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I saw on Facebook today a would be campaign against the new speed limit on the A127.
It seems that because of the amount of accidents occuring on that particular road the speed limit is being reduced to 50 mph instead of 70 mph.
Mostly, as you can imagine, the responses from people who are signing this protest are ab out blaming someone else. Car drivers are blaming the Lorry drivers. ohand the motorcycllists!,,,,,,,,,,,oddly enough, the motorcyclists aren’t really blaming anyone lol but it’s the cars, lorrys and vans (dontya just love a white van man lol).
They won’t stick to 50, they don’t bloody stick to 70!! and that! is why most of the accidents happen!! But then to say that, they’d have to admit that it maybe their own fault sometimes, and we can’t have that now can we :roll: Motorists taking responsibility for their own actions? !! whatever next !!! :roll: :wink: :mrgreen:
The dual-carriageway speed limit for LGV’s (large goods vehicles – i.e. lorries over 7.5 tonnes gross weight) is already 50 mph. So there’s no change there for drivers of heavy lorries.
LGV’s are fitted with speed limiters which prevent them from exceeding 56 mph, even on motorways, where the law permits them to do 60 mph!
Lowering speeds on very busy stretches of motorway or dual-carriageway is not just a safety measure – if traffic can all be kept moving at the same pace, it flows more smoothly efficiently.
Apart from driving dangerously and carelessly, more accidents are caused by low speed being the factor as the driver is less alert. This has been proved but of course, they can’t can’t drain as much money from the motorist as they can from speeding.
I travel in Germany regularly, where motorways are unrestricted …. far less accidents there than here.:x
Apart from driving dangerously and carelessly, more accidents are caused by low speed being the factor as the driver is less alert. This has been proved but of course, they can’t can’t drain as much money from the motorist as they can from speeding.
I travel in Germany regularly, where motorways are unrestricted …. far less accidents there than here.Absolute twoddle!
I’ve been driving 35 years and have been an HGV driver. An inattentive slow driver might be a nuisance but they are safer than an inattentive fast driver. The police and road research institutions consistently say that excessive speed is the main cause but not the only cause of road accidents.
I think the point was maybe driving fast makes you concentrate more because of the speed
If you are driving, you should be concentrating. If you are increasing your speed to the extent you need to concentrate MORE, you are probably driving too fast for the conditions.
Saying that slow drivers are more dangerous than fast ones is one of those highway myths.
Another one, in the early days of motoring, was that it was safest to speed up when you come to a crossroads because there’s less chance of being hit! I don’t think anyone subscribes to that one any more!But youll still get away with lapses in concentration more at slow speeds than at high, or are you saying driving at 30 MPH requires as much concentration as driving an F1 car ?
Driving at “speed” actually requires MORE concentration than driving “slowly”. This is because at “speed” you have substantially less time to react to a situation than if you drive “slowly”.
As a result of having to react far more quickly, the need for concentration is far greater, so the statement that more accidents are caused by slow driving is another “urban myth”.
As to the point about high speed driving in Germany. I have likewise done a lot of this and I have found that German drivers are far more arrogant in style and far more “pushy” than their UK counterparts.
That said, they seem to have fewer accidents on balance but when they do have one – it is usually massive involving several vehicles and severe disruption.
The most common type of accidents are maneuvering and parking type accidents along with low speed shunts like hitting the car in front at junctions when you thought he/she had gone, etc. All are low speed and many don’t get reported. High speed accidents are in the minority and a lot of those involve TWOC, drink/drugs and tiredness. Driving at too high a speed for the conditions is a different thing altogether to breaking the speed limit. Driving at 40mph on a 60mph road, in certain conditions you could be driving dangerously. A friend in the Police confirms all this, but a campaign warning about slow driving would send out the wrong message. As a Train Driver for over 30 years, we were taught “Be able to stop in the distance I can see to be clear”. Some car drivers drive blind.
And what about wazzocks cruising the middle lane on Motorways?[-(
As a Train Driver for over 30 years, we were taught “Be able to stop in the distance I can see to be clear”.
Yes. As a train driver you’d be particularly well aware of kinetic energy and how it increases with the square of speed. Railways have speed limits and I think I’m right in saying that train drivers observe them without question.
If road accidents happen at lower speed the consequences are normally less serious. You can’t equate a car park bump to high-speed loss of control on a bend.
One stretch of dangeropus road I used to drive regularly had no speed limit, or rather the national 60 mph limit. It was unsafe to exceed 50 mph on that road and I kept to 50, but used to get tailgated by impatient drivers. Then they introduced a 40 mph limit on that road and most vehicles go slower although they don’t all obey the limit. Having a suitable limit for a stretch of road removes that ‘perhaps I should be going a bit faster’ feeling when being harassed by a tailgater.
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