Speed and Misconceptions about it

I've got a link here:

http://www.carbibles.com/speeding_facts.html

that sums up knowledge about speed and speeding and how it's perceived.

Since reading Proficient Motorcycling and other bike-related books, I've been exposed to a pretty good amount of info on the subject, but have found the writings on the linked page pretty cohesive and to the point and consider it important enough to point out to people.

Have a read (especially of the section on speed cameras) and share your thoughts. Mine sound something along the lines of :

I'm tired of having the government spend money for speed enforcement when they've got so many more important things to do to improve road safety, on top of which, the speed cameras that they so heavily invest in doesn't benefit motorists, in fact it's the opposite

There's some really good information on that link, very interesting indeed. Especially the cause of accidents,

Out of interest whats the speed camera policy like in Romania? Is it pursued as avidly by the local authorities as it is in the UK?

Wow, very well written info link. I pretty damn well agree with everything he said about the topic. Speeding is NOT the problem, idiots are! and we have ALOT of them over here..... I also love the picture at the bottom.....

Only thing I would like to say is that when I go to an accident and in the report state "excessive speed" I generally am referring to "excessive speed for the road conditions or lay out" which doesn't actually mean someone is speeding, just that they have gone into a corner too hot and run outta skill! I just didn't think that article differentiated between speeding and excessive speed.

Interesting read though.

[L3nny]

Most speed camera in my area are not on bad bends, crossings or outside schools etc, they are on straight clear roads. The same time the cameras went up the limits also dropped to 50.

I have yet to meet anyone who thinks speed camera are a good idea so it begs the question why are the people we voted to run things for us allowed to get away with this??

Originally Posted by The Idle Biker

Out of interest whats the speed camera policy like in Romania? Is it pursued as avidly by the local authorities as it is in the UK?

Well, not that many speed cameras, almost nonexistent now (they've been ruled out, they used to be in every 30mph village, which means every km or so...). BUT plenty of police in their place, who now have a new type of radar gun (not laser, not typical radar) which is not detectable by normal radar detectors (there are some that can catch it, but they're really expensive..). What pis*es me off about them is that they'll let right of way violations go unpunished but enforce speed limitation on deserted stretches of road...

Originally Posted by Milky Bar Kid

Only thing I would like to say is that when I go to an accident and in the report state "excessive speed" I generally am referring to "excessive speed for the road conditions or lay out" which doesn't actually mean someone is speeding, just that they have gone into a corner too hot and run outta skill! I just didn't think that article differentiated between speeding and excessive speed.

Interesting read though.

I know what you mean by "excessive speed" here, but do note that the main cause of accidents stated is : "Site effects. This includes things such as people's estimation of their speed based on the geometry of their surroundings". So they do take into account if the driver adjusts the speed properly (giving one self the necessary time to react to events) for the location. But I do mostly agree with you, this is not made sufficiently explicit in the presentation

It's a common thing, if we state that excessive speed was the cause of the RTC then people quickly shout "but I wasn't speeding!" and we have to explain that we realise they weren't breaking the speed limit but that they were travelling too fst for the road lay out or the conditions and then they accept it. A lot of emphasis is put on "speeding" but the key thing is appropriate speed. Sometimes 30mph in 60mph zone is appropriate sometimes 60mph is fine. I am rambling now....

Neah, you're not rambling and I do agree with you on the matter. It just goes to show that legal set speed limits have nothing to do with what the appropriate speed for the situation is. And it provides people with a personal disclaimer, as you say, "But I wasn't speeding". What it also does is provide a false sense of security and the dumbing down of drivers, who consider that the legal speed IS the speed they should be traveling.

[TamSV]

Originally Posted by L3nny

I have yet to meet anyone who thinks speed camera are a good idea so it begs the question why are the people we voted to run things for us allowed to get away with this??

It's not the Govt that's the problem. It's the moronic public (us lot) that likes speed cameras. There was an AA poll last year that had support for cameras at 70-odd percent.

When they were switching them off somewhere in England (Oxfordshire?) last year the local residents were in uproar. Apparently we love em.

[timwilky]

I do not regard speed as excessive or not. Simply appropriate or not.

My argument is a speed camera will not trigger at 60 on an NSL road, but in fog with sod all visability the speed is inappropriate. I do not regard 100+ on a motorway at 2am with no traffic for miles as excessive or inappropriate. I have been waved goodbye by traffic plod after driving with them at 135 for 20 miles and stopped and told off for 90 in a 30. But nobody has actually said to me I am dangerous or a liability etc. Infact the copper who stopped me for 90 in a 30 said I know you can see for miles and there is no traffic on the road at this time of day. But in 6 months there will be ice. To which I said I would not be doing that speed if I suspected ice. He smiled.