Motorways

Danger Phoenix

Danger Phoenix

Danger Phoenix

Soldato
Joined
21 Jul 2004
Posts
6,368
Location
Harrow, UK
Whilst I personally support any discussion to increase the national speed limit to 80mph, every time I go on the motorways I can see why they don't.

Just today alone, whilst travelling on the M11, M25 and M1 I saw:
  • Drivers undertaking left right and centre
  • Unable to overtake on a 4 lane motorway due to drivers not moving over
  • Drivers unable to gauge speed of vehicles and pulling out to overtake, causing the driver coming up to brake suddenly
  • Full beams and fog lights on during the day and night
  • Partially working lights (one car had one dim front light, and another a dim rear brake light)
  • Not indicating when changing lanes
  • Lorries in the third and fourth lanes
  • Faster cars continuously flashing and honking at the car in front
  • Faster cars cutting across lanes in front of others to show that they should move over

Now I am not a model motorist, but most of these things seem basic to me.

Cars are safer than they used to be, and one can go faster and slow down better, but it looks like the driving has become worse. No wonder people get worried when there are talks of increasing the speed limit.
 
Have to agree, it's not just motorways even normal roads are filled with drivers that have no idea what the highway code is
 
That has always been my contention with raising limits, sure cars are safer, etc. but if anything the general standard of driving is plummeting.
 
I think people are worried that it will make motorway speeders go faster. Though I'm not convinced that someone who goes 90 on the motorway is going to do any different if the speed limit is changed. They will probably still drive at 90 and be happy that they get less of a punishment if they get caught.

If the motorway limit were raised to 80, I would probably still drive at 60. I drive at 60 because there is a good balance of economy and speed. I'm sure many other inside lane drivers do so for the same reasons.
 
I think the fact that cars are safe nowadays is a factor. We all feel so cosseted and protected in our cars that we forget they are dangerous and then act without care.
 
Danger Phoenix said:
Just today alone, whilst travelling on the M11, M25 and M1 I saw:
  • Drivers undertaking left right and centre
  • Unable to overtake on a 4 lane motorway due to drivers not moving over
  • Drivers unable to gauge speed of vehicles and pulling out to overtake, causing the driver coming up to brake suddenly


  • Not indicating when changing lanes
  • Lorries in the third and fourth lanes
  • Faster cars continuously flashing and honking at the car in front
  • Faster cars cutting across lanes in front of others to show that they should move over
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People using proper lane discipline would prevent the majority of what you have put above

My number one hate for dual carrigeway/motorway driving is crap lane discipline.
 
Acme said:
I think people are worried that it will make motorway speeders go faster. Though I'm not convinced that someone who goes 90 on the motorway is going to do any different if the speed limit is changed. They will probably still drive at 90 and be happy that they get less of a punishment if they get caught.

If the motorway limit were raised to 80, I would probably still drive at 60. I drive at 60 because there is a good balance of economy and speed. I'm sure many other inside lane drivers do so for the same reasons.
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Obligatory joke about Acme's car not being able to get to 80 ;)

I do agree though, many people behave like absolute idiots on the road these days. Usually driving an Audi Q7 or Range Rover Sport :rolleyes:
 
The thing that's been hacking me off lately is people shooting up behind me when I'm in the outside lane whilst legitimately overtaking. If I'm not doing 90+ like these people are, then they think it gives them the right to drive 5 inches from my rear bumper in order to hurry me along. Well here's a tip: It won't.

I hate impatience.
 
Skeeter said:
If you can be SAFELY undertaken, your in the wrong lane.
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Fixed.

There have been many times I've seen people come bombing down the inside/middle lane, undertaking someone in the middle/outside lane who is about to overtake something, then squeezing in front of them in a gap that is barely big enough.
 
Howard said:
The thing that's been hacking me off lately is people shooting up behind me when I'm in the outside lane whilst legitimately overtaking. If I'm not doing 90+ like these people are, then they think it gives them the right to drive 5 inches from my rear bumper in order to hurry me along. Well here's a tip: It won't.

I hate impatience.
Click to expand...

I just drift down to 70 when people do that. Bonus points if you match the speed of the car inside you.
 
A particular favourite is spotting someone incredibly impatient who decides to try and use the lane(s) inside to undertake a line of cars when it's relatively busy then speeding up/ lifting off just enough to remove whatever gap they're potentially going for.

On the flip side of that, I cannot stand patiently waiting for someone to pass a line of cars at whatever speed they're doing, assuming they will then move over only to find they are in fact obvlivious.

I'm glad I only spend circa 40 minutes of my daily driving time on motorways now.
 
The major reason that speed limits have not (and will likely never be) increased is due to the Armco crash barriers that are predominantly in use across the UK's motorway network.

These are rated to be capable of preventing a car/van from breaching the barrier in a 75mph 45 degree impact. For the speed limit to be universally increased all of these barriers would have to be replaced at huge cost. It's also a known fact that the average speed cars on a free-flowing motorway is almost 85mph, and that's with a 70mph limit. How fast would people be driving if the limit was increased to 80mph?

Yes, cars are safer now. We have better brakes, better tyres, more safety systems, but two fundamental things haven't changed:
1. The safety systems in place on the roads themselves (e.g. the Armco)
2. The "weak link" which is the meaty bit sat behind the steering wheel.

There's another factor to consider too, which is the harmful emissions & fuel consumption. Both increase markedly with only a small increase in speed (e.g. from 70 to 80mph), and in the current environment this is just another reason why any government will resist increasing motorway speed limits.
 
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Havana_UK said:
There's another factor to consider too, which is the harmful emissions & fuel consumption. Both increase markedly with only a small increase in speed (e.g. from 70 to 80mph), and in the current environment this is just another reason why any government will resist increasing motorway speed limits.
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The cynic in me suggests that increased fuel consumption would be an encouraging factor for the govt. to increase speed limits... more fuel used = more tax money ;)
 
Danger Phoenix said:
  • Lorries in the third and fourth lanes
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There are certain stretches of those Motorways where this is perfectly safe and legal.

Generally though, I agree with you.

Keep it to 70 ,most drive @ 80+ anyway raising the limit would also raise the "unofficial" one.

The majority of drivers I see day to day need dragging from their vehicles & shooting. :p
 
lane discipline / middle lane drivers are the single biggest issue for me when driving on the motorway.. too many times do i see the inside lane empty while all the traffic are on the two outer lanes...
 
Echoing the middle lane drivers problem too. Had a drive down to Harrogate over the weekend and noticed something interesting. Every single person just sat in the middle lane was female or elderly. Possibly a coincidence but I'd say from the number of drivers that statistically it's otherwise...
 
The worst nowadays for me are these people in 11 12 13 14 plate white German cars on finance where the driver things he's some sort of multi billionaire king pin.
 
pepsilol said:
The worst nowadays for me are these people in 11 12 13 14 plate white German cars on finance where the driver things he's some sort of multi billionaire king pin.
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More often than not these are company cars that are just ragged on motorways then discarded. BMW and Audi seems to be the 'premier' company car.
 
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