Tony Morgan
The ROSPA people published a poster in the last couple of years with 4 point advice on how to walk up stairs1. Seriously. I'll type that again more slowly.. pointers on how to walk up stairs.
If you are going to buttume that the average adult is so dumb that they need 4 tips to help them negotiate stairs then I can only imagine how the car driving advice goes :)
1. Adjust mirrors. 2. Get out of the car if nothing is coming - it's just too dangerous out there. 3. Be careful when getting out - there might be stairs around.
Seriously though, using speed limits to encourage safe driving is nuts because the safe driving speed depends on a bunch of different factors, very few of which are available at time of speed limiting the road.
Is it safe to do 40 in a 30 zone past a school ? How about at 3am when nobody's around ? How about 30 when the kids are piling out, it's raining and there's all sorts of traffic pulling in and out ?
Speed limits should mean 'It's never safe to go above X on this road'. They are clearly not used in this way (It's never safe to go over 70 ? I must be really fortunate then).
HTH, HAND
Bryan
1 I know this because the bank I worked in at the time put them up in the stairwells (amusingly, no at ground level, but half-way up) - I laughed so hard I almost fell down the stairs.
