Increase the motorway speed limit?

[emmomojo]

My speedo is pretty accurate so I don't really have any leeway. I do try to stick at 70mph, in reality according to the sat nav this is only 68 but I do sometime drift over 70! Zero tolerance policing will not work, there has to be some leeway IMO. 80 is too high but they need to be reasonable. To speed for just 0.1 of a journey should not result in a conviction especially if you were only just over the posted limit.

Barbara Castle, politician, brought out the 70mph limit after a publicity stunt by jaguar (e type) did 150 mph I think, and this was followed by ac cobra doing around 170.
Bear in mind that the average Jo could only buy a moggy thousand or a Ford anglia, which could barely break 70!
Crossply tyres and drum brakes, leaf springs etc it was understandably so. But the 70 limit in my opinion is just as antiquated.
100 is perfectly safe in modern cars, providing the conditions and traffic are appropriate.

 

[HDi fun]

Barbara Castle, politician, brought out the 70mph limit after a publicity stunt by jaguar (e type) did 150 mph I think, and this was followed by ac cobra doing around 170.
Bear in mind that the average Jo could only buy a moggy thousand or a Ford anglia, which could barely break 70!
Crossply tyres and drum brakes, leaf springs etc it was understandably so. But the 70 limit in my opinion is just as antiquated.
100 is perfectly safe in modern cars, providing the conditions and traffic are appropriate.

It's a very subjective point. The driver needs to be appropriate too. I use the M4, M5, M40 and M1, all very very frequently and the comfortable speed in around 80mph indicated.

 

[emmomojo]

Motor magazine road tested a UK spec E-Type 4.2 fixed head coupe in Oct 1964. The maximum speed was 150 mph (241 km/h), the 0-60 mph time was 7 seconds and the1⁄4 mile time was 14.9 seconds
Modern tyres and brakes and suspension are better than the current driving standards.
The test should be improved by more practical means and the limit should be an unwritten 90 -100. If you increase the limits to 80, that would encourage people not capable to do 90 plus. Because at the moment. 80 is the unofficial limit anyway.
If you are in the future lane doing 70, your holding every... Up

 

[HDi fun]

Yes, I do get tired of people who want to pass the car in front but are happy to spend 15 minutes doing so. And then wait another 15 to catch up with the next one and pass that. Whilst remaining in lane three constantly. I know that the limit is 70 and they would of course tell me this. However, they need to realise, too, that lane 3 is an overtaking lane so use it as such and move aside between overtakes at least.

 

[obi_waynne]

OK so I'm going to play devil's advocate here and side with the road safety campaigners.

The roads are much safer now thankfully. So the question is should we risk a few extra lives per year by raising the limit to 80 or 90? We can think it won't be me but what if it was us or one of our loved ones killed due to the raised speed limit.

Cars are better made, have better safety features and brake and handle much better than when the 70 limit was proposed.

However there are also many more cars on the roads now and the roads are much busier.

I personally think that limits should be raised on Toll roads as an incentive to use them and only at off peak times of the day when traffic levels are lower. In France you have a higher limit for when the roads are dry. Germany has the Autobahn with no formal upper limit but to the surprise of many is still subject to "driving safely and as the prevailing conditions allow".

 

[HDi fun]

Very emotive point Waynne. I am not sure that we could ever predict or quantify the results of increased speed limits without actually implementing them and measuring the results over a significant period.

 

[obi_waynne]

Now I'm going to switch to the other side - just to play along the discussion further! This is closer to my actual thoughts on the subject....

People are generally more alert when driving faster, slow speeds and apathy and boredom kick in.

Cars are more than able to safely handle faster speeds, we are only talking about another 10 or 20 mph on the top speed and if it was policed to a zero tolerance limit is not much different from the speeds many if not most drivers are already doing.

Road signs, variable limit zones and averaging speed cameras have made the roads safer, our motorways are also wider and able to handle more traffic.

Compare the braking distance and tyre speed ratings of today compared to when these limits were set. Things are much much better now.

 

[HDi fun]

I agree with you on both accounts.

 

[emmomojo]

I think that better driving standards should be enforced in the test, and instead of payment of fines, refresher courses of varying degrees of advancement should be offered as an alternative to points and fines.
TV advertising campaigns would help too, if it were not for a TV advertising campaign about dipping headlights in the 70s, I think the issue of full beam dazzling would be an issue today
(this is the reason for trucks having roof marker side lights)
I am also losing count of people who just pull out on me, to proceed at speeds as slow as humanly possible. It baffles me that if they are in such a "hurry to drive slowly" why they can't do that after I have gone by, as invariably, I seem to be the only car on the road when it happens!!! Like I said, bad driving standards.
If you qualify, you get to drive faster with a sticker to display your status, and reg number on the PNC

 

[HDi fun]

Emmomojo said: "I am also losing count of people who just pull out on me, to proceed at speeds as slow as humanly possible. It baffles me that if they are in such a "hurry to drive slowly" why they can't do that after I have gone by, as invariably, I seem to be the only car on the road when it happens!!!"

I could not have put that any better myself. They also wait until your just about on top of them before driving out in front of you, don't they?!! And when you finally manage to overtake you get interesting hand gestures!!

 

[emmomojo]

This is true it seems when I am belting along on a superbike in "time travel mode" and after that their wing mirror tends to fall off too

 

[HDi fun]

These people don't need mirrors.

 

[obi_waynne]

These people don't need mirrors.

How would they check their hair without them?

 

[HDi fun]

How would they check their hair without them?

iPhone forward facing camera

 

[obi_waynne]