30mph zones are that for a reason. cos if some child was to walk or run out infront of you they are more likely to survive with a few broken bones then if you are doing 35 where you could kill them. cars are dangerous!
How many times have we all seen that advert and the only thing I keep thinking is if somebody were to hit a pedestrian at 30-40mph, they would have to be driving like a complete loon with their eyes shut....
I'd hope that even with the most basic driver training, motorist are taught to look and scan the road repeatedly and react accordingly to hazards... Therefore BRAKING down from 30mph. To plough straight into somebody at 30-40mph, that 'somebody' deserves to lose their licence. If the unfortunate did happen, in most circumstances i'd be surprised if the closing speed was more than 20mph :-? Make sense?
Emphatically NOPE!!!
You're assuming that a child will be taller than the parked cars on the side of the road and won't run out in front of you
NEVER, EVER rely on the sense of those around you.
I rode a bike for a number of years; there is no way better to learn this extremely valuable lesson.
Sorry, thought it was reasonably clear, the point I was trying to make was similar to Mart's below. You are implying that by observing the 30mph limit you should be travelling at 30mph, this is WRONG! Your speed should be varied to deal with hazards and road conditions etc.
Following the example above, I observe parked cars, making sure to scan around, underneath and inside and slow down from 30mph accordingly and NOT just plough on at the stated speed limit regardless like that advert seems to imply! I thought this was common sense.
....and bikers never break the speed limit do they

Now someone who varies their speed between 15 and say 35 is actually looking at the road, driving at 30 dead and concentrating on that means you may not notice the hypothetical child running out. Whereas if you drive according to conditions you are probably ready to stop, even though when it was a bit clearer you were going faster.
Spot on.