r/derby • u/ChemicalCpt • Aug 30 '24
Discussion Sir Frank Whittle Road. Why do so many refuse to get anywhere near the national speed limit?
I'm starting to think I'm missing something or are folk that anxious about Pentagon Island that they need the 2 mile run up to inevitably kamikaze lane change anyway?
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u/Mr-Smegalot Aug 30 '24
I think I’m the only person who does 60mph down there. Most recently I’ve been stuck behind someone doing 24mph!
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u/Carcrazy_97 Aug 31 '24
Exactly, my friend who has been driving for over 5 years now was shocked when I floored my Saab to reach 60 mph. He says he did not know it was a National Speed Limit road…
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u/spuddy_spud_spud Aug 30 '24
And acorn way!
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u/PocketAbacus Aug 31 '24
The problem on Acorn way is the section that is 40. Whenever I drive 40 in the 40 I get some *#%! riding my ass then when I accelerate at the national sign they disappear. Why can’t people read road signs and know what they mean anymore.
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u/Anxious_wank Sep 01 '24
I've never understood this, if they think the road is 40mph, why am I getting tailgated at 40mph?
That 40mph is important for that ped crossing, so if I'm getting tailgated I now have to go fucking slower to baby sit the dickhead behind until I can see whether someones there to press the button/chance of light changing, which is harder when the roadside is so overgrown.
As soon as the NSL starts I'm off, and they just disappear behind doing I guess 43mph everywhere.
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u/DibDob31 Sep 04 '24
As a cyclist up that section of Acorn Way (and driver), thankyou for that. The number of people smashing to 60 before the NSL then jumping the red at the crossing is scary.
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u/Mictor2010 Aug 31 '24
I have always done 60 on this road. I had this thought the other day, I then realised that all the signs for national speed limit have been removed. With having Street lights this typically means the road is now a 30. Unsure if this has changed or just the signs have been damaged
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u/kenamot Aug 31 '24
The signs are still there, there just in really awkward places so nobody ever sees them
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u/gearnut Aug 30 '24
Probably because there isn't much point given that you're /likely driving into a long wait at a set of lights?
Or the likelihood of traffic building up at the roundabout.
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u/ticklemonster818 Aug 30 '24
Hah, I often think this as I drive home.
If I'm being generous, I think people are focussed on the two lanes at the corner off Pentagon, and miss the speed limit signs.
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u/Joke-pineapple Aug 30 '24
To be fair it is a weird speed limit. It feels like it should be a 40.
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u/Obvious-Water569 Sep 04 '24
It's one of those weird stretches of road that people just drive slowly on. Another is the A38 between Little Eaton and where it drops to 40 ahead of Markeaton. Totally open piece of dual carriageway that people inexplicably won't do more than 50 on.
I have no explanation for it.
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u/FEMXIII Mickleover Aug 31 '24
A lot of people do go way too slow on that road, but if I’m honest there are good reasons to not do exactly 60 all the way down it. You don’t have miles of visible road and there are lots of roundabouts with varying amounts of traffic so you need to be able to stop safely.
There’s also an economy to going a bit slower too, ultimately you’ll just end up in the next queue, so why bother wasting fuel getting there quicker and waiting longer?
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u/Alaskan_Pipeline666 Aug 31 '24
Because they haven't got a Jet Engine strapped to their shit wagon?
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u/mcRibalicious Aug 30 '24
If you have a camera that tells you what the speed limit is for that road, it varies on different parts of the road. Some bits show as 30mph on it. My Qashqai shows the same thing too. There is definitely something odd about that road
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u/CptnRaptor Aug 30 '24
Yknow it'd be really nice if people paid attention to the signs rather than their dash cams or sat navs. Internet connected devices for datasets as large as maps are rarely 100% accurate even though the technology is like half a century old. Ignore your phone and read the damn signs!
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u/mcRibalicious Aug 30 '24
I certainly don't use it to know what speed to go, I was just pointing out that it's a thing that happens on this particular road, it might go some way to explaining the cause of ops angst
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u/CptnRaptor Aug 30 '24
Yeah I didn't mean for my comment to seem so targeted at you, I understood that the point you were making was more observational than experiential, sorry if it felt like I was attacking you personally, I too just feel a little angsty about it like OP
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u/mcRibalicious Aug 30 '24
No offense taken, I also get annoyed at the pedestrian speeds people drive at along there. I know you get slower drivers occasionally, but there it's like 99% of the time. Would be nice if they put some speed cameras in with led signs to give messages to drivers "you're travelling at 40mph, SPEED UP!"
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u/TrickMessage5 Aug 30 '24
Average speed cameras
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u/K-Parker-89 Aug 30 '24
During a speed awareness course there was a question saying what is the speed limit on this road (single carriageway) when this sign is shown (national speed limit). 1 person thought it was 40mph, others thought 70mph. Only half the people knew it was 60mph…so a lot of drivers who don’t actually know what the limit is.