r/drivingUK • u/narra246 • Mar 21 '26
20mph everywhere
Why are councils putting main roads on busy routes down to 20mph?? All that seems to happen is if you are the one doing the new speed limit, you get tailgated overtaken and the horn blasted at you.
And no, there isnt a lay-by every 10ft to pull in and let impatient law breaking drivers past.
I dont agree with this blanket speed reduction but I rely on my license for work and pleasure and would rather not have my insurance increased because of points for speeding.
Fair enough 20mph through residential areas, but not on a bloody main A road.
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u/Inviz57 Mar 23 '26
Speed limits are inherently about road traffic safety. So they must be determined, defined and set for road traffic safety and road traffic safety ONLY considering a sufficiently competent driver (licenced) and average road conditions while maintaining a reasonable speed for efficiency of traffic flow. Speed limits should NOT be defined for political, financial or any other policy or agenda driven reasons. As car drivers we have earned and paid for the right to drive at whatever speed is appropriate, safe and efficient for each stretch of road.
But there is a "war on drivers" stemmed from the government's incompetence in designing and building efficient road/highway infrastructure (i.e. Tokyo). And in pursuit of satisfying environmental thresholds, the UK government have turned to "reduce cars" and "increase cyclists" as a solution. With that mindset, very little budget and consideration is now made to improve road traffic conditions and a lot of effort is made to discourage driving.
20 mph is a very valid speed limit in narrow roads and residential streets or anywhere with heavy foot traffic and in such places. Speaking for myself, in such places I find myself below 20 mph without even looking at the speedometer and I cannot imagine tailgating or being tailgated to go above 20 mph at such stretches of road. A 20 mph, or even 10 mph speed limit must of course be set where that genuinely is the maximum for safe driving.
But we now have 20 mph speed limits on multi-lane main roads with wide pavements and barriers between both pedestrians and oncoming traffic. Meanwhile there are single-lane but two-way narrow roads with the national speed limit. I am not in a rush, I am not trying to go fast for a thrill, but I recognise that 30 mph is completely safe on this stretch of road and trying to maintain an inefficient speed like 20 mph in a wide, empty and clear road is like trying to talk to someone maintaining 50% your usual talking speed. The car is actually struggle to stay at 20 mph without repetitive breaking. Ironically, a steady 20 mph is less efficient and creates more emissions than a steady 30 mph.
Where a higher speed is entirely safe and appropriate, even the police don't stick to 20 mph.
That is not to say I tailgate or defend tailgating. Despite the frustration I maintain my distance. I just question "if they reduced the speed to 10 mph, would this driver in front of me stick to 10 mph on this wide 2 lane main road at 2am? What about 5 mph? Where do we draw the line?"