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| Hanne after church yesterday |
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| Fire bush in our back yard yesterday |
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| Else and Kurt's for lunch! |
In UK in 1865 a car was limited to 2mph in town, 4mph out of town. The limit was 14 in 1896, 20 in 1903. Interestingly, the AA was formed in 1905 to help motorists against money gathering policemen enforcing the speed limit! Since then, a number of different devices have been invented to stop speeders, by measuring their speed, photographing their licence plates, and /or billing them automatically for an offence. I'm sure in the future new cars could be secretly equipped with micro-chips for controlling speed. Or GPS measuring satellites in space could be employed. But at present I like the Mexican system of using pace cars on stretches of highway with either high abuse rates or high accident rates or both; and I love the Swedish system tried out last year where "good" motorists can enter a lottery, the winnings coming from speeder fines! I am also in favour of "rumble strips". The noise is enough to slow you down. In other places tolls are used. You have to stop to pay a toll, then the ticket shows the time. At the next toll-booth the ticket shows the next time, and can add to your toll by a fine if you got there too soon! The trouble is, roads are being built better all the time to make your journey quicker! In UK they are considering raising the speed limit to 80 mph. And so the game goes on. And on....
Incidentally I believe the land speed record for a car is 763 mph. Wow! I'll get one!
5 comments:
Nice pictures. When we married, we bought the same glasses as on this table.
Greetings,
Filip
Such an interesting overview of the different practices employed to enforce speed control. I'd hate to have been in the car that holds the current land speed record!
I hate rumble strips! Why is it that the rumble strips placed across the road just before a village 30mph zone stretch ALL the way across the road? Why do I need to be slowed down when LEAVING the village. I'm just leaving a 30 and have entered the the 60mph national speed limit!
The latest thing over here is the Speed Awareness Course, an alternative to points on the license for those who are only just over the limit. It costs slightly more than the fine would, but I think it's a good idea. We all accidentally slide a little over from time to time. Re-educating must be better than punishing for those who do not speed either deliberately or recklessly.
Invest in cruise control, set the speed, then sit back with foot off the accelerator. No slipping over or under possible.
H- has a good point and I agree. However, I also think that speed limits should be set according to surroundings, geographical conditions and density of population. When people have to go 90km on straight roads that go on endlessly like our prairies have, I think it's a waste of time. On the other hand, there could be speed limit penalties for those who drive so slowly as to cause rear end collisions and/or traffic jams.
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