Speed linits! Who actually gives a f$%£K?????

[Dave Newell]

I've just done two return trips to Stratford Upon Avon this weekend to take my son and his friends to Global Gathering (some sort of all night music do). During these journeys I used the cruise control to great effect, staying just under the speed limits on all roads. Why then was I overtaken so often when I was already travelling at (or very near to) the speed limit? This happened most often in 30 MPH zones but over 270 miles or so in total I was passed no les the 17 times illegally. The most ridiculuous one was by a police car in a 30 limit, on a blind bend cresting a hill!!!! And no he did'nt have blues, twos or anything else on, not even side lights!!!!! How many of these t%^ss£rs would claim to be "only just over the speed limit " if caught, I wonder? I also encountered so many other idiots who were quite happy to drive at 45 MPH in a 60 zone but did not slow down for 40 or even 30 limits! I personally find this kind of driving very annoying when there are so many people complaining about speed/safety cameras, if there weren't so many to£$%rs like these on the roads we wouldn't need speed/safety cameras! Well would we???? Here's one for Jezza Clarkson though after his recent piece about caravans. Whilst travelling along the A442 from Kidderminster to Bridgnorth yesterday afternoon. I came up to the rear of a small train of traffic doing 40 MPH. The train included two caravans, three motorhomes and two vintage motorcycles. Who do we think was holding every one up?? The caravans perhaps? No! The motorhomes then?? No!! What about the vintage bikes then?? Mr. Babbage says AAh, AAARGH!!! At the head of the train was some twonk in a Porsche 911 Turbo holding everyone up!!!! The A442 from Kiddy to Bridgnorth is a fine piece of road, yes there are sections which are 40 MPH limits but a lot of it is 60MPH so why trundle along at 40 in a Porsche? D.

[Don Madge]

[QUOTE]Dave Newell - 2006-07-30 6:40 PM [/QUOTE] Dave, Very enlightening, have you been at the juice again :-D or did dexter get you by the "short and curlies" 8-) Don

[Dave Newell]

Hi Don, No I was totally sober the whole way and I left Dex at home, honest guv!!! But don't you find it infuriating or am I getting "anally retentive" about speeding? D.

[David Dwight]

Dave,, You are just getting older like the rest of us. I agree with your sentiments. Just the same in France who ovetakes and never get back in Lane? Answers on a pin head please, because thats just what they are. Yes the Brits. Everyone else passes and straight back in lane. Oh and they are also the ones going the fastest. David

[Don Madge]

Dave, I think it's the in thing these days, everybody seems in a hurry. We have a 30mph speed limit in our village and the locals all complained about the speeding traffic. Plod sets up his radar trap and low and behold 80% of the people caught speeding were locals. We have a lot of young mothers with four tracks who have signs on display "children on board" and they seem to drive in a very aggressive manner. Having spent most of my working life in the RAF on driver training and testing were I had some very hairy moments. I'm glad I only drive for leisure these days, with all the road rage about I think it must be very dangerous driving for a living. Yes I'm definatly getting old. Don

[Dave Newell]

Quite true Don, I've often wondered why so many people with "child on board" signs drive like Tw^!s. If the child is so precious that you need to warn other people about it's presence why not slow down and drive sensibly? D.

[bjphillips]

1st point the baby on board is actually driving in most cases! On the question of the cruise control speed setting,is it set as per the speedo ?According to my Fiat Ducatto speedo it shows 33 at 30mph on my GPS. When my speedo shows 60 according to the GPS Im actually only doing 51,the error progressively widens the faster I go.Just maybe you were travelling a bit slower than you think.I had cruise control on a car awhile back & found that I one loses the ability to finely adjust the speed sufficently enough when in heavier traffic & needing to change lanes frequently.On fairly empty roads I found it ok.I often wondered if this is the reason so many Fiat owners have problems with the 5th gear stripping,the fact that they may be travelling a lot slower than they believed they were & putting too much strain on that particular gear.I tend to change down quite early to most,mine so far has covered about 40,000 miles so far so good touch wood!!! *-)

[David Dwight]

dave & Don, What gets me is when you see the sign child or baby on board invariable the child is scrambling around the vehicle, not strapped in. Why is is these mums seem to have 4X4 Off road vehicles, the only off road I see them do round our way is Off road park on the footpath. David

[Dave Newell]

Reference cruise control and indicated speeds. The cruise control sppeds are set to the speedo which reads 5% under (I've checked it against GPS) but 30 MPH -5% is still 28.5MPH which is pretty damn close to 30MPH. Add to that the fact that most speedos read 5-6% low I don't see this as an excuse for speeding through 30MPH limited areas, much less an excuse for overtaking on a blind bend cresting a hill in a police car!!!!! Anyone who drives to the speed indicated by their GPS is asking for trouble, if you use the GPS for speed indication you have no safe margin but if you use the vehicle's speedo (assuming it's legal of course) you will have a 5% (average) safe margin. Is it really so vital to travel at a true 30MPH in a 30 MPH limit? Lives can be lost so easily, especially in rural areas!!!! D.

[Guest starspirit]

My GPS always tells me that my speedo is 10% fast, so when I set my cruise control at 60mph on the gps the speedo says 68. To get a true comparison I only compare at a set speed on a longish stretch of a levelish road where the poor little 2.0hdi can manage a constant speed without struggling. I find using the gps as my speedo helps me break the speed limit as shown by my speedo without fear of being done and begs the question why the bl###y hell are speedos so inaccurate? There is much talk of the 2.0hdi being underpowered. This is a load of bo####s - 'cos it ain't. Sure you do have to change gear and, think ahead on hills, and sometimes change down early to keep the revs up but it still does cover a lot of ground in a full driving day provide you know how to use it. And for comparison my other cars are an S type Jag with 240bhp and a Toyota Verso with 135bhp and I am not known for driving slowly. So get yourselves a gps and cruise control and sit back and enjoy the moving scenery.

[Clive]

Dave, tut tut!. The speed limits are maximums not minimums. Take one of michelle,s pills or something! I agree, I have compared the speedo reading of various cars - including Japanese and German with the GPS and this indicates they are all 5% optomistic on the speedo so I guess also 5% over on distance measurement as well. Only the Ford Granada was nearer 10% optomistic. You need to fit a "levity lever" in the dashboard. When the queue in front is that frustrating you pull the lever back slowly, the vehicle rises vertically clear of the roofs. Then you press the Warp button. And the rest they say is history!

[Clive]

[QUOTE]Dave Newell - 2006-07-30 7:38 PM Quite true Don, I've often wondered why so many people with "child on board" signs drive like Tw^!s. If the child is so precious that you need to warn other people about it's presence why not slow down and drive sensibly? D.[/QUOTE] Also, why when young mums cross a busy high street do they push their most precious possession out in front of them rather than pull it behind?

[trigrem]

I'm glad someone else has noticed its the Brits in France who do not pull back in after overtaking, I thought I was beng too critical. I agree with Dave Newall comments especially the one about those who travel at 40mph in a 60 zone and then do not slow down for the 30 limit, just carry on at 40. However I do think that the powers that be bear some resposibility in the placing of 30 mph signs. We have one near us that is right on the corner of the exit road of a five road island, most resposible drivers will be looking at the traffic approaching or on the island and can easily miss the sign, even so the lampost spacing and no limit signs on side roads should tell them something. I like those signs that illuminate if you are even 1 MPH over the limit, no excuses then. doug

[Brian Kirby]

There is another little contributory factor. 

I don't know what the rest of you find, but there is an increasing tendency round here to imposing speed limits, especially 40mph limits, on rural roads, in conjunction with traffic calming chicanes etc at every village etc.  This is fine at the villages, but our local main roads are all at, or above, capacity and so are our few motorways (well, just the one actually!). 

Trying to avoid the resulting jams by taking the minor roads was never really that much quicker, but you did at least keep rolling through nice countryside and avoided a large amount of frustration.  Increasingly, however, the frustration is transferred to the secondaries because you now have to emulate Dave's Porche driver and toodle along at 40 on a road that is perfectly safely negotiable at 60. 

Is someone trying deliberately to send us all mad?  Is it a conspiracy?  Should we be told?

[JohnP]

Brian. The same thing is happening throughout Oxfordshire. 50, 40 and even 30 mph restrictions on miles of country roads with very few houses. Many villages are now getting chicanes. Perhaps the authorities are protecting the Red Kites.

[Dave Newell]

Just for the record, the Porsche driver didn't irritate me that much, I just found it ironic after Clarkson's piece about caravans holding up traffic that 2 caravans, 3 motorhomes, 2 vintage motorcycles and several ordinary cars were being held up by a 150MPH+ supercar being driven at 40MPH where 60 was the limit and quite safely acchievable. Perhaps he couldn't get it out of second gear (just like in that old comedy song). D. :-)

[mom]

The speeding problem in this country seems to have grown exponentially during the last 4 years.  It is the foremost topic of conversation in our 30 mph village and I agree with everything said so far in this thread. 

The problem is "what to do about it?"  Unless cameras become "hidden" and "randomly placed", they will continue to control only short portions of road, and to cause more bad than good as cars hit the brakes.  The A14 is an interesting study of this!  Calming measures are often effective, but make life difficult for motorhomes, lorries and emergency services.

It is hard to imagine that anyone speeding intends to do harm, though sometimes it looks that way!  So I have to conclude that those drivers are not thinking, and oblivious to the real danger that a speeding lump of metal can be.  I would like to see "every" driver "have" to do a 3 yearly defensive-driving class.  Topics covered would include demonstrations of the harm caused to pedestrians and passengers in a crash, motorcycle awareness and that pet hate of mine, pulling in front of a motorhome, caravan or lorry, oblivious to the fact that these vehicles need more stopping distance than cars and are less manoeuverable.  Car drivers should get some exposure to driving a large or heavy vehicle so they will understand and tolerate us when we take more time to overtake or leave a large gap ahead.

Other topics would include defensive driving measures, practical demonstrations on the effects of alcohol (not sure how to do that one!!!), simple first aid and what to do at a crash scene.

Or is all this just wishful thinking?

[Dave Newell]

Hear hear Mom. Well said. D.

[Don Madge]

Mom, I agree with you. These days it's foot hard down, into top, radio on, brain in neutral >:-( and sod anybody else. >:-( Don

[enodreven]

Hi, This is a great topic Dave, everyone drives badly except me ?? (Sorry dave that sounds like I am directing at You, its not, its the royal Me, lol) I have had french drivers overteke on the hard shoulder so i don't think they are excluded from driving badly ?? the outside lane was clear at the time ? The baby on board sign is use the same as indicators ? most people are under the impression that if they put either of them on then they are invinceable and can do what the like ? Think Bike ?? thats a laugh ? who always overtakes you on the inside or down the middle between fast moving cars ??? who never keeps to the speed limit, who has very very small rear number plates that i don't think the cameras would pick up?? How about Think Car/Lorry?Motorhome and go bloody slower ?? and you may live ? And how about making the roads for cars, people should be taught road safety and we should enforce Jaywalking, keep pedestrians OFF the road ? a few fines for Jaywalking I would suggest would cut down on the road deaths better than speed cameras do ? And as for pedal bikes on the pavements, don't ask ?? Or OAP on there scooters ??? have you been knocked over by one ?? I am sure there are other topics but I have got that off my chest ??LoL should get some interesting replies ?? LOL

[Dave Newell]

OOOh, I seem to have opened a hornets nest here! :-> But seriously, I agree with everything being said, (I am the best driver in the world by the way) (lol) . Cyclists on the pavement, now there's a good one. Ive even seen coppers step off the footpath to let cyclists past! And our local traffic warden ignores cars parked on double yellow lines even when they're on blind bends!! D.

[Guest starspirit]

That has come as one heck of a shock to me Dave as I always believed that I AM the world's best driver. To now suddenly find that I am only second best has seriously dented my confidence - so much so that I will no longer be able to drive my Jag at 120 (ms not ks) around the by roads of Wales without feeling vulnerable. Never mind though I suppose, as the top ten drivers are all contributing to forum, we should feel sorry for all the other idiots who drive us goodies to desperation with their thoughtless antics. At least when I carve someone up it is deliberate and so very very satisfying.

[enodreven]

Now come on its got to be me ?? I said it first, nur nur ?? lol

[Brian Kirby]

[QUOTE]Dave Newell - 2006-07-31 7:25 AM Just for the record, the Porsche driver didn't irritate me that much, I just found it ironic after Clarkson's piece about caravans holding up traffic that 2 caravans, 3 motorhomes, 2 vintage motorcycles and several ordinary cars were being held up by a 150MPH+ supercar being driven at 40MPH where 60 was the limit and quite safely acchievable. Perhaps he couldn't get it out of second gear (just like in that old comedy song). D. :-)[/QUOTE]

You managed to discover irony in Clarkson?  I've never been able to see anything other that a crass, dangerously opinionated, irresponsible, prat!

Well done!

[enrico]

Don`t forget ,it can be just as dangerous driving too slow as too fast so the 40mph Porsche in a 60 limit if conditions were good can be so hazardous.People geeting irate behind it can make people do irrational things. (!) (!)