Fernando Alonso lashes out at new Spanish speed limit

[donKey jote]

I'm sorry for the Spanish people. It's a shame they have to live these tough years with 'el bobo solemne' as PM.

Don't worry, they'll have the chance to vote him out, that's what democracy is about.
Seems you've been absorbing the negativity of the PP and associated media to refer to him like that... we'll see if they actually have any real ideas when they next get in, as opposed to being against everything on principle simply to undermine the government.
Bunch of donkeys the lot of them. Alonso shouldn't let himself get drawn into making silly comments, as if drivers eg. in the US or the UK are all falling asleep at the wheel due to a 10kmh lower speed limit.
So a 120km trip will take 6 minutes longer... big deal

The only issue is how much fuel will be saved by this measure, or whether other measures (promoting public transport in big cities for example, something the PP in Madrid opposes btw, while they're quite happy "gerrymandering" the air pollution meters ) might have been more effective.

[DexDexter]

Erm, they did, 120km/h!

They claim that the new limit is a temporary measure to ease the problems in fuel supply due to the unrest in the middle east.

Ok, my bad.

[donKey jote]

That's quite a comment. Spanish road safety one of the worst in Europe

That's quite a comment too.
Maybe was one of the worst in Europe say 10 years ago (before all the new Europe joined ), but it has now apparently improved to a level similar to Finland and would be pretty average
http://www.etsc.eu/documents/copy_of...Memorandum.pdf
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_s...fatal_2008.pdf
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_s...g2001_2008.pdf

[Rollo]

"At 110 kilometres an hour, it is even difficult to stay awake," Alonso told reporters when asked what he thought of the measure.

Oh poor baby.

He needs to come to Australia where we also have 110km/h speed limits... and kangaroos.

[SGWilko]

It always amazes me at railway crossings when you see people turn their engines off for 3 minutes rather than let it run at a couple of hundred rpm. The annoying part is they then take about 10 seconds to start their car when its good to go and hold up the queue.

....unless they are driving a car that does that as part of its green credentials - Bluemotion etc.

[SGWilko]

Don't think I mentioned anything about built up areas or children, we're talking about motorways here, no?

Indeed, I got a bit carried away on the soap box there......

[Big Ben]

exactly the same as before, a toll road isn't a license to speed

well... silly me. I actually thought you pay the toll to be able to get somewhere faster

[Big Ben]

Don't worry, they'll have the chance to vote him out, that's what democracy is about.
Seems you've been absorbing the negativity of the PP and associated media to refer to him like that... we'll see if they actually have any real ideas when they next get in, as opposed to being against everything on principle simply to undermine the government.
Bunch of donkeys the lot of them. Alonso shouldn't let himself get drawn into making silly comments, as if drivers eg. in the US or the UK are all falling asleep at the wheel due to a 10kmh lower speed limit.
So a 120km trip will take 6 minutes longer... big deal

The only issue is how much fuel will be saved by this measure, or whether other measures (promoting public transport in big cities for example, something the PP in Madrid opposes btw, while they're quite happy "gerrymandering" the air pollution meters ) might have been more effective.

I've made up my mind up about him way before I even thought he could get elected... it just happened that someone form the party you mentioned put it just so right. But this is nor about politics, as I've said before, I don't understand how going 40km/h can actually save fuel and to be honest the whole idea that speed limits could be used to solve the energetic problem seems a little delusional.

[CNR]

And It has gone over another members head that he was speaking figuratively about the falling asleep comment.

for a few manly one with a short memory
i was referring to the past that MS put on him at monaco last year.

so it is no joke that he has been caught sleeping behind the safety car

[AussieV8]

Well Spain is a big country with big distances between places. Their previous limit of 120km/h felt slow enough when I was keeping to it (74mph). 110km/h is pretty silly.

France already has a 130km/h limit and the government in the UK is talking about raising the speed limit to 80mph!

Australia is an even bigger country. Open roads down the east coast are 100km/h with the exception of freeways, which are 110km/h. Open roads and freeways in SA and WA are 110km/h while the open road limit in the Northern Territory is 130km/h (used to be unlimited until a few years ago)