The Death Of The NSL

Well, both Warickshire and Worcestershire have done it. All of the
good biking NSL A roads from Birmingham to Stratford and across to
Worcester are now 50 limits.

And I can't see how on any of them, 10mph less will make the slightest
bit of difference to safety.

 

It won't make any difference to safety. It will make a difference to
income.

--
Krusty

'03 Tiger 955i
'02 MV Senna (for sale) '96 Tiger (for sale)
'79 Fantic Hiro 250 (for sale) '81 Corvette (for sale)

 

They did that here last year, but all the smaller roads leading onto
the 50's have remained NSL.

 

I used to go to Malvern via Stratford and across in that direction a
lot, untill last year, there are some great roads over there, it's a
pity that this creeping menace has been applied to those roads, but
frankly it won't make a blind bit of difference to how I ride, and as
you say, It won't make any difference to the accident stats as they
make them all up to suit themselves anyway.
Most roads in Oxfordshire, seems to have had a 50 limit for a while
now. I ride to Abingdon, from the M40 from time to time and that's all
50 mph.

 

Well, there's the thing. Unless plod have been issued camo gear or
I'm going blind, this sunny Bank Holiday Monday had absolutely zero
Police in any for aforementioned counties. And no additional cameras
either.

Now I've typed that, I'll get an NIP in the post...

 

I saw one plod car coming towards us as we entered a village when we
went for a half hour bimble this afternoon.

Adie seemed quite disturbed by my choice of roads but I was out on
the Tenere so roads liberally coated by gravel with the occasional
area of grass growing in the middle should have been expected.

I'm hoping we get a reasonably dry summer because there's a ford near
me that *might* be passable on a bike. I suspect I'll be trying to
wade over wearing a pair of shorts and if I can get across then I'll
try it on the bike...

 

Gloucestershire's been like that for ages, except for non A roads which are
NSL. They don't seem to employ many mobile speed cameras though so it's a
case of business as normal. I expect I'll get caught by one having just said
that.

--
Malc

Rusted and ropy.
Dog-eared old copy.
Vintage and classic,
or just plain Jurassic:
all words to describe me.

 

True, but for how long? It won't take them long to work out just how
illogical that is. And when they do change, they'll probably be made
40s. Enjoy it while you can.

 

As I have already pointed out in here in recent weeks, the powers that be
aren't just going to lower the speed limits.

They're going to roll out a national system of SPECs style cameras which
can, according to the article I read on The Times website, work out your
average speed over a distance of up to six miles to ensure we all behave
like good little citizens and obey the law in this respect.

SPECs to date has been a forward facing system meaning bikes have had little
to fear, however this is about to change with the installation of rear
facing ones, as detailed here: http://tinyurl.com/d8d4el

And then there's also this being rolled out: http://tinyurl.com/br5ah6

So whilst I don't believe we're being bent over a barrel just yet, and
whilst I'm sure that a lot of what has been quoted in the above articles is
sabre rattling on the part of those charged with the task of spoiling our
fun, it really is now a matter of time before 'going for a good hoon' will
be nigh on impossible if you expect to be able to hang on to your licence
for more than five minutes, and those who enjoy going for said 'good hoons'
that claim 'well it won't affect me because I'll just carry on regardless'
are being a little blinkered to say the least.

 

How are you getting on with it, btw? Fun, good fun or Huge Fun?

 

And the more they do this, the more they'll remove Plod from the roads,
and the more people will use cloned or false or missing altogether
number plates, because the chances of getting caught will get smaller
and smaller.

 

Apparently, local authorities can claim more money from central
government if they have more speed restricted roads. So they have an
incentive to set lower limits. Also, remember that it is the LA, not
the police, that set the speed limits - the police just advise, and,
as JP used to testify, the advice is often ignored.

So, lower limits has bugger all to do with policing. Frankly, I've
always treated 50s as NSLs anyway.

 

I sadly, think you are spot on. I do believe that we are at the tail
end of a golden age of riding/motoring. It really can't be long before
this becomes active, and it's probably the best of it, speed limiters,
tracking devices and a whole host of other technology is likely to be
employed in the name of " road safety". You just have to look at the
news stories about Manchester police employing CCTV to catch
"inattentive" drivers, how long before they look in to houses to catch
" inattentive" residents ? .
Enjoy it while you can, 'cos it's not going to last long.

 

Not convinced by this. I reckon there are probably fewer smaller
plates around than there used to be. I just don't see the average
person taking the risk.

 

I'm really enjoying riding it but due to work commitments I've still
only done about 350 miles on it.

I know this might sound like stating the obvious but when you ride it
you know you're riding an XT Yamaha because it just does exactly what
you expect it to do. Wind noise is a bit of a pain and I'm really
going to have to start using ear plugs again when I go for longer
rides but that's not a big deal.

You'll have to take it for a decent spin when we're in France because
I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

 

Agreed. Or get a SOBB to trundle around on.

 

They've already taken a stance against iffy plates by way of the legislation
which now governs the production and sale of number plates.

http://www.dvla.gov.uk/vehicles.aspx

The last link in the menu 'Number plates and registration marks' is to a
study entitled 'Electronic Vehicle Identification (EVI) for motorcycles',
and which you need a login to access.

Care to explain why a study like that would be left on their site if they
weren't seriously still considering implementing RFID for bikes at some
stage, given IIRC the study concerned was originally carried out in 2006 to
2007?

You can rip the plates / RFID tags or whatever off your bike in due course;
what we are now witnessing is start of a full on assault against what some
of us may consider to be our 'civil liberties' in terms of personal
transportation, with this having been made possible by the gradual
introduction of legislation over the last few years which we really haven't
seen being used with any real intent as of yet.

In answer to your comments, I suspect that those who refuse to comply by way
of the methods above as you suggest will be targetted in due course once
they've used the rope being fed to them in this respect to hang themselves.

And you will then see some of those who fall foul being made an example of
to drive the point home to the rest of us, just as the chap who got banged
up for doing 122mph on a 'Busa recently was.

And you know what?

I'm fucking sick of it... the big controlling sticks being waved at all of
us allegedly in the name of 'safety' and 'security'.

If the clowns rolling out all of this shit were genuinely interested in
'safety', they'd be pushing forwards with measures to detect piss poor
observation and driving in general, not constantly whinging on with the
'Speed Kills!' rhetoric and using that to make life a tedious pain in the
arse for us all.

 

What risk?

I've not had a full size plate on a bike for 15 or 20 years.

 

It's not only on the roads, we seem to be also losing the right to
protest, I don't actually want to protest at the G20 or outside an
animal lab but I do feel that those who do should be able to make
their point (whatever it is) free of the danger being arrested or
murdered by the plod for what is a legitimate expression of an
opposing view. We see the plod employing very heavy handed tactics
against anyone protesting about anything at the moment, and I don't
see this onslaught on this right to peaceful dissent being restored
any time soon.

 

Agreed, I don't think I have *ever* had a full size plate on a bike.

I spent most of last year (1) with only half a front number plate on
my car and never had any probs, even passing roadside ANPR checks.
that did surprise me a bit, I do have to admit.

(1) Thanks to Gates for doing me the big favour of replacing it when
the car was serviced.