To think driving 10mph is too slow?

[Hulabalu]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/16/speed-limits-should-be-cut-to-10mph/

per the above article, there wil be “less deaths if we drive at 10mph”. No sh*t! There will be less deaths if we stop using cars and go back to horse and cart. This is the reversal of progress. Maybe the invention of the wheel was too dangerous!
There are already too many 20mph roads , even dual carriageways in non residential areas. It’s too slow! You can’t get anywhere. London has gotten ridiculous!

It's an interesting report

https://roadsafetyfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Determining_Safe_Speeds.pdf

The key issue is the impact speed and the change in momentum (remember school physics). So trying to reduce the speed of a collision is good - improved braking systems and automatic braking detection systems - which would brake for you would be great to reduce the overall impact speed.

However, vehicles are getting heavier, which affects the momentum.

It talks about the angle of collision as well.

Ugh yanbu

I'm a leftie but sadiq khan is bad for London! Driving at 30 on non built up roads was fine! Driving at 20 on a dual carriageway is ridiculous 🙄

I don't know why he hates cars so much. Weird man.

Unless you're on a residential/school road, what's wrong with 'stop, look and listen'.

What do you think the OP is NBU about?
What do you think the report is saying?
What do you think the report has said about dual carriageways?

One road, you’re almost lucky.
Our entire Greater London Town is now completely 20 mph for about a 25 min radius in most directions! Apart from the big A roads.

going anywhere is slow and most roads have cameras.

They even changed the local by pass and dual carriage way (x2) from 40 to 30 and from 2 lanes down to 1 lane. Everything to make driving harder

Get a bike if you re jealous?

Bicycles are not subject to speed limits as they have no means to know what their speed is....

However, they can be fined for other offences if they speed, maybe focus on the millions of motorists who do have a calibrated speedometer but cannot control the left foot & who kill 1800people each years, including 300 children..... I

Imagine anything else that wiped out 2 or 3 primary schools each year.. yet no one cares....

10mph speed is ridiculous and is never going to happen... bin it along with other Tory 'press scare stories...

You mean it makes breaking the law harder......

Its a typical Telegraph article . Basically it has made it up as no-one is calling for a 10mph limit. This is just to get your grandad angry

10mph is only appropriate in limited circumstances. Eg supermarket car parks,

definitely too slow and dangerous.

Are there many road deaths caused by cyclists? There's loads of places near me where floral tributes mark where someone was killed, and every single one of them was by a car. There have also been a few deaths involving motorcycles, the death has been that of the motorcyclist, not a random child.

Yes drivers who want to do as they like, always seek to blame someone else, horse riders, pedestrians, motorcyclists, cyclists... they are all so hard done by .... not!

Considering the costs they cause us all, they all get off extremely lightly, esp when they kill someone.

when I was first starting to learn to drive my father, who had done some competitive race car driving in his youth, told me that driving fast is not the aim or the skill one needs to master, it’s being able to do it slowly that takes real skill. Once you get that down then you can start getting faster.
Living in a small country town, I find it extraordinary the number of people who seem to have one speed - usually about 40 mph - which they stick too wherever they are. Too slow on an A road and far too fast in built up areas.
it never ceases to amaze me the number of terrible drivers we have on our roads.
it seems many of those same dreadful drivers are also the very same that blame anything and everything but their own incompetence for fines and such.
if you are unable to drive at 20mph then I suggest you stop or you get a few extra lessons. It’s not the speed limit that’s the problem here.

It sounds like you and many of your friends need to be paying more attention to the road signs

You've read the report?! Hang on now we just pick and choose the bits out of context that suit our agenda around these parts!

Read the report honestly... 😂

I don’t think cyclists have to abide by speed limits.

Many manual cars would be in 1st gear for 10 mph. It’s not a sensible idea. Not sure if 20 mph has reduced deaths but dc not knowing road safety and rules of the road is a contributory factor. Since when did dc play on roads? Reducing to 20 in school mornings and after school is fine. After that, 30 is sensible on major roads. Side residential could be 20 but traffic needs to flow on through routes. Actually sticking to 10 would be a nightmare!

This plea is from a hobby group, it's not government policy.

And it wouldn't work in any case as it's not possible to drive for any length of time at less than 10mph.

What we actually need in the UK, which is normal in many other countries, is a Jaywalking law. That would save many more lives and significantly reduce pedestrian casualties. The law should be that it's illegal (punishable with significant fines, like other countries do) to cross the road anywhere other than dedicated, marked pedestrian crossings. Step off the kerb and get hit by a car, the pedestrian is legally at fault for the accident. That law would have a dramatic effect on road safety, and make people switch the fuck on.

Instead we have hoards of zombies, iPhone in one hand, Starbucks in the other, with headphones on and their eyes locked on their phone screens, blindly wandering into the road without so much as a glance to check for approaching bikes or cars.

They should though, this morning the papers are reporting two people killed by cyclists. Enough is enough! When is the government going to do something about dangerous and killer cyclists!

What we actually need in the UK, which is normal in many other countries, is a Jaywalking law.

One of the few rights we have is the right to walk (cycle and ride) on public roads. Are you suggesting we ban people from walking on the 1000s of miles of minor roads without pavements?

I wouldnt be able to leave my block! We only have crossing on the dual carriageway, thinking round my area in every direction.
Even with crossings, i couldn't get to the end of my own road as there's a farm on my road and no pavements through it.

I'm sick of it all @cakeorwine !!!

That said, i do love both cake and wine.

I actually agree with you re a jaywalking law

At least in London - people are insane here and cross wherever they feel like

It'd be hard to enforce though 😄😄

@Ifailed That’s not jaywalking. If walkers use due care and attention they can be safely accommodated on roads with no footpaths. Jaywalking is really about not paying attention and actually causing the accident. Cyclists can often be very inattentive and speed around cars in an unsafe manner. Pedestrians often don’t pay attention to traffic and are unpredictable. At the moment irs never their fault.

Jaywalking therefore usually specifically means causing the accident if the cyclist or vehicle that runs into them is obeying the law. Eg it would cover running out between parked cars. If you are hit and the vehicle that hit you was doing 25mph legally, it’s your fault for not looking and “jaywalking”. Everyone should be better trained in terms of crossing roads!

The graphs were depressing reading.

Chances of fatality with various impact speeds and types of collision. Much higher than I thought, although improving with better car design but affected by heavier vehicles

That's what exactly what the report is suggesting:
"• 10mph where there is a particular prevalence of pedestrians and/or bicyclists and/or motorcyclists, or where there is a heightened vulnerability of pedestrians to impact and injury (e.g. around schools, around hospitals, and in the vicinity of major sports or social/cultural events)"

10mph only where there are lots of pedestrians - probably where there are too many for the pavement to hold & people are at risk of being pushed onto the road. This makes sense to me as it's what happens in practice if you drive near my local football stadium on match days - you have to drive very slowly as there are so many fans milling about.