How fast on Motorways?

[markt1]

You increase the speed limit in the UK and watch the death toll rise !!!
The majoroity on the motorway dont even now how to filter in lanes they dont know how to move over in the slow lane to allow traffic form a slip road to enter the list is endless.
How many people do you see sat in the middle lane as though its their god given right,how many times do you come down that slip road at a resonable speed to have a f$%king moron not moving over when the lane next to him/her is free?
NO do not increase the speed limit i dont want to die unless of course your going to retest peoples ability to drive on them.
Mr Goverment why isnt their a motorway competent test running along side a normal car test to past you licenece driving at speed takes a lot of concetration my god some folk cant even bloody park a car let alone swap lanes at 70mph?
I have always said their should be a motorway test and if you fail your not allowed on them simple.

[SonyVaio]

Originally Posted by Moosejaw

Personally I think they should leave well alone.

As said, most car drivers tend to do 80-85 with reasonable impunity anyway and maybe a bit more when the road clears so I can't see what difference raising the limit to 80 will have.

Leave it alone I say, do someone for driving like an idiot at 75, and turn a blind eye to the solitary driver burning up an empty M-something at 100+ at 3 in the morning.

Originally Posted by GMad

Empty motorways, I may well get a bit of a wiggle on and increase my speed a tad. That of course is in the car..
On the motorbike, mmm maybe a little faster

It would be great to be able to get that wiggle on and still be within the confounds of the law and not even have the threat of prosecution.

I would like to see the limit lifted for the roads that are safe to do so and I very much like the idea of even more relaxed limits during the silent hours.

[david036]

Now then my 2 pence worth!!! The speed limit of 70 would be fine, ok comapred to most european conutries its a bit slower. I spend 80% of my working day on the motorways, trying to 70 is a challenge at times, rasing the speed limit wouldn't make any difference.
The problem is all the muppetts that use the motorways. They have no understanding of how the motorway is meant to work, all these people who sit in the middle lane, and more of these people are now sitting in the outside lane....It comes to something when I can drive in the slow lane doing 65 and get home quicker than if i was in the fast lane....We need better teatchings on how a motorway should be used Then we can look at raising the speed limit when we'd notice a difference
Rant Over - Happy New Year!

[Clan]

One point nobody at all has thought of .....
We still think at the same speed as we did 100 years ago , that is the time for our brains to assess a situation and take action . this has never changed and is the main reason for having a speed limit in the first place .. why would we suddenly be able to react quicker ? So raising the limit to a real world 90 mph will give us far less time to assess and react to avoid the idiots we have around us , therefore more motorway crashes and MUCH more heavy duty serious crashes that even volvos wouldn't survive ..

[SonyVaio]

Originally Posted by david036

Now then my 2 pence worth!!! The speed limit of 70 would be fine, ok comapred to most european conutries its a bit slower. I spend 80% of my working day on the motorways, trying to 70 is a challenge at times, rasing the speed limit wouldn't make any difference.
The problem is all the muppetts that use the motorways. They have no understanding of how the motorway is meant to work, all these people who sit in the middle lane, and more of these people are now sitting in the outside lane....It comes to something when I can drive in the slow lane doing 65 and get home quicker than if i was in the fast lane....We need better teatchings on how a motorway should be used Then we can look at raising the speed limit when we'd notice a difference
Rant Over - Happy New Year!

I completely agree, but the Motorway doesnt just run from 9 to 5 (okay 07:00 to 20:00). The rest of the time when the motorway is very quiet then there is no reason why the limit should not be lifted? It may not be of benifit through peak times but at quiet times it could be safe?

[waylander]

Originally Posted by Clan

One point nobody at all has thought of .....
We still think at the same speed as we did 100 years ago , that is the time for our brains to assess a situation and take action . this has never changed and is the main reason for having a speed limit in the first place .. why would we suddenly be able to react quicker ? So raising the limit to a real world 90 mph will give us far less time to assess and react to avoid the idiots we have around us , therefore more motorway crashes and MUCH more heavy duty serious crashes that even volvos wouldn't survive ..

errrmm actually that's wrong -the speed limit was only ever (and IIRC still is) a temporary limit and was brought in for economy reasons (urban legend has it that this was prompted by the testing of some Le Mans Cobras at over 160mph up the M1 - at a time when there were no limits) rather than 'thought processing'.

as regards the MLM idiots had a delightful one last night - empty inside and outside lane and some chump ambling along 65/70 in the middle land... flash, nothing. Flash, nothing. FLASH FLASH and then the numpty pulls over only to pull back OUT after I'd overtaken him!!!! ps Volvo estate!!!

[Bendolfc]

Er unless there is significant traffic in 95% of cases there is no need for traffic to move over to allow people to come off the slip road. Joining traffic should adjust their speed as required to join. I've no idea where this recent idea seems to have come from that people should move over because people are incapable of joining a mortuary without help.

[t5_monkey]

When the limit was introduced...

... most cars would have been on the verge of exploding at 70 - and pretty darn unsafe at that speed.

dynamically, most cars at 100 now would be safe than the ones back then at 70.

That said, I think people are driving slower nowadays due to fuel costs and being skint.

I cruise at 65mph on the motorway cause it saves me a fortune in fuel on long runs.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by SonyVaio

I completely agree, but the Motorway doesnt just run from 9 to 5 (okay 07:00 to 20:00). The rest of the time when the motorway is very quiet then there is no reason why the limit should not be lifted? It may not be of benifit through peak times but at quiet times it could be safe?

No never !
for example , about 5 years ago on the M4 near Newport a couple in a 940 were coming home from west wales in their 940 heading out of the town eastwards towards junction 24 going up the hill on a left curve , this was at 3 am , they were suddenly faced with a Ford Mondeo coming at them on the wrong side of the motorway appearing around the curve at 90 mph ...( as fast at it would go up the other side of the hill ) they both colided and the couple in the 940 were killed and so were 3 or 4 in the ford , ... its all about reaction time and there was simply no time to do anything for either driver . You simply never ever know whats safe and not safe , in fact being on the road at any time at all is never safe ...
When you see things like this it changes your outlook, and who cares if the journey takes 10 mins less when you are doing 90 mph as to doing 70 mph ... especialy at night when it isnt important how long you take to get home .

someone reported it on here too:
http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=44210

[Clan]

Originally Posted by waylander

errrmm actually that's wrong -the speed limit was only ever (and IIRC still is) a temporary limit and was brought in for economy reasons (urban legend has it that this was prompted by the testing of some Le Mans Cobras at over 160mph up the M1 - at a time when there were no limits) rather than 'thought processing'.

as regards the MLM idiots had a delightful one last night - empty inside and outside lane and some chump ambling along 65/70 in the middle land... flash, nothing. Flash, nothing. FLASH FLASH and then the numpty pulls over only to pull back OUT after I'd overtaken him!!!! ps Volvo estate!!!

Which bit is wrong?
You are probably confused by the fuel economy speed limit of 50 in the mid 1970's !
The speed limit has been 70 for 50 years or so no not temporary , however speed limits do seem to be temporary now , they are continuously changing on a downward spiral on A and B roads .