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OK it's two things

first the more important (?)

driving around the broadmarsh "island" thing (bus station), train station and all to the left, there's lots of police presence...... several of them with big-ass assualt and/or semi automatic rifles. What in the f*** was going on???? heard nowt on the news..

secondly - what's going on with the A610. it's got SPECS all along it for a start (fair enough, the 30/40 limits seem reasonably appropriate for most of the time) .... then when you're a mile or two either side of the M1... what WAS a perfectly good stretch of NSL-70 dual carriageway is now FORTY MILES PER HOUR (and then, fifty, a little further out of town where it's even MORE rural). What gives?
No cameras in evidence - yet - and so the local populace plus myself showed their utter contempt for this cynical measure by going 70-plus. (I stuck to 75 and overtook NO-ONE but got passed by about 20 vehicles of all types). Has any reason been published for this, because i feel like getting nuclear on the council. It doesnt really affect me as I only cruise up there when bored on block weeks, but solidarity and making a point, you know?

I looked my hardest for any reason for this limit, but it's probably some nonsense to do with the peak traffic levels - where vehicle speed is a self regulating thing regardless of limits anyway.

oh....... and i had a nice chat with the mobile speed van guys (well it was nice by the end and we shook hands, once tempers had settled) in West Bridgford - keep your eyes very peeled for camera signs posted up around the place, and if you dont see one within a mile of these two folks (names witheld - for now), pull up and ask them, more politely than i did, why they're parked up (on the public grass ) with no warning signs.

Particularly why there's no sign on the camera side of the van, indeed it looks like there was one and it was removed. Forgot to point that out.

After the chat i had, i'm not sure whether to be on that chap's side or not, but i have a feeling some figures research will stick me back on the motorist side. He tried to use "lower speeds during the fuel crisis" (in the nineteen bloody seventies!) as a reason for less road deaths. Ya.. because slowing down from 30 uses so much less fuel (more, in some cases), even in an underdrive geared car.... and of course the fact that many people could no longer afford to drive -at all- and the existence of the three day week had nothing to do with it then....?

yes yes, but did you see Robin Hood?

i think the spirit of robin hood can be effectively considered dead unless we reawaken it

polochick - yes, but what about the guns!

and like a 40mph limit is any disincentive to racing - if people are going too fast because they're racing, then they'll be going way way over the 70 anyhow
and the trent bridge is still a NSL 70, in one direction at least - the trickiest direction, where 40 or 50 is as fast as you can go and as fast as you'd really want to go anyway in order to get through that tricky set of junctions safely.

ugh..... what can we do to reverse this nonsense? there's been a lot of good work going on in the last couple weeks against the anti terror bill for one thing (some of the truth behind why the government has rushed it through has come out too - not just that they didnt think it would pass if they didnt try to slip it in like they did the Contingency bill - but looks like they "forgot" the belmarsh order was running out ... and they only have so much time to tender new bills before an election / recess ... despite all that they claim 8 months is "too short" a review period!)

and there's activism planned

but on the other hand my pa has reccommended me strongly not to attend the antiwar / pro (real) democracy rally next weekend, and a chum at college who's done it before, because of the very real threat of overreaction, arrest on no real grounds, and ending up getting registered and tagged with all the other "terrorists".

=cries=


..i wonder if italy would be a safe place to go... no fast cars = no ferrari, lambourghini, alfa etc = economic fallout

Tahrey1043 wrote:..i wonder if italy would be a safe place to go... no fast cars = no ferrari, lambourghini, alfa etc = economic fallout

Dunno what it's like when you get to the richer areas / out on the open road in italy, but certainly driving around town is the most utterly chaotic business.. -everybody- drives a Fiat panda / uno / cinquecento covered in numerous battle scars, and whatever the italian equivelant of the highway code is seems to be have been ceremoniously burnt in one enormous bonfire at some point in the country's history. I get the feeling the traffic police probably have other things to worry about than rigorously enforcing limits

Tahrey1043 wrote:secondly - what's going on with the A610. it's got SPECS all along it for a start (fair enough, the 30/40 limits seem reasonably appropriate for most of the time) .... then when you're a mile or two either side of the M1... what WAS a perfectly good stretch of NSL-70 dual carriageway is now FORTY MILES PER HOUR (and then, fifty, a little further out of town where it's even MORE rural). What gives?

Which side of the M1 are the specs on? I saw the signs on the ikea side, but hadn't noticed anything else...

It's a real shame as that was a *great* road - smooth, wide, nice gradients and long sweeping curves. Trouble was there were plently of locals who'd plod along it at forty. Perhaps there had been a few hits due the speed differential? Plus I understand that queues badly at peak times, so maybe that's the reason??

Call me a cynic, but all the curves, plus the laybys and the really high footbridge - combined with lots of out-of-area traffic along the stretch between the m1 and ikea - will make this an ideal road from a revenue-earner's perspective.

Deek.

I won't call you a cynic mate, i'd call you a realist.

Seriously what other reason is there?

There's easily enough visibility to brake in plenty of time to avoid some dick doing 30 under the limit...

The SPECS are into the urban area, in the 40 and 30 zones. Not immediately obvious to the general person, and if they do spot em they might suspect they're just police CCTV, but they do stick out a mile if you know what you're looking for.

PS does anyone know what the actual italian speed limits are? I've seen at least three versions so far --- its all different according to the quality of the road, what your cylinder capacity is (very wierd rule), and probably if there's an "o" in the day of the week.

All I know is, they're not stuck at the oldskool 130kmh any more - its higher..

Whoa!!

Cant believe im reading this! I was driving back from Uni (trent) on thursday and there was a MASSIVE police presence around Radford (nothing new there then ) - only this time they were all armed and there was a helicopter keeping an eye on proceedings from above. Apparently they are having a massive clampdown on nottingham's drug culture, everyone from suppliers through to dealers are being targeted.

I noticed the change in the speed limits when i was off to ikea the other day - doesnt really make any sense but no doubt they will litter it with a few revenue producing gatsos in the next few months

I used to think Stoke-on-Trent was bad, but Notts really is getting a lot worse

Yeah, when I worked in Nottingham I was told (this was a long time ago so I'm not sure if this is still the case) that Broadmarsh on a Sunday night is the place to be for the boyracers of Nottingham, they race around the centre...

And yes, there seems to be quite a big drug problem there, in fact I've been clubbing and out drinking in a few places and I have to say the only place that I feel unsafe is Nottingham, I keep having to look behind my shoulder and keep my wits about me. Shame really because it is a really nice city.

fair enough, if its a geniune drugs / shootings crackdown... one of the reasons i havent been out there (apart from lunchtime visits to Via Fossa, 'spoons, etc) whilst on college jaunts is that i'd be doing it pretty much by myself, and i've heard too much of the roughness of some places.

still makes your hair stand up a little when you're just rolling around one side of a commercial centre and suddenly there's four or five chaps (and lasses) just hovering on the pavement very close to the curb, cradling an M16, wearing (minimalist) body armour (no helmet, just a hat!) and packing at least one 9mm sidearm to boot.....

the 40mph duelling cabbageway will be the site of many burnt blown-out tyres in the months to come, then, i suppose....

PS thinking of guns... ban on foxhunting - just a convoluted reason to disarm even more of the populace who might form a revolutionary militia? (though, i guess, your only recourse if you can't track a fox with dogs is to shoot it, so that might backfire)

Gun crime capital of the uk

Nottingham is a prime example of how British society is deteriorating into something very grim

Mr Blair has his work cut out!

just as i prefer the option to speed (even if the police start coming down like a ton of bricks and ensure that you only ever exceed 29/59/69mph in dire circumstances) over the complete removal of that option through ISA, i'd also prefer some firepower to remain in the hands of the people - even if they're gangstas - rather than it ALL being retained by the authorities

that's just a recipe for disaster....

i know where to go if i find a sudden need for a saturday night special to hold off the gestapo, then.....!

(beats trying to make it across the irish sea to get chummy with the IRA... which would be a deeply horrid step to take)

cyhliu wrote:Yeah, when I worked in Nottingham I was told (this was a long time ago so I'm not sure if this is still the case) that Broadmarsh on a Sunday night is the place to be for the boyracers of Nottingham, they race around the centre...

And yes, there seems to be quite a big drug problem there, in fact I've been clubbing and out drinking in a few places and I have to say the only place that I feel unsafe is Nottingham, I keep having to look behind my shoulder and keep my wits about me. Shame really because it is a really nice city.

Yeah it was.. it was stupid cause there was drunks out and anyone couldve been killed, for the last few months they started blocking the lanes off to prevent racing etc..

I've always felt unsafe whenever i've been notts whether its clubbing or shopping..