Does anyone else think these are not set accurately?
There are some of these flashing signs along the road from Frimley to Ash Vale, Surrey and assuming my speedo over reads and even when using my TomTom satnav, these things seem to light up when i'm just a smidge over 30.
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And the speed limit at this point is...?
They are there to remind people that the speed limit exists. Usually they are justified by a danger to pedestrians.
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I know one in Surrey that routinely flashes when one is under the limit. Even my wife has noticed it.
There is a new kind of sign that simply flashes: SLOW DOWN. Damn cheek if you ask me. Can't possibly have any legal status. It's just there to distract drivers from the task in hand and can probably be proved to be more dangerous than no sign at all.
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Then there are those which show your measured speed. Allowing for slight speedometer over-reading they seem to be accurate.
And it doesn't matter whether they have any legal status - they may warn you of getting caught by some other method - job done.
Edited by Andrew-T on 10/02/2009 at 15:02
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I have always assumed that they are set 1 mph over the limit since they are not enforcement devices
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I agree they can prove more of a distraction to those, like me who try to keep to limits.
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We have one nearby which flashed at about 25mph in a 30 limit for the first few months after fitting then it was adjusted.
Edited by Old Navy on 10/02/2009 at 14:54
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No doubt those who try to stay a bit above the speed limit find them just as distracting RE, until they learn to ignore the things. But they aren't the danger. The danger comes from natural mimsers dreaming along, who haven't a clue what the speed limit is or how fast they are going, being startled by these things into braking suddenly in the outside lane of a dual carriageway, perhaps on a bend in the wet. The 'Double-Take Brothers' syndrome.
Why don't the traffic authorities just blind drivers with a laser and have done with it?
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>Why don't the traffic authorities just blind drivers with a laser ..
Come on, Lud - that has to be an overstated case. Prejudice, even ...
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>> Prejudice, even ...
Indeed AT. I yield to none in my prejudice against ugly, carping, unnecessary, distracting, deliberately obstructive street and road furniture. I like to be able to see where I am going and see other traffic on the road without stupid automatic signs flashing at me. I know what I am doing and so do many other drivers.
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>I know what I am doing and so do many other drivers.
But sadly some (many?) others don't. So try and ignore the signs if they offend.
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i'm with Lud on this one....the more you dumb things down, the more dumb the dumb become
let them think, make their own decisions, maybe they'll learn something rather than being mollycoddled in their little safe coccoons
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dumb become let them think make their own decisions maybe they'll learn something rather than being mollycoddled in their little safe coccoons
agreed -
I think they are a waste of money, and electrictity - esp the signs that light up on aproach telling you to slow down - if you have driven past one many times - drivers will probs just set them of on purpose.
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drivers will probs just set them of on purpose.
Indeed they do redviper, indeed they do...
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>I think they are a waste of money, and electricity ..
Ah yes, I'll agree to that. But it is a mistake to assume that the signs make the dumb dumber (perhaps) so therefore by having none their intelligence may rise ... really? :-(
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If the sign flashes 30 slow down and you are doing 30 or less, then surely that information is libeling you to the drivers behind ?
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libeling you to the drivers behind ?
:o}
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I passed one (in Kingston IIRC) that flashed a grin or a grimace depending on your speed. I went past at 29 and got a grimace. ?
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Those are outside schools, 29 is plenty depending on the time of day. Was a 20 limit in force?
Edited by Old Navy on 10/02/2009 at 17:41
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assuming my speedo over reads and even when using my TomTom satnav these things seem to light up when i'm just a smidge over 30.
Isn't that a pointer to them being set correctly?
If they're not set correctly, complain to the council.
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Well, I'll get me coat before I post this one I think.
Lud and Westpig, I've come to respect your opinions a great deal but with respect, you're both wrong on this one.
To the truly professional driver, no matter what he/she is driving, lighting up a sign that tells you you're approaching a 30MPH at 43MPH or whatever is embarrassing and I can assure you, WE don't let it happen many times after that first time.
In my opinion these are far more effective than speed cameras and cost the motoring public far less.
Pat
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 10/02/2009 at 21:13
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Look at it from another angle pda.
No flashing signs, no embarrassment. Capisce?
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None of us are perfect Lud, not even you :)
And it's always good to remind those behind us that we're not Francis Rossi, Barry Sheene or that Button fella that drives a car!
It's a great reminder to an audience that we're very much not perfect and far more effective than a £60 fine and 3 penalty points!
Of course once we're out of the village..............................:)
Pat
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"Francis Rossi"... how did Status Quo get into this discussion?????
Or maybe Giuseppe Rossi!!!!!
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there are two of these in close proximity on my nearest "major" road. Limit is 30mph, and one lights up at an indicated 30mph, the other, 200 - 300 yards away, at an indicated 35mph. (yes - i tested them, naively, to see how accurate my speedo was, result - inconclusive)
conclusion must be that, just like computers, the signs are infallible, but the (human) fingers that control or set them, are not, ( you know what "fallible is - what we ordinary people are not allowed to be, so we have "infallible" signs controlled by "fallible" people )
" infamy, infamy - they've all got it infamy"
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There is one near me just before you enter a 50 limit from NSL. It flashes at 40mph!
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One near me is sited at the foot of a gradient and near a school, so a reasonable
place.
And yes, it does flash'30' for drivers approaching at 26 or so!
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There is one of these signs as you leave the M74 on the approach to Hamilton.
Road goes from 60 to 30ph.
There are 3 lanes and this sign is just where the road bends to approach a roundabout.
Not got a clue which lane it is "reading" and it just serves as a distraction as the road bends to a roundabout which has traffic lights on it.
No doubt some council jobsworth thought it a good idea.
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Trafford council like these things. I pass 4 or 5 on one road and they always flash me, even though I do not speed. They are very bright at night and I wouldn't like one outside my lounge window, flashing at everyone except pedestrians !
Ted
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We are about to get one of these things, to be shared by 4 sites in 2 villages, at the request of a local councillor. The County Council consulted the local residents, including me, and agreed to go along with the majority of replies, that it would be a Good Thing. However, they declined to fund the cost, which was to be the responsibility of the Parish Council, who have since blagged the dosh out of the local Speed Camera partnership.
No evidence was adduced that there was any significant road hazard that needed to be tamed, e.g. accidents or near misses.
One must accept that many "traffic calming" measures are just window dressing. This is a pity as it tends to encourage contempt for signs that really do warn.
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>>This is a pity as it tends to encourage contempt for signs that really do warn.
signs when they're not needed..mean people get used to them and ignore them. If they were only placed when you really needed to have them you'd take more notice of them
not only that, flashing speed limit signs could be most relevant one morning...and not really relevant the next..or most pertinent at 0830 hours, but superfluous at 0530 hours...etc
how about timed ones, so out of hours and weekends they don't come on, but when the kids are on the way to school they flash like crazy
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>Signs when they're not needed..mean people get used to them and ignore them
Absolutely. Some of our roads are now so cluttered with signs and other road furniture that drivers have little option but to ignore many of them if they are to concentrate on their driving and the misbehaviour of nearby vehicles. Simply negotiating the forest of bollards and steel poles is an achievement.
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Does anyone else think these are not set accurately? There are some of these flashing signs along the road from Frimley to Ash Vale, Surrey and assuming my speedo over reads and even when using my TomTom satnav, these things seem to light up when i'm just a smidge over 30.
I walked
up to my local shop the flashing sign went mad on foot I was up to 37 mph
how good is that.
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Does anyone else think these are not set accurately? There are some of these flashing signs along the road from Frimley to Ash Vale, Surrey and assuming my speedo over reads and even when using my TomTom satnav, these things seem to light up when i'm just a smidge over 30.
I walked
up to my local shop the flashing sign went mad on foot I was up to 37 mph
how good is that.
Are you called Billy Whizz?
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When I see one of these I ask myself - is this my lucky day? can I get past without setting the thing off? ... not this time, but perhaps next time I will succeed!
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They have had to remove some of these signs in our locality since the idiotic youth were having competitions trying the set the highest speed read.
One just down the road from us has been carefully located behind a tree canopy. From April to November the leaves stop it working.
Some years ago I had a Road Angel in the car. The digital speedo was spot on accurate but in one instance it went mad. Driving north on the A1 passing an RAF station doing about 70 the display showed 720 mph approx for a couple of miles. Possibly some signal form the MOD?
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