Eco towns have 15pmh speed limit.

whome

http://www.bikeforall.net/news.php?articleshow=450
"There are 15 potential locations. Eco-towns will have mandatory speed limits...of 15mph"

!?!? but even i can cycle faster than that! Or speed limits not apply to cycle somehow -I think I have heard that, but surely adding a cycle computer allows you to know your speed and therefore be required to comply with the limit...

Shadowduck

If the point is to save fuel, it'd make sense that bikes were exempt. DOYC* knows if it'd work in practice, though.

*Deity Of Your Choice.

DavidTQ

whome wrote:

http://www.bikeforall.net/news.php?articleshow=450
"There are 15 potential locations. Eco-towns will have mandatory speed limits...of 15mph"

!?!? but even i can cycle faster than that! Or speed limits not apply to cycle somehow -I think I have heard that, but surely adding a cycle computer allows you to know your speed and therefore be required to comply with the limit...

Road Traffic Act speed limits apply to mechanically propelled vehicles which doesnt include bicycles

However some areas usually parks etc have bylaws created I believe which are still legally binding and generally dont carry the mechanically propelled vehicle description so apply to bikes as well, I believe some of these specifically include cycles.

cee

Shadowduck wrote:

DOYC* knows if it'd work in practice, though.

*Deity Of Your Choice.

Thats sounds like something Terry Pratchett would write!

BentMikey

DOYC also referred to as $DEITY, btw.

Shadowduck

cee wrote:

Shadowduck wrote:

DOYC* knows if it'd work in practice, though.

*Deity Of Your Choice.

Thats sounds like something Terry Pratchett would write!

I'd love to pretend it's my own invention, but sadly not.

TheBoyBilly

This "eco" town thingy has nothing at all to do with the environment, but rather a backdoor way of getting houses built on greenfield sites. Those towns that have supported this scheme had better worry about what they wished for. Local ameneties won't suddenly get better, crime will go up, the "more affordable" housing will go to Polish Plumbers and ne'er-do-wells, and so their lives will change forever. We're getting one at Ford which is about 15 miles away but the knock-on effect will be felt all the way along the coast. This government stinks!

markos1963

Can't be done for speeding but I think riding 'Furiously' can still apply!

nwallace

At present speed limits must be multiples of 10.

Also speeds below 20mph are going to be difficult to read on an analogue display. Digital displays in most cars only go up in 2s so by the time you are told you have strayed over the limit your already out of the theoretical 10% tolerance zone.

If motor vehicles are limited to 15mph, how feasible is a bus service?

If I go over 15mph on my bike, will I get charged for Wanton and Furious cycling using the 15mph speed limit as justification.

The low speed limit is supposedly to encourage the use of other forms of transport, the only ones of which that aren't going to be significantly disadvantaged by the speed limit are walking and for the average person cycling on the flat.

The following I see as further disadvantages they have:
1) 15mph means Taxis cost more
2) 15mph means the bus spends longer in the village than going to the next town
3) Your going to have to go out the village to get to work, and you might as well get the shopping on the way home.
4) Most people would drive anyway after a few weeks of wondering why they are carrying 20 shopping bags, in the rain.

As someone else mentioned, it really is a con for NIMBYS who don't want a new village built on the abandoned airfield 5 miles down the road.

Incidentally, 20mph is easy at tick over in 3rd gear on the car I am using just now. Dont' know when I am doing 15, the needle just lurches at such slow speeds.

whome

At present speed limits must be multiples of 10.

Do they? or is that just best practice? Maybe that article has something wrong or they will change that law?

If I correctly understand your point 4), then I am not sure I agree. Why would you carry 20 bags of shopping? The only reason for the large amounts of shopping is the weekly shop, which I think has come about because of the tendency to drive to out of town mega stores.

If you pop down to your local stores a couple of times during the week and visit the market at weekends, perhaps get a vegbox delivered, then there is never a need for 20 bags of shopping and no problem with carrying each load.

nwallace

whome wrote:

At present speed limits must be multiples of 10.

Do they? or is that just best practice? Maybe that article has something wrong or they will change that law?

It's been mentioned various times in discussions about Eco Towns, but i've not seen definite proof of it yet. Will investigate more.

If I correctly understand your point 4), then I am not sure I agree. Why would you carry 20 bags of shopping? The only reason for the large amounts of shopping is the weekly shop, which I think has come about because of the tendency to drive to out of town mega stores.

If you pop down to your local stores a couple of times during the week and visit the market at weekends, perhaps get a vegbox delivered, then there is never a need for 20 bags of shopping and no problem with carrying each load.

All of the above can be be done in almost any village with a shop (though still using Tesco). Yet most people still hop in their cars to go to Tesco either at the weekend or one evening during the week.

Unless the entire population of the "eco"-village are absolutely dedicated to "eco" living (I doubt the concept of them being anything more than yet another new village will last long at the estate agent) people will just revert to what they have always done (and that is assuming they bothered to try to adjust).

Just like communism, it's a nice concept, but doesn't stand up to reality.