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Plans to cut speed limits ‘will significantly improve road safety' – minister

irishnews.com

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Re: Plans to cut speed limits ‘will significantly improve road safety' – minister

#51

Post by barrkel »

YakBizzarro wrote: post #30
saiya-jin wrote: post #10

Switzerland has 120kmh instead of typical EU limit of 130kmh. Slightly less pollution of all types, slightly safer roads, cars last slightly longer. Typical swiss driver is anything but typical driver basically anywhere - polite, respectful, and just doesn't break rules in mormal situations. I really like it this way, and couldnt care less for the limit, saving 1-2 minutes is neglible every time. That being said, any…

Swiss don't break rules because there are speed cameras everywhere and fines are huge. But as soon they are outside of Switzerland, they will be the first to drove like hell is coming. Also, if you don't react to green light in a microsecond, or drive less than 10 km/h under the limit, they will start to honk. Rules and their enforcement are perfectly fine and I'm really happy about that, but it doesn't make drivers…

Some traffic lights in Zurich are only green for 5 seconds or so, then you need to wait another minute or two.

I’ve never seen honking at 10kph under the limit, and I regularly drive longish trips to Germany for shopping on 80kph roads where you can often get stuck behind someone doing an indicated 72 (so about 69).

Also Swiss top up foreign fines - they apply the Swiss penalty based on amount by which the limit was exceeded, if there’s a data sharing agreement, as there is with Germany. Any enthusiasm is based on less enforcement rather than lower fines.

Re: Plans to cut speed limits ‘will significantly improve road safety' – minister

#52

Post by comprev »

JeanMarcS wrote: post #25

Ideal would be speed limit based on the road. I drove some "roads" in Ireland, where speed limit is 80km/h but driving faster than 40km/h is daredevil behavior. And don't mention the fact that some roads are not large enough for crossing another vehicule, but it can happen (and sometime the locals drive at 80... A lot of surprise braking !) But it's obviously more difficult to implement, and more difficult for the sp…

The road from Head of Dunloe down into the Black Valley is 80km/h.

You'd be lucky to push 40 on the straight sections!

Re: Plans to cut speed limits ‘will significantly improve road safety' – minister

#54

Post by acdha »

londons_explore wrote: post #45
tcfhgj wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Germany a speed limit of 130 would save a billion euros each year[0]. It would also save fuel, i.e. carbon and particulate matter emissions [0]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092180092...

But it would cost people's time. I almost guarantee that even if you pay people minimum wage, the savings in people's time outweigh any extra fuel use.

Try following traffic laws for a week and time your commute. You’ll find that you’re not saving anything significant at all - and unless you have unlimited piece work you can swap to any time you have an extra 37 seconds there’s no economic value to cancel out the fuel and elevated wear and tear on your vehicle.

Re: Plans to cut speed limits ‘will significantly improve road safety' – minister

#55

Post by tcfhgj »

londons_explore wrote: post #45
tcfhgj wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Germany a speed limit of 130 would save a billion euros each year[0]. It would also save fuel, i.e. carbon and particulate matter emissions [0]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092180092...

But it would cost people's time. I almost guarantee that even if you pay people minimum wage, the savings in people's time outweigh any extra fuel use.

when it matters, i.e. traffic hours in the morning and evening, it probably would rather save time as less traffic jams will occur (more likely the higher the variance of velocities)

> the savings in people's time outweigh any extra fuel use.

opinion

Re: Plans to cut speed limits ‘will significantly improve road safety' – minister

#56

Post by sixstringtheory »

ReactiveJelly wrote: post #26
cameronh90 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK we're starting to install average speed cameras in lots of places. Almost every major road in my area has an average speed camera on some stretch. And I, for one, I think it's great. It's not a popular position but I'm a speed limit enforcement maximalist. I think if you're going 31 in a 30, after accounting for measurement errors, there should be enforcement action. Driving is one of the most dangerous thi…

Me too. There has to be a hard limit. It might as well be the posted limit. Encouraging everyone to break the law just means selective enforcement is a bigger problem. If safety depends on cars moving the same speed, then everyone else should slow down to the speed limit to match my speed. I really don't get this brinksmanship stuff. "Oh it's just 5 MPH, it's just 10 MPH." A limit was posted. The negotiation process…

> I don't like ALPRs…

I echo the sentiments of the parents where limits should be absolutely enforced, but also your concern about privacy.

At the end of the day though, this is what the majority is asking for, by dint of consistently breaking the rules. If people obeyed the limits, there’d be no need to expand the vast quantities of resources to build all the infrastructure for these cameras. It certainly sucks for those who always obey the limits (probably a low single digit percentage of drivers) and will get caught in the dragnet.

I foresee IR dazzlers becoming more popular on license plates and windshield/window frames.

Re: Plans to cut speed limits ‘will significantly improve road safety' – minister

#57

Post by ben_w »

linuxftw wrote: post #39
cameronh90 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK we're starting to install average speed cameras in lots of places. Almost every major road in my area has an average speed camera on some stretch. And I, for one, I think it's great. It's not a popular position but I'm a speed limit enforcement maximalist. I think if you're going 31 in a 30, after accounting for measurement errors, there should be enforcement action. Driving is one of the most dangerous thi…

If you want people to obey the speed limit, pay them more money. You don't need to speed to work or home if you live within a reasonable commuting distance of your office. You don't need to speed to go to some recreation activity if you make enough to actually enjoy your leisure time.

It's not the government's job to pay people more (beyond the public sector obviously), and while they can do certain things to improve commutes, reduce working hours, or increase holidays… I don't have any reason to believe those are the reasons for the rush.

(My belief may be biased by a certain person I used to know: he was driving one of two vehicles with me and my friends to an event that wouldn't start until both arrived; I asked why he was doing 98 mph (UK speed limit 70), and his answer was "If I was going faster I might have to waste time with a court case to prove I wasn't driving dangerously" rather than to slow down. The other vehicle was driven by someone who obeyed the speed limit, and we started at the same time and place).

Re: Plans to cut speed limits ‘will significantly improve road safety' – minister

#58

Post by cameronh90 »

petercooper wrote: post #36
cameronh90 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK we're starting to install average speed cameras in lots of places. Almost every major road in my area has an average speed camera on some stretch. And I, for one, I think it's great. It's not a popular position but I'm a speed limit enforcement maximalist. I think if you're going 31 in a 30, after accounting for measurement errors, there should be enforcement action. Driving is one of the most dangerous thi…

I think if you're going 31 in a 30, after accounting for measurement errors Sure, it is a limit rather than a recommendation. In terms of statute, anyway. Almost every social or legal convention in the UK pragmatically treats it as a recommended speed for some unknown reason and you could even pick up the attention of the police doing 40mph in a NSL on a bad day. (I even recall my driving instructor telling me I shou…

I've found that this seems to entirely depend on who taught you to drive, and perhaps to some degree where you learnt to drive. In rural areas, almost everywhere is NSL but you'd die in pretty short order if you drove at 60 on tiny rural roads.

My instructor very much taught me that it's a limit rather than a recommendation, however, that's also balanced out with the minor fault of "making progress". Obviously if someone just drives at 5mph everywhere then they're clearly not a competent driver, but there's definitely a grey area. My instructor said as a rule of thumb, on a clear day, clear straight road without any hazards, you should be within 5mph of the limit on the test, but that otherwise, examiners are relatively tolerant of driving below the limit.

As far as the police go, I think it's because people driving slow is generally suspicious of perhaps them being a drunk driver or some other issue with their competence or road worthiness. I was once driving at 40mph on a dual carriageway in Scotland and got pulled over, but I explained to the police that I was just low on fuel due to a number of closed petrol stations, so I'm trying to conserve fuel by driving at the speed I get the best economy otherwise I won't make it to Inverness. They were completely satisfied with that and let me on my way.

Re: Plans to cut speed limits ‘will significantly improve road safety' – minister

#59

Post by laci37 »

serpix wrote: post #15
saiya-jin wrote: post #10

Switzerland has 120kmh instead of typical EU limit of 130kmh. Slightly less pollution of all types, slightly safer roads, cars last slightly longer. Typical swiss driver is anything but typical driver basically anywhere - polite, respectful, and just doesn't break rules in mormal situations. I really like it this way, and couldnt care less for the limit, saving 1-2 minutes is neglible every time. That being said, any…

130km/h is just ludicrous. The consumption compared to 100km/h is about 50% extra and the time saved is wiped out with just one bathroom break.

My typical drive to visit family is roughly 125 kms with a 130 km/h speed limit and 125 kms with a 110 limit. If I drove at 100 all the time it would take 25 minutes more. More than a bathroom break I think.

Honestly I feel that driving faster is safer for me, since I tend to zone out if I don't have to pay attention to overtaking trucks.

Re: Plans to cut speed limits ‘will significantly improve road safety' – minister

#60

Post by sixstringtheory »

cameronh90 wrote: post #43
ReactiveJelly wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Me too. There has to be a hard limit. It might as well be the posted limit. Encouraging everyone to break the law just means selective enforcement is a bigger problem. If safety depends on cars moving the same speed, then everyone else should slow down to the speed limit to match my speed. I really don't get this brinksmanship stuff. "Oh it's just 5 MPH, it's just 10 MPH." A limit was posted. The negotiation process…

> ALPRs. They're so bad for privacy. Some countries have, or used to have, regulations saying that the devices aren't allowed to record the number plate details unless a crime is detected. I don't know how well that works since you're relying on the police to self-enforce that. The UK doesn't have any such regulations and has fully embraced ANPR. They are being deployed everywhere now, for speed limit and red light e…

> potential future introduction of road pricing

Interesting, because in the states, similar infrastructure is being deployed specifically for road pricing. I assume then we can start working on the more sensible uses you describe, but don’t have high hopes that it will be easy or quick.

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