Forums Forums Local News Police speed trap - hiding in front garden

I told you they hide out of view!

Followers of this thread (regardless of which side you're on, or what your point of view) really might find it of interest to read this:

ABD - Speed Limits

it is really quite an informative web page and you might well be quite surprised at a lot of what it has to say. Please (if I may be so bold as to suggest) do read down far enough to get to the section:
"ANNEX E TO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT CIRCULAR ROADS 1/80
- THE EFFECT OF ALTERING LEVELS OF SPEED LIMITS: SUMMARY OF EXPERIENCE"

Really FASCINATING information.

Excuse me, my bad, the page was updated - here:

The Association of British Drivers

Still a very interesting read!

Regardless of how speed limits are set on our roads is of no consequence when actually traveling on that road, once the limit has been determined and speed limit signs are erected it is up to us as drivers to observe the limit and the law. To speed and show contempt for the law will not get the speed limit changed, there are avenues ( no pun intended ) one can go down to object to the speed limit. At the beginning of this thread the poster was insinuating that the Police were only interested in making money and not in reducing speed or not protecting the safety of other car users. I think its been proven that the Police don't make any money and their presence does reduce speeders.

No it is not (necessarily) of no consequence at all... as the point being made is that 85% of drivers already do drive at an appropriate and safe speed depending upon the road conditions / appearance, regardless of the presence or absence of speed limit signs. Thus if (and only if) a speed limit is (genuinely) set unneccesarily or excessively low, then ~85% of drivers will indeed most likely not all observe it - not because they are irresponsible lawbreakers but simply because they naturally respond to road conditions / appearance over any speed limit signs - whether that limit is lower or higher than the speed that their perception indicates they can safely drive at.
Putting up speed limit signs has been shown in reality to not change the behavior of the vast majority of drivers - it simply makes criminals out of some percentage of them and a nice little earner for the recipient of the fines (revenues) obtained as a result of overworked police straining to try and over-enforce an unrealistically low speed limit.
None of this applies to APPROPRIATELY set speed limits, where those people exceeding them are by definition, driving faster than the sensible 85 percentile of people would do. Have at it then, by all means, the boys in blue!!

The point being made may well be appropriate when setting a speed limit for a road, but it has no bearing on motorists speeding once the roads limit has been determined. This is the point i have been trying to make, just because 85% of the motorist on a particular road think the speed limit is to low and drive at a speed they think is safe, wouldn't stand up in court. Knowing what the speed limit is, it should be adhered to. The thought of doing away with speed limit signs and letting motorist self regulate would only lead to carnage. In my opinion the reason people drive at 70 on motorways is because they can, the reason people drive at 30 on a 30mph road is because they have to.

Fair comments Bert - I'm not advocating no speed limits, just sensible ones that don't require over-enforcement by the police and can't be accused of being there to enable easy revenue.