Speed tolerances

[Scuba_Steve]

So how exactly do they force you to do that? (He said playing devils advocate.... )

Well I assume here you get it but in-case anyone can't work it out, they're infront, your behind, no way to pass. Stuck doing their speed simple really & with the closures of more n more passing lanes & the crazy with the yellow paint running round NZ, this is becoming more & more an issue leading to more & more people trying stupid passing manoeuvre's

Impatience and anger management issues ... ???

Impatience, yes really impatient. Anger management, no. I'm a pretty relaxed person.

[rastuscat]

I think a vehicle would have to be travelling at more than 20k below the limit before incuring the wrath of the pink frosted donut munchers. .

Pink frosting.....................oooeeerrrrrrrrrrr

[MSTRS:Me]

Breakdown of causes of accidents from 13 (UK) police forces:

Cause of Accident % of Accidents
Inattention: 25.8%
Failure to judge other person's path or speed: 22.6%
Looked but did not see: 19.7%
Behaviour: careless/thoughtless/reckless: 18.4%
Failed to look: 16.3%
Lack of judgment of own path: 13.7%
Excessive speed: 12.5%

Why all those categories? They ALL mean the same thing...crap driving skills.

[cs363]

Well I assume here you get it but in-case anyone can't work it out, they're infront, your behind, no way to pass. Stuck doing their speed simple really & with the closures of more n more passing lanes & the crazy with the yellow paint running round NZ, this is becoming more & more an issue leading to more & more people trying stupid passing manoeuvre's

Yeah I hear what you're saying and I get just as pissed off with inconsiderate drivers, but ultimately it's still your choice whether to pass or not and when or where and there's always somewhere to pass safely if you're patient, so stupid passing manoeuvres are just that and always the fault of the driver passing, annoying as they are those slow drivers aren't forcing you to pass them. Overall it probably doesn't make a huge difference to the time it takes to reach your destination.
But it is hugely frustrating nonetheless, and I agree the blinkered crackdown on speed to the exclusion of other arguably more dangerous driving habits and the closing of passing lanes/increased no passing areas and knee-jerk speed limit reductions (like SH2 off the Bombays) is just adding to the problem.

[baffa]

Havent read every page, but people were making guesses about how they mark corners at 35 55 70 etc.
I have spoken to a Civil/roading engineer before, and they have quite a wierd way of measuring it.

I had assumed before speaking to him that they had a maximum lateral G loading given certain conditions such as weather and camber allowed when cornering, and when tested, any speed that exceeded that loading was what was used as the limit. Meaning anything from a car to a bike to a truck never goes outside it's maximum cornering tolerance.

What actually happens is like a very basic version of the above by using a container of water with some sort of float (I cant remember the exact details, I had been drinking) and they drive back and fowards around the corner at different speeds, until they find it's sweet spot.
I remember thinking it was pretty unscientific, and it explained how you come across inconsistencies like wide sweeping corners marked at 35, and hella tight dangerous corners marked at 55 etc.

[Berries]

What actually happens is like a very basic version of the above by using a container of water with some sort of float (I cant remember the exact details, I had been drinking) and they drive back and fowards around the corner at different speeds, until they find it's sweet spot.

A curved tube full of water with a ball bearing in it is one of the more common methods. And best to do that after drinking so you don't worry about rounding errors.

[tigertim20]

A curved tube full of water with a ball bearing in it is one of the more common methods. And best to do that after drinking so you don't worry about rounding errors.

this is the process I have heard of being used, but surely following corners impact the final decision?

[baffa]

That's the thing though, I dont think they do.
It's a really bad system because it doesnt take camber into consideration, as well as the fact that given non-linear curves, the water can slosh around giving pretty inconsistent readings.

[Berries]

this is the process I have heard of being used, but surely following corners impact the final decision?

Yes and no. If the following corner is that close that there is no straight bit in between you wouldn't have room to sign them individually anyway. That's when you see reverse curve signs go up, with the speed supposedly for the slowest curve.

It's a really bad system because it doesnt take camber into consideration, as well as the fact that given non-linear curves, the water can slosh around giving pretty inconsistent readings.

I'm not going to defend it because it feels like an inaccurate and variable, half arsed attempt at doing something that simply dumbs everyone down and takes away the need to be observant. But....... It does take camber in to account in a way, because you will get a reading when you go from normal crossfall away from the centreline in to superelevation that runs to the centre of the curve. The more camber there is on a curve the higher the speed you can negotiate it and thus the higher the reading/signed speed will be. If it took no notice of this you could simply base the speed on the curve radius.

If it sloshes around then you are doing it wrong vicar.