Why aren't speed limits set at the 85th percentile any more..

[PMKeates]

Bottom line is 70mph is 70 feet a second.
150mph is 150 feet a second.
In that second someone's pulled out in front of you or performed a championship winning butt head maneuver......
Having been a passenger exclusively the last few years I've witnessed the most Appaling driving in all conditions on all types of roads, the limits aren't there to irritate in most cases but to protect all Road users from the idiots(I included myself here historically speaking) who don't know car control and there limits. Maybe contentious but I can see limits and enforcement becoming only more draconian here.

That theory would be fine if there weren't hours of driving spent with nobody near you. You can drive at 150 MPH while it's clear and slow to e.g. 100 MPH to pass people going at 70 MPH. In a car capable of 150 MPH the 100-70 MPH braking time is negligible and it will be stable while doing so. If someone is so blind and stupid to wildly drive in to the side of a vehicle then speed isn't a determining factor in the accident.

 

[kippermitten]

To clarify, I meant someone moving or drifting lanes on motorways not pulling out from side roads and junctions. Ive driven Glasgow to London and similar journeys in the UK and continent many many times in cars and on bikes and agree if its within the drivers and cars limits and ok for the conditions then its doable especially when you dont see another vehicle for long stretches.
But as always its a personal judgement call. Not meaning to turn this into a speeding issues thread!

 

[~Divine~Wind~]

Theres a shedload of ever changing limits around me, Newcastle/Gateshead.
When we had a bad winter the limits were knocked down from 70 to 50.
They never went up and now theyre down to 40 for road works, they have been for a good few months. I guess they're staying that way now as they've installed a tonne of average speed cameras now too.

Fropm what I read average speed cams arent always on however if the are near road works its much more likely.

The thing that gets me tho, these spped limits and cams slow down the busy times so much and you never ever see anyone working during those hours anyway

 

[muon]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-30709507

Edinburgh will overnight become a city with the most speeding drivers. Gonna be a dangerous place.

 

[James_200sx]

Speed does not kill.

Its a sudden change in velocity that does the damage.


If its so dangerous why don't we have a blanket 20mph limit enforced be speed limit in every motorised vehicle and then we can target speeding cyclists.

Then ban running and then people walking to fast.

Then internet that's to fast. Those electrons are going way to fast. We should slow them down.

Airplanes. Yep they go really fast and must be slowed down.

Trains as-well.


And keyboard warriors typing to fast. They need restricting to one character every 10 seconds.



We could spend most of our lives moving very slowly and then have no time for anything else.

Germany's Autobahn system where speeds are unrestricted could not be bought in over night but could be progressive with smart motorways being actually smart and allowing higher speeds in quiet times with better management of peak traffic should be the answer. They are fair to quick to bring the speeds down.

For example 50 bloody mph for 5 miles before the roadworks means I am asleep by the time I reach the workers. I would be happy to do 30 mph past the workers.