Anyone found the roads less busy and/or motorists driving better?

[Bmblbzzz]

From a DS on Twitter:

Incredible work by Traffic officers tackling #speeding. Last week we enforced 2,020 speeding offences across #London. By comparison it was 268 in same week in 2019. An 8 fold increase!

We are there 24/7 enforcing offences. Please drive lawfully, stay safe & keep a clean licence.

So an 8 fold increase when there's about 80% less cars on the road...

Speeding is such a universal offence that an eightfold increase in offences detected must surely reflect not an increase in the proportion speeding, but an increase in efforts to detect the offence.
Speeding is still prevalent, but it is impossible to believe it has gone up eight times, even as a percentage.
We should welcome this increase in enforcement effort.

I think it's a number of factors.
-The police workload seems to be less than normal, presumably because there are fewer people out. It's almost back to the 80s in terms of police:public ratio!
-Fewer drivers means more attention on each one.
-Higher speeds more fewer blind eyes turned or drivers let off with a talking to.

[Bmblbzzz]

I may have mentioned: at Easter, my wife and I rode a mile on a rural 60mph stretch of A47 and cyclists outnumbered motorists. I would have bet against me ever seeing that

Not only in Norfolkshire. Wonderful, isn't it?

[sailorp]

We're loving the lack of traffic.
Out here in rural Herefordshire, it's delivery vans, farmers in trucks with trailers with beasts or equipment on board, the very occasional motorist and the ever present huge tractors. Cyclists we meet tend to be either couples with unfit ladies on BSOs, or MAMILs on Carlos Fandangos (don't those CF bikes make a lot of noise on lumpy roads)?
But the combination of unseasonably good weather and the lockdown has resulted in cycling bliss as far as we are concerned...low traffic and beautiful bounteous spring to watch as we glide by.

[Bmblbzzz]

Traffic definitely increasing this week, particularly at the traditional rush hours. But outside of those hours there are also still more cyclists and better driving, with most drivers going right over the other side of the road for passes. It's a shame it takes "lockdown" to get people to drive decently, but I reckon it does show most bad driving is down to pressure, both within the driver's mind and perceived from other drivers. There are few greater sins while driving than being seen to hold other drivers up.

[Cyril Haearn]

..
I reckon it does show most bad driving is down to pressure, both within the driver's mind and perceived from other drivers. There are few greater sins while driving than being seen to hold other drivers up.

What sins are greater? Speeding crime is sin
Driving crime is crime like any other, whether it is caused by pressure is not relevant
Anything that reduces speed is welcome!

Many claim that driving has got worse, others claim it has got better, surely both can not be true
Or maybe Both Are True, mortons are going faster AND leaving more room?

Going cycling very early today in the hope of avoiding driving and cycling crime

[pwa]

The roads are definitely starting to get busier now, and that seems likely to continue. I imagine some of it is people who have decided to try to return to working, with social distancing measures to control the risk. It is very likely that the Government will be giving the official thumbs up to that within the next few weeks, but some people are, I think, deciding that for them going back to work is essential. If they are not to lose their homes.

Less excusable, to me, is making trips to buy garden plants from B&Q, which I have been told is going on. I have a few bare spots in my garden that are crying out for some new plants but I have decided that is something I can live without. I don't need to risk the environment of a shop just for that.

[Bmblbzzz]

..
I reckon it does show most bad driving is down to pressure, both within the driver's mind and perceived from other drivers. There are few greater sins while driving than being seen to hold other drivers up.

What sins are greater? Speeding crime is sin
Driving crime is crime like any other, whether it is caused by pressure is not relevant
Anything that reduces speed is welcome!

Speeding is not generally a sin in the eyes of society. I'm talking of "social sin" which attracts opprobrium, this is often quite different from crime. Which driver is more likely to be hooted: The one who fails to move off when the lights turn green or the one that passes a cyclist with only 6" to spare?

Many claim that driving has got worse, others claim it has got better, surely both can not be true
Or maybe Both Are True, mortons are going faster AND leaving more room?

Going cycling very early today in the hope of avoiding driving and cycling crime

IME it's both wider and faster. Speed is going to vary a lot by place, time and perceived presence of cops. Some roads are more conducive to high speed than others, obviously.

[pwa]

Which driver is more likely to be hooted: The one who fails to move off when the lights turn green or the one that passes a cyclist with only 6" to spare?

.

I must admit, while driving yesterday (as part of my work) I did toot the driver ahead of me at the lights when he stayed motionless long after the lights had gone to green, seemingly preoccupied with something he was fiddling with on the dash. The trouble with the horn is that it does not have a gentle setting or a loud, harsh setting, so you cannot avoid the recipient feeling that you are angry rather than just wanting to remind them to look up at the lights. I don't use it much. A couple of times a year, probably.

[Oldjohnw]

Short bike ride today. Still empty roads apart from a few lorries on main roads.

Until Friday overall government stats showed road traffic flat after tumbling after 23 March. Obviously there are busier pockets and times. i wonder if next week will bring an increase as more outlets open.

[mjr]

The roads are definitely starting to get busier now, and that seems likely to continue. I imagine some of it is people who have decided to try to return to working, with social distancing measures to control the risk. It is very likely that the Government will be giving the official thumbs up to that within the next few weeks, but some people are, I think, deciding that for them going back to work is essential. If they are not to lose their homes.

If they are not to lose their jobs, more like! Most people don't have the choice. Their employer does.

Less excusable, to me, is making trips to buy garden plants from B&Q, which I have been told is going on. I have a few bare spots in my garden that are crying out for some new plants but I have decided that is something I can live without. I don't need to risk the environment of a shop just for that.

Nor me. I bought some of a neighbour's excess fruit plants. We'd not planted this year because we expected to be on tour at a key time, but that's postponed

[Oldjohnw]

Bought a packet of wildflower seeds by mail order. Seems to be working in filling the gaps.

[Vorpal]

I went a couple of weeks ago and dug up some wild blueberries (bilberries) to transplant into my garden. I took them from a site where a dam is being refurbisehd, and they had already been disturbed. Some were dug up by the construction machinery, and it was just for me to scoop them up and put them in carriers bags. Others were either en route, had soil piled on them, or were built into the edge of the temporary road. So far, they are happy in my garden. I'm hoping they will establish and spread. I'm trying create a productive semi-native environment in my back garden, with berry plants, forest ground cover, apples trees, etc. I also have vegetable and herb beds, but the rest is being planted with native food plants and left to grow wild.

[Bmblbzzz]

I miss those, the ubiquitous juicy forest understorey. And the wild raspberries.

[chris_suffolk]

From a DS on Twitter:

Incredible work by Traffic officers tackling #speeding. Last week we enforced 2,020 speeding offences across #London. By comparison it was 268 in same week in 2019. An 8 fold increase!

We are there 24/7 enforcing offences. Please drive lawfully, stay safe & keep a clean licence.

So an 8 fold increase when there's about 80% less cars on the road...

Speeding is such a universal offence that an eightfold increase in offences detected must surely reflect not an increase in the proportion speeding, but an increase in efforts to detect the offence.
Speeding is still prevalent, but it is impossible to believe it has gone up eight times, even as a percentage.
We should welcome this increase in enforcement effort.

I think it's a number of factors.
-The police workload seems to be less than normal, presumably because there are fewer people out. It's almost back to the 80s in terms of police:public ratio!
-Fewer drivers means more attention on each one.
-Higher speeds more fewer blind eyes turned or drivers let off with a talking to.

I read somewhere recently that if as few as 10% of drivers obey the speed limits, especially in an urban environment, that almost all drivers end up obeying the limit (give or take).

In the current climate, it may just be that the '10%' are staying home, and thus their slowing influence is being lost.

[Cyril Haearn]

..
I read somewhere recently that if as few as 10% of drivers obey the speed limits, especially in an urban environment, that almost all drivers end up obeying the limit (give or take).

In the current climate, it may just be that the '10%' are staying home, and thus their slowing influence is being lost.

99% can not read and ignore STOP signs