Motorway Speed Limits - Out of date yet?

[dirtysanta]

Motorway speeds should be higher. Like you say modern brakes are great and can cope and everyone in the entire counrty(almost) does more then 70mph on a mortorway.

what they need to do is clamp down on muppets driving to close to the car in front and even bigger muppets who don't indicate when changing lanes. I'm sure those two are contribute more to accidents then speed.


dave

agreee totally. I think that up to 100mph is acceptable. This could be a variable thing. Like Dave says its not the speed thats the killer its pricks tailgating you and not indicating.

However, during the early hours when the roads arew empty, should be autobahn style drive as fast as you want.

 

[kyser_soze]

BY and large (aside from one stretch of the M1) motorways are well lit and you can see for miles on them.

Besides, if you think petrolhead threads are so stupid why don't you go and be intelligent and superior somewhere else? Let us 'idiots' have our lower class fun in our cars.

 

[Badgers]

I was just thinking it was a while since I'd seen an idiot petrolhead thread on here.

I do not drive

 

[Donna Ferentes]

BY and large (aside from one stretch of the M1) motorways are well lit and you can see for miles on them.

Besides, if you think petrolhead threads are so stupid why don't you go and be intelligent and superior somewhere else? Let us 'idiots' have our lower class fun in our cars.

You're right, I'll only post on those threads with which I agree.

 

[the B]

I might have got this slightly wrong but on Top gear they were playing about with one of the McLaren Mercedes and testing it's stopping distance. They marked out the stopping distance at 70mph (245ft / 75m) and then took the car up to 140mph and tested the distance. It stopped well within the normal distance for 70mph.

Ok.............few of us will ever drive a car with that level of performance but it shows that perhaps have moved on a bit.

Not just braking quality - but actual ability to use brakes properly. Slamming them until the wheels stop turning is not the most efficient thing. You lock the brakes and flat spot your tyres.

 

[kained&able]

they have these things called light above the motorways makes seeing really really easy.


any car wiothout a catalitic convertor should indeed be phased out and then banned.


dave

 

[on_the_fly]

This must be right. Visibility is so much greater in the dark.

yes BUT due to the darkness you get foreshortening caused by lack of colour, bad shaddows and tiredness.

nice combo !

 

[Donna Ferentes]

they have these things called light above the motorways makes seeing really really easy.

Funny then how many drivers can't even see a speed limit sign.

 

[kained&able]

just ignoring them, there is a difference. anyway there are hardly any speed limit sign on a motorway just those elctronic ones. so what you on about?


dave

 

[KeyboardJockey]

Easy - ban cars with all round drum brakes.

In fact, any car that's pre-cat and pre-ABS should be off the road IMO - there should be a separate 'Classic' classification with attendent additional costs to drive but the problem with road and motorway safety is precisely because it has to take account of the most primitive cars on the road.

Disagree there - I already pay more in road tax because it goes on CC rather than BHP (62 Bhp). I also pay more for my insurance which balances things out a bit.

The problem isn't that drum brakes are dodgy it is when people don't maintain them properly. I check and adjust my brakes every month or so.

I don't think that ABS is all it's cracked up to me IMO. It is one of those things that make drivers over confident of their ability.

I think that lowering the braking distances would lul some drivers into a false sense of security.

I've noticed that since I've been driving my vehicle I am a much much safer driver because I have to be more aware, not just of braking distances but the fact that because accelleration is limited (0-30 in approx 10 seconds) unless I rev the bollocks off it which I am loth to do I can't take risks when pulling out and overtaking (in my motor overtaking only applies when approaching a milk float)

 

[SubComandante]

I think perhaps certain stretches of motorway should have an unrestricted speed limit, one example i can think of is the M6 toll road where everyone goes around 100mph anyway, only to occasionally have the misfortune of a police car joining from a slip road, forcing free flowing traffic to quickly drop down to 70.

Phototropic is right to some extent though, the unofficial speed limit on the motorway is around 80, and like most road users I frequently go above that if the traffic allows it.

Does seem strange though that theres only a 10mph difference between the national speed limit on single lane roads (which vary greatly from open roads to tricky windey ones) and the motorway speed limits!

hmm, i dont seem to have come up with an answer !

 

[kained&able]

Just don't think we should be taught braking distances at all. Every car is different so its a ridciulous idea that we have a set formula for it, especilly one based on a car that hasn't been produced for over 30 years(or whatever)


dave

 

[energy]

agreee totally. I think that up to 100mph is acceptable. This could be a variable thing. Like Dave says its not the speed thats the killer its pricks tailgating you and not indicating.

However, during the early hours when the roads arew empty, should be autobahn style drive as fast as you want.

I agree totally with this.

BTW, a few weeks ago on the M40, a speeding car went past us at 100+ mph, swerving all over the road to go through the traffic (at first I thought it was a police chase, but it wasn't). I was happy to be stuck in traffic 10 minutes later when the diver had an accident (he went into the back of a bus, but fortunately no-one was hurt -- gave me a sense of satisfaction though).

 

[kyser_soze]

I don't think that ABS is all it's cracked up to me IMO. It is one of those things that make drivers over confident of their ability.

I'll have to dig it out but the TRL did research on this 10 years ago and found that cars fitted with ABS have shorter breaking distances and those involved in accidents had lower impact speeds. Will try and dig the link up. Even basic disc brakes give better performance than drums, no matter how well looked after they are.

And sorry, but AFAIC all cars currently on the road should have to fulfill the same safety standards as cars sold today - if it's unsafe to sell it it'sunsafe to drive it. It's also take the most polluting, fuel inefficient vehicles off the road, reduce the incidence of tax/MOT/insurance avoidance (statistically you're more likely to drive an old car then a new one if you also dodge road tax).

 

[friedaweed]

10%+2 i think is considered an unofficial threashold.

I often wonder about bobbies on the motorway as i'm always the cheeky fecker who goes past them at 75 mph when they're deliberatly creeping at 69.9999mph

I'm sure it must help them when someone like me is just edging past them in the middle lane hiding them from the view of the dickspring chatting on the phone in the outside lane who's just about to wizz past doing 110 << This happened last week to me on the M6 and entertained me no end as the old bill set off to have a word.

I think we drive fast enough as it is.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Speed, of course, is a killer, though petrolheads always claim it is not.

Why they think they ought to be able to drive at any speed they like is a mystery to the more responsible section of the population. Or why other poor bastards driving on the motorway at night ought to have to put up with them.

 

[oneflewover]

Do you smoke, do you drink, do you eat, do you phone (even hands free), do you sneeze, do you change radio channels, change a Cd, adjust heating, read maps, check addresses if any of these then you are not concentrating 100% and we want to drive without limits. I don't think so.

So keep them as they are. We should just accept that all drivers are bad, I of course include myself in that. Let he who without sin blow the first horn.

Up The Tigers

 

[energy]

This web site shows the stopping distances according to Think! Road Safety.

http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/campaigns/slowdown/stopping.htm

It has to be wrong because yesterday I was doing 15 mph in a parking lot and stopped in less than 1 car length (on gravel) when a kid ran out in front of me. And I didn't do an emergency stop (i.e. pushing very hard on the brakes and skidding).

Yet they claim it should have taken me 3 car lengths to stop at 20 mph (so I guess that means more than 2 car lengths at 15).

 

[Jangla]

There are quite a few of us who still drive cars with Drum Brakes. To lessen the stopping distance and not take this into account would be dangerous.

Erm, stopping distances are a recommendation and not law. Common sense prevails.

 

[Badgers]

I think that lowering the braking distances would lul some drivers into a false sense of security.

It is totally different from one car to the next, however surely the 'average' is further now? We do have a lot of £20,000 + cars on the motorway with ABS and other tasty gadgets to help the driver. It is rarer and rarer to see a little old metro screaming along at 70+

 

[SubComandante]

Speed, of course, is a killer, though petrolheads always claim it is not.

Why they think they ought to be able to drive at any speed they like is a mystery to the more responsible section of the population. Or why other poor bastards driving on the motorway at night ought to have to put up with them.

I dont really know what a petrolhead is, but im assuming is another term for a boyracer, which i certainly am not.

As with when I use public transport (which is all the time when i'm at uni), be it a train or a bus, I want to get to my destination as quickly as is safely possible.

The reason why I often drive above the motorway speed limit is so I can arrive somewhere quicker, otherwise I would have taken the bus or a train. And as far as im concerned, it is perfectly safe to drive 80-90 on the outside lane of a quiet motorway

 

[Donna Ferentes]

And as far as im concerned, it is perfectly safe to drive 80-90 on the outside lane of a quiet motorway

And as far as road safety organisations are concerned, it is not.

 

[Jangla]

10%+2 i think is considered an unofficial threashold.

Sorry but all this 10% + whatever formula stuff is bollocks. You can and will be done for doing 35mph in a 30mph zone.

 

[Jangla]

And as far as im concerned, it is perfectly safe to drive 80-90 on the outside lane of a quiet motorway

Aaaand there's the problem - outside lane hoggers scupper other drivers. If you want to drive fast, at least drive sensibly and use the correct lanes for overtaking.

 

[friedaweed]

Sorry but all this 10% + whatever formula stuff is bollocks. You can and will be done for doing 35mph in a 30mph zone.

Yup totally agree but that figure came from a police driving instructor when i did my advanced driving for the fire brigade way back when. His point being how likely you were to be pulled by traffic if you were just over the limit on the motorway.
I'm pretty sure the limit is exactly what it says it is for most cossers

 

[Donna Ferentes]

I also like the way the would-be speeders think it's safe for them to go at whatever speed they recommend for themselves. Now, if I was to pick somebody who was best placed to advise on what was safe, would I go for the opinion of one of this lot? Would you? Would anybody but themselves?

 

[Poi E]

And sorry, but AFAIC all cars currently on the road should have to fulfill the same safety standards as cars sold today - if it's unsafe to sell it it'sunsafe to drive it. It's also take the most polluting, fuel inefficient vehicles off the road, reduce the incidence of tax/MOT/insurance avoidance (statistically you're more likely to drive an old car then a new one if you also dodge road tax).

New cars don't have to be sold with ABS. I'm not even sure that you have to have air bags, although I may be wrong.

Some people who have older cars have them as enthusiasts, do limited miles and look after them better than the person who buys a Ford Fiesta and does nothing to it for the three-year MOT-free period apart from topping the petrol up. Seen brake pads perish and sills rust through quicker than that.

As for the speed limit, I was on the M40 yesterday doing 80 mph in the middle lane. People in the outside lane were doing about 100 mph, and this seems to be the rule. Don't see many cameras on the stretches of motorway outside of turnoffs and towns etc.

 

[binka]

of course its going to be safer to keep the limit at 70, but using the same logic it would be even safer to lower the speed limit on all roads to 30mph. life is all about balancing risk with benefit. when the 70mph limit was decided it was because that was the highest speed that cars at the time could safely do. i think its time for an increase on motorways.

 

[Badgers]

How about limiting all cars to 70mph top speed?

 

[kained&able]

wouldn't be safe, occasionly speed can get you out of real problems, and anyway fuck that i want to go faster then 70mph.


dave