Re: Keeping to the speed limit
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 9:09 am
fungus wrote: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.If drivers drove according to conditions, there wouldn't be the need for some of the unreasonably low speed limits that are creeping in on many roads.
The purpose of the basic driving test is simply to ensure that the most dangerous don't get a licence. If you fail it is because your driving is potentially or actually dangerous.
That or slightly above that is where the mental attitude to driving stays for the vast majority of drivers.
Hence the speed limits and other restrictions.