Do you obey 20mph speed limits (be honest)?

[Londre]

Where I live, the council has turned into our neighbourhood into a 20mph zone. Thankfully my car has cruise control which can be set at 20mph so it isn’t a problem for me but I’ve noticed some people are overtaking me! It’s a very pedestrianized area with a school, lots of shops and quite busy so quite surprised.

Do you obey 20mph speed limits? If not, why?

Yes, but honestly most of them around here are in areas with tons of parked cars and pedestrians and frankly I wouldn't go much faster in these areas anyway.

I try very hard to obey all speed limits.

Yes. It's so much easier with a car with a speed limiter though.

Our Council has turned virtually every road into a 20mph. It's fine on the side roads, because of parked cars etc, you naturally do around that anyway. My road is more of a main road, with parking restrictions along some of it and very few stick to the 20 limit. If you do, people overtake dangerously. I always go quite slowly because I have to turn onto my narrow drive and the number of times someone has nearly gone into the back of me, despite me signaling well in advance, just because they are going too fast.
We have one of those signs that flashes your speed at you further up the road, and it regularly shows speeds of 40+, and I have seen as much as 60!
Even the buses don't stick to it.

Yes, my city changed to these years ago. Then they set up speed cameras on Sunday mornings and catch a load of people doing 24mph and so pretty much everyone obeys! I had to do a speed awareness course myself because of this and always keep to the limit.

Yes, as it's usually because there is a school. I can't say the same for 40mph limit though!

I try to, but honestly I probably do about 25 most of the time.

Our 20mph zones are packed full of speed cameras so we have no choice.

Yes I try to although the car doesn’t sit happily at 20 so have to keep watching it. All the roads in our area other than those controlled by TFL are 20mph and have been years.

Yes, but I always get people right up my arse/overtaking dangerously

We have 25km limits here on certain parts of the road, (Ireland) the car nearly cuts out it’s so slow.

Well round ours it's all humps as well. Be daft not to keep an eye on speed

I do about 23 on the speedo, which Waze tells me is 20 in reality.

But I do get people sitting right on my bumper and even overtaking, on the wide main road that used to be 30. Sometimes I have to really focus on not being intimidated into driving at a higher speed.

I do try, particularly if near a school, it does involve constant checking of my speedometer which takes my eyes off the road so I sometimes wonder how safe that makes it. I also get irritated when overtaken by cyclists who speed away from me downhill.

nope on most of the roads near me they are ridiculous!

It's been 20 here for years and I've been ticketed for doing 23, so I am very careful not to go over. But I do find that other drivers sometimes react aggressively or overtake dangerously when I'm doing 20. It is frustrating.

Best tip I got on my speed awareness course was to stay in second gear.

I consciously try. I regularly drive along one stretch through a village where everyone is very conscientious and goes at 20. Presumably we’re all doing it to protect vulnerable pedestrians and cyclists on this completely straight, wide road. I have never seen either a pedestrian or a cyclist on this stretch of road. It doesn’t bother me to go at the speed limit but I do wonder if having low speed limits where there is no apparent reason makes it less likely that people obey them in general. I think car manufacturers need to look at making cars sit better at 20. In Edinburgh, where almost all roads are 20’s the general speed is 25, which is better than when the limit was 30 and generally everyone drove at 33. I regularly get tailgated in Edinburgh.

Yes I do. Most people don't. I used to have a commute which involved about 25 minutes in 20mph zones, and nearly every day I would have someone right on my bumper trying to intimidate me into driving faster. It was very stressful.

Depends. Outside a school, yes, but I've driven some areas recently where there seems to be no valid reason why it's 20mph and not 30mph. I never go 30mph but probably do 25mph in those areas.

Yes, more so than other speed limits in some ways - eg I might do 75 on a motorway, but in a 20 I reckon there are lots pedestrians and children, so I respect it.

Yes.

Yes I do, but 5mph limits in supermarket car parks are a joke!

You need to drop a gear or get your car looked at.

The only one I regularly use is the road I live on, which isn't wide and doesn't give you much of a run to build any speed up before a tight bend, so it's easy to stick to.

20s in an area that is clearly designated as such because of schools, yes, definitely stick to it there.

Some roads, however, seem to have had a 20mph set for no obvious reason whatsoever. It's easy to drift higher, so using the speed limiter is an excellent piece of advice!

If it says 20 on the limit signs, and/or painted on the road, why YES, of course! I don't want to kill a child, or, less importantly, get a ticket. I don't care if even the buses go faster, and if I saw any, I'd consider sending dashcam footage to the bus company. Can't stand entitled petrolheads. Or their fumes.