Subject: Re: variable speed limits? Re: Hwy 17 Crash Season

From: [email-masked] (John Reece)
Date: Tue, 31 Oct 95 19:51:10 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
   [email-masked] (Timothy J. Lee) wrote:
>Rene' A. Vega <[email-masked]> writes:
>|                                                  Maybe Hwy 17's speed
>|limit does not reflect the possible. Granted the speed limit is closer
>|to reality for the rainy season, it may be too low for the dry season.
>
>Would variable speed limits make sense?  In other words, have the
>speed limits change according to road and weather conditions.
>Drivers are supposed to adjust their speed according to the basic
>speed law, but most do not, so would explicitly changing the speed
>limits to inform them according to road and weather conditions make
>the driving environment safer?

I was in Britain earlier this summer, and they seemed to be doing
just that on the motorways with electronic signs.

Of course, the basic motorway limit there is 70mph, slow traffic
does the equivalent of keeping to the right, nobody ever
does the equivalent of passing on the right, and instead of 4-way stop 
signs every .10 mile on city streets they use roundabouts to
avoid unnecessary stopping. I see no chance of any of these sensible 
ideas being picked up in California.  

John Reece               | Kato Kaelin - bimboy to the stars
Not an Intel spokesman   |