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You mean the 5 year old chasing after the ball?
Speed Limit Reduction in Wales from next week
- Thread starter Big Andy
- Start date
You mean the 5 year old chasing after the ball?
He mentioned it’s fine through streets with housing. Some open 30 roads a five year old should be nowhere near with a ball anyway
You shouldn't really be using cruise control on urban and suburban roads. Not what it's designed for.
Can’t see any problem with it. It’s pretty smart these days.
Why would a 5 year old be chasing a ball in a non built up area? Did you just ignore the part before that?
I’d say it would make you too relaxed with your feet nowhere near the brake pedal incase of emergency unless you sit there with your foot hovering the brake.
It's a very euro-centric view, which is fair enough since this thread is based around Wales, but the vast majority of countries outside of Europe, big and small, it's not very feasible to live without a car. Having moved from one such country to England I can safely say that about my old home, and also say that even living in London there are a fair few circumstances by which not having a car makes things extremely difficult and not really feasible. I don't think it's as simple as pollution = car = bad.
The only place to rest my right foot is a wee ledge immediately adjacent to the accelerator.
That’s all fair but the onus is still on everyone - as nations and as individuals - to reduce their dependence on cars. Or we’re all screwed. We’re probably screwed anyway but it’s still the right thing to do.
I would more than happily drive an electric vehicle but the blunt fact is I can't afford to buy one. I suspect many people might be in the same boat.
Fair, I’m not clued up on newer cars tbh, I hate using cruise control even on motorways unless it’s dead empty
That’s absolutely fine. Buying a new EV is arguably less good for the planet than sticking with your current car as long as possible anyway. You should still try to use your car as little - and as efficiently- as possible. Efficiency is another reason why reducing the speed limit makes sense. People burning way more fuel than they need to shave 15 minutes off a two hour journey.
Or charge one. Wales is full of terraced streets row after row, will be carnage with all those cables running from the house across the pavements to the car
Problem is I am currently a self employed delivery driver
I dunno, running out from a field they were playing in, or from outside their parents' office, being a little twat playing in the wrong place. Kids are dumb, but 10 miles an hour slower, what 5 mins extra on your journey, is 5 times less likely to be fatal.
That's what speed limits are for, to stop deaths.
This is being brought in to raise money. It is dressed up with other reasons. Saving lives is valid of course it is but they are doing this to feather the finances. There is just no need for such wide ranging measures excluding outside schools and built up areas. It should have been more targeted and will be very interesting to see how the traditional Welsh Labour voters react.
Ah. Fair enough. You get a pass so!Problem is I am currently a self employed delivery driver
How much money is even one kids life worth?
You want to ban cars and vans entirely? Keep all children inside 24/7? Concentrate on the people who drive like idiots not the ones who drive safely.
I see idiot drivers every day - they are what should be targeted.
How? There's no police.
On roads with tight corners and stop start traffic they don't anticipate things or see obstacles as well as a human. Even the newest systems. Its quite dangerous to use it on the wrong roads.
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I certainly wouldn’t use it going around tight corners. That would be stupid. Pootling along straight roads at 50kph it feels very safe. I’ve been using it for years and it’s never not locked on to the vehicle in front and kept a safe distance.
My cruise control system utilizes sonar for vehicle and obstacle identification and it works great.
As a feature it's not something meant to be used at slower speeds, though. So use in stop start traffic is out of the question.
Also, it doesn't do the driving for you only the throttle/braking component so bends, corners, etc aren't really a consideration.
As a feature it's not something meant to be used at slower speeds, though. So use in stop start traffic is out of the question.
Also, it doesn't do the driving for you only the throttle/braking component so bends, corners, etc aren't really a consideration.
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Then that's not really the built up areas this new limit is targeting then.
You also mentioned efficiency is a reason for lowering the speed. A car doing 20mph is more inefficient than one doing 30mph. Most cars are geared to be most efficient at about 50mph.
Imperial college reckon a 20mph limit is more fuel efficient than 30mph, as you spend a lower proportion of the journey accelerating. As well as saving lives when cars hit pedestrians 20mph results in lower emissions, also saving lives.
https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m453/rr-0
https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m453/rr-0
5 times less fatal for something that's very rare to begin with, particularly outside of residential areas. A kid could fall off a train platform but they don't put barriers up everywhere. The real problem is bad drivers and it'll only go a small way to alleviating that.
Virtually every other source there is disagrees with that. Cars have long been geared to be most efficient somewhere around 50mph.
https://afdc.energy.gov/data/mobile/10312
This surely is only useful for perfect scenarios where do you don't have to stop, brake and accelerate constantly?
Correct.
Think about most journeys and unless you're in traffic you don't have to do that all that often.
Maybe in London, which makes sense for an Imperial study.
Has anyone living in London, i.e. Ulez, noticed air being cleaner than other places? I live in zone 3 and work in zone 1 and hadn't really noticed the air quality until I went to beaches this summer and Birmingham for a wedding. I was positively choking in Birmingham (leave it Rim) and that was in their selective low emission areas. That's when the difference hit me.
Maybe it's just anecdotal but I think Ulez is working, quietly but massively.
Maybe it's just anecdotal but I think Ulez is working, quietly but massively.
Definitely anecdotal. London currently has worse air quality than Birmingham in virtually all metrics:
https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/latest/currentlevels?period=24
Why so? I do it constantly, and I live in a city... Only time I really work the pedals anymore is on B roads.
Most journeys for most people involve constant stopping and starting, with or without traffic. Because most people live in cities full of traffic lights. Not to mention that the 30mph vs 20mph speed limit decision is really only relevant for driving in built up areas anyway.
Lots of reasons.
Probably the biggest is that collision avoidance systems struggle to spot hazards amongst lots of cars, tress, people etc. The silhouettes get cluttered.
It can't read road conditions. It doesnt know grip levels, if it's set for 30mph it's doing that speed regardless of road surface, weather or how tight the upcoming corner is.
It's been shown to cause the driver to lose focus on surroundings and it takes milliseconds more to react and brake for a hazard, which is critical time in built up environments.
Yeah but the brake pedal still works fine while using cruise control. If I think I might need to intervene I just have my foot above that, so don't even have to move it over from the accelerator pedal, if anything I'll intervene faster. Anyone not paying attention because of the method they used to accelerate the car shouldn't use it, I guess.
In well planned cities traffic lights should allow for continuous progress. In London its one thing but in your average Welsh town or village there really aren't that many to navigate anyway. Besides, if you're doing it all on cruise control, you're not stopping for the traffic lights anyway
Well I do use pedals for those and to accelerate from a stand still. For reversing too. Maybe my original statement was too all encompassing. (and my eyes are tired, I thought you had quoted me, I probably shouldn't drive anymore todayIn well planned cities traffic lights should allow for continuous progress. In London its one thing but in your average Welsh town or village there really aren't that many to navigate anyway. Besides, if you're doing it all on cruise control, you're not stopping for the traffic lights anyway
)If you're overriding it all the time to accelerate and brake yourself, hovering over the brake pedal etc, isn't it easier to just drive the car?Well I do use pedals for those and to accelerate from a stand still. For reversing too. Maybe my original statement was too all encompassing. (and my eyes are tired, I thought you had quoted me, I probably shouldn't drive anymore today
No because I basically never have to override it. I set it to 60 and let the person in front of me deal with speed restrictions etc. I get no joy out of accelerating from 5-10 back to 30 and slow back down to 15 before going back to 25(speeds may vary but you get the point)... and then when I'm on more restricted roads (i.e no pedestrians/cyclists) I just rest my foot in front of the brake. If the roads are empty and I can go faster than the speed limit I probably won't use it but those occasions have grown rare.