Do you think 15mph speedlimits would help reduce accidents?

[hyper]

Banning cars would reduce accidents. But clearly you have to find a compromise between rival groups. Pedestrians have as a much responsibility to avoid accidents as car drivers. Perhaps rather than reducing speed limits, pedestrians should start to face charges for causing an accident or walking without due care an attention. .

 

You wish.

There seem to be lots of pedestrians who seem unable to avoid each other on pavements. As it happens, the South road area is one of the worst areas.

Walking 3 abreast, forcing me into the road, or eyes down on smartphones.

 

I have had to take the unfortunate step that says unless they are old, infirm, small children or a pram is involved, I brace up and walk through.

[Cyclone]

Speed kills pedestrian we all know that. All accidents are not driver errror some are people simply not paying attention, as they glued to mobiles etc.

 

To be more precise, being hit by something at a high speed kills. (Even more specifically, it's the acceleration it imparts that does the damage).

Speed itself is harmless.

 

---------- Post added 09-02-2016 at 10:24 ----------

 

That's not how it works with variable speed limits where average speeds increase with lower maximum speeds, but the reality is that 20mph maximum speeds in dense urban streets don't make any meaningful difference to journey times and neither would 15mph.

 

Nobody was talking about variable speed limits though.

 

If you currently average 14.8 on a journey where you sometimes drive at 30, and you change the maximum speed to 15, then your average speed will fall.

[bluecanary]

I think the OP's suggestion might be overkill, but I do believe that there should be a 20mph limit close to all schools, strictly enforced at school opening and closing times.

 

The blind bend on Walkley Lane at the top of Burnaby Crescent is a prime example - cars regularly speed off that at 40mph plus, towards school kids and parents who started to cross when it was clear. It's only a matter of time before something really bad happens.

[geared]

I think the OP's suggestion might be overkill, but I do believe that there should be a 20mph limit close to all schools, strictly enforced at school opening and closing times.

 

If you're going to do that then you'd have to enforce the parking restrictions around schools as well.

 

90% of near misses I see around schools are due to lazy parents illegal parking blocking the road and restricting vision for both other cars and pedestrians.

[Eric Arthur]

Nobody was talking about variable speed limits though.

 

If you currently average 14.8 on a journey where you sometimes drive at 30, and you change the maximum speed to 15, then your average speed will fall.

 

First, the evidence (that's evidence) from variable speed limits shows that lower speed limits increase average speeds where they are used. Put that little fact away in your brainbox. It's incidental but useful in this context to help build up your wider mental picture of what happens instead of what you think you'd like to happen.

 

Second, nobody said that 15mph should be the maximum speed on all roads. In fact, you'd see the suggestion by the OP and others as just the opposite if you were paying attention.

 

Now please, move it on a bit Cyclone.

[byeo]

In January I had to attend a Speed Awareness Course as I was caught speeding. I found it very informative and interesting and it has made me more aware.

 

It's not just about setting a speed limit to save lives, I was told during the course that people tend drive to the speed they feel is safe to do so no matter what the limit is. Rather than punishing people I feel that a Speed Awareness Course should be mandatory to people who pass their driving test.

[Cyclone]

First, the evidence (that's evidence) from variable speed limits shows that lower speed limits increase average speeds where they are used. Put that little fact away in your brainbox. It's incidental but useful in this context to help build up your wider mental picture of what happens instead of what you think you'd like to happen.

 

Second, nobody said that 15mph should be the maximum speed on all roads. In fact, you'd see the suggestion by the OP and others as just the opposite if you were paying attention.

 

Now please, move it on a bit Cyclone.

 

Nobody is talking about variable speed limits though. Anything else irrelevant that you want to try to introduce to the thread?

 

Do you need a lesson in maths? If you reduce the speed you are travelling at, your average speed will fall. If introducing new limits didn't in fact reduce your speed, well then they'd be entirely pointless, as nothing would have changed. It's really quite simple.

[bluecanary]

If you're going to do that then you'd have to enforce the parking restrictions around schools as well.

 

90% of near misses I see around schools are due to lazy parents illegal parking blocking the road and restricting vision for both other cars and pedestrians.

 

I agree with this too. Unfortunately, schools don't have the resources to police parents' parking (my son's school doesn't anyway) and any pleas to parents via newsletters etc seem to fall on deaf ears.

[Eric Arthur]

Nobody is talking about variable speed limits though. Anything else irrelevant that you want to try to introduce to the thread?

 

Do you need a lesson in maths? If you reduce the speed you are travelling at, your average speed will fall. If introducing new limits didn't in fact reduce your speed, well then they'd be entirely pointless, as nothing would have changed. It's really quite simple.

 

Dear boy, your goading aside, your own maths clearly don't help you to understand the difference between an average speed of Nagel's 14.8mph and a maximum speed limit of 15mph.

 

I've done with responding to you on this topic. You have nothing to add except your malformed opinions.

 

---------- Post added 09-02-2016 at 10:53 ----------

 

I agree with this too. Unfortunately, schools don't have the resources to police parents' parking (my son's school doesn't anyway) and any pleas to parents via newsletters etc seem to fall on deaf ears.

 

It's a shame that people can't seem to get past their own convenience when it comes to two hundred parents who will just be a minute while I drop them off. Some kind of gentle enforcement that makes it less convenient could do the trick, such as total no parking zones around schools at school times. It's one of the few instances where I'd tolerate enforcement by remote control traffic cameras.

[hyper]

Speed itself is harmless

In terms of a theoretic science discussion with evidence from lab conditions, then you are right. From a real-life traffic situation, this is wrong.

Your statement assumes that everyone else is moving at your speed in the same direction. This simply does not happen

 

 

If you currently average 14.8 on a journey where you sometimes drive at 30, and you change the maximum speed to 15, then your average speed will fall.

funnily though, and I can't explain it, this is not so.

I'll give you an example (and I expect you to dismiss it as an anecdote and not evidence;), but I'll live with that)

A few years ago, I had a job that involved driving down to head office, just off the M25. The journey home was the worst at the point where the M25 intersects with the M1 northbound and then for 10 miles on the M1 till the London commuter belt was cleared. One thing that became apparent was if there was no 50mph speed limit, the traffic would be worse. One minute you'd be sitting in a queue, going nowhere, the next you'd be racing off through the gears for half a mile, seeing the red lights in front and hitting the brakes hard and queuing again. When the overhead gantries had a 40 or 50mph limit, it would all flow much quicker, with less standing.