Cycling UK Forum

irc wrote:

Cyril Haearn wrote:
irc: What do you mean by "unsafe speed"?

A speed too fast for the prevailing road and weather conditions.

You said anything that reduces speed is welcome. To walking speed? No? Well there is a balance then between speed limits that are too low and those that are too high. I think the current 40mph HGV limit is too low on some roads like the A9 (single carriageway). I think the current 60mph car limit on the A9 is about right. On other roads it may be too high. Lower isn't always better though. Motorways have the highest speeds and the lowest casualty rates. for their function as a national transport link a 70mph limit is better than a 50mph limit.

Waking speed! No, just the legal maximum as MAX and not as minimum or standard.

I remember seeing a Waitrose railfreight container at Wick. Couldn't Tesco use the railway?

I have travelled on the train from the south to Inverness, but I have not been on the A9. In the "south" (Shropshire, Wales, A49, A44, A470 etc) I can not remember being held up by a truck that was obeying the law. On single-carriageway roads it is much more likely that they will come up from behind and try to force me to go faster, althought the view ahead does not permit this.

Anyone got tips here, what driving tactics are appropriate? I can not go faster. Should I pull off and let the terrorist by? The next one ist just behind!

The police must get out there and do many more speed checks so that obeying the law is the norm, not the exception. The police should change sides to earn the respect of law-abiding drivers.

Maybe there are arguments for "relaxing" the law in certain places, but I have a great aversion to increasing motor speeds in any circumstances

Any legislation can not be enacted immediately. In the meantime the police must get out there and punish!

Flinders wrote:

Cyril Haearn wrote:
I would love to boycott the organisations that let their drivers break the law.

Hmn. Most lorries break the current law on single carriageways, you may get very hungry and short of clothes and electronic goods..................

I have plenty of food stored. If enough other people boycotted the terrorists too, they would soon learn to obey the law.

Try a back-pedal hub brake, you can't have too many brakes!

irc wrote:

Cyril Haearn wrote:As for the drivers who get frustrated by others obeying the law: they need psychiatric help.

Whether they need help or not frustration is a factor on the roads and should be taken into account when setting speed limits.

Anything that reduces speed is welcome.

Anything that reduces unsafe speed is welcome.

Sorry, I mean they need punishment, not help! If they are frustrated by others obeying the law, they should lose their licences. No mercy or understanding for these criminals! Maximum speed limits are to do with safety, frustration has nothing to do with it.

My vision is: the millions of frustrated drivers lose their licences. That would solve many problems.

irc: What do you mean by "unsafe speed"?

Vorpal wrote:60 mph is too high for the vast majority of single carriageway roads. I would prefer that the national speed limit were 50 for all vehicles, with the possibility of of higher speed limits where justified.

Dead right. With satellite governors there is no need for lorries to be able to exceed the maxium limit.

The talk here is about maxima. Never seen a minimum spped limit sign!

As for the drivers who get frustrated by others obeying the law: they need psychiatric help.

Anything that reduces speed is welcome.

I would love to boycott the organisations that let their drivers break the law.

That's a good one, stop at all stop signs! I think I am the only driver (and cyclist) who does that.

I even stop for an instant longer than "necessary". Really irritates the normal drivers behind me

What really makes me sick is the police and others encouraging things that are not in the law book at all: helmets, lights on in the daytime, etc. They should use their time for enforcement, they would always have plenty to do.

Here in Germany they could stand at any stop sign and they would have to punish almost all drivers and cyclists.

Maybe that would help the average driver (and cyclist) learn to read.

It might be worth heating or cooling the parts if they are of different metals. They will expand or contract at different rates.

Fewer than 2000 "accidental" deaths. But many many "only" seriously injured. Plenty of these die more than 30 days after the "accident". Many others will never be healthy again, many live for decades in a wheelchair or in bed, they can not cycle, read, work, they even need help to eat and drink and go to the toilet.

For me (no family, no children), maybe "worse than death".

One hardly ever sees these "survivors" because the pavements are blocked by parked cars so that wheelchairs must go on the road.

Makes one sick.

The Ostsee-Zeitung just reported that 74% of drivers use their phones while driving.

The figure in Britain must be similar.

This is no problem, it is an oppurtunity

The police should take the same attitide as rat-catchers. If they find a house full of rodents, they do not give up and try to be friendly. No, they get more poison and catch the lot.

The police could do the same, not with poison but with penalty points and driving bans. If they took up their work and tried to catch as many as possible, there would soon be much less traffic. More space for cycling, less noise, pollution, resources saved, money saved, unnecessary transports (e.g. bottled water) would have to be stopped because so many lorry drivers would be banned. Win-win-win for us all.

How can we (law-abiding cyclists, law-abiding drivers) get the police on our side?

Thanks Pete: "hideous mini": that is just what we need today, make driving less attractive.

I heard the one about vehicles having to reverse up a steep hill (Arthog hill) because the reverse gear is the lowest. Is it true, does anyone from back then know?

I think the old cars were much better than the new ones, I remember cyclng up Bwlch Oerddrws past a Morris Minor that had overheated. The driver could do nothing but wait half an hour and find a stream to top-up the radiator. I was enjoying my tea and sausages in Dolgellau when he got there much later.

And there is now a car called "mini", the new versions are bigger and bigger, surely the name is wrong. Back then there was a super spacious car called the MAXI with front wheel-drive (pulls you out of trouble instead of pushing you into it). Or the Ro80.

No need to develop any new or "better" cars after that.

any chance of a statement from the CTC magazine editor, who did not reply to the letter?

Or is "no reply" in fact a very clear reply?

..

Can any expert comment on "coasting down to Applecross" only using the footbrake? Can one change the laws of physics?

MichVanNic wrote:

In this case the cyclists were very inconsiderate and ignorant of other road users.[/quote]


Not sure about that, it is not clear whether they even knew that vehicles were behind them. Maybe they were pleased that one driver was considerate and waited.

Did the driver gently blow his horn to warn them?

anything that slows the traffic is welcome.

The best speed for cars is zero