Took a moment whilst working rurally last night to realise how wild it is that we have roads miles in length, with no passing points, with bends that can’t be seen around due to high up bushes, and the speed limit is 60mph. Even people walking had to climb into bushes to give space for my van.
by 9DAN2
15 comments
It’s not a mandatory minimum. 😂
Remember most of those roads were established when the most likely traffic was a horse and maybe a cart.
The speed limit should not be taken to be a safe or sensible speed in all circumstances. You are meant to drive to the conditions. That is not wild.
Youre at a passing point, i can see it on the left, also yeah a vans still going to force a reverse there.
I learned to drive on roads like that, theres just some vehicles you dont bother trying to pass.
I want a recording of the conversation you have with the cops about how “the speed limit is 60” ^_^
But yeah, tons of stuff on our roads is only the way it is because it was built ages ago. We recently had a death-lane upgraded to a dual carriageway near us. It went from a 50 limit to a… 50 limit… because modern design requirements wouldn’t allow speeds faster than that without doubling the construction cost. But at least the death-lane is gone.
That’s down south somewhere…up here our single tracks don’t have the hedges…instead they have unplumbed depths, marshes and modern cars don’t fit along them..
We’ve had these roads forever. They’re fine once you get the hang of them.
You don’t have to bomb down them at that speed though, A leisurely 30 would do, take in the bushes and scenery you have actually quite artistically captured.
Even wilder, the people that use these roads, don’t realise you have to drive to the conditions.
Or the fact people still use their phones whilst behind the wheel of a vehicle (you aren’t parked, before you claim that).
This was a huge shocker for me when I moved to the UK as well
Wait until you find out about all the rail crossings without barriers or signals
The reason we have this kind of national speed limit is partly because attempting to provide individual limits and also enforcing those limits is just not reasonably practicable on every single country road and lane that we have, since you’d have to do the work to analyse each road’s width, curves, etc. to work out what the actual appropriate speed limit is and then install signs and cameras to enforce it and then continue to maintain those signs.
I think it ends up being more practicable to simply set what the absolute maximum speed on a country road is allowed to be and then have to place the rest in the judgement of the drivers. You can clearly see that 60mph is not safe for that road layout so you can sensibly choose not to try and do it at 60.
Yes, it’s absolutely less safe. But ultimately the budget for infrastructure is finite, and needs to be allocated proportionally. These types of roads tend to have fewer vehicle miles per year compared to a busy motorway junction.
There’s space for two cars on that road.
Jees city people scared of driving into a hedge…
Lane to my kids childcare is like this, you have to be aware of wide verges or driveways that are unofficial passing points
I’m hanging towards the passenger seat on a long right bend
No way is it possible to do 60 unless it was closed for a rally stage
My parents now live rurally in North Wales. My mum drives a Honda Fit, it literally touches both sides of the windy 2 way lanes on the way up to her house. And this isn’t a little path to get to their house, it’s several miles of road like this with a 60mph limit and they’re all over the place.
I live in Canada now, and someone asked me if they should ship their 45 foot fifth wheel and F350 dually (look those up if you think the Ranger/Rams you can get in the UK are big trucks) over to the UK to do a tour because they wanted more flexibility than staying in hotels.
I showed her some pictures and videos of the roads near my parents house and they decided to do the hotels!