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Would you change the Motorway speed limit?
- Thread starter mr tommo
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Soldato
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if i overtook someone on the inside @ 80mph while they drift along at 60mph, i would probably loose my liscence due to dangerous driving charge.
Now when the motorways are congested i will sit in the inside lane undertaking everyone because "lane 2 and 3 are the fast lanes" even though lane 1 is empty and moving faster....
Is there any definitive answer to this ?
I previously thought as you, but technically, passing on the left ISN'T undertaking. If you pass on the left and move out again it is, but if you pass, and keep to the inside lane, they are in the wrong I understand.
True.
Since the 70 mph speed limit was introduced the design speed of motorways has been set at 120kmh/h (74.5mph). This is based on how far you can see not how fast a car can be thrashed. Doing 90 mph on a straight motorway with no traffic is not likely to get you killed but even doing an emergency brake you are likely to give anything stuck in the road a good smack.
On an unlit motorway at night, unless the markings and studs have just been replaced, anything over 75 mph is guesswork.
i will own up to doing that the other day, but the outside lane was flooded, and the inside lane was just as bad (two channels of water in the tramlines from lorries).
doing 125 on the autoban is a bit different to here isnt it? lol. I think its the norm to stay on the 2nd/3rd lane at this sort of speed and only move in if someone else wants to go faster.
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Just feel I have to point out it wouldn't be nothing like hitting a brick wall at 75
I dunno, I've come up to a transit van before, he was doing about 60, I was doing >190 ...I just overtook
. Didn't even bother using mirrors as was pretty sure no one was overtaking me lolit's good to have extra you can use when you need to overtake
125mph seems a good ball park figure many modern cars can do in safety..
This. I observe the most shocking driving EVERY time I go out on a motorway. Increasing the limit would simply be foolish.
It works very well on the M25 though. Anyone who used to use the M25 ~10 years ago will remember it used to be solid all the way round. The variable limit drops the speed limit down to 40mph in places and while the traffic is heavy and slow at least it rolls forwards and doesn't sit stationary anywhere near as much as it used to.
Caporegime
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Yep just a little, very few of our motorways are suited to autobahn style driving, tbh other than legally getting your car to Vmax sitting at it for a bit it has limited uses, once you look at how fast you're overtaking things and thinking i have no chance of stopping if something pulled out infront of me whilst doing 140+ you soon slow down to 100mph or so.
I would raise the UK motorway limit to 85 in good weather and variable in bad.
yeah for a start our motorways are falling apart, hitting a pot hole at 80mph is painful, probably rip the suspension off at 140mph.
im all for variable speed limits on the motorways, 50mph when busy, 70mph when its raining or 100mph on clear new sections... 100mph on the m25 in its current state would be silly
The government's failure to address poor driving through a misguided road safety campaign and focus is not a reason for not allowing people to drive faster. It's a reason to change the focus of the road safety campaign to factors that actually cause accidents...
In an ideal world it should depend entirely on the car, and even experience perhaps. A 16 year old in a tin can doing 90mph is damn right dangerous. A middle aged bloke in a BMW 530d doing 90mph is no where near as bad, especially as the car can handle the speeds efficiently and safely.
I'd stick it up to 90, and enforce it over 100. That way you have some scope if you're speed drifts upward from 90 without you knowing.
Although I have no scientific basis to choose the number 90, or any other number for that matter. So perhaps the better way would be to do some research into a maximum speed limit. That way we might get a satisfactory reason on why the speed limit is set to a given number. What the research would focus on though, I don't know. I'm sure if the government were to conduct such a study, they would factor C02 emissions into it which would certainly not help with increasing the limit.
Although I have no scientific basis to choose the number 90, or any other number for that matter. So perhaps the better way would be to do some research into a maximum speed limit. That way we might get a satisfactory reason on why the speed limit is set to a given number. What the research would focus on though, I don't know. I'm sure if the government were to conduct such a study, they would factor C02 emissions into it which would certainly not help with increasing the limit.
Associate
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Our roads are pretty pants tbh in general and they're nothing like French or German Auto-route/autobahns, as most people have said how many people do 80ish as it is.
We tend to have very small slip roads and on ramps in comparison to the above mentioned countries so I can imagine it would start to get pretty scary trying to pull out of a Little-chef/Service stations into 80-90 or 100 mph traffic in an older or even low powered car.
Think of the tools who hoon around at 70+ in all weather conditions, so it would only get worse.
Also think about how most people maintain there cars, nowadays not many people check tyre pressures or condition of tyres and show ignorance by stating well its been serviced this year !
If we where to up the speed limit we see a lot more accidents.
Its all very well to say "Well me 3 litre generic euro rep mobile, Can do 90 all day every day and its so comfy and safe" but think of cars that don't and that arn't as safe or are driven by old Mrs Muggens down the road or Kev who has just passed his test and drives a 1.0 106.
Also think or reaction times and stopping distances.
When you take the above into consideration plus any other factor, our speed limit isn't really that bad, if you need more speed get a pilots licence or look into track days.
We tend to have very small slip roads and on ramps in comparison to the above mentioned countries so I can imagine it would start to get pretty scary trying to pull out of a Little-chef/Service stations into 80-90 or 100 mph traffic in an older or even low powered car.
Think of the tools who hoon around at 70+ in all weather conditions, so it would only get worse.
Also think about how most people maintain there cars, nowadays not many people check tyre pressures or condition of tyres and show ignorance by stating well its been serviced this year !
If we where to up the speed limit we see a lot more accidents.
Its all very well to say "Well me 3 litre generic euro rep mobile, Can do 90 all day every day and its so comfy and safe" but think of cars that don't and that arn't as safe or are driven by old Mrs Muggens down the road or Kev who has just passed his test and drives a 1.0 106.
Also think or reaction times and stopping distances.
When you take the above into consideration plus any other factor, our speed limit isn't really that bad, if you need more speed get a pilots licence or look into track days.
Soldato
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I am not sure they need to increase the maximum speed limit, but should create a minimum speed limit for lane 2 and 3.
My biggest annoyance on motorways is when lorries and heavy vans decide to overtake. Their normal speed is 50-60, they then pull out and increase to about 62, or 50 if they are going up hill, so all cars in lane 2 have to slow down. Any cars in lane 2 who don't slow down pull out into lane 3, causing cars in lane 3 to slow down. It is even worse on roads like M11 which are only 2 lanes in parts. There you get stuck behind two lorries both doing 50.
Set lane 1 for lorries and cars doing <70.
Set lane 2 for minimum speed 70.
Set lane 3 for minimum speed 70, allow up to 90 when overtaking.
My biggest annoyance on motorways is when lorries and heavy vans decide to overtake. Their normal speed is 50-60, they then pull out and increase to about 62, or 50 if they are going up hill, so all cars in lane 2 have to slow down. Any cars in lane 2 who don't slow down pull out into lane 3, causing cars in lane 3 to slow down. It is even worse on roads like M11 which are only 2 lanes in parts. There you get stuck behind two lorries both doing 50.
Set lane 1 for lorries and cars doing <70.
Set lane 2 for minimum speed 70.
Set lane 3 for minimum speed 70, allow up to 90 when overtaking.
All very good, but how can lorries overtake....
I would make it so lorries can only travel in lane 1.
I would keep day time good conditions limit at 70mph as its more than enough.
Adverse weather conditions, heavy rain etc, i would cut the limit to 50.
After 9pm and before 6am I would up the limit to 80mph as it tends to be quieter at this time of night.
I would keep day time good conditions limit at 70mph as its more than enough.
Adverse weather conditions, heavy rain etc, i would cut the limit to 50.
After 9pm and before 6am I would up the limit to 80mph as it tends to be quieter at this time of night.
sorry that will be daft. Some lorries are slower than others. Full up lorries for instance will be causing massive queues of lorries behind them as they go up hills etc. Not good at all.