We've had 20 mph in Bath now for quite a few years and it's a real pittance. As you say @wild edges, you have to watch the speedo all the time which of course takes your attention away from the road. The police said they wouldn't enforce it when the Lib Dems bought it in and hardly anyone sticks to it now, most of us do about 25 mph which is just about doable. I do slow down of course when it's busy, outside schools, the hospital and shops - like we automatically used to. On our steep hills it's nearly impossible to keep to 20 in a car, they are just not built to run properly at such a slow speed and of course it means the emissions are that much greater.
I find the 20mph limit dangerously distracting because you're forever checking the speedometer when you should be checking the road. With all the beeps and warning signals in modern cars, it's a shame you can't set it to beep when you exceed the limit.
We had the tailgating issue here when it first came in, but once a number of people got fined (do you get points?) the tailgating stopped. I think there was also confusion as to whether the limit was advisory. The A roads are still 30 and that's confusing too.
Why is it, when some cars have had limiters for years, that speed limits aren't just enforced by the car? Harder with manual, fossil fuel engines, but leccy cars should have it as standard - as it must be used in autonomous EVs anyway.
Obviously there are times when you need to do more than the limit - limit overrides are currently available anyway.
It does make you wonder where some authorities will make their money when cars automatically obey limits and autonomous car parking is centralised.
@B3 my car does beep - well, not the car per se, but the navigation app.
One of the local towns has been one of the 20mph trial zones this year and I found that one easy enough because there were relatively few areas where your speed could get up to 30 anyway. It made pulling out of junctions easier and seemed to make traffic flow better through roundabouts etc. Locally though it's just force of habit to drive at 30 and a lot of people around here preferred to go much faster than that. There's no speed cameras and I've never seen any enforcement around here for some reason.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
There are loads of 20 mph areas in Norwich … most drivers seem to have adapted to them pretty well and much prefer them to the road humps which had been the other option. It certainly makes life safer for children walking to school and other pedestrians, cyclists etc.
The change that does seem to be causing accidents in Norwich is giving cyclists and pedestrians on cycle path pavements precedence over vehicles turning across the ‘path’ into and out of sideroads.
There have been at least two serious accidents involving cyclists and cars at such junctions in the past few months.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
The change that does seem to be causing accidents in Norwich is giving cyclists and pedestrians on cycle path pavements precedence over vehicles turning across the ‘path’ into and out of sideroads.
Ashley Neal on Youtube does some great driver safety training videos that covers this stuff. Well worth a watch to keep up on rules and driving tips for modern traffic situations.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
The thing is that even in a car, you should never assume that the other driver knows or wants to acknowledge that you have the right of way - much more so if you're on a bike or on foot. And ignore the turning left signal until there is some other indication of the approaching driver's intentions. This has saved me on more than one occasion from getting squashed by a lorry whose driver had forgotten to cancel his indicators
Ashley Neal says "Priority is given, not taken" but the Highway Code states that you do not have right of way in any circumstance and it just advises when you should give way to others. This is forgotten very quickly by most drivers.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.