My Speed / Your Speed
You’ve probably seen these speed feedback signs around:
They work like this:
(n.b. cars generally have drivers in them, unless they’re the driverless robot cars that keep having these “accidents” that get reported in the press)
Well how about something similar for your bike?
I think it’s displaying the rider’s speed in km/h. I suppose it could be useful to remind drivers that when you’re riding at something like the speed limit, they’ll be speeding if they overtake you. Or dressed up in all that day-glo, with an illuminated sign on your back, they’ve no excuse for not seeing you.
What am I saying? Of course this won’t slow drivers down. And of course they’ll still drive like you’ve no right to be on the roads they pay for!
Anything that makes drivers think twice (or once even) has got to be a good thing. Nice idea, not something I’d seen before.
The limiters moved from displaying your actual speed to the speed limit as a subset of drivers were going for higher values. On a bike-mount your satnav system would need to know where it was to determine the current limit.
What I’d really like is those roadside signs to collect basic stats on vehicle counts and the number of speeding vehicles. All you need are two counters, yet they don’t bother. That misses out one of the best data sources in a city, especially by schools
My experience of riding at or near the speed limit during my commute is that there is a section of drivers who see it was a challenge to overtake the cyclist no matter what. Well actually that is not quite true, one commuting route had a speed camera at a point where I could generally get to 30mph. Here these drivers would start to accelerate, then see the camera and take their foot off the loud pedal, or if they had overtaken me brake sharply. Great fun for me, I should point out that I would be travelling in bus lane at this point.
These speed indicator signs really work best when backed up with speed enforcement cameras. At the end of the day there is no substitute for enforcement if we want to change attitudes to speeding.