Paris drops city speed limits to 30 kph

[Richard230]

The Paris city fathers are finally getting around to lowering the city speed limit, after years of thinking about it. They are reducing the Paris city speed limit to 19 mph (30 kph) and cutting 60,000 parking spots in order to help out the environment and make it safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. Needless to say, not everyone is happy with this plan, especially delivery truck drivers and likely visitors in cars and motorcycles. Attached is an article published in my newspaper today regarding this subject.

[Lag]

Crazy,,,,.
I don't see them following that unless they have significant reinforcement,,. 30 is a crawls pace, the place is already a traffic jam,,. Certainly it will act as a deterrent to driving,,!!

[Richard230]

Things could get worse: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57109733

[DJ123]

Many places in London are 20mph (although most not enforced), as is Brighton, and a number of other Towns in the UK.

To get people to use other modes of transport (public, or private - Bikes, Scooters) then it needs to be made safer to do so, and reduce the Crime/accidents involved on this transportation too.

[Richard230]

Or in many parts of the U.S. have public transportation that goes from where someone lives to where then want to go.

If I wanted to go to the closest BMW motorcycle shop in San Francisco, I would have to walk 3 miles to the bus stop, wait 30 minutes for the bus to arrive, then ride 45 minutes on a bus to the BART train station (which takes me 10 minutes on my motorcycle), wait 20 minutes for a train to arrive and then take a 30 minute ride into the city to the closet station. After that, I can walk 30 minutes to the shop. However, if I ride there the entire trip would only be 30 minutes. For me public transportation is just a time-suck. Plus, no one ever said that "you meet the nicest people on a bus".

[N4HHE]

If I wanted to go to the closest BMW motorcycle shop in San Francisco, I would have to walk 3 miles to the bus stop, wait 30 minutes for the bus to arrive, then ride 45 minutes on a bus to the BART train station (which takes me 10 minutes on my motorcycle), wait 20 minutes for a train to arrive and then take a 30 minute ride into the city to the closet station. After that, I can walk 30 minutes to the shop. However, if I ride there the entire trip would only be 30 minutes. For me public transportation is just a time-suck. Plus, no one ever said that "you meet the nicest people on a bus".

But that is how Centralized Control works for everything: education, health care, farming, manufacturing, ...

Consider the lowly traffic light. Never optimizes traffic flow. Makes many stop for no good reason other than the timer cycled. Centralized government likes them, believes they are there "for your own good." The poorest of human traffic director/crossing guard would do better. Could feel the flow, see how many are coming from each direction. Computers could be programmed to improve traffic lights but that would require effort and innovation which government lacks.

[DJ123]

Or in many parts of the U.S. have public transportation that goes from where someone lives to where then want to go.

If I wanted to go to the closest BMW motorcycle shop in San Francisco, I would have to walk 3 miles to the bus stop, wait 30 minutes for the bus to arrive, then ride 45 minutes on a bus to the BART train station (which takes me 10 minutes on my motorcycle), wait 20 minutes for a train to arrive and then take a 30 minute ride into the city to the closet station. After that, I can walk 30 minutes to the shop. However, if I ride there the entire trip would only be 30 minutes. For me public transportation is just a time-suck. Plus, no one ever said that "you meet the nicest people on a bus".

Even if/you discount the time spent. The cost is a lot higher than it is with personal transport. Which is a big impact if you're having to use it regular to get to/from work, or shopping, socialising etc. However in London there's a £10 daily cap charge on the tube/buses etc. So in the city where everything is closer it works and is cost efficient due to the number of travellers.

If i want to go to my local town which is about 4 miles away, IIRC (this was a couple of years ago) the cost was circa £6 (for the Bus) one way. In my car i could cover about 38 miles, and the Motorbike 60-70miles for the same cost.

[Rev Ken]

Crazy,,,,.
I don't see them following that unless they have significant reinforcement,,. 30 is a crawls pace, the place is already a traffic jam,,. Certainly it will act as a deterrent to driving,,!!

Several cities here in the UK have a 20mph. For instance Bristol has an extensive 20mph limit..... but it doesn't make much difference as it is hard to go that fast with the normal gridlocks!

[Rev Ken]

Or in many parts of the U.S. have public transportation that goes from where someone lives to where then want to go.

If I wanted to go to the closest BMW motorcycle shop in San Francisco, I would have to walk 3 miles to the bus stop, wait 30 minutes for the bus to arrive, then ride 45 minutes on a bus to the BART train station (which takes me 10 minutes on my motorcycle), wait 20 minutes for a train to arrive and then take a 30 minute ride into the city to the closet station. After that, I can walk 30 minutes to the shop. However, if I ride there the entire trip would only be 30 minutes. For me public transportation is just a time-suck. Plus, no one ever said that "you meet the nicest people on a bus".

At least many of the lanes reserved for taxis, buses and cyclists are now open to motorcycles. A definite improvement when trying to go ANYWHERE in Bristol!

[Closterman]

Several cities here in the UK have a 20mph. For instance Bristol has an extensive 20mph limit..... but it doesn't make much difference as it is hard to go that fast with the normal gridlocks!

I heard a French motorcycle journalist on you tube channel say that it won’t change anything as the average traffic speed in Paris is 17km/h. It may be a bit better for motorcyclist as lane splitting is a common thing there.

[notacop]

Hey, there are plenty of place right here in America that have low speed limits. There are places where the highway speed of 55 is rigidly enforced. Even in Calif we have 15 to 25 mph limits around schools and residential communities.

[whatsup]

Still too fast.
..George Kastanza faking injury, rides powered cart being chased by outraged seniors with canes down sidewalk

[Lag]

Were seeing more and more Cameras,,. Started with red lights at so called hi incident intersections, then added speed in those intersections,,. Last week I was sitting at an intersection in a small town and my Garmin was indicating a camera at that intersection,,.

I was on a busy hwy way in the lower mainland on Monday and they had signs up indicating that the "Roadway" was strictly enforced with Cameras, not "intersections" but "Roadway",,. I do believe by the way the traffic was behaving that they had cameras on the main stretches of this hwy,,. Cars were driving fast and then suddenly pulling into the slow lane as if there was a cop around and then speed up again,,. One women stuck her hand out the car window indicating slow down,,. So far OK for me however I'm scared to open the mailbox?

I think easy to see where this is headed, if they place enough of these things around traffic will slow,,. Win win, good revenue for the municipality and the province and more grid lock every where throughout the daylight hours,,!!

[Richard230]

The problem for drivers is that many drive at a speed that they believe is safe based upon their past driving experiences. However, if the speed limits are arbitrary and set at a speed that is politically correct, as they were in the city that I worked at, then automatic ticket-dispensing speed cameras are going to be seen by local governments as a real cash cow and will be installed all over the place. Right now the cities of San Fransisco, San Jose and I believe also LA, are petitioning the state legislators to pass a law allowing them to install speed cameras as a "test" to see how they will work in their cities. The claim is that they will improve safety, but no mention is made of how much free money will be brought into their treasuries. Meanwhile, there is a push in San Francisco to lower the speed limit on many streets to only 15 mph. At that speed it is going to take half a day to cross town.