[Solved] Speed limit raise to 80 mph on motorways

I must admit to speeding on the motorway on occasions, but realistically, I think it would be better left as it is with a bit of room for the police to be lenient. The quicker journey argument is a bit lame in my opinion, a 200 miles journey would take 2 hours 30 mins instead of 2 hours 50 mins if you could maintain the maximum, which of course is very unlikely - if you really need that 20 minutes, then you may well be prepared to take risks instead of planning your journey properly. I have also experimented with my car on cruise control at various speeds and the fuel consumption begins to worsen significantly above 70mph, so multiply this out by the hundreds of millions of motorway miles each year and this will take us further away from cutting our emissions.

I have also experimented with my car on cruise control at various speeds and the fuel consumption begins to worsen significantly above 70mph, so multiply this out by the hundreds of millions of motorway miles each year and this will take us further away from cutting our emissions.

I'm with you there, with the cost of fuel these days why waste it speeding!! I find I drive much slower now at around 60-65mph to increase mpg.

As for the speed limit rise I think there are good arguements for and against, I think the cars have moved on so far since the 70mph was put in place, however people's reactions haven't the faster you are moving the faster you have to react.

Darren

I agree that technology has moved on, certainly in braking and tyre technology, and passive safety, but the traffic volumes have increased massively - 10 million cars in 1961, 15 million in 1970 to about 33 million today, so the volume of traffic has increased to almost 3 times the level it was in 1965 when the 70mph limit was introduced, and whereas in 1965, performance cars were limited to the upper end of the market, today even cheaper cars have performance which would equate to sports car performance at the time (when I learned to drive, my father had a Lancia Beta 1800, I'm pretty sure that my past Nissan Micra would easily leave that behind), and people's patience and courtesy is definitely not what it was when I learned - all factors which will increase the chance of an accident, and as motoring organisations agree, although motorways are the safest place to drive, when an accident does happen, it's more likely to be fatal because of the higher speeds involved.

As I said, I'd prefer the limit left as it is, but with the police having discretion to turn a blind eye to those travelling at 80mph who are driving safely in quiet conditions while being able to nick an idiot at 75mph.

One other point, HGVs are often limited to 56mph, so the speed differential is going to be higher.

The only place I could envisage the limit being raised sensibly are through the variable speed limit sections of the motorway, where those variable limits are backed by speed cameras.

I wonder if a a variable speed limit would work, so it would increase at certain times of the day,

so maybe it could rise to 80mph between 8-9pm-5am but remain at 70mph at all other times, this may ease congestion as people "might" wait to make thier journey until after the increased time.

I know though that if the limit was raised at all then it would mean it would be broken still so someone that may have given the 70mph a 5-8mph buffer would do the same so would mean them travelling at nearly 90mph which may cause issues for any one travelling late at night and not wanting to go over 70mph having cars blasting up behind them at speed.

I think this arguement will go on as there are so many factors to consider.

This thread was started by referring to the tragic crash on the M5 - I am not sure that the speed limit had anything to do with this as apparently the smoke from the firework display and the fog combined to make it impossible to see.

However the debate will always rage on - personally I think the motorway can be safe at 80mph as the cars are built to drive easily at that speed, the issue is the idiots driving them and unfortunately human error causes most if not all accidents.

Dual carriageways are worse as it takes a lorry 15minutes to overtake another lorry and this leads to frustrated drivers increasing their speed to make up lost time.

Personally I would increase the speed in the fast last to 80mph but also make it an offence NOT to move to the left when it is clear, or to undertake or speed when the speed limit is reduced.

I have also heard that there are a number of "company reps" who essentially need a car to work driving around with 30 points on their licence - this is ridiculous and must be addressed.

Personally I would increase the speed in the fast last to 80mph but also make it an offence NOT to move to the left when it is clear, or to undertake or speed when the speed limit is reduced.

I have also heard that there are a number of "company reps" who essentially need a car to work driving around with 30 points on their licence - this is ridiculous and must be addressed.

On the first point, I think it would come under driving without due care and attention, so is already an offence. One thing I think could be introduced is lower number of points for lesser offences, such as above or banded for speeding (say 1 point for up to 10% over the speed limit, 2 points for up to 20% over) - at the moment, I don't think any offence has less than 3 points. The insurance companies would have to be reasonable so they counted points, rather than number of offences.

I didn't think they still allowed flagrant disregard and accumulation of points - I got the impression that the courts might allow one extra offence over the 12 points, but after that, whether you needed the car or not, you'd be banned - could be wrong on that though.

One thing I did last year was a driver awareness course (to avoid 3 points for speeding 😳 ) and one of the many illuminating facts was the reconstruction of the M42 pile up - truly horrifying sequence of events. I personally think that this course should be compulsory for all new drivers, and then every 10 years in order to renew your license.

I have to say I thought the ban was compulsory but apparently not

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/30-points-still-driving-005231577.html

that's appalling, and four counts of driving without insurance, so if he injures someone, his victim has to rely on the motor insurance bureau scheme for compensation, which isn't a great deal. Of course banning him probably wouldn't stop him driving anyway. 👿