Alistair J Murray would you not end up with precisely the same credibility issues you talk about now if that were the case?
we are going to have to agree to disagree on that point!
I am starting to regret getting into this argument now because i agree with a lot of what you say in principle but i cant see it working IRL so we are just going to go on and on (and on!)...
I dont see how variable limits can work - what factors do you suggest would-could drive the limit to apply?
to summarise my (which i know a lot of people will disagree with) position; we have traffic laws - we should not break them. Some (and granted not all) of the time, those laws protect people-communities from excess traffic-speed etc and as drivers we cannot pbutt through unfamiliar places in the comfort of our vehicles and come to any reasonable conclusion as to the logic of any limits - and we should certainly not take it upon ourselves to be selective about which limits apply to us on that day in those particular circumstances.
If you know of a limit that you think is in appropriate because you know the area well - be it too high or too low - i agree that is bad and maybe there should be a review process for these type of things so that common sense can be applied?
Until then, I think it is pretty stupid of people to complain about getting caught and using the revenue argument as a smokescreen. That in essence is what i find objectionable about some of the comments in here.
If we dont like those laws, we should seek to change them - as a cyclist and pedestrian there are plenty of road laws i would like to see changed, that is why we have political representation (if only!) and the likes of CTC, AA, RAC or whatever.
I do not ride a bicycle on the pavement, despite it being very tempting to do so when the pavement is empty, since it is safer for me to do so than to pbutt vehicles closely on occasion. if I did and got caught and fined that would be my own stupid fault, so i dont.
i can see a lot of logic in what you are saying. the problem i have in the back of my mind is the atbreastude of some people who will abuse any trust they are given - it is those people who are most likely to cause accidents in the first place... i dont think the general driving public is equipped to cope with that kind of decision making. i also think it would really muddy the waters where liability became an issue. im all for the KISS principle....
