I doubt they'll make 80 the new national speed limit. Round here there is only a couple of roads which I'd consider 80 on these are currently posted as 70 limits the national speed limit signs are reserved for smaller roads where its impractical to post the limit signs every few miles. More likely certain roads will have their limits bumped still more will stay at 70. I think i'd be happy enough with this if they reduced the limits in town across the board to 20.
Since moving out from the parent's house my speed has dropped a lot so I can save money on fuel. I tend to stick to around 60-65 on the motorway, if I had a better paid job I'd probably drive faster but at the moment I'd rather save a few pence than get home 5 minutes earlier
Slipped my mind when posting, so thank you for being kind about it. Well, thinking of a much reduced cost figure then - I suppose it's not so bad... This was the other thing I thought when making my original post. It's such a poxy increase, surely it should be brought up to the above levels - 90Mph+? Those complaining about fuel efficiency, use ACC or just stick it in 7th gear (or 8th if your motor is really up to date) and go easy on the lead foot! TSB
7th gear? Are you a lorry driver? Whenever i've been on the motorway i tend to stick to around 85 mainly because i know that if i go over 90 then my fuel consumption goes crazy, but i'm not always in the fast lane and there are always people going faster than me. I'd say 80 is probably the average speed of the middle lane most of the time anyway, there's so many people doing it that the police can't really do anything anyway. It's slow people on dual carriageways that seem the danger to me anyway, the amount of times i get stuck in the slow lane behind someone doing 60 and have to pull out into the fast lane in a heavy stream of traffic is not good. A couple of years ago i broke my leg and mum took me to hospital, she was going about 60 when a lorry overtook her, it was terrifying. I think the 70mph speed limit is outdated, cars have come a long way in the last 10 years safety wise. Besides, if you don't want to go at 80, you don't have to, a limit is the fastest you can go, not a target if you don't want to do it.
That's still almost a 20% increase, some of it is down to the car at least. I don't pay much attention to speed limits to be honest, I go the speed I feel comfortable at and depending on the conditions; sometimes this is higher than the speed limit, sometimes this is lower; e.g if it's 30mph on an arterial road going tinto the town I might do 35 going into town then 25 going through it.
Considering our roads are full of moronic and selfish drivers, who are both inept and unable to abide by existing road traffic regulations, I do wonder why we are considering relaxing the speed limits at all? Taking into account the fact that there is a direct correlation between increased speed and increased mortality rates in traffic accidents, are we inviting more trouble on our roads? I fail to see how raising the existing limits will ease traffic congestion or improve the safety of our roads. One other thing worries me, and that's the fact that many driver fail miserably to drive according to the conditions of the road and the weather correctly. So raising the speed limit could have more dramatic repercussions in cases where drivers are not driving correctly according to local conditions.
I'm afraid that it is indeed true - the inherent inaccuracy of speedometers means that they are set to over-estimate your speed (slightly) at all times to make sure that your vehicle can always be conducted below the speed limit: Also worth thinking about the random braking effects induced in heavy traffic. Higher speed differentials between lanes are likely to lead to more light braking at busy periods, resulting in larger numbers of traffic jams.
"Richtgeschwindigkeit" recommended speed, not recommended maximum But a large percentage of german motorways is limited anyway edit: you're right...the word doesn't mean the same as the intent...it is the advised maximum indeed. I noticed lorries were quite fast in the UK...a good 60Mph or so
Technically they're supposed to be limited to 55mph, but they often go faster. I like the german approach to speed limits - some bits have strict ones, others are derestricted with recommended speeds which then become enforced in weather. If only our populous could be trusted with such liberties!
From my experience a police force will have a policy on enforcing speed limits and generally the line is set at 10% +1mph. I guess every now and then a some manager will decide it's time for a clamp down and they'll set a weekend aside for taking a stricter line than that - but I'm very surprised by the idea someone was issued a ticket for 31mph - how was that measured? I don't know about speedometer accuracy, but I know when using a satnav it always says I'm going slower than what my speedo says. I drive at 75mph (going by the speedo) when passing cameras etc and I've never been caught speeding anywhere. This whole debate smacks a bit of a govnt smokescreen - just another example of them suggesting they'll change something controversial and then never following through with it (e.g. privatising all the woodlands) - not sure what the motive would be in this case but I'll be surprised if it happens. I don't have an issue with it going up or staying the same. I'd of thought the mortality rate will go up if the limit goes up but I can't say that bothers me - we've all gotta go someway so why not in a big sticky mess on the M1 at 95mph?
Not really in a place to vote being from the US, but will coment that in my area average speed limits are 60mph with 75 only being used in straighter and less congested stretches. However, in general I'd agree with raising speed limits while also being far stricter when enforcing them. It's the driver's responsibility as the operator of a motor vehicle to ensure that they have a reliable means of measuring their speed before driving. This is typically made easy by speedometers being designed to never display a speed lower than the vehicle's actual speed but doesn't shift where the responsibility lies as the driver is still ultimately responsible for confirming that this is true for their own speedometer. The reason I believe enforcing a flat out limit is to remove the officer's interpretation from the question. If the speed monitoring device shows higher than the limit it's time to flip on the lights and get out your ticket book. Current "understood" policies such as flow of traffic overriding posted limits serve only to undermine the authority of posted speed signs and traffic signs in general. In an older thread about speeding there was a Canadian study linked in which studied the effects of increasing maximum speed limits with limited speeds in bad weather conditions. They ended up finding a decrease in accidents. It's seen some success in Seattle as well where speed limits are lowered in times of heavy traffic to prevent pile-ups where cars travelling 70+ smash into stopped traffic around a corner.
Tbh I don't think increasing the speed limit would make one whit of difference - there will always be people who abide by it and people retards who don't. Just like the riots: if we break the law in crowds it's all OK...after all, the law is only valid if the police are physically able to enforce it; it has nothing to do with safety, considieration, respect...
Speed limits along with weekly bin collection suddenly appearing in the tory agenda is nothing to do with the tories being behind in the polls since mid january is it?
Hey man, live a little. Try baby steps first: go into a library and photocopy one more page of a book than your allowed to. Then have a lie down, obviously
technically you;re correct, but having worked closely with a variety of local forces around the country on a consultancy basis...I'm yet to find one that would impose anything less than 10%+2mph (89) on the motorway....indeed that's the official view of the 'motorway cops' around Birmingham.
You should always attempt to drive at the speed limit, doing anything less is liable to cause accidents as other more wreck-less drivers attempt to overtake you for driving below the speed limit (granted this is their fault not yours, but it still directly affects your safety). Also you can be pulled over by the police for driving at 10mph or more under than the speed limit. Let's remember by far the most dangerous thing on motorways are people that use their breaks rather than keeping a 2 chevron distance and simply taking their foot off the accelerator. This is in fact one of the worst things on our roads generally, people need to be taught not to use their breaks incorrectly, it caused accidents and massive tailbacks, which in turn cause accidents.
