55 in a 30 limit!

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Originally Posted by MK-2

Call them apples, call them oranges but both are illegal. Just because most of us don't drive holding a phone but have probably sped up before a speed change sign doesn't make it any less illegal

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But the law doesn't always have anything to do with safety/etc. If it did mobile phones, handless or not, would be banned full stop. I regulaly get phone calls from people on hands frees where all of a sudden they start talking giberish, then go silent, then follow it with "sorry, there was a [insert obstruction here], what was I saying". How can you possibly consintrate on driving while having a full on convosation with someone? IMO driving with a handsfree is far more dangerous than doing 20% over the limit.

Point is just because it's illegal doesn't make it wrong. Equally just because its not illegal doesn't make it right.

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Originally Posted by CAM

Phone's and speeding up n a clear stretch of road for a speed limit sign are two completely different leagues. It's like saying forgetting to use your indicator to turn at a junction and running a red at a level crossing are equal.

No-one is innocent, I highly doubt anyone on here with a licence has never broken a traffic law and at some point have sped up for a post, failed to slow down in time for a post or parked somewhere they shouldn't. There is one post on my drive home that goes 60 to 30, I still miss it out of genuine error.

As for 20 zones don't get me started on those. Fair enough during the day near a school, but surely such zones shouldn't be enforced at weekends, school holidays or when there is no chance of any kids going through the gates? Some traffic law lacks common sense.

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I didn't say they were the same severity, but they are both still equally illegal. I myself know there is an area on my drive home where its NSL but 40 uphill to get to it, so by the time i get to the NSL sign I'm over 40. I know that, but if I were fined/penalised for it, I can't blame anyone but myself.

as for the 20 zones. does that mean that you should be allowed to do 30 in a 20 zone just because its not a schoolday? so parents should keep kids away from any 20 zone on a weekend because its fair game then?

I am not arguing that speed cameras are primarily for money making, but it still doesn't escape the fact that the specified speed limit is the law, despite what we might think about it being safe to speed up before. something doesn't become legal just because we disagree with it or its implementation

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Originally Posted by j17sparky

But the law doesn't always have anything to do with safety/etc. If it did mobile phones, handless or not, would be banned full stop. I regulaly get phone calls from people on hands frees where all of a sudden they start talking giberish, then go silent, then follow it with "sorry, there was a [insert obstruction here], what was I saying". How can you possibly consintrate on driving while having a full on convosation with someone? IMO driving with a handsfree is far more dangerous than doing 20% over the limit.

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i agree, but then the problem is that ANY activity in the car that takes your attention away from the road should be banned. talking to a passenger could be seen as the same distraction as talking on a hands free phone. changing the radio station or volume (if you dont have steering wheel controls). but i do agree that almost all phone use is dangerous to some extent

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Originally Posted by witch

Agree - this is the best route to take IMHO

We have two cameras, one each side of the road, set up within 100yds of the local middle school gates - and there are two on the main road through the next village where children going to 4 different schools walk, as well as a 20mph limit next to the local first school. So there ARE some in the correct places.

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Have you had anyone knocked over outside the school? Reason I ask is outside ours used to be really dangerous. Central reservation which was falling to bits with 6-7ft bushes on it - kids just popped out from between the bushes. This was apparently the crossing point for upto 1200 pupils! Everyone constantly moaned about it, nothing happened. Kid gets knocked over, the whole lot is ripped out and a new contral reservation with railings, and 2 pelican crossings installed.

Why does it take someone to die/get injured before "they" will do anything about it? "They've" obviously got enough money to put cameras up as they are on industrial estates where I live, but ask for one outside a school... That is why I take the attitude towards them that I do

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Originally Posted by MK-2

i agree, but then the problem is that ANY activity in the car that takes your attention away from the road should be banned. talking to a passenger could be seen as the same distraction as talking on a hands free phone. changing the radio station or volume (if you dont have steering wheel controls). but i do agree that almost all phone use is dangerous to some extent

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It is banned. Eating is banned. Lighting a fag is/was proposed to be banned. Touching any electronic device...


If we lived in a world with people who could make intelligent decisions for themselves we could just leave it all to the discrestion of the police. Women (no offence as its men too but mostly women) talking to their passenger while paying no attention to the road, or looking back at their kids is another one that drives me mad... You shouldn't need a law for each and every little thing, people should be able to understand what is right and wrong for themselves. Talk to your paseenger by all means but look at the road.

Anyway I've gone well off topic with my moan lol

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Originally Posted by j17sparky

Have you had anyone knocked over outside the school? Reason I ask is outside ours used to be really dangerous. Central reservation which was falling to bits with 6-7ft bushes on it - kids just popped out from between the bushes. This was apparently the crossing point for upto 1200 pupils! Everyone constantly moaned about it, nothing happened. Kid gets knocked over, the whole lot is ripped out and a new contral reservation with railings, and 2 pelican crossings installed.

Why does it take someone to die/get injured before "they" will do anything about it? "They've" obviously got enough money to put cameras up as they are on industrial estates where I live, but ask for one outside a school... That is why I take the attitude towards them that I do

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i think the problem there is that if it is done before, there will always be some people who oppose it for the sake of it.
for instance if the government banned all use of mobile phones in a car as of today, some people would complain that its going too far. if however tomorrow a driver using handsfree ploughed into schoolkids, there would be uproar over why the government hasn't done anything sooner. it's sort of a lose-lose situation, so i can see why these things don't happen. don't agree with it though, but can see why

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Originally Posted by MK-2

I agree, they are money making devices, but then the argument could also be if everybody drove to the letter of the law and didn't speed, there would be no income for these devices and they would be removed

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Nah, they would just reduce the speed limit further until more people broke it again ;)

mb

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Originally Posted by ZeroHour

FYI generally (at least up in Scotland) they only put mobile vans where there is likely to be breaches and there has been reports of speeding/dangerous driving, its not a *out to get you* thing.

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Unlike the static camera's which are just planted anywhere they fancy lol. On my last count to Edinburgh, there were 24 static speed cameras on the road from the borders to edinburgh.

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Originally Posted by pcstru

If it is, then it's making money out of fools and those fools choose to be fools so they should put up with the consequences of that instead of whining as if they are being served up some outrageous injustice. And if they are NOT fools, then they are inattentive idiots who, being incapable of spotting a large speed sign, should have their licences revoked on the spot.

Speed limits are set for many reasons, not just safety. Some drivers seem to forget that they share the environment with many other users who all have different requirements. The house near the speed limit sign doesn't want to put up with the extra road noise of a faster car and why should they? The horse riders have every right to expect not to encounter vehicles exceeding the limit before the signs. May complainers seem completely unable to comprehend that there might be any other criteria other than that THEY think it's safe for them.

Speed limit signs are placed where they are - if you choose to accelerate beyond the posted limit before you pass them, then take your punishment like a grown-up and stop whining like a baby.

<please check your troll-o-meter before dialling in the neutron yield>

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Just to correct you - speed limits are only used as a safety tool. Road noise is NOT a condition that local authorities or the highways agency use as a criteria when determining speed limits. A brief idea of how speed limits are set can be found here - Speed limits

I see we are doing well with keeping to the OP :)

Thanks for all the Info - ZHs link wins 1st prize :)

Si

Sounds like you're having fun with your daughter recently; firstly with the problems with the flights and now this.... It's not hard to do 55 on some 30mph roads because it's rediculous for a 30mph limit on some roads.

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Originally Posted by SimpleSi

I see we are doing well with keeping to the OP :)

Thanks for all the Info - ZHs link wins 1st prize :)

Si

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fine, yes, we'll talk about the triple click thing then to get it back on topic! ffs



:p

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Originally Posted by oalcock

Sounds like you're having fun with your daughter recently; firstly with the problems with the flights and now this.... It's not hard to do 55 on some 30mph roads because it's rediculous for a 30mph limit on some roads.

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.. although when you're on a bicycle, the difference between being passed at 55 and 30 on a road with a 30 limit is huge. One feels life threatening, the other is just unpleasant.

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Originally Posted by localzuk

Just to correct you - speed limits are only used as a safety tool. Road noise is NOT a condition that local authorities or the highways agency use as a criteria when determining speed limits. A brief idea of how speed limits are set can be found here - Speed limits

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Local councils will take many things into consideration including if appropriate, noise. Speed limits are not JUST about safety - nor should they be. The last bullet point in your link :

Environmental impact such as increased journey times, vehicles emissions, and the visual impact of the signing.

Noise is just another environmental impact.

I thought points meant prizes......:noidea: