Speed limiter

[G L J]

As most people on this forum are no doubt aware the default speed limit in urban areas in Wales has been reduced to 20mph.

I have found the speed limiter on the Yaris extremely useful since the introduction of the new speed limit as I can just set it at  22 mph and do not have to constantly  check my speed.

One more thing is that my mpg has improved as  the car is in electric mode for a longer time.

 

[Cyker]

How have you been finding the new limit out of curiosity?

There seems to be a lot of mixed feelings about it!

 

[Max_Headroom]

8 hours ago, G L J said:

I have found the speed limiter on the Yaris extremely useful since the introduction of the new speed limit as I can just set it at  22 mph and do not have to constantly  check my speed.

This is the first car I have owned with a limiter I use it often. 

[G L J]

9 hours ago, Cyker said:

How have you been finding the new limit out of curiosity?

There seems to be a lot of mixed feelings about it!

 

I am fairly lucky as Bangor is a relatively small city so driving from one side to the other does not much take more time.

I did drive from Llandudno  to Colwyn Bay along the promenade and felt that the default 20 mph was not needed in certain sections.

When out walking crossing the road is easier and the general background traffic noise is less noticeable.

Overall a cautious thumbs up but if I drove a lot in large urban areas it might be different. 

[Big_D]

I'm off to Wales next month. Must remember to take my Passport so I can cross the Severn Bridge 😁

[Derek.w]

I find the speed limiter very handy on long streches of 20MPH roads personly you can do away with a lot of speed bumps and just have a 20MPH zones instead.

[Big_D]

We live off a road near a school. This particular road has a 20mph speed limit, along with speed bumps. Even with the speed bumps, some are seen doing at least 40mph. I've been been doing 20mph and have been overtaken by some impatient drivers.

[Derek.w]

7 hours ago, Big_D said:

We live off a road near a school. This particular road has a 20mph speed limit, along with speed bumps. Even with the speed bumps, some are seen doing at least 40mph. I've been been doing 20mph and have been overtaken by some impatient drivers.

Our speed bumps are that close together as you just come off one and then you ontop of the next one no time to speed up to 30 MPH never mind 40 MPH. We also have a camera to tell you your speed in one direction as far as I can remember.

No school on this road we do have schools in the area with part time 20MPH restrictions when amber lights are flashing otherwise its 30 MPH.

[Primus1]

I see a lot of folks rag their vehicles over speed bumps, I bet a few moan when they have to spend £££s on new suspension…

[Big_D]

I don't see the point of testing the suspension over speed bumps. Maybe they have company cars, or hire vehicles.

 

Remember, a hire car is a better off road vehicle than any 4x4. It can carry far more than any other car in it's class, is faster on pull off, and can brake far more sharply 😁

[Haliotis]

I prefer the speed bumps which uniformly spread across the whole width of a road.  Even at 20mph, or even a bit under, the “island” type of bumps, even as low as 15mph, give you and any passengers quite a shaking when only the wheels on one side of the car go over the bumps. My wife has a back injury due to a fall, and these “island” bumps cause her pain if I get it wrong - and the axle width of a C-HR cannot span these bumps completely.  My previous VW Caravelle could just about clear them.

Big_D - Your observations about drivers speeding over the bumps in a 20mph limit tend, if anything, to give testament to the general 20 limit on urban roads which has been applied by the Welsh government.

Sadly, as in all things where restrictions apply, we all have to bear the brunt for those idiots who force additional penalties on the rest of us.

What does annoy me is that a driver, however careful, is not allowed a genuine mistake without punishment. In 1955, I was driving at 40mph in an unfamiliar area, on a short stretch of dual carriageway, and missed the fact that it was 30mph the same as the continuing two-way road.  And there had to be a camera van sitting in a bus stop reserve, on the opposite side of the dual carriageway.  There was no safety risk involved and, when I got the NIP, I visited the police station to explain how my error had happened.  The police officer was brutally unhelpful - I don’t think she could have been more abrasive if I had driven recklessly and injured someone. That day I learned a lesson about the intransigence of authority.

[Big_D]

I had a similar experience where I was caught by a mobile speed camera, doing 34mph, in what I was sure was a 40 zone. After I received the penalty notification, I went back to the "Scene of the crime" to check. The road was signed as a 40mph zone. The only markings to show that the speed limit had changed from 40 to 30, was a faded painted 30 on the road. No 30mph signs anywhere. As @Haliotis says, they authorities were not at all helpful and I ended up with the 3 points on my licence.

[Derek.w]

The one thing I hate most are road works speed reduction that are empty of workers...

[Cyker]

35 minutes ago, Big_D said:

I had a similar experience where I was caught by a mobile speed camera, doing 34mph, in what I was sure was a 40 zone. After I received the penalty notification, I went back to the "Scene of the crime" to check. The road was signed as a 40mph zone. The only markings to show that the speed limit had changed from 40 to 30, was a faded painted 30 on the road. No 30mph signs anywhere. As @Haliotis says, they authorities were not at all helpful and I ended up with the 3 points on my licence.

I wish there were better ways to appeal such things - It seems very unfair that we're expected to be literally psychic, yet they don't get any comeback for failing to maintain the signage.

On some of my hooning roads there are lots of signs that are covered by overgrowth that are not being sorted out; A load of us were stuck behind someone who thought the limit was still 30 because the NSL sign had been assimilated into the hedgerow and I guess they'd recently had a speeding fine as they were absolutely nailed at 30mph!

That said, you'd think they'd have gotten some sort of hint when even the bus overtook them!  (I didn't think those small country busses could move so fast  )

[YarisHybrid2016]

2 hours ago, Big_D said:

I had a similar experience where I was caught by a mobile speed camera, doing 34mph, in what I was sure was a 40 zone. After I received the penalty notification, I went back to the "Scene of the crime" to check. The road was signed as a 40mph zone. The only markings to show that the speed limit had changed from 40 to 30, was a faded painted 30 on the road. No 30mph signs anywhere. As @Haliotis says, they authorities were not at all helpful and I ended up with the 3 points on my licence.

Did you take it to court? If the signage is incorrect or misleading or contradictory, that should be an instant dismissal of the fine/points, so long as you weren't in violation of the "higher" posted limit.

They've got to get their act together regarding all of this, if they want mandatory speed limiters. ALL of my sat nav systems still think a particular road is 40 MPH when it has been 30 MPH for nearly a year already. Outrageous.

[MikeSh]

2 hours ago, Cyker said:

On some of my hooning roads

Which presumably are public rights of way ...

[Primus1]

I received my first NIP, ( which resulted in a speed awareness course) for doing 58 in a 60 ……can you guess why?

[YarisHybrid2016]

4 hours ago, Primus1 said:

I received my first NIP, ( which resulted in a speed awareness course) for doing 58 in a 60 ……can you guess why?

Too fast for the conditions?

A couple of months ago, I was coming off a roundabout onto a dual carriageway. I was in the left lane, with a car behind that moved into the outside lane.

I floored it all the way to 70, when said car put its blue lights on! 😂😂😂

I stopped accelerating dead on 70 (which I was going to do anyway). They switched off their lights, and passed me.

This was at midnight on an otherwise empty road.

[Max_Headroom]

4 hours ago, Primus1 said:

I received my first NIP, ( which resulted in a speed awareness course) for doing 58 in a 60 ……can you guess why?

Were you drifting?  😃

 

[Primus1]

Neither of those…no, our wonderful driving laws stated that I was over the speed limit as I was in a van, with the 10% +2 taken into account I exceeded it by 1mph, if my van had side windows, then I would be within the speed limit….

[Cyker]

Driving to the 10%+2 is kind of a trap - If they just pulled people over without that, it would be fairly easy to argue away 1-2mph over e.g. 60mph as being due to inaccuracy, but if they pull you over for 10%+2, e.g. 68mph, there's no way you can use that argument as it's well over.

I try to stick to the limit using the speed as indicated by the car, even tho' I know it over-reads by ~2mph and there is the 10%+2 rule - That gives me a buffer in case I accidentally go over a bit, which is all to easy to do when you're trying to spot suicidal pedestrians and phone zombies, even with the HUD!

[MikeSh]

4 minutes ago, Cyker said:

when you're trying to spot suicidal pedestrians and phone zombies

You phone zombies? 😲

[Big_D]

1 minute ago, MikeSh said:

phone zombies? 

Those so engrossed by their phones that they have no idea what is going on around them

[Primus1]

Smombies…..smart phone zombies…

[YarisHybrid2016]

BSM saved me the other night. A cyclist on an e-bike passed me at 40 MPH as I pulled out of a junction. He had no lights on, and he zipped behind me. I was going to tuck in close to the curb to avoid a hole in the road when it started flashing. I turned left out of the junction and he came from the right. I didn't see him at all.