20mph limits and TTs

[rogerzilla]

Latest CTT advice is that 20mph limits must be observed (which, in practice, means courses going through them will likely be retired).  The rationale, and I understand this, is that it does not look good, nor is it safe, to have bikes overtaking cars observing the limit - unlikely though the latter is.

Before anyone suggests 20mph is fast in a bike, it really isn't in a TT - to achieve "evens" and not embarrass yourself, you need to be cruising at quite a bit over 20mph to compensate for the start, turns, and junctions.  The better club riders will be cruising in the high 20s, even in a casual evening "10".

It does look as if the future of TTs will mainly be 70mph dragstrips, if you're feeling lucky enough.

[felstedrider]

Several pages of debate on the TT forum.

It's agreed that the speed limits do not apply in law but it only takes one competitor to knock over a pedestrian and there would be issues.   I have some sympathy, but I'm in the middle of getting rid of a load of my kit so any return to the sport is highly unlikely.

[Bromptonlad]

Very few courses go through 20 mph zones, none in my district. They tend to be built up areas with significant volumes of traffic, no point in organising a race on them, whether the limit is 20 or 30.
The issue has been blown out of proportion and where it does exist, it predates 20 mph zones…
There is a lot of grey between 20 and 70… plenty of 40-50-60 mph speed limits on A, B and unclassified roads

[DuncanM]

Very few courses go through 20 mph zones, none in my district. They tend to be built up areas with significant volumes of traffic, no point in organising a race on them, whether the limit is 20 or 30.
The issue has been blown out of proportion and where it does exist, it predates 20 mph zones…
There is a lot of grey between 20 and 70… plenty of 40-50-60 mph speed limits on A, B and unclassified roads

Lots (6 of the 8 courses I rode pre-pandemic) of the courses around here are rural roads that have a turn or 2 on the edge of a village, and so the 20 limit thing is in force. Plus at least 2 of the "sporting" courses that are hilly (for around here).
It's not going to affect the Open evens where people are chasing times, but it will make running a club series significantly harder.

For the people who live in the villages, 20mph makes loads of sense, it's just a shame it impacts on TTs.

[IanDG]

Dumfries CC lost a 25 mile course when Glencaple became a 20mph zone and residents complained. As Roger says a lot of riders are cruising in the high 20s even in club events, I was doing regular 27mph+ 10s back in the late 70s/early 80s - riders are a lot faster now with aero TT bikes etc.

[Cudzoziemiec]

In that case are 30mph zones going to become a problem too?

[MattH]

There was a road race course over near Bristol that was a nightmare. A long 30mph section that had a very slight downhill gradient, followed by a sharp left turn into a steeper downhill that was 20mph for a couple of hundred metres.

It meant the forward convoy had to be well ahead to not be caught, and it wasn't unusual for us on motorbikes to pull over on the 20mph section to let the cyclists get past (assuming we knew there was sufficient support still in front) as we couldn't legally keep ahead of them (rules of the road still apply unless it's a police controlled closed road). It was manageable assuming everything went well, as we'd just send bikes well up the road prior to those two zones. But I was pleased when they stopped using it.

[morbihan]

The entire Island here has a speed limit of 22mph, though its not adhered to.
Group rides average above that but we still get all the wing nuts overtaking  a stretched out peloton on blind bends and round corners.

[Jethro]

Whilst on a tour of N Wales late last year, I went through many villages and towns that all had the new 20mph limits and whilst descending through Bethesda on the A5 at almost 30mph, I was still being passed by many motor vehicles clearly doing around 40mph or more.  It appears that no-one is taking any notice.

[Frank9755]

Whilst on a tour of N Wales late last year, I went through many villages and towns that all had the new 20mph limits and whilst descending through Bethesda on the A5 at almost 30mph, I was still being passed by many motor vehicles clearly doing around 40mph or more.  It appears that no-one is taking any notice.

Round here (Ealing) it took a while to bed in. 
We've had them for about 4 years now.  To begin with there was hardly any difference.  If I drove at about 22mph I would often get overtaken by drivers who felt angry.  This hasn't happened for a long time now.  Most of the cars seem to roll along happily at 19-24mph.

[Jaded]

This ^

It's gradual, and unless there is strict enforcement, there will always been people breaking the speed limit. Like they do on every other road.

[Cudzoziemiec]

This ^

It's gradual, and unless there is strict enforcement, there will always been people breaking the speed limit. Like they do on every other road.

And there are always people (drivers) saying that because not everyone abides by speed limits, they should all be raised or, better, abolished. A few of them might even genuinely believe that this makes roads safer "because you don't have to look at the speedometer".

[drossall]

Very few courses go through 20 mph zones, none in my district.

My club lost its evening courses, as did at least one other. They all went through Shuttleworth village. This came in several years ago at local level, in advance of the national edict. The clubs all felt that it would cause undue antagonism.

We're quite close to the A1, which no-one wants to use any more for evening events. But, when you can't go on major roads and you can't go through villages either, course finding does become quite challenging! We currently go twice round a 5-mile sporting course for our evening events.