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?

Hecate01 · Today 08:25

No because I don't like driving spending more time looking at the speedo than the actual road.

You really, really don't need to do that, you need to learn what your car sounds like, how it behaves and to use all your senses. If you are glued to the speedo on a test, you'll fail it.

Yes. Because it’s the law 🤯

@TooOldForThisNonsense how do you know which are mandatory? Is there a difference in the signage or something?

On side streets, yes. On the three mile stretch of an A road as introduced by a local council a while back (until a petition of thousands forced them to rethink), no.

Crikey - people wang on about the Nanny State, but only respect speed limits if they think they're going to be caught.

One thing you will learn as you stay on MN (you must be new here) is that laws are apparently for other people. Especially so when it comes to speeding.

You've never had replace suspension coils yet have you?

SerendipityJane · Yesterday 10:53
MrsSkylerWhite · Yesterday 09:35

Yes. Because it’s the law 🤯
One thing you will learn as you stay on MN (you must be new here) is that laws are apparently for other people. Especially so when it comes to speeding.”

I’ve been here on and off since it began. Still, people never fail to amaze me.

Depends. Where I live, the 20 limits were meant to be temporary. As far as I know they were never officially made permanent but the signs haven't been taken down.

As for "laws being for other people", I usually find that anyone who says they never ever speed is lying. I always tell the story of the colleague who claimed that and then I followed her part of the way home as we lived in the same direction and she went over 30 in a 30 limit....

“As for "laws being for other people", I usually find that anyone who says they never ever speed is lying”

I’m not a liar, I use cruise control. When I can’t, I’m a very good judge of speed. Spent 8 years doing a 15 mile school run 4 times a day, 20 and 30 zones all the way. I could probably tell you when I’m doing those speeds without looking.

Yes - mandatory speed limit signs have the red border.

Oh right - I've never seen any without the red border, so just as well I try and stick to the limit then 😁

There are some here where I live that don’t have it, it’s like a turquoise border instead

No not always - we have some really ridiculous ones including one road where there are never any pedestrians as there is a shared use cycle and walking path way back from the road. They've made all the roads in some parts 20 mph including A roads passing through the outskirts of villages and towns

Annoying, but then again, we don't get to pick and chose what laws we follow do we ?

No.

Absolutely we do. We break a law, be that speeding or murder, knowing exactly what the consequences are if we’re caught. If you’re comfortable with that level of risk then crack on.

Agree with this. There was no way I was going to do 20 on a deserted A road at 7 in the morning for 3 miles when there were perhaps 1 or 2 cars coming the other way and no cyclists or pedestrians anywhere in sight. The road was 30 for decades, so I carried on doing 28/29 (it’s back up to 30 now after much campaigning). If, by some miracle, I happened to get caught then I’d take the consequences (no-one did, the police didn’t have the resources to enforce it). Targeted speed limits are far more likely to get a good level of adherence than blankets 20 speed limits for no other reason that because our friends at Sustrans (with their head offices conveniently placed within easy walking distance of the major stations here in Edinburgh) say so.

Absolutely yes.
I saw an old woman on a crossing hit by a car that was "only" doing 20mph. She flew several feet into the air and crashed onto the road.
It was horrific.
If that is what a car can do to the human body at 20mph I dread to think what 30mph could do.

Twenty is plenty.

The problem with selective law abiding, is it's not really great when you want other people to obey the laws you happen to think are important. Especially when the ultimately outcome of speeding can be a very unpleasant death for an innocent person - likely as not a child.

Annoying, but then again, we don't get to pick and chose what laws we follow do we ?

Of course we do. That's not saying we should, but we do have the autonomy to pick and choose which laws we want to follow, and accept that we face the consequence of our actions. I don't believe a single word of anyone who says they've never broken a law.

Yes and tbh I find it reduces stress noticeably, because you have so much more time and space to react to whatever's going on.

Councils don't receive any money from speeding fines. @OnlyFoolsnMothers you might want to check your facts.

What about the consequences your actions might have on others or is it only you that matters?

I’m not suggesting that we should be breaking laws just that we absolutely have a choice as to whether we follow them or not. Every time someone breaks a law they are effectively saying they’re comfortable with whatever consequences that may entail.