Re: Laws I wish were enforced
 

"Round here" meaning "almost anywhere in the 50 states plus DC". :D

Re: Laws I wish were enforced
 

Weren't far off it :lol:

Re: Laws I wish were enforced
 

You really think in this day and age that a 50mph speed limit is high on a motorway?

What about when they lower it to 40mph for a road works project that doesn't begin for another 6 months?

Wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that they can now double the speeding ticket at all.

Re: Laws I wish were enforced
 

That's been my experience also. Perhaps because there isn't anyone to enforce a law when the violation is not within sight of a police officer.

Regards, JEff

Re: Laws I wish were enforced
 

I wasn't really offering an opinion. I was informing you of what traffic engineers already know about speed limits, namely that safe speeds on highways are governed primarily by the design speed of the highway and the flow of traffic. This is what is known as the 85th percentile speed.

http://www.maine.gov/mdot/csd/mlrc/t...ightyfifth.htm

When we allow emotions and gut feelings to inform our positions, then we end up such nonsense as creationism in public schools, climate change "skeptics" and speed limits that are set by know-nothing politicians who can't be bothered with the use of sound engineering principles. Putting numbers on a sign doesn't change behavior, and in any case, safe speeds are more relative than absolute.

Re: Laws I wish were enforced
 

I am heading down to Denver this afternoon.

I will pull onto a US Highway 2 lanes blind crests lots of memorials to previous accidents. 65mph

As I approach Denver then there is new 4 lane highway think Motorway through the Lake District without the traffic. 50 mph.

Re: Laws I wish were enforced
 

Traffic laws in the state I live in (MA) are a joke. EVERYONE has a cell phone to their ear (which is entirely legal), or they're texting (which is illegal).

However, not that any of that matters as the local STATE police are too busy hiding to catch speeding motorists to bother about careless driving offences. It's literally open season to do whatever you want in your car UNLESS you speed.

A joke. Totally and utterly.

Re: Laws I wish were enforced
 

It's too simplistic to say driving faster = more deaths. If that were the case, Germany would have a higher rate of fatalities per 100,000 population per year than USA (4.5 vs. 12.3) or a higher rate of fatalities per billion vehicle km per year (7.2 vs. 8.5) - figures from a WHO report for 2010. I picked Germany because of the autobahns and what I believe is a reasonable level of social ambivalence/acceptance of drink driving.

Incidentally the UK was 3.59 & 5.7 respectively.

If speed is reduced then the total amount of energy available to injure & kill is obviously reduced. I'm sure I saw something a while back in the UK that concluded the majority of road fatalities were on 30 mph roads (though people may have been speeding on them). The limit isn't the issue, the attitude is. Speed limits on motorways that seem arbitrarily low don't help - people do think they know better, they have a history of not hurting themselves and therefore decide they can drive faster. People have the ability to decide for that moment they know better. And every time they don't crash, that reinforces the belief. I don't think the general setting of speed limits helps any with this.

Personally, especially in the USA, I think it is way too easy to get a driving license (maybe with the exception of California, based on some of the threads on that). I guess with the general lack of any other transport options, it has to be that easy though.

Re: Laws I wish were enforced
 

A couple of months ago, the crossing guard at my daughters school was knocked over (not too serious), and a woman was killed on a crossing, around a quarter of a mile away from the school. The following week, rather than have police cars in the area, (which commonly has accidents) every single time I left my house they were set up outside an empty office building, on the only road in town with a 25mph speed limit:frown:

It's about money, not safety, around here.

Re: Laws I wish were enforced
 

Energy is function of the square of the velocity.

I always thought it odd we called them "speed limits" as if we shouldn't be going faster yet seem to treat them more as "speed minimums" and get upset if someone isn't going the limit.

Re: Laws I wish were enforced
 

Speed Limits are only part the equation, Road Design, Road Conditions, and Motoring Habits are also large part of the problem. How many people here move back to right lane after overtaking, signal before maneuvering, leave a decent space between vehicles for the speed they are traveling, and have their full attention on driving. I have to admit my own driving habits have got worse since moving to the USA. However I would also have to say that some of the worst driving habits I have seen are police officers who looking at monitor screens, driving over the limit, failing to indicate, and talking on cell phones while driving. Surely we expect the people enforcing the Laws to set the example.

So I would like a law that encourages the law enforcers to follow their own laws.

Re: Laws I wish were enforced
 

The idea of the Maine DOT setting the speed limit on I-295 at the 85th centile of free flowing traffic is a little terrifying to those of us who drive on it every day, especially in winter. Mainers are not exactly known for slowing down for snow :-)