3 ms·
People drive the speed that feels comfortable. If you design a road like a highway: wide lanes, straight, flat, open, smooth, no traffic coming against you, yo
by caturopath 6y ago
People drive the speed that feels comfortable.
If you design a road like a highway: wide lanes, straight, flat, open, smooth, no traffic coming against you, you'll drive highway speeds.
If you have narrow lanes, narrow areas, trees, rough surfaces, twists, tight portions, raised areas, etc. you'll drive more carefully.
Putting up a sign with a number is just "We tried nothing and we're all out of ideas".
- wutbrodo 6y agoWhile true, this feels like a tangent. In this case, "cars following the speed limit" serve the same traffic-calming purpose as the urban planning choices you're describing.
- caturopath 6y agoSure, if you can't pass and there's someone in front of you going slow, it will force you to slow down. Most injuries and deaths by car in SF are of people outside of cars, and I suspect that the drivers who maimed/killed those people were usually in front / catching up, not following someone at high speed and had their victim jump between.
- JeremyNT 6y agoIf they consistently got a ticket for exceeding the number on the sign, I'm betting people would suddenly feel a lot less comfortable at higher speeds regardless of what the road looks like. The reason people drive as fast as they feel comfortable is that speed limits are seldom and inconsistently enforced, so people are more restricted by their own notion of safety than the risk of any legal consequences.
- FuckButtons 6y agoThis is (mostly) correct as any country with a significant Gatso camera presence will attest. In the UK people more or less drive exactly at the speed limit at all times because of the profusion of speed cameras and heavy penalties for speeding. (Up to and including a lifetime ban from driving)