CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting

I broke the law...

(14 posts)
  • Started 12 years ago by Baldcyclist
  • Latest reply from alibali

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  1. Baldcyclist
    Member

    ...really, I did!

    I decided to do a little experiment this morning. The first part of my morning commute involves an 8 mile drive to the Ferry toll P&R from Burntisland, before getting on my bike.

    This takes 17 mins pretty much every day.

    Today, I thought I would drive like everyone else, 35mph in the 30mph zones, and 46mph in the 40mph zone, you know just keeping up with the flow of traffic (feel free to chastise as appropriate).

    And how long did it take me to get to the P&R today....

    16 minutes!

    Really did reinforce how much of a waste of time disregarding speed limits is!

    I shall be back to my law abiding self tomorrow.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  2. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Your top speed was c. 15% more than usual yet you arrived only 6% faster than usual. Of course you spent most of your journey doing your normal law-abiding speed, only small amounts of it between 30/35 and 40/46 going faster than normal.

    This I feel is lost on far too many people, that a top speed is not the average speed, and to make any real dent in your average you have to increase the top speed by proportionately much more.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  3. chdot
    Admin

    "you know just keeping up with the flow of traffic"

    How do you normally do it?

    Slow others down or get overtaken a lot (or both).

    Don't suppose you have a way of recording fuel consumption?

    Posted 12 years ago #

  4. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Saturday night driving back from Ullapool our car was telling us it was in imminent danger of exploding (turns out it was a faulty sensor, damned shoddy German build quality) so we pootled at 50mph. We were stopping every 20 miles or so to check that everything was okay under the bonnet - so that added to the hour and a half or so longer than the anticipated 4.5 hours home.

    But what was noticeable was how slow you are in comparison to all around you when you're going at 50.

    AND, as hinted at in chdot's query above, our fuel consumption was superb in comparison (especially considering the airflow dent of a bike on the roof - we averaged around 40mpg, I'd expect about 30 on a run like that normally).

    Posted 12 years ago #

  5. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Anth - at least if the engine had given up and you'd been in a part of the northwest without phone reception you could have dismounted your escape pod and shortly been at the nearest call box to summon assistance!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  6. Baldcyclist
    Member

    "
    "you know just keeping up with the flow of traffic"

    How do you normally do it?
    "

    I would describe that bit of the commute as *yo yo'ing*. I usually have empty road in front, and a Que of cars behind, until the double mini roundabout at Inverkiething where we invariably catch up with all the cars that sped away originally.

    What generally makes it much more fun is that there isn't really anywhere that people can overtake (and I might sometimes drive on the white line just to make sure, I'm bad I know!), so the frustration behind is sometimes tangible, you can see them weaving in and out to see what the hold up is.

    My car isn't the most efficient in the word, I get about 42 mpg out of it pretty much all the time, so don't think there was much difference this morning.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  7. Dave
    Member

    I read somewhere that the fuel consumption averages for X mph are twisted to account for congestion (so 20mph for instance, is given as the efficiency of driving at 20mph in a 30 zone which is too busy to reach 30mph, viz. not very good).

    50mph is extremely slow, especially on the motorway, but I do sometimes just pootle along. If only I had cruise control!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  8. spytfyre
    Member

    I broke the law...
    ...and the law won!
    Sorry someone had to do it.

    On the flip side I tried driving at 20 from the pleasance to Cameron Toll. Sweet crivvens it felt so slow, the car barely making any noise, felt like it would be faster walking (and knew it would be faster cycling)... It will be difficult for drivers to adjust if lots of streets get the new speed limit.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  9. Smudge
    Member

    For the past few years I've been "reformed" whilst piloting various motor vehicles and have consistently obeyed *all* speed limits. What has been surprising is how I am actually travelling at the majority speed, it really is a minority on the majority of routes who are speeding in my experience. Obviously the lunacy of the daily commute is slightly different, but the idea that "everybody does it all the time" is simply wrong. I would propose rather that the majority do is sometimes.. My journey times are unchanged, my economy better, twisty 60mph roads are still fun, what's to lose?!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  10. DaveC
    Member

    Mark, you drive to Ferry toll? You wuss (tougue in cheek), Cameron (aged 5 & 1/4) and I (40 & 1/2) rode from Dalgety Bay to Burtnisland on Sunday and a lovely ride it was too. We took marginally longer than 16 mins though as we stopped to look at the fine views and an ice cream stop. I'm not suggesting you stop for ice creams on Silversands beach!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  11. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    @kaputnik - that's exactly what Mel suggested. Had the cycle shoes easily accessible just in case.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  12. ARobComp
    Member

    @spytfyre I wish more people stayed at or below 30 on that stretch of road. I've almost been caught out a few times by people comeing up or down past homebase at 40+ by my best estimation. It really can't help as there are traffic lights at both ends that have super long cycles.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  13. Claggy Cog
    Member

    @Spytfyre - strictly speaking the flip side was "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais" if we are thinking "I fought the law"....The Clash, of course!!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  14. alibali
    Member

    @Liz "Little Annie Lou" I think, by the Bobby Fuller Four.

    Posted 12 years ago #

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