Variable speed Limits

Ok firstly mods apologose if this is in the incorret forum.

Does anybody else find these VSR's on the M25 annoying and dangerous?

I was on the M25 yesterday the sign on the gantry lit up to signal 60mph. My first reaction along with many others was to slow down to said speed. I then decided to move over from lane 1 to lane 3 so as not to hold up Mr white van behind. Ok im now on lane 3 (of the 4 lane m25 - j14 I think), doing 60 mph, however I noticed that ALL the traffic was doing the same speed. I tried to position myself so as not to appear in the blindspots of other traffic and also stick to the 60 MPH which might I add is quite a tricky task in a peaky little car!

Now in my limited experience, surely these VSR's are dangerous, causing drivers to change lane, and brake on a busy Mway. ok there is an argument that I could have stayed in lane 1 and stayed at 60mph however I'd rather not be pushed along by traffic behind and much rather let vehicles who want to motor do just that. I also think if somone has a blow out etc when doing the same speed surely the affects will be worse as opposed to a normal motorway with traffic at varying speeds.

I'd love to see before and after crash statistics for sections of motorway with VSR installes I'm pretty sure the number of crashes would increase. I'm also convinced that the poor standards of driving I see around is due to us being force fed what speeds to drive at etc, surely this reduces common sense and roadcraft amongst drivers.

Love to hear your opinions on this!

They work well enough on the M42 but I can't speak for the M25.

The VSR are rubbish, I drive round that bit of the M25 everyday ... all that happens is people (i.e. me) slam on the brakes for the cameras and then floor it between them, this causes a huge concertina effect and actually causes more congestion than without the VSR ...

If they truely want to improve safety then they need to put in average speed cameras, this way there is no jostling for position, and accelerating/braking sequences ...

Ohhhh .... you've got me started on one of my bug bares now!!!


The other thing that annoys me are the self full filling proficy signs ... your driving along and a sign says "congestion ahead", at which point everyone slows down/changes lane/positions there car to make sure they are not blocked in ... so you think I wonder what is causing the congestion ... then the signs a blank again with no explanation for what was causing the congestion ... apart from the sign that predicted it!!!


AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

... all that happens is people (i.e. me) slam on the brakes for the cameras and then floor it between them, this causes a huge concertina effect

when if you actually stayed at 60 between the cameras there wouldn't be any concertina affect....

Originally Posted by Harry1

when if you actually stayed at 60 between the cameras there wouldn't be any concertina affect....

That is so true. VSR is good if you abide bythe posted limits. PS. On the M42, you can use the hard shoulder in parts too

Originally Posted by Harry1

when if you actually stayed at 60 between the cameras there wouldn't be any concertina affect....

Which is why I state that there should be average speed camera's to stop those w*nkers (i.e. me and the bmw drivers) from doing it ...

Originally Posted by Squadrone Rosso

That is so true. VSR is good if you abide bythe posted limits. PS. On the M42, you can use the hard shoulder in parts too

I think thats an appalling idea....

1. i'd hate to be changing a tyre when the hard shoulder is open

2. if in lane 1 you are likely to get loads of crap thrown up from the person driving in the hard shoulder

on my last day on earth i will be murdering the dickheads in charge of the vsl on the M42 very slowly with sharp things or maybe blunt things

for some reason they insist on reducing the motorway to 40mph 2 miles before roadworks and frequently 1 mile AFTER roadworks and randomly throwing in a 20 mph lane for one camera before taking it back to 40mph,

the signs showing the speed limit are too small and way too bright so its difficult to tell 60 from 50 from 40 until you are too close to the damn thing and have to slam on your brakes, 44 tonne trucks dont slow down all that quickly

if one lane shows 20mph and another 40mph(which happens regularly on the m42) everyone swerves into the 40mph lane at the last minute.

the other night they had the signs up saying that a junction was closed so for some utterly unfathomable reason they had the whole motorway down to 40 mph for 5 miles before the junction at 11pm WTF, there was about 10 cars on the road, idiots.

fortunately i come back a different way but i used to drive back along the m42 at about 3am and they would still have all the signs up and limit down to 30mph for congestion from the previous evenings rush hour, so me and the other 3 trucks on the road would have to crawl along at 30mph

as for driving on the hard shoulder, whichever moron came up with that idea should be made to sit on the hard shoulder with 44 tonne trucks bearing down on them at 56mph

** Ar 145 begins to research into companies who manufacture numberplates that cameras can't read**

Having not driven on the M42 I felt I couldn't make a valued judgment (the M42 is up north somewhere isn't it ... I presume it's near Aberdeen) ... after all the grief the M42 got in the news prior to this VSR and usage of the hard shoulder, I was a little surprised to hear such a glowing review ... glad to hear that jabberwocky has provided a different viewpoint ...

... and restored my faith in the people in charge of the roads (i.e. they're all incompetent)

Where did you hear glowing reviews from?? A government report?

Squadrone Rosso at the top of this thread ...

ok,

the m42 runs just south of birmingham, so hardly oop north unless you are a little londoner, then of course anything north of brent cross shopping centre is oop north init.

Personally I think the variable speed limit works ok I've only done the M25 twice & M42 a dozen times, but it seems better than the free for all we get on the M27. Apart from the a**ehole who wants to do 70 when you're dong 50 who tries to run you off the road.

What winds me up is the average speed cameras we're getting on the M27 in the roadworks, seems easy to me - start at 50 as per limit stick cruise contol on then hey presto you average 50 but no, half the nutters belt past you then haven't got a clue what their average speed is until they get the speeding ticket on the door mat. No, I'm not generally a boring fart who sticks to speed limits on motorways but don't see the point in speeding when the cameras are so obvious!

Originally Posted by jabberwocky

the m42 runs just south of birmingham, so hardly oop north unless you are a little londoner, then of course anything north of brent cross shopping centre is oop north init.

little londoner ... that's me ... I do know where the M42 is, just seeing if I could get a bite out of someone ... lol