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Post by peterob on Aug 19, 2024 12:47:02 GMT
Missing a road sign is easily done, large vehicles can block the line of sight, foliage can obscure part or all of a sign or, as I noticed last week in Suffolk, the sign can be so faded as to be illegible. The other possible reason being an over abundance of signage. I have often seen an excessive number of signs on various roads one particularly annoying one being a diversion sign partially obscuring a motorway exit board. Personally I find the mobile dot matrix signs problematic, they sometimes contain more information than I can read in the time available, bearing in mind that the sign is not what I need to concentrate on. I find the obsession with speed concerning, 20 mph limits are a good idea in principle but they tend to be applied in areas where observation of the road environment is important, around school for example. A driver who is constantly looking down at the speedometer isn’t observing the surroundings. It isn’t every car that has a cruise control that can maintain 20 mph and/or has a speed limiter. Recent research, driving around an unfamiliar part of the country, reveals that a good proportion of speed limit signs are obscured, defaced, or completely absent (a sign on only one side of the road where the limit changes). A good number are inappropriately positioned, a speed reduction immediately after a bend when it would be more appropriately positioned before the bend for example. Not to mention roads where the limit changes every few miles, I understand the need for 30 in a village but sometimes it would seem to be safer to keep the lower limit between villages. It seems to me that there can be far too much information presented to road users in some places and too little in others. I am sure someone will disagree. I agree. The main "problem" with 20 mph is that it is [so far] unfamiliar. I "know" when I am driving at 30 mph just on the basis of experience but I find driving consistently at 20 by rote very difficult. Crossing into Wales needs great care because many roads are 20 mph, for several miles, by default. I've been overtaken many times by folk who don't realise or are wilfully ignoring the limit. An article in The Times today comments that civil disobedience in the form of ignoring [maximum] speed limits is rife and this is my experience. My sat nav shows jams ahead. I hate it on motorways where they put up a 50 mph limit miles before the jam to try to prevent the queue growing and people just ignore the sign, plough on at high speed and compound the problem. Missing or unclear signs are quite common, more so I find when leaving a rural 30 mph, than entering where there is usually a short 40 mph pre-stage. There is a section of country road, in Oxfordshire I think, which is [ or was 20 years ago] signed 30 on entry, no street lights or habitation and no reminders for several miles. It was very tempting to think that a national speed limit sign was been missed. There are a couple of villages [ in Worcestershire I think ] with a novel way of encouraging compliance with a maximum 30 mph. They surfaced the road in red tarmac, omitted the centre-line, painted solid white line "no cross" borders. The optical illusion that the road is single track is compelling even though 2 HGVs can pass with ease. The illusion persists even when a big HGV has come in the other direction and you have experienced how much clearance there really is. i've never been tailgated through these doing 30(-). |
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Post by dreampolice on Aug 19, 2024 13:18:00 GMT
Missing a road sign is easily done, large vehicles can block the line of sight, foliage can obscure part or all of a sign or, as I noticed last week in Suffolk, the sign can be so faded as to be illegible. The other possible reason being an over abundance of signage. I have often seen an excessive number of signs on various roads one particularly annoying one being a diversion sign partially obscuring a motorway exit board. Personally I find the mobile dot matrix signs problematic, they sometimes contain more information than I can read in the time available, bearing in mind that the sign is not what I need to concentrate on. I find the obsession with speed concerning, 20 mph limits are a good idea in principle but they tend to be applied in areas where observation of the road environment is important, around school for example. A driver who is constantly looking down at the speedometer isn’t observing the surroundings. It isn’t every car that has a cruise control that can maintain 20 mph and/or has a speed limiter. Recent research, driving around an unfamiliar part of the country, reveals that a good proportion of speed limit signs are obscured, defaced, or completely absent (a sign on only one side of the road where the limit changes). A good number are inappropriately positioned, a speed reduction immediately after a bend when it would be more appropriately positioned before the bend for example. Not to mention roads where the limit changes every few miles, I understand the need for 30 in a village but sometimes it would seem to be safer to keep the lower limit between villages. It seems to me that there can be far too much information presented to road users in some places and too little in others. I am sure someone will disagree. I agree. The main "problem" with 20 mph is that it is [so far] unfamiliar. I "know" when I am driving at 30 mph just on the basis of experience but I find driving consistently at 20 by rote very difficult. Crossing into Wales needs great care because many roads are 20 mph, for several miles, by default. I've been overtaken many times by folk who don't realise or are wilfully ignoring the limit. An article in The Times today comments that civil disobedience in the form of ignoring [maximum] speed limits is rife and this is my experience. My sat nav shows jams ahead. I hate it on motorways where they put up a 50 mph limit miles before the jam to try to prevent the queue growing and people just ignore the sign, plough on at high speed and compound the problem. Missing or unclear signs are quite common, more so I find when leaving a rural 30 mph, than entering where there is usually a short 40 mph pre-stage. There is a section of country road, in Oxfordshire I think, which is [ or was 20 years ago] signed 30 on entry, no street lights or habitation and no reminders for several miles. It was very tempting to think that a national speed limit sign was been missed. There are a couple of villages [ in Worcestershire I think ] with a novel way of encouraging compliance with a maximum 30 mph. They surfaced the road in red tarmac, omitted the centre-line, painted solid white line "no cross" borders. The optical illusion that the road is single track is compelling even though 2 HGVs can pass with ease. The illusion persists even when a big HGV has come in the other direction and you have experienced how much clearance there really is. i've never been tailgated through these doing 30(-). Re the 30 limit. That is the only one that doesn't require repeaters. If there are no repeating signs on a road, it is safe to assume it is a 30 until you know otherwise. As for 20's, our village became 20 village wide. I always set my speed limiter to 20 on my car as soon as I enter the zone. |
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Post by willien on Aug 19, 2024 13:20:09 GMT
I agree. The main "problem" with 20 mph is that it is [so far] unfamiliar. I "know" when I am driving at 30 mph just on the basis of experience but I find driving consistently at 20 by rote very difficult. Crossing into Wales needs great care because many roads are 20 mph, for several miles, by default. I've been overtaken many times by folk who don't realise or are wilfully ignoring the limit. An article in The Times today comments that civil disobedience in the form of ignoring [maximum] speed limits is rife and this is my experience. My sat nav shows jams ahead. I hate it on motorways where they put up a 50 mph limit miles before the jam to try to prevent the queue growing and people just ignore the sign, plough on at high speed and compound the problem. Missing or unclear signs are quite common, more so I find when leaving a rural 30 mph, than entering where there is usually a short 40 mph pre-stage. There is a section of country road, in Oxfordshire I think, which is [ or was 20 years ago] signed 30 on entry, no street lights or habitation and no reminders for several miles. It was very tempting to think that a national speed limit sign was been missed. There are a couple of villages [ in Worcestershire I think ] with a novel way of encouraging compliance with a maximum 30 mph. They surfaced the road in red tarmac, omitted the centre-line, painted solid white line "no cross" borders. The optical illusion that the road is single track is compelling even though 2 HGVs can pass with ease. The illusion persists even when a big HGV has come in the other direction and you have experienced how much clearance there really is. i've never been tailgated through these doing 30(-). Re the 30 limit. That is the only one that doesn't require repeaters. If there are no repeating signs on a road, it is safe to assume it is a 30 until you know otherwise. To be picky, you could be on a national speed limit applies road. |
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Post by dreampolice on Aug 19, 2024 13:25:40 GMT
Re the 30 limit. That is the only one that doesn't require repeaters. If there are no repeating signs on a road, it is safe to assume it is a 30 until you know otherwise. To be picky, you could be on a national speed limit applies road. Fair enough, though you do get them. In fact, I was wrong anyway, looking at Pete's post again. He did mention no streetlights, so really there should be repeaters, it is safe to assume that a road with street lamps is 30 unless signed otherwise with repeaters. My bad. |
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Post by petrochemist on Aug 19, 2024 16:58:03 GMT
Missing a road sign is easily done, large vehicles can block the line of sight, foliage can obscure part or all of a sign or, as I noticed last week in Suffolk, the sign can be so faded as to be illegible. The other possible reason being an over abundance of signage. I have often seen an excessive number of signs on various roads one particularly annoying one being a diversion sign partially obscuring a motorway exit board. Personally I find the mobile dot matrix signs problematic, they sometimes contain more information than I can read in the time available, bearing in mind that the sign is not what I need to concentrate on. I find the obsession with speed concerning, 20 mph limits are a good idea in principle but they tend to be applied in areas where observation of the road environment is important, around school for example. A driver who is constantly looking down at the speedometer isn’t observing the surroundings. It isn’t every car that has a cruise control that can maintain 20 mph and/or has a speed limiter. Recent research, driving around an unfamiliar part of the country, reveals that a good proportion of speed limit signs are obscured, defaced, or completely absent (a sign on only one side of the road where the limit changes). A good number are inappropriately positioned, a speed reduction immediately after a bend when it would be more appropriately positioned before the bend for example. Not to mention roads where the limit changes every few miles, I understand the need for 30 in a village but sometimes it would seem to be safer to keep the lower limit between villages. It seems to me that there can be far too much information presented to road users in some places and too little in others. I am sure someone will disagree. There is a point near me where the speed limit signs on both sides of the road are so overgrown that it's extremely difficult to know where they are, even when specifically looking for them as a passenger. I go down this road quite often, so know roughly where the 40 goes up to 60. Cars going the other way would have no way of telling. I'm sure pre-covid the council kept all the signs reasonably clear, but that certainly doesn't happen now. |
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Post by davem399 on Aug 19, 2024 17:53:29 GMT
My car has a feature in the digital display which shows the speed limit and changes quite quickly in relation to the actual change in speed limit. I presume it’s picking it up from the sat nav. There is also an arrow on the analogue speedo showing the speed limit which moves according to the change in limit.
(New car to me this year after my ancient SEAT which lacked most features found on modern cars)
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Post by willien on Aug 19, 2024 17:56:53 GMT
My car has a feature in the digital display which shows the speed limit and changes quite quickly in relation to the actual change in speed limit. I presume it’s picking it up from the sat nav. There is also an arrow on the analogue speedo showing the speed limit which moves according to the change in limit. (New car to me this year after my ancient SEAT which lacked most features found on modern cars) Mine does it with a combination of satnav info and two mini cameras on the front of the rearview mirrors. Can sometimes get fooled temporarilly but I would not want to be without it. |
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Post by zou on Aug 19, 2024 18:02:21 GMT
The Nissan Leaf we run at work has the speed limit info (often fooled by 20s in side roads) but no sat nav. Which means it's got sat nav but we didn't pay enough to turn it on.  |
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Post by davem399 on Aug 19, 2024 18:06:25 GMT
My car has a feature in the digital display which shows the speed limit and changes quite quickly in relation to the actual change in speed limit. I presume it’s picking it up from the sat nav. There is also an arrow on the analogue speedo showing the speed limit which moves according to the change in limit. (New car to me this year after my ancient SEAT which lacked most features found on modern cars) Mine does it with a combination of satnav info and two mini cameras on the front of the rearview mirrors. Can sometimes get fooled temporarilly but I would not want to be without it. Yes, it’s got cameras which report that on occasions they have spotted certain road signs. |
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Post by daves on Aug 19, 2024 18:08:59 GMT
My car shows the speed limit on the digital dashboard and on the sat nag, but I don't have an analogue speedo, it's a digital speedo surrounded by the tach.
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Post by davem399 on Aug 19, 2024 18:14:54 GMT
My car shows the speed limit on the digital dashboard and on the sat nag, but I don't have an analogue speedo, it's a digital speedo surrounded by the tach. One of the few things I have been able to do is setup the digital display in front of me with an analogue speedo and also the speed in its centre in numbers. And the tacho has the gear selected in its centre. I’m not sure which is more complicated, the car or my camera! |
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Post by MJB on Aug 19, 2024 18:38:37 GMT
I have a device in the passenger seat that tells me when I'm going too fast. It also informs me of any potential lane deviation and the proximity of the car in front.
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Post by geoffr on Aug 19, 2024 19:18:10 GMT
I have a device in the passenger seat that tells me when I'm going too fast. It also informs me of any potential lane deviation and the proximity of the car in front. I suspect the running costs are high but outweighed by the benefits. |
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Post by willien on Aug 19, 2024 19:21:03 GMT
I have a device in the passenger seat that tells me when I'm going too fast. It also informs me of any potential lane deviation and the proximity of the car in front. AKA Multifunction Correctional Facility. |
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Post by zou on Aug 19, 2024 19:25:23 GMT
One of the great benefits of not owning a car is not having to listen to such devices.  |
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