Last few weeks have been to Acton and Ealing for the dentist, (note to self Miracles do happen, my dentist is open) and lots of it is 20mph, and pretty well obeyed too.

However going by train tomorrow as appointment at 10.30 so will miss the flush hour.. both ways, long appointment and anaesthetic for implants.. so also better not to try to drive back.

Edited by _ORB_ on 24/08/2020 at 16:37

Mind you the train will be flying on the return journey, your wallet will be quite a bit lighter.

Ectually (as we say in N E Ethics... the train is reasonable..£16 in £9.25 out.

It's the dentist that is going to hurt. £2000 per implant after £190 for the consultation and bit of cleaning and xray. following a failed implant a few years back which broke off, and was such pain that I nearly gave up on living. Copious amounts of opioids, tranquilizers etc later and just got over various other traumas so hoping for the best.

But after all He does have a nice taste in S class mercs, and secondly I got an appointment as he is a buddy of swmbo..'nuffsaid. (his daughter assistant is quite tasty as an assistant) and she is a dentist too.

You would have hated my first dentist here in France, I had a crown replaced which needed a new post I reckon he had been a stonemason before training as a dentist.

Current lady dentist is very tasty in knee boots and tight jeans!

The last few weeks, (but not today) when I have been to ealing, via Park royal, horn lane acton and ealing road, nobody has tooted or insisted otherwise that i go faster. The usual suspects speeding and ducking and diving on the A406 north circular... but in general traffic flowing well.

Not surprising, given that London is a veritable ghost town (compared to normal) at the moment. A near neighbour went into London on the train a couple of days ago and said it was like a cold wet Sunday.

Don't forget though that it is still the school holidays (I recall when working in north London that school holiday traffic levels were less than half that of normal), so traffic will inevitably increase from next week once more kids (hopefully) go back to school and parents can (or are 'encouraged') to return to their normal place of work.

It's not just that people are reluctant to travel by public transport into London - many of the projects and jobs that depend on all these commuter jobs have dried up and thus there are far less people about - including on the roads.

Out in the sticks, things are much more 'back to normal' (roads-wise, not the trains - my local station car park is less than 10% of its normal usage), because many people commute by car (more [but not great) parking available in and around workplaces than in London, etc).

(Searching for "like" button for Concrete's previous post ;-)
Consensus may be based on (most) drivers' natural instincts to drive at a safe speed, regardless of the actual posted limits, although of course there are always a few who "spoil it for the rest of us"!
I remember reading (I think on this blog) many years ago about the 85th percentile, which points to this natural instinct or "feel" for a particular road, which mature, experienced motorists most likely have and young, inexperienced hotheads plainly lack. If 85% of the traffic on a given stretch of road drives at or below speed "x", then speed "x" is a good "fit" for the road and the speed which most people will obey and at which fewer accidents will occur. One of many articles I found on the subject: http://www.mikeontraffic.com/strict-speed-ignoring-85th-percentile/
Unfortunately, speed enforcement tends to be a blunt instrument and the cash machines, sorry, safety cameras, that go hand in hand with speed cameras clumsily seek to effect a cure rather than eliminate the symptom.
One final thought: The Isle of Man has no speed restrictions outside urban areas, which would suggest that the island's geography (together with the 85th percentile?) is the principal "enforcer" of good driving habits. Alas, it has twice England's accident and death rate.

I've often wondered about the effectiveness of the "SLOW" road sign, which I think is unique to the UK. It has that very genteel, olde worlde "I say, would you mind awfully...?" ring to it, rather like the "Thank you for driving carefully through this village" signs. They are probably less irritating than a blanket 20 sign and countless speed bumps: who knows, perhaps they do work?

Edited by Bilboman on 27/08/2020 at 13:07

I can't say I immediately slow down when I see a SLOW sign, it depends how fast I'm going at the time, but there's usually a reason for them which I look for.

There's wisdom in just taking the edge off your speed when you are 'pushing it'. A few minutes on the journey can mean arriving much less tired and stressed. I discovered that in 1990-91 when I did about 70,000 miles in 18 months.

I discovered that too. I was a very busy Regional Manager with several construction sites running simultaneously. What was laughingly called my region was a line form Sheffield up to the North Pole. Work was mainly in the large urban conurbations but occasionally not so. Especially in Scotland. We had sites in Glasgow and Edinburgh then also came jobs in Inverness and Aberdeen. Some weeks I felt I was chasing my tale. I requested a helicopter, which was refused, got an assistant from another region to help for a while. Thrashing up and down the A9 and the A90/96 was no fun. One day I was overtaking where possible and driving quite hard. When I got to Inverness running late I stopped at some lights. Looked in the mirror and just about every HGV I had overtaken was only a matter of yards behind me. That taught me a big lesson. Drive sensibly, shift when safe but relax and be 10 minutes late. In the scheme of things it is neither here nor there.

Cheers Concrete