Don't.

I was sitting in the garden most of the weekend, it was very quiet.

I kept hearing the 'miiiaaooowww' of a sprotsbike, which was nice.

A few minutes later, the nee-naawws would all head out.

This seemed to be going off all weekend.

I'm sure it was co-incidence, but I felt quite perplexed by the end of it!

 

The Association of British Drivers (ABD) has joined road safety campaign Safe Speed in expressing concern that the government's new speed limit guidance may actually increase road casualties -- and has called for an independent speed limit watchdog to prevent this happening.

The ABD argues that the new guidance, contained in Circular 01/2006, will see many speed limits lowered when they do not need to be, increasing tailgating, dangerous frustration overtakes and leading to a lack of respect for limits. This comes as many counties have now set artificially low speed limits on safe, clear roads yet seen no decrease in crash numbers.

Mark McArthur-Christie, the ABD's policy director, said: "Speed limits are about the bluntest road safety tool we have, but since the early 1990s we've seen more and more reliance on them. This new guidance will still allow local authorities to lower limits even further - even where there is no need - so we believe it's time that an independent speed limit watchdog is appointed."

The guidance in the Circular effectively allows local authorities to reduce most 60mph single-carriageway roads to 50mph or below. The safe speed for the road varies constantly, but limits increasingly bear little relation to it. This is leading to drivers aggressively tailgating those observing the limits and even attempting to overtake where it is not safe. The ABD believes this is bad for road safety.

McArthur-Christie said: "Local authorities have shown that they will lower limits even when there is no speed-related accident history and even when road conditions do not demand it. We need an independent limit watchdog to make sure that limits are set on road safety criteria, not political expediency."

 

I agree but they are reacting to the wrong problem in my opinion. The problem on our roads is not [seldom] speeding it's poor driving standards. Our speed limits are pitifully outdated relative to the abilities of modern cars. In fact, they are outdated relative to cars from 20 years ago!! I digress. My point is that driving fast in itself isn't as dangerous as its made out to be but inappropriate speed is. You can drive 150mph on the Salt Flats and probably never harm anyone but 40mph on certain rural roads in certain conditions may be suicide!

In my opinion the last thing you want to do with bad drivers is to annoy them and distract them with speed camera after speed camera however, these make money and enforce a from of crime that can be proven and solved all-in-one. Proving that someone was driving inappropriately does not make money and is far harder to achieve, yet it really is the source of driving evil IMHO.

I drive fast, in fact I regularly drive excessively fast and yet I've never had a speeding ticket and haven't had a crash since I was 17* [touch wood]. I attribute this to picking and choosing carefully what speed is appropriate and what is not.

*In the case of my crash I was doing less than half the posted limit and yet inappropriate speed on behalf of me and the other driver was clearly the cause. In short the speed limits mean sweet f.a. IMHO and I confess to basically ignoring every speed sign I see and setting my own appropriate speed.

 

This is so desperately true.

And it is lost in the message being put out.

The best piece of advice I ever received from a police officer was, "slow drivers cause accidents - it's up to faster drivers to take this into account and drive accordingly."

Too complex a sillogism for the modern-day attention-span, I suppose.

 

"slow drivers cause accidents - it's up to faster drivers to take this into account and drive accordingly."

LOL, I like that