sussex2 wrote:These limits are here to stay and as I mentioned before are in wide use across the EU and elsewhere.
However there is a difference in the UK in that the reduced limit has not been coupled with increased priority for pedestrians.
In other countries the various Highway Codes have been adapted to include this measure; many of them more than a decade ago so there has been plenty of time to adapt.
In the UK we have not done this so a confusion remains as to who is supposed to do what.
I thought the UK had a higher standard of driving than many of those EU countries?
To say that it's been used elsewhere for a long time does not make it right. That this increases safety is debatable.
But essentially, the issue is what happens when such limits are used where they are not warranted?
In France for instance, the default behaviour is to ignore the 30 km/h limits unless there is a camera nearby. In fact, my french friends often joke that the way to spot a British driver is to look for anyone who sticks very precisely to the speed limit.
Maybe you are right, we are yet to fully catch up to the european style of widespread disregard for speed limits.