From: spk@uk.ac.aber (Stephen Kingston)
Newsgroups: can.general,soc.culture.canada
Subject: Re: Change the speed limit
Date: 19 Aug 92 15:55:01 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept., University of Wales at Aberystwyth.

donald@sq.sq.com (Donald Teed) wrote:
> 
> OK, then what do they do in Europe when the traffic is bumper to bumper
> moving at 1XX km/h and a heavy tractor trailer uses the full merge length
> but only reaches 40 km/h by the time it is forced to take the a
> position in the right lane?  

In Britain a tractor would not be allowed onto a motorway and would 
be suitably rare on a dual carriageway, thus making this particular example
somewhat unlikely. (Additionally, of course, the acceleration lane joins
with the left lane here!)

A week ago I was involved in an incident which was perhaps comparable. A
car (with a trailer) had stopped on the hard shoulder (which is actually 
illegal except in cases of breakdown/emergency). The particular piece of 
hard shoulder he chose was just short of my exit and he chose to rejoin 
the motorway by simply pulling out into the left lane.

I consequently had to brake hard until I reduced speed to his 30m.p.h 
(45 k.m.h) and then turned off onto my exit. (What he should have done
of course was to accelerate to 70m.p.h on the hard shoulder and then 
pull out).

Really there is not much else I could have done in this situation, so
I agree that no amount of driving competance is going to make up for 
idiocy on the part of other drivers.

However, I do not think that speed restrictions are the most effective 
means of accident control. A greater amount of training in motorway 
driving would be better. If people knew how to use a hard shoulder, the 
above incident would not have happened (and, btw, I did get uncomfortably 
close to the aforementioned car). Britain has an advanced driving test 
which anyone can take. Insurance companies often give discounts to 
people who have taken their A.D.T.

> Can someone fill us in on the difference
> in (1) density of road use 

British roads are far more crowded then Canadian roads. I think this is
true for the most of Europe.

> (2) design of highways and associated
> planning of merging roadways.  

Most British roads are old and were not originally designed for fast 
moving motor vehicles. In this part of Wales we have many roads with 
numerous bends, high hedges and humped backed bridges which are only 
one and a half car widths in breadth.

The speed limit on these roads (outside of built up areas) is a somewhat
ridiculous 60 m.p.h. and there are some people who decide to stretch 
that somewhat.

Motorways are more like the Canadian Highways I have seen. These have 
three lanes of traffic and a supposed speed limit of 70 m.p.h (the 
de-facto limit is actually 80). It is easy to drive fast on these roads.
One particular law which adds to safety on motorways is that no-one can
overtake on the left, thus if you are in a right hand lane and want to 
leave the motorway you can easily pull over to the left hand lane knowing 
that no-one is going to bump you from behind.

>   How many lanes do these excellent
> drivers in Europe have to choose from?  How long are the merge areas?
> Are there traffic lights before the entrance ramps that cause 12 vehicles,
> sometimes lead by a tractor trailer, to enter the highway all at once?

There are no motorways in mid-Wales. Local drivers have only one lane and
the occasional straight stretch of road is the only chance to pass slow 
traffic (and in the summer we have lots of slow traffic)! 

> Are the excellent drivers of the highways of Germany, etc., forced
> to tailgate because there is no where else to place one's vehicle?
> (I'm referring to tailgating as a violation of the two second following
> distance standard.)

On some urban motorways if you leave a safe gap someone will invariably 
pull into it. I find this annoying. Fortunately I don't often have to 
drive on urban motorways.

Oh, as for the "excellent drivers" bit, I don't think European drivers 
are really even approaching excellent. There is a lot of stupidity on 
our roads, what with macho drivers trying to prove how they can drive 
like a rally driver, and various people who carefully take all bends at 
30 m.p.h before accelerating to 65 on the next straight bit, thus not 
allowing any of the growing queue (line?) of traffic behind them to 
get past.

>   I think there is, at the root of this desire to drive fast, a
> false presumption that is contradictory to what they teach in
> driving courses.  The idea that "I can drive fast safely because I am a safe
> and skilled driver" only holds true on a deserted road.  The reason
> one must reduce their speed to a level far below their maximum
> capacity to control their vehicle, is that there are other people out
> there who might be doing anything. 

I agree completely. The answer though seems to be not so much a rigid 
speed limit, but a variable one depending on conditions. I could travel 
safely on a motorway at 6 a.m. at 100 m.p.h or more, but if it started 
raining, or there was risk of ice or fog, or maybe heavy traffic then 
the speed limit should be much lower. 70 m.p.h is too fast in wet, 
foggy and crowded conditions.


All the best,
  Stephen.
-- 
Gweleis i rac neb nym gweles pop annwyl. ef diwyl yneges. Gweleis i pasc.
(I saw the one above all men,  he saw me;  he, the beloved of his people,
who fulfills his mission. I saw Easter.) "Yspeil Taliesin" ---Taliesin---
spk@uk.ac.aber --- spk%uk.ac.aber@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk --- Stephen Kingston