I agree with you 100%. Inappropriate 20 mph limits increase road rage and decrease road safety. Worse still they create disrespect for speed limits in general.
@SigneM-Formaldehyd#1-dr lol complaining about ad hom when that entire comment is a logical fallacy. No one cares how long you have been driving, fact is you are wrong. Comparing the freeway in Germany to city streets in a massively overpopulated island and acting like this somehow is a good point is just dumb. Stop being an idiot just because you don't want to drive the speed limit.
@SigneM-Formaldehyd#1-dr lmao way to add nothing of value other than dumb insults you little bitch. Still waiting for you to explain how the autobahn in germany is anything like crowded London city streets. Dumb bastard.
I did hear a bit of concern was being expressed by the authorities that the highest increase in accidents was happening in 20mph and traffic calmed areas.
I used to live on a road that was a 30mph limit, there was no way you could actually go that fast due to how narrow it was among other factors I usually took is at 15mph or so. The council decided to drop it too a 20mph limit and posted leaflets through everyone's door saying "Kids play here stick to 20mph" or words to that effect. From that day forth I could not drive over 5mph on that road as all the parents had told their kids they could now play in the road. They would run from behind parked cars with no warning having water fights or playing tig. The council as usual had put people in more danger by making silly assumptions of both drivers and parents intelligence.
This is OK in home zones, a road designation common in Holland and now being introduced partially in Ireland. Children are conditioned to recognise a home zone where it is relatively safe to play as opposed to a normal through road where it is definitely not safe to play or engage in careless behaviour. My own estate recently introduced much lower speed limits and initially kids acted the idiot riding around on bikes doing wheelies the wrong way on blind corners and generally playing fast and loose with the rules. The local police had to mount foot patrols and engage in school information sessions to quieten things down. So far no one has been involved in accidents but it is only a matter of time.
@@jgdooley2003 Dutchman here. There's often kids playing on the street outside of my home, and it's perfectly safe because the kids are taught to look out for cars, drivers are taught to look out for kids, and the road design itself doesn't allow cars to speed.
20mph speed limits are always nonsensical except past a school during school time or very tight roads or residential roads that are always full of parked cars. This appears to be none of those. As we can see the 20mph makes things more dangerous than it would have been at 30mph. Council folk must be generally stupid, and don't live in the real world hence these decisions. Slower = better and that is the end of their discussion. But that Audi was doing way over 30 anyway I think, and this highlights another issue: speed limits are advisory in the real world. You don't get automatically fined if you go over them, that relies on the small chance of being caught. So lowering the speed limit from 30 to 20 means the already safe drivers are now pointlessly travelling safe while the unsafe drivers are continuing to drive at 40.
You've hit on probably the most important point from the video. Speed difference between vehicles is the biggest danger there, and this 20 limit is widening the gap between the goods and the bads. Thanks for your input :)
It's 20 all around my area except for one road on my route to work, so a 10 minute journey actually turns into up to 30 minutes at 7 in the morning, and since I stick to the speed limit I get overtaken, sometimes dangerously every day. There are few area with tight turns and schools that justify 20 but apart from that they are a nuisance, and hardly anyone I know actually drives at 20.
Just to let you know I DON'T agree with what you say here..... & the maths difference between driving at 20 as opposed to 30 does not equate with your difference in journey times?? For the same journey of 10 mins. at 30 should equate into 15 mins. at 20. Not 30 mins. That would be a 10 mph driving speed!
outrageous for that road to be 20, sorry you have to put up with that as a driving instructor. Councils sometimes make the limit excessively low - trying to take the moral high ground, acting like those limits are in our interest
It’s all to do with money. Not enough police to enforce the 20mph and not enough money to erect a speed camera that people will undoubtedly slow down for then speed back up. Whatever speed limit it is no one will keep it that speed. Like the idiot at the end, I think in the dark blue Peugeot, he overtook you and when you took a left he was at a red light!
@urbex2007 from what I understand, speed cameras are only allowed to be put up once a specific section of the road has had a minimum of 3 fatal/life threatening collisions.
I only passed a month ago. And rarely go over speed limit. At times going down hills I may go up 2-5mph but bring It back down. Every where i go i stick to limits, and my God do I get abused for following the rules of the road
Just a speed trap they aren't using at the moment. They want people to give up on the 20 and go 30 and get used to it. Then one day they'll go collect from the public. At least that's how it seems to me.
There is a notorious speed trap on the N11 southbound from Dublin city at Stillorgan where speed vans hide behind road signs and high walls to catch out motorists. Also sneaky in that the council allow bushes to obscure limit signs and do not rectify signs being maliciously twisted sideways to confuse and mislead motorists.
1000% Ashley. Like you I'm a professional driver and blanketing most area's like this has made roads MORE unsafe without any kind of sensible consultation to see if certain roads warrant a 20mph. Absolutely crazy, this video shows exactly why that road should not be in that 20mph bracket. As a professional driver I find myself looking more in the rear view mirror then focusing what's in front of me. This idea is puting more people in DANGER! 🛑🚫
There is no reason for that road to be a 20, 30 is safe enough. There are far more dangerous roads that have a higher speed limit. That said, if it says 20 then that's what you should do.
Kempy 79 possibly even 40 although there are several buildings on that road. I think it’s because it’s an industrial estate, and there are probably lorries turning/ manoeuvring.
I laugh at most 20mph zones because you see the police go down them at 30 just like everyone else is doing under their nose and they don't give a damn about it either because they know the limit is usually stupid. As a learner or somebody with a black box it just puts in you in a very shit situation where you have to do 20 but that puts you in danger not just because of poorly matched speed. When you spend all your time looking at the speedo making sure you are not speeding you are not looking at the road meaning you can miss crucial things going on in the road because you have had your concentration diverted to your speed.
I feel sorry for black box drivers following speed limits to the letter. On google street view the 20 signs are very poorly signed/placed and not even shown at the beginning of the road plus I've seen more dangerous roads with speed limits higher than this the council need to sort out the difference between reality and the theory of driving. I've always believed it's not the speed that kills it's the difference between speeds that cause so much danger!
It's not speed that kills, it's the sudden stop at the end. What I found crazy a few years ago was that on the autobahns there was no effective speed limit which means a car could easily do 130+ mph. Coaches if they had tempo 100 were limited to 62.5 mph, if they didn't have were limited to 50 mph. The net result is that the closing speed of a car catching up with a coach could easily be > 70 mph, the speed limit on a UK motorway, and if the car was to hit the coach it would be like someone hitting a stationary coach on a motorway - scarey and the speed limit for coaches is for "safety"
@@A.Martin Presumably they can't trust professional drivers not to drive dangerously then? In the interests of safety they physically limit the speed of a coach or lorry driven by a professional driver, but the amateurs in their cars are not so restricted and thus it can be concluded that the amateurs are trusted to drive safely at any speed!
@@cigmorfil4101 My experience of unlimited autobahns is that german drivers are much more tolerant of speed differences then in the UK. Eg, on two lane autobahns, when overtaking a line of HGV's at, say, 80mph, a car doing 130mph will quickly catch you up, and may then tailgate, but I've never experienced any headlight flashing or childish or aggressive gestures.
Theres a 20mph speed limit main road near me with lots of shops. Each time I drive through I slow to 20. It feels painfully slow. Most cars don't bother and drive faster. I often get someone driving close behind me and looking visually very hacked off. I dont want to do 20 either.
I've been involved with setting a load of speed limits here in New Zealand. The road in your clip has all of the signs of a 20 mph limit introduced to discourage rat running (possibly because there is direct residential access at the start). However, nothing about the road tells drivers that 20 is appropriate, the road is straight with limited property access. I'd love to see the assessment that led to this.
How do you know when the 20mph zone ends? They fail you if you continue to go 20 when you pass the school but there is no further speed limit change! How would you know it's exact spot 20 is cancelled when there is NO new speed limit? For if you're new to the area, they can fail you?
That reminds me of the road near Alexandra Palace which is 20 but it’s an empty road. I passed two weeks ago and the other drivers have almost made me hate driving already. Everyday I try to follow the speed limit and I get idiots honking at me or trying to overtake me. It’s enough to give you anxiety.
London speed cameras are now set to give points at 24 mph. I got caught with my speed limiter set on 24 that would mean that I could not go faster than 22 mph. I now set it at 22 which shows as 20 mph on Waze and the flashing speed signs.
Even the previous limit of 30 seems too low, unless it's during the worst possible driving conditions. I have the feeling that speed limits more often than not are more about the revenue from speeding tickets rather than what actually is the fastest safe speed.
Speed limits are set for the environment not the road. The issue in the UK is that they just reduce the speed limit without doing anything to the road. That’s just going to piss drivers of. If you drive on Dutch narrow streets designed for 20mph it is quite nice to drive. It is all about road design and the perception of danger but traffic engineers don’t understand that here.
One of my driving instructors other students was almost involved in a head-on during their test when two cars traveling in different directions attempted overtakes at the same time.
Hi Neal is it True thay if your coming out of 40mph road that goes straight to 20mph without first changing to 30mph for a prescribed distance! I know of places that that had to change to 30 then for about 300yards to 20?
Good on you for telling it like it is, most 20 limits are ridiculous, bristol is a hot spot for them after our last mad man mayer george ferguson. And its not even about getting from A to B its about the fact that 20 is an unnaturaly frustrating speed to drive in modern cars. The only good 20's are in back streets or by schools ect and in backstreets most people naturaly drive about 20 anyway
Indeed; your comment around 2:15 is wise! Your local authority doesn't seem to have done a good job, such as altering the road layout to be "self enforcing" (lots of council design documents on this subject are available).
One key point here, that no-one talks about, is that a steady 20 mph means lower emissions. And along this road, there are many places of employment and several bus stops where people will be standing, right next to where the pollution is being created. And crucially, although (again) no-one understands this, if the speed limit were to be raised to 30mph, there's the potential for fewer people to feel safe cycling to one of these workplaces, thus increasing the traffic. There's no getting away from the fact that blanket 20 mph limits are gradually coming in, for the common good, (Wales next year, Scotland in 2025, and hopefully England as soon as possible) and this road illustrates why that is important, even though some commentators can't understand the benefits.
totally agree with the instructor here. some people who make decisions like that do really need a good kick in the head. sad thing is we all pay for some numpty to make these decisions...probably on about £50k per year.
20 is too slow for most roads. It's been done by the same people who want to ban cars. It's mostly done to make driving less enjoyable. I mean look at the area. Straight road, office buildings, very large and open sidewalk with plenty of visibility. There is no reason to keep it 20. Recently, Brighton had to admit it increase road accidents. it doesn't even save on fuel as you have the car in a lower gear. I suspect it's also a cash grab. Make the speed limit abnormally slow so you can rack up traffic fines from drivers who instinctively go at the proper speed. 20 should be only for small residential streets and during end of school hour.
The thing is they make no money off them at all, even the Police break these 20 limits because they are so absurd. In 2 years only 3 fines have been issued in a 20 zone where I live and believe me there are quite a few of said zones.
There is a 20 mph limit on a long stretch of ring road around estates. Some people do 20, but people overtake them and nearly cause collisions. I do 25-30 mph I think that’s the best compromise
Thank you Ashley! I've never understood why that road is a 20 either. And I don't think anyone does that speed anyway. I think every time I drive down there now I'm going to think of you saying about kicking the person who thought of it in the head! 😃
I just come across this vid, as a Driving Instructor I have to agree 100% that some roads reduced to 20 are totally inappropriate and are done so by people who either don’t know the road or have no clue about road safety, it’s becoming a box ticking exercise to reduce as many roads as possible to 20 without any proper consideration. Respect to the fore mentioned person who quite rightly said if encourages road rage and an overall ignorance of respective speed limits. This is going to become a major problem if it continues.
My towns littered with 20mph stretches that are beyond pointless... when the government allowed councils to put these in place they literally peppered towns with them.
Oxford is the worst place for nonsensical speed limits. They're all _at least_ 10 mph slower that they should be, sometimes 30 mph. And by all I mean all. There isn't a single national speed limit sign. It's mental.
I agree with you hundred percent forget Liverpool, everywhere in London they making it twenty and it so hard to drive as people either horn you or overtake you, even the other got pulled over for doing 24 on 20mph road as it to slow which causing pollution, causing more traffic as it flowing slow, i understand if it near a school it should be 20 but 30 every part of London even the main road is ridiculous, I wonder who came up with this idea is total pilick, we as a driver we need to do something before they take over. It a way of making money from us as if you go to speed awareness course they charge £85 so think how many million they have made
Just abide by the law, you'll be left alone..Your not going to get much further up the road in London before your queuing up at traffic lights..Just chill out lol
There is a permanent 20 mph in part of Bonhill Road, Dumbarton and the police do not enforce it. With two schools, narrow road as two commercial vehicles cannot pass each other, due to cars parked on west side of road.
I imagine the frequency of lorries slowly pulling out is the reason, lorries have a tough time pulling out at the best of times, a mile or so of 20mph won’t hurt anyone apart from those breaking the rules, the road planners have a far better idea than us, with stats and figures
There's a road like this near me. It's 30mph on to a roundabout at each end of the road and doesn't change as you exit these roundabouts, so the road is 30. I've had it confirmed by a driving instructor also. People always assume it's 40mph and speed or do stupid overtakes like this. I've even had people parp their horn at me for doing the speed limit! *edit* The 30 limit in this case does make sense; there are nearby houses and 2 bus stops where kids wait.
I've noticed the same problem in Bristol. One of my cousins lives there and got fined for doing 26 in a 20 zone. Bloody ridiculous. The road he was on did not lead to a dead-end, none of that. Such a road just screams 30 zone.
20mph is bonkers for that, it should be 30 or even 40 if there wasn't so many junctions. The only one thing why it might be a 20mph limit, just in the bit where all the junctions are, is if there's a lot of lorries in and out but like you said, it's excessive because even if people were doing 30 or 40mph and a lorry was trying to pull out slowly, they'd be let out, probably =P
One thing that I struggle with is knowing what the speed limit is for roads that are 20mph and 30mph because I struggle looking around for a speed limits while observing everything else when turning into a road. My test is tomorrow 😕. But I think gathering from this video a 20 mph road is when there are signs that there could be danger I.e where kids may be and where there are many crossing.
A notorious thing in Ireland is that councils neglect roadside shrubbery and let over grow speed limit signs. Even worse are vandals who turn the signs sideways to confound motorists and lead to speeding when lower limits are missed. You csnnot fight these tickets as the onus is on the driver to know the speed limits in any given area. I have driven in the UK and at least there you see council workers cleaning the signage and cutting away overgrown shrubbery. I doesn't happen often enough here.
Great video. Agree with what you've said. Funnily, the other day whilst I was sticking to the 20 limit, I had a Porsche Taycan blast past me in said 20 zone. Still, he was saving the environment so all's well.
We have this situation now in North Cardiff, where I live - one of the areas in Wales that is trialling 20mph national speed limit in built-up areas. I have a GPS logger connected to the car's OBDII port for insurance purposes (I get far cheaper insurance as a result), so I'm not keen to exceed the promulgated limits. I see cars passing me all the time, and I think it's made the roads less safe because people aren't following the rules. It's more scary to drive now, and I have just installed a dashcam for the first time as I wouldn't be surprised to be involved in an accident that would probably not be my fault. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up sharing some clips out of that.
I confess I can rarely drive for too long at 20 mph. But there are places, usually inside grounds, that have limits of 5 mph. IN that case, why allow vehicles in at all?
I would put a 25mph limit on urban roads where pedestrians are not separated by a barrier or decent size verge. Big difference between 20 and 30 really, the trouble with 30 is its gets exponentially more lethal around that momentum and people will tend to barrel right up against speed limits or a little over so 25 is a decent rate for safety.
I disagree with the people who say that you should follow the rules. The 20MPH speed limit was brought in following pressure from a cyclist pressure group and adopted by councils, just because politically it was the in thing to do. In my area the 20MPH speed limit was brought in following a few months of trails and paid for by suspending things like school crossing patrols. Previously the in thing was speed humps and redesigning roads to become obsticale courses. The speed humps used to be painted white so you could see them in the dark but they are not anymore. They are a hazard now.
If a road is a certain speed limit, design the road for that speed limit. If this is a 20 mph zone, use speed bumps and chicanes to actually force cars to adhere to that limit.
on my motorcycle i was going 20mph and other road users were going right up my arse i was in fear of an accident no doubt the vehicle owner would just drive off leaving me on the road with no one to claim off .these limits need a re-think
A 20 mile an hour limit in that situation just makes a mockery of the law. Even with the best will in the world, eventually everybody is just going to ignore it. The person that suggested a 20 mile an hour limit and the people that authorised it are just arseholes. I certainly wouldn't be doing 20 miles an hour there unless I suspected there what is a speed camera or some sort of speed trap. That is probably the reason they have it as a 20: to milk drivers of their money by setting up speed traps in absurd situations like that.
But then as someone else pointed out, what actually happens is law-abiding drivers now travel at 20, while other drivers are still going 40, making it more dangerous because of the speed difference
@@johngunner5879 It is a concept known as horse trading. Very common in real life situations. It is used a lot in wage negotiations and price haggling.
I live in a housing estate which is a "Twentys Plenty" zone. Multiple streets are a max twenty zone. I have seen people go along past a primary school (also a 20 zone), doing 40mph. If a kid were to cross the road at the same time the tw*ts speed along, they might not see the end of the day!!
There should be public consultation regarding these limits, not just confined to police or town planners who are notoriously addicted to optics regardless of actual practicalities. This 20mph zone in an industrial area, if it is not near hospitals. schools or institutions catering to people with special needs is a joke. The big trouble with such vexatiously low speed limits is that it brings other speed limits into disrepute and causes speeding in other zones where such low speed limits are necessary. In Ireland special road signs are used to indicate schools, hospitals, public transport hubs and level crossings etc so that passing motorists are aware of the reason behind a suspiciously low speed limit. I do not know what the signage situation is like in the UK but I would imagine it is similar. Good work with the student driver who kept a steady course and speed and did not wobble or slow down when overtaken by the other cars or did not engage in groupthink by speeding up to join the bandwagon of speeding drivers. Giving the police the excuse of "everyone else is speeding" if caught will not work, as I have found out to my cost in the past.
Madness. I think 20 mph limits on many residential roads are a good idea, but you still get passed and it does feel very slow, but on this road it's crazy because it makes it less safe.
@@TheTony70504 I don't know the road, but driving at 20mph reduces the drivers concentration, there are few hazards to detect so drivers, even careful ones, switch off, so when a hazard does occur it's less likely to be spotted. This makes the road less safe even before the impatient over-takers are factored in.
40 seems a bit high. That road is pretty complex, at some points lined with houses and access to driveways. I personally think 30mph would be adequate for safety in a collision.
Yes there are roads like this where 20mph is nonsensical, but no more nonsensical really than a 70mph limit on much of the M5 for example. I'm not against speed limits as a whole but they are far too often arbitrary and lack logical consistency relative to the real risk involved. That's why so many people ignore them.
The first clip.. When changing from 2nd to 1st lane in roundabout the drivers in 1st lane has to give way to you? I didnt know that.. But where i live in Sweden its the other way around.. you have to give way to other cars in the roundabout when you are changing lane. Would be interessting to get this confirmed by someone living in the UK :)
taztaz79 I'm confused by you saying roundabout? Where she started she was fine you have to give way to people on the main road and if you do change lane you need to check it's clear no one has to give way to you if they are changing lanes
@taztaz79 - I’m guessing you watched another clip before this one? Anyway, in UK we give way to the right, so on a roundabout you give way to those already on in or entering ‘further back’. In the rest of Europe, despite driving on the opposite side of the road, you also give way to the right on roundabouts, which means cars joining in front of you... I prefer the UK method (on this!!) and makes for interesting driving for tourists 😂
I mean It's not to much of a crowded road over the majority of sections it's pretty clear with no entrances so 20s a bit low. It's it residential over one stretch though. I think there should be 25mph limits as well. This one's probably alright as a 30 but a lot of roads it seems like 20 is a bit to slow and 30s a bit too fast. There is a big difference between 20 and 30mph really, especially in urban area with such variation of roads. One of ash's comments here very disappointing though.
They want disincentivise driving as opposed to other transport. OK, so when your gran needs her carer by 5pm, you think she's gonna turn up on a pushbike? In congested high streets at 3pm, 20 is OK but as a blanket policy it's bonkers.
It shouldn't be the 20 limit being blamed if there is a good reason for it, it is the road design. A road designed for x mph should look like x mph is suitable for that road. What they could do is use a bit of those wide verges and some of the road width and introduce a protected cycle lane. It would make the road appropriate for a 20 limit, and that would be mostly imposed by the nature of the road itself as it should be, and also allow people to cycle safer
Look around and you’ll see lots and lots of anti car measures on British roads. Junctions made smaller, more and more bumps in the road to slow us down. Climate change evangelicals have taken over the town halls and will do everything and anything to get people out of cars, from under used cycle lanes, 20 mph roads( Wigan has the most in the country) 3 lane roads reduced to 2 and not forgetting ULEZ. Labour controlled councils appear to be the worst culprits. Great videos Ashley helping me enormously with my Advanced motoring course.
@@cigmorfil4101 Not quite. Public signs use imperial numbers, but the actual modern road design documentation, and indeed the measurement of various surface lines, construction standards etc, are metric, so it’s all done in metres. Marker posts and position signs on Motorways are also metric. Historically, the Govt. of the day managed to split metrication ‘half way’, as it were, around the time when we started buying fuel in metric units, rather than gallons etc.
@@johnkeepin7527 Ever looked at the numbers on the market posts? There are two numbers, one on top of another, the latter of which runs from 0-9, and when it changes from 9 to 0, the top number increases. As they are 100m apart (near enough the stopping distance at 112.65 km/h) the lower number is counting 100m or 0.1 km and the top number is counting km. The question then arises: counting from where? ie where is the 0 km mark? From where are you that distance (in km)? For some motorways it is where they start (eg M5 junc with M6, M42 junc with M5). But others start higher than 0. On the motorways radiating from London there is no 0 km mark (eg the M1 starts at 11.1, M11 starts at 12.0, M23 starts at 28 5), but if extrapolated into London, they would all have their 0 at the same point - "Charing Cross" (the 0 distance mark for all distances to London). When the M6 splits from the M1 it starts at 133.0 - continuing the numbering from the M1 (so you still know how far from London you are via M1). For the M25 the 0 mark would be at junction 31 (which is also 191.8)
Blanket 20mph speed limit in my borough now. Some areas were safely 60mph until last year and are now regularly attended by mobile speed cameras. Its a money maker and a complete pain. Its turning drivers into mindless zombies, who are going to fall asleep at the wheel.
Been down so many roads that should stay 30 mph . 20 is plain stupid actually makes it harder to drive and with all the extra street furniture more dangerous. If drivers didn't have all the crap going on around them roads would be safer. I've been passed by electric scooters. WTF.
"I've been passed by electric scooters. WTF." hahaha - that london feeling when you're doing 20 from one set of traffic lights to another which only turn red as soon as you reach them because you're too slow to move in the golden ratio of avoiding red after red, and a cyclist overtakes you on the left, a scooter whizzes past you on the right and then onto the curb, while a bus sticks out into your lane from a turn which then causes you to wait again at the red light because of how long it took the bus to pass, all the while the taxi behind you is flashing their lights and giving you vocal encouragement, finished off by another cyclist passing you on the right straight through a red light. God it feels good to pay that road tax, congestion charge, and diesel tax. The residence parking permit fee also feels real good when resident's parking spaces are removed bit by bit to make way for cycle lanes :)
Industrial area where lorries could be reversing or turning out of entrances and coming onto the other side of the road to get round the corner couldn’t be the reason for the slower speed limit could it!!!!!! 🤔
30mph is fine for that, as it has been for years. The 20mph limit is being rolled out purely to protect pedestrians from death/injury in collisions (all the marketing around this cites the statistics on 30mph vs 20mph collisions). As there are hardly any pedestrians in this area, much less children, the 20mph limit is inappropriate as the instructor states.
Resident parking only, congestion charge, le zones, toll roads, Road humps, speed cameras, pot holes, width restrictions yellow boxes, bus lanes. What next to sap the fun out of driving. 20mph because our roads need more rules.
I very much agree. I think there shouldn't even be a speed limit on that road. I mean, you can clearly see very far ahead and there's not many hazards.
I have been beeped and given rude hand signals for doing 20mph in a 20 limit. If the limit is causing that much friction it's probably somewhat counter productive, but its still out of order to beep someone like that.
This seems to be from 5 years ago. Now 20mph is quite normal and sensible on lots of residential streets. Like seat belts, drink during laws and crash helmets from long ago. Always objections initially until the nay-sayers and people who think that owning a motor vehicle gives them a god-given right to ignore the rights of other road users eventually get the message, usually the hard way via the long arm of the law. But "smart" motorways ARE dangerous.
At the end of the day it really doesn't matter if the speed limit is 30, 20 or even 10... if people don't bother looking while crossing a road you are going to get hit by someone eventually.
In London there was a consultation where not even a mere 1000 people said they wanted a blanket 20mph limit and now all the main routes are a continuous 20mph zone. 🙄 Kinda takes the emphasis off school zones etc and probably increases complacency of both motorists and pedestrians.
Drivers are going to break the law anyway,set the limit to 20,that way people will feel like they're speeding if they go 30 That's my guess as to why they set it up that way.It's all psychological.
I never understand this 'they will just be waiting at the next set of lights' mentality. Its using your frame of reference as a driver as a relative point of comparison with other road users. What matters is the average velocity and acceleration along the route. If average velocity is higher, the destination will be reached faster. The position in the imaginary 'queue' is irrelevant.
In 2023, this is still absolutely stupidity at its best from the clowns that imposed this law. We now have cameras that'll do you for being over 20mph. I can understand it near a school but nowhere else, 30 is good enough! I cycle at 20mph!
That’s outrageous, that road should be a 30 (or even 40 in some parts) it’s just the councils bad attitude that slower = safer, same in Edinburgh where I’m from, far too many unnecessary 20 limits, all it does it annoy people and cause road rage
Jobsworth made it a 20mph zone. No reason for it whatsoever. These types of scenario will make people disregard speed limits altogether, so great job if that's what was being sought.
Some parts of that road would traditionally be 40mph. What were the council thinking?! Just the councils answer to all of their road safety problems. Cheapest way. Im sure if 1mph signs were mass produced that would be the limit along this road.
I agree with you 100%. Inappropriate 20 mph limits increase road rage and decrease road safety. Worse still they create disrespect for speed limits in general.
@SigneM-Formaldehyd#1-dr lol complaining about ad hom when that entire comment is a logical fallacy. No one cares how long you have been driving, fact is you are wrong. Comparing the freeway in Germany to city streets in a massively overpopulated island and acting like this somehow is a good point is just dumb. Stop being an idiot just because you don't want to drive the speed limit.
@SigneM-Formaldehyd#1-dr lmao way to add nothing of value other than dumb insults you little bitch. Still waiting for you to explain how the autobahn in germany is anything like crowded London city streets. Dumb bastard.
I did hear a bit of concern was being expressed by the authorities that the highest increase in accidents was happening in 20mph and traffic calmed areas.
Some cars are close to stalling at 20 mph, my old passat would judder in 3rd gear at 20, and 2nd gear it revved too high
@@keith6400 proof?
I used to live on a road that was a 30mph limit, there was no way you could actually go that fast due to how narrow it was among other factors I usually took is at 15mph or so. The council decided to drop it too a 20mph limit and posted leaflets through everyone's door saying "Kids play here stick to 20mph" or words to that effect. From that day forth I could not drive over 5mph on that road as all the parents had told their kids they could now play in the road. They would run from behind parked cars with no warning having water fights or playing tig. The council as usual had put people in more danger by making silly assumptions of both drivers and parents intelligence.
This is OK in home zones, a road designation common in Holland and now being introduced partially in Ireland. Children are conditioned to recognise a home zone where it is relatively safe to play as opposed to a normal through road where it is definitely not safe to play or engage in careless behaviour. My own estate recently introduced much lower speed limits and initially kids acted the idiot riding around on bikes doing wheelies the wrong way on blind corners and generally playing fast and loose with the rules. The local police had to mount foot patrols and engage in school information sessions to quieten things down. So far no one has been involved in accidents but it is only a matter of time.
How do you play tig?
Sounds more like the parents were the problem. Were they Scousers? They tend to be thick
@@jgdooley2003 Dutchman here. There's often kids playing on the street outside of my home, and it's perfectly safe because the kids are taught to look out for cars, drivers are taught to look out for kids, and the road design itself doesn't allow cars to speed.
@@alex2143 We are not motorists or cyclists, we are all humans. Everybody deserves to get home safe to their families.
20mph speed limits are always nonsensical except past a school during school time or very tight roads or residential roads that are always full of parked cars. This appears to be none of those. As we can see the 20mph makes things more dangerous than it would have been at 30mph. Council folk must be generally stupid, and don't live in the real world hence these decisions. Slower = better and that is the end of their discussion. But that Audi was doing way over 30 anyway I think, and this highlights another issue: speed limits are advisory in the real world. You don't get automatically fined if you go over them, that relies on the small chance of being caught. So lowering the speed limit from 30 to 20 means the already safe drivers are now pointlessly travelling safe while the unsafe drivers are continuing to drive at 40.
You've hit on probably the most important point from the video. Speed difference between vehicles is the biggest danger there, and this 20 limit is widening the gap between the goods and the bads. Thanks for your input :)
It's 20mph... abide by the rule it may be silly but its the law.
It's 20 all around my area except for one road on my route to work, so a 10 minute journey actually turns into up to 30 minutes at 7 in the morning, and since I stick to the speed limit I get overtaken, sometimes dangerously every day. There are few area with tight turns and schools that justify 20 but apart from that they are a nuisance, and hardly anyone I know actually drives at 20.
If people knew how to drive and follow the rules then it wouldn't be so nonsensical and dangerous, would it?
Just to let you know I DON'T agree with what you say here..... & the maths difference between driving at 20 as opposed to 30 does not equate with your difference in journey times?? For the same journey of 10 mins. at 30 should equate into 15 mins. at 20. Not 30 mins. That would be a 10 mph driving speed!
outrageous for that road to be 20, sorry you have to put up with that as a driving instructor. Councils sometimes make the limit excessively low - trying to take the moral high ground, acting like those limits are in our interest
The council will probably have a mobile speed camera set up in the morning and afternoon so they can cash in.
If they had a police officer with a speed gun on that road, they would have a field day!
Part of the problem on that road is that the limit isn't enforced strictly enough :)
It’s all to do with money. Not enough police to enforce the 20mph and not enough money to erect a speed camera that people will undoubtedly slow down for then speed back up.
Whatever speed limit it is no one will keep it that speed. Like the idiot at the end, I think in the dark blue Peugeot, he overtook you and when you took a left he was at a red light!
@urbex2007 from what I understand, speed cameras are only allowed to be put up once a specific section of the road has had a minimum of 3 fatal/life threatening collisions.
We have a 20 mph limit, but we were told by the councillor that they are not legally enforceable
@Badge Ricketts The Police don't obey all these ridiculous 20 mph zones either they go through them at 30 like everyone else.
I only passed a month ago. And rarely go over speed limit. At times going down hills I may go up 2-5mph but bring It back down. Every where i go i stick to limits, and my God do I get abused for following the rules of the road
Keep strong willed. Great job 👍 Ashley
It's shocking. We live in a generation where we can only call so few drivers "professionals".
@Benjamin Taylor. “professional” only means someone does it for a living...
Stay as you are,I do the same..I get abused, and just smile or shake my head at them..Speed limits are there for a reason.
Just a speed trap they aren't using at the moment. They want people to give up on the 20 and go 30 and get used to it. Then one day they'll go collect from the public. At least that's how it seems to me.
There is a notorious speed trap on the N11 southbound from Dublin city at Stillorgan where speed vans hide behind road signs and high walls to catch out motorists. Also sneaky in that the council allow bushes to obscure limit signs and do not rectify signs being maliciously twisted sideways to confuse and mislead motorists.
1000% Ashley. Like you I'm a professional driver and blanketing most area's like this has made roads MORE unsafe without any kind of sensible consultation to see if certain roads warrant a 20mph. Absolutely crazy, this video shows exactly why that road should not be in that 20mph bracket. As a professional driver I find myself looking more in the rear view mirror then focusing what's in front of me. This idea is puting more people in DANGER! 🛑🚫
There is no reason for that road to be a 20, 30 is safe enough. There are far more dangerous roads that have a higher speed limit. That said, if it says 20 then that's what you should do.
I try to pass that exact message on to my pupils. Thanks for watching :)
No, if it says 20 when it is clearly far too low then the majority of people will break it and they are right to do so.
Kempy 79 possibly even 40 although there are several buildings on that road. I think it’s because it’s an industrial estate, and there are probably lorries turning/ manoeuvring.
I laugh at most 20mph zones because you see the police go down them at 30 just like everyone else is doing under their nose and they don't give a damn about it either because they know the limit is usually stupid. As a learner or somebody with a black box it just puts in you in a very shit situation where you have to do 20 but that puts you in danger not just because of poorly matched speed. When you spend all your time looking at the speedo making sure you are not speeding you are not looking at the road meaning you can miss crucial things going on in the road because you have had your concentration diverted to your speed.
Just to add its fine for narrow residential streets etc but on wider and long straight roads this limit is actually a danger.
I feel sorry for black box drivers following speed limits to the letter. On google street view the 20 signs are very poorly signed/placed and not even shown at the beginning of the road plus I've seen more dangerous roads with speed limits higher than this the council need to sort out the difference between reality and the theory of driving. I've always believed it's not the speed that kills it's the difference between speeds that cause so much danger!
Your last sentence is an interesting one. It’s also not very common, but it’s one that I’m with you 100%. Nice 👍 Ashley
It's not speed that kills, it's the sudden stop at the end.
What I found crazy a few years ago was that on the autobahns there was no effective speed limit which means a car could easily do 130+ mph. Coaches if they had tempo 100 were limited to 62.5 mph, if they didn't have were limited to 50 mph. The net result is that the closing speed of a car catching up with a coach could easily be > 70 mph, the speed limit on a UK motorway, and if the car was to hit the coach it would be like someone hitting a stationary coach on a motorway - scarey and the speed limit for coaches is for "safety"
Cigmorfil The standard of driving on the autobahn are very good. Not like the Uk, where people pull out at 20 mph into 70 mph traffic
@@A.Martin
Presumably they can't trust professional drivers not to drive dangerously then?
In the interests of safety they physically limit the speed of a coach or lorry driven by a professional driver, but the amateurs in their cars are not so restricted and thus it can be concluded that the amateurs are trusted to drive safely at any speed!
@@cigmorfil4101 My experience of unlimited autobahns is that german drivers are much more tolerant of speed differences then in the UK. Eg, on two lane autobahns, when overtaking a line of HGV's at, say, 80mph, a car doing 130mph will quickly catch you up, and may then tailgate, but I've never experienced any headlight flashing or childish or aggressive gestures.
Theres a 20mph speed limit main road near me with lots of shops. Each time I drive through I slow to 20. It feels painfully slow.
Most cars don't bother and drive faster. I often get someone driving close behind me and looking visually very hacked off.
I dont want to do 20 either.
I've been involved with setting a load of speed limits here in New Zealand. The road in your clip has all of the signs of a 20 mph limit introduced to discourage rat running (possibly because there is direct residential access at the start). However, nothing about the road tells drivers that 20 is appropriate, the road is straight with limited property access. I'd love to see the assessment that led to this.
In London they have lots of speed cameras in the 20 zones.
How do you know when the 20mph zone ends? They fail you if you continue to go 20 when you pass the school but there is no further speed limit change! How would you know it's exact spot 20 is cancelled when there is NO new speed limit? For if you're new to the area, they can fail you?
That reminds me of the road near Alexandra Palace which is 20 but it’s an empty road. I passed two weeks ago and the other drivers have almost made me hate driving already. Everyday I try to follow the speed limit and I get idiots honking at me or trying to overtake me. It’s enough to give you anxiety.
Yes I agree. Im felling that.
Why not 10MPH, even safer?
Or why not 5MPH???????????????
UK is going MAD!!!!!
Why just not driving at all? It's the safestest! :)
thats what i think mate as well. if 30 is dangerous, why not 1 mph?? it would be extremely safe on the roads
London speed cameras are now set to give points at 24 mph. I got caught with my speed limiter set on 24 that would mean that I could not go faster than 22 mph. I now set it at 22 which shows as 20 mph on Waze and the flashing speed signs.
Even the previous limit of 30 seems too low, unless it's during the worst possible driving conditions. I have the feeling that speed limits more often than not are more about the revenue from speeding tickets rather than what actually is the fastest safe speed.
I agree. 40 would be most suitable.
Speed limits are set for the environment not the road. The issue in the UK is that they just reduce the speed limit without doing anything to the road. That’s just going to piss drivers of. If you drive on Dutch narrow streets designed for 20mph it is quite nice to drive. It is all about road design and the perception of danger but traffic engineers don’t understand that here.
One of my driving instructors other students was almost involved in a head-on during their test when two cars traveling in different directions attempted overtakes at the same time.
Serpent0fEden -was the student in the test car the one pulling out to overtake! 🤨
Here in Birmingham we have 30mph roads and the roads are so tight and houses all on both sides and cars on both sides This is so bad
Hi Neal is it True thay if your coming out of 40mph road that goes straight to 20mph without first changing to 30mph for a prescribed distance! I know of places that that had to change to 30 then for about 300yards to 20?
Good on you for telling it like it is, most 20 limits are ridiculous, bristol is a hot spot for them after our last mad man mayer george ferguson.
And its not even about getting from A to B its about the fact that 20 is an unnaturaly frustrating speed to drive in modern cars.
The only good 20's are in back streets or by schools ect and in backstreets most people naturaly drive about 20 anyway
Exactly. I've been to Bristol several times and noticed this nonsense.
No one in bristol does 20 in those stupid limits. Not even the police
Indeed; your comment around 2:15 is wise! Your local authority doesn't seem to have done a good job, such as altering the road layout to be "self enforcing" (lots of council design documents on this subject are available).
One key point here, that no-one talks about, is that a steady 20 mph means lower emissions. And along this road, there are many places of employment and several bus stops where people will be standing, right next to where the pollution is being created. And crucially, although (again) no-one understands this, if the speed limit were to be raised to 30mph, there's the potential for fewer people to feel safe cycling to one of these workplaces, thus increasing the traffic. There's no getting away from the fact that blanket 20 mph limits are gradually coming in, for the common good, (Wales next year, Scotland in 2025, and hopefully England as soon as possible) and this road illustrates why that is important, even though some commentators can't understand the benefits.
totally agree with the instructor here. some people who make decisions like that do really need a good kick in the head. sad thing is we all pay for some numpty to make these decisions...probably on about £50k per year.
20 is too slow for most roads. It's been done by the same people who want to ban cars. It's mostly done to make driving less enjoyable. I mean look at the area. Straight road, office buildings, very large and open sidewalk with plenty of visibility. There is no reason to keep it 20. Recently, Brighton had to admit it increase road accidents. it doesn't even save on fuel as you have the car in a lower gear.
I suspect it's also a cash grab. Make the speed limit abnormally slow so you can rack up traffic fines from drivers who instinctively go at the proper speed.
20 should be only for small residential streets and during end of school hour.
The thing is they make no money off them at all, even the Police break these 20 limits because they are so absurd. In 2 years only 3 fines have been issued in a 20 zone where I live and believe me there are quite a few of said zones.
There is a 20 mph limit on a long stretch of ring road around estates. Some people do 20, but people overtake them and nearly cause collisions. I do 25-30 mph I think that’s the best compromise
Thank you Ashley! I've never understood why that road is a 20 either. And I don't think anyone does that speed anyway. I think every time I drive down there now I'm going to think of you saying about kicking the person who thought of it in the head! 😃
We have a new 20 mph speed limit on a long stretch of road in a residential area. Yet, outside a school the limit is 30 mph!
I just come across this vid, as a Driving Instructor I have to agree 100% that some roads reduced to 20 are totally inappropriate and are done so by people who either don’t know the road or have no clue about road safety, it’s becoming a box ticking exercise to reduce as many roads as possible to 20 without any proper consideration. Respect to the fore mentioned person who quite rightly said if encourages road rage and an overall ignorance of respective speed limits. This is going to become a major problem if it continues.
My towns littered with 20mph stretches that are beyond pointless... when the government allowed councils to put these in place they literally peppered towns with them.
Oxford is the worst place for nonsensical speed limits. They're all _at least_ 10 mph slower that they should be, sometimes 30 mph. And by all I mean all. There isn't a single national speed limit sign. It's mental.
Why did he signal left on a left turn only lane?
Kieran Anthony Thompson - the ‘Left Only’ is for you; the Turn Signal is for everyone else 😉
I agree with you hundred percent forget Liverpool, everywhere in London they making it twenty and it so hard to drive as people either horn you or overtake you, even the other got pulled over for doing 24 on 20mph road as it to slow which causing pollution, causing more traffic as it flowing slow, i understand if it near a school it should be 20 but 30 every part of London even the main road is ridiculous, I wonder who came up with this idea is total pilick, we as a driver we need to do something before they take over. It a way of making money from us as if you go to speed awareness course they charge £85 so think how many million they have made
@C-ToWn If you don’t get offered the course the fine is based on 100% of your weekly income!
Just abide by the law, you'll be left alone..Your not going to get much further up the road in London before your queuing up at traffic lights..Just chill out lol
There is a permanent 20 mph in part of Bonhill Road, Dumbarton and the police do not enforce it. With two schools, narrow road as two commercial vehicles cannot pass each other, due to cars parked on west side of road.
Five years on. Did you ever find the reason (for the seemingly absurd 20mph limit)?
I imagine the frequency of lorries slowly pulling out is the reason, lorries have a tough time pulling out at the best of times, a mile or so of 20mph won’t hurt anyone apart from those breaking the rules, the road planners have a far better idea than us, with stats and figures
There's a road like this near me. It's 30mph on to a roundabout at each end of the road and doesn't change as you exit these roundabouts, so the road is 30. I've had it confirmed by a driving instructor also. People always assume it's 40mph and speed or do stupid overtakes like this. I've even had people parp their horn at me for doing the speed limit!
*edit* The 30 limit in this case does make sense; there are nearby houses and 2 bus stops where kids wait.
Have to do a speed awareness course now because of one of these. 90£ because of an officer with a camera. I really wonder why they put him there.
I've noticed the same problem in Bristol. One of my cousins lives there and got fined for doing 26 in a 20 zone.
Bloody ridiculous. The road he was on did not lead to a dead-end, none of that. Such a road just screams 30 zone.
In The United States 🇺🇸 Canada 🇨🇦 And Australia 🇦🇺 Still Happens Like That
I Did 35 MPH (57 km/h) In A 20 MPH (30 km/h) Zone And No Fine Or Consiquence
20mph is bonkers for that, it should be 30 or even 40 if there wasn't so many junctions. The only one thing why it might be a 20mph limit, just in the bit where all the junctions are, is if there's a lot of lorries in and out but like you said, it's excessive because even if people were doing 30 or 40mph and a lorry was trying to pull out slowly, they'd be let out, probably =P
At the very start of the video was there a 20 sign? Could not spot it
at 0:28 you can se the sign on the other side of the road
Yeah I know that I meant literally at the very start
What was the pupil's comment just as they rounded the corner? Something about "20" and Ashley replies "well done".
One thing that I struggle with is knowing what the speed limit is for roads that are 20mph and 30mph because I struggle looking around for a speed limits while observing everything else when turning into a road. My test is tomorrow 😕. But I think gathering from this video a 20 mph road is when there are signs that there could be danger I.e where kids may be and where there are many crossing.
A notorious thing in Ireland is that councils neglect roadside shrubbery and let over grow speed limit signs. Even worse are vandals who turn the signs sideways to confound motorists and lead to speeding when lower limits are missed. You csnnot fight these tickets as the onus is on the driver to know the speed limits in any given area.
I have driven in the UK and at least there you see council workers cleaning the signage and cutting away overgrown shrubbery. I doesn't happen often enough here.
Great video. Agree with what you've said.
Funnily, the other day whilst I was sticking to the 20 limit, I had a Porsche Taycan blast past me in said 20 zone. Still, he was saving the environment so all's well.
We have this situation now in North Cardiff, where I live - one of the areas in Wales that is trialling 20mph national speed limit in built-up areas. I have a GPS logger connected to the car's OBDII port for insurance purposes (I get far cheaper insurance as a result), so I'm not keen to exceed the promulgated limits. I see cars passing me all the time, and I think it's made the roads less safe because people aren't following the rules. It's more scary to drive now, and I have just installed a dashcam for the first time as I wouldn't be surprised to be involved in an accident that would probably not be my fault. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up sharing some clips out of that.
They put a camera on Rhiwbina Hill rather than in the village which is where there's obviously more ppl on bikes and trying to cross the road on foot.
The *WHOLE* of Central London is now *20 MPH* with a phalanx of cameras to enforce it! *KERCHING, KERCHING, KERCHING!*
@Deep Heat ...and Police with ‘speed’ detection guns
@@c7uk
Yup!
Which road in Liverpool DO people stick to the 20mph speed limit?
None.
I notice there are some around schools which is fine but they should change to 30 when the school is closed.
It must get quite frustrating
I confess I can rarely drive for too long at 20 mph. But there are places, usually inside grounds, that have limits of 5 mph. IN that case, why allow vehicles in at all?
How do you get to 5mph lol. I go as slow as I can and the speedo still says about 8!
I would put a 25mph limit on urban roads where pedestrians are not separated by a barrier or decent size verge. Big difference between 20 and 30 really, the trouble with 30 is its gets exponentially more lethal around that momentum and people will tend to barrel right up against speed limits or a little over so 25 is a decent rate for safety.
I disagree with the people who say that you should follow the rules.
The 20MPH speed limit was brought in following pressure from a cyclist pressure group and adopted by councils, just because politically it was the in thing to do. In my area the 20MPH speed limit was brought in following a few months of trails and paid for by suspending things like school crossing patrols.
Previously the in thing was speed humps and redesigning roads to become obsticale courses. The speed humps used to be painted white so you could see them in the dark but they are not anymore. They are a hazard now.
Do you want to say publicly that people should ignore speed limits?
Good luck with that...
If a road is a certain speed limit, design the road for that speed limit. If this is a 20 mph zone, use speed bumps and chicanes to actually force cars to adhere to that limit.
on my motorcycle i was going 20mph and other road users were going right up my arse i was in fear of an accident no doubt the vehicle owner would just drive off leaving me on the road with no one to claim off .these limits need a re-think
A 20 mile an hour limit in that situation just makes a mockery of the law. Even with the best will in the world, eventually everybody is just going to ignore it. The person that suggested a 20 mile an hour limit and the people that authorised it are just arseholes. I certainly wouldn't be doing 20 miles an hour there unless I suspected there what is a speed camera or some sort of speed trap. That is probably the reason they have it as a 20: to milk drivers of their money by setting up speed traps in absurd situations like that.
20 mph is far too slow. I think outside of schools is fine, but elsewhere it causes more problems than it tries to prevent
I get the feeling there are some roads where people would usually go 40, so they limited it down to 20 so people would go 30
That is absurd. You can't base things around the assumption that people will break the rules!
@@johngunner5879 haha!
But then as someone else pointed out, what actually happens is law-abiding drivers now travel at 20, while other drivers are still going 40, making it more dangerous because of the speed difference
@@johngunner5879 It is a concept known as horse trading. Very common in real life situations. It is used a lot in wage negotiations and price haggling.
Wait until September 2023 in Wales. All 30 limits will be reduced to 20. Total madness.
I live in a housing estate which is a "Twentys Plenty" zone. Multiple streets are a max twenty zone. I have seen people go along past a primary school (also a 20 zone), doing 40mph. If a kid were to cross the road at the same time the tw*ts speed along, they might not see the end of the day!!
Average area?
There should be public consultation regarding these limits, not just confined to police or town planners who are notoriously addicted to optics regardless of actual practicalities. This 20mph zone in an industrial area, if it is not near hospitals. schools or institutions catering to people with special needs is a joke. The big trouble with such vexatiously low speed limits is that it brings other speed limits into disrepute and causes speeding in other zones where such low speed limits are necessary.
In Ireland special road signs are used to indicate schools, hospitals, public transport hubs and level crossings etc so that passing motorists are aware of the reason behind a suspiciously low speed limit. I do not know what the signage situation is like in the UK but I would imagine it is similar. Good work with the student driver who kept a steady course and speed and did not wobble or slow down when overtaken by the other cars or did not engage in groupthink by speeding up to join the bandwagon of speeding drivers. Giving the police the excuse of "everyone else is speeding" if caught will not work, as I have found out to my cost in the past.
Here in Wales, we're about to face a blanket 20mph limit, and no, nobody has considered any of that
Yes they have. They hate you and your car!
i almost died inside the many times she went close to the kerb
:P
@@waifuracer6516 Was it you in the car?
@Badge Ricketts Nope, hitting grates everywhere. But... a learner, however I'd be telling her to get into the road and off mounting the pavement
20mph will damage your engine in the long run but that’s the general idea.
Madness. I think 20 mph limits on many residential roads are a good idea, but you still get passed and it does feel very slow, but on this road it's crazy because it makes it less safe.
What makes 🤔 it unsafe is speeding, impatient, angry drivers..The road isn't Dangerous..
@@TheTony70504 I don't know the road, but driving at 20mph reduces the drivers concentration, there are few hazards to detect so drivers, even careful ones, switch off, so when a hazard does occur it's less likely to be spotted. This makes the road less safe even before the impatient over-takers are factored in.
Spot on.
I abhor speeders but that road should be 40 not 20.
That's saying something coming from the likes of me.
40 seems a bit high. That road is pretty complex, at some points lined with houses and access to driveways. I personally think 30mph would be adequate for safety in a collision.
Drive down that road lots of times, never noticed to 20mph signs
Dr Peterson, a Father the world needs ........Seems you're not the only one!
Yes there are roads like this where 20mph is nonsensical, but no more nonsensical really than a 70mph limit on much of the M5 for example.
I'm not against speed limits as a whole but they are far too often arbitrary and lack logical consistency relative to the real risk involved. That's why so many people ignore them.
The first clip.. When changing from 2nd to 1st lane in roundabout the drivers in 1st lane has to give way to you? I didnt know that.. But where i live in Sweden its the other way around.. you have to give way to other cars in the roundabout when you are changing lane. Would be interessting to get this confirmed by someone living in the UK :)
taztaz79 I'm confused by you saying roundabout? Where she started she was fine you have to give way to people on the main road and if you do change lane you need to check it's clear no one has to give way to you if they are changing lanes
@taztaz79 - I’m guessing you watched another clip before this one?
Anyway, in UK we give way to the right, so on a roundabout you give way to those already on in or entering ‘further back’. In the rest of Europe, despite driving on the opposite side of the road, you also give way to the right on roundabouts, which means cars joining in front of you... I prefer the UK method (on this!!) and makes for interesting driving for tourists 😂
I mean It's not to much of a crowded road over the majority of sections it's pretty clear with no entrances so 20s a bit low. It's it residential over one stretch though. I think there should be 25mph limits as well. This one's probably alright as a 30 but a lot of roads it seems like 20 is a bit to slow and 30s a bit too fast. There is a big difference between 20 and 30mph really, especially in urban area with such variation of roads.
One of ash's comments here very disappointing though.
Thanks for this one.
But although there was no excuse for those who overtook, with no penalty for doing so it will keep happening on that road
Maybe some highway agency`s son or daughter boy or girl racer nearly had their chips here and it was put in place to protect them?
They want disincentivise driving as opposed to other transport. OK, so when your gran needs her carer by 5pm, you think she's gonna turn up on a pushbike?
In congested high streets at 3pm, 20 is OK but as a blanket policy it's bonkers.
It shouldn't be the 20 limit being blamed if there is a good reason for it, it is the road design. A road designed for x mph should look like x mph is suitable for that road. What they could do is use a bit of those wide verges and some of the road width and introduce a protected cycle lane. It would make the road appropriate for a 20 limit, and that would be mostly imposed by the nature of the road itself as it should be, and also allow people to cycle safer
Look around and you’ll see lots and lots of anti car measures on British roads. Junctions made smaller, more and more bumps in the road to slow us down. Climate change evangelicals have taken over the town halls and will do everything and anything to get people out of cars, from under used cycle lanes, 20 mph roads( Wigan has the most in the country) 3 lane roads reduced to 2 and not forgetting ULEZ. Labour controlled councils appear to be the worst culprits. Great videos Ashley helping me enormously with my Advanced motoring course.
Some 20 limits contradict the highway code.
Why are they in mph and not kmh?
Because road distances are in miles and not km.
@@cigmorfil4101 Not quite. Public signs use imperial numbers, but the actual modern road design documentation, and indeed the measurement of various surface lines, construction standards etc, are metric, so it’s all done in metres. Marker posts and position signs on Motorways are also metric. Historically, the Govt. of the day managed to split metrication ‘half way’, as it were, around the time when we started buying fuel in metric units, rather than gallons etc.
@@johnkeepin7527
Ever looked at the numbers on the market posts?
There are two numbers, one on top of another, the latter of which runs from 0-9, and when it changes from 9 to 0, the top number increases.
As they are 100m apart (near enough the stopping distance at 112.65 km/h) the lower number is counting 100m or 0.1 km and the top number is counting km.
The question then arises: counting from where? ie where is the 0 km mark? From where are you that distance (in km)?
For some motorways it is where they start (eg M5 junc with M6, M42 junc with M5). But others start higher than 0.
On the motorways radiating from London there is no 0 km mark (eg the M1 starts at 11.1, M11 starts at 12.0, M23 starts at 28 5), but if extrapolated into London, they would all have their 0 at the same point - "Charing Cross" (the 0 distance mark for all distances to London).
When the M6 splits from the M1 it starts at 133.0 - continuing the numbering from the M1 (so you still know how far from London you are via M1).
For the M25 the 0 mark would be at junction 31 (which is also 191.8)
At 1:57 I momentarily thought “oh shit a spaceship!”
Blanket 20mph speed limit in my borough now. Some areas were safely 60mph until last year and are now regularly attended by mobile speed cameras. Its a money maker and a complete pain. Its turning drivers into mindless zombies, who are going to fall asleep at the wheel.
Been down so many roads that should stay 30 mph . 20 is plain stupid actually makes it harder to drive and with all the extra street furniture more dangerous.
If drivers didn't have all the crap going on around them roads would be safer.
I've been passed by electric scooters. WTF.
"I've been passed by electric scooters. WTF." hahaha - that london feeling when you're doing 20 from one set of traffic lights to another which only turn red as soon as you reach them because you're too slow to move in the golden ratio of avoiding red after red, and a cyclist overtakes you on the left, a scooter whizzes past you on the right and then onto the curb, while a bus sticks out into your lane from a turn which then causes you to wait again at the red light because of how long it took the bus to pass, all the while the taxi behind you is flashing their lights and giving you vocal encouragement, finished off by another cyclist passing you on the right straight through a red light. God it feels good to pay that road tax, congestion charge, and diesel tax. The residence parking permit fee also feels real good when resident's parking spaces are removed bit by bit to make way for cycle lanes :)
Industrial area where lorries could be reversing or turning out of entrances and coming onto the other side of the road to get round the corner couldn’t be the reason for the slower speed limit could it!!!!!! 🤔
30mph is fine for that, as it has been for years. The 20mph limit is being rolled out purely to protect pedestrians from death/injury in collisions (all the marketing around this cites the statistics on 30mph vs 20mph collisions). As there are hardly any pedestrians in this area, much less children, the 20mph limit is inappropriate as the instructor states.
why not go back to a man with a red flag walking in front !
red flag walking in front then could do 10mph, Imagen the health&safety for that job title to day?
Resident parking only, congestion charge, le zones, toll roads, Road humps, speed cameras, pot holes, width restrictions yellow boxes, bus lanes. What next to sap the fun out of driving. 20mph because our roads need more rules.
Next it will be 15mph!
I believe it's still a 20 limit along there, so get a campaign going, get people to write to their councillors.
It's going to get much worse when drivers with points on their licences start driving around at 15mph in a 20mph area.
I very much agree. I think there shouldn't even be a speed limit on that road. I mean, you can clearly see very far ahead and there's not many hazards.
You are crackers! No speed limit?
I have been beeped and given rude hand signals for doing 20mph in a 20 limit. If the limit is causing that much friction it's probably somewhat counter productive, but its still out of order to beep someone like that.
OMG how come no one has raised this 20mph limit issue on such a long road to the council. It should be 30mph
This seems to be from 5 years ago. Now 20mph is quite normal and sensible on lots of residential streets. Like seat belts, drink during laws and crash helmets from long ago. Always objections initially until the nay-sayers and people who think that owning a motor vehicle gives them a god-given right to ignore the rights of other road users eventually get the message, usually the hard way via the long arm of the law.
But "smart" motorways ARE dangerous.
At the end of the day it really doesn't matter if the speed limit is 30, 20 or even 10... if people don't bother looking while crossing a road you are going to get hit by someone eventually.
Ashley, Have you approached the council and asked why it's a 20 limit?
In London there was a consultation where not even a mere 1000 people said they wanted a blanket 20mph limit and now all the main routes are a continuous 20mph zone. 🙄 Kinda takes the emphasis off school zones etc and probably increases complacency of both motorists and pedestrians.
Now in Wales 🏴
Drivers are going to break the law anyway,set the limit to 20,that way people will feel like they're speeding if they go 30
That's my guess as to why they set it up that way.It's all psychological.
I never understand this 'they will just be waiting at the next set of lights' mentality. Its using your frame of reference as a driver as a relative point of comparison with other road users. What matters is the average velocity and acceleration along the route. If average velocity is higher, the destination will be reached faster. The position in the imaginary 'queue' is irrelevant.
In 2023, this is still absolutely stupidity at its best from the clowns that imposed this law. We now have cameras that'll do you for being over 20mph. I can understand it near a school but nowhere else, 30 is good enough! I cycle at 20mph!
Speed limits are only for sensible people, not idiots.
That’s outrageous, that road should be a 30 (or even 40 in some parts) it’s just the councils bad attitude that slower = safer, same in Edinburgh where I’m from, far too many unnecessary 20 limits, all it does it annoy people and cause road rage
Jobsworth made it a 20mph zone. No reason for it whatsoever. These types of scenario will make people disregard speed limits altogether, so great job if that's what was being sought.
Perhaps 10 mph next ? Cos its even SAFER !
Some parts of that road would traditionally be 40mph. What were the council thinking?! Just the councils answer to all of their road safety problems. Cheapest way. Im sure if 1mph signs were mass produced that would be the limit along this road.
There is a dual Carrageway which was 70, now it’s 40 mph. It’s far too slow, it’s a modern road too with wide lanes
I often wonder whether the people who make these decisions actually drive a vehicle!