Speed Limits

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There has been a wholesale slashing of speed limits in recent years. Accidents are the main reason given for reducing limits. It seems that whenever someone gets run over, the car driver always gets the blame. Okay, so there are dangerous drivers about, but people shouldn't jump to the conclusion that it is always the drivers fault. In many cases drink driving was to blame. When drunk, a driver loses his sense of speed. So sometimes speeding is a result of being drunk. But what about when it was the pedestrian's fault. There isn't an outcry from motorists claiming that the pedestrian was guilty of dangerous walking. Just because there's an accident doesn't mean that speed limits need lowering. Other measures can be taken to make the road safer.
Then there are the residents claiming that there will be an accident one of the days. This I find hard to believe. If there hasn't been an accident for years why should there be one now. I'm sure that parked cars which block drivers views have more to do with accidents than high speeds. This reason should not accepted for lowering limits.
Another reason for lowering limits is residents complaining about noise and pollution. Most of our speed limits have been with us for 20 years or more so why are they only complaining now. I'm sure double glazing is far more effective than lower speeds, at least a faster car would take less time to pass your house than a slow one, so slower cars create more noise.
But the real reason for lowering speeds is to get us out of our cars. Yes, this is one the government, police and local councils fail to mention. For many years, good quality urban roads have had 40mph limits instead of 30mph. But many of these roads are having their limits slashed because of so-called road safety. WHAT A LOAD OF COBBLERS. The only reason they are doing this is because of their war on cars. First of all they tried to make motoring too expensive. But this only affected the poor. When this failed, they started "traffic calming", which affects all motorists. Traffic calming, we were led to believe, was to make side roads safer, but it is being applied everywhere, even on good quality rural roads. But lately they've started to mess around with speed limits. "Speed limits life" they said. So speed limits are coming down to unrealistic levels. Some roads have had their speed limits reduced to half of what they used to be.

Urban roads reduced from 40mph to 30mph. Click on images to view.

This rural road is being cut from NSL (60mph) to 50mph. The 50mph limit hasn't come into force yet and the signs are covered up but the polythene has blown off this one which leaves drivers confused as to what the limit is. The one above the van still has its polythene intact.

Conflicting speed limit

This is a typical blanket speed limit in Oxfordshire. The 30mph limit is well outside any built up area and is routinely ignored.

Unrealistic speed limit

This road in Walsall was cut to 30mph a few years ago. A lone NSL repeater still survives, probably because its hidden amongst the foliage.

This is possibly the only NSL sign in Walsall
Below is my guide to setting speed limits. This is how I believe speed limits should be set. Not how our anti-car councils are setting them.

The limit for single carriageways is 60mph and dual carriageways is 70mph. This limit should be applied to all rural roads including those with slight housing development. Small villages can also have this speed limit if there are no major hazards. It can also be used on urban roads which have have a rural appearance, eg no buildings, no footpaths, graded junctions.

This limit can only be used on dual carriageways. This limit should only be used where there is more development than those on national speed roads. It shouldn't be used on long lengths of road just because there is a house every few hundred yards. This limit should therefore be quite rare.

Single carriageways - this limit should be applied in villages where there is some development but where there is not enought to justify a lower limit. The road should be fairly wide with perhaps buildings only on one side or building set back from the road. This limit shouldn't be used on long lengths of rural road which is currently the case. Dual carriageways - This limit should be used on urban dual carriageways which have no houses on them. On rural dual carriageways, it should be used when there is fairly dense development with the occasional gap or field between buildings.

This limit should be applied to all urban dual carriageways. It should be used on urban single carriageways which are fairly wide, less densley built, and those where 30mph would be too slow. On rural roads it should be used in villages or small towns where road is good quality, length of village fairly short and where 30mph would be inapprophriate.

This limit should be applied to the majority of urban roads. It should be used in villages which have narrow twisty roads, plenty of buildings which come close to the edge of the road or where there are too many hazards to justify 40mph. It shouldn't be used unneccessarily otherwise motorists won't respect it when it really is justified.

There should be no need for 20mph limits. Motorists should drive carefully and slowly in narrow side streets, even though the limit is 30mph it may not be sensible to drive that fast.

I think it's about time that limits were raised not lowered. In urban areas, more 40mph limits should be applied. This, I believe, would not result in increased accidents. It would allow those motorists who drive at 40mph in 30mph limits to do so legally, so the average rise in speed would only be a few mph.
National speed limits should also rise. 70mph on single carriageways and 80mph on dual carriageways. Once again this wouldn't result in more accidents. Many rural roads are of high quality, have long straights, graded junctions etc, so can handle the higher speeds. Even where there are tight bends and other hazards, drivers will slow down when they negotiate them, so traffic will only be moving at the higher speed where conditions dictate.
Motorway speeds should rise to 90mph. A lot of drivers already travel at this speed so average speeds won't rise by much. Perhaps the government should do a trial period, say 6 months, where motorway limits where scrapped altogether and see if there is a rise in accidents. I bet there won't.
Its worth remembering that speed limit alterations (nearly always downwards) must be advertised to allow people to object. Mostly these are little more than a sheet of paper stuck to a sign or lampost. Unfortunately most of these notices go unread and therefore no objections are received and the speed limit gets lowered. Motorists only find out about the new limit when they see the new signs, by then its too late.

This could be a speed limit alteration notice
Traffic Calming
Traffic calming (or traffic enraging) is the term given to describe a measure which impedes the flow of traffic. The government, police, local authorities (the anti-car brigade in general) would like us to believe that it is to reduce speeds in accident blackspots. The word calm gives an impression of a nice steady speed. Far from it, in reality it causes traffic to continously start/stop. When a car reaches a hump it slows and then speeds up again until it gets to the next one.
In the early days, traffic calming meant littering side roads with humps to stop motorists using them as rat runs. Rat runs are only caused by inadequate capacity on major roads. Improving the main roads would be the solution as residents on the side roads have no option but to negotiate an obstacle course every time they drive to and from their homes.
Humps are not the only weapon used to make driving unpleasant. Here are some other traffic enraging measures:
Chicanes - The purpose of these is to make a straight section of road into a series of tight bends. In reality motorists just straight line them so the effect they have is minimal.
Road narrowings - We've all seen these everywhere. These just add to congestion and are a hazard to cyclists as cars have less room to pass them.
Build outs - These are stupid bits of kerb which stick out into the road in an attempt to make the road appear narrower. Parking bays are a common example. Bus stops are being built further out into the road to deliberately stop cars from passing. What they don't realise is that buses behind are also being held up, nice try.
Priority systems - These increase speeds as drivers often speed up so they can get through before opposing traffic reaches it.

A typical example of a slip road junction being changed to a give way junction. The dual
carriageway has been reduced to one lane whilst joining traffic has to wait for a gap.
Roundabouts and graded junctions
Roundabouts improve the flow of traffic by giving each junction equal priority. OK, so that much is true, but what are the other reasons for building them. Well, it can be used as traffic calming. At a conventional crossroads, traffic on the major road has priority and doesn't have to stop. When a roundabout is installed, traffic on the major road has to slow down in order to see if anything is coming from the right. The idea is to break long straight sections of road with roundabouts to slow traffic. Older roundabouts were built with small "islands" and wide road surface with little plants and trees to give a better view and to prevent crashes. These roundabouts are great because you don't have to slow down and you can take the straightest line througth them. However things are changing. The "islands" are getting bigger and they are planting trees and shrubs, especially on the central reservation of dual carriageways. This will have a devastating effect in road safety terms. Instead of improving safety it will make things worse because you have to slow right down on the approach to a roundabout in order to see if there is anything coming on the right. This also means the end of "straightlining" and so turns a roundabout into a triple bend by having to go left-right-left if you going straight on. It will create more pollution as cars will have to slow down and speed up at every roundabout. Road safety planners have shot themselves in the foot with this one.
Graded junctions (also known as multi-level or motorway type) usually have a roundabout with slip roads, flyovers and underpasses which enable traffic going straight on to keep a steady speed without having to slow down or stop. Older dual carriageways, mainly those built in the 70's, have this type of junction. Some single carriageway roads also have this type of junction. Newer roads, however, have a string of roundabouts instead. This could be due to cost, or it could be to slow traffic down. This is a pain to drivers, especially lorries, who have to slow down and speed up at every roundabout. I believe that 70 percent of roundabouts in the UK could be replaced with graded junctions and a further 10 percent could be removed and replaced with the previous road layout. The rest should have the "islands" made smaller.
Double White Lines
Double white lines were introduced in the 1950s in order to control overtaking. Since then, they have increased rapidly. Now that all the sharp bends have them, they are appearing on straighter sections of road. Eventually they will be on all roads including long straights. The purpose yet again is traffic calming. This will cause more problems because it will create convoys where faster cars will be stuck behind slower cars because they won't be able to overtake. So there will be more road rage.

	The limit for single carriageways is 60mph and dual carriageways is 70mph. This limit should be applied to all rural roads including those with slight housing development. Small villages can also have this speed limit if there are no major hazards. It can also be used on urban roads which have have a rural appearance, eg no buildings, no footpaths, graded junctions.
	This limit can only be used on dual carriageways. This limit should only be used where there is more development than those on national speed roads. It shouldn't be used on long lengths of road just because there is a house every few hundred yards. This limit should therefore be quite rare.
	Single carriageways - this limit should be applied in villages where there is some development but where there is not enought to justify a lower limit. The road should be fairly wide with perhaps buildings only on one side or building set back from the road. This limit shouldn't be used on long lengths of rural road which is currently the case. Dual carriageways - This limit should be used on urban dual carriageways which have no houses on them. On rural dual carriageways, it should be used when there is fairly dense development with the occasional gap or field between buildings.
	This limit should be applied to all urban dual carriageways. It should be used on urban single carriageways which are fairly wide, less densley built, and those where 30mph would be too slow. On rural roads it should be used in villages or small towns where road is good quality, length of village fairly short and where 30mph would be inapprophriate.
	This limit should be applied to the majority of urban roads. It should be used in villages which have narrow twisty roads, plenty of buildings which come close to the edge of the road or where there are too many hazards to justify 40mph. It shouldn't be used unneccessarily otherwise motorists won't respect it when it really is justified.
	There should be no need for 20mph limits. Motorists should drive carefully and slowly in narrow side streets, even though the limit is 30mph it may not be sensible to drive that fast.