• apprehensively_human@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Frankly I feel uneasy when I’m driving around at 50km/h on residential streets. It’s just too fast to be able to react to a kid or an animal jumping out from behind a parked car. So not only is 50 more lethal, it also reduces reaction time and increases braking distance. It’s crazy that anybody ever thought this was a good idea to begin with.

    • orclev@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Hmm, some quick googling says 30 km/h is equal to about 18 mph which feels a little slow. For reference the typical residential speed limit in the US is 25 mph which is about 40 km/h. The lowest speed limit I’ve ever seen is 15 mph or 24 km/h, but even then nearly everyone ignored that and did 20 to 25 mph. School zones are typically 20 mph or 32 km/h.

      • Life_inst_bad@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        In germany there are pedestrian/residental areas with a speed limit of 4-7km/h (2-4mp/h for the American folk here). Basically 1st gear idle speed. Also you can’t “jaywalk” in these areas since it’s specifically desjnged as a mixed space, nobody has a right of way.

        • orclev@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Just seems too slow to be practical, it will take hours to drive anywhere. I drive just under 100 km every day and that already takes me an hour and a half. If the max speed limit was 30 km/h that would be at least 3 hours if not worse because I’m sure traffic would be significantly worse.

          At those speeds you might as well not even bother with a car. Hell there’s people around here that regularly exceed 30 km/h on bicycles.

          • Moneo@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            You drive 100km down residential streets every day? Main roads will not have this speed limit.

            At those speeds you might as well not even bother with a car.

            That’s kind of the point. Cars are horribly inefficient at moving people, terrible for the environment, and turn cities into dangerous and awful places to be.

            • orclev@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              The article seemed to imply that there would only be 2 speed limits, 80% of roads would be 30 km/h while the remaining roads would be 50 km/h. If this only applies to residential roads and not major ones then that’s fine. Still seems slightly on the slow side but not horrendous.

              About 5 miles of my daily commute are on residential roads most of which are 25 to 30 mph speed limits. 20 miles are on roads with a 70 mph speed limit, and the remainder the speed limit is 45 mph. Most days it takes about 50 minutes one way for a total round trip time of about an hour and 40 minutes.

    • Moneo@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I got docked points on my test for going 30 in a residential zone. I didn’t fail and I know the tester is just doing their job but daaamn. Encouraging a 17 year old kid to go 50 down side streets with only enough space for a single car, interesting strategy.

      17 is way too young to be driving in the first place, but that’s another conversation.

      • Mindful@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I experienced something similar while getting my license, luckily the tester acknowledged that it had been the right thing to do as we later on drove past a kid playing on the street. Imo driving a bit slower in residential areas shouldn’t be a problem for anyone.