Driveby Shooting (Video that is)

We discussed the LSC’s “Drivetime Tables” below. These are the journey-time assumptions upon which the revised duty scheme borders are based. In addition to earlier observations, estimates significantly lower than practitioners experiences, average speed requirements above the speed limit etc., we decided to test one route.
The new border where our office is situated, Cleveland, will soon involve travel across a larger area. We therefore chose such a trip, Middelsbrough to Hartlepool, to exemplify the changes. For fun we also decided to film it and if you have 13 mins to spare you can watch it here. (Sorry about the quality but we struggled to get it onto Youtube – file too large).
If however you want to cut to the chase click on the continue link below.

The Commissions figures suggest that the drive from Eston to Hartlepool takes 29 mins. We did it in 32 in a very benign mid morning run and without having to walk to and from the car at either end. That makes their figures at least 10% out. We would suggest on average, including the travel to “railhead” and from “terminus” time, that it is likely that this percentage is considerably higher.
We make no claim for the “science” of this light hearted experiment and we anticipate the stout defence that the figures are not the sole, nor necessarily the most important, determinant. That said the use of any “faulty” data to inform policy which will so dramatically effect the livelihood of very many people should surely be more reliable.