10kmh speed tolerance is gone

[Deviant Esq]

Isn't it signposted with those electronic speed limit signs? There's a school in Christchurch, I forget which one - actually probably more than one - that has signs that light up with a red ring (like a normal speed limit sign) and 30 in the middle, large letters, blinking lights and all that carry on, with the words School Zone underneath. The 30 signs are activated between about 8am and 9am, I think maybe at lunch time, and again at 3pm to 4pm.

Most of the drivers I see doing stupid shit around schools are the ones actually picking up their kids. They're often double parking, or pulling out in a hurry to get into a gap, or something dumb like that. They'd be beside themselves with rage if it happened to one of their own kids, but some just don't think when they're behind the wheel themsleves.

[Karma]

Isn't it signposted with those electronic speed limit signs? There's a school in Christchurch, I forget which one - actually probably more than one - that has signs that light up with a red ring (like a normal speed limit sign) and 30 in the middle, large letters, blinking lights and all that carry on, with the words School Zone underneath. The 30 signs are activated between about 8am and 9am, I think maybe at lunch time, and again at 3pm to 4pm.

That would make sense, I've never seen any personally.

[HRT]

Agree with Weasel on the +/- 10% thing as that was where the original 10% margin came from (I thought). Though in saying that, the majority of cars will be reading under anyway so its much more likely that someone will be going along at 112 on the speedo and actually be doing 105 anyway

Wonder how much difference tread on the tyres makes... chunky new road tyres with say 9mm tread all round makes an extra 18mm of diameter...

[McJim]

I don't think there should be any special speed limits round schools at 2am - I've never seen any kids around at that time. I live in Auckland though so I'm more likely to find the kids hanging around the P dealers' houses and glue sniffing parks anyway.

Anyone who's ridden with me will know that I observe speed limits in towns anyway and only wring the nuts of the bike on the open road (countryside).

[avgas]

*The 40km/h speed limit applies only in the 35 minutes before the start of school and for 20 minutes at the end of school, starting five minutes before the final bell."

nice concept, but not everything is small communitys etc anymore so i wont work.
Most of the cops i see round these areas at this time are doing 50....not 44.

[thehovel]

"Starting next Wednesday, the police will enforce a 4km/h tolerance within 250m of school and preschool boundaries - a further reduction following last year's slashing of the 10km/h tolerance to 5km/h"
This is a direct Quote from the artical. In the South Island Mr Plod complained (when the speed cameras first came out) that 10km was too much grace so just to prove it please ride through Palmerston at 56km in front of their Mr Plod. Please do it before mid February Because I am doing a southern tour then. Purely for research of cause. regards Richard

[bell]

"School speed zones" have been around in various states of Australia for some time. If they use signs like these in NZ then there's no excuse - otherwise there's every chance that the non-TV watching/newspaper reading folk amongst us will miss their ad campaigns that make road users aware of the new rules.

[Crisis management]

I have seen signs similar in Onehunga (Auckland) complete with flashing orange lights. They are really obvious and effective, traffic slows to a crawl.....so, coming to a school near you?

I don't believe the 10km/hr "grace" exists in any formal way, I was speed camera'd last year at 56km in a 50 zone, which came as a bit of a surprise!!
So probably the 10km tolerance is one thats applied in a practical manner but I wouldn't like to rely on it in court.

[Da Bird]

I have seen signs similar in Onehunga (Auckland) complete with flashing orange lights. They are really obvious and effective, traffic slows to a crawl.....so, coming to a school near you?

I don't believe the 10km/hr "grace" exists in any formal way, I was speed camera'd last year at 56km in a 50 zone, which came as a bit of a surprise!!
So probably the 10km tolerance is one thats applied in a practical manner but I wouldn't like to rely on it in court.

The 10km/hr tolerance is general police policy, however it doesn't prevent a cop giving out a ticket for speeding less than 10km/hr over the limit if he/she thinks its justified. It is not law so you would be right in saying you couldn't rely on it in court.

[Karma]

The one thing I've always found funny, we have that 10kph grace period to cover any potential problems with speedo readings, so in 50kph areas, every runs around at 60kph... are we saying that everyone has perfectly functioning speedos?

[Cajun]

"School speed zones" have been around in various states of Australia for some time. If they use signs like these in NZ then there's no excuse - otherwise there's every chance that the non-TV watching/newspaper reading folk amongst us will miss their ad campaigns that make road users aware of the new rules.

I agree, aa great idea. These signs show you the area the speed limit applies to and the times it applies - no ambiguity there.

[Coyote]

Going fast outside schools is try hard. Ridiculous. I always stick to the limit or slightly under near a school

The odd time I rev a bit outside my school, but I stick to the limit

[Karma]

I'd be very interested to see that data on the loads of people that were ticketed for speeding around schools recently.

How many of those people were parents of children at those schools?

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

The tolerance of 4kph has nothing to to with your speedo accuracy... it has to do with the accuracy of the Stalker DSR... that uses Doppler Shift.. (even if the unit is calabrated) it can give a false reading of speed by 4 or 5 kph...

The police just say that its for the speedo accuracies as we all know most speedos are out... but in reality its because there units are flawed..

Laser readings on the other hand are accurate... But no analogue speedo will ever be that accurate, and they are even harder to calibrate... even for the experts

[Morcs]

Unless you're a pansy scottsman on a 250

Anyways, this speed tolerance is bullshit. I love sitting on the motorway at 120, knowing damn well that my speedo overeads about 10k, and then the 10k tolerance...

Bikes should have a different speed limit to cages anyway.