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Originally Posted by Russ D
I'll partially disagree with that - some speeding laws are not out of date. 30 mph limits should IMO be ruthlessly enforced in built-up areas, near schools, parks and around hospitals.
However a 70 mph limit on motorways (especially the open, straight ones) is based on technology which was state of the art when the Ford Anglia was the vehicle-of-choice. We have come on a LONG way in car safety since then.
I'm not saying motorway limits should be scrapped - just that they should suit the location and conditions. If there's a stretch of road which is notorious for low sun or bad crosswinds then the limit should control the traffic accordingly.
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The 70 mph national speed limit may have been introduced at a time when vehicles didn't have the same performance as today in respect of top speed, acceleration and braking. There were also far less vehicles on the road in those days. What hasn't changed though is driver reaction times. The roads are a faster changing scenario today than they were when the 70 mph limit was introduced. Drive on any motorway today and you will see many vehicles driving far too close to the one in front. You also see many drivers thinking that they have the performance and personal ability to drive into gaps in faster moving traffic that are really too short to be able to do it safely. They also think that every other driver has the same superhuman reaction times and abilities as they themselves think they have.
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Originally Posted by Russ D
I agree that the law is to be obeyed at all times - however I'm still free to criticise it.
A gatso having zero tolerance is an dangerous thing - is it fair that I'd get prosecuted for going 2mph over the limit then a year later Rover makes a statement that all the Rover 620ti vehicles made at the same time as mine have a defect which causes a 20% margain of error on speedometer readings? I could be under the impression that I was obeying the limit yet factors outside my control are discovered after the court case which show I was not at fault.
I don't think that's fair. The current 10% plus 2mph margain of error employed by speed cameras is good enough thanks very much.
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Everyone is free to criticise the law, nobody is disputing the fact. Some of the reasoning though is rather flawed. Any prosecution for speeding is based on technological measurement of the speed which doesn't take into account the accuracy of your speedometer. Vehicle construction and use regulations require a vehicle speedometer accuracy to be in the range of -0->+10% which means that the speedometer can be accurate or can overstate the speed but must never understate it. The 10% + 2 mph margin is not there to allow you to travel at 35 mph in a 30 mph zone which some drivers take it to mean.