18.63 MPH speed limit ?

[Shannow]

Traditionally, Oz had 60km/hr (37MPH) urban speed limits.

A while ago, 40km/hr (25MPH) was introduced in school zones, during school hours. People thought that was relatively sensible, until the had school zones on roads/highways requiring the driver to slow from 80 or 100km/hr to 40.

They've extended it to passing stationary school busses, including out in rural areas, where you have to slow from up to 100km/hr.

State Government blackmailed councils into dropping the residential speed limit to 50km/hr (31MPH) across the state, which results in some regional towns around here taking 15 minutes to traverse.

News today is that a Sydney Council is pushing for 30km/hr limits (18.63MPH) to further reduce pedestrian injuries.

I honsestly can't imagine driving at 30km/hr though Sydney subburbs.

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by Shannow:


I honestly can't imagine driving at 30km/hr though Sydney subburbs.

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That's so the guy required to ride ahead of you on a bicycle with a red lantern won't get worn out.

Several states in the US require you to stop when a stationary school bus has it's flashing lights on. Even when it's on the other side of the road if it isn't a divided highway.

I drove through small town in Nevada on a state highway that doubled as it's main street (65 mph outside town). The speed limit was 15mph when school was in session and the restricted speed lights were flashing.

The lights were flashing and no children were in sight. Smelled like a revenue enhancement zone to me. The locals were going 15mph, so I assumed it was enforced.

 

[Dominic]

15mph through school zones here in PA. In the south its 25mph... I have trouble doing 15mph in my camaro, she idles in 3rd gear at 18 :-D

 

[Matt_S]

It sounds like they're not setting the speed limit by the type of road and the number of access points, which is common here (at least in Michigan). We do have a 25 mph limit in residential and school zones, but that doesn't mean that a main road with houses along it is also 25 mph. 35 - 45 mph is much more common there. Of course our highways are all limited access in my neck of the woods which means you won't see any school or residential zones you have to slow down for. I can't imagine being limited to 18 mph in anything other than a parking lot.

 

[Gary Allan]

Yep. Here in Penn it's stop for all school bus stopping unless on a divided road. The designated school bus stop doesn't vary. It's always on one side of the road...so it's either the kid crossing the street on either the pickup or drop off

The bus even has a STOP sign that swings out for thos who may not quite have mastered our driver manuals and need visual aids

A barrier also extends from the front of the bus to force children to move into the line of sight of the driver (a few got run over if they dropped their books and the driver lost count of exiting kids vs. crossing kids).

The frustrating thing is that they have the 15 mph enforced for the entire school day ..even if the school is over 100yds from the road and the recess areas are fenced.

It's not like escaping youngsters is a common problem. If a child isn't where they're supposed to be ..they're waiting supervised for pickup

Children are far more at risk in our neighborhoods with all the parked cars ...kids playing ..and 25mph zones.

 

[Louie's gone fishing]

I think there should be a person walking ahead of your car with a lit flare, just like the old days. Then we need a government classification for the job and of course, OSHA needs to develop a set of safety standards.

 

[moribundman]

quote:

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I think there should be a person walking ahead of your car with a lit flare, just like the old days.

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Not a bad idea. If we do that we can give all the local homeless a job and still have "spares." And, due to the exorbitant number of red light runners, we will need those spares.