"Speeding is OK as Long as You Don't Get Caught"

[Crad]

[thenudehamster]

Having just become eligible to post here, this might get complicated...

I'm getting on a bit now, but in my younger days, as with many young men, I thought I knew everything - including all the fuzzy math that 'proved' that speeding got you there enormously quicker. Experience, mostly twenty-odd years of it as an AA man allied to many years as an advance riding instructor for the old Star Rider scheme, has taught me the fallacy of my youthful ways. Generally, speeding is for more the benefit of the speeding driver's ego than to reduce journey times or improve traffic flow. Educating motorists to drive properly would do a heck of a lot more than speeding to improve traffic speeds.

Most speed limits are there for a damned good reason - the place they're applied is simply not safe to travel at a speed much more than about 10mph faster than the posted limit; conversely there are plenty of places (many of which confuse satnav systems) which ought to be restricted. Plenty of country lanes have a national limit of 60 mph, but anyone doing anything close to half that is seriously suicidal, or homicidal, or both. Just because your vehicle and you are physically able to do twice the speed limit does not make it safe to do so.

So far, fines apart, cameras have been shown to reduce the overall speed of traffic in areas they are installed. Is this a good thing? Certainly, if the number of speed-related accidents has dropped as well; if it hasn't, then the siting of the camera needs investigation; so does the posted speed limit.
Quite honestly, as a government minister put it on Top Gear, if you get fined because you got flashed by a Gatso or one of its brethren, you are the only one at fault. They publish the locations of all the fixed, and many temporary, cameras; they mark the roads as well; they put up signs to tell you where cameras may be, and to top it all they stick a reflective yellow panel on the damned thing. If you STILL don't take any notice, what does that say about your attention to the road?

As for revising speeds in certain areas, we're into a horse of an entirely different colour discussing that. It's generally accepted (and intimated by many police officers) that the 70 mph limit on motorways is honoured more in the breach than the observance, and you're unlikely to be pulled by a police patrol for less than about 85mph. A camera will get you at about 75 or so. Whose judgement is the better here?
Urban speeds are being revised downwards more than upwards, despite some evidence that many 30mph roads ought to be raised to 40. 20mph is becoming the norm, enforced by humps, bumps and chicanes as well as cameras, in many urban areas; in many cases these aren't really justified by the road or the traffic conditions, but they do make the locals feel safer....

Near schools I agree that the limit ought to be no more than 20 during times when children will be around. In the USA it's almost universal that if the crossing patrol or school zone lights are flashing then the limit is automatically reduced to 20mph - and fines are a lot heavier than the equivalent in this country. However, I also feel that one of the major contributors to dangerous situation around schools is the hordes of 'minivan moms' as they're known in many states, who park as close as they can possibly get to the school so that their poor pampered darlings don't have to walk more than four feet to the car. Ban parking within half a mile of schools; you'll achieve a couple of objectives straight away. Motorists who have to travel along the road will have a better chance of seeing the kids in the first place; the kids themselves might actually get some of that unaccustomed exercise we're always being told they're short of these days; and lurking paedophiles will stand out like a sore thumb!

As several posters have already remarked, judicious use a good satnav over a period will show you the difference between what you think you'll gain on a journey by speeding, and what you'll actually gain - and it ain't a fraction of what you think. However, the greater accuracy of speed calculation with satnav will also allow you to travel a tad quicker - but do you really gain anything significant other than a feeling of smug satisfaction that you're doing EXACTLY 70 on the M25 when all the others are stuck with 66.5? I doubt it - and if your advanced planning is that poor that you really need those extra thirty seven seconds on your journey, then learn to set your alarm five minutes earlier instead, and relax on the journey - you'll be a safer driver for it.

OK - while not exactly 'rant over' as it wasn't really a rant, I'll fold up my soapbox for a bit and see what dust I've managed to stir up.
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Barry H... thenudehamster - don't ask; it's not worth the effort
Any opinion stated above is warranted to be worth exactly what you paid for it.

[Skippy]

[Crad]

[Coelacanth]

[cameron253]

I'm now 63 and have been driving since I was sixteen, first few years on motorcycles. Cars have improved a lot over the years, but sadly many drivers on the roads have not. Everyone appears to be in a hurry, and more aggressive with regard to fellow motorists. I do endevour to keep within speed limits, though I will admit to going up to 80mph on motorways when its safe to do so. It amazes me how many drivers fail to leave a reasonable distance between their own vehicle and the car in front, tailgating is by far the largest cause of accidents especially on motorways, in my book its imperative to always maintain what I call a safety bubble between mine and other vehicles.
It gives me more time to slow down or stop, and importantly it gives the nutter behind me time to safely stop too. However cautious one is, you will often get the idiot tailgating at excessive speed in the overtaking lane when suddenly he realises he cannot stop in time and realising he is going to hit the vehicle in front he will just swing out suddenly into the centre lane in an attempt to save is own skin often resulting in a colision with traffic in the other lanes who may have been driving properly.
I class these hiprocrits as total cowards, since they were following too close to stop in time, they should stay in their own lane and accept the inevitable smash they have caused rather than trying to avoid the smash by swerving into vehicles in the centre lane which often results in a even more serious accident.
Leaving a safe distance between your car and the vehicle in front is a priority, also annoying is the drivers who start looking for traffic coming round a island even when there is still a vehicle in front of them.
I never take my eyes off the car in front until I'm 100% sure he has driven off, I dont know why drivers do this, because they cant go anywhere. The number of accident caused by this stupid failing due to the driver in front starting to move off and then stops is very common, and a lot of drivers do it! Stupid.
In conclusion, we never stop learning, no one is perfect, but we can all endevour to try.

[Pocketgps]

I totally agree with you cameron253

[Tom59]

[shadamehr]

Fairly simple and quick and dirty answer...

Some school areas STILL have a 30 limit. WRONG - even then driving inside the spped limit is TOO FAST for such areas at school times.

However, M74 past Elvanfoot and Lockerbie for just one such example... Speed limit, 70mph....

I drive a car with ABS, EFD, six air bags, Speed Variable PAS and god knows what other safety features on my car that weren't even DREAMED OF, when the National Speed Limit was set...

As a result I strongly believe that on SOME occasions, the current Speed Limits for roads DO NOT reflect the ability, safety, and stopping power of modern cars.

Now, that is offset with roads that are far BUSIER than when limits were set too, to be fair...

But on a Bank Holiday, evening time, driving down the M74, and all it's lovely, curving, rolling three and four lane glory, where I often can't see another car in front or behind me, are you REALLY telling me that 70 mph is the maximum SAFE speed for a car of my type and features.

Don't bother answering that specific question, as you'll NEVER convince me that when the roads like this are EMPTY, 70mph is the safe max speed.

No way.

So, getting back to the original albeit too generic, post title, "Speeding CAN be ok, as long as you don't get caught", IN CERTAIN specific cases...

As in certain specific cases, Current Speed Limits DO NOT reflect the safe Maximum Speed on roads.

Rest assured, the converse to this is that in some places, as I have already said, the limit is TOO HIGH.

Hope that gives a balanced and sensible answer to the debate.

[M8TJT]

No comments on speeding, BUT

[john877]

Road and weather conditions should dictate what is a safe speed to do .
As an example 70 mph on a motorway in fog would be unacceptable but 80 mph on a dry day would be no problem

[richard345]

Well, I guess like the majority here, I will exceed the limit when I feel it safe to do so. 80mph on an uncongested motorway is fine, but in heavy rain, with HGV's in the two left lanes 'limited' to 56mph releasing masses of spray around them is not the place to be doing that sort of speed.

There are several schools on or very close to the main raod though our village and most people do slow down during the School's In, School's Out periods, but do 30 and more at night. Call it selfish if you like, but I drive that particular road at 30 or under at all time - hell, it's my village and I don't want any of the residents to be hurt by a car. What really hacks me off is those idiots who feel that it is thir god-given right to go at high speed along that road. It's funny, an Astra can be very wide sometimes.

I've had my License for 42 years and never had a stop for speeding, although I got pulled by a Traffic Car for doing 20 for a couple of miles near home. He wasn't best pleased when I advised him that the section of road I was on had been made a 20mph area 12 hours eralier. He didn't beleive me until I told him that the sign for it in the Westbound direction was obscured buy trees. I thought I had best not ask him why he hadn't seen the big white 20 in the bigger white circle that he must have driven over.

Most vehicle on the roads now have much better handling and braking systems and if the driver is concentrating, then there should be a reduced chance of any accidents, but as we all know 'Accidents Will Happen'. It's down to all road users, drivers, riders and those on foot to be aware of the conditions and thier surroundings at all time.
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Ric - TomTom 520 DEAD - Passed to the great traffic jam in the sky. Now using Maps & Waze on Samsung Galaxy S4 + CamerAlert of course!

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