General Chat

This was an old thread Lily but as there were lots of posts I thought it might be of interest to you as well as your thread.

Lizx

Thank-you for nudging your thread up PurpleI have just read it all
The fine now if you don't take the course is £100 +3 points
sorry didn't realise you had a thread going
Lily

nudging again for lilybids


I am having computer problems so didn't have a chance to let her know on her speeding thread that I had nudged this last evening


Lizx

nudging for lilybids

I was going to say that ,in the seventies, (not long after I had passed my car test,)we drove forklifts from Wandsworth road to Horseguards' parade, and back again, afterwards.......and forklifts DO operate on the road........

MR M, I think you will find that Forklifts are allowed on public roads provided they are registered and carrie a number plate with the appropriate road fund licence

The idea behind a Forklift driver being re-tested every 5 years is actualy a health and safety at work initative and is not a legal requirement

Roy

Just to add that every driver should have to take the theory test every 5 years and if you fail you can't drive until you have re-taken the driving test and passed.

there would be a lot re-taking their tests and some without a job !

Forklift drivers have a test every 5 years and they're not allowed on the public highway.

The design speed of motorways is 70mph and this is not likely to change. A higher design speed would require a different layout for exit ramps, junctions, site lines and so on and so forth. The cost wuld be prohibitive. Highway engineers, the police and insurance companies are dead against such an increase. A small number of Tory MPs are in favour.

Drivers were not designed for 70 mph let alone a higher speed.

Increasing the speed differential between traffic entering the motorway and traffic on the motorway is also dangerous. Same thing for increasing speed differntial between HGVs and passenger cars.

Far from increases to > 70mph much more likely are variable speed limits as has become the norm on parts of the M25 for instance.

I see the chap in the newspaper report says the same as I did, that new drivers should go on a speed awareness course before they get caught for speeding, it would educate them and make them more aware of the reason for speed limits etc.

It took me a while to get the hang of using the fifth gear as I had only had older cars before that had just 4 gears. It is supposed to save petrol when used on journeys where you travel faster for some distance.

Anyway folks, safe driving and watch those hands!

Lizxx

if only my husband was still here - he was an engineer and gears and clutches was his field - Renold Power Transmission

It would be nice if speed limits actually reflected the speed capacity of roads.
I believe that the design speed of motorways is 100mph so with a 70mph limit jourey times are longer than they need be.
Before the 70mph limit I was travelling perfectly safely where appropriate at 100mph and have done over a million miles in cars and on motorbikes without any convictions or serious accidents (those i had were mainly on a motorbike due to car drivers "not seeing me" despite my wearing high visibility clothing).
A major factor in accidents is that road capacity has not kept pace with population incrtease.
And in town the boy racers ignore any speed limits except going past a camera, anyway.

True Rollo,(I guess)
but I am not in the habit(these days anyway) of making racing changes.

Janet, I find it hard to believe that , that they never use 5th because they don't go fast enough? but as you say we all drive differently

I am not really a slow driver, I enter faster roads using the slip road to be up to speed with the traffic I am joining, I achieve the speed limit as soon as practical and then back off.....my days of 124 miles in 93 minutes are long gone

Rollo, I do hope your post "grasp the engineering" is not aimed at me?

I started my working life a motor machanic city and guild qualified back in the day when C&G took a 5 years apprenticeship that actualy meant something

Roy

I don't think you quite grasp the engineering behind gear trains. Here is a very basic description which will be familiar to anybody who has ever done 'O' level physics.

Gear trains

Gear teeth are designed so that the number of teeth on a gear is proportional to the radius of its pitch circle, and so that the pitch circles of meshing gears roll on each other without slipping. The speed ratio for a pair of meshing gears can be computed from ratio of the radii of the pitch circles and the ratio of the number of teeth on each gear, its gear ratio.
Two meshing gears transmit rotational motion.

The velocity v of the point of contact on the pitch circles is the same on both gears, and is given by

v = r_A \omega_A = r_B \omega_B,\!

where input gear A has radius rA and meshes with output gear B of radius rB, therefore,

\frac{\omega_A}{\omega_B} = \frac{r_B}{r_A} = \frac{N_B}{N_A}.

where NA is the number of teeth on the input gear and NB is the number of teeth on the output gear.

The mechanical advantage of a pair of meshing gears for which the input gear has NA teeth and the output gear has NB teeth is given by

MA = \frac{T_B}{T_A} = \frac{N_B}{N_A}.

This shows that if the output gear GB has more teeth than the input gear GA, then the gear train amplifies the input torque. And, if the output gear has fewer teeth than the input gear, then the gear train reduces the input torque.

If the output gear of a gear train rotates more slowly than the input gear, then the gear train is called a speed reducer. In this case, because the output gear must have more teeth than the input gear, the speed reducer will amplify the input torque.

:-)

The use of gears to control your speed is NOT the same as using them to slow the vehicle down

As far as i'm aware no driving instructor would ever advocate using the gears to slow the car down, "even back in the 70's" Thats what your brakes are for

Roy

Drove smoothly save money on insurance with free app
http://www.aviva.co.uk/drive/

It is a whole lot cheaper to replace disk pads than to replace a new clutch.

Preferring the gearbox to slow the car instead of brakes is an idea which has its roots in the days of drum brakes and lots of fade. Back in the 60s for most cars - even the mini - putting in a new clutch plate was no big deal. It is now.

Automatics have improved out of sight and offer plenty of driver control even on performance cars. The UK addiction to 4/5/6 on the floor is I suppose the proof of habit over logic.

Some interesting points about the use of gears. I only have 5 forward gears and always try to use the fifth gear asap. I use the gears to control speed as opposed to braking some time, but recently two of my friends of similar age, admitted that neither use the fifth gear in their car, adding that they don't go fast enough. I guess we all approach driving in a different way.

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=28415

Mine won't use 6th under about 50mph. In 30 limits have to use 4th. Does mean that if I can accerlate out of a restricted zone, I can get to NSL very quickly.

Andy

Good point Bob, To be honest my car will handle 40mph fine in 6th gear but i do have to drop 2 gears in to 4th if i need to accelerate passed a slow moving vehicle when i come out of the built up area,

Some drivers like to stay at 40mph when they have left the 40mph and enter roads with the national speed limit of 60mph and so Yes i do do overtaking

Roy