speed limit a waste of time, effort?

http://www.k-state.edu/media/newsreleases/april09/speedlimit41009.html

MANHATTAN -- Kansas gravel roads have varying speed limits, but a study by Kansas State University researchers shows that instead of abiding by those limits, people are more likely to use their own judgment to gauge how fast they should drive on the roads.

D: that book "Traffic" had an alternative solution.

Instead of wide lanes, clear of obstacles to the sides, instead make the road seem narrow and hemmed in. Drivers who ought to drive 50kph will only do so when the road only *feels* safe at 50.

I think one city created an extended different-coloured faux gutter that seemed to eat up a coupla feet of road width.

There is the issue of making room for fire trucks.

I wonder if we could use more but smaller trucks for 'burbs.