I have been a critic of the people who are in charge of placing speed limit signs throughout the country because they often do silly things. Keep in mind that we must be travelling at no more than the posted limit when we pass the sign, all too often no real thought has been put into whether the driver can actually comply without standing on the brake.
We are constantly confronted by speed reduction signs that take us down from 120 to 90 to 70 to 40 over a breathtakingly short strip. Then there are those strips of road that allow us to go from 50 upon exiting the town to 70, and then, just when you don't expect, back to 50 again. We should have simply held it at 50 in the first place.
There are some very long strips of road where no one can be sure of what the limit is because there are no postings. I have seen the police take full advantage of the confusion by regularly conducting radar checks in that area. Needless to say many poor sods are pulled over and relieved of money that was intended for the mortgage.
There is one area in which the authorities do get it right, and so I must be a supporter. It occcurred to me that for some considerable time I have driven at what feels like a comfortable and safe speed, in ideal conditions. Then I see the posted speed limit and a glance at my speedometer reveals I am cruising at exactly that speed. This has happened so many times that I have come to feel that in this instance they have got it right. Naturally, when conditions change so should we adjust our speed.
The condition of our tyres are crucial, and the state of the road surface does matter. In a recent television documentary that looked at stopping distances, it is amazing how we can go from stopping efficiently within a short predictable distance, to sliding right out of the frame and presumably into the vehicle ahead of us. The fault for that will absolutely be the driver coming from behind.
The point of this is to highlight the fact that too much speed is normally present in every crash.. Even speed that is not outrageously fast can still be too fast for the siuation. For instance, when driving among a lot of people who are walking 20kph would be way too fast. I suggest we take our lead from the speed limit signs under ideal conditions. In this they seem to have got it right.
Copyright (c) 2015 Eugene Carmichael
REST FREQUENTLY WHEN DRIVING LONG DISTANCES. TIREDNESS IS A KILLER.
