3 ms·

> Many speed limits are set lower than they need to be. Sounds like you are a qualified expert and know more about road design, traffic flow and pedestrian saf

by grecy 3y ago

> Many speed limits are set lower than they need to be. Sounds like you are a qualified expert and know more about road design, traffic flow and pedestrian safety than those doing the job now. Clearly you need to apply for a position so you can right these so obvious wrongs. Please, don’t pretend you can do the job better than qualified experts

genman 3y ago
In many cases those experts are quite dumb and speed limits are arbitrary. You can see it most clearly in Europe where different countries have set different speed limits for similar road conditions. For example in one country the speed limit in highway tunnels is 80 km/h, but in others 90 km/h while the width of the road is similar, or even mostly wider where the limit is lower. The same kind of highway can have 30 km/h limit difference over countries. Some countries recognize higher variance of speeds in the cities than 30 or 50 km/h others don't.
- d-lisp 3y ago
  In France, some *départements* adopted the 80km/h limitation while some other kept the 90km/h one, this has to deal with a compromise between safety, co2 emissions and current road behavior and population requirements. The decision to transition from 90 to 80 has been backed by some test which tended to show a reduction of mortality by 12%. Initially, most of the places where 90km/h is kept are huge countryside regions in which the traffic is low and the population has to drive actually quite some time in order to reach any city. The difference may seem insignificant in terms of travel time, but it felt like it was a huge topic back in 2018-2019 where the new limitations appeared. Now, more and more départements are asking for derogations to fall back to the 90km/h limitation, the main reason for this being 58% of the population in france doesn't follow the 80km/h limitation and doesn't consider 90 more dangerous than 80 (no test implied this time, 58% of france population is "optimistic"). So maybe for each country, before experts gave roads their current speed limitations, the way the population drove was taken into account by those experts or was taken into account *in place* of experts analysis, in order for the limitations to be a negotiation/compromise between current habits and experts analysis, in the best cases, and only an affirmation of the population *sentiment* in the worst cases. Some départements opted for another solution by putting some 70km/h limitation on dangerous sections of a road mainly limited to 90. The problem is that often, when I drive at 70km/h in these sections, some deadly stupid person is stuck full speed right behind me, nearly kissing the back of my car, flashing me with a stroboscopic lights-on lights-off motion because they do probably think that 90 is not less safe than 70 (ability to judge if a situation is safe : eternally damaged). The problem is not the road experts analysis in EU, but the political decision to apply or not the analysis, and the population refus to follow the limitations.
- thayne 3y ago
  Same thing in the US. Different states have different speed limits. The same road will change limits at a state border.
  - gorlilla 3y ago
    We have entire highway segments that have variable speed limits that change with traffic density and weather conditions. The speed limit signs are digital and update whenever a change is necessary.
jack_pp 3y ago
Can you give proof that these limits are set by "experts", what makes them experts? What are their qualifications?
- justinclift 3y ago
  Probably useful to also have access to their tests + test data as well. We've probably all heard stories about corruption between the manufacturers of speed cameras and various public utilities.
thaumasiotes 3y ago
The qualified experts aren't the same people who set the limits. It's very common for a low speed limit to be "backed" by a professional report recommending a significantly higher limit.
NikolaNovak 3y ago
What experts? Majority of speed limits are in residential areas set up by the neighbour who complains, as the poster above just proudly did [1]. So the speed starts at 50kph set up by experts when the suburb is created, and 20 years later a random subset of streets is down to 20kph, because somebody somewhere lived there and was bored enough with their life to pester the city hall. And while that may sound cynical and hostile, it is literally what happened in my last 2 neighbourhoods. There was no expertise, no statistics, no evaluation. Just complaints and no political will to ever refuse or re-examine. On hwys in my area, experts and studies have repeatedly over years suggested increases are feasible. But it keeps getting delayed. Here's the reality - those who want to go faster will silently go faster. Those who want to go slower will very loudly insist that everybody goes slower. And bureaucratd will be bureaucrats and take the low risk route. 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37440983 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37440983
- matheusmoreira 3y ago
  Same thing happened where I live. In my case these people didn't just lower the speed limits, they littered the streets with speed bumps and "raised pedestrian crossings" which are just speed bumps with pedestrian crossings on top. I hate it so much.
  - beebeepka 3y ago
    Oh the horrors of stopping dangerous driving
    - NikolaNovak 3y ago
      Oh boo to the fake holier than thou virtue signalling :-> We will never have meaningful discussion if we pretend that the only safe speed is 0kph and we all need to stay home and anybody driving is a dangerous maniac. Because if you take the categorical stance that e.g. 40kph is reasonable and all people who want to do 50kph are dangerous drivers who must be stopped, be aware that somebody else thinks 30kph is reasonable and you are a ridiculously dangerous stunt driver for suggesting 40. It's the old "everybody who drivers slower than me is a moron, everybody who drives faster is a maniac". Have the self awareness that your preferred speed is not the only way to be. There are many dangerous driving aspects other than going 105kph on a 6 lane straight modern hwy.

by grecy 3y ago

genman 3y ago

In many cases those experts are quite dumb and speed limits are arbitrary. You can see it most clearly in Europe where different countries have set different speed limits for similar road conditions. For example in one country the speed limit in highway tunnels is 80 km/h, but in others 90 km/h while the width of the road is similar, or even mostly wider where the limit is lower. The same kind of highway can have 30 km/h limit difference over countries. Some countries recognize higher variance of speeds in the cities than 30 or 50 km/h others don't.

d-lisp 3y ago
In France, some *départements* adopted the 80km/h limitation while some other kept the 90km/h one, this has to deal with a compromise between safety, co2 emissions and current road behavior and population requirements. The decision to transition from 90 to 80 has been backed by some test which tended to show a reduction of mortality by 12%. Initially, most of the places where 90km/h is kept are huge countryside regions in which the traffic is low and the population has to drive actually quite some time in order to reach any city. The difference may seem insignificant in terms of travel time, but it felt like it was a huge topic back in 2018-2019 where the new limitations appeared. Now, more and more départements are asking for derogations to fall back to the 90km/h limitation, the main reason for this being 58% of the population in france doesn't follow the 80km/h limitation and doesn't consider 90 more dangerous than 80 (no test implied this time, 58% of france population is "optimistic"). So maybe for each country, before experts gave roads their current speed limitations, the way the population drove was taken into account by those experts or was taken into account *in place* of experts analysis, in order for the limitations to be a negotiation/compromise between current habits and experts analysis, in the best cases, and only an affirmation of the population *sentiment* in the worst cases. Some départements opted for another solution by putting some 70km/h limitation on dangerous sections of a road mainly limited to 90. The problem is that often, when I drive at 70km/h in these sections, some deadly stupid person is stuck full speed right behind me, nearly kissing the back of my car, flashing me with a stroboscopic lights-on lights-off motion because they do probably think that 90 is not less safe than 70 (ability to judge if a situation is safe : eternally damaged). The problem is not the road experts analysis in EU, but the political decision to apply or not the analysis, and the population refus to follow the limitations.
thayne 3y ago
Same thing in the US. Different states have different speed limits. The same road will change limits at a state border.
- gorlilla 3y ago
  We have entire highway segments that have variable speed limits that change with traffic density and weather conditions. The speed limit signs are digital and update whenever a change is necessary.

jack_pp 3y ago

Can you give proof that these limits are set by "experts", what makes them experts? What are their qualifications?

justinclift 3y ago
Probably useful to also have access to their tests + test data as well. We've probably all heard stories about corruption between the manufacturers of speed cameras and various public utilities.

thaumasiotes 3y ago

The qualified experts aren't the same people who set the limits. It's very common for a low speed limit to be "backed" by a professional report recommending a significantly higher limit.

NikolaNovak 3y ago

What experts? Majority of speed limits are in residential areas set up by the neighbour who complains, as the poster above just proudly did [1]. So the speed starts at 50kph set up by experts when the suburb is created, and 20 years later a random subset of streets is down to 20kph, because somebody somewhere lived there and was bored enough with their life to pester the city hall. And while that may sound cynical and hostile, it is literally what happened in my last 2 neighbourhoods. There was no expertise, no statistics, no evaluation. Just complaints and no political will to ever refuse or re-examine. On hwys in my area, experts and studies have repeatedly over years suggested increases are feasible. But it keeps getting delayed. Here's the reality - those who want to go faster will silently go faster. Those who want to go slower will very loudly insist that everybody goes slower. And bureaucratd will be bureaucrats and take the low risk route. 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37440983 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37440983

matheusmoreira 3y ago
Same thing happened where I live. In my case these people didn't just lower the speed limits, they littered the streets with speed bumps and "raised pedestrian crossings" which are just speed bumps with pedestrian crossings on top. I hate it so much.
- beebeepka 3y ago
  Oh the horrors of stopping dangerous driving
  - NikolaNovak 3y ago
    Oh boo to the fake holier than thou virtue signalling :-> We will never have meaningful discussion if we pretend that the only safe speed is 0kph and we all need to stay home and anybody driving is a dangerous maniac. Because if you take the categorical stance that e.g. 40kph is reasonable and all people who want to do 50kph are dangerous drivers who must be stopped, be aware that somebody else thinks 30kph is reasonable and you are a ridiculously dangerous stunt driver for suggesting 40. It's the old "everybody who drivers slower than me is a moron, everybody who drives faster is a maniac". Have the self awareness that your preferred speed is not the only way to be. There are many dangerous driving aspects other than going 105kph on a 6 lane straight modern hwy.