Re:Wales' 20mph speed limit: How has the first month gone?
by _dain_ on Tuesday October 17, 2023 @04:30AM
(#37912067)
>inb4 pitchfork raising amongst the anti-car rabble
I don't know why you think anti-car people would raise pitchforks at that. In fact this was my criticism of the proposal when I lived in Wales; there seemed to be little attempt to alter the street environments to match the lower limits. I want effective 20 mph zones and that can't happen just by changing a few speed limit signs.
My prediction was that it would backfire: motorists behaviours wouldn't change, so the speed limits would be flouted even more than they are now. Councils wouldn't enforce it consistently, giving credence to the view that it's simply a revenue-generating scheme and/or a way for police to punish people arbitrarily. This is already the case for parking offenses; Cardiff motorists can park on double-yellows with almost complete impunity. Then, populist backlash, law gets repealed, making it even harder to get support for real street safety measures in the future.
Re:Wales' 20mph speed limit: How has the first month gone?
by _dain_ on Tuesday October 17, 2023 @04:39AM
(#37912148)
Well I'm sure that's the case for some of them but you shouldn't let jokers and extremists poison your opinion of what is in reality a quite sensible policy.
I don't know why you think anti-car people would raise pitchforks at that. In fact this was my criticism of the proposal when I lived in Wales; there seemed to be little attempt to alter the street environments to match the lower limits. I want effective 20 mph zones and that can't happen just by changing a few speed limit signs.
My prediction was that it would backfire: motorists behaviours wouldn't change, so the speed limits would be flouted even more than they are now. Councils wouldn't enforce it consistently, giving credence to the view that it's simply a revenue-generating scheme and/or a way for police to punish people arbitrarily. This is already the case for parking offenses; Cardiff motorists can park on double-yellows with almost complete impunity. Then, populist backlash, law gets repealed, making it even harder to get support for real street safety measures in the future.