TV Licence problems

[jon0844]

No, it wasn't in the UK. Driving over double the speed limit would be lethal as nobody would be able to judge the variance in speed. A ban would be the best possible outcome.

Fortunately mainland Europe are a little more sensible when it comes to speed limits, and driving standards in general.

Even Sweden raised motorway speed limits in many places a few years ago and are continuing to raise them on other roads too (they used to have 30, 50, 70, 90 and 110) but now they also have 80 and 120kmh limits. What they're doing isn't putting up cameras everywhere, but redesigning or totally rebuilding roads (and they have a lot of tarmac to put down on roads that stretch for miles) to design out accident blackspots.

 

[Zoe]

It has been suggested that the UK motorway speed limit be reduced to 60 mph to reduce CO2 emissions.

 

[bradders1983]

It has been suggested that the UK motorway speed limit be reduced to 60 mph to reduce CO2 emissions.

Haha good luck with that one!!! Lets get the whole country crawling along!

80mph needs to be the limit, all modern cars can deal with such a speed. it is 120km/h on a lot of the Continent and that is 5mph faster than the UK.

 

[jon0844]

130 in many too. France and Germany impose lower limits for weather, although common sense usually applies.

Emissions seems the only way they'll get rid of no-limits on autobahns, but modern cars are getting greener and a 50-60mpg diesel can easily reach 120mph or more. My TDCi 130bhp Mondeo reached an actual 122mph in Germany, and after two weeks of driving we returned with an average mpg of 51. Admittedly, the parts in Germany at that speed was a very small part of the trip.

 

[Oswyntail]

Of course, if you are driving that fast you should not be watching the television - though there is little chance of the licence enforcers being able to catch up with you.

 

[Zoe]

Do you need a licence if you have a TV in a car? It would most likely be running on it's own batteries and wouldn't be at a fixed location.

 

[Broken Viking]

80mph needs to be the limit, all modern cars can deal with such a speed.

80mph is far too slow for what many people and cars are capable of...What we need to do is to adopt Germany's "unrestricted" approach for all relatively straight sections of motorway and the M6 toll road, and apply sensible limits to less forgiving sections where an "unrestricted" system wouldn't work out - Like on the M4 around Casnewydd.

After all...If I have a VanHool Alize modified to be capable of 275mph and it's safe for me to do that 275mph along the M3 during quiet periods, why the heck should I be stuck with the 60mph limit for coaches?
(And talking of vehicle-specific speed limits; Motorcycles should be granted higher speed limits for corners during dry, clear weather too. )

It has been suggested that the UK motorway speed limit be reduced to 60 mph to reduce CO2 emissions.

If they try pulling that stunt, I'll be back-charging every single penny I've ever paid in road fund licence! Pendolinos do over 120mph as a matter of course, and they don't emit any CO2!
And once we drop our reliance on coal, oil and gas fired power stations, the overall carbon footprint of a Pendo will become zero as well. Nuclear power doesn't give off any CO2 emissions, just warm water from the condensors!

Emissions seems the only way they'll get rid of no-limits on autobahns...

Please don't tell me they're trying to get rid of the unrestricted limits on the autobahnen! Germany have come up with a truly brilliant system for managing those unlimited sections, and it'd be a shame for the World to lose a shining example of how motorways should be managed! hock:

 

[Deerfold]

If they try pulling that stunt, I'll be back-charging every single penny I've ever paid in road fund licence! Pendolinos do over 120mph as a matter of course, and they don't emit any CO2!

And once we can guarantee a similar distance between cars...

And once we drop our reliance on coal, oil and gas fired power stations, the overall carbon footprint of a Pendo will become zero as well. Nuclear power doesn't give off any CO2 emissions, just warm water from the condensors!

Quite a lot used in mining the limited amount of fuel though.

 

[Zoe]

If they try pulling that stunt, I'll be back-charging every single penny I've ever paid in road fund licence! Pendolinos do over 120mph as a matter of course, and they don't emit any CO2!

For road transport though there isn't much alternative at this time. Electric cars that have batteries with decent ranges are still a long way off.

 

[90019]

Luckily all vehicle speedos are required to over read - usually by around 3-4mph - so most people won't accidentally nudge over at all (they are legally able to overread, but not under read by anything).

Most (if not all) speedos in modern cars overread by 10%.

FWIW, the police are likely to show more discretion than a fixed camera, and everyone I know within the police don't really consider speeding to be as evil as the last Government made out (when GATSOs became a great way to make money, especially for people earning good salaries on 'Safety Camera Partnerships'.. not for profit, naturally, but that didn't mean there weren't great salaries to earn, and probably expenses too).

I'm sure I've seen the approximate speeds at which the police will caution/fine you and what they'll prosecute you at, but annoyingly I can't remember what they were.

Inappropriate speeding is what is dangerous, not merely doing 35 in a 30, or 80 in a 70.

Speed doesn't kill, bad driving does. Speed may be a factor, but is unlikely to be the main one.

80mph is far too slow for what many people and cars are capable of...

I disagree. Some cars, yes. Most people, no.

Pendolinos do over 120mph as a matter of course, and they don't emit any CO2!

They emit CO2 indirectly.

Please don't tell me they're trying to get rid of the unrestricted limits on the autobahnen! Germany have come up with a truly brilliant system for managing those unlimited sections, and it'd be a shame for the World to lose a shining example of how motorways should be managed! hock:

They've been getting rid of unrestricted sections for some time.

For road transport though there isn't much alternative at this time. Electric cars that have batteries with decent ranges are still a long way off.

Renault have come up with a good system, where you're only leasing the batteries, and when they're running out, you can stop at a service station and swap them over for charged ones.

 

[Zoe]

Renault have come up with a good system, where you're only leasing the batteries, and when they're running out, you can stop at a service station and swap them over for charged ones.

Doubt people are going to want to have to stop ever 100 miles and change the battery. Also you can go a very long distance on some roads without passing a service station. Electric cars will have their use within large cities though even with the restricted range.

 

[90019]

Doubt people are going to want to have to stop ever 100 miles and change the battery. Also you can go a very long distance on some roads without passing a service station. Electric cars will have their use within large cities though even with the restricted range.

If the technology can be improved in cars, then it may become a viable solution for some.
I don't think it is the future for cars on it's own, but I think it will be part of the solution for moving away from fossil fuels.

 

[jon0844]

I quite like the idea of electric cars that are only 'driven' by an electric engine, with the option of having a petrol/diesel engine to power the electric engine - as against swapping or combining both engines.

That way you don't have the issue of having to wait hours to recharge when driving long distances (which might be a rare occurance) and get all the benefits of an electric-only car for most of the time. Yes, there would be emissions but as batteries improve, and charging gets quicker, you'd use less and less fuel and reduce emissions on the road (of course, there would be emissions somewhere else).

I believe GM has a car coming that works like that, and I've wondered why even trains couldn't one day run like this. What would the weight of modern battery cells be compared to diesel for a train, and how far could a train go between charges? There must be quite a lot of room for battery cells on a long train, but could a train run on non-electrified lines for a full day, before being charged overnight at a depot? If not now, could it ever happen?

(I can't believe how many tangents there are on this thread!)

 

[90019]

I quite like the idea of electric cars that are only 'driven' by an electric engine, with the option of having a petrol/diesel engine to power the electric engine - as against swapping or combining both engines.

Like Geoff?

 

[142094]

It has been suggested that the UK motorway speed limit be reduced to 60 mph to reduce CO2 emissions.

It has, although the emission most at problem at present is NO2 from exhausts, which was supposed to be lowered with the introducion of the EURO IV rated diesel engine but due to various side effects, NO2 has actually increased. Problem should be sorted with the EURO V engines.

 

[LE Greys]

I quite like the idea of electric cars that are only 'driven' by an electric engine, with the option of having a petrol/diesel engine to power the electric engine - as against swapping or combining both engines.

That way you don't have the issue of having to wait hours to recharge when driving long distances (which might be a rare occurance) and get all the benefits of an electric-only car for most of the time. Yes, there would be emissions but as batteries improve, and charging gets quicker, you'd use less and less fuel and reduce emissions on the road (of course, there would be emissions somewhere else).

I believe GM has a car coming that works like that, and I've wondered why even trains couldn't one day run like this. What would the weight of modern battery cells be compared to diesel for a train, and how far could a train go between charges? There must be quite a lot of room for battery cells on a long train, but could a train run on non-electrified lines for a full day, before being charged overnight at a depot? If not now, could it ever happen?

(I can't believe how many tangents there are on this thread!)

Submarines have been doing that for fifty years, running on batteries most of the time and only popping up to "snort" for an hour or so each day without even surfacing, just putting up two large pipes. I'm not sure what sort of batteries modern ones use, but most older ones had conventional lead-acid ones. They're not as fast underwater as nuclear boats, and snorting makes noise, but they are very quiet when on battery. Our last ones were the Upholder class, which we sold to Canada, then half of them promptly broke down.

 

[Crossover]

Do you need a licence if you have a TV in a car? It would most likely be running on it's own batteries and wouldn't be at a fixed location.

See my last post - the bit about caravans and the use of devices connected to no power or communications source would probably apply in some way to cars too I suspect

 

[Zoe]

Remember also London Underground have an extensive fleet of battery locomotives.

 

[moonrakerz]

Submarines have been doing that for fifty years, running on batteries most of the time and only popping up to "snort" for an hour or so each day without even surfacing, just putting up two large pipes. I'm not sure what sort of batteries modern ones use, but most older ones had conventional lead-acid ones. They're not as fast underwater as nuclear boats, and snorting makes noise, but they are very quiet when on battery. Our last ones were the Upholder class, which we sold to Canada, then half of them promptly broke down.

As a submariner ......................

Conventional submarines don't run "on batteries most of the time and only popping up to "snort" for an hour or so" !
It takes a long time to charge up the batteries, so you have to try and conserve the power in them for when you really do need it.
The batteries are usually "conventional" lead-acid - and they are huge !!
http://www.naval-technology.com/contractors/electrical/enersys/

In recent years there have been a number of novel attempts to power non-nuclear boats: AIP, fuel cells, Stirling engines, but no particular one has caught on.

What a lot of people don't realise is that nuclear boats have huge batteries as well. Of course it is easier to keep these fully charged as this can be done when the boat is fully submerged - as long as the reactor is running !

The recent news footage of HMS Astute when it ran aground off Skye clearly showed that the reactor was shut down and the boat was running off battery power with the diesels running to re-charge the batteries.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-11605365

 

[ainsworth74]

As a submariner ...

What subs do you/have you served on?

If you don't mind me asking...

 

[jon0844]

Do you have a subspotters? And where do they wait to see them?

I've been in old submarines (at museums) and they were so tiny, but things have certainly changed now.

 

[ainsworth74]

And where do they wait to see them?

Where do you go to spot trains? The ends of platforms. So logically where do you go to spot subs? The ends of piers!

 

[LE Greys]

As a submariner ......................

Conventional submarines don't run "on batteries most of the time and only popping up to "snort" for an hour or so" !
It takes a long time to charge up the batteries, so you have to try and conserve the power in them for when you really do need it.
The batteries are usually "conventional" lead-acid - and they are huge !!
http://www.naval-technology.com/contractors/electrical/enersys/

In recent years there have been a number of novel attempts to power non-nuclear boats: AIP, fuel cells, Stirling engines, but no particular one has caught on.

What a lot of people don't realise is that nuclear boats have huge batteries as well. Of course it is easier to keep these fully charged as this can be done when the boat is fully submerged - as long as the reactor is running !

The recent news footage of HMS Astute when it ran aground off Skye clearly showed that the reactor was shut down and the boat was running off battery power with the diesels running to re-charge the batteries.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-11605365

Not really my area, I don't know anywhere near as much as I would like about submarines, but I seem to have got the timing a bit wrong. Still, I'd be interested in the rough power demands compared with a locomotive, to see if the idea would work. Underwater speeds seem to be about half surface speeds, and I do know that power demand is the function of the square of speed. Weight might be a bit of a problem as well. So if we want something that can deliver 1.5kW (about the minimum for a decent freight loco) for extended periods then it might end up as heavy as a Class 40.

It's also interesting that the linked page says that the same supplier provides batteries for RN boats and Kilo-class boats.

 

[moonrakerz]

What subs do you/have you served on?

If you don't mind me asking...

Served on the "R" class, but was also involved in S, T, V, Upholder and Astute (what a shambles !!!!)

Not really my area, ........... Underwater speeds seem to be about half surface speeds, and I do know that power demand is the function of the square of speed.
It's also interesting that the linked page says that the same supplier provides batteries for RN boats and Kilo-class boats.

Nor mine ! ................ As you say, underwater speeds are usually much below surface speeds, but again, this is a function of endurance rather that actual speed. A dived submarine actually requires less "horsepower" to achieve a particular speed than a submarine on the surface.

Funny you should mention "Kilos". I took this photograph last year, leaving St Petersburg on a cruise ship. 20 years ago I would have got 20 years for taking this - not that I would ever have been in a position to take such a photograph !!