Possible 80MPH UK speed limit

  • Thread starter Thread starter blaaah
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Oh, so you'd rather the road become a giant game of frogger? It's better if there's not giant rolling roadblocks out there.

'course, why should I expect anything other than controversy from you, since you seem to like starting those kinds of topics...
 
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Jim Prower
Oh, so you'd rather the road become a giant game of frogger? It's better if there's not giant rolling roadblocks out there.
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This.

I believe what makes highways dangerous isn't the speed people are traveling, but the difference in speeds people are traveling. Ron White - the redneck Bluecollar Comedy guy - made a joke about it once, saying that it's silly to have everybody going the same speed, on the same road, at the same time, because that just doesn't make any sense.

The only time I see semi trucks travelling their 55 mph speed limit is inside cities. And even that depends on how curvy the highway is through there. Everywhere else they set the cruise at 70 and go just as fast as anybody else, and that's perfectly fine with me because I don't like dealing with roadblocks. The only time there is a conflict is in mountainous areas, but then there is usually an extra lane so they can all struggle amongst themselves.

As for an 80 mph speed limit...I don't advocate it. I travel what feels comfortable and seems a good compromise between getting there quickly and saving gas. Between 70 and 75 for me.
 
HGV are only allowed to use the inside lane.
You are right about the speed difference being dangerous, If people are stopped in a jam, an HGV hitting the back end of the queue at 60mph is going to kill more people than an HGV hitting them at 50mph.

Jim Prower
'course, why should I expect anything other than controversy from you, since you seem to like starting those kinds of topics...
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Without controversy life is worthless and meaningless.
 
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And with the customary person doing 50mph in the middle lane, this could well not got past the first stage.
 
Maybe I meant no outside lane use.
Anyway a car going too fast crashing into a back of a lorry doing 50mph, is better than a lorry hitting the back of a car.
So bring on the frogger game that's fine for me.
 
blaaah
Maybe I meant no outside lane use.
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Bingo, but only on motorways of 3 lanes or more.

Highway Code
The right-hand lane of a motorway with three or more lanes MUST NOT be used (except in prescribed circumstances) if you are driving
  • any vehicle drawing a trailer
  • a goods vehicle with a maximum laden weight exceeding 3.5 tonnes but not exceeding 7.5 tonnes, which is required to be fitted with a speed limiter
  • a goods vehicle with a maximum laden weight exceeding 7.5 tonnes
  • a passenger vehicle with a maximum laden weight exceeding 7.5 tonnes constructed or adapted to carry more than eight seated passengers in addition to the driver
  • a passenger vehicle with a maximum laden weight not exceeding 7.5 tonnes which is constructed or adapted to carry more than eight seated passengers in addition to the driver, which is required to be fitted with a speed limiter
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I wouldn't advocate a shift to 80mph. If they introduced it, then people would then decide that 90mph is a safe speed to sit at all day rather than 80 as they do at the moment. And whilst 90mph isn't inherently unsafe, it's less safe having a large volume of traffic all doing a significantly higher speed because the potential for danger is much greater when someone inevitably crashes.

I tend not to travel more than 70. Lets face it, it's not actually that much quicker over a journey doing 80 as you still get wedged up behind lorries or long queues so just like a queue following a safety car at a GP, it doesn't matter how far ahead you get, you'll only end up a few seconds ahead come the next queue.

And doing 80mph isn't appreciably more fun than doing 70 either. Motorways are generally pretty boring so you may as well stick to the limit and save a bit of fuel.
 
Living in Germany I don't see a problem with an 80 mph limit, well, if at all I'd even say : there really is no need for a general speed limit at all. Of course people have to get used to it but ... well I'm driving daily on the Autobahn and driving 150mph from time to time doesn't hurt anybody.
I mean you have to have limits in crowded places like around large cities but in rural areas a speed limit doesn't really make sense. Todays cars are so safe and their handling with all the fancy electronics make them highspeed ready if you know what I mean.
I'd go nuts if I had to drive 60 mph on US highways that have like 3 curves every 100 miles or so.



 
homeforsummer
And doing 80mph isn't appreciably more fun than doing 70 either. Motorways are generally pretty boring so you may as well stick to the limit and save a bit of fuel.
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Depends on your car. Though I imagine anything with a milk bottle engine will be appreciably different between 70 and 80 on fuel.

80 limit? It's 130kph in France, the amount of road deaths they have is similar to ours (higher, but then a higher populace.)

I think a bigger issue is some of the state of the motorways, but then many do 80 anyway.

Whilst I think moving to 80 is a good thing, it should be done with an attempt to improve driver skills. That's the biggest issue with our roads and drivers.

But it has been said before, and not been done.
 
homeforsummer
I wouldn't advocate a shift to 80mph. If they introduced it, then people would then decide that 90mph is a safe speed to sit at all day rather than 80 as they do at the moment. And whilst 90mph isn't inherently unsafe, it's less safe having a large volume of traffic all doing a significantly higher speed because the potential for danger is much greater when someone inevitably crashes.

I tend not to travel more than 70. Lets face it, it's not actually that much quicker over a journey doing 80 as you still get wedged up behind lorries or long queues so just like a queue following a safety car at a GP, it doesn't matter how far ahead you get, you'll only end up a few seconds ahead come the next queue.

And doing 80mph isn't appreciably more fun than doing 70 either. Motorways are generally pretty boring so you may as well stick to the limit and save a bit of fuel.
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I wouldn't advocate any kind of blanket speed limit. The issue isn't people doing 80+mph as it is, but people who think 70mph means "always 70mph". The suicidal stupidity of doing 70mph with 40 feet of visibility in pouring rain, because the speed limit is 70mph almost beggars belief. Try that with 30% more kinetic energy...

So long as our driver training doesn't include motorway driving and people aren't taught safe speed, even 70mph is too much for some of them. Motorway limits are irrelevant anyway - I was discussing this earlier with the BB lot. So long as you're not far in excess of the traffic speed or, where there is little traffic, not behaving inappropriately other than your speed, the police don't bother you anywhere south of 90mph and often not even higher unless they're bored. I've passed by a fully-liveried police E60 estate at a ludicrous speed before but, by not drawing attention to myself (other than being in a bright red car with a stupidly large spoiler), he couldn't have cared less what speed I was doing.


As always, the answer is better driver training. Make some of Roadcraft part of the licence test, please. We need to teach people to judge appropriate speed rather than relying on knowing speed limits and 40 year old stopping distances.
 
Whoop de doo!

An indicated 80mph is only really 72-80mph anyway as pretty much every speedo over reads. And unless it's through roadworks or you're filtering like a tool the police typically won't bother you unless your doing over 90.

What's needed is the outside lane to be unrestricted and traffic camera's setup to catch tailgater's and lane hogs. And for anything with a speed restrictor on it to be limited to the inside lane unless it has a 10mph+ delta with the vehicle it's overtaking.
 
Famine

As always, the answer is better driver training. Make some of Roadcraft part of the licence test, please. We need to teach people to judge appropriate speed rather than relying on knowing speed limits and 40 year old stopping distances.
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This, totally.
 
BigYoSpeck
Whoop de doo!

An indicated 80mph is only really 72-80mph anyway as pretty much every speedo over reads.
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Except the one on everyone's Sat-Nav.

I should add that every road in the UK given a motorway classification has to have a design minimum speed - that is the lowest speed it's possible to maintain on an otherwise unoccupied road in clear conditions - of 100mph.
 
Famine

I should add that every road in the UK given a motorway classification has to have a design minimum speed - that is the lowest speed it's possible to maintain on an otherwise unoccupied road in clear conditions - of 100mph.
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That is knowledge gold. Although, that really depends on the test car...


also.. I recentley heard that a reason why local councils keep lowering non dual-carriageway/motorway speed limits, is because the slower a car goes, the less it tears up the road, and the cheaper the roadway is to maintain... not sure if it's true.. but if it is then why does my road tax keep going up?! .... Better not be to subsidise those tube-riding-londonite-hippies! (joke)
 
Famine
Except the one on everyone's Sat-Nav.

I should add that every road in the UK given a motorway classification has to have a design minimum speed - that is the lowest speed it's possible to maintain on an otherwise unoccupied road in clear conditions - of 100mph.
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Seconded
 
homeforsummer
I wouldn't advocate a shift to 80mph. If they introduced it, then people would then decide that 90mph is a safe speed to sit at all day rather than 80 as they do at the moment.
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Would they though? Studies have been done that suggest people typically go what they feel safe, regardless of limits. I'm definitely not comfortable cruising 90 down our highways, which can be straight as an arrow wear I live, for whatever reason, be it the wind noise, NVH, or fuel mileage. You all have heard my stories, so obviously there's more to cruising the highway than simply getting there as fast as possible.

Honestly I'm surprised that the majority of drivers over there go 80 like you all say they do. Especially considering the types of cars that are common - usually small as far as I can tell - I'd think the noise alone at that speed would keep people from going any faster. Jump in an Impala here and you'll be going 100 by the time the noise gets intrusive, and yet people don't do it.
 
Famine
I wouldn't advocate any kind of blanket speed limit. The issue isn't people doing 80+mph as it is, but people who think 70mph means "always 70mph". The suicidal stupidity of doing 70mph with 40 feet of visibility in pouring rain, because the speed limit is 70mph almost beggars belief. Try that with 30% more kinetic energy...
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Well, quite. Which is why I wouldn't be keen on them raising the limit. People are only just capable of doing 80mph without making an enormous hash of it. Raise the limit to 80 and they'd take that as carte blanche to travel another 10mph on top without putting any more thought into it. Including in the rain. And the snow and ice, and fog.

Keef
Would they though? Studies have been done that suggest people typically go what they feel safe, regardless of limits. I'm definitely not comfortable cruising 90 down our highways, which can be straight as an arrow wear I live, for whatever reason, be it the wind noise, NVH, or fuel mileage. You all have heard my stories, so obviously there's more to cruising the highway than simply getting there as fast as possible.

Honestly I'm surprised that the majority of drivers over there go 80 like you all say they do. Especially considering the types of cars that are common - usually small as far as I can tell - I'd think the noise alone at that speed would keep people from going any faster. Jump in an Impala here and you'll be going 100 by the time the noise gets intrusive, and yet people don't do it.
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You'd think people would set a limit as to what they feel safe but so many people have so little feel for what a car is doing that it wouldn't surprise me if they don't notice their own comfortable speed pass them by.

As mentioned earlier, I tend to do no more than 70mph now on motorways. And despite that being the legal limit, I'm generally one of the slowest vehicles on the road, lorries aside. Even bloody coaches do just under 70 which I think is a menace as they're quick enough to prove tricky to pass unless you're prepared to go significantly quicker, but slow enough to cause big queues if they overtake or go up a hill.

I don't object to people travelling quickly, and I do so myself if the conditions allow, but I just think most people are incapable of doing it safely.
 
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Keef
Honestly I'm surprised that the majority of drivers over there go 80 like you all say they do. Especially considering the types of cars that are common - usually small as far as I can tell - I'd think the noise alone at that speed would keep people from going any faster. Jump in an Impala here and you'll be going 100 by the time the noise gets intrusive, and yet people don't do it.
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I think the perception of speed is very different in Europe the the States. a lot of people here think nothing of doing 90 in any car that will reach it. The road/wind noise isn't a detracting factor when you have Radio 1 covering it up.

What worries me about raising speed limits is like has been mentioned weather conditions. Coupled with the fact that a great many drivers lack any real car control. It scares the bejesous out of me when most people change lanes on the motorway, they do so like it's an elk test rather than taking the cleanest line possible.
 
BigYoSpeck
It scares the bejesous out of me when most people change lanes on the motorway, they do so like it's an elk test rather than taking the cleanest line possible.
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And the impression that very few people bother to check whether anything is coming before they overtake. Or that people approaching don't bother to study the road ahead and are taken completely by surprise when another idiot pulls in front of them. Or the utter oxygen-thiefs who will sit two feet away from the bumper of another car doing 90mph dabbing their brakes since they're incapable of driving properly because they're an enormous gurning speck-minded waste of genes.

Or an Audi driver, by another name.
 
BigYoSpeck
It scares the bejesous out of me when most people change lanes on the motorway, they do so like it's an elk test rather than taking the cleanest line possible.
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We have the opposite problem here. Besides people taking forever to judge whether or not they're 50 feet ahead of you, they then take 30 seconds to creep over the line. Without their blinker, of course.

Anyway, back to speed limits. Here in Ohio it's 65 outside of city limits, but I never drive that. In the city it's typically 55, and unless the construction maze and road condition is ridiculous - which honestly is usually the case in construction zones - I'm hesitant to let go of my 70 mph cruise unless traffic is a problem. Where the limit is 65 people usually go something close to 70, many of them right at or just over. In some others states the limit is already 70, and those people hardly ever go over 75 in my experience, despite the "5 mph rule" for cops.
 
In my experience, with the exception of school/construction zones, it is rare for people to travel under 70 around my area regardless of what the speed limit is. Though I suppose backwoods yokelism will cause that.
 
Max_DC
Living in Germany I don't see a problem with an 80 mph limit, well, if at all I'd even say : there really is no need for a general speed limit at all. Of course people have to get used to it but ... well I'm driving daily on the Autobahn and driving 150mph from time to time doesn't hurt anybody.
I mean you have to have limits in crowded places like around large cities but in rural areas a speed limit doesn't really make sense. Todays cars are so safe and their handling with all the fancy electronics make them highspeed ready if you know what I mean.
I'd go nuts if I had to drive 60 mph on US highways that have like 3 curves every 100 miles or so.



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The reason you're so used to it is because your government makes sure you're not a complete dumbass before you get behind the wheel & that there is severe punishment for hooligans. Your govt. is even smart enough to say, "Yes, you may speed on the autobahn. But no street racing."

You think these morons in the US could cope with that kind of right without racing each other and going, "Dur, officer, I thought there was no speed limit? Oh, you're just taking my license away for 6 months? But I can get it back as a permit? Ok, see you in a month".

Abolishing the speed limit will do nothing but cause chaos on the road unless you can get common sense into people's skulls & have an actual punishment for wrong doing.

In short, your country (& most of Europe) sees driving as a privilege, not a right. The US says the same, but it just comes a big joke w/ small fines & poor driver education.
 
McLaren
In short, your country (& most of Europe) sees driving as a privilege, not a right. The US says the same, but it just comes a big joke w/ small fines & poor driver education.
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Not to mention no one understands what the left lane is for in the US on the Freeway. The number of times I can come flying up behind someone doing 10 under in the left lane and they refuse to get out of it, despite flashed high beams and the likes boggles the mind.

Driver education and respect for driving are virtually zero in the US. It is like 10 hours of meaningless class room time, combined with 4 hours of driving time with an instructor, and in this state, 50 hours of time with a guardian with your permit (which most parents just do 2 or 3 and then sign off on it). Then you take a 30 minute exam that you only fail if you really have NO CLUE how to drive. All this costs under a grand, and you get a license for everything from manual econo-boxes (even if you've never driven a manual) to huge Ford F-350 size trucks, sports cars, etc.
 
Azuremen
Not to mention no one understands what the left lane is for in the US on the Freeway. The number of times I can come flying up behind someone doing 10 under in the left lane and they refuse to get out of it, despite flashed high beams and the likes boggles the mind.
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Recently some idiot brake checked me when I flashed him. I was creeping up on him at about 5 mph, nothing crazy, and instead of moving over he hammered on his brakes. What the hell!? There were two completely empty lanes to his right and he thought he owned the place.
 
I'd quite like to see the speed limit rise, but I doubt it will happen.
Speed limits were raised from 140kph to 150kph last January in Poland on motorways (both two of them :P)
 
The UK Motorway speed limit is ridiculous... only Sunday drivers and old age pensioners ever bothed to stick to it.

80mph would be a good idea, assuming the police gave a similar lea way over that as they do to todays 70 limit... so you'd be fine up to 90mph. But with a similar set up to France, with a lower limit applying when it's wet or foggy.

It would require an improvement in driver education to get the middle lane morons to change their ways, but the Government could afford a public eduction campaign with all the money they alreayd rip off British motorists with fule duty, road tax and speed cameras on motorways.
 
Stotty
It would require an improvement in driver education to get the middle lane morons to change their ways, but the Government could afford a public eduction campaign with all the money they alreayd rip off British motorists with fule duty, road tax and speed cameras on motorways.
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They don't need money spent on being educated, they already did that when they paid for lessons to drive. I remember my instructor teaching me you stay to the left unless you are overtaking or that lane branches off, and I passed a theory test which made sure I knew that fact. If when I'm then on the road after being licensed I don't adhere to that, it's either a deliberate act of being inconsiderate or proof I'm not fit to be on the road.

The people who are often most guilty of it are the more compliant of law type, probably not speeders. I've never known any one issued a penalty for it but if they had a brief zero tolerance campaign against it word would spread and people would adhere.
 
I could see a higher speed limit being feasible, but only on rural roads. In West Texas, Interstate-10 and Interstate-20 both have an 85mph speed limit. But that's only possible because that region of the state is baron and very sparsely populated.

And I'll echo everybody else's sentiments on drivers in the US. This country is filled with dumbass drivers who only think for them selves and putt along in the fast lane, too busy texting their friends to look up at the road. And I won't even start on the rampant road rage here.:yuck:
 
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