Nuxx:6cdf1a35-2651-4b3e-9c78-299129166127@35g2000pry.googlegroups.com

Path: number1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!postnews.google.com!35g2000pry.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Message-ID: <6cdf1a35-2651-4b3e-9c78-299129166127@35g2000pry.googlegroups.com> From: Nuxx Bar  Newsgroups: uk.rec.cycling Subject: Re: A Simple Question Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2009 13:33:57 -0800 (PST) References:   <1it4l82.1tqqlj1cz2ql7N%NEWS@wodger.demon.co.uk>   Lines: 35 Organization: http://groups.google.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 86.160.137.186 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: posting.google.com 1231450437 28568 127.0.0.1 (8 Jan 2009 21:33:57 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2009 21:33:57 +0000 (UTC) Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: 35g2000pry.googlegroups.com; posting-host=86.160.137.186; posting-account=7_6kYAkAAABD6HrjM0VxehwvZOKMxm4g User-Agent: G2/1.0 X-HTTP-UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.5) Gecko/2008120122 Firefox/3.0.5,gzip(gfe),gzip(gfe) Bytes: 3272 Xref: perfectly-safe.chapmancentral.co.uk uk.rec.cycling:682558

On Jan 6, 4:30=A0pm, bugbear  wrote: > Clive George wrote: > > "Roger Merriman"  wrote in message > >news:1it4l82.1tqqlj1cz2ql7N%NEWS@wodger.demon.co.uk... > > >> get a little of that though the average speed zones, where people bunc= h > >> up far too close. makes for very unsettling driving really. > > > TBH I don't really find those a problem - I can keep my own distance, a= nd > > with people going the same speed everything is nice and predictable. > > And makes cruise control a lovely, lovely thing...

AFAICT, the only people who like such situations are control freaks who like to see everyone conforming and proceeding obediently like sheep. The kind of people who become cataclysmic with rage just because someone dares to take the initiative and overtake on a single carriageway road, even if it's perfectly safe and legal to do so. The kind of people who I wish I didn't have to share the roads with at all, because it only takes a small number of them to make things much more difficult for everyone else. You see them every rush hour on every A road, taking great pleasure in driving at 35mph in a NSL and doing their best to stop anyone passing them (it's bad enough that they don't pull over regularly to let everyone past, but many of them flash at, or even try to block, those who overtake).

Anyone who is much good at driving can instinctively tell that the artificial everyone-at-the-same-speed situations caused by SPECS are more, rather than less, dangerous than the norm. Escape routes are severely compromised. The ability to accelerate or decelerate out of danger is similarly limited. And the list goes on. But hey, as long as everyone is forced to travel below an artificially low speed, even when there are no workmen whatsoever, that *must* make things safer.