A617 speed limit - rant warning!

[foggyjames]

I've learned today that the speed limit on the A617 from Mansfield to Newark is to be cut from national speed limit to 50mph. It's a glorious stretch of road, but is highly prone to accidents. I don't see how lowering the speed limit will help in ANY way. In fact, I suspect it will make the situation worse. Let's see...

1) The overwhelming majority of accidents on this stretch of road are caused by poorly judged overtaking manouvers. The chances of these motorists being even close to the existing 60 limit is low.. I travelled along this road today in terrible conditions (very heavy rain) at 60-65mph (not entirely wise in itself), and was tailgated and ultimately overtaken - which I could barely believe. I'm not exactly a slow driver, put it that way!

2) The road makes for a lovely drive in good conditions, and you could drive almost the entire stretch without dropping below 60 without feeling at all hurried. There are numerous safe overtaking opportunities, as well as some deceptive and highly dangerous ones. Knowing the good from the bad is crutial to making a safe swift passage.

3) Those who are wishing to pursue an illegal experience of this road will continue to do so, but will now need to pass more vehicles in order to make their desired progress, increasing the risk of making a dangerous manouver.

It seems to me that the powers that be are barking up entirely the wrong tree. The speed limit isn't the problem - the level of driving skill of those travelling on the road is the problem, and that's rectified through better training, not knocking 10mph off the limit. If we're allowing idiot motorists who are only good for following speed limit advice onto the roads, what happens when they hit a patch of black ice mid-corner at 50mph?

Innappropriate speed is clearly a big danger, but 60mph on this road is far from excessive. The danger comes from inadequately trained drivers getting in over their head, and that's not solved by speed cameras or reducing speed limits. More Police on patrol might help, but really it's a matter of better driver training.

What dya think? Anyone else sick of the (IMHO) grossly over-simplfied "speed kills" assessment of the road safety situation?

cheers

James

[Jod T5]

i agree and so does the law....speed itself is not considered an act of negliance, however the breaking of a government law is...therefore the speed limits are cunjoured up by some ass-hole who has no incling of the road in question and sets a speed according to ........??? local/traffic surveyers, local police??.....
the problem we have here is that we are all being tarnished with the same brush, like volvo drivers, like caravan owners, like horse box pullers... there is good and bad amongst us all....unfortunately because of the idiots who tailgate, undertake and overtake dangerously we are all having to pay the price for there inconsiderate behaviour and have our (fairly slow imho) speed limits reduced...
how many times have you driven up a dual carriage way national speed limit 70 mph and the road turns to 50mph, because there is a turning which will require a oncoming car to turn accross you....this change is not because the manover is dangerous because otherwise the turn would be outlawed....NO its simply because the person turning accross you could be a complete to@@er and may misjudge his/her manover and cause a collission...although 50/70mph its still a bloody mess....
as you can see james this gets right on my nerves too
cheers
jod
rant over

In Cornwall the preferred method seems to be 'SPEED HUMPS!'

The roads are poorly maintained anyway cos the Council complaim they don't have the budget to resurface the roads properly, and then they install the dreaded sleeping policemen on any stretch of road on which they feel you might have a chance of accelerating past 30mph!!!!!

It never bothered me in my old Pajero as the wheelbase was wide enough to glide over them, most people just hit them anyway doing god knows what longterm damage to their cars, steeering/suspension/tires etc. It's quite funny seeing the lowered Saxo boys struggling but they simply slow to a crawl as they pass over the hump and then floor it to the next one etc etc...

our main blackspots seem to be on dual carriageways that suddenly revert to a stretch of three lanes with no central reservation (whats that all about!) because they have an accident there they install speed camera's in either direction and this makes it 10 times worse?

I know some will say that if we all drove around at the speed limits then all would be ok but i'm with you better education and driver training is the key to a steady safe flow of traffic.

The road safety do-gooders have ruined things to the extent I don't even bother taking the Lambo out of the garage anymore as I can't get it out of the end of our road.....!

[foggyjames]

Now I love the motherland, but I have to agree that some of the roads are pretty shocking. Don't even get me started on speed bumps I do feel a bit less grumpy after my rant though

cheers

James

[seany]

Originally Posted by foggyjames

I've learned today that the speed limit on the A617 from Mansfield to Newark is to be cut from national speed limit to 50mph. It's a glorious stretch of road, but is highly prone to accidents. I don't see how lowering the speed limit will help in ANY way. In fact, I suspect it will make the situation worse. Let's see...

1) The overwhelming majority of accidents on this stretch of road are caused by poorly judged overtaking manouvers. The chances of these motorists being even close to the existing 60 limit is low.. I travelled along this road today in terrible conditions (very heavy rain) at 60-65mph (not entirely wise in itself), and was tailgated and ultimately overtaken - which I could barely believe. I'm not exactly a slow driver, put it that way!

2) The road makes for a lovely drive in good conditions, and you could drive almost the entire stretch without dropping below 60 without feeling at all hurried. There are numerous safe overtaking opportunities, as well as some deceptive and highly dangerous ones. Knowing the good from the bad is crutial to making a safe swift passage.

3) Those who are wishing to pursue an illegal experience of this road will continue to do so, but will now need to pass more vehicles in order to make their desired progress, increasing the risk of making a dangerous manouver.

It seems to me that the powers that be are barking up entirely the wrong tree. The speed limit isn't the problem - the level of driving skill of those travelling on the road is the problem, and that's rectified through better training, not knocking 10mph off the limit. If we're allowing idiot motorists who are only good for following speed limit advice onto the roads, what happens when they hit a patch of black ice mid-corner at 50mph?

Innappropriate speed is clearly a big danger, but 60mph on this road is far from excessive. The danger comes from inadequately trained drivers getting in over their head, and that's not solved by speed cameras or reducing speed limits. More Police on patrol might help, but really it's a matter of better driver training.

What dya think? Anyone else sick of the (IMHO) grossly over-simplfied "speed kills" assessment of the road safety situation?

cheers

James

Is it Newark & Sherwood or Notts County Council who have implemented said speed reduction?

A well written letter of similar content to this posting should generate a response.

See where it takes you!!!

[foggyjames]

I was thinking of writing a letter...albeit in a somewhat more intelligent form Maybe this does warrant further investigation?

cheers

James

[Aeroresh]

Not wanting to get too involved in this thread 'cos this forum is supposed to be recreation for me, Im actually a traffic engineering consultant and work for a number of local highway authorities. A big part of my job is reviewing current speed limits in line with recent government legislation.

There is actually quite strict criteria that a road must meet before a change in speed limit can be considered. One of which is that a speed limit change should only be considered as the final option, after or in conjunction with engineering measures. They should not in themself be considered purely as a collision reducing method.

Unfortunately this is not always the case as you'll find local authorities continuing to bow to political pressure from loud mouth ward members, etc.

There is a great balancing act with speed limits, as the function of the road must be considered. At one end you have the mobility of traffic which is paramount to the economy, and at the other end you have often overlooked environmental or quality of life issues of people who live near by who cant cross the road or in some cases are afraid to come out of their front doors!

The goal is that you should be able to drive on pretty much any road and know what the speed limit is without the need for speed limit signs, etc. This does however mean that some speed limits will require reducing and others actually increasing but will be based on a heirachy system defining that roads' function, be it a local village 30 mph, or a high standard rural 60 mph, etc.

I dont know the history behind this particular issue but it may be worthwile contacting the local highway authority and asking them for a statement of reasons. It may be a little clearer then.

Hope this helps

[foggyjames]

Great post! I'll certainly do that before writing a snotty letter to anyone! Not that I would write a 'snotty' letter, but you know what I mean.

cheers

James