Impatient Drivers

Been to take Sam to work. Coming out of the industrial estate at Winterhill can be a bit stressful. You can cross the duel carriageway and back home that way, but it's generally safer to go up to the roundabout near ToysRus and go round and back onto the carriageway there. Which I did today. The traffic comes along Grafton Street at full-speed. It's like a racetrack. I really think there should be a speed limit of around 50 m.p.h. on the grid roads around Milton Keynes. We live off Saxon Street, which is next to  Milton Keynes hospital and Milton Keynes Academy. There is a 40 m.p.h. speed limit, no doubt imposed because of the hospital and the Academy.  I think it may be there because there have been a couple of deaths because people have to cross the road which is dangerous when they should use either a bridge or under-pass. A great many drivers seem unaware of this speed limit, even though there are clear signs as you come off the roundabout (known locally as Four Bridges, as there are footbridges over the grid roads at the roundabout.) But if you attempt to keep to the speed limit you are likely to get cars coming up behind you and trying to get you to go faster (as I've mentioned in earlier posts.) This morning I got to the roundabout after coming out of Winterhill and was waiting for the traffic to clear before going onto the roundabout. As I got there, no cars were behind me, but suddenly a car did appear as I could see it in my rear-view mirror. Just a few seconds of patient waiting and this woman began hooting impatiently. So, did she think I was going to pull into the road and cause a collision with another vehicle? Why are people so impatient? Is it perhaps because they don't like the idea of stopping at roundabouts? If so, I just hope they have good insurance. Along Saxon Street they have used a traffic calming device which tells you your speed as you approach, and if you are travelling at the correct speed (40 m.p.h.) you get a smiley face. If you are going to fast you get a miserable face. I think these are more effective than having speed cameras which can give you a fine, as sometimes they are there just as a way of raising cash for the local authority. Don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning speeding. It's just that speed cameras can have a rather negative effect- when you see them you slow down, but once you've got past you speed up again, rather negating their effectiveness.