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85% Of Car Drivers Break 20mph Speed Limits, Reveals U.K.’s Department For Transport
(www.forbes.com)
this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2023
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If 85% breaks a speed limit, they should revise that limit because there is clearly something wrong with it.
Or, alternatively narrow and calm the road, because something is wrong with it. If a 20mph limit is set, there's probably a good reason, but it's not good enough to just put up the signs, you need to make people feel uncomfortable driving more than that on the road via calming measures.
This is definitely the wrong take. If the majority of people are going over the speed limit with no negative results, the speed limit is the issue
Speed limits don't just serve for driver safety. Noise concerns might also be an issue, and then the speed limit is entirely justified.
Noise concerns is a joke. I drive a truck in Germany. In many villages and some areas of towns/cities, trucks are to drive at 30 kph instead of 50 kph at night to reduce noise levels. The joke is, when I drive at 30, the truck is in a lower gear than at 50, making more noise, passing more slowly (noise duration longer) and putting out a higher volume of CO2 for the duration.
Cars with fart cans and motorbikes with their loud exhausts are way louder than my truck could ever be driving those roads - at any speed.
You're an outlier though, most vehicles going though are probably cars with smaller, more modern engines that are quieter at slower speeds.
@NuPNuA @SoGrumpy you're underestimating the noise of your tyres at higher speeds, which for a truck with a lot of tyres is considerable.
But it's only trucks that have to slow down, and my truck - like most modern trucks - has an 'L' classification for Austria, which stands for 'Lärmarm' which translates to 'Quiet'.
This just in, millions of deaths a year and billions of tonnes of CO2 aren't a problem. /s
Speed limits are set based on safety considerations. We don't change safety rules based on what some people find convenient. If 85% of drivers can't follow the law, then 85% of drivers can pay a fine / have their licence suspended.
Safety rules are based on many factors.
@CorruptBuddha @emergencyfood A 20mph speed limit is based on momentum the human body can withstand without a high likelihood of death.
Every mph over the limit increase the likelihood of a human being dying in a collision.
Speeding in a 20mph zone is very specifically choosing to increase the likelihood of killing someone.
I guess that makes 50% of drivers homicidal.
@CorruptBuddha I'd say "reckless indifference to human life"
Potato patato.
There is evidence that 20mph zones do save lives and injuries even if people don't obey them. This is because they still drive slower than they would in a 30mph zone.
I would agree, however, that if the limit is set to 20mph then the road design needs to be changed to match that, making it uncomfortable for drivers to exceed the limit. Unfortunately the UK is quite institutionally poor at this kind of traffic calming design compared to some of its neighbours.