Motorway Speed Limit to be upped to 80mph?

[Bailes1992]

Heard today that theres a bloody good chance the motorway speed limits will be upped to 80mph. Whats your views on this?
As a driver of less than 2 years I tend to keep to the limits. Therefore when I'm sitting 70-75mph on the motorway in the outside lane while overtaking someone in the middle lane I get pissed off at drivers flying up my arse at 90mph trying to get me to go faster.

Now I can see a 80mph limit being a good thing as my Focus quite happily sits at 80-90mph. Also the 70mph limit was made when cars were worse in crashes and braking distances were larger.
BUT the 70mph limit is 'fairly' lax and you can get away fairly eay with cruising at 80-85mph no bother. Thing is if the limits upped to 80 everyone will do 90-100mph.

Whats your views on this?

Bailes.

[steve_earwig]

This seems to come up every year or so but nothing ever happens about it. Anyway, what's the point of being able to do 80 when you're stationary stuck in traffic?

As a driver of less than 2 years I tend to keep to the limits.

Sorry but

[Bailes1992]

This seems to come up every year or so but nothing ever happens about it. Anyway, what's the point of being able to do 80 when you're stationary stuck in traffic?

As a driver of less than 2 years I tend to keep to the limits.

Sorry but

I'm only allowed 6 points in my First 2 years. That means two speeding tickets and I'm off the road I need my car for my job, no car, no job.

[FarmerPug]

it sounds nice to be able to go a bit faster but 70 is enough, i usually let my car sit at 65 because the MPG readout stays above 50mpg, at 80mph it would be a lot less.

[DiscoPol]

Having recently completed yet another trans euro trip, i can say that the uk's motorway speed is the lowest and possible the most boring, just about everywhere else you are limited to between 120-140kmh (75-88mph) then of course there is germany, but that is a special case

i do agree that it helps keep the fuel consumption down when you stay around 65-70 but christ it takes for ever to get anywhere, just because the limit is 80mph it doesnt mean you have to travel at that speed, here its 140kmh on the few motorways we have and most people still stay around 110kmh ish with the outside lane being for those in a rush, which if you decide you are, you can happily cruise along at 160+kmh, but as i said we only have a few motorways and you have to pay to drive on the bloody things but this does keep the old and poorly maintained cars off em so im happy

I have heard this suggestion about the UKs m-ways so many times, i wouldnt hold your breath Sam

[steve_earwig]

...then of course there is germany, but that is a special case

If you don't mind lorries pulling out on you without looking, locals following you 1 meter behind even though they could overtake, crazy Austrians trying to knock your mirrors off, "this can't be real!" lane widths...

Good point about the tolls though, I'm sure the locals here wouldn't think anything of chugging derelict tractors along them. It does rather mean artics avoiding the tolls by driving on the old roads through all the little towns and villages... The other annoying thing is tolls on a bike (hopefully they're still free in the UK) - "here's a small piece of paper, find a way to keep it safe and dry" ' try doing that when it's pissing down, not to mention trying to get your wallet out when you're wearing waterproofs...

[rwb]

I'd like to see lower limits in heavy traffic and higher limits when it's quiet.
This doesn't apply only to motorways.

[406loon]

If they put the limit up to 80mph does that mean the instant ban speed will be 110mph?

[ally406]

Travelling at 80mph will not reduce your journey time by any significant amount, and to travel an extra 10mph will burn a disproportionate amount of fuel. I often just stick to around 60 as it makes he-haw difference to the journey time, it's far more relaxing, you don't have to fight your way down the outside lane, you save a ton of fuel, and there's no chance of a speeding ticket

[DiscoPol]

Travelling at 80mph will not reduce your journey time by any significant amount, and to travel an extra 10mph will burn a disproportionate amount of fuel. I often just stick to around 60 as it makes he-haw difference to the journey time, it's far more relaxing, you don't have to fight your way down the outside lane, you save a ton of fuel, and there's no chance of a speeding ticket

this all depends on the length of your journey, but i agree in most cases in the uk 80mph versus 60mph usually means no more than 10 minutes difference and a lot more fuel used along with a disproportionate amount of stress.

[STALLED]

100mph is bloody fast...

Thing is, the faster you go - the rate of "carking" it when you have a stack goes up exponentially. Speed limits are there for a reason - at least at 70mph, you have a chance of surviving.

[OdinEidolon]

Limits here are 80mph almost on every highway.
My thoughts?
80mph may be good for big engined cars. But then most people just do 80mph just because that's the limit, so you can see a smart or a matiz or an old punto passing you by (I usually sit at 70mph) at full throttle at 80-90mph, 4500-5000rpms.
That way they just burn a hell of fuel and pollute like a train.
What's the point? Do you get there much earlier than I do? Nope.
You just relax a lot less, burn much more fuel (the difference between 70 and 80 in mpg is huge for most cars) and pollute more, braking is longer and less secure, you also disturb the other drivers who quietly want to overtake a TIR at 70mph.
The mentality is this: limit is X, then I go X+10km/h. Just why????
They should actually lower the limit to 60 or 70 mph imho, not because of a matter of security but to educate the people to consume and pollute less. What's the point of the whole "look my car emits less C02 than yours I'm cool and enviromentally friendly" when you go at 150km/h on the motorway?

[sirwiggum]

The speed limit in the Republic of Ireland is 120km/h, 75mph.

I would agree with increasing motorway limits, but lower B-road limits to 50mph. Many B roads are too dangerous at 60!

[FarmerPug]

it would make them safer but the b roads is where you get most of the fun out of driving

[Bailes1992]

The motorway speed limit IS definatley being upped to 80mph