Raising speed limit to 80mph

For this to go through, it'd have to be justified in an economic business case.

A pro would be reduced journey times. At the best of times you'd save 13% of your journey time.

Just about everything else goes against it. It'd cost more in fuel, it'd cost more in CO2 (which has an ecomonic value in transport business cases), it'd be noisier (and blight more homes which have a decrease in value per dB of noise). Worst of all it'd reduce road capacity during the busy peaks as the best speed to squeeze the most people through before you get stop-start traffic is about 50-60mph (hence variable speed limits on the M25), so each lane of tarmac would be worth less and journey times would sky-rocket as we get more congestion (and more CO2).

That's before you even think about the severity increase in accidents which would be worse. Trucks would still do 56mph out of choice (as they care about fuel economy), so when an HGV pulls into your lane without looking, you've got 10mph more of energy to go rolling down the carriageway. Each life costs over a million in a transport business case.

Add all these negatives together and you've probably got a case for decreasing the limit, so lets keep quiet about it m'kay?


There are less and less roads in Germany that are unlimited. As soon as they get busy, the limits come in, and normally 100km/h (62mph) or less. Unlimited Autobahns only exist because Merc and BMW hold so much weight in Germany politics. They are slowly disappearing.

The thing about 70mph->70km/h is total rubbish.
 
sam83uk said:
germany has idiots as well ???
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Not compared to us, no they don't. The standard of driving in Germany is leagues ahead of that here. Basically they can be trusted to drive responsibly without a speed limit whilst I don't think many people here can.
I say its up to us if we wish to risk our lives with high speed
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And others' lives?
 
Joe T said:
Minimal imo.
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You might say that but, in the face of increasing pressure to restrict more and more sections of the autobahns, supporters of the existing limitless sections have brought up the issue of the economy, suggesting that more limits would lengthen the time it takes business travellers to reach their destinations and thus reducing the amount of work they can get done in a given time.

I agree it's rather tenuous at best :)
 
sam83uk said:
why cant we have no speed limit on motorways like in germany..
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our roads are rubbish next to theirs.
our driving test standards are lower than theirs.
our motorway accident stats are comparable to theirs, but they tend to have far more fatals than we do due to the higher speeds involved.

but apart from that, no good reason at all lol.
 
sam83uk said:
why cant we have no speed limit on motorways like in germany..
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Germany do a much better job of maintaining roads than us.

Im all for this , although it could cause problems with people that crawl along at 50mph.
 
Stellios said:
Germany do a much better job of maintaining roads than us.

Im all for this , although it could cause problems with people that crawl along at 50mph.
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never gonna happen, nor should it.
smaller, poorly maintained roads are not a good place for unlimited speed.
 
Theres only one road in Germany without a speed limit I think.

The speed limits in the UK are fine, it is just the amount of survilence used such as tiny signs next to vans, speed camera after speed camera and even civilians with speed guns (I know they cannot do anything) that takes it a bit too far.

Imagine no speed limits in the UK...I would never drive lol
 
Copied and Pasted

Speed limits

Despite the widespread belief of complete freedom from speed limits (and a lobbying effort that has the same influence and deep pockets as the American gun lobby), some speed regulations can be found on the Autobahns. Many sections do indeed have posted limits ranging from 80 to 120 km/h (50-75 mph), particularly those with dangerous curves, in urban areas, near major interchanges, or with unusually constant heavy traffic. In construction zones, the limit may be as low as 60 km/h (37 mph). Also, some sections now feature nighttime and wet-weather speed restrictions, and trucks are always regulated (see table below). Still, about half the Autobahn system has no speed limit, but there is always an advisory limit of 130 km/h (81 mph). This recommendation is generally seen for what it is-- an attempt by the government to cover itself without having to upset millions of Porsche and BMW owners (AKA voters.) However, if you exceed the advisory limit and are involved in an accident, you could be responsible for some of the damage costs even if you are not at fault.
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Neon said:
Have Speed Limits.
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Not this again - Wrong!

The limits are generally near bends, blackspots and junctions plus there are temporary limits like the M25 and M42 here which are used when necessary. Apart from that a very large number of sections are genuinely limit free. They do have recommended maximums but you're not legally obliged to obey them.
 
I've just been up and down the M6 the past two weekends and there is a 40mph restriction in force for a chunk of it.

Annoyingly, I've never experianced such good traffic flow on the M6,
where once was stop/start for miles there was an easy trip home. :-/

Whilst I wouldn't mind if people did 80-90mph legally, I don't think that should apply to BMW drivers around London. To have them limited to 50mph and the inner lane only would be priceless and the only way I'd vote for Blair again.

.
 
TO the contrary I drive up and down A2 every day and the bottlenecks are always were speed cameras are and chain reaction of everyone slowing down to unreasonable 50 mph across three lanes brings the flow to stand still. This is amplified by SPECS guarded roadworks (although I am yet to see anyone working there since end of summer) by the M25 underpass. Generally once out of restricted zones the traffic always picks up and flows freely. Same happens on A13, north of the river.
 
v0n said:
This is amplified by SPECS guarded roadworks (although I am yet to see anyone working there since end of summer) by the M25 underpass.
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i actually saw people there working for the 1st time ever, last friday morning coming back from work at 4am. i was totally shocked :eek:

that section by the m25 junction is a total nightmare around rush hour, since the spec's 50 zone roadworks started....
 
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