[David9694]

A new catch-all Tea Shop thread for those miscellaneous new stories that don’t quite fit with parking, crashing into buildings or trapped/prisoners in their homes. 

Topic

[David9694]

Are you still on their

Are you still on their Christmas card list?

[PRSboy]

Not a news story, but on

Not a news story, but on-topic… In conversation a while ago, a friend told me they were annoyed because they’d been ‘done’ by a speed camera van parked about 50 yards from our house.  Which is on a 30 limit village road, just along from a school entrance.

I didn’t quite know what to say, so I ran with “Good!”.

They seemed genuinely confused as to why I thought that…

[Car Delenda Est]

So does the first ticket act
So does the first ticket act as a get out of jail free card for the rest of the day or just that journey?

[David9694]

Call for tractors to be

Call for tractors to be banned from Cornwall’s new A30

A resident suggested slow vehicles, including tractors, should use a different road when the new dual carriageway opens in 2023

“Cornwall is a rural county and tractors followed by long queues of vehicles are a pretty common sight along the A30. They are a regular part of our daily commutes, yet some motorists still get a bit frustrated [??] when they are delayed by agricultural vehicles.”

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/call-tractors-banned-cornwalls-new-7654644

[Sriracha]

So once again we have the
So once again we have the appeal to incompetence being advanced as a defence:

[I]I wasn’t so much speeding as simply unaware of the limit altogether[/i].

Gets me every time!

So he fully deserves two penalties – one for breaking the speed limit, one for driving without due care and attention.

[GMBasix]

“Mr Peck said that he had not

“Mr Peck said that he had not realised that the speed limit had been changed from 40mph to 30mph down the hill on the A379 towards Billacombe roundabout.”

In fact, Street View shows the 40 mph limit repeater signs in place.

In July 2016. They were gone by May 2017.  I think he’s been driving on goodwill and luck for long enough to realise the signs had changed.

 

[GMBasix]

Speed limits can also be used

Speed limits can also be used to reduce air pollution

[danhopgood]

Indeed. Driving at at a
Indeed. Driving at at a suitable speed for the conditions is what all road users should be doing all of the time. Do that properly and you’ll unlikely to be driving at a speed that upsets other road users (and above the speed limit) – which, after all, is the only reason for speed limits

[ktache]

I went to visit my mother

I went to visit my mother down in Bexhill over the week, and whilst sitting in a fine Italian restaurant by the Delaware I spotted an illuminated 20 sign. I forgot to investigate after. Very full and having enjoyed a Long Man ale. And I mean backlit with LEDs, not lamp above or neon on Perspex.

The driver of the HUGE Audi.

We could believe he was driving at under what he thought was the speed limit of 40mph.

Or, slightly over what many motorists wrongly believe is the acceptable 35mph level at which they are allowed to drive in a 30mph zone.

I will let you decide?

[brooksby]

I wonder, is there some

I wonder, is there some reason why if they are driving in a built-up/urben area then people can’t assume it is a 30 limit unless they see signage telling them otherwise?

[IanMSpencer]

They still have to sign it
They still have to sign it according to national rules, so while they may have a policy they can only implement it it through nationally agreed signage, such as 30mph repeaters if there are no street lights in addition to limit signs at the start of the restriction.

[IanMSpencer]

Changing is exactly what you
Changing is exactly what you:d be expected to do. If there is street lighting and you think it is 40 but don’t see any repeaters, you should assume you’ve missed a sign and should reduce your speed. The worst that happens if you are wrong is that you have driven within the speed limit and you can speed up if you then see a repeater.

New rules allow councils not to sign changes to higher speeds, so going from a 30 to 40, they can rely on repeaters.

The tricky one is that you can no longer rely on repeaters in zones. We have a large zone covering several miles of rural roads where there few reminders you are in a 40mph zone. I’m sure a lot of drivers are ignorant of zones and the much reduced signage.

[Car Delenda Est]

Agreed.
Agreed.
I was in a car recently and the driver said “I know I was speeding just then but the road feels like it should be a forty.”
Not defending anything about this, still pissed off tbh, but it is the way many people think.
You can’t change peoples’ reactions but you can change their environment.

[chrisonabike]

Not to excuse people given

Not to excuse people given all drivers have to be trained and licenced and there are reminders everywhere.  However IMO if humans just aren’t following the rules then we need a rethink.  “Sign it and police it better” isn’t the way.  We’re clever monkeys and won’t just do things we were told if we don’t see a reason to or think we won’t get caught.  Better to work with human nature.

Hawkinspeter has suggested doing this via the vehicles themselves.  I favour the more expensive but less “police state” vision of roads which naturally reinforce the desired behaviour – which coincidentally ties in with improving active travel infra.  It’s the work of generations but:

From Bicycledutch – the Dutch system of (3 types of) monofunctional streets / roads

From NotJustBikes – make the environment cue drivers.

[mark1a]

I’m fairly sure although I’ll

I’m fairly sure although I’ll accept being wrong if otherwise. 

I think the reason for the repeater signs is so that a “top lawyer” couldn’t exploit a loophole whereby a road could be interpreted as NSL if no lighting or repeater signs. So therefore under the letter of the law, anything outside of TSRGD could technically be unenforceable  

Just had a dig around, and 8.3.2 of the Traffic Signs Manual chapter 3 says:

8.3.2. Where a 30 mph speed limit is imposed on an unlit road, it is necessary to make an order. In this case it is recommended that 30 mph repeater signs are provided (see 8.3.1).
(see 8.3.4). Where a road subject to a 30 mph limit is lit for only part of its length, it is recommended that a repeater sign for the unlit section when leaving the lit section should be placed at a distance of not more than 100 m from the last street lamp. Where two consecutive street lamps on a lit road are more than 183 m apart (185 m in Scotland and Northern Ireland)
a speed limit order is required as it is not a “restricted road” with repeater signs provided where considered to be appropriate. Where the two lamps are less than 200 m apart it is unlikely that a repeater sign will be necessary.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/782724/traffic-signs-manual-chapter-03.pdf

[Author]

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