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

Like anyone can get up any speed along Hove seafront. As if! Or are you talking about 2 in the morning?

Hove seafront - 3 miles long, dead straight, officially only one or two lane wide for most of its length, but in practice you can get two or three cars wide with a bit of pushing. Official speed limit 30mph, unofficial speed limit 45mph.

So yes, you can tank it along through Hove quite easily

Sarcasm, dear. I was talking about the traffic. I'd noticed it tends to be a tad on the heavy side. But then I was thinking the town end, and I'm guessing your talking about that Shoreham end.

You're my kind driver.

I agree entirely with your honest comments

a comment about radar.

in france, locations of all radar installations, both permanent and mobile, are the subject a press report by local authorities, and are published in the newpaper weekly. the idea is that the average motorist won't really read and remember the whole list and adapt his driving only in that area; just hopefully come away with the idea, "my there's a lot of them, i'd better not speed"...

In France? Must be an effective system

i have, or had, exactly the same idea about it as you, so i must say i am perplexed at how much better the speed limits seem to be respected in the past 6 months!

Right well a long time since that thread died and in the meantime I have passed my test and purchased a motor vehicle so I thought I ought to revive it.

I must confess I do now sympithise with the position of the motorist a little bit more, I can see how frustrating the speed limits can be.....

But....

I still think if you cannot do the time dont do the crime, I choose on certain stretches of road to go a bit faster than the speed limit, however I know that I might get caught and if I do hard lines to me. I know I shouldn't do it.

Do you still agree with this?

"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."

Personally I've never met anyone who can say 'exactly' what speed they are doing without looking because so many things change our perception of the speed we are going.

It's strange how the minute people get behind a wheel they suddenly think that this particular law is ok to break if they feel like it. Sad to see that someone who felt so strongly that it's not ok to speed less than two years ago has succomed to the same thing.

Yeah bad isnt it....

Well to tellthe truth notmally I can tell to within about 5 mph or so the speed I am travelling at. Rarely do I look at the speedometer and think "Blimey that fast".

Still wouldn't go as far as to say that I think it is ok to speed, I dont I recognise the reasons why the laws are in place still and I do agree with both the laws and crucially the importance of enforcing them.

However I would be a total liar if I did not admit that driving myself had changed my perspective a bit.

The essential crux of my argument was that people caught speeding had no right to complain on the grounds of "If you cant do the time, dont do the crime" I sill stand by this statement.

That's a fair point.

You're still a new driver though, things will change.

I can't always tell what speed I'm doing as I drive so many different cars on so many different roads. Sometimes 30 seems far too fast (going past schools) and it feels like I'm going faster, and someone it seems as if I'm doing 15 mph (after coming out of a 60 limit).

Yeah that is true, I will have to wait for both the novelty to wear off and to get used to driving being an ordinary and everyday part of my life before I can talk authoritativly about my opinions on the subject.

But given how strongly I had expressed my opinions earlier in the tthread I thought it only fair to admit to my slight change

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/4439441.stm

So this is back in the news, I thought it about time I revived this thread.

So, the Wiltshire Chief Constable's sherry fund is running a bit low then, and needs a top up

I don't get it. Motorways are the safest roads that we've got. A lot of people, probably the majority, drive at more than 70mph when the opportunity is available to them. I'm thinking here clear roads outside of peak hours, and dry weather etc.

Now what is going to happen is that you'll have folk in Wiltshirekeeping one eye out for cameras at the side of the road, and will not be concentrating on their driving. Accidents, here we come

I have noticed (now that I have done a bit of motorway driving) that speed cameras have an alarming effect, when you are travelling at 70ish if someone in front of you sees a camera and slams on the breaks then they come at you pretty fast.

This doesn't seem to me to be quite so much of an issue as it is on the places around town where there are speed cameras.

I don't know if you've driven the western section of the M25 recently. Between the M3 and M4 junctions they are widening the road from four to five lanes. All the way through the roadworks there are loads of speed cameras armed for 40mph top speed.

Well I can tell you, driving through it at night when there is you and maybe 3 other vehicles in your sight is a weird experience - 60mph until you see the white lines in the road, and then slam on the brakes. It can't be good you know.

As for the Wiltshire cameras: I think that I can confidently predict that one or three of them will be making an appearance on this page here pretty soon - http://www.speedcam.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index2.htm

Hmmm....

"Motorways are the safest roads that we've got."

Oh I have to disagree with that! Accidents are so much worse when they happen at high speed. Although I'd argue that it would improve road safety more if they'd put those arrow things on the road to encourage people to keep a safe breaking distance away. That's probably the cause of more accidents, no matter what the speed.

Generally, I agree with speed cameras though. Gets all the tossers off the roads quicker.

When I started this thread I had never had a car. Now I have been driving for 6 months and it interests me to look at my opinions now.

In the main I still stand by everything I said, particularly the "If you cant do the time..." sentiment.

However I do now understand what some people have said about in-appropriote speed limits. Frankly in some places where I drive (namely the in town dual carriageway just down the road from my house) there is no need to have an enforced 40mph limit. Similarly I understand what people have to say about driving on the motorway at night say.

However I still dont think anyone can moan about being caught speeding. Nor can people really moan about the limits being enforced. Sure moan about the limits if you think they are unfair but if you know what the limit is you only have yourself to blame if you get caught.