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Three in four drivers 'ignore 30mph limit'

Julie Bull
Interesting article in todays The Scotsman Three in four drivers 'ignore 30mph limit'. Based on a study by road safety charity Brake. The recommendation of course being the reduction of the limit on non trunk routes to 20mph. The IAM of course opposes this.
 
The Dept. of Transport guidelines on setting local speed limits  say limits should not be reduced unless consideration is given to how enforcable they are. Surely this leads to a classic Catch-22 situation. If the limits can't be enforced at 30mph, how will they be enforced at 20mph, so councils have an immediate get out from even trying. Bah!
 
 

Sense of speed eroded

I think the main issue is that 30mph in a car just doesn't feel that fast anymore. With rapid acceleration, lack of engine noise, seemingly responsive brakes & a speedo that doesn't seem that accurate at the lower range it is all to easy to breach a 30mph limit & feel safe doing so. Unfortunately that safe feeling is an illusion as if someone steps out in front of you then by the time your reactions have kicked in & you've braked to a stop, you'll already have covered a considerable distance.
I'd propose

  • a 20mph limit on residential roads (well Brake proposes this!)
  • a speedo which shows the 0-30mph range over a larger area. Why have a pure linear scale which goes to 140mph when smaller speed differentials are more crucial in an urban setting.
  • acceleration limiters in urban settings (reduces aggresive driving)
  • finally, & it has been said before, a big sharp spike coming out of the middle of the steering wheel!