOT be driving at all.
I often feel uncomfortably restrained by the speed limit. However, it is also very common for me to find my free travelling speed substantially below the posted limit. This does not mean the limit posted is wrong, nor does it, I hope, mean that I should not be driving. I can think of a myriad of possible reasons for me not feeling comfortable driving at or near the limit. Assuming for the moment it is a dry road and traffic is light, some reasons might be that I have just experienced a strange feeling in the car (noise, shudder, change in performance of one of the controls..). Until I'm confident I know what that is, and have diagnosed it sufficiently I will want to proceed with greater caution, which may well inxlude a speed of travel way below the posted limit. I may have a passenger who is feeling particularly queasy and wants the window down, which in turn may make progress at a posted limit uncomfortable due to buffetting. As stated above, there may be some delicate botanic cargo that it is desireable to keep g-forces low. Whilst this should not in itself mean a reduction in free travel speed, there may be something a mile or so ahead that makes it more comfortable on balance to maintain a lower speed of travel. Then there may be a hazard density that I perceive to be high, to the extent that I would be uncomfortable proceeding at 30 mph, despite other motorists proceeding at 40 (in a 40 limit). They may well have better powers of observation than me - I take my hat off to them. On the other hand, they may not have observed the increased hazard density for which I decided to go slower - and of course got away with it thanks to none of the potential hazards materialising. then there is grip. Weather, microclimate... many things can make the road feel less than ideal. In such circumstances, my comfortable safe speed may be substantially lower than the limit, whereas others may happily - and for the most part safely, proceed at or close to the posted limit. Again, I take my hat off to their capability... or is it that they are foolhardy? I do not know.
the sensible majority wrote:
What difference an 80 year old with slowed perception and reaction time to a drunk/drugged driver.
Please think before posting.
This I think is fairly easy. Not only do reactions get slower with alcohol, but one's self perception of capability gets better. with the pensioner, they typically recognise their reduced capability and compensate for it by coming slower, leaving better gaps, looking both ways three or four times instead of once or twice.. Drunks will typically believe they can do it even better. Bang.