Take Care
- Thread starter Road Trip
- Start date
1066 Country
Difficult one this, as i drive both an AUDI & every so often go much faster than I should when the red mist descends.
You get caught speeding in a residential area, I think you deserve everything that's thrown at you, though in good conditions on a good road, I find I'm far more alert & conscious of what's going on if I'm driving enthusiastically.
That said, over the last four weeks the number of rozzers that i've caught in my rear view mirror sneaking up rapidly around 7 mile lane in Kent has been colossal. Seems from some posts earlier in the thread there's a campaign on so as you say, going to play it extra safe.
Anyone else noticed an increase in rozzer cars giving extra attention?
You get caught speeding in a residential area, I think you deserve everything that's thrown at you, though in good conditions on a good road, I find I'm far more alert & conscious of what's going on if I'm driving enthusiastically.
That said, over the last four weeks the number of rozzers that i've caught in my rear view mirror sneaking up rapidly around 7 mile lane in Kent has been colossal. Seems from some posts earlier in the thread there's a campaign on so as you say, going to play it extra safe.
Anyone else noticed an increase in rozzer cars giving extra attention?
Unfortunately the much hailed rural A roads with open sweeping this that and the other are statistically the most dangerous (even if the hazard is a semi-detached born again biker heading for the hedge 
a horse or break-down).The A9 is a terrible road - its very long and winding which will automatically make any poser put his foot down. Its a road thats also take many people's lives. I am still a firm believer that people that have accidents a) don't drive the car to their own abilities, b) cannot judge the road/situation properly or c) aren't concentrating enough. On top of that, idiots that drink/do drugs and drive deserve to be locked up.
Taz x said:
That's a well known fact, proven by the huge reduction in speed cameras when the government took the revenue away from the local councils and police
Speed does not kill - it's the deceleration that usually does it - and speed is only a factor in the amount of damage/injury caused. Otherwise every racing driver/airline pilot would die once they went over 70mph 
More seriously though it's inappropriate speed & lack of observation/awareness that kills/causes accidents. 100mph on a deserted M6 is as safe as 30mph on some of those NSL Welsh/Scottish roads - yet there's only a 10mph difference in their posted speed limits :thumbsdown:
The German autobahns are no different than our motorways/dual carriageways and their NSL is a recommended 81mph+ (with no upper limit, but liability in an accident will be apportioned based on speed) with lower accident rates - and most of the single lane rural roads are 62mph limits.
I drive no differently in the UK as I would in Germany - and am happy to cruise at about 140kph/85mph. On occasion I will do a VMAX run on a good stretch of autobahn, but high speed in a straight line is not where the excitement is...60-120mph through some curves on the Nordschleife is much more exciting than 100mph on the autobahn.
Almost every advanced driving instructor will tell you to drive to the conditions. If you can't stop in the distance you can see, then you're going too fast. So if you can see 2 miles ahead then you should happily be able to drive faster than if you can only see 20 yards ahead.
The A5 a couple of miles out of Betws-y-Coed is an easy 'over 60-mph' road as it's straight for about 2 miles - and you can see the whole road for the whole stretch. The only bit that makes it dangerous to do that speed is the cars from the opposite direction that have queued up behind a truck for the last 10 miles, and think this straight is the perfect place to overtake, unaware that you're converging at a combined speed of about 200mph :evil:
Speed cameras are a blunt tool and are an easy way to make it look like the government is taking road safety seriously, when in fact they do little to reduce average speeds (SPECS is much better for that - and IMO will be rolled out to cover many more roads over the coming decade).
I sometimes drive faster than the speed limit (especially if someone has cut me up, or I've had to take to a kerb to avoid a dozy driver) but I try to do it in a safe manner, and don't take risks in overtaking/undertaking or straightlining corners like some do, and haven't had a speeding ticket for over 7 years as I slow down for cameras/mobile camera sites. The only people who are getting caught are the ones who don't give a damn (joyriders, twoccers, uninsured, unlicensed), those who are distracted (kids in car, phone, fiddling with radio), or those who genuinely didn't know the speed limit. In each of those cases, it's not the speeding that would cause an accident but the inattentiveness/criminal element. However you don't get cameras for checking ignorance or distraction, so it's easiest to pick on speed.
It would be much simpler & more transparent if the government added 1p/litre to the price of fuel as a 'speeding' surcharge - although everyone knows that the faster you drive the more fuel you use, so us speeders are already paying the government extra for our 'speeding'.
Remember C.O.A.S.T.?
(Concentration, Observation, Anticipation, Space, Time)
More seriously though it's inappropriate speed & lack of observation/awareness that kills/causes accidents. 100mph on a deserted M6 is as safe as 30mph on some of those NSL Welsh/Scottish roads - yet there's only a 10mph difference in their posted speed limits :thumbsdown:
The German autobahns are no different than our motorways/dual carriageways and their NSL is a recommended 81mph+ (with no upper limit, but liability in an accident will be apportioned based on speed) with lower accident rates - and most of the single lane rural roads are 62mph limits.
I drive no differently in the UK as I would in Germany - and am happy to cruise at about 140kph/85mph. On occasion I will do a VMAX run on a good stretch of autobahn, but high speed in a straight line is not where the excitement is...60-120mph through some curves on the Nordschleife is much more exciting than 100mph on the autobahn.
Almost every advanced driving instructor will tell you to drive to the conditions. If you can't stop in the distance you can see, then you're going too fast. So if you can see 2 miles ahead then you should happily be able to drive faster than if you can only see 20 yards ahead.
The A5 a couple of miles out of Betws-y-Coed is an easy 'over 60-mph' road as it's straight for about 2 miles - and you can see the whole road for the whole stretch. The only bit that makes it dangerous to do that speed is the cars from the opposite direction that have queued up behind a truck for the last 10 miles, and think this straight is the perfect place to overtake, unaware that you're converging at a combined speed of about 200mph :evil:
Speed cameras are a blunt tool and are an easy way to make it look like the government is taking road safety seriously, when in fact they do little to reduce average speeds (SPECS is much better for that - and IMO will be rolled out to cover many more roads over the coming decade).
I sometimes drive faster than the speed limit (especially if someone has cut me up, or I've had to take to a kerb to avoid a dozy driver) but I try to do it in a safe manner, and don't take risks in overtaking/undertaking or straightlining corners like some do, and haven't had a speeding ticket for over 7 years as I slow down for cameras/mobile camera sites. The only people who are getting caught are the ones who don't give a damn (joyriders, twoccers, uninsured, unlicensed), those who are distracted (kids in car, phone, fiddling with radio), or those who genuinely didn't know the speed limit. In each of those cases, it's not the speeding that would cause an accident but the inattentiveness/criminal element. However you don't get cameras for checking ignorance or distraction, so it's easiest to pick on speed.
It would be much simpler & more transparent if the government added 1p/litre to the price of fuel as a 'speeding' surcharge - although everyone knows that the faster you drive the more fuel you use, so us speeders are already paying the government extra for our 'speeding'.
Remember C.O.A.S.T.?
(Concentration, Observation, Anticipation, Space, Time)
I do most of my driving on rural roads and the greatest problem of all is inattentive motorists coming out of side roads and driveways without properly looking both ways before they crawl onto the road they're joining. Some of the stunts that these folks pull are astonishing! They're travelling at between 0-10mph and it's their LACK OF SPEED that creates the problem for the motorists already on the carriageway travelling at the posted speed limit, but it's the motorists already on the carriageway who get the blame for "speeding".
I am a big believer in using the full width of rural roads when there's no oncoming traffic, where I can look for any evidence of side roads and gateways and position myself to get the best view of anything that might exit them, and if I see a vehicle waiting to join the road, I lift off and have my right foot over the brake and try to make eye contact with the driver. It's not speeding that's the problem, but poor driving ability often accompanied by distractions in their cars, but the government/ Police find that measuring speed is the easiest thing to blame and tax.
I'd like to see what would happen if there were no speed limits at all. Would the average motorist drive any faster? Somehow, I doubt it because they're already driving at their limits.
I am a big believer in using the full width of rural roads when there's no oncoming traffic, where I can look for any evidence of side roads and gateways and position myself to get the best view of anything that might exit them, and if I see a vehicle waiting to join the road, I lift off and have my right foot over the brake and try to make eye contact with the driver. It's not speeding that's the problem, but poor driving ability often accompanied by distractions in their cars, but the government/ Police find that measuring speed is the easiest thing to blame and tax.
I'd like to see what would happen if there were no speed limits at all. Would the average motorist drive any faster? Somehow, I doubt it because they're already driving at their limits.
mmm-five said:Speed does not kill - it's the deceleration that usually does it - and speed is only a factor in the amount of damage/injury caused. Otherwise every racing driver/airline pilot would die once they went over 70mph
That's a bit simplistic. Driving at a speed outside of your capabilities is what gets you into the situation where sudden deceleration finishes you off. Often it's some numbnuts kid in a souped up hot hatch driving beyond their experience and capabilities, but my more "direct experiences" of having to brake hard as I'm carved up by someone trying to overtake a queue and cutting in on me when they realise the queue is there for a reason are normally caused by rep-mobiles.
And the next person I can lay my hands on using their phone to their ear whilst driving will need the services of one of our resident medics to remove it. And I hope they don't use anaesthetic. I didn't actually lose a friend as John did, but she was hospitalised and I did have to physically hold up my best mate (her husband) when he saw the state of their car. (Passat estate met truck with driver on phone that veered onto the wrong side of the road. Alloy wheel disintegrated in the impact, engine in the passenger seat, blood all over the deployed airbags, you get the picture)
EDIT - She still walks with a stick two years on.
exdos said:And what about the increasing use of in-ear headphones by drivers?
Slightly below the level of fuckwittery involved in phoning as at least both hands available to drive, but still as dumb as you like.
The two bits with the fastest catches in that article are long straights - not some of the death trap bits of the A9. Daviot is a wide open very steep downhill dual carriageway that runs into Inverness, ever since Northern Constabulary got their first ever radar gun it's been one of their favourite places to catch speeders. It's no surprise people were caught there going a silly speed. The Dornoch Bridge, is single carriageway and nice and straight and long. It's one of the places were it's actually good to overtake, so I wonder if the driver caught there was racing along on his own or been caught mid-overtake. Anyone who knows that road North of Inverness knows that you if you get a safeopportunity to pass slower traffic (especially caravans or the artics) then you don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
i was a passenger on a single track road with a 60mph limit in scotland last week (near carrick castle/lochgoilhead) and we barely managed 20mph :lol: some of the limits are ridiculous up there indeed.
the speed wasn't because of traffic. it was because we all feared for our lives.
the speed wasn't because of traffic. it was because we all feared for our lives.
someone said:
I suspect average journey times would be very similar to the current ones if the limits were removed.
Finisterre said:
I'd like to see the German system. Open limits in areas where it's safe, and limits imposed due to conditions, traffic etc. also HGV's legally kept in lane 1 to stop the Elephant racing rolling roadblocks they make.