Speed limit of 20 mph in central London.

Bernhard

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Apr 20, 2011
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From 00.01 GMT all roads in the congestion charging zone are subject to a 20 mph speed limit.
 
It’s madness...

If the roads are empty, it’s perfectly safe, and efficient, to do 30mph.

If the roads are congested, it’s not possible to do 20mph.

The only reasons for a 20mph limit are:

1. grab some ‘fake news’ ‘green’ or ‘safety’ headlines

2. generate fine revenue.

It has NOTHING to do with actually improving air quality or safety.
 
It remains to be seen if the air quality improves, the satellite images from China's main city show improvement durning before and after the concornivirus shutdown , others will undoubtedly get better for a short while but this has nothing to do with speed limits.
 
Oh Bernhard... you got me started now...

I heard someone in a recent conversation citing the ‘revelation’ that China’s pollution had eased... and how we could learn from that...

I nearly fell over. Let’s just work through the logic... take several million cars off the road and shut down industry that’s bigger than that of the entire U.K. industry and... pollution reduces...!

I can see neither how this is a revelation nor what we can learn from it. I’d call it stating the bleedin’ obvious!

We’ve got similar bad science / fake news BS here in Oxford currently... they’ve closed one of the main roads into the city centre to... get this... see if the reduction in cars reduces pollution in the area... OF COURSE IT BLOODY WILL !!!

Still, I’m sure someone will get a phd out of it...

It’s not easy living in Oxford when you’re not a left wing-liberal-environmentalist-vegan-Gaurdian reading-lesbian...
 
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This pollution comes from development, the same development that took the average lifespan of the farm worker of 35 years to today's current 70 odd years. When you take the 'modelled' premature deaths for the UK ie the months or weeks that people with respiratory diseases die early from pollution but then spread than over the full population it equates to a day or so or reduced lifespan.

The only way to get rid of all pollution is to go back to an agrarian economy, so do you want a 35 year lifespan or do you want to live into your 70's and maybe die a day early.

Baby and bath water thinking.
 
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Will the "Powers-That-Be" make any money from speeding fines?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a camera need to take a picture of just the miscreant without any other vehicle in the picture?
Or how can they be sure legally which vehicle is speeding ?
Pretty unlikely to get a picture of a single speeding vehicle in central London?
As Fast Eddie says; "madness"
 
Staytite said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a camera need to take a picture of just the miscreant without any other vehicle in the picture?
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As long as the target hairs are on the vehicle then it counts, but plod does not like enforcing 20 mph limits so very unlikely they will be there with the hand held guns. Fixed camera's will be there but calibration to 20 mph may not be available.
 
It will surely gridlock... and patches of clear road traversed by diesel powered vehicles in too higher gear emitting particulates .. so no gain and probably much pain.. drivers will pay even less attention to what they are doing increased accidents and casualties.. And ironically stop start movements which will result in higher pollution...
 
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Fast Eddie said:
I believe that’s the primary reason plod isn’t keen on enforcing 20mph limits...
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Agree but In London Plod never used to bother with speeding much ..they were too busy and could see the place would grind to a halt if every one drove at 30 or40...Find it hard to believe they could get excited over enforcing a 20mph limit, but then there are people with a fetish for rules everywhere
 
When I worked in central London, Tower Hamlets, the road safety officers would come to talk to the students about paying attention - not using headphones whilst crossing the road, look for traffic not your mates etc ... anyway, they would always include “what car would you like to drive” and conclude with the fact that it was pointless getting a hyper car - Lamborghini, Maserati, Aston Martin etc as the average speed through central London was ......8 m.p.h.
So yes, the 20 limit is a gimmick unless you can use a bus lane where you might reach 15 mph
 
On a good day, but not in the morning and evening rush hour, I can do more than 8 mph on a quaint 500cc motorcycle!!
 
As with every traffic policy in London, Motorcycles are not considered - just 4wheeled vehicles and cycles
 
I see that today Luxembourg made all public transport free of charge to all users in their effort to reduce pollution - get everyone in by bus or train and not by car. Makes sense.
 
Eljahara said:
As with every traffic policy in London, Motorcycles are not considered - just 4wheeled vehicles and cycles
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they have to comply with current emissions standards unless they are classics of a certain age.. A bit pathetic because the contribution made by motorbikes to airpollution is minute in comparison with that of other vehicles.Not that the rule book writers and enforcers care about such details.

I had never heard of anyone being bust for speeding on a bike when I lived in London (until 2002 ) then one day this bloke comes into All bike Spares complaining about being nicked.. First question I asked was where and he said just past the traffic lights on the South Circular / Shooters Hill .. junction.. Oh had you run them? No, Well how fast were you going ? about 50 . I was astonished and it turned out he was a surgeon enroute to perform an emergency operation. Made no difference to plod who not only did not lay on the flashing blue light escort to Guys hospital but delayed him as long as they could with routine paperwork..
This would have been in the late 90s and was quite exceptional but since then there has been a seed change in attitude and its not good.
 
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oldmikew said:
they have to comply with current emissions standards unless they are classics of a certain age.. A bit pathetic because the contribution made by motorbikes to airpollution is minute in comparison with that of other vehicles.Not that the rule book writers and enforcers care about such
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There was a thread that some modern day cars were more polluting than the older car engines, (probably VWs !) So killing those older cars off is creating a vicious circle, the powers that be want to scrap the older vehicles, thus using more energy and creating more pollution making new ones that are more inefficient than the ones they replaced!! No wonder they say it's a mad, mad world !!!
 
The city wide speed limit in NYC is 25mph.

I regularly do 45 down 5th ave in the ol' box truck. Rest of the time I'm barely moving.

Don't mean much here, probably won't mean much there.
 
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