Speeding

Another lively discussion in the Shuttle comments amazingly not on the GTTS site proposals; but on another topic close to Middle England's heart ;-) - speed cameras.

It seems that mobile speed cameras are being set up on a couple of roads in Kidderminster; now personally I have no problem with them as I also attempt to maintain my speed slightly below the limit set (I say attempt as I can't stare at my speedo at all times and when someone rushes up the back of you or zips away in front my speed my go slightly over before I can correct it); however it's one particular road where these are being added that has inflamed my ire - Chester Road South.

Take a look for yourselves at this wide road with separate cycle lanes and displaced footways and ask "Why is this a 30 mph limit?". In this case the limit was dropped from 40mph in 2002 the reasons for which are probably still filed away at the District Council offices (viewable during office hours); but hey I'm sure they were logical and reasonable. So why do I still have a problem? Because having driven down this road multiple times I find it almost impossible to stay at or below the speed limit due to the road surface. In short the road surface undulations - it has ridges in it. Drive in my car at 20-30mph and it starts to jolt slightly; continue and it shivers as if there's a problem with the suspension; but pick up speed to 35-40mph (where the limit used to be) and the shaking stops.

In other words on this particular stretch of road they're setting up traps to capture people driving at a speed that the road itself forces you to. For my part shortly after the change and subsequent shivering I found myself experiencing I now completely avoid this road altogether.

The main gist is that rather than set up deterrents and punishments for those who exceed the posted speed limits perhaps first the question should be asked as to exactly why people speed here?

On a related point - personally I have little problem with speed limits, but it would be nice to be able to easily discover why they've been changed.

One final point on this road 66% of drivers exceed the limit and 15% travel above 38.7mph. Beyond that rather specific measurement that means that around half of the drivers are likely to be within the 10%+2mph margin of error that the speed enforcement agency uses and thus unlikely to be fined anyway.