Nicola &" I hope you don't think I'm preaching -
Nicola wrote:Hi Albie - I am nearly as new as you . I totally get what you mean but I take a perverse delight in sticking to 30 -( or whatever) even if they are breathing down my neck. They can do nothing to me and in the end they back off. Why let another human being push you into collecting points? They can make their choices as to how they handle the 'problem' but you stick to your guns. If (God forbid) you hit a pedestrian at 30 mph they would ( as I understand it) be very likely to be injured but not killed. If you hit someone even at 32mph the injuries would be much more serious . If you hit them at 36mph they are very likely to die. I probably haven't quite got the figures right but the differences in the 30mph zone are massive for the pedestrian.
I have been driving for a million years and 3 times I have been in a 30 and had a massive fright. The first I was doing about 28 on a dark night in a 30 residential. A boy of 13 ran out in front of the car and I hit his leg. He and his mate were playing 'chicken'! He was not injured at all. A few years later at 3.15 pm - a 5 yr old little girl just walked across a very wide and very busy main road in front of me as I came around a bend. Again - a lot going on and I was doing about 25 but 35 and she would not have stood a chance. A few years after that driving along a residential street where cars were parked both sides - an 18 month old escaped from his garden and casually wandered into the road. Again - all was fine but his parents were very shaken up. The first experience was the one that made me very wary and I still am. If you keep to those limits you are then doing your best. Let someone pressurise you and you run the risk of compromising the safety of another person. I hope you don't think I'm preaching - I just wanted to get you to think about everyone else in the world apart from Fred Bloggs breathing down your neck. Keeping him at your pace might save someone's life.
mefoster wrote:MGF wrote:What if you are not a perfect driver and occasionally it isn't safe to be driving much more than 30 mph when you think it is, you get unlucky and you do hit a child?
MGF wrote:What if you are not a perfect driver and occasionally it isn't safe to be driving much more than 30 mph when you think it is, you get unlucky and you do hit a child?
Albie wrote:Not much Martin, but i have noticed it. From your experience does this ring true with?
The MPG comment wasn't meant to sound like a moan, it was purely an observation.
martine wrote:Albie wrote:Not much Martin, but i have noticed it. From your experience does this ring true with?
The MPG comment wasn't meant to sound like a moan, it was purely an observation.
I don't monitor my mpg closely (it comes from driving a Focus ST ). I wouldn't have thought using 3rd @ 30 (instead of 4th or even 5th as some do) for example makes much difference. It's a no brainer for me...I much prefer the control and options being in a lower gear gives over saving a few pence in fuel.
04smallmj wrote:As someone who wants to see decent cycling infrastructure in the UK (i.e. https://lichwheeld.files.wordpress.com/ ... arion1.jpg ), and regularly walks and uses a bicycle for transport, I'd like to butt in and say that speed limits in built up areas aren't just to prevent crashes (and reduce the severity of them), but also to increase the subjective safety (how safe it feels) for people on bicycles and on foot, which is the main reason why I pay special attention to them. If you are walking, motor traffic rushing past you at 40MPH is very unpleasant. They also reduce noise levels and pollution, which makes the area nicer to live and stay in. The point about noise (and vibrations from large vehicles) especially applies to rural villages which have A roads cutting through them.
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