Why do you travel at the speed limit?

[mattian]

I travel at the same speed as the flow of traffic. Sometimes that might be a little faster than the speed limit, sometimes it might be a little slower.

[CRF119]

I was merly making a generalisation. Regardless of an actual speed - crossing your own personal limit usually ends in pain

Your not wrong there! and thats why i think in the long run a bit of speeding can help with bike control and confidence many crashes are due to second guessing your decsion weather pulling from a intersection or standing a bike up mid corner.

Live and learn and hopefully what you have lernt will one day help keep you alive or of the side walk.

[Squiggles]

Comfortable cruising speed for me is usually around 95, just the right amount of buffeting and vibration

[Big Dave]

Underpinning the BD speed limit system is an intelligence and EQ test, with a higher education quotient.

If it turns out you are essentially stupid - incapable of making informed decisions, you can never drive fast and remain at stage one till you get a fucking clue, loose the acne, or get pubic hair.

If you are smarter than a Turnip, proceed to stage two, where training, qualifications, experience, rigorous testing and advanced courses are taken into consideration - satisfactory compliance means you can legally drive faster than the turnips, because you have a brain, training and will make suitable decisions.

Stage three accounts for the vehicle. If you have a state of the art vehicle maintained in the peak of condition and have satisfied the requirements of stage two - proceed to stage three.

If you are driving a 1976 Tarago that hasn't had the brakes checked for 5 years - rejoin the Turnips pace.

Turnips failing to comply with speed limits will be electrocuted by a GPS linked device in the steering wheel until they slow down.

Stages two and three are self governing.

[george formby]

Apart from reasons already stated, my conscience keeps me legal / sensible, same reason I will not touch a skerrick of alcohol if I have to ride. If I had an accident & a another person was hurt because of my speed then I'm not sure how I could live with that. I do have a squirt now & again but only when I have the ideal conditions to link a bend or two together at a nice if possibly illegal pace.

[PrincessBandit]

I ride above the speed limit because my speedo reads about 7 -8 kph higher than the GPS. So I'm really only riding to the speed limit most of the time despite what the digital display says.

I find that 110 - 115 displayed is just a comfy speed to cruise at unless the weather/road conditions/my mental state are not up to par, in which case I adjust accordingly.

Actually delete the word "cruise" as that sounds like I should ride something else. Insert "float" instead.

[Smifffy]

I found myself going at somewhat excessive speed momentarily this afternoon. Bike goes much quicker without the Moll on the back

[Pascal]

Says the person trying to change the world by influencing others vote to make his opinion the most important.
So how much is just your vote worth?

I think you have a reading or perhaps a comprehension disability. I said if you are unhappy with anything in a democracy, your vote and the votes of others is the way to change it, not simply ignoring the laws. There is nothing about making your opinion the most important.

And how much is my vote worth? This is a democracy. A lot.

Stewards of this nation? Unless you are a publicly elected member of parliament you are not a steward of this nation, you are just a pleb. What a load of bullshit.

...

Not adhering to the speed limit, when it is silly, is choosing not to "live under a set of rules that chafe".

...

The strength of democrazy disappears when the individual citizen becomes indifferent towards the situation of his/her fellow citizens and only cares for his/her own situation!

So people can randomly choose, depending on what they prefer, to break the laws of the society they live in because they personally think it is silly?

You make your own choices in this world mate, mine is to live within the law. No matter how small or how big it is. If I think a law is silly, I'll follow the proper process. Which means working through my local MP, writing to the government, agitating for the change and raising public awareness of it and, eventually, casting my vote in favour of the party that will push for that change. The true strength of a democracy lies in our power to control our own lives and that of our nation. Of bloody course we are stewards of this nation. Those politicians are there only because WE elected them. They work for us.

So just a pleb? It is my vote and your vote and Avgas and everybody else here's votes that determine the direction this country goes into.

If, for example, the increased ACC levies are too high for us and the majority of others to swallow, we'll vote the bloody National government out and vote a government in to remove that. That is damn powerful, in my opinion.

Don't undervalue what you have.

[huff3r]

right.. heres my theory.. (I had to sleep ya know.. )

we commision those who make laws to make soceity a safe palce to live in and they commision enforcers to ensure that safety.

Now most of the replies (minus the pisstakes.. it is kb afterall) do not contribute the staying at the speed limit to a safety issue. More of a penalty issue.

so is the speed limit too low? Are drivers overconfident?

There are quite a few drivers/riders who would not feel comfortable with travelling at a higher speed, and even some who would be downright dangerous. So why should this affect us? Surely they can travel at their slow pace whilst we speed off into the sunset? Nope.

The reason being there have been several studies which have proven that one of the biggest dangers on the road is "Speed Differential", i.e vehicles travelling at different speeds to one another. Remember the fear of travelling at 70kph on your learners? Now imagine travelling at 100kph and being passed by the same twats that gave you no space on your learners, except this time they are doing 200kph and are even more dangerous, some might be able to handle the speed, but im sure many wouldnt but would attempt it all the same.

It was for this very reason that the speed limit for trailers was raised from 80kph to 90kph, to bring them more inline with the speeds the rest of the traffic was doing.

(Dad works for health and safety )

[Mikkel]

So people can randomly choose, depending on what they prefer, to break the laws of the society they live in because they personally think it is silly?

You sure as hell can not prevent people from doing what they want - not in a free country. You can legally punish certain behaviour, but that is a different matter altogether.

You make your own choices in this world mate, mine is to live within the law. No matter how small or how big it is. If I think a law is silly, I'll follow the proper process. Which means working through my local MP, writing to the government, agitating for the change and raising public awareness of it and, eventually, casting my vote in favour of the party that will push for that change. The true strength of a democracy lies in our power to control our own lives and that of our nation. Of bloody course we are stewards of this nation. Those politicians are there only because WE elected them. They work for us.

BAH BAH BAH BAH BAH

So just a pleb? It is my vote and your vote and Avgas and everybody else here's votes that determine the direction this country goes into.

You just keep telling yourself that, you'll still just be a pleb - albeit one who suffers from delusions of grandeur.

If, for example, the increased ACC levies are too high for us and the majority of others to swallow, we'll vote the bloody National government out and vote a government in to remove that. That is damn powerful, in my opinion.

Yeah right! Like that would ever happen. Can you refer to any single instance where a levy has been reduced once it has been enacted?

Sure, the opposition will be clapping in their little hands with each and every unpopular step that the current government is taking. I won't be putting my money on them actually reversing any of these step once back in power.

Don't undervalue what you have.

Indeed we shouldn't. Neither should we stop being critical of what's being done and how. Being indifferent - e.g. accepting the law without due consideration - will slowly but surely allow power/money/influence to become concentrated within narrower and narrower groups.

[JMemonic]

right.. heres my theory.. (I had to sleep ya know.. )

we commision those who make laws to make soceity a safe palce to live in and they commision enforcers to ensure that safety.

Now most of the replies (minus the pisstakes.. it is kb afterall) do not contribute the staying at the speed limit to a safety issue. More of a penalty issue.

so is the speed limit too low? Are drivers overconfident?

Is the speed limit too low: In some places yes in others the current maximum limit is excessive, also the current enforcement policy around limits removes the opportunity to make intelligent decisions on things like overtaking, someone else can do the math but overtaking a vehicle doing 80 in a max speed zone at 100 vs 120 places you across the centreline for far less time yet the enforcement policy does not see this or allow the discretion enforcement.

Are drivers overconfident: Hell yes, more training and ongoing training would be the idea, but as has been discussed the government is opposed to this concept.

[Berries]

This a thread for those who travel at the speed limit. What are you reasons for doing so?

I have a theory. Ill reveal if I am right after.

I am getting really confused now with this whole biking thing. Why would someone have a bike if they were going to ride it like a car ? What is the actual point of two wheels if you aren't going to be a twat now and again ?

[Pascal]

Indeed we shouldn't. Neither should we stop being critical of what's being done and how. Being indifferent - e.g. accepting the law without due consideration - will slowly but surely allow power/money/influence to become concentrated within narrower and narrower groups.

Well, apart from you placing less value on yourself and a democracy in general than I do, we agree on that to a point. Where it seems we disagree is in our reaction when we don't accept the law. So you don't accept a law you break it. Okay. Remember that the next time something happens to you because somebody else did not accept a law.

[DMNTD:Me]

I break the law every time I ride my bike...just to a far lesser degree these days.

[Big Dave]

Unfortunately they are the laws of nature.