Road speeds......

[Pink1]

Why change a 50mph road of 3 lanes (each way) down to 30mph? Up the road there is a dual carriage way that is 40mph. Can someone pls explain, I really don't get it. Why do drivers always Get the rotten deal?

[New Judge]

What is "rotten" about this particular "deal"?

[bookbinder]

Speed limits aren't imposed without a reason. Someone must have thought that a change from 50 to 30 was necessary.

[boxtops]

Safety - there is a move to reduce speed limits on many roads at the moment. Why is it a rotten deal?

[saxy_jag]

Roads can be and are reclassified in terms of speed limit. Rate of accidents, volume of traffic and locality can all be used to determine the limit. Moreover just because a road has a limit of 50mph doesn't necessarily mean it's always safe to travel at that speed.

[Buenchico]

Here in Suffolk the council have a blanket rule that all roads the pass through villages must have a 30mph limit on them as they do so (in the interests of pedestrians). Even if a road only passes through the very edge of a village (with just a few houses) the speed limit is always 30mph. That makes sense to me (as do the 20mph limits which apply in most town centres and many housing estates - including where I live - around here).

Chris

[Pink1]

Just saying, because I think a reduction to 40mph would have sufficed.

[New Judge]

Just what difference do you think it makes, pink1?

Well l let’s work it out. If the stretch at the 30 limit was a mile long and you managed to keep to 30 for its entire length, it would take you two minutes. If the limit was increased to 40 and you kept to 40 for its entire length it would take you ninety seconds. So travelling at the lower speed would cost you an additional thirty seconds of your precious time.

Bearing in mind you do not seem to know quite why the limit was so drastically and unfairly reduced, do you really think it is worth worrying about?

[Pink1]

New judge, fair enough, jyst wanted to know what other people thought.

[vulcan]

I don't know the reason for this reduction in speed but being of a cynical nature, I'm wondering if it's similar to a situation in Northern Ireland. Coming off the M2 [70 mph] ,there is a stretch of road about a hundred yards long marked 50mph and then a further sign saying national speed limits[60mph] apply. There seems to be no reason whatsoever for this anomaly apart from catching motorists for speeding which the police do regularly, by the hundreds.

[Pink1]

Vulcan, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one.