{"id":11287,"date":"2016-04-29T15:36:01","date_gmt":"2016-04-29T14:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/?p=11287"},"modified":"2016-04-29T15:46:24","modified_gmt":"2016-04-29T14:46:24","slug":"lines-on-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/?p=11287","title":{"rendered":"Lines on paper"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"No
No sex please<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1275 the Age of Consent was set, for the first time (because up until then there had been no such thing as Age of Consent) at 12 years of age.<\/p>\n

And there it remained for 600 years, until it was raised to 13.<\/p>\n

Since then it’s been up and down and all over the place.<\/p>\n

In recent memory it used to be 21.<\/p>\n

It’s currently 16.<\/p>\n

All of these changes were instigated by politicians, and were put in place without any scientific basis to their decisions.<\/p>\n

Up until 1964 there was no maximum speed limit on the UKs motorways, until the Daily Mail led a campaign to establish a maximum speed limit.<\/p>\n

The following year the speed limit was established, and it was set at 70mph and, apart from during\u00a0the oil crisis of 1973, when the maximum speed was reduced to 50mph for oil consumption reasons, the national speed limit has remained at 70mph.<\/p>\n

Since 1965 all road vehicles\u00a0have become safer.<\/p>\n

Braking systems have become more efficient to a level\u00a0that the drivers (and vehicle engineers) of 1965 would not have been able to comprehend.<\/p>\n

Road surfaces have become better.<\/p>\n

And yet the Government’s official braking distances have remained unchanged.<\/p>\n

It was Clarkson (late of Top Gear) who clearly demonstrated the official braking distances to be actually based on inaccurate data, when he safely braked a 2.5-ton Bentley from 60mph to 0 in less than half of the 240′ that the Highway Code said it would take.<\/p>\n

\"60mph\"
60mph<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yet still the national speed limit remains set at 70mph.<\/p>\n

Oh, I know that the Conservative Transport Minister Philip Hammond announced, in September 2011, that the national limit would rise to 80mph, but he was, to use a technical phrase, talking political bollocks.<\/p>\n

His precise words were:<\/p>\n

“Now it is time to put Britain back in the fast lane of global economies and look again at the motorway speed limit which is nearly 50 years old, and out of date thanks to huge advances in safety and motoring technology.<\/p>\n

“Increasing the motorway speed limit to 80mph would generate economic benefits of hundreds of millions of pounds through shorter journey times. So we will consult later this year on raising the limit to get Britain moving.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But after that speech he went on to do what politicians usually do.<\/p>\n

He did nothing.<\/p>\n

So here we are, over 50 years after the introduction of the 70mph national speed limit, and not a serious, scientifically-based review of it in sight.<\/p>\n

Which is odd, really, because right now local authorities around the country are lowering<\/strong><\/em> the speed limit.<\/p>\n

\"50mph\"
50mph<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And they are doing so with the same lack of scientific evidence to support them.<\/p>\n

Large stretches of A-roads are having their speed limits sneakily, and arbitrarily, cut by local authorities, and having them cut without any public consultation.<\/p>\n

Many roads are having limits lowered, despite the public now having better-designed cars, with more efficient braking systems, and much improved road surfaces.<\/p>\n

It’s bonkers really.<\/p>\n

It’s nanny stateism.<\/p>\n

Just look at the huge number of A-roads that have quietly had their speed limits reduced from 60mph to 50mph, or even to 40mph and in some cases to 30mph.<\/p>\n

\"40mph\"
40mph<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All because someone, in the service of the public, and without any scientific evidence (the key word there is evidence), just feels like screwing over a few thousand motorists a\u00a0week.<\/p>\n

Or just because they have had what they consider to be ‘a good idea’.<\/p>\n

I mean, you may as well ask a bunch of geriatric MPs to legislate on the Age of Consent (and then ignore their own decision, because they are, after all, MPs and we all know that the law doesn’t apply to MPs).<\/p>\n

Or maybe I’ve had an overdose of cynicism today?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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