No Excuse for Speeding
A campaign by the government of the Netherlands (Ministry of infrastructure and the environment) aimed at motorists who are speeding in the built up areas in the towns and cities of the country. The message: there is no excuse for driving faster than the limits of 30 and 50kph (18 and 31 mph) in residential streets and through roads respectively. It is made very clear who is responsible for the safety of vulnerable road users: drivers and no one else. What ever your excuse is, it is always insignificant when other people suffer the consequences, especially children and the elderly.
More info: http://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/i-was-only-speeding-slightly/
Source of the videos and more info:http://www.nederlandveilig.nl/houjeaandesnelheidslimiet/
Imagine how much more pleasant bicycling would be if all in-town speed limits were 18mph – 30mph.
I got this really important call from my boss. He told me I’m going to be considered for promotion if I just get that Snotgrass account. So I was a little bit speeding and not paying attention. But you’ll find another husband soon, I’m sure of that. And I’ve replaced the bicycle already. Take care now.
I probably speed when biking in the local park (14.5 mph limit on a downhill).
Education rather than enforcement.
I would be satisfied with 25 MPH, but the police around here won’t issue a ticket unless it is exceeding 38 in a 25.
The Netherlands has extensive speed cameras that generate tickets at anything above the limit. I know.. I got one for 2 km/h over the limit in a little town out in the country. They were happy to mail the citation to me back in the states after my trip was over. 🙂
While traveling just the other day and observing speed limit signs, I pondered the fact that drivers treat them as minimum speed indicators. “You can’t take that on the road, can you? You aren’t able to do the speed limit, are you?”
It’s not going to happen in the USA, but those speed limit signs should mean that if you are 2 mph or faster below the posted figure, you’ll get stopped, cited and fined!
Did you mean “2 mph…above” rather than “below”?
I’ve heard that the tribal police on one of the Passamaquoddy reservations here in Maine will do just that. Even 1 mph over the speed limit on the road that goes through the rez will get you a ticket.
Sounds like a good policy to me.
No, I meant two mph below the posted speed limit. I’ve had it explained by no one in particular that the cops allow for a buffer for those who might have speedometers in error. Why make it a buffer on the high side? Make it a buffer on the low side. If you cannot be certain that your speedometer is accurate, you should be traveling more slowly than the posted limit. Slower traffic on a general basis means fewer crashes, more time to respond to situations and events. Faster traffic means more crashes.
The speed limit signs should read:
If you travel
40
MPH
you will be cited.
The “or greater” is implied.
Ahh, I get what you mean now.
not only is there no excuse, but there’s no benefit either. Tuesday on my way home I observed the driver of a red Yaris blast down a 25 MPH street doing at least 40 then take a right turn at a ridiculously unsafe speed, which caused him to nearly hit a walker on the side street. the same car passed me again over a mile down the road, and again again miles after that. i had to laugh the fourth time i saw this car pass as i emerged from the Greenway. that means i passed this driver up 3 times, despite his speeding and aggressive driving! the truth is that even in the car i can only average about 20 MPH in traffic, so why rush just wait longer at the next light? i wish i could understand people’s backward thinking sometimes.
I think it’s lack of thinking. Speeding from red light to red light is mindless and impulsive. There’s no thought behind it.
Similar to passing a cyclist 50ft from a stop sign and ending up stopped in the oncoming lane. They probably couldn’t tell you why they did it because there wasn’t a conscious “why.” They are on auto-pilot, dealing with one input at a time: cyclist = pass; stop sign = stop, without context or forethought about what might be encountered next. Green light = mash accelerator; red light = hit brakes.
While motoring today I figured out why I support automated red light enforcement but not similar enforcement of speed limits. A traffic light is in a driver’s main field of vision. Hence someone who runs a red is likely either not paying attention to the road or deliberately ignoring the light. (Or the light is mistimed, e.g. the yellow is too short for the speed limit, in which case that needs to be fixed.) But to check the speed you’re going, you need to look down and away from the road. This makes it very easy to exceed the limit when carrying out a maneuver that requires you to keep looking ahead, especially where the maximum safe speed is higher than the posted limit.
That’s why design speed is so important. Arbitrary speed limits don’t work when the road is designed to promote higher speeds. A prime example of that is the Ivanhoe interchange. The 25mph speed limit is completely ignored by most motorists because 40mph feels more natural. When I drive through there in my car at 25, other motorists tailgate aggressively or pass me on the right in the gore area.
Yeah, I agree that speeding is ridiculous, especially when motorists do it all the time and then complain about cyclists running stop signs and red lights, while also regularly running those and maiming/killing people.
I really don’t get the “you’re not going fast enough to be in traffic” argument. 5-10 minutes to get to numerous grocery stores, restaurants, shops, laundromat, bank, etc, and a half hour commute to work isn’t fast enough? That’s faster than most car-dependent individuals who have to drive out of their cul-de-sac maze onto a traffic clogged arterial road. Maybe they live too far from where they need to go, but I know I’m going fast enough and have no problem letting them know that.
Daytona’s city commissioners should have ruled by now on pedicab operation in this area. Stupid statements in the paper, such as that the cabs will not be permitted to operate on US92, International Speedway Blvd, because traffic is heavy and speeds are high. I’m waiting for the first lawsuit to appear, as the city cannot prevent cyclists from operating on that roadway. I don’t know if they can prevent a pedicyclist from carrying a fare on that road, but as a legal bicycle, they can’t stop the travel.
Our society is far too auto-centric.
That’s pretty ridiculous, especially on a strip with bars, restaurants, and other destinations. I don’t know what is in the water up here, but the Upper Midwest is quite bike-friendly, although auto-centric it’s much less so than what I experienced growing up in Columbus,OH and even there you have pedicabs on the main strip even on stretches where there is only one travel lane due to parking.