h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This is something of a rant, but I am fed up with motorists whining about speed cameras all of the time.

I submit the following pieces of evidence to support my claim

i) Speeding is dangerous, accidents are more likely to occur and more likely to be fatal.
ii) Speeding is illegal, AGAINST the law. When motorists whine about it they always seem to talk about speeding as if it is a perfectly normal and legitimate activity; it is not it is against the law in order to save lives.
iii) It is not necessary to speed. A good driver should be able to tell roughly at what speed they are traveling at, if not then they have a speedomiter on the car to check with.

It always annoys me when they say "The police are just persecuting motorists" it makes me laugh, I mean imagine Heroin dealers moaning about being persecuted.

So my message is this, if you dont want to get a speeding ticket, don't speed, simple as that.

IF YOU CANT DO THE TIME, DONT DO THE CRIME

Someone told me about a test done in Germany. Two cars, one obeying the speed limit and one doing a certain number of Ks above the limit and they reached their destination within 5 or 10 minutes of each other.

I agree with your post by the way and would like to submit Rotorua, NZ as home of the worst offenders of bad driving.

I must confess I am surprised that anybody actually agrees with me, I thought I was the only person in the world who thought this!

The whole deal with the two cars, leaving at the same time, but one faster than the other, and both arriving at aprox the same time, is cause with speeding motorists, they are only* going fast for a bit of the way, till they hit a 'bottle neck' when they are forced to slow, as they sit there, the slower, non speeding car catches them up, etc... Its quite interesting* the whole mathmatics of car flow movement through traffic systems

I know the feeling.

Maybe it's because I'm a pedistrian/cyclist

Exactly the point 2legs. It's dangerous and really doesn't actually get you there faster.

I'm normally pedestrian, or in back of a cab, used to be cyclist... Being hit by an articulated lorry, can, as I found out, somewhat skew your viewpoint on murderous metal verchiles, sorry, mean cars

ouch! I've been scared by them but not hit. That vacume they produce when going by you really quickly on a bridge is a little nerve wracking.

Never actually been hit myself, but come so close as to have had my entire life flash before my eyes (god it was boring )

The thing is people in cars seem to change their whole personality when driving. I find it quite scary

As a professional driver myself (LGV), i agree with the point about speeding, don't complain about being caught, just don't do it. However the new breed of smart camera's that are being launched at the moment are about to make the lorry the ally of the anti-speeding lobby.

LGV's are limited to 40mph on single carriageway roads, although the speed limit may be 50 or 60 for cars.The new style camera can distinguish between a car travelling legally at say 50mph, and a lorry doing the same speed illegally. As my livlihood depends on me having my licence, i will be taking no chances with it by doing anymore than 40mph on this type of road from now on.

All well and good you may think, but the reaction of a car driver stuck behind a lorry doing 40mph for thirty miles or more is going to be interesting to say the least. Having seen some of the rash attempts to overtake in the past , i have a feeling the added frustration is liable to make the roads less safe.

Oddly enough i think it will be safer to increase LGV speeds on these roads to 50mph.

what is LVG and "single carriageway roads"?

I saw a programme some time ago where they showed that you can cause a major traffic jam on a motorway simply by reducing your speed from 70mph to 50mph for just a few seconds. The knock-on effect makes a traffic jam some distance behind you.
There is a science to traffic jams for sure. They proved that if you're stuck in motorway traffic jams you wont reach the end of the jam any quicker by moving from lane to lane. They recommend you stay put.
One point though - surely it's daft to think that one car going faster than another won't reach a destination first? You'd need to do the experiment many times to be sure. TV shows often base their 'proof' on one or two experiments.
I agree with the point made in the thread. If you don't speed you don't have a problem.Simple really.

"One point though - surely it's daft to think that one car going faster than another won't reach a destination first?"

I've seen it many times myself from the passenger seat. You always seem to meet the twit in traffic that speed past you before either of you have got where you're going.

"TV shows often base their 'proof' on one or two experiments." - it wasn't from a TV show and if the person that relayed it to me weren't thousands of Ks away, I'd ask him for more detail.

Speaking as a motorist, can I just say that I agree 100% on the speeding issue? Why do people complain about being done for speeding ('you could be out catching muggers' blah, blah, blah). Speeding is illegal - therefore if you speed, *you are committing a crime*, and the police are obliged to stop you! Would you consider it trivial if you'd hit someone?

I've never been done for speeding. I work damned hard at making sure I stay legal (though there are times when I find I've slipped from 30 to 34 or so and ease off the gas a bit to drop back). It's not that difficult!

The number of times people have overtaken me dangerously, or even passed on the inside using a turning lane to get past me so they can go blasting up a road that's lined with cars on both sides so you can't see if there's a small child/dog/cat/budgie/ferret about to come running out into the road - plus all the side roads that are concealed by the parked cars.

Morons.

P.S. I also make room for cyclists. I know you guys have as much right to be on the road as I do. Just thought I'd say that.

Yeah right...

Sorry, but I can believe the story from the professional driver, because he has to rely on his license..

But the rest of us motorists?

Of course we have never exceeded the speed limit when asked. Of course we make room for cyclists and motor bikes. Of course we take care of predestrians...

Oh, I just saw a pig flying past me window...



I cannot believe that any motorist wasn´t once going to fast, fully knowing it is illegal. Or even driving after one pint too many...

And of course we all would never complain about being caught...

Chili

I love driving and really appreciate a well built road with cambers at the right angles and just enough twists and turns to keep you on your toes. As I have got older, I do tend to keep to the limit, but do find it very hard not to sneak up to 90 odd on the motorways.

Testing my skills down single track country roads is fun too, well under the 60 pmh limit as it would be impossible to stay on the road at all.

I make room for pedestrians, cyclists and horses as you never quite what you are going to meet down the back roads of the Surrey hills. Usually it is 4x4 going way too fast, who forces me up on to the bank rather than stopping at a passing place.

An LGV is a Light Goods Vehicle and I can't see white vanman in this part of the world sticking to 40 mph, they do more in a 30 mph limit.

I speed...but I'm also absessive about obeying speed limits

Basically I drive over 70miles a day, 50 of that is on motorways when I do drive at over 70mph (but never more than 90mph). Admittedly the traffic is usually too heavy to drive over 60mph but on an emptier road I am willing to speed...I'm also willing to pay the fines and get the points that being caught speeding on the motorway would entail and if there were sped cameras fitted on the motorway I would slow down - I only drive faster because it feels safe, I rarely drive at 60mph on a single carraigeway...they're roads built for horses not cars.

The 20miles I drive on roads that aren't motorways I'm incredibly anal about driving at or below the speed limit (when I come off the mototrway because I know my speed perception is off I play collect the traffic jam). The council in my area has recently put up a whole bundle of new speed cameras - and I'm delighted...I find it hard to reconcile the people who complain about people speeding down their road only to speed down other peoples, there is a very nimby attitute to this that annoys me no end. I drive for 10 miles through the new forest where there is a 40mph limit because it is common ground and there may be horses, cows or deer around the next bend...this seems to annoy the locals in their expensive cars who seem to forget that it could be their child around the corner waiting for the school bus

My other half got done for speeding last month, the safety camera crew were out with their speaker (black mobile camera that looks like a big speaker) on the dual carraigeway near us that has a 40mph limit - he was driving at 56 and got caught - and quite right too...he's slowed down considerably since

Just one slight correction, an LGV is a Large goods vehicle, in my case an articulated lorry. The old HGV or Heavy goods vehicle designation doesn't exist any more,........ good old Europe

I did see one particularly good idea put forward in a local newsletter once, which suggested people stick to the speed limit in their OWN town or village. The knock on effect of this of course is to slow everybody to the limit.

Of course this will not stop the impatient lunatic 4 cars back attempting to overtake everyone, and in my opinion reckless overtaking plays a far greater part in accidents than speed.

I agree with Ferrettbadger. I've ranted on about this a few times to friends

Though I probably would go over the limit on a clear motorway, there's only me I'm going to hurt if I hit the barrier.


A single carraigeway is a road with only one lane going in either direction - much like the american '2 lane highway' I think.

See, 'carraigeway' - built for horse and carraige!

(Double carraigeways are obviously only for speedy horses )

I think that motorists complaints run to the following:
Police have limited resources and in the past have never deployed enough to seriously worry motorists in relation to speeding. Now, with relatively cheap technology catching speeding motorists has become cost efficient as the fines are paying for the cameras. This sudden change has caught them on the hop and like lifelong alcoholics they are trying to justify themselves.