Call for Lower Rural Limits

[Lynne]

Interesting but somewhat rather worrying article I've read in the 'Driving' magazine, issued by the Driving Instructors Assn:

To summarise Direct Line commissioned a survey, some resuults as follows:

1. 74% of motorists questioned said rural speed limits should be reduced,

2. 23% of motorists have had a near miss on rural roads and 51% say there should be more signs on rural roads to remind drivers of the speed limit.

3. Rural speeders excuses for exceeding the limit was less traffic and fewer pedestrians makes speeding safer in the country.

4. One in 3 motorists questioned found driving on rural lanes difficult which rose to 48% for female drivers.

5. 63% said they were in favour of the driving test being revised to include tution on how to drive on rural roads.

To me most of this smacks of typical driver complacency.

Surely no one lives that far from a rural road so as not to have been able to get tuition? OK I can't answer for anyone else but in my area we even have a couple on our test routes whereby candidate is expected to get up speed and make as much progress as possible, subject to conditions at the time, obviously. My Roadcraft always comes out to explain LPA.

So the end result is Direct Line is calling on the limits to be reduced to a blanket 40mph.

Right then.

[James]

The speed limits are quite a well discussed topic on here. I have posted previously that I think NOW (the next 6 years odd) is the time to enjoy and make the most of the roads, as I think there will be massive changes in the future. I don't think they will necessarily alter speed limits, but I foresee a "big brother" microchip society where we will all be monitered by GPS every second of our journey, resulting in instant sanctions whenever a law is flouted.

There are many calls for this and many calls for that, you often see on the news "Motorist Groups are calling for.....". At the end of the day there will rarely be any action as a result of surveys, and any action that is taken will be a govermental decision. This will be based on, well, pretty much anything they feel like, but never a caving in to the demands of you and I.

[Darren]

I've added a new poll to the homepage to reflect this, to try and gauage public opinion. Would be good to try and publicise these.

I will be trying to put up poll's which question survey's and statments made so that we can publicise what people feel on here. I think it's important that silly claims such as this are countered.

The DIA have done, they posted in the Roadsafe journal to say as such:

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DIA CALLS FOR A MORE MODERN APPROACH TO THE DRIVING TEST

DIA General Manager Eddie Barnaville says: “A modern approach to driving needs to be adopted and we need to look at lengthening the test and incorporating a compulsory log book system so that driving instructors can assess their candidate’s competence in mechanical skills and manoeuvring leaving more time for learners to demonstrate their eye and brain skills in their test.

The current test allows candidates to make up to 15 minor driving faults over a route often shorter than six miles that takes 40 minutes or less.

A considerable amount of time is taken out of the 40 minutes for the candidates to complete two basic manoeuvres, leaving little time for them to demonstrate their confidence out on the road.
http://www.driving.org/index.html

Source DIA
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[Susie]

I don't have the figures to hand atm but it's interesting that rural roads have come in for so much flak recently. One set of stats says rural single carriageway roads are the most dangerous, with a high percentage of KSI. Solution - suggest a blanket 40mph. Delve a little and you find that actually, the majority of the KSIs occur in the lowered limits on these rural roads i.e. in the villages.

[ScoobyChris]

Are the rural roads being talked about your typical Somerset single track routes where 60mph is unthinkable, or open A/B-class country roads where speeds in excess of 60mph would probably be perfectly safe?

One idea to remind people of the speed limit would be through GPS/sat nav gadgets which are now becoming more and more commonplace ... or just making everyone do IAM/RoSPA standard tests

Chris

[spankthecrumpet]

Another week, another stupid survey by a car insurance company - I really wouldn't worry about this.

[Big Err]

One set of stats says rural single carriageway roads are the most dangerous, with a high percentage of KSI.

From the local stats I'd agree the majority of KSI's are on rural roads, but then this is a predominantly rural area. The new guidelines for setting local speed limits (from the Scottish Exec) just appeared on my desk on Friday, but the initial read led to much laughter and debate amongst my colleauges.

So far, our unofficial findings are -

1. Introducing new limits will lead to a proliferation of signs in the rural area.

2. According to the guidelines the type of road that would warrant a new (reduced) speed limit would probably see most traffic travelling at that speed anyway. The traffic that would travel significantly faster and probably come to grief would probably continue to do so.

I'll keep reading.

Thank goodness the new doc is only a guideline and not a directive!

Eric.

[Slink_Pink]

I thought that rural driving was a compulsary part of the L test - I certainly had to drive some on mine.

[Susie]

ScoobyChris said:

Are the rural roads being talked about your typical Somerset single track routes where 60mph is unthinkable, or open A/B-class country roads where speeds in excess of 60mph would probably be perfectly safe?

If I recall correctly from DfT circular 1/93 and the updated paper - the original suggestion was a mixture of 'quiet lanes' and country roads where there was a mixture of road user - walkers, horses, slower moving traffic - all sensible if you accept that we are no longer capable of judging safe and appropriate speeds for ourselves. From 'a place of authority' in Lincolnshire, we have heard that a blanket 40mph is being mooted for the length of the A15 from the Humber to the county's capital.

What frightens me so much is the lack of response from the 'general' public to this continued monitoring and manipulation of the way we go about our daily business, mostly in a safe and courteous manner. Those of us who live eat and breathe driving may be up in arms about driving issues but to have computer equipment in our dustbins for example, is a step too far IMVHO.

Very few people are openly mourning the death of Common Sense.
Susie

[Tav]

I thought that rural driving was a compulsary part of the L test - I certainly had to drive some on mine.

The sad thing is that it is not. Infact one of the biggest issues with the standard L test is the lack of preperation for rural road driving. So many of my friends/peers have very limited knowledge when it comes to rural driving.

[Big Err]

I thought that rural driving was a compulsary part of the L test - I certainly had to drive some on mine.

The sad thing is that it is not.

It is here.

Eric

[Big Err]

I thought that rural driving was a compulsary part of the L test - I certainly had to drive some on mine.

The sad thing is that it is not.

It is here.

Infact it includes NSL sections of A class, B class, C class and Q('unclassified') Class Roads.

Eric

[ScoobyChris]

The sad thing is that it is not. Infact one of the biggest issues with the standard L test is the lack of preperation for rural road driving. So many of my friends/peers have very limited knowledge when it comes to rural driving.

I think the biggest problem with the DSA 'L' Test is that it depends what is available in the test centre vicinity as time is constrained and things like manouevres take a good chunk out of that! It's the same to an extent with the RoSPA test, for example, if you opt to have the test in Salisbury, you are not tested on motorway driving....

I think we could learn a lot from the Scandinavians who have compulsory skid training as well as night-time driving

Chris

[Tav]

I was under the impression there is no point in the L test when you have to demonstrate any skills in rural road driving...or at least there wasn't when I passed my test. The only road specific requirement I recall was a short journey on a dual carridgeway. Certainly during my test I only drove on residential streets as well as a short journey on the A90 dual carridgeway.

Edit: Chris made a good point about the location of test centers there. I just think the L test woudl benifit a lot of people if there was more rural driving...I mean that's why they add night driving and rural driving into pass plus. Perhaps pass plus should be made a legal requirment?

Certainly no need for a 40mph limit to be imposed on every rural road...

[Nigel]

I thought that rural driving was a compulsary part of the L test - I certainly had to drive some on mine.

The sad thing is that it is not.

It is here.

Infact it includes NSL sections of A class, B class, C class and Q('unclassified') Class Roads.

Eric

Here in Worcestershire you can take, complete & pass a dsa test without going above a higher speed limit than 40 mph, Lynne will give you similar stories about Essex.

It is down to the safety cretins that have had all the dual carrageways shut down to one lane each way, and 40 mph speed limits placed on them.