Where I live there is a long dual carriageway with shops either side. The speed limit is 30 mph and that is quite reasonable. Every 100 m there is a junction with lights. In the last 6 months 20 mph speed limits have appeared just before each junction, extending to just after the end of the junction.
Now I obey speed limits and have no problem with them with the exception of these limits. To be honest it does not seem safe to slow to 20 mph, forcing traffic behind to slow, causing bunching of cars behind. I tend to drive at ~20 in a residential area with a 30 limit for safety but this limit just seems plain stupid.
I don't think IAM and similar groups recommend taking junctions at 20 mph so what's going on? What do people think? Does anyone know the rational behind these limits?
I suspect I will write to the council to find out.
(Please, this is not an anti-speed-camera thread.)
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Obviously your council believes you are too stupid to pay attention/slow down near junctions.
It's a creeping problem where those in authority [power] believe they cannot trust you to make your own judgements and some mongs have started believing that, that they should be told what to do rather then take some responsibility for their actions or find some common sense, and when this source of information fails; sue somebody for 'negligence'.
Hurrah, the American way is in Britain!
Kev
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Macclesfield has something similar - 30 limits on the roundabouts on the Silk Road. Trouble is, some of them are quite a distance before the roundabouts, so you have to slow from 70 to 30, crawl along, take the roundabout, crawl again then accelerate.
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This really is ludicrously nannyish.
I posted a thread a few weeks back about this whole issue of the proliferation of utterly unnecessary signage and road furniture and this is another example.
My conclusion was that all it points to is an increasing gulf between the mindset of those who govern these restrictions and those (i.e., you and me) who are expected to adhere to them.
This particular example is plainly over the top, partly because it will happen naturally anyway. I can understand 20 limits outside schools, in built-up residential areas, but then dotting them here and there everytime you approach a hazard really is treating the road like a kindergarten.
Try counting the number of signs along that particular stretch of road, too. Then ask yourself just how much information you are being asked to notice and digest. Then ask yourself whether they've improved safety or just made it more complicated.
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Morris Ox: Indeed, I don't think the 20 limit improves safety. Our council have re-engineered quite a few junctions and roundabouts recently resulting in significant improvements. So it's not all negative. But then again this is where speed humps come to breed.
When I drive in London, I do find it hard to drive and follow all the road markings, signs and lights, and keep an eye on other cars. Sometimes the left lane becomes a turn left only lane, sometimes the right lane becomes a turn right only lane. You can end up veering from side to side like a drunk.
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