Speed limits

[ClichéGuevara]

There are different limits for different vehicles based on their stopping distances, so should new ones be created for cyclists now that the average speed of cycles seem to be getting higher and higher?

What should it be? I reckon 75% of the marked road speed.

 

[asterix]

I think you'll find that avg speeds are only getting higher on cycling firums. I'd certainly agree that there should be some kind of restraint imposed rather like limiting the length of fishermen's arms.

 

[HLaB]

I don't know how enforceable they are but there are already speed limits for bikes where appropriate, the one that springs to mind are on the Forth Road Bridge to have limits though, where its not reasonable is just stupid waste of time IMO.

 

[corshamjim]

The average speed of my cycle never seems to increase!

Seriously though, it's a bit pointless imposing any speed restriction on pedal cycles unless there will also be compulsion to fit a speedometer.

 

[HLaB]

Thinking more about it, I can't do it often but in a 30mph zone being able to do near 30mph and stop must overtake cyclist being restricted would just lead to more must overtakes, left hooks etc.

 

[samid]

I don't know how enforceable they are but there are already speed limits for bikes where appropriate, the one that springs to mind are on the Forth Road Bridge to have limits though, where its not reasonable is just stupid waste of time IMO.

But Forth Road Bridge is different as cyclist share with pedestrians there, not with cars.

 

[HLaB]

But Forth Road Bridge is different as cyclist share with pedestrians there, not with cars.

Yip, its appropriate there but not on road. Restricting the speed of a cyclist (as well as being impracticable) would just encourage more dodgy overtakes from drivers :-)

 

[Ace Demon]

There are different limits for different vehicles based on their stopping distances, so should new ones be created for cyclists now that the average speed of cycles seem to be getting higher and higher?
What should it be? I reckon 75% of the marked road speed.

Limits are based on size/weight, not stopping distance because the legal minimum braking performance for a 44 tonne lorry is the same as for a car. The fact that, in practice, cars are so much better than 44 tonne lorries is a different matter.

A lot of people like to compare bicycle braking distances with cars. It seems rather irrelevant when bikes can outbrake lorries (and by virtue of size and manoeuverability, are less likely to need to brake) and that there are very few roads where lorries are not allowed to go faster than most people can achieve on a bicycle.

 

[GrasB]

A speed limit is the maximum speed for the road when the situation allows. It's not the speed you should be going all the time, so if you feel that your braking distances aren't upto doing 30mph on that stretch of road you don't.

Thinking more about it, I can't do it often but in a 30mph zone being able to do near 30mph and stop must overtake cyclist being restricted would just lead to more must overtakes, left hooks etc.

I doubt you'd see any increase in overtaking or left hooks. From experience, doing around 30mph in a 30 limit or 40mph in a 40 limit doesn't stop most cars from overtaking & left hooking me. In fact it makes left hooking worse as most motorists don't seem to have the ability to judge the speed of a cyclist.

 

[byegad]

Why bother? The number of casualties caused by or to cyclists related to the speed of the cycle is low. The elephant in the room is the much larger number of deaths and casualties related to motor vehicles a 5age of which are speed related. We can discuss what 5age another day, but surely a much larger number than those related to any kind of injury caused by cyclists, speed related or not.

 

[gavroche]

seriously, how many of you can substain speed of 30mph for long periods of time? As for 40mph, unless you are a professional or going down a steep hill, forget it.
Speed limit for cylists? LOL.

 

[Bicycle]

It's an amusing idea, but I don't believe it's practicable.

To be held by law to riding below a prescribed speed, a cyclist must be able accurately to measure their speed.

I can't see anyone proposing (or bringing about) the mandatory fitting of accurate speedometers to bicycles.

For a Bill to be introduced (and passed) there ought also to be a tangible benefit for any speed restriction.

I don't see one in the case of bicycles.

I've ridden a bicycle at over 30 mph in a 30 zone, but have rarely kept up with the motor vehicles when I've done it.

Many of us will have 'favourite hills' where we believe we can safely get up to a decent speed, often above the posted speed limit.

There are also places where we can certainly break the limit but consider it unsafe to have a crack - for one or more of many possible reasons.

For all that some of us are colossal twerps, I think that the necessary exposure of cyclists to the painful realities of unplanned dismounts results in a preference for prudence in matters of speed and risk.

I will eat my hat if widespread speed limits for bicycles are introduced in the UK. Then I will eat my bicycle and wrestle with an angry giraffe.

 

[GrasB]

Depends on the conditions if it needs to be for long periods. There are certain areas that one can keep up with traffic cruising around 30mph for several miles as traffic lights etc give you enough of a rest to maintain that power output. (PS. I never said it was easy to keep the speeds up, only that it's possible)

Granted 40mph requires a half decent negative gradient but still it's possible around Cambridge, though most opportunities are in NSLs, thankfully there's only one road that a left hook is actually possible... and that's in a 40 limit.

 

[VamP]

I think it's a terrible idea. Aside from the valid points made by byegad, why would any cyclist voluntarily give up the freedom to cycle as fast as they are able. I don't get it .

I am however quite intrigued by the possibility of watching Bicycle wrestling with an angry giraffe.

 

[Bicycle]

In Richmond Deer park cyclists are expected to observe the 20mph limit with or without any means of measuring their speed.

In my youth (late 70s) I used to ride a tandem through Richmond Park to get to the river at Putney. I remember the limit in the park as 25, but my mind is old now.

We had a old 10-speed touring tandem with an ancient mechanical speedometer (turned by the spokes).

Flat-out on descents in the park we'd hit 40 and pass pensioners in Renault 14s (the Rover 25 of their day).

It was all very naughty, but I was very young.

We rode at those speeds on the assumption that as bicycles were not required to be fitted with speedometers, the limit could not be enforced.

I was never stopped by the Parks Police.

I hear that these days Richmond Park is a weekend haze of lycra, the latest carbon and would-be Alpha Males, but in those days we had it to ourselves as far a bicycles were concerned.

I don't call that a proper speed limit. It was just a challenge.