Motorway Speed Limit to be upped to 80mph?

[OdinEidolon]

just propaganda.
There's no real reason to, and what about all the story about polluting less?

[steve_earwig]

Well they're thinking about it (don't hold your breath...)

Ministers to consult on 80mph motorway speed limit

...the current limit introduced in 1965...nearly 50 years old...

That's it, go on, rub it why don't you

The thing is there was a hell of a lot less traffic in 1965 so ok, so "huge advances in safety and motoring technology" but also huge increases in traffic. Pollution, fuel consumption blah blah blah.

Go on, increase it to 120mph, that'll get unemployment down to 1965 levels and just think of all those mismanaged pension funds you won't have to worry about

[lozz]

Speed limit upped to 80mph ?


err that counts me out,

My chitron picasso is not capable of such speeds,


other than that i say 80mph wouid increase the sales of wooden overcoats,

[plod]

As been said, been said many times and I always said then it wouldn't happen, but I actually think they might do it this time
Although I'm not sure of the idea of speeding up the economy as many already do 80 on the motorway routinely and if all the trucks are still only doing 90kph plus many firms restricting their trucks to 85kph to save fuel partly as a marketing ploy but mostly the extortionate price of fuel , I can't see it making a jot of difference to the economy

As for trucks, ok I might have a slight interest but I don't think we should have large vehicles going any faster but say vehicles between 3.5t gvw and 7.5t gvw I'd like to see being able to go a bit faster. If not as much as 70 then 65 maybe. Let's face it coaches can do 100kph / 62 mph and they are over 12t and carrying people, so why not the above?????

[Doggy]

Anyone else suspect this is a move to unify speed limits across the EU in preparation for mandatory car speed limiters and/or average speed cameras everywhere?

[Welly]

I occasionally do London runs for my work, setting out from the Midlands at 05:00am to get into London at 07:00am - the 'train' of Merc Sprinters, Astra Vans and Rep mobiles routinely sit at 90mph the whole way without batting an eye (takes me ages to overtake them all ), maybe they can sit at 100 now?

I think you may get young inexperienced lads jumping on the motorway 'to do 80mph' "because they can" and this, together with sh*t weekend motorway drivers may cause a bit of trouble out there

Generally, business motorway users go fast but it all kinda works, no-one has stuck to 70mph for a long long time but in any case if you travel at an indicated '80' you're only really doing about 77 mph anyway

[sirwiggum]

RE: young drivers

In NI for the 1st year with R plates theyre restricted to 45mph. Perhaps this should be increased but kept at 60mph?

[OdinEidolon]

RE: young drivers

In NI for the 1st year with R plates theyre restricted to 45mph. Perhaps this should be increased but kept at 60mph?

45mph on a motorway is so slow that's dangerous.
And in fact it's not on a motorway where a new drivers can harm most, it's on small roads.

[plod]

Think there should be a secondary test or at least compulsory training before being allowed onto the motorway as it's obvious many people haven't got a clue how to drive on a motorway

[DaiRees]

I rarely go over the speed limit, in fact I usually cruise at around 60-65 for economy reasons, but I'd like to be able to legally do 80, particularly when the roads are quiet and you're on a long run. If drivers applied a little common sense there wouldn't be a problem, oh wait, I said "common sense" in relation to "drivers", implying all drivers, didn't I? There's a flaw in that plan

By the way, the statement that going faster doesn't get you there any quicker is of course, scientifically, bollocks

[ally406]

9 times out of 10 it is bollocks. What determins your journey time is congestion, hold ups like road works, your luck with traffic lights, slow people sitting in the outside lane, how you have planned your breaks if a long journey etc etc.

I ran some tests in my 182 about 3 years back. My daily commute was a mix of 40mph and national speed limit dual carriage way, 12 miles each way. My usual driving style was one of trying to get ahead and make progress, I probably drove at 50 and 80 mph on each section of road respectively. Fuel consumtpion was between 28-33mpg. I implemented a new driving style, I obayed the 40mph limit and travelled no faster than 55mph on the national speed limit. The result was economy jumped to 42-44mpg, and on average I was only 30-60 seconds slower. Of course tyres and brakes last so much longer and general wear and tear on the car is reduced. Added to that, I was far more relaxed as I wasn't fighting my way through all the traffic.

[plod]

I think it has to be qualified by the fact of journey distance

Yes, on a short journey, I agree with the above, but anything longer.....

I remember years back, I was in my Opel Manta, and a mate in a maestro
He said going faster didn't make any difference, but I got to Rhyl over an hour before him

[Doggy]

So you got to spend an extra hour in Rhyl?

Bet that taught you a lesson.

[lozz]

Yuck Rhyl.

is it still as Rough as toast there ?

driven through it about 2yrs back and the place was like a ghost town,

[plod]

This was 20 odd years ago
We had a good time, but guess it must of gone down hill then?