There have been many reports of motorists using the lack of traffic on the roads during the Covid19 lockdown to flout the speed limits and now with more traffic back on the roads there is a danger that some may continue to drive at excessive speeds even after things are back to ‘normal’.
Behavioural Science in transportation (understanding the behaviour and motivations of transport users such as motorists and rail commuters etc) is a fascinating subject which plays a big part in the engineering and design of roads and their ‘furniture’ in an attempt to gently persuade drivers to modify their driving behaviour to something more appropriate.
There are many such psychological tactics in place to combat speeding but could we be doing more? What other engineering solutions could be implemented to stop excessive speeding? How do different countries tackle speeding on their roads? What could we learn from them?
I remember having to learn all this braking distance stuff from the Highway Code, but how many can really visualise how far 175 feet is? I certainly can't.
Also hasn't all the differences and advances in road stone, tyre rubber and braking systems rendered all this pretty useless? In fact do they still expect learners to know this anymore?
I am inclined to agree, Rob, stopping distances are largely academic. It is not easy to visualise distances without definite visual guides. More useful is the "two-second rule". It is easy to estimate two seconds - about the time it takes to say, "Only a fool breaks the two-second rule."
Have braking distances improved over time? I am not so sure. However good the driver or the brakes, ultimately it depends on the coefficient of friction between rubber and asphalt. Since this is a fairly innate physical feature, my guess is that it has not improved by much. I should be very interested if anyone has any reliable data on this. It is probably sensible to stick to the long-established figures for braking to stay on the safe side.
Learners are expected to familiarise themselves with all of the Highway Code. I don't know whether they are tested on stopping distances on the theory test - does anyone on this forum know?
I remember having to learn all this braking distance stuff from the Highway Code, but how many can really visualise how far 175 feet is? I certainly can't.
Also hasn't all the differences and advances in road stone, tyre rubber and braking systems rendered all this pretty useless? In fact do they still expect learners to know this anymore?
I am inclined to agree, Rob, stopping distances are largely academic. It is not easy to visualise distances without definite visual guides. More useful is the "two-second rule". It is easy to estimate two seconds - about the time it takes to say, "Only a fool breaks the two-second rule."
Have braking distances improved over time? I am not so sure. However good the driver or the brakes, ultimately it depends on the coefficient of friction between rubber and asphalt. Since this is a fairly innate physical feature, my guess is that it has not improved by much. I should be very interested if anyone has any reliable data on this. It is probably sensible to stick to the long-established figures for braking to stay on the safe side.
Learners are expected to familiarise themselves with all of the Highway Code. I don't know whether they are tested on stopping distances on the theory test - does anyone on this forum know?
