New 20mph zone on the A205? Post Reply

[chorister]

I’m sorry but if you are saying it takes an hour and a half to go 16 miles when there’s little traffic then honestly I doubt if you can tell the time! And I’d lay odds that not all of your journey is in 20mph zones.

[muddyboots]

This post is quite depressing.

Julien is perfectly entitled to be frustrated at the new speed limit and to express this without petty finger pointing passive aggressive replies and lectures and statistics about speed. ( and I totally agree with him )
Discussing is good of course, but it’s the attitude.

And my comment about hatred towards drivers is perfectly represented in the replies following his post !!

Sorry to say to traffic activists , it’s LEGAL to drive ! It’s A LEGAL ACTIVITY AND YOU ACT AS IF people are declaring some kind of dirty secret and criminal activity.

We don’t all have to be tree huggers nor does it mean we hate the environment or don’t want families to be safe and other nonsense suggested in the replies .

It’s perfectly reasonable to want to get somewhere at a reasonable speed when driving !
End of . No explanation needed .

No permission slip needed . Don’t need to apologise for not taking a bike!

Loads of people don’t want to cycle as main mode of transport because of personal safety , practicality , weather, can’t really carry bags /shopping / kids ! Etc
And public transport is not always convenient either at times . And that is OK!

Honestly ….

[juliantenniscoach]

My son lives in Clapham. The journey when he first lived there took us 35 minutes. Now, although there is little traffic, it takes us an hour and a half, because of all the 20 m.p.h. zones and traffic calming measures. As a result we seldom see our grandson. Going by public transport is even slower. It is only a 16 mile journey by road!

By 'traffic calming', do you mean LTN's?  Because they are another bag of worms completely.
 

[chorister]

@muddyboots - you're absolutely right to say "it’s LEGAL to drive ! It’s A LEGAL ACTIVITY AND YOU ACT AS IF people are declaring some kind of dirty secret and criminal activity" - but actually it's not legal to drive above the speed limit - so (with your evident respect for the law) you should obviously comply until your campaigning gets the law changed.  It's called democracy and living within the rule of law.

[muddyboots]

Who was suggesting not following the law ?
We can still disagree with it and express it .
Come on …

[Another golden oldie]

I am sure there is nothing wrong with golden oldies watch. I live 5 miles from Clapham Common and it regularly takes 50 minutes to an hour to reach my grand children even returning home later in the evening 20mph and un synchronised traffic lights all the way. Again public transport which requires multiple changes takes longer - when you are in your seventies and with walking sticks and fellow passengers decide to ignore the priority seat sign no fun at all.

[Another golden oldie]

I am sure there is nothing wrong with golden oldies watch. I live 5 miles from Clapham Common and it regularly takes 50 minutes to an hour to reach my grand children even returning home later in the evening 20mph and un synchronised traffic lights all the way. Again public transport which requires multiple changes takes longer - when you are in your seventies and with walking sticks and fellow passengers decide to ignore the priority seat sign no fun at all.

[chorister]

Muddyboots - of course you are right, my apologies. It’s just sometimes so frustrating that people seem unwilling to consider lifestyle sacrifices to accommodate others - we do all have to share the same city / planet.

And Another Golden Oldie - 5 miles doesn’t take 50 minutes at 20mph - there are probably roadworks or other factors (such as too many other road users).

[Another golden oldie]

Chorister, I have been making the trip several times a week for the past decade. There are fewer private cars but the speed limit has reduced. There are always road woks somewhere. Thus no difference to the time of travel. Would be delighted to widen your horizons and give you an opportunity to check mutual time pieces

[chorister]

Another golden oldie - at 20mph 20 miles takes 60 minutes so 5 miles takes 15 minutes ........ it's obviously not the speed limit (which is the subject of this thread) causing your 50 minute journey.  My guess is road works and/or (whatever you say) more traffic - unless you are taking a bizarre route there is no doubt that traffic has increased over the last decade.

[ronangel]

Pointless to put 20mph signs on 205!

Court ruled that Wandsworth Council cannot take people to court for speeding only the police even without penalty points on the license.
unlike parking and other stationary offences where the keeper, not the driver gets the fine this is not possible with speeding as has to be the driver. The keeper has no legal obligation to tell the council who was driving under data protection laws without the express permission of the driver which will never happen. Also as a fixed penalty does not matter how fast they were going can't go up! If the driver is identified would have to go to magistrates court where the council would always have to have a solicitor in case of technical point which could set a precedent but could not claim costs from a person if found guilty, as small claims nor could a person claim solicitors cost from the council if found not guilty. Everyone would plead not guilty as the fine could not go up the court backlog would take years to clear before even being heard, and costs to the council would outweigh money from fines many times over so no go from the start!
The only revenue would be from yellow police speed cameras and go straight to the government. Council/Ulez cameras could not be used for this purpose as they are not constantly calibrated. A legal nightmare so not on!
 

[juliantenniscoach]

That's really interesting.  Somewhat characteristic of the chaos around our governing bodies.

[Talkman]

What a lot of fuss over nothing. Set off a wee bit earlier if it’s such an issue to you. If family or friends are worth a visit, a few extra minutes onto a journey should add to the anticipation of the get together. We all know lower speeds mean safer roads. Even drivers, motorcyclists and cyclists are pedestrians at some point.
Drivers don’t need to brake more in 20mph zones, they just need to stay within the limits for the duration of the journey they’re making. When we motorists complain about the traffic, we should consider that we are the traffic. I appreciate public transport sometimes means a journey can take longer but not always. Sometimes it’s the opposite.

[Talkman]

What a lot of fuss over nothing. Set off a wee bit earlier if it’s such an issue to you. If family or friends are worth a visit, a few extra minutes onto a journey should add to the anticipation of the get together. We all know lower speeds mean safer roads. Even drivers, motorcyclists and cyclists are pedestrians at some point.
Drivers don’t need to brake more in 20mph zones, they just need to stay within the limits for the duration of the journey they’re making. When we motorists complain about the traffic, we should consider that we are the traffic. I appreciate public transport sometimes means a journey can take longer but not always. Sometimes it’s the opposite.

[Chickensoup]

I haven’t done a lot of research like Julian and others but just wanted to add my voice to theirs in thinking that the 20mph limit down the south circular is taking things too far. These are major arterial roads which need to be keeping traffic moving and there should be space to allow different speed limits for local residential roads vs major thoroughfares. I see no reason why at 10pm at night when traffic is low, kids are in bed etc that you need to drive 20mph along Clapham Common west side.

Before people make assumptions - I am not a Golden Oldie, I don’t drive a large Chelsea tractor, and I cycle my kids to and from school every day, use public transport to get to work, and even use an adult scooter for getting around locally. When I do drive however it is usually a longer journey, and spending half of it leaving Clapham is frustrating.

Unfortunately I guess there is little that we can do about it now.