[Kapelmuur]

I may have missed it but I’ve not seen this discussed here.

A (non cycling) message board I belong to has been in meltdown, ‘long delays to my journey’, ‘more accidents caused by drivers staring at their speedometers’,  ‘increased pollution caused by slower traffic and car engines being inefficient at 20mph’.

Also many of them signing a protest petition despite non of them being Welsh or living in Wales!

 

Topic

[chrisonabike]

Rich_cb wrote:

Rich_cb wrote:

The law of unintended consequences.

Well, that’s possible. Ain’t that a consequence of any “joined up” change though? What unifies in one go can be undone similarly, losing previous gains also?

Plus if parties really decide there’s enough capital in “stopping the war on the motorist” I’m not convinced they’d worry about such details in the first place.

[Rendel Harris]

Rich_cb wrote:

Rich_cb wrote:

the world’s most forgetful eidetic.

P.S. Eidetic is an adjective, not a noun.

[Rendel Harris]

Rich_cb wrote:

Rich_cb wrote:

There’s a difference between simply commenting on something and claiming that the experience of someone who actually lives there is a lie.

As in, for example, someone who lives in Wales telling someone who lives in a black area of London that the Met police stop and search policies aren’t racially biased even when the force themselves has admitted they are. Gotcha.

[Rich_cb]

It seems that the postal
It seems that the postal leaflet reached the parts that other media could not so, in future, it might be wise to run the postal campaign earlier so more people were aware.

My concern is that the backlash this has created will threaten the multiple (broadly popular) 20mph zones that were already in place. Those have all been scrapped now and signage is being removed.

Should the default limit be reinstated to 30mph then all those zones will need to be re-established with new signage at a cost of 10s of millions. In the current fiscal climate I can see a lot of those zones being left at 30 as that wouldn’t cost anything.

The law of unintended consequences.

[chrisonabike]

Sounds like they’re trying to
Sounds like they’re trying to actively notify people with police not immediately applying penalties to those they stop, for a period.

I’m sure “x% always say they had no idea – rising to y% if they disagree with the change” is a common occurrence. Presumably there are studies in politics / psychology of ways to address this? Albeit probably lots of nebulous quantities like “public mood” get involved for changes applying to large populations like this?

Any better ideas?

Or are you suggesting the Senned tried to sneak it through (which failed for this non-resident at least)?

[Rich_cb]

I think most people were
I think most people were aware of the upcoming change but I think a lot of people didn’t realise the scale of it.

Some were completely unaware of any of it.

The highway code changes were covered incredibly broadly in the media and yet 1/4 people (IIRC) still aren’t aware of the new rules.

[Rich_cb]

There’s a difference between
There’s a difference between simply commenting on something and claiming that the experience of someone who actually lives there is a lie.

Lessons on Wales from a Londoner.

Lessons on honesty from the world’s most forgetful eidetic.

[Backladder]

giff77 wrote:

Before they completed the Maybole Bypass the main rd dropped from a 60 to a 20 for the town. They did after a while put in a buffer of 30. Even then people still struggle. You get warning signs from 300 yds out that the limit is changing so the here’s time to mentally prepare as well as start reducing speed. I would always have other drivers practically in my boot anytime I drove down to Cairnryan at that stretch. 

I don’t recall seeing anyone obey the 20 limit in Maybole, and I notice they now have a new one by the school which is ignored as well.

[David9694]

You’d be amazed at how people

You’d be amazed at how people dismiss things they don’t want to hear. 

[Rendel Harris]

Rich_cb wrote:

Rich_cb wrote:

I’m guessing my friends and colleagues who expressed surprise were lying then. It’s amazing how perceptive you can be about Wales from 150 miles away…

Yes, I’ve noticed how you refrain from commenting on any England/London issues…get up the street Rich, I assume your friends and colleagues aren’t stupid, are you really, seriously claiming that they turned round to you this month and said “What’s all this about 20mph limits then?” 

Any other Welsh or Wales-based denizens of this site care to tell us how many of their friends, neighbours and colleagues only heard of one of the biggest Welsh news stories of 2023 in the last fortnight?

[chrisonabike]

How do people think they
How do people think they would have got to hear about it then?

Surely if this change was massively important to people and given that the media picked this up does seem odd that so many say “well it’s the first I’ve heard…”

Or is a change to a number on some road signs is maybe not that compelling, until your neighbour runs in waving some papers (sorry, tweets) saying that it’s going to take everyone half as long again to get anywhere?

Isn’t this just standard – same as eg. planning consultations? People are busy with their lives. They switch off when they’re given details about changes to banal stuff. Even when widely advertised, discussed on the media, displayed on billboards etc. Then moment they or a pal actually *experiences* an effect of the change, they’re out (on the internet) waving pitchforks and crying they weren’t consulted.

Not really sure how to get round that, but doubtless our politicians have been motivated to study the issue!

[Rich_cb]

I think the 20mph limit was
I think the 20mph limit was covered by both of those outlets, it definitely was in the Telegraph.

Huge numbers of people don’t follow the news at all.

[RMF]

And read the daily fail or
And read the daily fail or torygraph…….

[Rich_cb]

You’d be amazed how many
You’d be amazed how many people simply don’t follow the news and especially the political news.

[Rich_cb]

I’m guessing my friends and
I’m guessing my friends and colleagues who expressed surprise were lying then.

It’s amazing how perceptive you can be about Wales from 150 miles away…

[Author]

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