National speed limit to be cut to 50mph on "most roads" as early as 2010

Just like everything in Britain, as per usual, it comes down to statistics.

Source said:
Britain’s roads were the safest in the world until 2001, relative to its population, but have since fallen into sixth place behind countries such as the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway.
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I don't know whats worse, a government which runs this country based on statistics, or an opposition party who have poor plans for the future.
 
The new 50mph limit is intended to reduce the high death toll on rural roads, where, in 2007, 69% of car crash fatalities took place. It will apply to single carriage A, B and C roads. Local authorities will have the power to raise the limit to 60mph on the safest roads, but will have to justify it.
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It should be the other way around. Rather than a blanket cut, local authorities should cut the speed on roads with high accident rates. I'd actually agree with it if the plan was that local authorities can apply to have limits cut on a road by road basis with an aim to improve road safety.
 
-Ad- said:
Time to emigrate, maybe to France. Nice weather, better roads, more beautiful women with hot accents :D
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Perhaps they're better I don't know, but they are also toll roads...
Hot accents? Bah French sounds terrible.

Why not Germany instead if you like driving ? They seem to have very wide lanes and free motorways...
 
snowdog said:
Perhaps they're better I don't know, but they are also toll roads...
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Their toll roads are instead of road tax though. Means that foreigners don't get a free ride which in turns they can't undercut UK businesses (cue the lorry brigade coming to have a (legitimate) moan about Irish truckers)
 
I never understand the comments about French roads, they are not a patch on ours. The motorways are 2 lane only, and are fairly expensive to use. The non toll roads are usually in a bad state of repair and fairly slow. Our motorway network is absolutely excellent, as are most of our trunk routes.
 
Lum said:
Their toll roads are instead of road tax though. Means that foreigners don't get a free ride which in turns they can't undercut UK businesses (cue the lorry brigade coming to have a (legitimate) moan about Irish truckers)
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They are a complete rip off compared to other European countries though.

For example, Paris to Marseilles will cost you 52.50 EUR in tolls for just 1 trip, for 72 euros you can drive for a whole year on Austrian motorways no matter from where to where.

The motorways are 2 lane only, and are fairly expensive to use.
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Yep.

German roads are far better afaik ( not just the autobahns), they have wider lanes and are mostly in good condition. All the busy motorways are 2x3 lanes too ( eg. autobahn 2, from Oelde to Berlin is 2x3 lanes for the whole bit )... And only trucks pay tolls :).
 
what goverment havn't thought of is the increase in travel time for people working etc.. slow drivers on a/b roads will no doubt now stick at 40mph, as they like to be 10mph under limit.

I think the effect on economy will be huge... a fast travel network is needed to make businesses thrive
 
Flukester said:
what goverment havn't thought of is the increase in travel time for people working etc.. slow drivers on a/b roads will no doubt now stick at 40mph, as they like to be 10mph under limit.

I think the effect on economy will be huge... a fast travel network is needed to make businesses thrive
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Maybe it's a way to get us to use the crappy rail network.
 
Jono said:
Maybe it's a way to get us to use the crappy rail network.
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That is part of the aim, yes. Since they have failed to make public transport any more pleasant to use, they instead make using a car less pleasant so that public transport doesn't seem quite so bad.
 
This reminds me - since the recent spell of cold weather all of our NSL roads appear now to have been lowered to a limit of 50. Very odd and very irritating - there have been no serious accidents on the roads in the past 10 years so this decission seems like a very odd one.
 
Flukester said:
I think the effect on economy will be huge... a fast travel network is needed to make businesses thrive
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We need a functioning public transport system, honestly its fast enough now, it just needs to be reliable. For my commute, I can in theory use a mix of a push-bike and train and it will be twice as cheap then running my motorbike and that excludes any repairs to the said motorbike.

But the plan fails at the train, they are constantly late and sometimes don't turn up at all. Do feel sorry for people who have to use it...
 
I've just had another thought. I'm sure there's plenty of people on this forum who own modern cars with 6 speed gearboxes (hello BMW crew).

Can you tell me the lowest speed your car can comfortably cruise in in 6th gear, without struggling or getting crappy MPG.

I bet it's 55-60mph.
 
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