Any tips for keeping under the 20mph speed limit?

[FrydayFish]

I've been caught doing 27mph in a 20mph zone so will probably have to do a speed awareness course (which is better than a fine and points on my licence).

I'm not here to debate the rights or wrongs of these limits, just wondering if anyone has any tips for staying under 20.

Is there a satnav I can download which would tell me if I was exceeding the limit?
Any other suggestions?

ha, thanks very much for stating the obvious!

I guess what I meant was that a lot of roads (in London) have switched from 30 to 20 and it will take me (and probably others) some time to get used to the new limits especially when some of the roads have 2/3 lanes in places and up until recently had a limit of 40mph.

I've tried driving in 2nd gear but if I go over 15/16 mph the rev counter gets quite high.

Lots of cars have speed limiters . You just set it for 20mph and then click it off when you’re out of that zone . It’s worth checking if your car has this ability . Mine has but I’ve never used it🙂.
mine also has a small screen right in the middle of the dials for revs and for speedo , I can put my speed on here in large numbers which is easier than watching the speedo . I hope this may help .

So you're really asking for something to alert you to the speed limits, not your actual speed! Lots of satnavs, and satnav apps will show the limit you're in. Copilot is a good one to put on your phone. Just have it in a holder like a satnav and you'll easily see the limits.

Most sat nav apps have an option to alert in comparison to the speed limited. This may be a paid option or free. Eg Google maps has it within the settings

Look up your current navigator online and search for speed limit / speedometer etc

Note that often car speedometers over report your speed (as it is unlawful for the manufacturer to sell one that under reports)
Therefore to be clocked at 27 your speedometer was probably showing 30, which if you checked it would imply that you were driving at 30 in a 20 limit

Were you in your opinion speeding because you weren’t monitoring your speed or speeding because you were not aware of the 20 limit ?
Both of those examples may be discused in a speed awareness course

Put your phone/sat back up so it automatically shows the speed limit on every road your on.

Get out & push it- great work out!!

I've tried driving in 2nd gear but if I go over 15/16 mph the rev counter gets quite high.

No car is revving its tits off at 16mph!

In 2nd I meant to add!

People are being a bit harsh here OP. It IS hard to stay at 20mph because it always feels too damn slow. I don’t do 30 in 3rd for reasons mentioned above but, seeing as 20s are pretty rare by comparison I do try and do them in 2nd - the noise of the engine tells you if you go above about 18 😂

My car has a little symbol on the dash that tells me what it thinks the speedlimit is from a camera at the top of the windscreen, and the seed limit signs. However, it recently told me the limit round school was 120, and it said 80 on a 30 road today, so not infallible!
Sat nav tends to tell me, but doesn't always update when roads change speed (ie 50 in road works or permanent changes like it sounds you are facing).

I just did a speed awareness course. They showed us a photo of a road in town with a speed limit of 20mph.
"In this photo, who wants the 20mph speed limit?"
We were thinking "no-one" but the answer is, the 20mph will probably have been asked for by the residents, the people on their balconies, gardens, pedestrians with children, the cyclists, the dog walkers, the shopkeepers, the shoppers, basically just everybody in the photo except the drivers. It made me think. Now it's not so hard to stick to 20 in my town centre.

I use the Waze app which shows you what the speed limit is currently
and it goes red if you are going too fast.

You get used to driving 20mph very quickly. Now when I go to places where residential roads are 30mph it feels horribly fast. Just give it time.

I use cruise control sometimes in lengthy 30 zones but mine doesn't work at 20 and the car's an auto so the gears thing doesn't work. I agree that if you aren't used to it it's quite a change, they are gradually introducing them round here and I think TBH it's just a case of concentrating and eventually it will become second nature.

AAAAAND, after all the lectures...
Try putting car in to 2nd gear for 20 mph. Whe it starts to scream, it's because you're going too fast.

I find 20, 30 and 40 mph limits easy. It's 70 on a motorwayI have a problem with, so not finger wagging at all😁

So what you actually want is something that tells you what the speed limit is! Sorry I misunderstood.
just use your satnav

just wondering if anyone has any tips for staying under 20.

It's a tricky combination of reading the speedo whilst altering your right foot.

It's hard to stick at 20mph because virtually nobody drives at that speed so you feel bloody slow trundling along...

I just finished serving a 6 month toting up ban after accruing too many points...same camera at a 30/20 switch over point... Judge away.. Lesson learnt etc.

I use cruise control and my sat nav which displays my speed, speed limit and squawks warnings too. It's the basic TomTom and was about £120.

Good luck op

I tend to use our speed limiter on our car when in the town. It means our car won't go over 20/30 whatever I set it to. My kids school is in a big residential area which is a 20 from entering it to exiting it so it's handy. I do get alot of cars right up the back of me.
I use cruise control on a roads and motorways.
I do look at at the speedometer but I feel more confident with the accessories on to.

I did a speed awareness course just before Christmas and one of the main outcomes was considering why you speed and strategies to avoid doing so on future.

I found it really useful and have stayed aware of my triggers and strategies so far so hopefully you'll also get a lot out of it.

Google maps shows you the speed limit.

Get the bus if you are such a shit driver you can't read speed signs?

Honestly, wtf is going on, just look for the speed signs.

I wouldn’t rely on a sat nav as they might not be up to date if it’s a very new change.

I would drive 20mph unless you see signs stating otherwise to be on the safe side. If all the cars are going faster than you then you can assume it’s 30 mph.

I did an IAM driving course at work a few weeks ago and that was exactly what I was told to do.

I wasn't convinced to be honest.

But if your car computer can be set to show your speed in big font, it did make it a lot easier to watch it without spending more time looking at the speedo than the road.

I am really surprised by the number of people pouring scorn on the OP. Where we live, there are huge numbers of 20mph roads but almost no-one sticks to the speed limit, to the point that it feels almost antisocial to do so. It would take some kind of enforcement to make it stick and there's no sign that the police have either the resources or the inclination to do anything at all to enforce. If I'm not careful I find my speed drifting up because everyone else is going at 30+. So I have some sympathy with the OP. I'd think having the fine hanging over you would focus the mind though.