Author Topic: A promising initiative?  (Read 4534 times)

cc93


hellymedic

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Re: A promising initiative?
« Reply #1 on: 03 April, 2008, 11:31:10 am »
What, if any, enforcement will there be?
The Polis are usually only interested in enforcing 30mph and even that is inconsistent.

Round here, 20mph zones have to be 'self-enforcing' with chicanes and speed bumps etc to 'encourage' compliance.

Pingu

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Re: A promising initiative?
« Reply #2 on: 03 April, 2008, 12:21:01 pm »
We have number of streets with a 20mph limit in our residential area. The only one where the limit is consistently obeyed is also the only one with speed bumps.

Enforcement is the key.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: A promising initiative?
« Reply #3 on: 03 April, 2008, 12:25:14 pm »
And speed bumps - by which I really mean cushions - are Evil.  Drivers have to straddle them centrally so don't move out when passing cyclists, sometimes they're hard to see at night (ouch), they cause noise and vibration and, perhaps worst of all, they encourage people to buy big 4x4s with a wider track.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: A promising initiative?
« Reply #4 on: 03 April, 2008, 12:28:31 pm »
This type of restriction is already in place in some of the older residential areas of Rugby.   What you get in reality is drivers accelerating hard between bumps or chicanes, then braking hard and creeping over / through.   Nobody thought to place the bumps at every junction and as a result you get many prangs at the cross roads!

Re: A promising initiative?
« Reply #5 on: 03 April, 2008, 12:44:54 pm »
The theory of speed bumps is good, but I don't think it works.  They are a complete pain in the bum for cyclists - the entire three-mile route into uni for me is covered in speed bumps - and as PB says, they just seem to make drivers worse.

Zipperhead

  • The cyclist formerly known as Big Helga
Re: A promising initiative?
« Reply #6 on: 03 April, 2008, 01:13:15 pm »
And speed bumps - by which I really mean cushions - are Evil.  Drivers have to straddle them centrally so don't move out when passing cyclists, sometimes they're hard to see at night (ouch), they cause noise and vibration and, perhaps worst of all, they encourage people to buy big 4x4s with a wider track.

And they'r'e a real sod on a trike. You either need to go over the top, or if you go for the gap between it has to be wide enough for both rear wheels to fit through.

The road at the end of mine has them, and I found out the hard way that half a mile along the road the spacing changes.
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Mr Larrington

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Re: A promising initiative?
« Reply #7 on: 03 April, 2008, 01:21:16 pm »
And they're a real sod on a trike. You either need to go over the top, or if you go for the gap between it has to be wide enough for both rear wheels to fit through.

The road at the end of mine has them, and I found out the hard way that half a mile along the road the spacing changes.

Somewhere in darkest Wet Yorks, some genius has placed one in the middle of a traffic-calming chicane.  There is - just - room for a bike to get between the cushion and the kerb.  I found myself there in the extremely wet opening overs of the 2006 Spurn Head 400, doing 70 km/h on a Trice with one front brake out of commission :o  There was very nearly a corner of a foreign field Cleckheaton which would be forever Mr Larrington's dermis.
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Martin

Re: A promising initiative?
« Reply #8 on: 03 April, 2008, 01:34:34 pm »
What, if any, enforcement will there be?
The Polis are usually only interested in enforcing 30mph and even that is inconsistent.

Round here, 20mph zones have to be 'self-enforcing' with chicanes and speed bumps etc to 'encourage' compliance.

one of those yellow boxes that goes flash every so often and collects stealth tax off Daily Mail readers seems to do the job quite well in Wallington

Julian

  • samoture
Re: A promising initiative?
« Reply #9 on: 03 April, 2008, 01:43:51 pm »
What, if any, enforcement will there be?
The Polis are usually only interested in enforcing 30mph and even that is inconsistent.

Round here, 20mph zones have to be 'self-enforcing' with chicanes and speed bumps etc to 'encourage' compliance.

one of those yellow boxes that goes flash every so often and collects stealth tax off Daily Mail readers seems to do the job quite well in Wallington

AIUI the law only provides for enforcement of that nature for 30mph zones and above, I think because the idea of a 20mph zone is new. 

That's why these are 20mph 'zones' and not 'limits' - there is no legislative framework to support a 20 limit.  If you were flashed for doing 26 in a 20 zone you could probably appeal successfully.  Like Hellymedic says, 20 zones have to be self-enforcing as they can't be enforced with cameras.

NB that is second hand information from a colleague - I haven't checked it, so I may be wrong.

Martin

Re: A promising initiative?
« Reply #10 on: 03 April, 2008, 01:47:49 pm »
What, if any, enforcement will there be?
The Polis are usually only interested in enforcing 30mph and even that is inconsistent.

Round here, 20mph zones have to be 'self-enforcing' with chicanes and speed bumps etc to 'encourage' compliance.

one of those yellow boxes that goes flash every so often and collects stealth tax off Daily Mail readers seems to do the job quite well in Wallington

AIUI the law only provides for enforcement of that nature for 30mph zones and above, I think because the idea of a 20mph zone is new. 

That's why these are 20mph 'zones' and not 'limits' - there is no legislative framework to support a 20 limit.  If you were flashed for doing 26 in a 20 zone you could probably appeal successfully.  Like Hellymedic says, 20 zones have to be self-enforcing as they can't be enforced with cameras.

a very short residential stretch of the Wallington-Coulsdon road has a 20mph section with red circle signs and a camera; but I've never seen it go off so it could be set to 30

Re: A promising initiative?
« Reply #11 on: 03 April, 2008, 02:06:21 pm »
I quite enjoy enforcing the 20 mph zones when I'm driving

I left in plenty of time - your hurry is not my problem!


Speed cushions OTH I've recently taken a dislike to

They seem to collect an oily rubbery layer on the top which means using them as bunny hopping practise on cold wet evenings is not a good idea.

It's even less of a good idea when said speed cushions are outside the local Spar where the neighbourhood teenagers gather to do whatever teenagers do on a cold wet evening.
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