71–80 of 124 posts
Traffic volume is reduced with more people choosing walking and cycling. Speeds are reduced only a little (you weren't going as quickly as you thought anyway) but potentially reducing accidents. The Edinburgh data shows a dramatic reduction in accidents, down almost a third.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I should clarify, there are cameras on motorways but hardly any on local roads where the 20 speed limit is used. Also, all cameras are signposted and there are obvious lines on the road so you can see exactly where the measurement is taken.
Ah right. Yeah we had a good laugh about that, why put up so many if you make it so easy to spot them?!
If only speed limits were designed so that breaking them always equates "reckless driving", and not sometimes (often, here) "driving at a completely normal speed considering the surrounding environment". inb4 pitchfork raising amongst the anti-car rabble
If you look at the data for speed limits vs deaths they show pretty convincingly that what drivers think are "completely normal speeds" are actually "reckless driving".
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A tailback is a traffic jam / queue. A "proper tailback" is a really big traffic jam. "Proper" in this context basically means big or major.
As a foreigner, I love British English. It's like a puzzle to me every time. Words that I have used many times, but in different meanings.
I am reliably informed that our language has spread to other countries who have their own interesting and sometimes peculiar variations. We give these variations labels such as “American English” to distinguish them from the original.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It’s quite annoying having cameras everywhere frankly. Why?
Because drivers should be trusted to drive to the conditions. Those that speed stupidly will do so regardless of cameras (they will just slow down when they see one which actually makes things more dangerous) and those that drive to the conditions will speed when they believe it’s safe to do so and won’t speed when it’s not safe to do so, which means cameras are actually making driving less safe because they need to…
Increasing test duration means the backlog (which is already huge) will increase. Keeping same will mean less road features will be tested.
There are numerous references to increased congestion as a result of the reduced speed limits in built-up areas, but the UK has a fairly strong "You should always be 2 seconds behind the car in front" element to driving rules, and naively if there's two seconds between every car then the number of cars passing a particular point in a given amount of time is going to be the same regardless of how fast they're travelli…
If the speed limit was (magically) 0.001 mph then raising it to 0.002 mph would double throughput.
I find it amusing how they did not interview one single person who thought he or she might just choose a different way of transportation, instead of driving a car, unless absolutely necessary. I used to commute in the north between two mid-sized cities, and any time I checked taking the car instead of the combined bike+rail travel would not have been faster, only much more inconvenient and more expensive (parking cos…
If you compare train on a train-direct path, then there will be no other winner than trains. But I can make the same demonstration with planes: “If I live in Paris, how can I go to work in New York every morning? See, the Concorde is necessary.” More seriously: “If I live in suburbia, how can I change jobs in the city for a job which is not on the same train line?” It’s all about finding words to sustain one’s idea,…
That's why I specifically took an example of my then-commute, which consisted of 15mins to the train station, 25mins train ride, then 10mins to workplace. I wouldn't exactly call that "train-direct".
The UK doesn't exactly have "suburbia" quite like the US, although there are definitely remote places without good public transport, distances are not beyond practical for non-driving.
Another prominent UK feature is the "terraced house", with a small backyard patio, usually with a small shed. This is typical for a low-wage family, or in the towns even for wealthier people. Or you would be living in a semi-detached house, probably with a small garden. Storing a bike or two is mostly a non-issue.
The towns in the part of France where I am also have this limit (30kmh). Hardly anyone obeys it of course. But it's interesting how they try to enforce it. On small roads they install speed humps and/or alternative-side parking. On through roads they cannot do that, since they would slow down emergency vehicles. So they put those fyi radars, which don't seem to have any effect anymore. The real automated camera+radar…
> Hardly anyone obeys it of course. Isn't is wonderful how vehicle owners are entitled to break the law, and nobody seems to care? Driving drunk, ignoring the speed limit, are all actions that directly endanger unrelated citizens. And all that vehicle operators have to say is "of course".
UK over the years has been destroying something immensely valuable that you can't get back quickly. For example, there are barely any speed cameras on local roads in the UK (compared to other European countries) and yet almost everyone drives under the limit. It's the same with police not needing guns. I think people just don't understand how valuable (and unusual) this is. Edit: As has been pointed out to me, there…
> there are barely any speed cameras in the UK (compared to other European countries) and yet almost everyone drives under the limit As a UK resident who spends a lot of time in France and Italy this statement really surprised me, and really isn't my experience. I had to read it twice as I assumed you meant the opposite I recently drove from Brighton to Glasgow vis Nottingham. I'd easily passed through 10 before I re…
I have only seen a mobile speed camera van once in my life. Even that was signposted. If you want to avoid tickets and keep speeding it's super easy. I don't see people speeding. Again, I imagine it might be different around London but isn't everything different over there?