Increase Speed Limits - Online Petition

[219]

Even if drivers were assessed as individuals and a tiered licensing system introduced, you are still at the mercy of the driver who is perfectly safe at a fraction of your licensed speed but not able to assess your velocity.

Isn't this why police and other emergency responders take on a greater responsibility than other road users when they have to use their exemptions ?

The training is to watch others , make eye contact , always be looking for a positive response which indicates that they have seen you and know what you are going to do , before doing it .

Should the lesser able be banned from the road even if they are perfectly safe poodling around?

Of course not : the roads are there for everyone , and other than motorways , which are only for licences users , everyone has the inalienable right to use them in one way or another : pedestrian , cyclist , rider ......

 

[219]

Which is more dangerous... 70mph in a Ford Anglia or 90mph in a modern hatchback?

Neither ought to be dangerous at all , allowing for each vehicle to be maintained in good order and suitable conditions .

 

[MicB]

A 50% increase in the 70 limit would result in a 105 limit!!

Correct

Mic

 

[Druk]

If you were to have a sit-down conversation with someone like a police Collision Investigator with the topic being reaction times he/she would give you startling figures…not guesses or conjecture but numbers found through experience and quoted from scientific journals on the subject.

Please feel free to research my assertion and please take the time to do some basic arithmetic/physics calculations and see what that means in real life numbers. The conversion factors and formulae are readily available if you do not know them.

I'm liking this post #160 because I know what it was GVM did for a living before he recently took his deserved retirement.

To MoAMG can I just say...."get my drift?"



.

 

[219]

Could be dealt with by imposing a curfew on 20.00 to 08.00 for those who have newly passed their test either in the upper speed limit or to carrying passengers - or both.

Some insurers are doing exactly that by imposing terms and conditions , whilst using telematics to check up on the vehicle .

Insurers are probably quite well placed , on the basis of claims experience , to judge who and what is safe , along with the converse .

 

[cb1965]

Neither ought to be dangerous at all , allowing for each vehicle to be maintained in good order and suitable conditions .

Excellent, let's get the limit upped to 90mph then

 

[219]

If the speed limit remains at 70 and as we have established, a majority of people speed, are we, as motorists, not shooting ourselves in the foot here? But if it's raised to 80 (as an example), the only variation here will be a decrease in speeding tickets...

I would like to see a real world study in to reaction times to compare people travelling at 70 to 100 mph. Then, as I am sure you will agree, the government would be able to make an informed decision.

I am not stipulating a specific new speed limit, I am merely bringing this matter to the government's attention. What it chooses to do with it is down to them. But I do hope they take this matter seriously as, we can all agree, our 'motoring' related legislation is outdated in comparison to other 'first world' countries. Simply put, a reform is much needed and way overdue.

On the first point I disagree that the majority of people speed , except perhaps i the lawless vicinity of London

However , on the subject of reaction times , I doubt that they will change with speed , but the distance travelled during that time will most certainly increase .

This was amply illustrated in the old 'Thinking distance/stopping distance' diagrams that were on the back cover of earlier editions of the Highway Code .

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Companies certainly wouldn't plan their journeys in the faster time period as the fuel cost would be disproportionately disadvantageous to the time saved.

There's also the argument that raising the limit during nocturnal hours when drivers are most likely to suffer tiredness is a bad idea, although as others have said, I certainly perk up when I'm doing higher speeds, so maybe that's it's own counter-argument. It'd be hard to write into law though.

I prefer to drive on the motorway at night than through a day; less traffic plus the general attitude of drivers seems less aggressive.

 

[MoAMG]

Reaction time is the same...no matter the speed.

Really? I thought people were saying that they pay more attention to the road at greater speed?

That's the problem. I do not think this algorithm is something that can be solved overnight by people who simply aren't experts. Therefore, as stated before, I am merely bringing this matter to the attention of the media and government.

The government should then commission trails / investigations in to the effects of increasing speed limits prior to forming their opinion on whether a reform is necessary or not.

 

[219]

Excellent, let's get the limit upped to 90mph then

Could an Anglia manage much more than about 70 ?

Neither my Herald nor my air-cooled Beetles could ...

 

[MancMike]

Really? I thought people were saying that they pay more attention to the road at greater speed?

ffs... Will you look at the actual words being used here. We're talking about reaction times, not focus or concentration.

As said, reaction times is the time it takes for you to see something, your brain to process the visual signal from your eyes which takes about 150ms, then your judgement and decision making which takes a lot longer than that, so even a focused driver (which is the least you'd expect) has wasted over half a second before his right foot even starts to move to the brake pedal.

At 70mph he's covered much less distance and the stopping distance is far shorter than at 90mph, and so reaction times remain the same, but the consequences that the greater speed has on the potential for a collision is catastrophic.

 

[MoAMG]

I'm liking this post #160 because I know what it was GVM did for a living before he recently took his deserved retirement.

To MoAMG can I just say...."get my drift?"



.

Please elaborate...

 

[219]

... even a focused driver (which is the least you'd expect) has wasted over half a second before his right foot even starts to move to the brake pedal.

Not all of us brake with our right feet

 

[MoAMG]

ffs... Will you look at the actual words being used here. We're talking about reaction times, not focus or concentration.

As said, reaction times is the time it takes for you to see something, your brain to process the visual signal from your eyes which takes about 150ms, then your judgement and decision making which takes a lot longer than that, so even a focused driver (which is the least you'd expect) has wasted over half a second before his right foot even starts to move to the brake pedal.

At 70mph he's covered much less distance and the stopping distance is far shorter than at 90mph, and so reaction times remain the same, but the consequences that the greater speed has on the potential for a collision is catastrophic.

So lack of concentration and attentiveness do not adveresly effect reaction times? :fail

 

[whitenemesis]

Not all of us brake with our right feet

Ah, so you use the wrong foot then?

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Could an Anglia manage much more than about 70 ?

Neither my Herald nor my air-cooled Beetles could ...

I got 90 out of my Anglia.

 

[219]

So lack of concentration and attentiveness do not adveresly effect reaction times? :fail

A good driver will apply concentration ( the full application of mind and body to a particular endeavour , to the complete exclusion of everything not relevant to that endeavour ) at all times ; if he recognises that fatigue , for example , is getting in the way of this then it is time for a break .

Equal concentration should be applied at all speeds : you can just as easily knock down a child who steps out from between two parked cars as you pass at 30 as you might knock down a cyclist who emerges onto an A road in front of you as you approach at 60 . One always needs one's wits about !

 

[whitenemesis]

I got 90 out of my Anglia.

Must've been down the B6138?

 

[MancMike]

So lack of concentration and attentiveness do not adveresly effect reaction times? :fail

That's not nearly what I said. Concentration and attentiveness are an expected given. Those who don't apply that are just bad drivers. We're not talking about that, we're talking about reaction times.

Go and Google "human reaction times", and that can be applied to anything in life, not driving alone. For example, cats have considerably faster reaction times to ours, they have smaller brains and so have less to consider and think about when making a decision , that's why cats have "cat like" reflexes. The decision making process for a human brain is much more convoluted and lengthy and so takes far longer.

A little experiement for you, as you seem completely adverse to science and knowledge and seem to just arrogantly state opinion as fact.

Have someone dangle a 30cm ruler in front of you, and ask them to let the ruler drop at some random not predetermined time. Hold your fingers at the bottom of this ruler, about an inch apart, when you see the ruler drop, grab it. That is you concentrating at your very best at a very simple task. That is reaction time.

PS. Using the distance down the ruler you caught it (if you even managed to), and applying acceleration due to earth's gravity which is 9.2 meters per second per second, you can calculate your reaction time. Again all very basic physics.

 

[219]

Must've been down the B6138?